Denver art, artists, happenings, music & commentary

First Friday Events at both stores! This Friday, February 5th we have two amazing events at both Fancy Tigers!

I. Fancy Tiger Crafts is hosting a trunk show for the new book by Meg McElwee, “Sew Liberated.” You can view samples sewn up from the book and save 10% on all fabric purchases from 6 – 9pm. In addition, we’d like to introduce you to the new Fancy Tiger Sewing Annex at 8 W. Ellsworth, right around the corner from the craft store. Please stop by to view the new space where additional sewing classes will be held.

II. Fancy Tiger Clothing is hosting DENVER MADE, a local designer trunk show featuring libations from Great Divide Brewery and a stunning soundtrack. 7-10pm

February’s Denver Made features fashion Designer and stylist Fallene Wells and the newest collection by Let ‘Em Have It, her womens apparel line. Recently named one of Denver’s top fashion designers by 303 magazine and with three successful fashion show benefits under her belt (all organized herself), Fallene Wells has been making a quick name for herself since starting to pursue fashion design in 2001.

*DENVER MADE IS Free and Fun

Dudes! It’s been like forever or something! But now I’ve finished a whole thesis and that is that.

Seriously guys, I’ve missed spilling the Denver beans on the intraweb.

Anyhow, here’s something everyone who is anyone should be attending: The Riddle of Ritual, a collective show at the Emmanuel Gallery at the Auraria Campus.

For the show, six Denver artists took up the challenge of addressing what mysticism and ritual meant to them. I need to see it, because I’m sort of fuzzy on the concept myself!

Saturday Jan. 9 is the opening reception, from 7-10PM.

Click the clicky picture to read more… And be there.

Ah, it feels good to be back on these nets!

Saturday, December 5, 2009
The fashion show will be presented twice
- at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.

The Holiday 2009 collection is a collage of elegant and funky designs inspired by such eclectic sources as Japanese kimonos, retro circle skirts, Punk, Mod,and Queen Elizabeth. With a potent cocktail of black, red and grey and generous splashes of bright color, it promises to be a spirited show.

Hair and makeup will be created by leading salons Tuana Hair Design and the award-winning Brows on Upper 15th Street.

Mona Lucero Design Boutique
2544 15th Street
Denver, CO 80211

The show will be presented twice at 8:00 p.m. and 10 p.m. For more info, please contact Mona at 303-458-0090.

Hey fancy pants!
The year is coming to a close very quickly- have you enjoyed all the culture and drinking and cultural drinking this town has to offer?

If not, pack some in during these last months of 2009!

The Denver Center for Performing Arts and the Rialto Cafe are offering a tasty and cultured combination on December 13th: A wine and appetizer sampling, followed by a production of the holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol”!

From 4-6, gather in the Rialto Cafe to drink some specialty booze and snack on delicious foodstuffs. This is a fundraiser for the Denver Center, so your boozing money will be going to a good cause!

The benefit is followed up by a performance at the Center itself at 6:30.

Tickets are $75 for the combo of wine/play, and the wine tasting alone is $50.

Do something great for the arts in Denver, and get yourself hammered while doing it!

I’m a big fan of antiques- I don’t have any in my own house (I’m a whirwind of disaster that threatens to destroy everything I touch in a home- THIS IS WHY I CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!) but I sure as heck love to look longingly at them at stores and estate sales. Some day, I tell myself, I will become a grown-up and treat my furniture and vintage collections carefully, and then I can decorate in fantastic style.

For those of you who aren’t epic crushinators of priceless objects, I highly recommend stopping by what promises to be an extensive estate sale this weekend, hosted by Denver’s preeminent estate sale team, the Denver Gypsy Boys.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Gypsy Boys will be opening the doors to a house at 4055 E. 18th Ave.
Denver, CO 80220 (1/2 block from Colorado Blvd.) and offering up French Provincial furniture and finery, Early American decor, appliances, musical instruments, chairs, sofas, credenzas, lawn and garden goods, CDs, books, DVDs, cameras, and other great items.

Head on down from 9AM-4PM on Friday and Saturday, and pick up some deals for 1/2 price on Sunday.

And I’ll keep on dreaming that some day, some way, I’ll be able to fill my own abode with such nice things.

Get thee to Fashion Denver for an exciting First Friday sale-a-bration and boutique extravaganza!

Lots will be happening at Denver’s best place for local designers: From 6PM-9PM, enjoy free neck shaves, up-doos, and nail polish changes from Tootsies and Rebelle salons, and enjoy some beer from Wynkoop Brewery.

Six new designers will premiere in the showroom space: Freedom Star, Jennifer Mosquera, JM Designs, Rae Marie, Dandy Social Club, and Joyas Jewelry. Some favorite designers will be sticking around in the Showroom, as well, including Kimono Dragons, Turbo Lovin’, Grey Sunshine, L. Train Recycled and Omerica Organic.

Come down and celebrate Denver, fashion, and Fashion Denver on this fine First Friday!

This month, 11th Avenue will feature work by Eric Adrian Lee, from Portland Oregon, as well as Denver local artists, Kathy Knaus, Jacqueline Cordova-Pachuck, Oliver Terry, and Nick Baldridge.

The 11th Avenue is a great place to see local artists, and shows a wide variety of works, ranging from installation to performance to drawings on things like napkins (that was a great show there a few months back, actually…)

Swing by from 5PM-9PM this Friday!

• Fri Nov 13th | 7pm | East Club Level | INVESCO Field at Mile High
• Benefits Dress for Success Denver
• Gino Velardi’s 1st fashion show since suffering a stroke in 2006 – he’s back!
• Gino Velardi is a Denver native and self taught fashion designer
• Featuring 100 designs – cocktail dresses, gowns, suits and coats
• 152’ Runway, 25 models, 8 photographers
• Gino Velardi is the Fashion Group Intl 2007 Rising Star Award Winner and 2009 Presenter
• Gino Velardi is the runner up for The Fashion Project at Tamarac Sq. – local version of Project Runway with Heidi Klum
• Hair & Makeup – Click Salon/Charlie Price, Shear Genius reality star
• Free parking, coat check, photo booth and GetFlipped!
• Cash bar
• The Patrick Emerine Band for the reception then DJK2 rocks the After Party at INVESCO
• AFTER After Party at Wicked Garden on Larimer Sq. – VIP entry, free cover, GV specials
• Ticket includes Reception, Fashion Show AND After Party at INVESCO! $40 GA, $65 Second Row and $85 Front Row
• Purchase tickets online at www.ginovelardi.com
• Stay in the loop at www.facebook.com/ginovelardidesigns

“The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.”

monster media
It’s Halloween, and that always means a load of spooky stuff to do and some pretty awesome parties… However, this one looks pretty great this year, what with the combination of haunted house, treats, and television!

Denver Open Media will be hosting Media Monsters, a Halloween extravaganza this year at 700 Kalamath from 8PM til late in the dark night.

You can feel the fright as you tour through the haunted rooms, or snack on spooky cereal (Remember Count Chocula or Booberry? Oh man, Frankenberry was the best!), dance the night away whilst in costume, and even star in your own horror film!

Halloween WILL be televised this year, with footage of the party on Comcast Channels 56 and 57.

Costume contests will offer a $200 prize for best outfit, and special prizes for political or media related looks.

It costs $20 at the door, and includes drinks and foods and other fun.

Whoooooo! It’s nearly Halloween town, and for me, that means shivering in a locked apartment, fearing the ghastly sounds of pretend (or ARE THEY?) zombies roaming the streets. I just can’t handle the undead.

But the dead- hey, as long as their not mobile, that’s OK by me…

So a cemetery tour, complemented by an art exhibit in Denver’s Riverside neighborhood, sounds delightful as long as the dead stay good and buried and no hands start reaching ominously upward to grasp at ankles while I’m distracted by the art…

This Halloween, Sat. Oct. 31, the Wynkoop Brewery will be hosting the “Spirits of Riverside” art event, which will feature artwork by local artists such as
Sabin Aell, John Schoenwalter, Sherry Hern, John David Davenport, Sharon Feder, Izah Gallagher, Jill Hadley Hooper, Sandy Marvin, Jackie McFarland, Matt O’Neill and Jeff Starr.

The reception will run on Sat. from 5-7PM. Tasty beer will be available, and portions of the proceeds from the sale of the artwork will be donated to the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery.

Earlier that same day, the Riverside neighborhood will be offering tours of that very same historic cemetery, with tours starting at 2PM and running until 4PM. Actors and storytellers will be on hand to offer interesting tales of some of the famous folks from Denver’s past.

Enjoy a whole day of history, art, and spooky, and beer and help contribute to Denver’s historic preservation.

But if even one single zombie pops up, I’m not in for preserving any cemeteries, no matter how historic. Zombies, you have been warned.

It’s that corny time of year!

Yes, the fields are awash with corn growing as high as an elephants eye, the tall stalks reaching towards the stars, and maniacs with chainsaws strolling in between the rows!

Nothing is better at Halloween time than a haunted corn maze… And Colorado has a bunch of them.

The Fritzler Maze in La Salle is one of the best-known… Head out as the darkness falls. Being disoriented in a maze, out in the cool air, and finding startling ghouls at every turn beats any indoor haunted house where you’re shuffled from one room to the next. Inflatable attractions, go karts, and other “agritainment” is available at the Maize for the whole family (although who says you have to have kids to enjoy being spooked?)

In Chatfield, the Denver Botanic Gardens offers a non-haunted maze (or maybe it is haunted and the ghosts are just really lazy and mellow?) for holiday enjoyment. It’s disorienting and can provide hours of wandering fun.

While those two are probably the best known around here, there are plenty of other mazes and patches. Check out this for the full lineup of corny times.

If you’ve ever seen “The State” (formerly of MTV, way back in the day) or Comedy Central’s “Stella” or the movie “Wet Hot American Summer”, or if you’re a VH1 junky, you probably have seen Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black at some point, and doubtless you first asked yourself “Wait, what?”- a sentiment that very quickly turned into some seriously hearty laughter.

The two Michaels, fresh off their show-within-a-show “Michael and Michael Have Issues” will be joining Denver this Saturday, October 17th at the Ogden Theatre.

Dry, distinct comedy, the two will be performing a mostly stand-up based show this weekend, but fans of their many appearances will likely be treated to the same comedy stylings that made them fall for the Michaels Squared in the first place.

Tickets are $26.25 (an odd number, huh?) and can be picked up here.

Check out Flourish Counseling where you can get good advice on how to deal with stress and anger caused by, among other things, loss of job caused by our crappy economy.

Licensed psychotherapist Angela writes (blog link here) about depression, anxiety, sex lives and more. Besides her normal practice of seeing clients, she offers workshops in the area to help you help yourself with these issues.