Best impromptu karaoke in a Mexican dive bar 2000 | Satire Restaurant & Lounge | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best impromptu karaoke in a Mexican dive bar

Satire Restaurant & Lounge

Skyler McKinley
Sure, it sounds better after a couple (or several) tall drafts and maybe a bowl of chips. But regardless of your sobriety level, it's a pretty safe bet that on any given night, the Satire will be filled with folks who've been there for a while -- folks who are ready to sing like Ethel Merman on Xanax. Bar-wide renderings of all the hits from the Beatles, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown are almost as much a part of the Satire scene as the saucy bartenders and Joe the waiter's warning that your plate is hot. Just don't forget to raise your glass when you raise your voice in song.

Best place to pretend it's 1940

Turk's Supper Club

Most of the week, Turk's Supper Club is a friendly blue-collar joint where you can get a decent burger and a beer for about six bucks. On Monday nights, however, the pool tables are moved to the side to make way for an old-fashioned bandstand and the twenty-person-plus Denver Jazz Orchestra, which uses the historic tavern as a practice and performance space. Led by trumpeter Sam Bivens -- who came to Denver by way of New York City and has spent nearly sixty years as a professional jazzman -- the DJO finds both young and older musicians traversing a repertoire of Big Band-era classics alongside more modern sounds. The free weekly events are simply music to the ears.

Best place to pretend it's 1940

Turk's Supper Club

Most of the week, Turk's Supper Club is a friendly blue-collar joint where you can get a decent burger and a beer for about six bucks. On Monday nights, however, the pool tables are moved to the side to make way for an old-fashioned bandstand and the twenty-person-plus Denver Jazz Orchestra, which uses the historic tavern as a practice and performance space. Led by trumpeter Sam Bivens -- who came to Denver by way of New York City and has spent nearly sixty years as a professional jazzman -- the DJO finds both young and older musicians traversing a repertoire of Big Band-era classics alongside more modern sounds. The free weekly events are simply music to the ears.

Best club DJ

DJ Fury

No one in Denver works as hard -- or is in as much demand -- as Fury, the city's premier jungle DJ. In addition to spinning at several raves each month, DJ Fury maintains two weekly club residencies ("Breakdown" at the Snake Pit on Thursday nights and "The Globe" at Maximillian's on Tuesday nights). When he isn't heading up his own Reload Productions company, Fury also works as a resident DJ for Together Productions and L.A.'s Insomniac Productions, two of the biggest rave production companies in the nation. This year he gained representation by Champion Sound Management out of San Diego, which manages some of the biggest names in the national club scene; since then, the number of Fury's out-of-town bookings has soared. With a DJ mix CD forthcoming on local Terraform Records and several mix tapes in the works, Fury's pace is simply furious.

Best club DJ

DJ Fury

No one in Denver works as hard -- or is in as much demand -- as Fury, the city's premier jungle DJ. In addition to spinning at several raves each month, DJ Fury maintains two weekly club residencies ("Breakdown" at the Snake Pit on Thursday nights and "The Globe" at Maximillian's on Tuesday nights). When he isn't heading up his own Reload Productions company, Fury also works as a resident DJ for Together Productions and L.A.'s Insomniac Productions, two of the biggest rave production companies in the nation. This year he gained representation by Champion Sound Management out of San Diego, which manages some of the biggest names in the national club scene; since then, the number of Fury's out-of-town bookings has soared. With a DJ mix CD forthcoming on local Terraform Records and several mix tapes in the works, Fury's pace is simply furious.

Best juke-friendly jukebox

Skylark Lounge

Owner Scott Heron has crammed his boombox with eras of rockabilly, blues and early country, from Bob Wills and Hank Williams to Elvis, Etta James and more. Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton share space with the Haywoods and Go Cat Go, pure proof that "rock and roll is here to stay."

Best juke-friendly jukebox

Skylark Lounge

Mason Craig
Owner Scott Heron has crammed his boombox with eras of rockabilly, blues and early country, from Bob Wills and Hank Williams to Elvis, Etta James and more. Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton share space with the Haywoods and Go Cat Go, pure proof that "rock and roll is here to stay."

Best jukebox

Goosetown Tavern

Rarely do a squealer (Journey's Steve Perry) and a grunter (Fugazi's Ian MacKaye) lay side by side, but inside the jukebox at the Goosetown Tavern, everybody is friends! The diversity of the artists represented, from gutter punks to Motown divas, keeps the crowd interesting and interested. Goosetown regulars know that on any given night, the crowd can range from tattooed and pierced to moneyed and khakied. Note the framed painting of Gene Simmons above the right side of the bar. When a breeze rolls behind it, the canvas wobbles in and out, creating the illusion that Mean Gene is about to come down and lick you. And just wait until someone puts another dime in the jukebox, baby, and selects "Sweet Child O' Mine." You're sure to hear some of the finest Axl Rose impersonators tuning up for their ten-year reunions.

Best jukebox

Goosetown Tavern

Molly Martin
Rarely do a squealer (Journey's Steve Perry) and a grunter (Fugazi's Ian MacKaye) lay side by side, but inside the jukebox at the Goosetown Tavern, everybody is friends! The diversity of the artists represented, from gutter punks to Motown divas, keeps the crowd interesting and interested. Goosetown regulars know that on any given night, the crowd can range from tattooed and pierced to moneyed and khakied. Note the framed painting of Gene Simmons above the right side of the bar. When a breeze rolls behind it, the canvas wobbles in and out, creating the illusion that Mean Gene is about to come down and lick you. And just wait until someone puts another dime in the jukebox, baby, and selects "Sweet Child O' Mine." You're sure to hear some of the finest Axl Rose impersonators tuning up for their ten-year reunions.

Best Halloween dance party

The Church

Celebrating a pagan holiday in a former church may be sacrilegious, but that doesn't scare us. Denver's most ghoulish characters congregate at The Church on All Hallow's Eve: One Halloween bash turned up a seven-foot-tall creature (the guy somehow managed to dance on stilts all night), an ape-masked person with red lasers for eyes, and a dead ringer for Prince. The winner of the costume contest that year got to go on a trip to San Francisco, and the second-place winner got a couple hundred bucks. No bones about it: This is one hell of a good time.

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