The Ten Best Concerts and Festivals in Colorado This Weekend

It’s a big labor day weekend in Colorado, with Taylor Swift, Phish and several big-name music festivals. Plus, Illegal Pete’s celebrates its 20th anniversary with a stacked lineup at Red Rocks. Check out the full list of our picks below. ALL WEEKEND Phish$49.95-$60 7:30 p.m. Dick’s Sporting Goods Park A…

Denver Coffee Spots in KRUPS Contest for First Time

KRUPS, the coffee- and espresso-machine maker, just launched the KRUPS Best Brew Awards 2015, the company’s fifth annual competition to find the best coffee shops in select cities across the country — and for the first time, Denver is included on that list. Through September 29 (National Coffee Day), you…

Reader: All of Denver Is Losing a Gem When Le Central Closes

The sad news spread quickly yesterday: After 34 years, Robert Tournier is retiring, and closing Le Central, “the affordable French restaurant” he opened at Eighth and Lincoln back in 1980 and has been running ever since. Says Joseph: The neighborhood is losing a gem. Really sad to see this go. Adds…

Passport Closing Party, Opening the Book on BrewHa!Ha! Today

The Denver Public Library has teamed up with two local breweries, Fiction Beer and Denver Beer Co, and author Kevin Hearne to make two beers that will be tapped as part of a month-long DPL series called BrewHa!Ha!, which “celebrates all things brewed,” from coffee to kombucha. Hearne, author of…

Reader: Fat Tire Is a Gateway Beer Into Craft Brews

Although New Belgium has long made 3.2 beer for festivals, the brewery will now be selling 3.2 Fat Tire — which means 4 percent alcohol by volume, or 3.2 percent alcohol by weight — in cans and bottles in order to enter states like Utah, with specific liquor requirements. As a byproduct…

Film Podcast #95: About That New Steve Jobs Documentary

The Steve Jobs documentary from Alex Gibney (Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine) is worth seeing even if you’re tired of Apple fanboys — if only for the curious parallels between Apple worshippers and the members of the Church of Scientology, the subject of Gibney’s other recent doc (Going Clear)…

Photos: Euro Crepes Joins the Fold on South Broadway

Euro Crepes just opened at 1842 South Broadway, and the restaurant held a grand opening bash filled with crepes, sounds, fashion…and crepes this past Sunday, with griddles working full time both inside and outside the eatery. We sent photographer Danielle Lirette to the party, and she brought back this taste…

Photos: The Exile 4 Fetish Ball at the Exdo Event Center

Guests perused the latest in bondage wear while ogling fiery performances and each other at the Exile 4 Fetish Ball, a gathering for like-minded BDSM fetishists dressed in leather, spikes and other strange devices this past weekend. Photographer Ken Hamblin was there to catch all the action on camera.  Now…

Get Your Tickets to DISH Now — Prices Go Up Today

The fun doesn’t have to end after Labor Day. On the afternoon of Sunday, September 20, the 21st annual DISH will fill Sculpture Park at the Denver Performing Arts Complex with our annual celebration of Denver’s dining and drinking scene, featuring samples of signature dishes from more than forty of Westword…

Photos: Thrice Returns to Colorado With a Riot Fest After-Show

In addition to the activity at the National Western Complex over the weekend, Riot Fest helped facilitate a series of after-shows, featuring some of the festival’s biggest names playing in venues around town. Among the most successful (and compelling) of those was Thrice’s Friday night appearance at Summit Music Hall…

Literary Calendar: Three Book Events in Denver, September 1-6

Ready to replenish that book pile on your nightstand? Revisit a favorite mystery series, get inside the head of an autistic man or brush up on your Star Wars lore in anticipation of the December release of Star Wars: Episode VII at book signings this week in Denver. Margaret Coel,…

The Twelve Best Concerts and Festivals in Colorado This Weekend

Riot Fest weekend is here — a huge array of punk, hip-hop and rock bands will come to the National Western Complex. Elsewhere, Pretty Lights plays Telluride, Dave Matthews Band is at Fiddler’s Green. The full list of our picks follows.  ALL WEEKEND Riot Fest$99.98/VIP $259.98 2 p.m. National Western…

Reader: Yes, Minutes Count at Happy Hour

Minutes count at happy hour, says Gretchen Kurtz. On a recent visit to Bubu Lowry, she found a server willing to stretch happy hour timing, and that made her time there much happier. But Gabor responds:  Why should the hospitality be any different than any other industry? It is not a secret…

Podcast: The Best and Worst of Summer 2015 Movies

Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek of the Village Voice, along with Amy Nicholson of the LA Weekly, run down the worst and best of the movies they saw this summer, which as summers go, wasn’t so terrible! Among the best performances were those by Sam Elliott, wonderful in two movies,…

Aarón Sánchez’s Show Is the Taco the Town Tonight

Tune in to the Cooking Channel  at 8 p.m. MST tonight when the second season of Taco Trip kicks off with chef Aaron Sanchez’s visit to Denver. Sánchez is the chef/partner of Paloma in Stamford, Connecticut, and Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans and Baltimore, along with friend and partner John Besh…