All good things must come to an end — but Lollypop Gift, the Hello Kitty store in the Denver Pavilions, seems to have come to a very abrupt end. And the reported reason for the store’s closing is something many vendors can relate to: rotten mall parents using stores as…
Can you ever have too many lists of the best kinky, BDSM — or BDSM-ish — movies out there? I don’t think so. There is just too much steamy, sensual, strange, sadistic, masochistic and prurient cinema to ignore — and these films aren’t even meant to be porn. Naked, sweaty…
Occupy Wall Street celebrated its first birthday this week. In the past year, the young political movement has inspired laws, riots and several retrospective glances, not the least among them the new documentary Occupy Unmasked. Directed by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon, the piece stays true to its title, aiming…
The Fritzler family will go down in history as proud, card-carrying Coloradans — in large part because this LaSalle family has already made its mark in corn. For the past twelve years, the Fritzlers have created epic and (mostly state-centric) corn mazes, the most recent of which honors Broncos star…
For some reason, I’m never ready for the onslaught of shows that are unleashed at the beginning of the fall season each September. If I stop to think about how many noteworthy exhibits have opened in the past two weeks or are about to open — and how many I…
In this week’s art review, Michael Paglia takes a look at two local galleries that are combining cultures. Throughout the Denver Art Museum’s “El Anatsui” and Goodwin Fine Art’s “Yoshitomo Saito,” Denver art enthusiasts can experience both Asian and African influence from veteran and first time artists. Continue reading for…
Wayne White might be the most prolific and virtually unknown contributor to popular culture of the last four decades. But the illustrator, painter, sculptor and puppet-maker from Chattanooga is getting some much deserved exposure with the release of Beauty Is Embarrassing, a documentary about White’s life and still-evolving career. The…
From collaborating with jazz legends to hanging out with Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, David Amram has accumulated quite an impressive resume. He’s written multiple books as well as musical pieces, and he’s in Denver this week performing at a variety of events to celebrate the hundredth birthday of Woody…
Nan Desu Kan, Colorado’s annual anime convention, took the Marriott Hotel in the Denver Tech Center by storm (and in costume) this past weekend as fans from across the state flocked there to to live out their fantasies. Dreamers representing all walks of fiction made the three-day fest a circus…
Call it a stampede. This weekend, the Marriott Hotel in the Denver Tech Center was taken over by Colorado’s largest anime convention, Nan Desu Kan 2012, and the fantasy enthusiasts who both populate and propel it. In our full slide show of the weekend’s costumes, you’ll notice well-dressed fans of…
Nan Desu Kan is a world unto itself, and the culture of that world sucks you in. It’s something akin to jumping headlong into a manga book, and you begin to see things in terms of that skewed universe: Pink and blue locks, tails, huge eyes and supernaturally spiky hair…
Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was born a hundred years ago, and a century later, he’s left quite a legacy. David Amram, a legend in his own right who met Guthrie in 1956 and was commissioned by the Guthrie family to write a symphony piece based on “This Land Is…
In the 1980s, the Rotary Club of Denver held massive Artists of America auctions, which raised more than $2 million for charitable projects around the world. Those annual events stopped in 2000, but the concept has now been reborn as Artists of the World, an online auction that will raise…
Remember when you turned eighteen? Maybe you felt like you’d seen it all — but more likely, you knew that a grand personal story was about to unfold. You felt excited and afraid. But how about a theater company? What about Brian Freeland and the LIDA Project, a company that’s…
The annual Westword Music Showcase is always a good time, but in one small but noticeable way, this year’s event has become a permanent street party. During the course of the 2012 musical mayhem, eight local artists shared their time, paint and skills with Westword to completely re-envision our traditional…
Three of the companies featured in our January cover story on Colorado’s “microbrew” ski industry just made the cut in Freeskier Magazine’s Top 10 Skis list of the best microbrew and independent brand skis for the 2012-2013 season. And Folsom Custom Skis took the top spot with its Rapture skis,…
If you were at the Denver County Fair in August, you might have caught a steampunk vibe in the air — thanks to the amassed presence of the Colorado Steampunks and the Denver Victoriana & Steampunk Society, all decked out in their beautiful costumes. Among their ranks were world travelers…
Founded by curator Dianne Vanderlip in 1978, the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Denver Art Museum is one of the institution’s most important divisions — if not the most important. Occupying nearly all of the third and fourth levels and the atrium of the Hamilton Building and…
As light rail expands full force to the east and to the west of Denver and the B-cycle bike sharing program builds in Denver and Boulder, it’s clear that Colorado is embracing a desire for accessible transportation. Historic Denver and the Denver Architectural Foundation are capitalizing on that with “Traveling…
The Space Creators, the realtor/masterminds behind the RiNo artist enclaves of Wazee Union, Walnut Workshop and Laundry on Lawrence, do one special thing that sets them far apart from the pack in real estate: They are active partners in the communities they build. Not only do they provide legs for…
If you were ogling those photos of Sonya Looney posing for the 2013 Cyclepassion calendar we posted last week and wondering if she’s the real deal, here’s your confirmation: She was busy training for Saturday’s Vapor Trail 125 High Altitude Ultra-Marathon Mountain Bike Enduro race in Salida when those steamy…
One upshot of the current handmade/crafting renaissance: Quilts are back. Walk into Fancy Tiger in Baker, for instance, and you’ll be greeted by a rainbow of cheerful fabrics cut in squares suitable for the age-old tradition; modern quilts also took ribbons last month at the Denver County Fair. And the…
