FRIDAY
Swamp Revue
JAM ROCK|Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue is an appropriate name for this ramshackle crew of jam rock notables. All seven members, including The Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Mookie Siegel of Phil Lesh & Friends and Wendy Lanter, contribute vocals to the group’s energetic live show.|Tonight-Saturday|
Tonight at Quixotes, Saturday at Cervantes; 2637 Welton St., 9 p.m., $12, 303-297-1772, quixotes.com.
SATURDAY
Multicultural
HOLIDAY DANCE|”Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum,” the city’s only multicultural, multiracial holiday dance event, is an impressively wide-ranging celebration of traditions around the world. Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s 15th annual production adds a Celtic step-dancing segment to the mix of dance, live music and spoken word spanning Hebrew, Christian, African, Chinese and Caribbean holiday cultures.|Saturday-Sunday, weekends through Dec. 23|Byron Theatre at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., $25-$38, 303-871-7720, 303-295-1759 ext. 20 or ticketmaster.com.
My sweet stuff
POETRY AND ART|Taking to heart a line from William Carlos Williams, poet and current PlatteForum artist- in-residence, Michael J. Henry will conduct a “writer’s buzz” workshop this weekend that explores our relationship to our junk, our heirlooms, the sweet detritus we hold dear. His month-long exhibit “No Ideas But in Things: A Confluence of Ephemera, Found Objects, Heirlooms, and Words” opens Dec. 14| workshop, noon-2 p.m. Saturday; exhibit opens 5:30-8 pm, Thursday |Platte Forum, 1610 Little Raven Street, Suite 125; free; 303.893.0791 or platteforum.org
Holiday program
CHILDREN’S CHORALE|Colorado Children’s Chorale, an award-winning group regularly seen with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Opera Colorado, will help usher in the holiday season with its annual program of Christmas classics. |Saturday|2 p.m., Boettcher Concert Hall, 950 13th St.; limited $25 tickets left, 303-357-2787 or Ticketmaster.com.
THE WEEKEND
Frequent Flyers
AERIAL DANCE|There’s nothing quite like Frequent Flyers, Boulder’s aerial dance-theater company. Their new show, “SomeThings in the Air,” sets aerial hoop and trapeze work to music from Sly & the Family Stone, Queen and classical composers. The family-friendly event is sure to dazzle with its impressive, colorful athleticism. |Saturday-Sunday|8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, The Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., $13-$26, 303-444-7328, thedairy.org.
“Unravel and Drop”
DANCE CONCERT|The “Unravel and Drop” dance concert gives CU-Boulder’s Bachelor of Fine Arts dance candidates a chance to show their often strikingly sophisticated work. Dancers will perform their pieces as well as two new works by Kathleen Hermesdorf and Jennifer Nugent.| Tonight-Sunday|8 p.m. today-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, University Theater and Dance Building, CU-Boulder campus, $6-10, 303-492-
8181, cutheatre.org.
“Cookies & Klezmer”
HOLIDAY FEST|Christmas is not the only holiday celebrated this time of year. The Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery will mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah with “Cookies & Klezmer,” a fundraiser for the Boulder Jewish Community Center. The annual event features klezmer music performed by Sheldon Sands and Sandra Wong, lots of homemade cookies and Judaica by 20 artists.|2 to 5 p.m. Sunday|Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery, 1421 Pearl Street Mall; Free; 303-443- 3683 or boulderarts andcrafts.com.
Ansel Adams show
PHOTOGRAPHY|Few names in photography are better known than Ansel Adams. His longtime association with Polaroid and other aspects of his career will be explored in a touring exhibition, titled “Ansel Adams and Edwin Land: Art, Science and Invention – Photographs from the Polaroid Collection.” More than 80 prints will be showcased, including vintage enlargements of his famed “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico”and “Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park.”|Saturday through Feb. 4, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 1 to 5 p.m.
Sundays|Longmont Museum & Cultural Center, 400 Quail Road; Free; 303-651-8374 or ci.longmont.co.us/museum
“Messiah”
CHORAL MUSIC|It’s “Messiah” time. The famed oratorio by George Frideric Handel is a staple of the holiday music season. This weekend, audiences can enjoy three versions of the work. St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral’s 45-voice choir will perform the work Sunday in what could hardly be a more fitting setting. The Colorado Symphony and Colorado Symphony Chorus will team for performances today and Saturday and then offer a sing-along version on Sunday.|Colorado Symphony, 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, sing-along at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets; 7:30 p.m. Sunday, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1350 Washington St.|CSO, $15-$67.50 today and Saturday, $20 general admission, Sunday, 303-623- 7876 or coloradosymphony.org; St. John’s, $16 and $18, 303-577-7723.
Feel the rock music!
INDIE ROCK|The understated indie rock of Annuals is sometimes breathy and quiet and sometimes singsongy and silly. The music is all over the place, but what the new record “Be He Me” adds up to is that it should be a lot of fun as a live show. Forget for a second that the singer’s voice almost sounds like Adam Duritz in the single “Bleary Eyed,” and go see the band play with an excellent slate of locals at the Larimer Lounge on Tuesday. Uphollow and Killfix open the show.|9 p.m., Tuesday.| Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St.; $8; 303-291-1007 or larimerlounge.com.
THE WEEK
“The Nutcracker”
BALLET|Several versions of Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Christmas fantasy “The Nutcracker” are presented around the metropolitan area, but the Colorado Ballet’s presentation far and away sets the standard. Despite the arrival of a new artistic director, the company has stuck with the tried and true, bringing back its now-familiar production with only slight modifications. In all, 98 performers are featured, including five extras and 47 students.| 7:30 p.m. today, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, with additional performances through Dec. 24|Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets; $27-$143; 303-837-8888 or
coloradoballet.org.
