FRI, 6/20 Was there ever life before Harry? Depends on how you look at it: Harry Potter, you could argue, has always been here and always will be — if you throw out the usual boring restrictions of real time, which can’t possibly regulate happenings in the magical Hogwarts cosmos…
SUN, 6/22 Perhaps one of the most misunderstood tenets of Jewish law, the mikvah, or ritual monthly immersion by women after menstruation, is one of those things people don’t talk about. Among Orthodox Jewish women, though, it’s been practiced for centuries, handed down privately from woman to woman. For some…
FRI, 6/20 Comic Greg Proops has a simple image of himself: “I’m like Mt. Rushmore. People know I’m there, but they don’t visit me much anymore.” Say what? If this shocking — though obscure — admission is true, it’s probably because the Los Angeles-based stand-up comic and improviser spends much…
One of the most hotly discussed contemporary shows of the year is the 2003 Colorado Biennial: 10 + 10, at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The controversial show is undeniably important, which is not unexpected. After all, it’s the state’s official biennial and the lone summer attraction at Denver’s official…
Many of the city’s most prominent women artists are brought together in the Ladyfest Out West Art Exhibition at Andenken Gallery (2110 Market Street, 303-292-3281). The show is the art component of the larger Ladyfest Out West, an event that includes concerts by acts with names like Vox Feminista and…
Jake’s Women, now being staged by the Nomad Theatre company, is a strange pastiche of a play. It’s clearly autobiographical, combining those snappy, comic Neil Simon one-liners with some thoughts on the relationship between fiction and life, as well as a serious attempt at self-analysis. The central concept is a…
Somehow, I’ve managed to get through many years of theater-going without ever seeing Tartuffe, so I’m grateful to OpenStage Theatre for the opportunity. Unfortunately, this is essentially a college-level production, with a few good moments, many puzzling ones, and others that are downright amateurish. It’s a shame, because religious hypocrisy,…
You need not leave the house to know what’s playing in movie theaters in coming weeks. You’ve already seen these films, with titles consisting of letters followed by numbers. There’s no surprise in the dark, just the bumping into of familiar faces, legally blond or largely green, and furious franchises…
The most compelling characters in Jeff Blitz and Sean Welch’s vivid, eye-opening documentary Spellbound are not the film’s geeky, often bewildered twelve- and thirteen-year-olds, who find themselves shoved into the spotlight at the National Spelling Bee, but the overbearing, variously motivated parents who do the shoving. The film has generally…
There is a new movie out. It is called Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. It is a prequel to the 1994 movie by Peter and Bobby Farrelly called Dumb and Dumber. In that movie, Harry was played by Jeff Daniels. Lloyd was played by Jim Carrey. Parts of…
Mel Brooks’s none-too-funny parody of Star Wars, 1987’s Spaceballs, was released at the low ebb of the great comedian’s career. Two of Brooks’s most inventive movie hits, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, were already ancient history, buried back in the 1970s chapter of his life, and Broadway wouldn’t reinvent the…
Dorothy and Toto wistfully daydreamed about going over the rainbow, but The Other Side Arts gallery and Denver boutique Macho Sissy are focused on a much more purposeful destination as they present Beyond the Rainbow: A Multimedia, Multicultural, Multisexual Art Show, opening Friday, June 13. The event is part of…
Thursday, June 12 The nation’s oldest (and one of its biggest) whitewater events gets under way today in Salida, where the rambunctious Arkansas River races down from its headwaters with great purpose through one of the most technically challenging stretches of rapids anywhere. Several competitions, including the signature Pro Raft…
Clara Brown is not your typical operatic heroine. She’s no done-wrong courtesan, dying of consumption. She’s no callow teen, dying of a broken heart. She’s no Jezebel, no Valkyrie. She’s a washerwoman, an ex-slave who came to the gold camps of Colorado when she was about sixty years old (birth…
SAT, 6/14 Ever wished you could have been one of Mr. Roarke’s guests on Fantasy Island? Well, now’s your chance — sort of. The Church nightclub, at 1160 Lincoln Street, dishes up Carnival at 9 p.m. tonight, serving up a hearty helping of 1970s- seasoned cheese that includes gyrating go-go…
SAT, 6/14 Bob Bennish thinks the first annual Rocky Mountain Recumbent Rally will be relaxing. After all, participants — riding recumbent bicycles on which the riders are almost lying down — have to exert less effort than cyclists on upright models. “It’s more efficient and easier,” says organizer Bennish, himself…
TUES, 6/17 How, after seeing all that he saw, did Jack readjust to normal life once he descended the beanstalk? The Arvada Center deals with this question in the children’s-theater production of Under the Beanstalk. The answer? He didn’t. Picking up where the traditional tale leaves off, Under the Beanstalk…
FRI, 6/13 Carl Sagan once said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” At the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the time is now, and the place is the new Space Odyssey exhibit, which opens at 9 a.m. today. “Science is the creative exploration of the world and…
SAT, 6/14 Many new phrases — Ground Zero, “Let’s roll,” “axis of evil” — have entered the American lexicon since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The latest, “Dixie Chicked,” is a term signifying political backlash — and it’s one that rebel comedian Bill Maher can probably…
Summertime. For some of us, that means time to slow down, fire up the grill, stroll through free street fairs, maybe make out in the back of a car at the drive-in. Others want to experience every waking moment to the max: whitewater kayaking, mountain climbing, marathon running. No matter…
There’s no question about it. Temperatures are in the 80s. The days are longer. School is out. Inappropriate spandex is everywhere at Washington Park. The moths are back — in every nook, cranny and orifice. Your significant other is wearing the enchanting scent Off! to repel West Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes. Aurora…
I’d finally driven my 1986 Jeep Wagoneer into the ground. I’d driven it over the Rockies and the Sierras and all sorts of lesser mountain ranges. I’d driven it to the second-largest meteor crater in the country, just past the oil derricks and the tumbleweeds outside Odessa, Texas. I’d driven…
