The Nine Best Rock Bars in Denver

In our continuing effort to spotlight the best venues in town for music fans of all types, we bring you our picks for the best rock bars in Denver (and, in this case, its suburbs). A rock bar, for our purposes, is a place you can reliably go to find…

The Fifteen Best Shows in Colorado This Week

The outdoor concerts may be over, in spite of the summer weather going on in Denver right now, but there are plenty of shows to keep you busy. We can strongly, strongly advise seeing Flatbush Zombies, either in Fort Collins or Denver. Polica is wonderful. There are plenty more, observe:…

100 Favorite Dishes: Shoo-fly Pie from Long i Pie

Shoo-fly Pie from the Long i Pie Shop thelongipie.com The Long i Pie Shop isn’t really a shop, it’s a mobile vendor based out of a 1966 Airstream trailer named Stella. You can order pie on the bakery’s website and pick it up at any number of locations; delivery is…

How to Tell the Difference Between a Hipster and a Bro

The first Bro Show – billed as “everything a man needs, all in one place” – filled the Denver Mart with classic cars, mixed-martial-arts contests, beer pong, guns, food, women in tight T-shirts, and beer, lots of beer, over this past weekend. But amid all this manly merchandise, one thing…

“Family Friendly” DIA Plans to Ban Marijuana-Related Souvenirs

You can’t possess pot inside Denver International Airport. You can’t eat it, smoke it, grow it or give it to a friend, and soon, vendors there may not be able to sell pot-themed merchandise, either. “We have started the process to restrict marijuana promotional merchandise at Denver International Airport and…

First Look: Work Options for Women Now Pouring at Cafe United

Coffee’s on at Cafe United, in the new Mile High United Way Morgridge Center for Community Change. This is the latest open-to-the-public spot run by Work Options for Women, a local nonprofit that trains at-risk women (and men) for careers in the food-service industry. WOW already runs the cafeteria at…

Film Podcast: Oscar Season Opens with Birdman and Listen Up Philip

It’s awards season and the hyped movies are starting to land in theaters. On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, we talk about Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton, and Alex Ross Perry’s Listen Up Philip, and carve out some time to recommend Nothing Bad Can Happen and Glen…

See How Nas Created His Masterpiece

Photo by Danny Clinch/Sony LegacyNas in 1994.By Ian S. Port One rhyme in particular crystallizes the genius of Nas’ 1994 classic, Illmatic. It comes in the song “One Love,” which takes the form of a letter to a friend in prison: “Congratulations, you know you got a son,” Nas raps…

J. Roddy Walston on the Identity of the South

Courtesy of ATO RecordsBy Roy Kasten Onstage — his hair whipping like a battlefield banner, his piano splintering, his gnarled voice bellowing and his band crushing out something like rock, something like the blues — J. Roddy Walston is surely a force, but not really a force of nature, as…

Photos: The Best of the Undead at Zombie Crawl 2014

It was that time of year again on Saturday, when thousands of zombies crawled out of their tombs for Denver’s annual Zombie Crawl on the 16th Street Mall. Photographer Aaron Thackeray braved a downtown stroll among the walking dead to bring back these images. Keep reading for a peek at…

Photos: A Sweet Time at Choctoberfest

Choctoberfest hit the Denver Tech Center over the weekend offering sweet samples of gooey goodness to guests who also got the chance to experience beer and wine pairings with and chocolate, cooking demonstrations, chocolate contests, and kids’ activities at the Denver Marriot Tech Center. Photographer Jake Shane came away from…

The Ten Best Shows in Colorado This Week

The undisputed heavyweight champion of grunge, Pearl Jam, makes a stop in Denver this week. There will be some pop punk in Colorado Springs and some jazz in Golden. And more! The rest of our picks follow…

Opening Weekend at A-Basin: Sunshine, Beer and Just Enough Snow

Happy skiers and snowboarders flocked to Arapahoe Basin over the weekend for the official kickoff to the 2014-’15 Colorado ski season, amid sunny conditions and a party atmosphere. While balmy weather is keeping the snow guns at bay elsewhere, it’s only a matter of time before Loveland, Winter Park and…

The Thirteen Best Shows in Denver This Weekend

The Rock and Roll Marathon will prevent you from driving anywhere in downtown Denver tomorrow, with a roster of athletes stuffed with several hundred extras who couldn’t run the canceled Boulder marathon a few weeks ago. Embrace it and cheer them on near one of the several stages, where bands…

100 Favorite Dishes: Ham and Cheese Tartita from Maria Empanada

No. 68 Ham and Cheese Tartita at Maria Empanada 1298 South Broadway 303-934-2221 Almost every country has its version of a portable dough pocket filled with savory ingredients: Polish pierogies, Welsh pasties, Indian samosas. In Argentina, empanadas are the snack of choice in cafes or on the go, whether with…

The Ten Best Concerts of the Summer

Red Rocks hosted the last concerts of its regular concert series a little over a week ago, signaling the official end of the summer concert season in Colorado. This week on the Backbeat blog, we’re looking back at some of our favorite shows of 2014’s warmest months. Note that we…