ART

JULY 21: Mindful Looking Online – Denver Art Museum Take an imaginative stroll through William Penhallow Henderson’s colorful New Mexico scene in “The Chaperone” during this month’s online Mindful Looking event, which is free and open to all who would like to join. Enjoy a breath of fresh air as we contemplate the painting’s story, revel in the colorful palette, and transport ourselves to another place and time. Mindful Looking invites you to slow down and spend time with a single work of art from the Denver Art Museum. Join us online the third Tuesday of each month in this free program. Discover overlooked details, pose questions, and explore ideas as we linger, look, and connect from home … with art and with each other. To participate via Zoom, join us live a few minutes before the program start time at the following link: https://zoom.us/j/94731703968 1pm-1:45pm.

ONLINE NOW: Denver Art Museum – denverartmuseum.org/ Did you miss the Monet exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. Although the Denver Art Museum is temporarily closed, they’re inviting you to experience the museum and so much more from home. Through these virtual offerings we hope to foster inspiration and creativity, as well as offer a respite during this challenging time. Visit here: denverartmuseum.org/ or denverartmuseum.org/blogs or denverartmuseum.org/denver-art-museum-home

THRU JULY 1: Jodie Herrera & Casey Kawaguchi – ILA Gallery Inside ILA Gallery — a brand new art gallery owned by Fa’al Ali that opened just three days before COVID-19 led to the shut down of local businesses — two artists showcase their own distinctive brands of portraiture. Curated by Lorenzo Talcott, Twenty Toes showcases the work of Denver-based artist Casey Kawaguchi and Albuquerque-based artist Jodie Herrera, side-by-side. In reality, it’s not so much a group show as it is a complementary one, where each artist’s work stands on its own.

ONLINE NOW: Nari Ward in Conversation with Gary Carrion-Murayari – MCA We the People will feature a selection of sculptures, paintings, videos, and large-scale installations from throughout Ward’s career, highlighting his status as one of the most important and influential sculptors working today. He uses language, architecture, and a variety of sculptural forms to reflect on racism and power, migration and national identity, and the layers of historical memory that comprise our sense of community and belonging. Nari Ward: We the People will bring together many of Ward’s most iconic sculptures alongside a number of works rarely seen.

THRU JUNE: PERSISTANCE AND CHANGE – Space Gallery Online A new series of paintings by Karen Scharer. Also, featuring new work by Jeff Wenzel and Stephen Shachtman. To support local artists during this difficult time schedule a personal tour with a curator to help guide your selections based on your specific needs. Space Gallery – 400 Santa Fe Drive. 303-993-3321 www.spacegallery.org

MUSIC

CHECK OUT THESE GREAT NEW MUSIC RELEASES

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher Her sophomore album Punisher cements what may be Bridgers’ most understated gift of all: her seemingly innate ability to capture the mundanity of modern sadness in song. Tucked in among the record’s memorable melodies, clever arrangements and impressive guests are a steady stream of details that lend plainspoken perspective.

Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters Fiona Apple engages our minds like no one else. She has never been one to deliver approachable melodies or catchy choruses—she repeatedly serves us the abnormal, in all its twisted glory.

 Disq – Collector Their Rob Schnapf-produced (Beck, Elliott Smith) first full album Collector has arrived. It shows off their dynamic guitar triple-threat, down-to-earth lyrics and instantaneous pop know-how that made them so enjoyable and relatable in the first place.

Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud Saint Cloud is Katie Crutchfield’s country/Americana record. It runs on twang, jangle, truth and wide open spaces; on the album cover, Crutchfield, dressed in a billowy baby-blue frock, sprawls across an old Ford truck bearing a license plate from her native Alabama.

COMEDY

AVAILABLE NOW: Michael Che Matters – Netflix “SNL” star Michael Che takes on hot-button topics like inequality, homophobia and gentrification in this stand-up set filmed live in Brooklyn.

FILM

NOW PLAYING: The Perfect Candidate – Virtual Cinema via denverfilm.org The first Saudi woman to direct a feature film, Haifaa Al Mansour broke out with Wadjda and returns to her roots with The Perfect Candidate, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and is Saudi Arabia’s Academy Award entry for Best International Feature Film. When Maryam, a hardworking young doctor in a small-town clinic, is prevented from flying to Dubai for a conference without a male guardian’s approval, she seeks help from a politically connected cousin but inadvertently registers as a candidate for the municipal council. Maryam sees the election as a way to fix the muddy road in front of her clinic, but her campaign slowly garners broader appeal. A challenge to Saudi patriarchy, The Perfect Candidate is an amusing but biting reflection on women in a society that systematically marginalizes them. 

NOW PLAYING: 16 Bars – Virtual Cinema via denverfilm.org 16 Bars is a feature-length music doc that offers a rare glimpse at the human stories — and songs — that are locked away in our nation’s jails and prisons. In a Virginia jail’s makeshift recording studio, four men collaborate on an album with Grammy-winning recording artist, Todd “Speech” Thomas, from the hip-hop group Arrested Development. With the U.S. locking up more of its citizens per capita than any other nation on the planet, the music of 16 Bars serves as rare testimony to the raw and messy truth behind the criminal justice system‘s revolving door.

NOW PLAYING: Guest of Honour – Virtual Cinema via denverfilm.org Jim (David Thewlis) and his daughter Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), a high school music teacher, attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the latest film from Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness. A hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver (Rossif Sutherland) goes very wrong. Accused of abusing her position of authority with 17-year-old Clive (Alexandre Bourgeois) and another student, Veronica is imprisoned. Convinced that she deserves to be punished for crimes she committed at an earlier age, Veronica rebuffs her father’s attempts to secure her early release. 

NOW PLAYING: The Last Tree – Virtual Cinema via denverfilm.org Femi, a British boy of Nigerian descent who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire with his white fostermother, moves to inner London to live with his Nigerian mum. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take, and what it means to be a young black man in London. Going back home to Nigeria with his mum to find his Nigerian roots will help adolescent Femi find grounding and hope for a better future.

THEATRE

JULY 3: Hamilton – Disney Plus Hamilton, the musical, will be available to stream on Disney Plus July 3, to the delight of mega fans and newbies who are aching to watch the smash Broadway hit. The hip-hop musical is hailed as a creative modern retelling of Alexander Hamilton’s journey to becoming a founding father of the US. Created by composer, playwright, performer and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton won 11 Tony awards in 2016 as well as the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

EVENTS

JULY 1 – OCTOBER 28 (WEDNESDAYS): Lost City Market – TAXI Complex near Lost City, 3455 Ringsby Ct. Lost City, East Denver Food Hub and Focus Points Family Resource Center host the Lost City Market. The event is a pay-how-you-can outdoor farmer’s market. You can shop from local vendors including Rebel Farm, Comal Heritage Food Incubator and Mile High Microgreens.

JULY 15 – AUGUST 19: Mixed Taste At Home – MCA Denver Mixed Taste: At Home is where even the most mismatched subjects find common ground in an interactive lecture series that can go pretty much anywhere. On Wednesday nights at 7PM, two speakers get twenty minutes each to enlighten participants on unrelated topics, without making any connections to the other. It is only as participants begin to ask questions that these talented, sometimes hilarious, speakers start to take our highly engaged audience on an adventure of words with twists and turns that eventually bring the two together in extraordinary ways. Here’s the Summer 2020 Lineup:

-7/15: Polar Forests & Trendy Soul Food with Kirk Johnson & Adrian Miller

-7/22: Keith Haring & Smog Meringues with Nora Burnett Abrams & Nicola Twilley

-7/29: Napping & Slovenian Zombies with Maya Kroth & Nancy Wadsworth

-8/5: Augmented Reality & The Cult of the Dead with Till Nowak & Elizabeth Harper

-8/12: Church Signs & Icelandic Hip Hop with Joe York & Nathan Hall

-8/19: Zeno’s Paradox & Artivism with Elisabeth Stade & Suzi Q. Smith

JULY 18: LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 AN APOCALYPSE CABARET – Pop vs. Opera – Opera On Tap Colorado So – it looks like we will be doing our shows online for a while to come. This month’s theme is Pop vs. Opera! Our singers will bring their A game and you will determine which genre wins! We will be collecting tips to share with our singers – all of whom have had all of their performing work cancelled for the time being. These shows are short – about 30-40 minutes – and interactive! Comment during the show and we will respond to you. Find us on our Facebook page Saturday evenings at 7pm until things get back to normal and we can see your lovely faces in person again!

JULY 18: Red Rocks Quarantine 15 Fitness Challenge – Red Rocks Quarantine and chill got you weighted down? Looking to get out of the house and back into hiking shape? Join Fitness in the City at Red Rocks in this Saturday morning summer conditioning program to help you lose that quarantine 15! Come join us for some serious sweat and overall good time that will leave you feeling BETTER than when you first walked in. In order to provide a touchless ticketing experience, tickets are available online only at redrocksonline.com/yoga or axs.com. No drop-in sales at the door. 10am doors open at 9:45am.

JULY 31: Swallow Hill Live: The Accidentals – facebook.com/swallowhillmusic Join The Accidentals for a Facebook Live concert at 6pm, presented by 105.5 The Colorado Sound! Female –fronted, multi-instrumentalist power trio, The Accidentals, (Sav Buist, Katie Larson, and Michael Dause) kicked off 2018 with the release of their debut album, Odyssey, with Sony Masterworks. They followed the album release with two-hundred days of touring nationally, seventeen festivals, sync placement with Turner Classic Movies and FOX sports, and a RAM Trucks BANDvan #tourtough commercial. They aren’t slowing down going into 2021. They just released a self titled LIVE album and toured the UK. They are currently scoring an indie film, teaching workshops across the country, playing with symphonies, and recording their much anticipated Vessel Album to be released in 2020.