Jared Jacang Maher may think that his Denver Doo-Doo Accord is funny, but it is just toilet talk, as I have c...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/news/letters-to-the-editor http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/news/from-hookers-to-greenpeace-everyone-has-something-to-sell-for-the-democratic-national-convention The flier being passed around at local churches isn't advertising Bible study — but anyone who gets involved may need to pray as they go. "Democratic National Convention Outreach Training," it advises. "An estimated 40,000 prostitutes will be brought into Denver for the Democratic National ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/news/from-hookers-to-greenpeace-everyone-has-something-to-sell-for-the-democratic-national-convention http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/like-jesse-elliott-these-united-states-is-constantly-moving-in-new-directions Whenever Jesse Elliott and his sister would begin to bicker in the back seat on family trips, their mother would threaten them with campfire songs and enlist their participation. Though the harmonica-led tunes were intended as a creative form of discipline, Elliott realizes now that the family si...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/like-jesse-elliott-these-united-states-is-constantly-moving-in-new-directions http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/the-kosmos-saved-money-pressing-cds-and-poured-the-profits-into-better-production Before forming their band Kosmos, brothers Ben and Tim Tonak grew up listening to Pearl Jam and could play nearly every song in the group's catalogue. Since then, the guys have gravitated to Radiohead and Jimmy Eat World, which instilled the act with "a garage-band sensibility with arena-rock acc...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/the-kosmos-saved-money-pressing-cds-and-poured-the-profits-into-better-production http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/meet-mike-relm-the-master-of-video-turntablism Mike Relm is a pioneer working in the medium of video turntablism. Mashing up snippets of video and music in a live setting and incorporating the scratching and other DJ tricks of traditional turntablism, Relm is helping to create a vibrant new art form. Since adding the video element to his mani...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/meet-mike-relm-the-master-of-video-turntablism http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/shwayze Most everything you need to know about horny, go-getting Los Angeles newcomer Shwayze can be gleaned from lines like this one from "Polaroid": "Woke up with a semi-hard dick/In a fat chick/Three this week/Call that a hat trick." Yeah, it's that bad. Oddly, though, the partly sung, partly rapped t...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/shwayze http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/scars-on-broadway In a wry comment on his reputation as a doctrinaire zealot, System of a Downer Daron Malakian kicks off the side project he shares with SOAD drummer John Dolyman by delivering "Serious," whose hook declares, "You're too serious for me." He's doesn't mean it, of course; any humor here is pure blac...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/scars-on-broadway http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/umconscious The video for this album's title track — a guided tour of Colfax locales such as Casa Bonita — makes it clear that the members of UmConscious (who open for Pepper at the Fox Theatre on Friday, August 16) would rather grin than grimace. But The Avenue isn't a straight-up rap sat...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/umconscious http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/dan-kaufman-superstar-eruption With a title like this for an album, you'd be excused for thinking that former Thorazine Frisbee mastermind Dan Kaufman has an absurdist, zen-like sense of humor. At first blush, the arrangement of sounds here bears comparison to the music put out by the Elephant 6 collective. Instead of Brian Wi...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/dan-kaufman-superstar-eruption http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/mini-reviews Death in June, The Rule of Thirds (Soleilmoon). Samples aside, you'd almost think this was a record straight out of the modern psych-folk movement. But Douglas Pearce has been cultivating this sound since Death in June began to evolve from its post-punk/proto-industrial beginnings 2...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/mini-reviews http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/slightly-stoopid A generation of teenagers is actively pissed off that Sublime's Brad Nowell overdosed after making only three albums — and for them, Slightly Stoopid, joined here by Sly & Robbie, Pepper and Half Pint, might be the next best thing. During the mid-'90s, Stoopid ones Miles Doughty and Kyle Mc...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/slightly-stoopid http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/jeremy-jones-xtet Jazz drummer Jeremy Jones grew up in Denver, but for the past five years he's lived in Seattle, where he plays in a number of bands, including his trio, the Teaching, and another outfit called the Xtet. On the last group's latest album, Awakening to Life, Jones shows off his first-rate com...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/jeremy-jones-xtet http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/natalie-portman-s-shaved-head For an act whose moniker alludes to the film version of V For Vendetta, graphic novelist Alan Moore's dystopian fantasia about a masked bomber, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head is pretty darned peppy. On Glistening Pleasure, the Seattle-based outfit's debut album, Luke Smith, Claire En...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/natalie-portman-s-shaved-head http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/tab-benoit Named Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year for the past two years by the National Blues Foundation, Tab Benoit rolls into town on a hot streak in support of his latest release, Night Train to Nashville. Expect Tab and his longtime backing outfit, Louisiana's LeRoux, to haul in a grit...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/tab-benoit http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/balmorhea Named after an obscure town in western Texas situated far from Austin, where the band is based, Balmorhea has a sound that's the stuff of daydreams and contemplation in a place where the pace of life is slow but you can find the answers to all your questions if you know how to look. Anyone withou...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/balmorhea http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/three-cheers-faraday-at-the-hi-dive It's unfortunate that the town that spawned the likes of Cavity and the VSS is now known mostly for jam bands whose hallmark is self-indulgent soloing. It comes as a pleasant surprise, then, that a band as dynamic, rich and concise as Three Cheers Faraday (due at the hi-dive on Friday, Aug...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/three-cheers-faraday-at-the-hi-dive http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/adultnapper-at-skylab Among all the stars at Skylab, it would be easy to overlook Adultnapper. This would be a mistake. The Brooklyn-based DJ/producer (aka Francis Harris) has been creating quite a splash with his productions, which hark back to the classic techno releases of Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman) but ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/adultnapper-at-skylab http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/rub-a-dubb-s-pub The closest I ever came to doing hard time was half an hour in a holding cell in Denver police headquarters after I was busted for shoplifting rubbers at the age of thirteen. If I hadn't gotten busted — at Skaggs Drug Store (now Rite-Aid), where they sat me in the manager's office and took ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/music/rub-a-dubb-s-pub http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/il-posto-proves-worth-the-wait My notes from my most recent meal at Il Posto are almost indecipherable — hasty scrawls on the back of an envelope I'd found in my car, on a credit-card receipt from my pocket. Moscato, they say. Froot loops, Van CA, stale, bur-stuffed chix boob, peach salt, shirt cuffs...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/il-posto-proves-worth-the-wait http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/little-pub-co-just-got-bigger-biting-off-the-british-bulldog In last week's Bite Me, I got into the ongoing saga of the Master family and their restaurant empire, which now consists of just one Denver restaurant: Mel's Anti-Bistro, at 1120 East Sixth Avenue. Talking with Mel and Jane and Charlie, I realized that I hadn't talked ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/little-pub-co-just-got-bigger-biting-off-the-british-bulldog http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/flight-of-blanco-tequila-at-billy-s-inn I grew up in Denver and remember seeing the Billy's Inn sign at the corner of 44th and Lowell forever — but somehow, I'd never made it inside this iconic bar. The building got its start as a service station in the '20s; in 1933, Billy and Judy Smith turned it into Billy's Inn. Though the jo...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/flight-of-blanco-tequila-at-billy-s-inn http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/lodo-s-bar-grill-raises-the-roof One of the first things I notice about Lodo's Bar & Grill (1946 Market Street) is that many of the female employees have curves, and I don't mean the humps made by a pair of 34Ds over a size-two waist. I mean hips, and asses that explain themselves. This actually puts me at ease. It makes ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/lodo-s-bar-grill-raises-the-roof http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/via-shows-the-way-for-consistent-italian-cuisine Some restaurants change over time. Some places stay exactly the same. The mission of Second Helping is to separate one from the other.

Via was an awesome restaurant when I reviewed it sixteen months ago. Opened by Venanzio and Anthony Momo — who also own Cucina Coloré in Cher...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/dining/via-shows-the-way-for-consistent-italian-cuisine http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/the-young-man-s-dream The last time I interviewed Woody Allen, at his editing suite on Manhattan's Upper East Side, he was preparing the release of Match Point (2005), a dark morality play about an ambitious — and ultimately homicidal — tennis instructor working his way up the rungs of London societ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/the-young-man-s-dream http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/vicky-cristina-barcelona Perhaps this review should begin with a disclaimer: Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen's 39th film as writer-director, will do little to endear itself to the happily-ever-after crowd or those who consider acts of infidelity punishable by impeachment. Leave it to Allen to make a r...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/vicky-cristina-barcelona http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/bottle-shock Bottle Shock, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is a great concept populated by great actors that works hard to make its audience feel great! Only, sadly, it's far, far from a great movie — a little too sweet to the taste, almost sickly so. Indeed,...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/film/bottle-shock http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/tiki-madness Voodoo Spells and Tiki Cur...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/tiki-madness http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/every-dog-has-its-day Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/every-dog-has-its-day http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/community-art Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/community-art http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/an-affair-to-remember Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/an-affair-to-remember http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/fat-chance Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/fat-chance http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/frank-talk What’s the Matter With Kansas?, which came out in 2004, correctly predicted the rise of “moral values” voters before they walked out of the polls that November....]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/frank-talk http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/bangin-down-your-block Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam will visit Fiddler&...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/bangin-down-your-block http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/pie-in-the-sky Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/pie-in-the-sky http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/don-t-fear-the-oyster Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/don-t-fear-the-oyster http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/frank-talk Thomas Frank decides to write an election-year book about Republican misrule, you should probably pay attention. What’s the Matter with Kansas? which came out in 2004, correctly predicted the rise of “moral values” voters before they walked out of the polls that Nov...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/frank-talk http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/whale-of-a-tale Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/whale-of-a-tale http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/model-material There’s a lot more we can learn from Zoolander besides the fact that Derek Zoolander is ridiculo...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/model-material http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/a-grain-of-basalt Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/a-grain-of-basalt http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/folk-me Folks Festival takes place in Lyons this weekend at the Planet Bluegrass Ranch (500 West Main Street, Lyons). Planet Bluegrass is well-known for its sustainability efforts, which means, among other things, that you won’t have to pitch ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/folk-me http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/political-molding Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/political-molding http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/modern-made-fun The Jetsons,” says hostess Dana Cain. “Modern design is so popular in Colorado right now, and it seemed like the ultimate thing I could do for Denver,” she adds, explaining t...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/modern-made-fun http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/dancing-in-the-street Western Welcome Week summer fete is actually all this and more, featuring no end o...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/dancing-in-the-street http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/community-art Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/community-art http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/political-molding Paint, Clay and Politics. Featuring the paintings of Theresa A. Anderson and the ceramic sculptur...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/calendar/political-molding http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/musketeer One of the things I love about Buntport is how the company comes at a subject from a genuinely original, sideways angle. Dramas based on Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers are usually romantic swashbucklers. But the Buntporters, who create their scripts through a collaborative p...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/musketeer http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/now-playing The Hot L Baltimore. Director Terry Dodd has arranged one of the sweetest, smartest, loveliest evenings of theater you'll ever have, by staging Lanford Wilson's The Hot L Baltimore in the lobby of the Barth Hotel. The play is a kind of extended tone poem about life in a se...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/now-playing http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/andenken-and-spark-galleries-get-the-words-out Don't count me among the biggest fans of what's called "street art," a loose category that runs the gamut from graffiti to wall murals, with the former often being used to vandalize the latter. Vandalism isn't the biggest problem with street art, though; the key issue is that it almost never work...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/andenken-and-spark-galleries-get-the-words-out http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/dialog-denver-at-robischon-gallery The one thing about Denver that I really can't stand is the relentless lack of support for local artists among the entities that could make a difference. Not only does this wrongheaded approach cheat the artists, but it shortchanges the city, too.

The latest affront is Dialog:City,...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/dialog-denver-at-robischon-gallery http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/now-showing About Us... et al. In the West Gallery at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is About Us..., put together by freelance curator Mark Addison, who brought in two dozen works of conceptual realism by a raft of internationally known artists in addition to pieces from his own ...]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-08-14/culture/now-showing