These renowned figures have mastered their respective businesses with tough-as-nails willpower, big ideas and inventive perspectives.
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Monday, December 31, 2018
Execs of 2018: Retail Industry Women of the Year Share Tips for Career Success
Loving Yourself Is Key When Camming
It was the night before writing an article, when I fell asleep after watching another “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Last thing I remember, was saying “Amen! You have to have self-love!”
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Sunday, December 30, 2018
Financial Clips Domination
It’s been a little over a year since I started my femdom clip store with iWantClips. In that time I’ve had many eye-opening experiences and have even met a lot of amazing dommes within the industry.
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Saturday, December 29, 2018
Building a Badass Brand
Where to even begin? It’s almost 2019 and social media runs the world. For most adult performers, premium Snapchat, content trades etc. are fairly new developments, but not for me.
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Friday, December 28, 2018
WIA Profile: Kat Revenga
Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry’s most influential female executives.
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Winter Park Resort’s new gondola officially opened Thursday
By McKenna Harford, Ski-Hi News
After months of anticipation, Winter Park Resort opened its new 10-person Gondola Thursday afternoon, just in time for the busiest weekend at the resort.
Steve Hurlbert, director of public relations and communications for the resort, said the opening has been a long time coming and the words relieved and excited don’t do the feeling of opening it justice.
“It’s been a ton of hard work, but just to see it open and see people’s faces when they get to ride it has been so worth all the trials and tribulations to get to this point,” Hurlbert said.
The Gondola replaced the Zephyr Express lift and runs from the base of the resort to the top of the mountain at Sunspot Lodge. Its 10-person capacity is a significant upgrade from the four-person Zephyr lift and the Gondola holds 75 cabins total.
Read more about the gondola’s opening at Sky-Hi News.
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Zalo’s Ultra-Femme Designer Sex Toys Put the Pretty in Playtime
If orgasms aren’t enough to make you feel like a pleasure goddess, take a twirl around your sensual parts with one Zalo’s flirty, femme-themed vibes.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Q&A: AbbyWinters Blooms With Naturally Delicious Content
When an erotic fantasy feels close enough to touch and natural enough to experience yourself, the seductive line between reality and imagination reaches a fever pitch.
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Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Embracing Intellect Over Emotion in the Retail Space
Working in this industry, one quickly discovers that there is very little room for squeamishness.
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Monday, December 24, 2018
Q&A: Ryan Madison Wields Business Artistry With Kelly Madison
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Sunday, December 23, 2018
Entrenched Institutions Battle Crypto Ascendancy
After the last few years of wild speculation and hyperbolic promises, there definitely was a small group of people who made immense profits from a variety of alternative economy devices.
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Saturday, December 22, 2018
A primer to cross country skiing in Colorado for the uninitiated
Downhill skiing is an awesome sport but, let’s face it, it comes with some hassles. Usually there are lines to get on the lifts. Slopes, lodges and parking lots get overcrowded, detracting from the solitude we seek in the mountains.
Maybe, then, this is the winter you ought to give cross country skiing a try. Skiing at a Nordic center is much cheaper than downhill skiing, and equipment is also much cheaper to buy or rent. The learning curve is faster and trails are seldom crowded. Cross country skiing also can give you a full-body workout that downhill skiing can’t deliver.
If you really like it, you can graduate quickly from the Nordic center to backcountry skiing, which is free. You will be much better off if you start at a Nordic center, though.
“We do think that the backcountry is the ultimate experience in Nordic, if you have the skills, the practice, a few lessons under your belt, and then you’ve upgraded to backcountry equipment,” said Therese Dayton, who has operated the Breckenridge Nordic Center for decades with her husband, Gene. “We want you to take a lesson, have an experience with rest facilities, parking, food service and retail so you can have the best experience, the softest adventure.
“People try to come through the back door of the sport, directly into the backcountry with equipment that may not have been properly fitted, or it’s cold, or they get a little lost, or the trail is a little longer than they expected. We’re going to welcome you in, we’re going to show you a trail map, everything is mapped and marked and has a trail name so you don’t accidentally get on an intermediate or advanced trail that you didn’t want to go on.”
Here, then, is a primer on cross country skiing for the uninitiated.
Cost of passes and equipment: Most cross country areas charge $18-$25 for a day of skiing. Purchasing a full set of equipment, including skis, boots, bindings and poles will cost around $500, about the same as you’d pay for a pair of downhill boots.
“The trend that I’ve been seeing with cross country skiing is that it’s becoming more family-oriented,” said Mike Sheridan, who works in the ski department at REI’s downtown Denver flagship store. “It used to be fairly individual, people just going out on their own. Now, when you are looking at the fact that you can get each person in the family set up for $500 for skis, bindings, boots and poles, it’s much more feasible to get out and enjoy the outdoors in the winter versus alpine ski set-ups where you’re looking at $500 for boots, $500 for skis, $200 for bindings, another $50 for poles.”
Technique: The traditional diagonal stride “kick-and-glide” technique, often called “classical,” has been around for more than 100 years.
“In about an hour, we can have you skiing and feeling great about it,” Dayton said. “As your balance improves, you fall down less and you use the tracks more efficiently.”
Skate skiing emerged as another cross country technique in the 1980s after American Bill Koch used it to win a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics, and it is popular in recreational racing.
Equipment: Cross country gear is much lighter than downhill equipment. Skis designed for use at Nordic centers are narrow, while skis intended for the backcountry are slightly wider and have metal edges. Because cross country gear is designed for free-heel movement, it’s easier for a beginner to maneuver. For that reason, cross country can be a great first step for kids even if the ultimate goal is getting them into downhill skiing because they can get comfortable walking around on free-heeled skinny skis.
“It also teaches them the basics of getting into a snowplow to stop,” Sheridan said, “which is crucial when you get into an alpine set-up.”
Trail grooming: Nordic centers groom trails for both techniques. A “track set” trail has parallel grooves to help classical skiers stay on course.
“Set track means that one ski goes in one track, the other one goes in the other track,” Dayton said. “It makes it easier because you’re gliding within a guided track. You don’t have to stay in that track, but we will show you how you can slow down by taking one foot out of the track with the other foot still in the track. Eventually you can step in and out of tracks, go around corners in tracks.”
Lessons: Cross country is easier to pick up than downhill skiing, and lessons are cheaper. Breckenridge, for example, charges $60 for a group lesson that includes a trail pass.
“I tell people that for less than $100, you can come to the Nordic center, take the lesson, rent the equipment,” Dayton said. “For us, it’s $83 — $60 for the lesson and $23 for the rental, including a trail pass. You can take an hour and a half lesson, then ski all day.”
You could ask a friend to teach you in the backcountry, but you would be risking a bad experience.
“At a Nordic center, they can shuffle around, they can use the rest facilities, get a cup of coffee or a hot chocolate, sit by the fire and warm up,” Dayton said. “If the equipment doesn’t feel right, you don’t go for four and a half hours and get a blister like you do in the backcountry. In the backcountry, you’re sort of making your own tracks, but there may be dog tracks, there may be people who went with a snowmobile or snowshoes. All of a sudden, you get to a corner or a little bit of a downhill, it’s a harrowing experience.”
Health benefits: You can go as slow or as fast as you want, but once you get the hang of it you can count on burning 600-700 calories per hour. Because you’re using your arms, legs and core muscles, it’s a whole-body exercise with low impact on joints that will strengthen your cardiovascular system while improving balance.
“It’s a gliding sport, and it’s aerobic. The health benefits are unparalleled,” Dayton said. “It encompasses all aspects of fitness: strength, flexibility, agility, balance, your core. Those are things everybody is trying to do in a gym with weights and fitness machines. You can regulate at a pace that keeps you within your aerobic zone. That’s why it’s such good cross training.”
How to find a Nordic center: Check out the website of the Colorado Cross Country Ski Association (coloradocrosscountry.com) for a list of cross county areas, pass deals, races and fun events.
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Embrace Your Media Buying Style
What is your media buying style? Not everyone’s buying style is the same. For example, some time ago we had an individual working with us who had a very specific way of buying media (and they seemed like they knew what they were doing).
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Friday, December 21, 2018
The Rocky Road of Regulations in 2018
Part of everyday driving is avoiding potholes as you navigate often crowded streets. Rocky roads can lead to flat tires and banged up wheels if you’re not careful.
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Thursday, December 20, 2018
Halfway between Chicago and L.A., a comedy festival blooms in Trinidad, Colorado, thanks to a train line
Until a couple months ago, Wally Wallace didn’t even know Trindad had a train line.
“Then I realized it was the halfway station connecting Chicago and Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief,” said Wallace, a digital media producer who visited Trinidad while touring the state for a public-TV project with Denver’s Sexpot Comedy. “And that’s when I started thinking it would be a cool place to do comedy, since it’s halfway between two of the biggest comedy cities in the country: Chicago and L.A. Plus, it’s just below Denver and just above Santa Fe.”
A former Colorado mining town 200 miles south of Denver (and, for a time, the “sex-change capital of the world”), Trinidad sits in Las Animas County on the border with New Mexico. Until a few years ago, civic boosters mostly grappled with shuttered buildings, a lack of jobs and a newly legal marijuana industry that threatened to transform Trinidad into a glorified rest stop for stoned tourists.
But the people and money that cannabis brought paralleled a cultural revival in the town, thanks in part to state-level investment — including the ambitious, $17 million Space to Create live/work arts project — and sundry creatives flocking there for the quiet, affordable, historic environment. The current crush of construction, investments and growing buzz about Trinidad’s arts scene continues to snare new residents, including Wallace.
“I immediately fell in love with it, and actually just bought a house there,” Wallace said. “Which came along with this whole idea for the Southwest Chief festival.”
Scheduled May 2 through May 5, the Southwest Chief Bicycle and Comedy Festival seems like one of those peak-Colorado concepts that combines a love of the outdoors, bicycle fetishism and the obligatory live entertainment-and-partying. But as a key former producer with Sexpot Comedy, a digital media producer for Denver’s Birdy Magazine, and a veteran music and events promoter in the region, Wallace comes by his novel idea honestly.
“I used to work with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and I see the same kind of potential in Trinidad,” he said. “There’s no skiing in Trinidad, obviously, but it reminds me of different mountain and Western Slope towns in Colorado, geographically and culturally.”
Named after the historic, 2,265-mile passenger line that begins and ends in both L.A. and Chicago (currently operated by Amtrak), the Southwest Chief festival invites attendees along the Chief’s national stops to hop on and spend a weekend watching stand-up comedy and relaxing at Trinidad venues such as Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre, Brix Sports Bar, Las Animas Grill, Moose’s Martini Bar & Social Club, Jujo’s Dancehall and Hot Yoga on Main.
The festival’s relatively modest launch goals — 600 attendees per day, a $100,000 operating budget and about 100 comics — have been supported by sponsors such as former Denver comic Jim Hickox’s L.A.-based Bigtop Studios, Birdy, Giddyup Bikeshare and Backshop Bicycle Travel Supply. If Wallace can fill a couple of train cars — one from L.A. and one from Chicago, both headed to Trinidad — he’ll be happy.
For the rest of the attendees, he’s hoping to draw from the Front Range and north-central New Mexico, given the increasing artistic give-and-take between those regions that has produced organizations like Santa Fe’s lauded art-freak company Meow Wolf, which is preparing to break ground on a 90,000-square-foot Denver location.
Trains will depart Los Angeles and Chicago on May 2 and arrive in Trinidad on May 3. Once there, Wallace said, all festival-bound passengers can meet up with the dozens of comedians and other attendees. Having been in touch with Trinidad Mayor Phil Rico and various civic boosters, Wallace convinced the town’s Carnegie Public Library to hold free, family-friendly comedy and activities there on the Saturday of the festival.
Bicyclists are encouraged to bring their own bikes, and those who don’t (or can’t) are invited to get one from Giddyup — the town’s first-ever bikeshare program with 12 locations — or hit fellow sponsor Backshop for a guided gravel-bike tour. Rubberside Down Cyclery will also provide festival-specific pedicabs throughout the event.
“A number of years ago, I got my car taken by the city of Denver because I’d gotten so many parking tickets,” Wallace said. “So I’ve become a big bicyclist. And even though you don’t see many bicycles in Trinidad right now, they’re doing more and more things to become bike-friendly.”
On Thursday, Sen. Michael Bennet also announced more than $9 million in federal money for improving the safety of the Southwest Chief line between Dodge City, Kan., and Las Animas, signaling continued support for the one the festival’s thematic pillars.
Headliners are still being confirmed as Wallace pushes a $100,000 Indiegogo campaign for the remainder of his budget. That hasn’t stopped him from announcing nearly two dozen comics on southwestchieffest.com, including Kyle Pogue, ShaNae Ross, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald and Carly Ballerini. He hopes to add more soon, including Denver expats Jordan Doll and Chris Charpentier, Second City performers from Chicago, and Colorado favorites David Gborie and Sam Tallent.
“Being realistic, I think we need at least $50,000 to turn into the type of festival we’d like to be,” Wallace said. “But in the long run, what I’d really like to do is come up with a big enough budget to film and record it, then pitch it as a docu-comedy series to a network like Netflix, which just announced their first Albuquerque production studio.”
Pre-sales for the festival are currently underway, with single-day passes running between $50 and $75, and VIP train-and-festival passes starting at $200, with tickets set to go up to full price on Jan. 15. Visit southwestchieffest.com/tickets for more information.
And if you like innovative cultural experiments, keep your fingers crossed for Wallace.
“Honestly, we have enough right now for it to be a cool, low-key mountain town fest,” he said. “But I want it to grow as the town grows, so we’re trying to get established there while the economy is still undergoing a lot of (changes). Maybe we can even help Trinidad out a little bit.”
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Education, Inclusion in Store for Patrons of Eugene, Ore.’s As You Like It
Of the many sex shops that dot the landscape across the U.S., As You Like It; The Pleasure Shop, a female-owned, gender-inclusive and eco-friendly adult toy and novelties store in Eugene, Oregon, stands out as a new breed among boutique retailers.
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Winter Park ski train gets lounge car with beer, wine and intoxicating views
The mood on the Winter Park Express ski train will be a little more spirited when service begins in January, thanks to the addition of a lounge car that not only will offer snacks and refreshments but beer and wine.
The views will be intoxicating as well. The new railcar will be a two-level Amtrak “Superliner Sightseer” with windows that start at floor level and wrap into the ceiling, offering vistas of spectacular scenery as the train climbs through Jefferson County, the rocky foothills near Eldorado Canyon and the historic Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide. The train stops right at the Winter Park base, which sits at the west portal of the 6.2-mile tunnel that opened in 1928.
The first Winter Park Express of the season will roll out of Denver’s Union Station on Jan. 4.
Three kinds of beer — Fat Tire Amber and Blue Moon ($7.50), and Coors Light ($5.50) — will be offered. Woodbridge wines (chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot) will be priced at $6.50. Light snacks will include chips, nuts, candy and sweets. Coffee, tea, water, juice and soft drinks also will be available.
The lounge car is expected to become the social hub of the train with open seating on both levels.
Service is expanding this season, too, with the addition of three Friday round trips. Starting the first weekend in January, the Winter Park Express will operate Saturdays and Sundays through March 31. There also will be service on the first two Fridays of each month. Fares start at $29 each way, and children (12 and under) ride for half-off when traveling with ticketed adults.
Winter Park Express trains depart Union Station at 7 a.m., arriving at the resort at approximately 9 a.m. Return trips leave at 4:30 p.m.and are scheduled to pull into Union Station at 6:40 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress.
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Winter Park ski train gets lounge car with beer, wine and intoxicating views
The mood on the Winter Park Express ski train will be a little more spirited when service begins in January, thanks to the addition of a lounge car that not only will offer snacks and refreshments but beer and wine.
The views will be intoxicating as well. The new railcar will be a two-level Amtrak “Superliner Sightseer” with windows that start at floor level and wrap into the ceiling, offering vistas of spectacular scenery as the train climbs through Jefferson County, the rocky foothills near Eldorado Canyon and the historic Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide. The train stops right at the Winter Park base, which sits at the west portal of the 6.2-mile tunnel that opened in 1928.
The first Winter Park Express of the season will roll out of Denver’s Union Station on Jan. 4.
Three kinds of beer — Fat Tire Amber and Blue Moon ($7.50), and Coors Light ($5.50) — will be offered. Woodbridge wines (chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot) will be priced at $6.50. Light snacks will include chips, nuts, candy and sweets. Coffee, tea, water, juice and soft drinks also will be available.
The lounge car is expected to become the social hub of the train with open seating on both levels.
Service is expanding this season, too, with the addition of three Friday round trips. Starting the first weekend in January, the Winter Park Express will operate Saturdays and Sundays through March 31. There also will be service on the first two Fridays of each month. Fares start at $29 each way, and children (12 and under) ride for half-off when traveling with ticketed adults.
Winter Park Express trains depart Union Station at 7 a.m., arriving at the resort at approximately 9 a.m. Return trips leave at 4:30 p.m.and are scheduled to pull into Union Station at 6:40 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2018
7 Denver restaurants coming in 2019 to get excited about
If your New Year’s resolution involves eating more lobster rolls, flambéed Baked Alaska ice cream pops and milled-to-order flour, then boy do we have good news for you. The coming year is going to be another delicious one in and around Denver. From breakfast to dinner to second snack to third dessert, these are the upcoming restaurants we’re the most excited about in 2019.
Restaurant Tonno
Food bravery takes two. It requires an open-minded diner, willing to try anything, and a maverick chef taking a gamble on a tricky concept. Restaurant Tonno from chef Alec Bruno is shaping up to be a brave, tasting-menu-only restaurant that will give Denver diners an 11- to 20-course edible adventure. Go for it, you culinary daredevil, you. 2201 W. 32d Ave., Denver; opening in the spring
Maine Shack
Hear us out on this one, because we get it: $34 for a sandwich served in a hot dog bun? That’s pretty ludicrous. But a half pound of lobster ain’t cheap, kids, and if Maine Shack, from the culinary team behind Bar Dough and Señor Bear, truly serves the state’s best lobster roll, then we think that’s worth the anticipation (and maybe even the money). Not as big of a spender? The quarter-pound rolls start at $22. 1535 Central St., Denver; opening in the spring
Broadway Market
True, there are elements of diminishing returns on excitement over food halls these days, now that we already have Avanti, Milk Market, Zeppelin Station and Stanley Marketplace. But Broadway Market, in the former Tony’s Market space and from the Stanley team, is giving us a couple of new things to get excited about, namely Pizzeria Coperta from chef Paul C. Reilly and Mother Tongue’s Turkish-style street food from chef Daniel Asher. If the offerings are good, keep the food halls coming. 950 Broadway, Denver; broadwaymarketdenver.com; opening in January
TORO
You may have known that the word “toro” means bull in Spanish, but did you know it means “tuna meat” in Japanese? This is good to know, because TORO, the upcoming restaurant from chef Richard Sandoval (Tamayo, the now-defunct Zengo) will blend Pan Latin with Japanese and Chinese influences. Mmmm, global. 150 Clayton Lane, Denver (inside the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek); richardsandoval.com; opening late spring
Dry Storage
Finally, a spot combining our two favorite food groups: grains and chocolate. From chef Kelly Whitaker (Basta, The Wolf’s Tailor) and the team behind Fortuna Chocolate, this Boulder bakery and retail shop will be a coffee/dessert/bulk-grain-bar hybrid. Translation? Get a side of dark chocolate pistachio truffles with your milled-to-order farro flour. Oh, and there will also be booze. 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; opening in January
American Grind
Since its early days as a food truck and then a restaurant inside Avanti Food & Beverage in January 2017, American Grind has collected fans for its locally sourced burgers. Plus, its beet and sweet potato-based veggie burgers have earned plenty of vegetarian praise. Now, Grind will finally have the space to expand its menu in its upcoming Wash Park location, which means more burgers, chicken sandwiches and sides. 81 S. Pennsylvania St., Denver; americangrindco.com; opening in April
The Constellation Ice Cream
We thought that Little Man’s Stapleton outpost would open in 2018, but we also thought that this would be the year we returned to civility and common sense, and just look what happened there. Anyway, The Constellation will be housed in an all-glass, conical building topped with a 75-foot replica of an airplane wing in an homage to the former airport site, so that’s cool. And in addition to the scratch-made ice cream you already know and love, it’ll serve flambéed Baked Alaska ice cream cake pops, so even cooler. 10155 E. 29th Dr., Denver; littlemanicecream.com; opening early 2019
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” former Indiana Rep. Charles Brownson said of the press. But we need your help to keep up with the rising cost of ink.
Get your first month for just 99 cents when you subscribe to The Post.
[Read More …]
7 Denver restaurants coming in 2019 to get excited about
If your New Year’s resolution involves eating more lobster rolls, flambéed Baked Alaska ice cream pops and milled-to-order flour, then boy do we have good news for you. The coming year is going to be another delicious one in and around Denver. From breakfast to dinner to second snack to third dessert, these are the upcoming restaurants we’re the most excited about in 2019.
Restaurant Tonno
Food bravery takes two. It requires an open-minded diner, willing to try anything, and a maverick chef taking a gamble on a tricky concept. Restaurant Tonno from chef Alec Bruno is shaping up to be a brave, tasting-menu-only restaurant that will give Denver diners an 11- to 20-course edible adventure. Go for it, you culinary daredevil, you. 2201 W. 32d Ave., Denver; opening in the spring
Maine Shack
Hear us out on this one, because we get it: $34 for a sandwich served in a hot dog bun? That’s pretty ludicrous. But a half pound of lobster ain’t cheap, kids, and if Maine Shack, from the culinary team behind Bar Dough and Señor Bear, truly serves the state’s best lobster roll, then we think that’s worth the anticipation (and maybe even the money). Not as big of a spender? The quarter-pound rolls start at $22. 1535 Central St., Denver; opening in the spring
Broadway Market
True, there are elements of diminishing returns on excitement over food halls these days, now that we already have Avanti, Milk Market, Zeppelin Station and Stanley Marketplace. But Broadway Market, in the former Tony’s Market space and from the Stanley team, is giving us a couple of new things to get excited about, namely Pizzeria Coperta from chef Paul C. Reilly and Mother Tongue’s Turkish-style street food from chef Daniel Asher. If the offerings are good, keep the food halls coming. 950 Broadway, Denver; broadwaymarketdenver.com; opening in January
TORO
You may have known that the word “toro” means bull in Spanish, but did you know it means “tuna meat” in Japanese? This is good to know, because TORO, the upcoming restaurant from chef Richard Sandoval (Tamayo, the now-defunct Zengo) will blend Pan Latin with Japanese and Chinese influences. Mmmm, global. 150 Clayton Lane, Denver (inside the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek); richardsandoval.com; opening late spring
Dry Storage
Finally, a spot combining our two favorite food groups: grains and chocolate. From chef Kelly Whitaker (Basta, The Wolf’s Tailor) and the team behind Fortuna Chocolate, this Boulder bakery and retail shop will be a coffee/dessert/bulk-grain-bar hybrid. Translation? Get a side of dark chocolate pistachio truffles with your milled-to-order farro flour. Oh, and there will also be booze. 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; opening in January
American Grind
Since its early days as a food truck and then a restaurant inside Avanti Food & Beverage in January 2017, American Grind has collected fans for its locally sourced burgers. Plus, its beet and sweet potato-based veggie burgers have earned plenty of vegetarian praise. Now, Grind will finally have the space to expand its menu in its upcoming Wash Park location, which means more burgers, chicken sandwiches and sides. 81 S. Pennsylvania St., Denver; americangrindco.com; opening in April
The Constellation Ice Cream
We thought that Little Man’s Stapleton outpost would open in 2018, but we also thought that this would be the year we returned to civility and common sense, and just look what happened there. Anyway, The Constellation will be housed in an all-glass, conical building topped with a 75-foot replica of an airplane wing in an homage to the former airport site, so that’s cool. And in addition to the scratch-made ice cream you already know and love, it’ll serve flambéed Baked Alaska ice cream cake pops, so even cooler. 10155 E. 29th Dr., Denver; littlemanicecream.com; opening early 2019
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” former Indiana Rep. Charles Brownson said of the press. But we need your help to keep up with the rising cost of ink.
Get your first month for just 99 cents when you subscribe to The Post.
[Read More …]
K Contemporary brings new stamina to Denver’s struggling commercial art scene
In one quick year, Doug Kacena has turned Denver’s commercial art scene on its head, upending many of the current, common assumptions about where for-profit galleries are headed in the 21st century.
His new K Contemporary gallery downtown is thriving after just 12 months in business, and along the way it is revitalizing the careers of local artists and giving the city a fresh place to see, and shop for, some of the most interesting new art around.
No doubt, K is bucking the trend. Denver’s galleries are in sharp decline these days, squeezed by rising real estate prices locally and the international shopping trends that have moved commerce online and away from brick-and-mortar retail shops. Just this month, the Golden Triangle’s Goodwin Fine Art, a stalwart of the scene with 40 top-tier artists on its roster, announced it was closing its doors at the end of the year. Rumors are flying about which gallery might be next to go.
Kacena certainly isn’t unaware of the retail realities. He’s both a veteran of the local gallery scene and a victim of it, having worked at other shops that went out of business in recent years.
But he’s undeterred, moving forward in the belief that the right roster and an eager sales effort can survive the times. He’s also got a solid business model as a member of the 1412 Gallery Collective, which has three enterprises — K, Abend Gallery and Gallery 1261 — sharing exhibition space and overhead expenses at their combined headquarters at 1412 Wazee Street. It’s a smart-looking place and a wise financial arrangement.
And it has given Kacena the ability to recruit serious talents, both established artists and newcomers. Among them: Monique Crine, Kevin Sloan, Scott Young, Daisy Patton, Suchitra Mattai, Michael Dowling, Michael Gadlin, Jonathan Saiz, Mario Zoots and Melissa Furness. He has 21 names, so far, and is hopes to sign up double that.
The current exhibition, “As of Now,” brings them all together into an entertaining group show meant to celebrate year one. For the public, it offers a convenient sampling of local talent. All of K’s artists have contributed at least one piece to the effort.
It is particularly strong in painting, though it comes in all varieties and levels of abstraction. At one end, there’s Furness’ oil-on-canvas “Caput Mortuum,” which weaves together two dozen, nearly-naked Renaissance-era figures into an orgy of overwrought emotions. At 6-by-8, the piece has a monumental tone, capturing the light-and-dark style of master paintings while updating the subject matter to evoke both the sinewy bodies and the sort of dark inner dialogue associated with the comic book superheroes that are so trendy right now. The piece feels ancient and current at the same time.
At there other end, there’s Trey Egan’s “Spark and Flicker,” a mash of colorful gestures that has bold yellows, greens and blues coming together on a canvas that’s left intentionally white in the background. It’s one of those pieces that will stop and hold you as you examine its mix of solid, flat fields of color mingling with expressive, textured marks that keep it in constant motion.
More current, perhaps, are multimedia pieces by Zoots, Patton and Mattai, who do that thing young artists do these days, which is to take existing found materials and re-conceive them into something new.
Zoots is a collage artist, and his six-part, framed “Floating Features” series has cut-outs from magazines and photos, hyper-reduced to simple shapes and reassembled into complex arrangements with entirely new meanings.
Patton does the opposite. Instead of reducing, she adds, embellishing vintage photos, by enlarging them and adding colors, complex backgrounds and strings of flowers. She brings the dead to life, taking these anonymous characters from long ago and projecting new and quite engaging personalities upon them.
Mattai has her own recycling methods, using assemblages of found objects to tell personal narratives. Her piece “A Reliquary for Unfathomable Fear” combines, among other things, a 19th century print, fluorescent pink paint and a tiny porcelain bathtub into a three-dimensional diorama that feels both timeless and urgent.
“As of Now” doesn’t have a cohesive thread but it offers visitors an economical way to survey a number of players on the scene and to see what they are doing to succeed right now. There are trademark moves all over the show: painter Kevin Sloan’s reimagined views of the animal kingdom, Jonathan Saiz’s power-packed 2-by-2-inch miniatures, Scott Young’s clever quips rendered in neon.
There are also a few surprises from artists a bit lesser-known around here, notably Kuzana Ogg’s free-form oil painting “Chromium,” and Robin Hextrum’s “Breaking the Pattern,” which has a mass of colorful flowers cascading over a grid of pure blue and white; it manages to be romantic and mathematical all at once.
Most of the artists in this show, and in K’s stable, were previously floating on the edges of the art scene here. Some were displaced from their long-time galleries because of the economic shake-ups, others just simply didn’t fit with the limited number of existing galleries in Denver, or couldn’t figure out a way to get their names out there. All of them work at a level that warrants representation from a professional gallery, though each of them was, in a professional sense, homeless.
K Contemporary has given them a place to land, an attractive center where they can display their wares and connect with serious collectors. Because the level of talent is high, everybody’s reputation gets a boost just by being on the roster.
The artists also get an aggressive advocate in Kacena himself. Every successful gallery has to be centered around the personality of the gallerist whose name is on the door — it’s what brings people in, allows them to trust in a certain level of taste, builds a community of sellers and buyers.
Kacena has emerged as that kind of force. He’s naturally likable and consistently on message. He’s obviously investing significant capital in the operation, and he’s out there pushing the product, representing the gallery at events around town, taking the work to art fairs, building a base that he can expand over time.
And, importantly, he’s helping artists build their careers. He comes to the table with a wealth of experience — he’s an artist and designer himself, he collects and he’s a salesman; he knows how to talk to clients. He also knows how to nudge artists into making work that’s true to their vision and, yet, commercial.
That’s the delicate work of a gallerist. But it’s the most important thing they can do, develop talent and careers simultaneously. That’s what makes them worth the 50 percent commission galleries typically charge. When they do it right, everyone thrives.
Including the city the gallery calls home. Denver’s art scene desperately needs stability — it ought to be a place where artists can make a solid living and where the public can gather to see good work. K is helping to make that happen.
“As of Now,” the one-year anniversary exhibit, continues through Dec. 29 at K Contemporary, 1412 Wazee St. It’s free. Info at 303-590-9800 or kcontemporaryart.com.
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” former Indiana Rep. Charles Brownson said of the press. But we need your help to keep up with the rising cost of ink.
Get your first month for just 99 cents when you subscribe to The Post.
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5G Online Advertising Is the Future
4G was launched back in 2010 and with it came app stores, video streaming, programmatic auctions and augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence became a fledgling possibility.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2018
WIA Profile: Danielle Seerley
I’m passionate about our product, the brand agility we have, the opportunity we have to make a difference in people’s perception of the adult industry.
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New Summit County backcountry hut opening in the new year
Situated near timberline just east of Breckenridge with sweeping views of the Gore and Tenmile ranges, the new Sisters Cabin will open Jan. 12. It is the first new hut in the Summit Huts Association network in 20 years.
Located on a knoll near timberline at 11,445 feet on the northern slope of picturesque 13,684-foot Bald Mountain, the 14-person hut has a sauna and indoor toilets. It has a wood stove in the main living area and electricity that comes from solar panels. Traveling to the hut on backcountry skis or snowshoes involves a 3.9-mile climb of 1,300 feet.
The hut is the result of 13 years of planning and permitting. Construction on the 2,200 square-foot cabin began last spring and took six months. It was funded by the Denver-based Sturm Family Foundation, which supports various non-profits, and was amed to honor the bonds Sue Sturm formed with backcountry friends going back 20 years.
It’s the fifth hut in the Summit Huts network. The others are Janet’s (1991), Francie’s (1995), the Section House (1997) and Ken’s Cabin (1998).
The cost is $50 per person per night. Beginning Jan. 7, reservations can be made online (olb.huts.org) or by calling 970-925-5775.
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Monday, December 17, 2018
If you’ve dreamed of being a Casa Bonita cliff diver, now is your chance
Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita has been a memory-making institution for decades, filling children with countless sopapillas and dreams of plummeting from the top of a man-made, three-story indoor waterfall while people eat tacos, listen to Mariachi music and watch puppet shows around them.
Somewhere between the 2003 “South Park” episode set at Casa Bonita, embattled comic and Colorado native T.J. Miller’s “Denver” music video, and the countless travel guides that have routed tourists through its kitschy corridors, Casa Bonita’s cliff-diving reputation has taken on mythic proportions.
Now every manner of limber, slightly crazy person can petition to join the Casa Bonita Dive Team and become one of those bodies sailing vertically into a 14-foot-deep pool of improbable weekend entertainment.
According to a Craiglist posting this week, the Casa Bonita Dive Team is holding auditions for new members. The qualifications are as follows: you must be not only 18 (and up), you must be “willing to sword fight as a pirate atop a waterfall, get fake-stabbed and plummet 30 feet into the pool.”
If that sounds like the perfect outlet for your inner cosplay-swimmer, wait until you hear the rest: “Auditions will include front 1 ½ somersault dive, inward dive, swan dive and back layout dive. Must be available to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
We confirmed with the Lakewood restaurant that the position is indeed open, and we are waiting on some tricks of the trade to help your audition.
Ready? Call 303-232-5115 to schedule an audition. And good luck.
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” former Indiana Rep. Charles Brownson said of the press. But we need your help to keep up with the rising cost of ink.
Get your first month for just 99 cents when you subscribe to The Post.
[Read More …]
If you’ve dreamed of being a Casa Bonita cliff diver, now is your chance
Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita has been a memory-making institution for decades, filling children with countless sopapillas and dreams of plummeting from the top of a man-made, three-story indoor waterfall while people eat tacos, listen to Mariachi music and watch puppet shows around them.
Somewhere between the 2003 “South Park” episode set at Casa Bonita, embattled comic and Colorado native T.J. Miller’s “Denver” music video, and the countless travel guides that have routed tourists through its kitschy corridors, Casa Bonita’s cliff-diving reputation has taken on mythic proportions.
Now every manner of limber, slightly crazy person can petition to join the Casa Bonita Dive Team and become one of those bodies sailing vertically into a 14-foot-deep pool of improbable weekend entertainment.
According to a Craiglist posting this week, the Casa Bonita Dive Team is holding auditions for new members. The qualifications are as follows: you must be not only 18 (and up), you must be “willing to sword fight as a pirate atop a waterfall, get fake-stabbed and plummet 30 feet into the pool.”
If that sounds like the perfect outlet for your inner cosplay-swimmer, wait until you hear the rest: “Auditions will include front 1 ½ somersault dive, inward dive, swan dive and back layout dive. Must be available to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
We confirmed with the Lakewood restaurant that the position is indeed open, and we are waiting on some tricks of the trade to help your audition.
Ready? Call 303-232-5115 to schedule an audition. And good luck.
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” former Indiana Rep. Charles Brownson said of the press. But we need your help to keep up with the rising cost of ink.
Get your first month for just 99 cents when you subscribe to The Post.
[Read More …]
Vote for the 2018 Denver Post Holiday Lights winner
Homes across the Front Range have shared their light displays with us, and now it’s time for you to vote for your favorite.
It’s this easy: First, visit our Facebook page. See a photo that lights your fire? Click the “like” button. The house that gets the most likes will be the winner of a $100 gift card and have its photo in The Denver Post. Voting ends on Dec. 21.
Find the addresses and stories of the homes, and build your own viewing map at http://extras.denverpost.com/holiday-lights/index.html.
Due to the print component, the finalists have been selected based off of photo quality for its close-up in the newspaper.
Journalism doesn’t grow on trees. Please support The Denver Post.
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Exploring the Indie Artcore Depths of Sex and BDSM With Axel Abysse
Performer, filmmaker and entrepreneur Axel Abysse has made waves over the past year, following the launch of his eponymous website, with a series of handcrafted, lovingly produced erotic vignettes that spotlight deep dives into BDSM.
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“Y/OUR Denver” presents captivating views of Denver by photographers across the city. And it’s all online.
The online photo show “Y/OUR Denver” is a lot of good things rolled into one: a contemporary art exhibit; an armchair tour of a city growing at warp speed; a primer on some of our best architecture; and nothing less than a 100-year history lesson on civic progress.
And on top of all that, it’s probably the easiest high-quality cultural offering to consume this year, since its exists on the website of the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. A couple of clicks and it’s all yours.
On display: smashing views of structural icons, like Denver International Airport, Republic Plaza and the Colorado State Capitol; intimate peeks into quiet building interiors usually off-limits to public view; and close-up shots of architectural details many of us pass by each day and hardly notice.
It’s a fast-and-deep look at two subjects — building design and photography — co-produced by major proponents of both subjects, the Denver Architecture Foundation and CPAC. The two nonprofit organizations worked together on soliciting submissions as a way of advancing their shared goal of helping people to see the city in richer ways.
Their process for putting together the exhibition was purposefully democratic, opening up the call for entries to both experienced pros and hobbyists, and broadening the media requirements to include “film, scanner, screen-capture, digital camera and any means of mobile photography.” The only rule was that the photos had to be shot in Denver.
Just over 200 entries came in; 30 made the cut. CPAC executive director Samantha Johnston made the final selections.
“As a juror, I was looking at the architecture but also looking at the image itself, how strong was it compositionally,” she said.
Naturally, Johnston’s picks include images of familiar Denver gems with big-name architects at the helm, such as Gio Ponti’s original building for the Denver Art Museum, a stairway designed by Charles Deaton, and Philip Johnson’s Well Fargo Center, popularly known as the Cash Register Building and the most recognizable feature on the city skyline.
Beyond selecting photos for their visual qualities, she hoped the final batch of images would have some narrative to give the exhibition heft. She found that in the way the photographers organically documented both the city’s past and its present-day building boom.
And so, the exhibition includes shots of time-honored icons like the Denver Botanic Garden’s Tropical Conservatory, designed by Victor Hornbein and Edward D. White Jr., and South High School, designed by Fisher and Fisher. But there are also new landmarks, like the Triangle Building downtown, designed by Denver firm Anderson, Mason, Dale in 2016.
Filling in the timeline are romanticized portraits of vernacular buildings like Lake Steam Baths on Colfax Avenue, and assorted scenes of residences, churches and office buildings.
Some photographers hit the sweet spot of capturing the old and new in one setting. Michael Rieger’s “View from the Bow,” offers a street view of the Brown Palace Hotel with a ghost-like Republic Plaza, Denver’s tallest skyscraper, hovering in the background.
Similarly, the State Capitol holds its place in the background of the recently built Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Richard Eisen’s photo “Gold Dome.”
For the most part, the exhibition showcases familiar structures, but often in surprising dimensions. That’s certainly the case with the Wells Fargo Center, the subject of multiple photos.
Photographer Francisca Morgan’s “Iconic Site One” captures the building in stark black-and-white, presenting a view that highlights the structure’s heft and the unrelenting grid pattern on its facade.
The same building is frozen as pure reflection in Roy and Lee Goettling”s “Reflections.” Their image captures the 50-story high-rise’s well-known silhouette as it appears in the glassy surface of another building that stands adjacent to it.
Paired together, the two Wells Fargo photos give Denver a new way of seeing — and appreciating — a landmark; it is functional and monolithic, but also a part of a community of buildings that all contribute to our downtown.
“Y/OUR Denver” isn’t a complete picture of Denver architecture. The exhibit spotlights the best angles of our most handsome structures, then and now. It’s an optimistic spin on what we’ve built over the past century. It overlooks the gritty reality that we’ve also added plenty of unattractive and unlivable elements to the local landscape. In that way, it can feel like urban propaganda, a bit on the booster side.
But it’s just as easy to enjoy it as a celebration. Buildings present physical evidence of a city’s ambitions, they measure its self-esteem and project its image to the world, and there is a lot to be proud of in the photo lineup on display.
It’s not just another online photo gallery to buzz through. “Y/OUR Denver” offers plenty of good examples of how beautiful design and construction can improve quality of life. It encourages us to look around in new ways and inspires us to build better going forward.
“Y/OUR” Denver will be available through Dec. 31 on the website of the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. The address: cpacphoto.org.
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PHOTOS: First look at Ash’Kara, LoHi restaurant co-owned by “Bachelor” Ben Higgins
Yes, Ash’Kara is co-owned by “Bachelor” star (and Denver resident) Ben Higgins, but we refuse to lead this story about the new Lower Highland Middle Eastern restaurant with anything related to a reality TV dating show.
Absolutely refuse.
Ash’Kara is too good to be defined by a reality TV dating show. The rotisserie octopus with zhug (think Middle Eastern salsa verde) is too good for that. Its chef, Daniel Asher, formerly of Linger and Root Down and still with River and Woods, is too good for that. The space, with its cool 1980s “Miami Vice” vibe, is also too good for that. And the drinks, like the myrtle berry-rific Mirage, are definitely too good for that.
We didn’t really think that octopus — and good luck getting the image of an octopus rotisserizing on a spit out of your mind — could be that addictive, but it is. It’s marinated in harissa, berbere and garlic, and along with the green dollops of zhug, it’s a tender, flavorful bite that you’ll want lots more of.
There’s also hummus made with organic Bulgarian chickpeas, the kind that chef Asher’s Israeli uncle insisted had to be used; small plates like dolmas, falafel and lamb kofte; and bigger dishes like duck tagine and wood-fired Alamosa striped bass.
“The food is inspired by wandering around the Middle East and the cultural juxtaposition and mash-up that brings,” Asher said.
Ash’Kara, which means ”Heck yeah!,” opens Wednesday, Dec. 19, and even if you don’t find love with Bachelor Ben there, you’ll find well-made Middle Eastern staples, which is probably better in the long run anyway.
Ash’Kara: 2005 W. 33rd Ave., Denver, 303-537-4407; Sun.-Thurs. 4 p.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 4 p.m.-midnight
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With Dior in Denver, here’s how to indulge in all things French
The “Dior: From Paris to the World” exhibit, which runs through March 3 at the Denver Art Museum, showcases the impressive 70-year legacy of Christian Dior and the subsequent artistic directors of the first worldwide couture fashion house.
You can see more than 200 dresses designed by Dior and his successors — Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri — as well as drawings, photographs, runway videos, costumes, jewelry and accessories.
Dior, who was born in northern France and later moved to Paris, is best known for his post-World War II designs that highlighted women’s femininity — “soft shoulders, accentuated busts and nipped waists,” according to the museum.
Feeling inspired by the Dior exhibit? Et voilà, here are nine French or French-inspired activities around Denver that will have you saying “Vive la France!” in no time.
- Primp like a Parisian
At Le Meridien, a chic hotel with Parisian roots, you can take your trip to the museum up a notch with champagne, caviar, cheddar gougeres and petite madeleines. They’ll also have a stylist on hand for hair and makeup sessions, as well as a car service to and from the museum. Best of all? You can nab two VIP tickets to the exhibit, which lets you skip the line and get inside, even if it’s sold out. Other hotels, including Hotel Teatro and The Jacquard, are also offering Dior-inspired packages (view a complete list of hotel packages on the exhibit website).
- Learn to speak French
If you’ve ever wanted to expand your French vocabulary beyond “escargot” and “après-ski,” now’s your chance. Sign up for language classes at several schools around Colorado, including Denver Language School, Globelink Foreign Language Center in Colorado Springs and Alliance Française de Denver, which offers classes in Centennial, Denver, Evergreen and Boulder. There are classes for all levels, so if you remember a little bit of French from high school, you won’t have to start completely from scratch.
- Drink French wine
One of the simplest ways to have joie de vivre? Drink a glass (or two) of French wine at La Cour, which claims to have the widest selection of French wines by the glass of any restaurant in Denver with more than 40 to choose from. Or sip on a “Jacques Rose,” a French twist on the Jack Rose cocktail made by La Cour bar manager Mattie Cowan with French brandy, cognac, French pear vodka, sour apple liqueur, lemon juice and grenadine. While you’re there, relax and listen to jazz in an intimate venue — tres chic.
- Eat French bread (and other pastries)
Just reading the menu at Trompeau Bakery in Englewood is enough to make your mouth water. Here you’ll find authentic French baguettes, batards, boules, sweet breads, macarons, palmiers, madeleines, financiers, croissants and sandwiches. The bakery is owned by Barbara and Pascal Trompeau, who opened their first French bakery in Vierzon, France. The couple lived in France for nearly 10 years before moving to Denver and setting up shop here. Pascal Trompeau comes from a family of bakers — his grandfather, father and brother also practiced the craft.
- Devour cheese
For a truly unique experience, head up to Longmont and visit Cheese Importers, where you can stand inside a massive floor-to-ceiling refrigerator full of 350 types of cheese. After that, wander through the shop’s European marketplace, which is full of knick-knacks, kitchenware, gifts, perfumes and more. Then, have lunch at Bistrot des Artistes, the on-site French bistro that offers soups, salads, sandwiches and charcuterie boards, as well as authentic French pastries and treats. The whole place has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.
- Go shopping
Want to experience Dior for yourself? You can have your own private Dior shopping experience that includes signed jewelry pieces by the famed designer when you stay at the French-inspired Ramble Hotel and book a special exhibit package. You’ll also be able to spritz on some Dior perfume and cologne in your suite before you head to the museum in a chauffeured Rolls Royce.
- Sample French cuisine
There are so many tasty French restaurants in Colorado, you really can’t go wrong. Among them: Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder, where you’ll find classic French entrees like coq au vin and steak frites. If you find yourself in Cherry Creek, stop by La Merise, where you’ll find dishes like beef bourguignon and trout grenobloise on the menu. Or if you’re in LoDo, consider visiting Bistro Vendome, which is showing French-related movies and serving up a three-course meal on Monday nights through January. There’s also Cafe Marmotte, a cozy neighborhood bistro in Washington Park.
- Step back in time
As the name suggests, Hotel de Paris in Georgetown was founded by a French immigrant named Louis Dupuy in 1875. Over time, it served as a hotel, French restaurant, showroom for traveling salesmen and a boarding house. Today, it’s a museum that contains original furniture, decorations and other artifacts from the 19th century. For $7, you can get a highly rated guided tour of the museum, complete with stories about the people who lived and worked in the building over the years.
- Learn to cook French
If you’re tired of preparing the same tired dishes week after week, take a French cooking class and add a few new recipes to your repertoire. The French Kitchen Culinary Center in Colorado Springs, for instance, regularly teaches classes on how to make everything from crepes to French bread. And The Cook Street School of Culinary Arts in Denver offers French-themed culinary date nights, where you and your chérie can learn how to prepare French onion galette, bistro steak and dark chocolate souffle.
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PHOTOS: First look at Ash’Kara, LoHi restaurant co-owned by “Bachelor” Ben Higgins
Yes, Ash’Kara is co-owned by “Bachelor” star (and Denver resident) Ben Higgins, but we refuse to lead this story about the new Lower Highland Middle Eastern restaurant with anything related to a reality TV dating show.
Absolutely refuse.
Ash’Kara is too good to be defined by a reality TV dating show. The rotisserie octopus with zhug (think Middle Eastern salsa verde) is too good for that. Its chef, Daniel Asher, formerly of Linger and Root Down and still with River and Woods, is too good for that. The space, with its cool 1980s “Miami Vice” vibe, is also too good for that. And the drinks, like the myrtle berry-rific Mirage, are definitely too good for that.
We didn’t really think that octopus — and good luck getting the image of an octopus rotisserizing on a spit out of your mind — could be that addictive, but it is. It’s marinated in harissa, berbere and garlic, and along with the green dollops of zhug, it’s a tender, flavorful bite that you’ll want lots more of.
There’s also hummus made with organic Bulgarian chickpeas, the kind that chef Asher’s Israeli uncle insisted had to be used; small plates like dolmas, falafel and lamb kofte; and bigger dishes like duck tagine and wood-fired Alamosa striped bass.
“The food is inspired by wandering around the Middle East and the cultural juxtaposition and mash-up that brings,” Asher said.
Ash’Kara, which means ”Heck yeah!,” opens Wednesday, Dec. 19, and even if you don’t find love with Bachelor Ben there, you’ll find well-made Middle Eastern staples, which is probably better in the long run anyway.
Ash’Kara: 2005 W. 33rd Ave., Denver, 303-537-4407; Sun.-Thurs. 4 p.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 4 p.m.-midnight
[Read More …]
Sunday, December 16, 2018
PHOTOS: Denver Beer Festivus at the Sports Castle
While it may have been created on “Seinfeld,” the Festivus was oh-so-alive and well inside Denver’s Sports Castle this weekend.
The seventh annual Denver Beer Festivus united craft beer, tasty treats and 1990s nostalgia for one big non-denominational partay. The event also included Lucha Libre, comedy, a silent disco and a holiday market. Six food vendors and more than 50 breweries and cideries kept those bellys full like a bowl full of jelly.
Journalism isn’t free. Show your support of local news coverage by becoming a subscriber.
Your first month is only 99 cents.
[Read More …]
PHOTOS: Denver Beer Festivus at the Sports Castle
While it may have been created on “Seinfeld,” the Festivus was oh-so-alive and well inside Denver’s Sports Castle this weekend.
The seventh annual Denver Beer Festivus united craft beer, tasty treats and 1990s nostalgia for one big non-denominational partay. The event also included Lucha Libre, comedy, a silent disco and a holiday market. Six food vendors and more than 50 breweries and cideries kept those bellys full like a bowl full of jelly.
Journalism isn’t free. Show your support of local news coverage by becoming a subscriber.
Your first month is only 99 cents.
[Read More …]
On the Set: Bree Mills Makes Contact With 'Eyes in the Sky' for Season Finale of 'Future Darkly'
A desolate junkyard landscape. A light from the sky. A gooey alien substance that threatens to destroy everything it touches.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
Friday, December 14, 2018
Apple strikes deal to produce new “Peanuts” content
LOS ANGELES — Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the “Peanuts” crew will have a new home on Apple’s streaming service.
Apple has struck a deal with DHX Media to produce new “Peanuts” content. The global children’s content and brands company will develop and produce original programs for Apple including new series, specials and shorts based on the beloved characters.
“Peanuts” was created by Charles M. Schulz in 1950.
DHX will produce original short-form STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) content that will be exclusive to Apple, including astronaut Snoopy.
Peanuts Worldwide and NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement, designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students.
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PHOTOS: Inside the world of a candy cane factory in Denver
In Hammond’s Candy Factory sugar is transformed into the Christmas treat known as the candy cane. Large flavored blobs hand formed together, get stretched and twisted into long ropes and cut and formed in the iconic can shape. Perfect for hanging on trees on stockings by the fire.
[Read More …]
PHOTOS: Inside the world of a candy cane factory in Denver
In Hammond’s Candy Factory sugar is transformed into the Christmas treat known as the candy cane. Large flavored blobs hand formed together, get stretched and twisted into long ropes and cut and formed in the iconic can shape. Perfect for hanging on trees on stockings by the fire.
[Read More …]
Denver’s holiday pop-up Miracle at Avanti Wolf Bar extends cheer for an extra week
Avanti made its list and checked it twice, and the fine people of Denver will get their gift: an extra week of the Miracle pop-up holiday bar.
The holiday explosion opened its frosty doors on Nov. 22, Denver’s second year of the insanely popular bar (last year it was on Little Raven). As if no one saw it coming, the bar is such a big hit again that Avanti has decided to extend it though Dec. 30. It was originally scheduled to close on Dec. 23.
Miracle will open at 5 p.m. daily, and will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Unlike last year, when hundreds of people waited hours to get inside, there are a limited number of reservations for parties of six to 12 by calling 720-269-4778 and following the prompts.
Here are some of the things you’ll find inside:
- A bow-tastic selfie wall (but do you really need us to tell you that there would be a selfie wall?)
- An inflatable, animatronic Santa that we estimate will last only a few hours before someone who’s had one too many Snowball Old Fashioneds sits on his lap and turns him into sad, deflated Santa
- A Christmas light-, ornament- and snowflake- strewn ceiling that really does create a magical atmosphere
- Holiday movies on the TV and music on the speakers, if you can hear them above your fellow Christmas bar revelers
- Everything else you would expect from Christmas décor: garland, stars, stockings, trees, bells, presents, snow globes and wreaths
More about Miracle at Avanti Wolf Bar from opening day here.
Journalism isn’t free. Show your support of local news coverage by becoming a subscriber.
Your first month is only 99 cents.
[Read More …]
Denver’s holiday pop-up Miracle at Avanti Wolf Bar extends cheer for an extra week
Avanti made its list and checked it twice, and the fine people of Denver will get their gift: an extra week of the Miracle pop-up holiday bar.
The holiday explosion opened its frosty doors on Nov. 22, Denver’s second year of the insanely popular bar (last year it was on Little Raven). As if no one saw it coming, the bar is such a big hit again that Avanti has decided to extend it though Dec. 30. It was originally scheduled to close on Dec. 23.
Miracle will open at 5 p.m. daily, and will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Unlike last year, when hundreds of people waited hours to get inside, there are a limited number of reservations for parties of six to 12 by calling 720-269-4778 and following the prompts.
Here are some of the things you’ll find inside:
- A bow-tastic selfie wall (but do you really need us to tell you that there would be a selfie wall?)
- An inflatable, animatronic Santa that we estimate will last only a few hours before someone who’s had one too many Snowball Old Fashioneds sits on his lap and turns him into sad, deflated Santa
- A Christmas light-, ornament- and snowflake- strewn ceiling that really does create a magical atmosphere
- Holiday movies on the TV and music on the speakers, if you can hear them above your fellow Christmas bar revelers
- Everything else you would expect from Christmas décor: garland, stars, stockings, trees, bells, presents, snow globes and wreaths
More about Miracle at Avanti Wolf Bar from opening day here.
Journalism isn’t free. Show your support of local news coverage by becoming a subscriber.
Your first month is only 99 cents.
[Read More …]
Classic paintings collide with SpongeBob and Ren & Stimpy inside Denver’s Leon Gallery
Cymon Padilla’s show of oil paintings at Leon Gallery is titled “re:mix,” but it’s probably better described as a mash-up. Or, even more accurately, as a 10-car art pile-up.
Caravaggio’s “Doubting Thomas” crashes into Donald Duck. Rodin’s “Thinker” collides with SpongeBob SquarePants. Duchamp’s notorious urinal smashes into cartoon heroes Ren & Stimpy.
Throughout the show, Padilla slams the old into the new, and the classical into the contemporary. He embraces formality only to clobber it with casual commentary. In one painting, he copies Michelangelo’s “David,” but then dresses up the face with something that looks like clown makeup.
Irreverent? Not in a blasphemous way. Respectful? Certainly, yet not in a way that shows authentic deference. Padilla is somewhere in the middle of all that, using his brush to recall the work of the masters with some affection, but then pairing it with iconic imagery from his own growing up. Harmless fun, really.
But it’s also skillful, clever, at times hilarious, and resolutely high-tech.
Padilla starts it all on his computer, loading up images and then choreographing them about the screen using a program called GIMP, a free, open-source platform that works like Photoshop. At its visual core, the work is traditional collage; Padilla manipulates images, colors, connections, so they juxtapose in interesting ways.
Then he recreates his digital concoctions on canvas using oil paint. It’s that last step, rendering works in oil rather then printing them out on various surfaces digitally, as many artists do these days, that makes the paintings inviting and, in some ways, legit. Padilla’s work doesn’t carry any obvious social or artistic concerns, but the medium connects him back to the original masters in an appealing way.
Though it is clearly on Padilla’s terms, and that means the finished products are both surreal and sensational.
This is most effective in his remakes of paintings by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, the 19th century neoclassical painter known best for his formal portraits of late-day French aristocrats. Ingres was a bit of a visual rebel himself, copying the detailed style of pictorial traditionalists like Raphael, but then altering images, color and perspective just enough to give them a contemporary (in his day, at least) pop.
In Padilla’s hands, the practice of altering the visual facts comes full circle — call it karma, perhaps — with Ingres’ original works getting their own enhancements.
Two pieces, “Collage (blue)” and “Collage (purple),” start with typical Ingres portraits, one male, one female, and both high-society in stature. But then Padilla goes to extremes.
She’s tinted a fierce blue and her eyes and mouth are replaced with features from other well-known works of art, with her right eye lifted directly from the pixelated, comic strip sensibilities of Roy Lichtenstein.
He’s turned purple and given a bouquet of color-saturated cartoon flowers. A funny pages-style speech balloon is placed by his mouth, though it is left devoid of any text. He’s not saying anything.
Both portraits get lush mountain scenery backgrounds, though they come in overly-bright monochromatic pinks and golds. It’s all a bit clumsy and overdone — and clearly that’s on purpose.
Padilla is more graceful, though no more restrained, with “Scramble,” which has one of Ingres’ bather portraits — a favored subject matter for painters since before the Renaissance — stretched, twisted and colorized and broken down into three, horizontal sections set at a 45-degree angle.
While none of the abstractions seem purposeful, there is a sort of freedom to the painting process that fully asserts Padilla’s right to treat this treasured source material any way he pleases. He’s an out-of-the-closet appropriator, and the lengths he goes to in making these recognizable images his own gives them unexpected power.
Within the 13 works in the show, you can see the artist experimenting and evolving. Truth is, he can come off as a prankster at times, relying too much on computer cut-and-paste jobs to make his scenes interesting.
But, at other times, there are flashes of highly skilled composition on display. In particular, when he layers line drawings of animated characters over classical images, as he does in the Caravaggio-meets-Walt Disney piece titled “Incredulous.”
Or when he adds line drawings, and floating mushrooms and grids of multicolored blocks to obscure the portrait of a portly gent in “Arrangement.”
Or when he loosens up a bit in terms of painting as he does with “Sad Boi,” which adds exaggerated features and rough, random splotches of color — pink, yellow, blue and green — to the face of “David.” It’s oddly painterly and personally expressive.
In these moments, the works transform from playful to sophisticated, and it’s good to see that Padilla is capable of going deeper if he chooses to do so.
It all works on some level, though, and the show should have significant appeal to folks around the same age as Padilla (he’s 35) who grew up on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network and who will see nostalgic bits of their past remixed into the work.
“Re:mix” is super casual as far as art exhibits go; small, inviting and unpretentious — traits that make uptown’s Leon Gallery welcoming year-round. And the art is priced reasonably, so those 30-somethings who love Sponge Bob as much as they might love Michelangelo can afford it.
Cymon Padilla’s ”re:mix” continues through Jan. 19 at Leon Gallery, 1112 E. 17th Ave. It’s free. Info at 303-832-1599 or leongallery.com.
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We have our first peek at Meow Wolf Denver with new renderings
Immersive art company Meow Wolf this week announced plans for a third location outside of its home in Santa Fe, joining previously announced expansions in Denver and Las Vegas.
The 10-year-old company will open a “massive installation” in Washington, D.C., in 2022, representatives said in a press statement Tuesday. The 75,000-square-foot, three-story structure in the Fort Totten community is the result of a partnership with the Cafritz Foundation.
“Washington, D.C., is an international cultural powerhouse and an ideal setting for the evolving Meow Wolf story universe that began with House of Eternal Return,” CEO Vince Kadlubek said in the statement, referring to the original location, which has become a boon to the already tourist-happy city of Santa Fe. “Our intergalactic, transmedia story is rooted in a community of underdogs who overcome ‘The Powers That Be,’ and we will have something really special for all the fellow underdogs who seek a transformative experience when we unveil the D.C. chapter.”
Meow Wolf, which proudly touts its DIY, outsider beginnings, also last week shared renderings of its Denver location, for which it has signed a 20-year, $60 million lease.
The four-story, 90,000-square-foot complex at the junction of Interstate 25, Colfax Avenue and Auraria Parkway viaducts — just west of downtown Denver — will take cues from the quirky, surreal hodgepodge of sculptures and interactive exhibits at its Santa Fe location.
A site development plan approved by the city in October showed a ground floor with a main lobby, a gift shop/retail space and a bar/music venue, according to the Denver Infill blog. The second floor will hold staff offices and a conference space, and floors three through five will contain the interactive art exhibits, the blog reported.
As the renderings from project architect Shears Adkins Rockmore show, parking for the building at 1338 1st St. will be situated in a surface lot to the north, while the design of the structure takes clever advantage of the triangle created by the intersecting viaducts — just a stone’s throw from Broncos Stadium at Mile High and the Auraria Higher Education Center.
The news caps Meow Wolf’s biggest year yet.
Starting in January, Meow Wolf touted major expansions and innovative programming (including melding virtual reality and live performance); the first “artist-driven dark ride” (Kaleidoscope, to debut at Denver’s Elitch Gardens in 2019); poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the metro-area’s artistic community via grants and sponsorships; and watched the worshipful “Meow Wolf: Origin Story” documentary premiere in 700 theaters nationwide.
“It’s definitely a business decision in the sense that we want to have good exposure with certain demographics,” Kadlubek told The Denver Post in July, shortly after Denver arts-and-literary publication Suspect Press revealed a two-year, $125,000 grant from Meow Wolf.
As befits its mix of circus-like showmanship and thoughtful, culture-twisting art, Meow Wolf promised that however weird its projects may seem, they’re intended for a general audience.
“As with all our immersive experience projects, the exhibition in D.C. will be family-friendly and accessible to local residents as well as the many tourists and VIPs who visit our nation’s capital from around the world,” Kadlubek said. “Audiences should expect dazzling, inspired and wild experiences totally unlike anything they have ever known before.”
More major location announcements are expected in 2019, the company said.
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Income Strategies for the Modern Adult Star
Ever wonder how a businesswoman would succeed in the adult industry? That’s exactly what I have done. And the best part? You can do it too.
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Thursday, December 13, 2018
Reservation-only camping expanding at Colorado state parks in 2019
Starting in 2019, 15 state parks will join Colorado’s “reservation only” group, to which five parks already belong.
Under the system, campers can reserve a site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reservations are available six months in advance up until the day of arrival, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Reservations can be made by logging into cpwshop.com or by calling 800-244-5613.
Parks joining the program Jan. 1 are Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, Boyd Lake, Cherry Creek, Golden Gate Canyon, Highline Lake, Jackson Lake, John Martin Reservoir, Lathrop, Mueller, North Sterling, Pearl Lake, Ridgway, State Forest, Steamboat Lake and Yampa River.
Lake Pueblo State Park and Chatfield State Park will join April 1.
Parks and Wildlife hopes the ability to reserve a same-day site will save campers from gambling on a first-come, first-served spot, only to arrive at the park to find there are no available spots, the release said.
All campers must reserve a campsite prior to occupying the site. Campers who occupy a reservation-only campsite without a reservation will be subject to a citation.
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