Reel Italian

Columbus Day will always spark debate. But the controversy over the holiday has overshadowed some of the contributions — like film — that Italians have made to our culture, says Metropolitan State College of Denver film studies professor Vincent Piturro. “I saw a need to change the dialogue around Columbus…

Let’s Talk About Art

You might ask yourself why Chris Loffelmacher, the fount of creativity who runs the Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life program, called tonight’s FCL panel discussion on art in the community “eatART.” Well, he’s happy to oblige with an answer: The moniker, it turns out, rose from a longtime fantasy…

Putting the “Hump” in Humpday

The monthly burlesque nights that Burlycute was throwing at Bender’s Tavern over the past year or so have been a success — so much so that now Burlycute is moving from Bender’s to Bar Standard for (what else would you call it?) Humpday Burlesque. “I just feel like people are…

Long, Beautiful Hair

Few plays rocked the boat on Broadway more than Hair when the seminal rock musical left Joe Papp’s Public Theater in new York in 1968 — retooled and tightened up to showcase the music — for the Great White Way. Now it’s not so daring, even if it does espouse…

Laughing at the Speed Of Light

Take a colossal body of work, condense it into ninety minutes or so, drop it in the hands of the funniest cast you can find, and you’ll understand in a minute the sheer brilliance of those crazies from the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who first revolutionized the campy world of stage…

Mile High Horror Film Festival will be full of the fright stuff

What’s the scariest thing about Colorado? The haunted mountain resorts? The cemeteries-turned-city parks? The escort-loving, meth-using pastors? All of those may soon be trumped by the second annual Mile High Horror Film Festival, which takes over the Tivoli Starz Film Center October 7 through October 9. With this year’s edition…

The Worst Movie EVER! premieres (finally) in Denver: Update

Update! Worst postponement EVER! Tonight’s Denver premiere of The Worst Movie EVER! was supposed to be the first event hosted by the Oriental Theater after a chunk of its ceiling fell onto the stage last week. This morning, unfortunately, the city inspector gave it a no-go, meaning that, for the…

Flylow Gear wins first annual Something Independent Snowsport Entrepreneur Award

Flylow, a Denver-based gear company specializing in skiing outerwear and accessories, won the first-annual Something Independent Snowsport Entrepreneur Award last night, presented at the Sypder Showroom at Battery 621. The $1,500 award comes with a marketing package to help take the winning entrepreneur to the next level, and was established…

Mega Mash is our browser game of the week

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, you could almost always snag a value pack of games for cheap. But they usually didn’t work well and always included only the worst games you could possibly imagine. Nitrome’s Mega Mash takes that idea and runs with it…

Is the Colorado Symphony on a death watch? Barry Fey thinks so.

The Denver Symphony Orchestra, the professional orchestra that called Boettcher Concert Hall home, went kaput in 1989. Twenty-two years later, it’s looking like the Colorado Symphony might face the same fate. Barry Fey, the legendary rock promoter who stepped in to save the symphony two decades ago, recognizes the signs…

Tom Robbins is no substitute for TV

We don’t know if Bree Davis was finally able to finish that Tom Robbins book after she told television that it was over, that they’d broken up, and she gave her TV to her mother. But we do know that Lara doesn’t think Robbins is a fitting substitute: I only…

Boulder’s Backflip Studios is changing the game

Americans are accustomed to paying for our entertainment by purchasing something, and then enjoying that product later. There are exceptions, of course, like broadcast television, which is free but supported by ads. We don’t usually associate this model with games, but Backflip Studios in Boulder is changing that with its…