Is The Grateful Dead’s New Reunion Tour Just a Cash Grab?

Denver blogs are no joke. Are fans right to be suspicious of The Grateful Dead’s reunion lineup? Adam Perry tackles that question in our music section. Purple Row lines up ten reasons fans should be excited about the Colorado Rockies’ 2015 season. The Colorado Independent takes a look at how…

Reader: Shame on Westword for Publishing the Michael Hancock Q&A

In early March, with no strong competitors emerging, Michael Hancock looked like a shoo-in for re-election as Denver’s mayor on May 5. No strong competitors also means few, if any debates during this short campaign season — so writer Alan Prendergast asked to sit down with Hancock to ask some…

Film Podcast: In Defense of Furious 7

Furious 7 and While We’re Young are two very different movies — one’s all synchronized driving and explosions, the other’s all sorta-depressed New Yorkers who don’t drive — but both receive generally positive reviews from Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek of the Village Voice, and Amy Nicholson of LA Weekly,…

Reader: A Name Change Won’t Help With Udi’s Identity Crisis

The U Baron Group, which operates the Silvi’s Kitchen restaurants in the metro area (along with all of the other former Udi’s eateries and bakeries), closed the Colfax Silvi’s last fall with plans to reopen with a new name and theme. The result was revealed last month. The name? The Good…

From Bangkok to Detroit: Restaurant Roll Call for March

The wave of new restaurant openings has definitely subsided since the frenetic pace set last fall and winter. Still, March had its share of big-name openings as well as a couple of surprises. The Baron family (founders of the Udi’s brand) shuttered Sylvi’s Kitchen in the Lowenstein complex at the…

Photos: Steampunk Cosplayers Show Off at AnomalyCon 2015

Goggles and rayguns and fancy hats, oh my: A reimagined Victorian age came alive over the weekend at AnimalyCon 2015, Colorado’s premier steampunk gathering for cosplay, mustache-grooming contests, author talks and the study of all things “more science than fiction.” Go back to the future with these photos by Danielle…

Photos: Snowboarders Fly at Left Hand Brewing’s Hops & Handrails

Despite the snow-chasing warm weather, Left Hand Brewing’s Hops & Handrails combined a slushy display of snowboarding derring-do with a good old-fashioned beer festival in Longmont over the weekend. Photographer Brandon Marshall brought back these images from the party. Now see the full Hops & Handrails slide show…

Finding the Best Burger in Denver

Throughout the year, we eat countless burgers in every dive bar, dining room and neighborhood joint imaginable, looking for the perfect bite of beefy satisfaction. The criteria are simple: if the patty itself isn’t perfect, nothing else matters, and anything else between the buns is there to enhance the ground…

The Ten Best Concerts in Colorado This Week

This week’s best concerts include Black Milks, Natalie Merchant and plenty more. The complete list of our picks follow! Ani DiFranco $35-$55 7:00PM, Mondy, Boulder Theater Generationals $13.75/$15 8:00 PM, Monday, Bluebird Theater Black Milk $13/$15 9:00 PM, Monday, Cervantes’ Other Side Foxygen $15 7:30 PM, Tuesday, Fox Theatr Robert DeLong $15 9:00 PM,…

The Ten Best New Restaurants in Denver

As impressed as we were by all fifteen of the eateries we selected for our year-end list of the Best New Restaurants in Denver for 2014, we decided to update it — as we narrowed down our choices for our Best of Denver 2015 edition — based on the consistency,…

The Thirteen Best Concerts in Colorado This Weekend

It’s a great weekend for live music in Colorado, as people continue to make their way back from SXSW. You can see the great Hurray for the Riff Raff tonight. Elsewhere: Turquoise Jeep, Cold War Kids, Arlo Guthrie and more. Our picks follow.  Hurray For The Riff Raff $15/$18 9:00…

The Best of Denver 2015: Music Winners

The Best of Denver, our annual love letter to the city, is on newsstands now. Within, you’ll find 200-some pages filled with the things that make Denver interesting, from the best handheld burrito to the best twerking workout.  We found plenty to celebrate in Denver music and nightlife, too —…

Video: Eating Fried Bull Testicles With Dada Life

Swedish DJ duo Dada Life played a show at 1stBank Center on March 13 and the group’s producer Stefan Engblom got a taste of Colorado in the form of Rocky Mountain oysters — that’s sliced and deep-fried bull testicles — provided by the Buckhorn Exchange. A couple of lucky fans…

Five Denver Basement Venues Worth Checking Out

The 2015 Best of Denver issue is on newsstands now! In our search for the most interesting places, people and events in Denver, we often struggled to pick just one winner in each category. So we’re presenting a few runners-up here on Westword Music.  It’s true. Denver has an obscenely…

Alan Prendergast Wins National Pulliam Award for “Bloody Ludlow”

Westword staff writer Alan Prendergast has been awarded the 2015 Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award by Ball State University for his article “Bloody Ludlow,” originally published on April 17, 2014. The cover story, which commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the worst labor conflict in American history, was praised by…

Reader: Relax, Highland — Yuppies Love Pizza!

Is it possible to have too many pizza joints in northwest Denver? That’s what a reader wondered after we reported that one of the owners of Brown Dog Pizza in Telluride and a partner will be opening Blue Pan Pizza in Highland, serving Detroit-style pizza. Responds Tony: Relax reader… yuppies…

Photos: Collaboration Fest Pairs Beer With Sports Authority Field

The second annual Collaboration Fest took place over the weekend at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, offering one-of-a-kind beers brewed by pairs, trios and even larger groups representing local and national craft brewers. This year, more than 70 collaborative beers were served from pouring stations set up inside the…

Reader: Tocabe Should Become the Next Chipotle

Tocabe American Indian Eatery, which debuted in northwest Denver years ago, has finally opened a second outpost, on East Arapahoe Road. And with the new location comes an expanded menu — and the addition of bannock bread. But you can still get our favorite shredded bison at both spots. Is…