Antonín Dvořák had strong misgivings about making the long journey from his native Bohemia to the United States. “America is full of Indians and wild animals,” the Czech composer declared in 1892, after the prestigious National Conservatory of Music offered him a teaching post in New York City. Despite his…
If you read Westword with any regularity, you will know that we’ve got a boner for compiling “best of” lists. It’s a win-win situation. It’s our job to keep up on this stuff, so they’re easy for us to put together; you have a real job and not enough time…
Keeping in line with Camel’s historically “urbane” branding strategy, the tobacco company has for the last few months been pushing a series of specially branded cigarette packs commemorating select cities known for their cool: Austin and Seattle, for example, have been highlighted. And while those cities have well known reputations…
When the exhibit Warhol in Colorado opens for public viewing today at DU’s Myhren Gallery, one of the show’s major components will include photos taken of Warhol by Colorado photographers in the early ’80s, when the pop artist visited Fort Collins amid much hoopla for a major exhibition of his…
Cathy Cruz Marrero, the Pennsylvania woman now famous for starring in a viral video — wherein she falls into a fountain at the Berkshire Mall while texting — appeared on Good Morning America with her attorney, James Polyak, yesterday. Marrero and pal Polyak are currently pursuing a possible lawsuit against,…
Using the works of Stephen Batura as inspiration, perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz will combine sight and scent for a live audience tonight at Sense BMoCA, where she will mix up new perfumes on the spot toward the end of answering one of life’s most persistent questions: What does this art…
When you sit down to play a game of Monopoly or Scrabble or whatever, you probably don’t think much about how the game is a system of rules and balances initially figured out by one or two people. Those rules, combined with the social experience, are what Nate Hayden is…
We’ve taken admiring notice before of the local knitting fiends, such as the Ladies Fancywork Society, who are brightening up our cityscape with tags of public art and that burst of wildflowers along the tedious fencing of the Union Station project. Now the mayhem has extended to sculptor George Carlson’s…
Dana Cain makes no secret of her blossoming identity as a collector of works by local artists, and is always looking for ways to share her fervor: Her latest, the Art Collectors Summit series, debuts this evening during the Art District in Santa Fe’s Third Friday event, offering gallery-goers a…
When the exhibit Warhol in Colorado debuts tonight at DU’s Myhren Gallery, one of the show’s major components will include photos taken of Warhol by Colorado photographers in the early ’80s, when the pop artist visited Fort Collins amid much hoopla for a major exhibition of his works, assembled by…
Fresh from the movie news wire comes the announcement that Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman in the third entry to Chris Nolan’s gritty Batman series, inexplicably titled The Dark Knight Rises (probably because these movies make everyone involved a lot of dough). The character was introduced in the first official…
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that’s the case, everyone involved in coming up with the cover image for Westword’s recent feature on local type and design maestro Rick Griffith — and the list includes photographer Eric Magnussen, Westword Art Director Jay Vollmar and Griffith…
It’s about time. Yesterday, the illustrious Emilio Estevez announced that he and his father, Martin Sheen, are working on a joint memoir; it’s called Along the Way, and they’re looking to release it on Father’s Day 2012. Now, we don’t necessarily care all that much about Martin Sheen, but we’ve…
Colorado has a rich history in ceramics going back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but it was in the period from the 1950s to the 1990s that the ceramics scene here really hit its stride, with masters of the medium Nan and Jim McKinnell, Betty Woodman and…
Painter Jenny Morgan, a Salt Lake native with a Denver history, is now based in New York City, but her ties to the region, where she attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, are strong. Morgan came up through the gallery ranks here, from the co-ops to her…
Hal Gould started curating photo shows back in 1963 when he was the director of exhibitions for the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. Then, in 1979, he opened Camera Obscura Gallery near the corner of Bannock Street and 13th Avenue, which became the first and one of the only photo-specialists ever…
Critics are praising Ryan Gosling’s latest film, Blue Valentine, for bringing all the soul-crushing elements of a break-up onto the big screen. It’s a good movie, if not a feel-good movie. Gosling’s counterpart in the movie is Michelle Williams, the latest actress to star opposite the 30-year-old squinting star. Here…
This week, Mile Highs and Lows reviewed a hand-blown glass pipe from Heady Glass in Englewood. Aside from puffing on the pipe, I also spent some time hanging out with resident glass artists Ben “Spice” Crowley as he put the finishing touches on a custom hash oil bubbler, talking about…
By some scientific estimates, over half the internet consists of pornography. That statistic is actually made up, but there’s no doubt that there is a mind-boggling amount of porn out there — so much of it, in fact, that there is a universal rule for it: “Rule 34: If it…
The Flying O.H.N.O. Twins do a lot of things, but it’s also kind of hard to explain exactly what they do. Since the end of September, Donald Fodness and Alvin Gregorio’s (they’re the twins, you know) installation Shut Your Face Off has been intriguing and mildly confusing people at the…
Wow. That was fascinating. You know, we’ve heard a lot of interesting things in our lives, but that thing you just said? That was by far the most interesting. Just to let you know how awesome you are, and because it’s Wednesday, the day that we bring you the best…
We all know fantasy is better than reality, because in reality you have to do stuff you don’t want to do, and you have to face the fact that there will be some things you’ll just never be good at, either for lack of time to learn or lack of…
