Dianne Reeves has definitely found her calling. The jazz diva, who was raised in Denver, won a Grammy Award this year for The Calling — Celebrating Sarah Vaughn. It was her second consecutive win in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Album; Reeves won the same award the year before…
Many tried, but after several area runs of The Vagina Monologues, it was local chanteuse Hazel Miller who really shone among the guest actors participating in touring versions of the acclaimed show. Monologues typically pairs local female celebrities — swimmer Amy Van Dyken and radio DJ Nina Blackwood are examples…
Twelve-year-old Akil LuQman promises to be a roaring success as an actor. On April 17, the Denver sixth-grader makes his debut as Young Simba in the road show of The Lion King. Catch him while you can…
Although it takes place early this year — the first three weekends in April — Silver Plume’s annual community melodrama, performed by the Plume Players, should be filled with just as much tiny-town drama as ever. Don’t Shoot the Piano Player, a nod to the old mining town’s Wild West…
The big wheels at Denver International Airport have done plenty wrong over the last year, but here’s something they did right: They allowed the International Performance Series to continue inside the airport over the Christmas holidays, despite the post-September 11 security concerns that forced them to cancel it during the…
It’s possible that you have to live in Aurora to truly appreciate it, and sometimes even that doesn’t work. But how many citizens of Denver’s much-maligned suburb to the east actually know anything about the place where they wake up every day and go to sleep every night? Here’s a…
New York’s got a bunch of songs; Chicago’s got a few. Hell, even St. Louis has been the subject of a couple of ditties. So why not Broomfield? That’s what Phil Long, who grew up in once-sleepy Broomfield, thought when he returned to his now-overgrown hometown after many years on…
With the closing of a couple of clubland staples over the past year, the nocturnal socialite has fewer options from which to choose. Fortunately, Enigma Afterhours — which began as Rezodanc in the spring of 2001 — has swiftly filled the late-night void by opening its doors at the unsaintly…
What’s the matter with kids today? Not a thing, if you ask the young crowds who populate Club Pulse, a Littleton hot spot that welcomes teenage patrons as well as the over-21 crowd. That’s good news for younger hipsters who prefer to spend their Saturday nights on the dance floor…
Last fall, when the Denver City Council was debating an ordinance allowing mixed-age crowds at cabarets, Rock Island owner David Clammage — or, as his patrons know him, “Uncle Dave” — was a vocal advocate of allowing local venues to provide safe and exciting entertainment options for the under-21 contingent…
It started with a bunch of Longmont area high school students who wanted their own dance club. They pulled together the resources, gathered community support and wrote a business plan that sold the Longmont City Council on the idea, to the tune of $91,000 in funding. With student managers, DJs…
For those who prefer stylish settings to sports bars, Citrus is a juicy addition. This clean, Euro-style eatery boasts one of the city’s finest selections of Champagne and top-shelf vodka. But five nights a week, the LoDo spot opens its floors (and its upstairs V.I.P. room) to the dance-music contingent,…
If you’ve got cat class and you’ve got cat style — or just a Ben Franklin for you and a friend burning a hole in your velvet pants — this quasi-underground club is the hottest spot in Denver to strut your stuff. Entered via an alley behind the Diamond Cabaret…
Every DJ in the Casa Del Soul crew excels at his craft. They all know how to read, and lead, a crowd. They all religiously mine the record bins at Casa Del Soul Records (owned by the collective’s founder, Nate Uhlir). And they all play out regularly at the biggest…
New clubs come and go, but there’s really no challenging the staying power or superiority of Boulder’s Soma. Less a traditional venue than a full dance-music environment, Soma maintains its status by constantly revamping its future-tech vibe and opening its spinning space to talent from all record crates and corners…
The price for a table inside Club Sanctuary’s luxuriously appointed and well-guarded room for special people is $200 for the night, which is right in the range of the club’s competition and still includes your first bottle of premium liquor free. Split between four people at a table, that’s not…
There’s got to be a morning after — sooner or later, you’re going to have to open your eyes, listen to that hammer hitting your head and remember every stupid thing you did last night. Well, almost everything. Pure, the nightclub that occupies the old Casino Cabaret, makes a good…
Every Friday night, the glam, the gay and the gorgeous converge on the newly renovated 60 South on Broadway for Lipgloss, a welcome new addition to the face of Denver club life. Friendly, funny bartenders (who just might ask you to sample new drinks they’ve concocted on the spot), an…
Devotees of house music are advised to start the week off right by checking into Skunk Motel, the wildly popular theme night at the Snake Pit hosted by Denver’s DJ Skunk every Monday. Those with fun-forbidding Tuesday-morning commitments, or those who merely wish a bigger chunk of dance floor for…
On Mondays, 1515 hosts Textiles, a weekly beat happening that fuses the prolific talents of local jazz saxophonist Pete Wall with those of Denver trip-hoppers Equulei, various live percussionists, and turntablists from the Mile High House crew, including Ivy, Todd Colletti, and Tom Hoch. Together these players cut a deep,…
The Snake Pit is little more than a black box, but the music that fills it on Thursday nights is legendary. Breakdown Thursdays are one of the best and best-known jungle/drum ‘n’ bass club nights on the planet. To be sure, the fluttering drum beats and cortex-rattling bass lines are…
B.J.’s Port, a cozy neighborhood bar in Five Points, features jazz only on Sundays, from 4 to 8 p.m. But what music! Pat Bianchi, a hard-driving young jazz organist, leads a smokin’ trio composed of the fine Boulder guitarist Bill Kopper and drummer Tony Black, a whirling dervish with the…
