Appreciation for Denver artist Mark Penner-Howell’s clever paintings, which expertly mix pop images with ironic underlying themes in a colorful palette and humorous tone, has been gaining momentum over the past few years, but with his latest show — The New Normal, which opens tonight at Space Gallery — he’s…
“In January, the whole town goes Western a little bit,” notes Reyna Von Vett — whose alter ego, Cora Vette, emcees, sings and generally acts as madam for the BurlyCute burlesque troupe. “So we thought, ‘Why fight it?’” Hence the latest BurlyCute offering, Too Sexy for the Stock Show, which…
Even though he legendarily fired off the screenplay in just over a week, it’s possible to make a case that Night on Earth was writer, director and general auteur Jim Jarmusch’s definitive film — or if not definitive, then perhaps the purest. His later films might have enjoyed bigger budgets,…
If words generally speak to the head and colors generally speak to the heart, there should be plenty for a body to absorb at The Dance of Color and Words, a new exhibit at the Niza Knoll Gallery that features three painters — Rosanne Sterne, Irina Kopelvich and Marsue Todd…
The official Mysticon T-shirts bear this slogan: “Faeries and pirates and vampires, oh my!” That pretty much sums up the three-day celebration of all things faerie and fae. “This is the first three-day big con we’ve done,” explains Charles Cagiao. “We’ve been doing one- and two-day shows, faerie festivals, but…
The allure of a shiny pedal or guitar is hard for most musicians to fend off, but with every purchase of a new piece of equipment, an old piece gets stuck in the closet to collect dust. Now it’s time to brush off that obsolete gear, load it up and…
What if Romeo and Juliet lived in a trailer park and the Montagues and the Capulets were — wait a beat — competing meth rings? Don’t groan: When Paul Cross and his student/teacher improv team from the Yes! Lab put their twist to the traditional tragedy this weekend, it just…
Liz Masterson is back in the saddle, rounding up a posse of cowboy poets and singers for the 22nd incarnation of the Colorado Cowboy Gathering, which will ride into town today. But you’d understand if Masterson was a little saddle sore: In July, she learned that the Arvada Center, home…
The Sellars Project Space has built a reputation for featuring some of Denver’s most interesting artists, and Brian Comber: New Works continues that tradition. Comber, who has exhibited in town since the 1980s, is known as both a painter and a printmaker. For this show, he’s created a body of…
“I worked in front of the train station near the Oprah studios, and I’d see these woman come out of there like they just saw Jesus,” explains Charly “City Mouse” Fasano, whose newest collection of audio poems, The Oprah EP, will be released tonight. This is the twelfth cassette from…
In the grand tradition of the kung fu flick, Bruce Lee is undisputed king. As much legend as movie star, Lee could knock a man down with a one-inch punch, almost single-handedly introduced martial arts to the American film audience and once cinematically kicked the ass of Chuck Norris, which…
Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has made a big splash with the scents she concocts at her Essence Studio in Boulder under the brand “DSH” (www.dshperfumes.com). Her latest coup is starring in her own performance piece, Sense, at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, where she’ll show off her scent-making skills…
No, that’s not a new skyscraper going up in Civic Center Park. This week is officially Mile High Snow Week, with the SnowSports Industries America Snow Show taking over the Colorado Convention Center — but even at 5,280 feet, Denver is still 100 feet shy of the ramp requirements for…
Although the band is based in Los Angeles, the Airborne Toxic Event has a special place in its heart for Denver. “On our first tour, we played a sold-out show for 1,600 people at the Ogden, and the night before, we were in Salt Lake City and played for 200,”…
Although classical guitarist Eliot Fisk and jazz guitarist Bill Frisell have known each other since they first met in Germany nearly 25 years ago, they’ve never performed together — until now. After both do a solo set tonight at DU’s Newman Center, they’ll join forces for a third. Fisk and…
In less than a week now, the scaffolding will be erected and the snow packed onto the 101-foot ramp that’s been going up for the last week or so in Civic Center Park, allowing a generous handful of world-class skiers and snowboarders to launch themselves to preposterous heights in the…
IFC’s new show Portlandia is basically a hipster SNL. It stars Fred Armisen (of, uh, SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (aka the Jesus Christ of Portland hip). The first episode premieres Friday, but you can watch it now on Hulu. In it, jokes are made about organic chicken and radical feminist…
To a greater extent than is the case with most authors, Edgar Allan Poe’s life story lived up to his writing. Always infused with suspense, paranoia and creeping insanity, Poe’s stories and poetry belied his troubled existence, which included marrying his thirteen-year-old cousin and meeting his demise a delirious madman,…
At its purest, style is not about adornment but expression. It appropriates what’s au courant and fits it to suit the individual, not the other way around. For lack of a better term, it’s genuine swag. To Leo Barth, who smirkingly combined dark jeans and a striped hoodie with loud…
While the majority of programs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science are family-friendly, The Science Lounge is strictly 21-plus only — meaning you get to drink beer while looking at old, dead stuff. But the monthly program aimed a mature audience is more than just an after-hours wander…
The red herring is the best logical fallacy — are they catching on to you? Throw something unrelated out there to distract them and act like it’s germane to the topic in some way. Not only is it an effective argument tool, it can also be hilariously random — and…
First off, let’s get one thing out the way: Fotonica requires you to download the Unity player, so if you’re on some super-locked down computer at work, IT will probably bust your head open if you try. For the rest of us, Fotonica is an interesting take on the one-button…
