Ingrid Michaelson has been caught up in a whirlwind of activity for almost almost two years since her song “Breakable” was used on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The show then placed her endearing tune “The Way I Am,” which was also used in Old Navy’s fall commercial campaign. But…
In March 1978, I wrote a Westword piece about a group organizing “Ten Days in May,” the city’s first film festival, with a headline that asked, “Will It Work?” As answer, we have tonight’s opening of the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival, taking place at the Starz FilmCenter in the…
Laura Merage is an accomplished photo-based artist whose work I’ve reviewed a few times during the past decade. Her photos and photo-based pieces are supremely elegant and extremely sophisticated, as is she. More relevant to my story this week, however, is her other career, as a generous philanthropist with a…
When Sandy Carson, a fixture in Denver’s contemporary art world, announced earlier this year that she had sold her namesake gallery, even insiders were shocked. Carson has been on the scene since the beginning of time, which in Denver means the 1970s. The buyers were Bill and Jan van Straaten,…
Adam Helms. This solo in the MCA’s Paper Works Gallery is the New York artist’s first museum show anywhere. In his works on paper and in a monumental sculpture that conjures up a shooting blind, Helms explores political themes, especially armed struggle. He takes images of different radical and extremist…
Girls Only. The trouble with Girls Only, a two-woman evening of conversation, skits, singing, improvisation and audience participation, is that it’s so relentlessly nice. Creator-performers Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein have worked together for many years; at some point, they read their early diaries to each other and were transfixed…
We’re pretty spoiled here in the metro area when it comes to film and film festivals. That goes double for all you adrenaline junkies and nature lovers out there who live mere minutes from the Adventure Film Festival, a fest homegrown out of Boulder that showcases dozens of independent films…
If the dream of every comic is to have his humor live on long after he’s left the stage, then the late Bernie Mac has exited this world on a high note. Soul Men, a comedy completed shortly before Mac’s untimely death in August, is no classic, but the comedian,…
Movie cults are born, not made. A youthful audience discovered Donnie Darko on its own, even as another demographic transformed The Sound of Music into sing-along karaoke — to name two of the 21st century’s most notorious cult attractions. Still, no less than rocket science, show business relies on tested…
Playwright Neil LaBute is a king of nasty, but I’ve also always thought of him as tough-minded, daring and original. Now that I’ve seen Fat Pig, though, I’m wondering whether I’ve been fooled. Is it just that nastiness almost always strikes us as clever; that we tend to think the…
Paul Rudd wears a constant look of glazed-eye amusement; everything seems to tickle him, even that which annoys or frustrates or disappoints him. He’s frat-boy handsome and therefore almost anonymous when he stands in a movie-star lineup; in Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things (2003), Rudd received a supposedly extreme…
For anyone who observes a piece of art and wonders what it says, now you can truly listen. This Tuesday, art will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder when the school’s Visiting Artist Series, one of the oldest lecture series in the nation, presents British native Clare Twomey…
I’ve always envied Henry Rollins for being unafraid to speak his mind; of course, it helps when you look as intimidating as he does. Outspoken and impassioned about topics ranging from pop culture to politics, the man probably has a lot to get off his chest in this pivotal year…
Not many 88-year-old women would decide to lean out the window of a small plane to take photos of the Rio Grande — but then again, not many women are like legendary Colorado photographer Laura Gilpin. You can’t talk about artists of the American Southwest without Gilpin’s name being dropped…
“I’ve always resisted the idea of the string quartet as an art form that exists for Sunday-afternoon soirees. I feel emboldened and empowered and enabled to make programs of our music that, in their own way, examine things in our society.” So says David Harrington of the musically outspoken Kronos…
Hey, wine-drinkers: Do you feel confident in your ability to select a top-notch bottle of European red wine? Think your taste buds trump those of other vinophiles in the metro area? Then you truly won’t want to miss Uncorked 2008, a competitive wine-tasting event hosted by Mile High United Way…
Times are hard. Why, just last week, my scooter was stolen, my dog needed expensive dental surgery and an 800-pound hangover sat on my face, crushing my skull. Don’t even get me started on the economy and the whole wretched election season. I need some relief. “There’s some pretty heavy…
“I’ve lived everywhere from the Middle East to Europe to Canada, and what’s special about Denver is they have no attitude problem,” says Habitat Gallery director Georgia Amar. “They have a sense of self that’s very stable. They’re well-educated, and they’re participants in creating their own culture.” With such a…
See revered hip-hop icons in a unique light at Reflections: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together, a show that pairs photographs of the musicians by so-cial documentarian Rachel Crick with paintings based on her work by the Signtologist, an artist who paints on recycled street signs. Crick’s portraits are…
It’s no secret that the Brown Palace Hotel’s annual Champagne Cascade is the most lavish, spectacular way to kick off the holidays. And this year will be even grander: Not only is the Brown Palace cascading earlier than ever in honor of Denver’s 150th birthday, but there will also be…
Underground Wrist Deep Productions has crawled out of its lair at the Squire Lounge to get high. The alt-comedy troupe (which includes Westword’s own Adam Cayton-Holland) is leaving the Mile High City and heading for the Laughs and Lifts Festival in Breckenridge to help the next gen of funny guys…
One thing I love about the start of the holiday shopping season is that I get to see all my old entrepreneurial and handy friends — all the tried-and-true gift markets that I’ve grown to love, come back for another year, full of unlimited browsing potential and good buys from…
