With at least twenty music festivals already on the roster, Colorado didn’t really need another. But the founders of Blues From the Top believed wholeheartedly that Grand County needed a dose of the blues, so last year they debuted a two-day extravaganza at SolVista Golf and Ski Ranch, just two…
The quaint town of Lyons, on the St. Vrain River, has numerous low-key attractions, including Oskar Blues, a first-rate blues-and-brews club that’s even received shout-outs from Rolling Stone. Live acts range from members of the Colorado Blues Society to Pinetop Perkins, all augmented nicely by a Cajun-flavored menu and house-brewed…
Last summer, the Central City Opera featured L’Italiana en Algeri, Gabriel’s Daughter — an original production based on the life of the first female freed slave in gold rush Colorado — and an evening that combined the famed and familiar I Pagliacci and the rarely performed Goyescas. L’Italiana was laugh-out-loud…
Arvada is still recovering from the cultural jolt thrown by brothers Adam, Matthew and Jeremy DeGraff, who opened the D Note in sleepy Old Town last year. The Brothers D combined their aesthetic and business senses to produce one of the most eclectic and appealing rooms in town — part…
Next time you wander into the Thin Man on a Monday night, head for the couches at the back of the narrow bar, where you’ll find the chatty chicks of “Stitch and Bitch” knitting away. An informal gathering that attracts anywhere from four to thirty gals each week, these friendly…
Artist/illustrator Michelle Barnes and club-marketing maven Paulina Szafranski know that women are complex creatures. Sure, they want culture and companionship, inspiration and ideas — but they also like to have their hair played with and get their nails done. Every Thursday, Barnes and Szafranski host Girls’ Night Out at Mynt…
The atmosphere at Armida’s is so calming and amiable that it prompts even everyday patrons to step up to the mike Wednesday through Sunday nights. The disc jockeys are friendly and are happy to accommodate the most absurd request for songs, whether it comes from longtime karaoke heroes or first-time…
Mercury Cafe 2199 California St. 303-294-9281 Salsa dancing is not for the meek: The moves are aerobic, and the music is full of frenetic polyrhythms and enough syncopation to make your head spin. But throwing your dancing shoe into the salsa ring is a lot less intimidating at the Mercury…
Producer/director Aaron Hunter prefers the term “female impersonator” to “drag queen.” Either way, his new Starz Cabaret show is royal. Modeled on high-camp, high-glam productions in Vegas and Chicago, Starz Cabaret opened in February and features a revolving cast of performers who ape only the most deserving divas. When Whitney,…
Debating hefty issues such as water use, growth control and the state budget may feel like a form of self-flagellation for lawmakers, but for the real thing, Rise Nightclub offers naughty Denverites of all political persuasions a chance to crack the whip. On a normal night at Rise, there’s enough…
Like all good philanthropists, Nuclia Waste raises a little awareness and dough for non-profit projects, but Nuclia does it right with radioactive flair and space-tastic style. Whether it’s her annual Misfit Toys variety show and toy drop for needy kids or her annual Project Angel Heart fundraiser (and celebration of…
We miss the old 16th Street Mall. We miss Skip and Amy, the nail-in-nose panhandlers. We miss the skaters at Skyline. We miss the homeless people, who are increasingly being pushed out by metro boosters who don’t want to scare away tourists. We miss them because if there is one…
Barry Melnick had been slingin’ suds for the Zephyr Lounge’s early-morning crowds for 56 years when he was sidelined last spring by a car accident and heart attack. Now his son, Myron, is keeping the Zephyr’s 7 a.m. happy hour alive. With the nearby Fitzsimons campus being redeveloped into a…
When the first Dada Manifesto was ratified in Zurich on July 14, 1916, little did Hugo Ball and company know that one day their revolutionary aesthetic philosophy would wind up being applied to the grimy wall of Gabor’s men’s room. In perfect accord with the Dadaists’ credo of contradiction and…
Bill Havu, director of his namesake William Havu Gallery, has taken an interesting observation and turned it into an excellent show. After noticing that many mid-career artists across the country were creating paintings inspired by abstract expressionism, Havu came up with Wet Paint, a marvelous group effort that examines the…
Dorothea Dunlop was a notable Denver-born sculptor whose long career spanned the past forty years. She died on February 19 at age ninety, of complications from a stroke. Reflecting the mores of the era in which she lived, Dunlop had been a full-time wife and mother before she turned to…
BECAUSE THE EARTH IS 1/3 DIRT. The CU Art Museum on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus is an unlikely setting for a blockbuster contemporary ceramics exhibit — but here it is, anyway. The show was curated by a committee that included museum director Lisa Tamiris Becker and CU art…
Boulder’s Dinner Theatre changed hands last fall. It was sold by founder-director Ross Haley to local neurosurgeon Dr. Gene Bolles and his wife, Judy; they hired a new artistic director, Michael J. Duran — who, just coincidentally, starred in the BDT’s first-ever production 27 years ago. Which — just coincidentally…
Bat Boy: The Musical ends like a Shakespearean tragedy, with bodies dropping all over the stage, while horrified onlookers shudder and weep. It’s just that in Shakespeare, the bodies don’t rise up again to sing the finale. The character of Bat Boy is based on a recurring character in the…
Art. Art begins and ends with an all-white painting — or an empty canvas, depending on how you look at it. Serge, a wealthy dermatologist, has just invested 200,000 francs (about $40,000) in this painting, which features diagonal white lines on a white background. His friend, Marc, is appalled at…
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which a man has recollections of a soured relationship erased from his brain, may be the most romantic movie in recent memory, if you will pardon the unforgivable pun. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, it’s about many things –…
Oh, dear. Angelina Jolie’s made another bad film. Is it too soon to give up on her? There’s no denying that Angelina’s sexy as hell. The tattoos, the knife collection, the exhibitionist streak, the bisexual vibe she gives off…totally hot, no question. Given her work with the U.N. and wild-animal…
