SATURDAY
Sweet and sour
VOCAL MUSIC|This Valentine’s Day celebration deserves note for its catchy title alone: “Love with Sweet and Sour Sauce.” The program of opera arias, art songs and Broadway favorites will feature soprano Elizabeth Weigle, mezzo-soprano Lee Ann Scherlong, tenor Thomas Poole and baritone Ted Weis.|7:30 p.m. Saturday|Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda Ave.; $15 general public, $10 seniors and $5 students; call 866-464-2626 or visit tick
etswest.com.
Peter Max
ART|The highly colorful, wildly varied art of Peter Max will be celebrated during what is billed as his first major museum retrospective in 35 years. Besides chronicling his career, the exhibition also includes the first presentation of more than 300 portraits of the firefighters who died during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.|4 to 7 p.m. Saturday|Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.; $10 for general public and free for members; 719-634-5581 or csfineartscenter.org.
JCC fest
FILM|The Jewish Community Center celebrates its 10th film festival with a week of features and documentaries, including tonight’s “When Do We Eat,” an irreverent take on a Passover seder. (Slipping Dad an Ecstasy tab is not in most Seder programs.) For the week’s schedule, go to mizelcenter.org|9 p.m. Saturday.|Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 S. Dahlia Street; general admission $8, discounts available; 303 -316-6360.
THE WEEK END
Love and war
BRASS MUSIC|The Denver Brass is bringing together what it calls the “greatest love songs and battle music of the ages” in a program titled “Pulse: Battles and Love Affairs.” Selections will range from movie music from “Robin Hood” to a brass transcription of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” to the finale from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird”.|7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday|University of Denver, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave.; $18-$39; 303-832-4676 or denverbrass.org.
Time to get growing
GARDEN/HOME SHOW|47th Annual Colorado Garden & Home Show, the region’s oldest and largest, presents the latest ideas, trends and products in landscaping, gardening and home improvement. Visitors can enjoy 15,000 blooming flowers, 200 live flowering trees and 500 shrubs, while visiting more than 1,400 booths. The guest for opening weekend is designer Frank Bielec from the TV show “Trading Spaces.”|10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and Feb. 18, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 19, 3-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, noon-7 p.m. Thursday and Feb. 17|Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St.; $10-$12, children ages 12 and younger admitted free; call 303-932-8100 or visit gardeningcolorado.com.
THE WEEK
Story songs
AMERICANA|Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry turns out well-crafted songs that stand as musical novellas. Maybe it’s the bloodlines – he is the son of acclaimed novelist Larry McMurtry. The Chicago Sun-Times says of the singer, “While the voice of McMurtry may not be the envy of the pop world (think Lou Reed with a nasal twang), it’s just right for his short-story songs. It’s filled with portent … like the sound of a high, howling wind sweeping menacingly across the prairie.” Three Miles West opens the show. |9 p.m. Tuesday|Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St. $10; call 303-291-1007 or visit larimerlounge.com.
Aspen Santa Fe
BALLET|The 11-member Aspen Santa Fe Ballet returned to New York City last year and gained another round of kudos. This wonderfully adventuresome ensemble just keeps improving. It returns to the Denver-Boulder area this week with a Valentine’s Day appearance in the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Artist Series.|7:30 p.m. Tuesday|Macky Auditorium, CU-Boulder; $10-$47; call 303-492-8008 or visit cuconcerts.org.
“Stand-up Detective”
STAND-COMEDY|Tommy Sledge, “The Stand-up Detective,” is a hard-boiled comic who has said, “I came here from the ’40s. I walked.” Sledge wears the clothes and the persona of a Dashiell Hammett-created private eye. And he sounds like a film noir character as he plays with words and his audience.|8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 and 10 p.m. Feb. 17 and 5:30 (both nonsmoking shows), 8 and 10:30 p.m. Feb. 18|Wits End Comedy Club, 8861 Harlan St.,Westminster; $12.50 for Tuesday’s show, $10 for all others; 303-430-4242.
