OPENS TODAY
Going in circles
CORN MAZES|Next time someone tells you to get lost, head to one of the Front Range’s freshly cut corn mazes. The Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield opened its 8.5-acre maze last weekend, while the Fritzler maze (shaped like the late country singer/rodeo champ Chris LeDoux this year), opens today in LaSalle.|
Various times, through Oct. 31|
8500 Deer Creek Canyon Road in Littleton, $6, 303-973-3705 or botanic
; 20861 U.S. 85 in LaSalle, $10-$18, 970-737-2129 or
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SATURDAY
Shostakovich score
FILM MUSIC|One of the great experiences in the symphony hall is a live performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s score for Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 cinematic masterpiece, “The Battleship Potemkin.” The Colorado Springs Philharmonic will offer a one-night presentation of this amazing merger of music and film, which brought together two of the greatest Russian artistic talents of the 20th century. |8 p.m. Saturday|
Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, $22-$37, 866-464-2626 or .
SATURDAY
Greenwood grand marshal
PARADE|Country balladeer Lee Greenwood is best known for his overplayed tribute “God Bless the U.S.A.,” but on Saturday he’ll play grand marshal of the 2007 Colorado State Parade of Honor (Greenwood plays that night at the Paramount Theatre). The parade, which organizers say is the state’s largest, adds more than 200 police, fire department and military vehicles to traditional floats, marching bands,
Shriners and others.|10 a.m. Saturday|Colfax Avenue and Court Place, up Court to 15th Street, across Welton Street to 17th Street and then down Broadway, finishing at 14th Avenue, free, .
TONIGHT & SATURDAY
X marks the spot
MAP FAIR|Mapquest and GPS devices might be all the rage, but they have done little to dim the mystique of antique maps. In fact, these new technologies have probably only enhanced interest. The Rocky Mountain Map Society will hold its seventh-annual antique-map fair this weekend, with 15 American and European dealers. Thousands of maps from the 16th through 20th centuries will be on view and for sale.|5-8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday|
Denver Central Library, 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway, free, .
TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY
Anime and Japanese arts
CONVENTION|Wide-eyed and hyperstylized, anime has won millions of fans. Nan Desu Kan, the Mile High City’s annual celebration of all things Japanese, is this weekend with music, art, costumes, anime celebrities, news from the industry, video game competitions and nonstop screenings of the latest releases.|Various times, Friday-Sunday|Marriott Denver Tech Center, 4900 S. Syracuse St., $15-$45, 303-898-4867 or
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SUNDAY
Painter duet
ART|Komar & Melamid, a Russian-born artistic duo that disbanded in 2003, earned international acclaim during its four decades of collaboration. “American Dreams,” an exhibition opening Sunday and running through Nov. 11, features a group of paintings the two completed in 1994-99. The works spoof parallels between George Washington and Vladimir Lenin.|Opening reception 3-5 p.m. Sunday, lecture by
Vitaly Komar follows|Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 S. Dahlia St., free, 303-316-6360 or
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SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Belmar Italian fest
FOOD & WINE|Belmar’s fourth annual Festival Italiano Food & Wine fete lives up to its name with artisan vendors peddling gelato, sausage, pasta and pizza. But it’s more than that: ceramics, antique maps, Gli Sbandieratori flag throwers, a boccie ball tournament, grape stomping, kids’ activities and wine tasting and seminars.|10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday|Wadsworth and West Alameda Avenue in Lakewood, free admission, 303-742-1520 or
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THURSDAY
Kern plays Rachmaninoff
SYMPHONIC MUSIC|The summer-festival season flew by, and classical music is returning to Denver’s stages. The Colorado Symphony will open its season with one of this region’s most popular guest soloists – Olga Kern. The Van Cliburn gold medalist will join music director Jeffrey Kahane and the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” one of the composer’s most beloved works.|7:30 p.m. Thursday (note the unusual day) and Sept. 22 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 23|Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, $15-$69.50, 303-623-
7876 or .
TUESDAY
20th-century modern
CLASSICAL MUSIC|Serialism, conceptualism, neoclassicism, -isms of all kinds from the 20th century will be featured as The Playground, an ensemble-in-residence at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, presents “Modern Miscellanea.” The concert will include works by such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Alban Berg and John Cage.|7:30 p.m. Tuesday|DU’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., $16 and $18, 303-871-7720 or .
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GOING, GOING
Catch these events before they disappear after this weekend:
“The Taffetas”MUSICAL THEATER|Denver Center Attractions’ squeaky-clean confectionary musical journey through the Fab ’50s. The Taffetas are four Indiana sisters auditioning for a spot on “The Ed Sullivan Show” with a cavalcade of 58 ditties like “Where the Boys Are.”|ENDS SUNDAY|Final performances 7:30 p.m. today, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Garner-Galleria Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. $34-$40, 303-893-4100, 866-464-2626, King Soopers or .
“All in the Timing”
THEATER|Six situational and existential comedy sketches by David Ives and presented by Modern Muse that are kind of like comic word games stuffed with rhymes, puns and tongue-twisting malapropisms.|ENDS SUNDAY|Final performances 8 p.m. today and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday at the Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St. $20, 303-780-7836 or .
