Jackalope: Summer Tales of Strangeness weaves seven stories together Thursday

Calling all unicorns, jackalopes, mermaids, basilisks, abominable snowmen and New Jersey Devils! Grab a few s’mores, and settle in for a fun-filled night of theatrical mayhem as the Theater Company of Lafayette (TCL) weaves seven campfire-esque shorts all crafted to challenge preconceived notions, shatter misconceptions and keep you guessing long…

Westword Book Club: Comedian Deacon Gray on comedy, comic books, and the Theory of Stew

Deacon Gray, an Oklahoman transplant who honed his comedic expertise through years of taking thankless road dog gigs. Westword sat down with Deacon recently to discuss comedy, comic books and how the book The Artist’s Way has shaped his career. In addition to functioning as Comedy Work’s benevolent new-talent gatekeeper, Gray is the creator of Text-A-Saurus, a monthly comedy show wherein Denver’s finest comedians along with selected traveling crackerjacks improvise sets based on text messages submitted by the audience. Text-A-Saurus is held the last saturday of each month: the next performance is June 29th at the Bug Theater.

Photos: Textiles spin stories at two Denver Art Museum shows

For this week’s art review, critic Michael Paglia visited the Denver Art Museum, where he took in two different shows with fairly similar themes. First he visited Cover Story, which is a part of the larger Spun: Adventures in Textiles exhibit. He also took in the Red, White and Bold:…

Westword Book Club: Lynda Hilburn on vampires, erotica and literary escapism

Lynda Hilburn, a local author and psychotherapist based in the Boulder area, specializes in paranormal tales of romance with titles like Diary of Narcissistic Bloodsucker. Blending genre elements before such literary mash-ups were in vogue, Hilburn believes that escaping into literature is a vital coping mechanism. This week, Westword met up with Hilburn to discuss her love of disappearing into paranormal narratives, vampires and the erotic fiction business.

Spun weaves together several standout textile exhibits at the DAM

When former director Lewis Sharp piloted the effort to expand the Denver Art Museum, the goal was to mount more temporary exhibits. This led to the construction of the daring Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building, which joined the landmark Gio Ponti tower in 2006. Two years later, Christoph Heinrich was hired…

Five things NOT to do at Denver PrideFest

Denver PrideFest 2013 is this weekend, and there will be music, food, drink, live entertainment and a big-ass parade on Sunday morning. the people-watching opportunities alone are worth the trip downtown and the parking hassles. But every PrideFest has its perils and pitfalls, and in order not to be named…

Ten places to ride your bike this summer

The wheels are always turning in Denver, which just won the REI Cycling Town Showdown as the country’s bike-friendliest city. Denver not only has great places to ride your bike, it also has great places to ride your bike to. Here are ten of our favorites for this summer. See…

Video: Meet the people of Denver Comic Con

Denver Comic Con took over the streets of Denver near the Colorado Convention Center last weekend during three days of celebrities, events, panels and displays. We’re still reeling from it all — and you might be too. While you plan the early stages of next year’s costume, check out our…

Ten milestones in the history of competitive gaming

Just like they play sports, most people play video games for fun. But also just like they play sports, some people play video games competitively, both professionally and in organized amateur leagues. Yes, really. All over the world, big-money tournaments take place constantly, offering the top gamers a chance to…

Three Edge shows introduce new players and big changes

There are big changes afoot at the Edge co-op, as several members have cycled out, leaving room for new ones. To inaugurate this latest era, Edge has mounted a good-looking group show that reveals some interesting new players. Conceptually Scattered: New Member Show — which is the neatest one-name-fits-all exhibition…