Arts & Culture

Cyndi Lauper sang openly about love, masturbation and (of course) unusual women in her 1983 hit album She’s So Unusual; now, nearly 25 years later, she’s bringing her message of acceptance to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on her True Colors Tour. The concert will feature Lauper, the B-52s, Rosie O’Donnell and…

Sure, barbecues and fireworks are great — but this year, why not celebrate your patriotism with a real bang? In honor of Independence Day, Burlesque As It Was will shimmy and shake it in red, white and blue in their USO Burlesque Show: Stars and Striptease tonight at 8 p.m…

If you’re looking to get away to where sand tickles your feet and bronzed men and women strut around all well-muscled and half naked, then look no further than the AVP Crocs Slam Boulder. Starting today at 10 a.m. and continuing through Sunday at Folsom Field, 29th Street and Colorado…

Ten million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost both of their parents to AIDS. “You read the statistics, but because the numbers are so huge, it doesn’t register until you can personalize it and see the life of one child,” says Kathy Burr, outreach director for Cherry Hills Community Church…

The characters who populate Daniel Grandbois’s collection Unlucky Lucky Days, which he’ll share tonight, are a wee bit eccentric. Take Carl, a man who removes his teeth with a pair of pliers, runs them through his washer and dryer and then reinserts them into his mouth, all because he ran…

In what Anne Waldman — one of the founders of Naropa University and a teacher at the university’s summer writing program — calls “the opening act for this summer’s Democratic National Convention,” students, staff and community will gather today to represent their view of the process in their own Poets…

Devastating tornados and comedy don’t really mix. After all, there are only so many jokes that can be made about flying houses and bicycles, à la The Wizard of Oz, before someone gets offended. But not tonight. The Comedy Works is partnering with local comics to put on Comic Relief…

Leave it to the alternative galleries to host an alternative July Fourth bash: Pirate, NEXT, Edge and Zip 37 galleries are celebrating the auspicious convergence of Independence Day (get it?) and First Friday with an All-Gallery Weenie Roast Picnic, taking place tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. and masterminded by…

Classic art is classic for a reason: It’s awesome. And lowbrow art is increasing in popularity every day for the same reason: also awesome. And if you could combine the two somehow, in a classic-lowbrow mash-up of extreme proportions, the results would be, well, beyond quantifiable. Want to see what…

Big thinkers from the little town of Glendale really do have a lot to crow about, now that the block-wide Infinity Park complex, with its state-of-the-art rugby stadium, newly minted YMCA-run fitness center and not-quite-finished event center, is mostly off the ground and running. And what better time to do…

This year’s 3-Ring Weekend at Copper Mountain will be a little different from those of previous years. The biggest change: It’s all green. “We’ve put a whole new eco-emphasis on the weekend,” notes Copper’s David Roth. So on top of the free live music by mountain favorites Rusted Root, you’ll…

Chances are good that you weren’t able to attend any of the World Series games last October at Coors Field — and given the Rockies’ performance so far this year, you aren’t likely to have another chance anytime soon. Fortunately for you, baseball fan, competitive spirits are still high on…

The morning after playing a party for his high-school graduation, Josh “Reverend” Peyton woke up with severe pain in his hands. Doctors thought that Peyton, who had been playing guitar for five years, would never play again. “For almost two years, I didn’t play,” Peyton notes. “I ended up having…

I love arts festivals. In my daydreams, I have unlimited cash in hand and time off work to peruse every last one within driving distance. But those dreams haven’t come true yet, and I can only make it to one or two fests throughout the summer. The one that’s always…

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 summer season includes eleven concerts over 23 days in July. That’s a test of skill as well as endurance on the part of the players, who should be just as crisp tonight in City Park as they will be playing similar material on July 26…

“Hip-hop is more than just one thing,” says Denver Film Society programming manager Keith Garcia, the man behind a new Wednesday series titled Next Stop, Hip Hop. “It’s an attitude, it’s a style — it’s a whole world.” The flicks Garcia’s assembled examine hip-hop from every angle. First up was…

Chicago’s Bird Names make freaky, folky, psychedelic rock for unhinged minds and untrimmed beards. If you gave Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett a cardboard box full of homemade instruments and unlimited use of the Little Rascals as their backup band, they might give back something like this. Tue., July 8,…

Michael Chavez, curator at the Foothills Art Center (809 Fifteenth Street, Golden, 303-279-3922, www.foothillsartcenter.org) has put together a marvelous group show called Artists in Residence: Anderson Ranch. As indicated by that title, the exhibit is made up of works by artists who teach or who’ve had residencies at the world…

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past few years, you’ll know about The Secret, that phenomenon of a film that discusses the Law of Attraction — basically, your life is your responsibility; you manifest your problems as well as your solutions. Now, I don’t necessarily buy into…