Before artist Christian Usera can paint, he has to get his mind straight — usually he goes into a meditative state before he starts. The end result combines a mixture of mediums (watercolor, tempera, spray paints, acrylic, to name a few) into an emotional, dreamy composition. He knows his creative…
In the new movie from Jay and Mark Duplass, The Do-Deca-Penathlon, two brothers unearth a decades-old challenge that, for unknown reasons, went unfinished. The fictional brothers quickly revert from semi-adults to flailing opponents as they laser-tag it out in a race for childhood glory. But the creative team of brothers…
Last year we reported that Denver author Gregory Hill, a library book-buyer and part-time musician, was a finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award; the winners, as determined by public voting, would get a Penguin Group publishing contract and a sweet $15,000 advance. Cut to the chase: Hill, one of…
Christian Ellis, a Marine, survived a tour of Iraq where he saw many of his comrades die. But life back in the States was tougher. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Ellis attempted suicide four times before he finally found something to live for: music. And now Ellis, who has moved…
From bubblegum-bi-curious novelty “I Kissed a Girl” on, Katy Perry has built a career on glorious brain-dead-with-a-wink odes to play-acting in a fantasy space of total acceptance and no consequences, sold to children with literal sugarcoating. Her hits are powerful stuff, coming from an artist who was raised by Pentecostal…
Don’t make the mistake of thinking the Re-Evolution of Mind Body Spirit Artwalk Afterparty at GuildWerks will be a typical wine-sipping, art-discussing, post-First Friday bash, because there’s much more to it than that. First and foremost, Re-Evolution is a fundraiser to help local tribal-rock-electro-dance-hip-hop-insanity band INTI mix and master its…
All dressed up and everywhere to go: Now that the Denver Botanic Gardens has unveiled its beautifully reimagined Japanese garden and mounted Kizuna, a summer blockbuster of massive, graceful bamboo installations placed throughout the grounds, it’s ready to celebrate. Tanabata Day, also known as the “star festival,” is a lovely…
Denver’s Running of the Bulls is both everything and nothing like its Pamplona namesake. To picture it, take Spain’s decades-old encierro, subtract the traditional heritage, reimagine it as a two-year-old fundraiser, and replace the bulls with horn-helmeted Rocky Mountain Roller Girls wielding pool noodles and waffle-ball bats. Then run before…
The latest ploy to get people to enjoy opera? Booze. As the local group Opera on Tap has shown, opera can sound better in a bar — especially if you’re young, drinking beer, and not overwhelmed by an auditorium filled with bejeweled folks in suits and gowns. And not only…
Two decades ago, Coloradans and Texans exercised their interstate animosity by throwing tomatoes at each other during the Colorado Texas Tomato War in Twin Lakes. Now an epic tomato fight has returned to the state, but with a completely different flavor. Tomato Battle founders Max Kraner and Clint Nelson combined…
When the Denver Art Museum opens its doors today for Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective, it won’t just be the fashionista crowd clamoring to get in, and there’s a reason for that: An astonishing collection of 200 fully accessorized haute couture garments (including forty classic YSL tuxedos for women) documenting…
Grab a Nalgene bottle, lace up your hiking boots, and get to the inaugural Trek to Table, a nine-mile hike on Arrowhead and Beaver Creek mountains led by hiking guides from the Beaver Creek Hiking Center. Today’s event is a fundraiser for the Vail Valley Foundation, and organizers want to…
“Colorado has a huge, mindful community of people engaged in yoga, organics, environmentalism and ethical consumerism who also love music and having a good time,” says Jeff Krasno, co-founder of the Wanderlust festival. The yoga-centric festival has grown into a four-stop summer tour, with events in Vermont, California and British…
There’s no fine-art showcase in Colorado more prestigious than this weekend’s 22nd annual Cherry Creek Arts Festival. And even though excelling as an artist there one year precludes you from coming back the following — 2011’s twelve award winners and poster artist were not allowed to participate in 2012, for…
Let’s face it: When most people think of lizards and snakes, they think of scales, slithering and potential poison. “A lot of people are creeped out by lizards and snakes,” says Brian Hostetler, educator for Lizards & Snakes, a new exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. “But…
In Colorado, the Rocky Mountains are notorious for attracting slightly crazy wilderness enthusiasts — especially along the ridge lines of its highest (and most treacherous) mountains, the Fourteeners. Last summer, physician Jon Kedrowski and meteorologist Chris Tomer took on those peaks with an approach that no one had attempted before:…
A slaughterhouse, long closed and abandoned, is remodeled into a trendy condo development. Problem is, the fear and death that marked its former incarnation lingers, and the new residents are in for something darker than your typical overbearing HOA. To top it off, the only person who knows what’s happening…
Want to know more about the science behind your favorite science-fiction films? Check out the Denver Film Society’s Sci-Fi Film Series. This program, produced in partnership with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, pairs speculative films with real-life scientists who explain what’s real and what’s not. “This is a…
In The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, the latest film by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, two adult siblings go head-to-head to determine the winner of a long-lost childhood competition. But this isn’t just the revival of an old rivalry: Fictional brethren Jeremy (played by Mark Kelly) and Mark (Steve Zissis) use the backdrop…
Jenny Morgan: Kith and Kin, at Plus Gallery, will focus first and foremost on the painter’s work, but also on her longstanding relationship with Plus. Morgan happens to have been the very first intern at the then-fledgling space in 2003; since then, her relationship with gallery owner Ivar Zeile has…
The work of Miami-based Cuban-American art duo Guerra de la Paz (which translates to “war of peace”) first caught the eye of Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design gallery director Cortney Stell at Art Basel Miami Beach — so much so that she was driven to make a cold…
Private fireworks are banned in Colorado and many municipalities across the state have cancelled their fireworks displays this year — but the shows will go on in a few spots…
