Why have an ice festival in Old Colorado City? “Because it’s cold in January,” says Charlie Irwin, who heads the quaint shopping district’s merchants’ association. “It seemed like something that would work well with the weather — although last year, it was 60 degrees all weekend.” But even under those…
I like the way Denver’s galleries always bounce back after the New Year, with a plethora of fresh exhibitions making tracks through the snow and cold of January. The best New Year offering, metaphorically speaking, could be The Icebreaker Show, opening tonight at Ice Cube Gallery, one of the district’s…
After marching in the Marade, you might be ready for some down-home entertainment. And there’s nothing more down-home than the annual Martin Luther King African-American Heritage Rodeo, an annual MLK Day tradition at the National Western Stock Show (an estimated quarter of the cowboys in the Old West were black),…
You know the year is off to a good start when Tejana folk artist Tish Hinojosa comes to town. Her annual visits to the Swallow Hill Music Hall are always reason to celebrate, but especially now. It’s become a longer trip for Hinojosa, who used to reside full-time in Austin…
Think of Brooklyn-based videographer Cliff Evans as a Great Master for a budding century, one whose brave new palette leaves the rectangle of the canvas light years behind. In his three-channel HD video work, Citizen: The Wolf and the Nanny, the montagist unleashes a multi-screen barrage of images lifted from…
If you’re kicking yourself for not making the trek up to Morrison last fall to see the well-received Miners Alley production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso, opportunity is knocking again: The exact staging, with Chris Kendall as Picasso and Paige Lynn Larson as Miss Fischer, the Nazi attaché, is being…
It’s a little early for this year’s Chinese New Year: The 2010 Spring Festival, celebrating the Year of the Tiger, officially commences on Valentine’s Day. But it’s not too soon to begin preparing for that month-long cycle of activities representing new beginnings, and there’s no better way of doing that…
There are those who take dance way too seriously, and then there are those who don’t. If you’re one of those folks who avoid the art form like the plague because of the former, here’s your chance to get in touch with its lighter nuances, with help from the latter:…
Local documentarian and former gallerist Joshua Hassel goes back a long way with artist Rex Ray, whose beautiful works have most recently been seen at MCA Denver and T Gallery. Ray, who grew up in Colorado Springs before moving on to San Francisco, used to show work at Hassel’s now-defunct…
Cross-country skiing gets the short end of the ski pole in these parts, and that’s probably because it’s a much more subtle rush than downhill — not to mention maybe more work. But as Holly Johnson of the Colorado Cross Country Ski Association notes, it’s great exercise and brings with…
Everyone’s got a back-story, and that includes former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, though in her case you’d think the main story – the one about being the first woman in history to hold that post – would be enough. Think again. Albright’s unique new pictorial memoir, Read My…
Rabbi Jamie Korngold, best known on the Front Range as the Adventure Rabbi, mixes religion with the great outdoors all year long. But when asked about the annual Adventure Rabbi Chanukah Party, which takes place under a roof, she has this story to tell: “In eight years, the only event…
One cool thing about our homegrown Flobots: The indie phenoms may tour the nation now, but they still stay true to their schools. To that end, they’ll host a progressive Flobots.org Holiday Hootenanny that begins tonight at 6 p.m. with a laid-back reception at the Flobots.org Community Center before moving…
The best way to kick the Grinch out of your holiday-frazzled personality? A bit of the hair o’ the dog should do the trick: Bundle up the kids and everyone else you’ve been screaming at this week, and take them to see Broomfield-based Danse Etoile’s alternative take on holiday ballet,…
Getting my husband to go to holiday light displays after dark in December is like pulling a whole mouthful of wisdom teeth simultaneously: If it’s one degree below 45, the kid and I can just as well forget about it. Excuses, excuses. However, in the interest of more satisfying holiday…
Take two superstar jurists, throw in everyone else, shake it all up with a year’s worth of fantastic art seen at galleries on Santa Fe Drive, and you’ve got Art District Best of 2009, a confetti-ready celebration of one of Denver’s most popular artwalk destinations and all the fine artists…
Sometimes at Christmas, it’s the little things we appreciate most. And Jill Warner of Mod Livin’ knows that better than most folks: She says it’s the little things, most of them priced under $100, that fly out of the mid-century modern emporium each holiday season. Here are a few of…
You can always count on Nancy Smith and her Frequent Flyers aerial dance troupe to serve holiday fare with a twist, and this year’s Swing Into the Holidaze, an up-in-the-air tribute to the swing era, follows suit: Accompanied by music that ranges from rave-ups like Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing”…
Graphic designer Rick Griffith is type-cast, but in his case, it’s a good thing. His fascination with fonts led him this year on a pilgrimage to three shrines to the wooden letterpress progenitors of the modern typeface: the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Hatch Show Print in Nashville, the Hamilton…
Truthfully, the annual Swallow Hill Holiday Party is really just a concert, though there’s usually a pre-show potluck shmooze for members. But as publicist Chip Herter makes clear, it’s not only a really good concert, but also a cheap one. “Historically, it’s always been a showcase where we try to…
Cherry Creek North jewelry maker Elizabeth Lindsay made her first Token Tags for her father to wear when her mother’s battle with cancer ended. “He never took them off,” she says of the precious-metal charms, which were stamped with encouraging words. “Then I made some for myself, and everyone asked…
In the canon of the Kwanzaa tradition, Ujamaa stands for cooperative economics: the idea that it takes a village to help everyone thrive. But, notes African-American community leader Brother Jeff Fard, that’s not necessarily a nod to cold commerce. “A key piece to Kwanzaa is that it’s not really based…
