Barack Obama’s inauguration is Jan. 20and you can kick-start the celebration at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 80th Birthday Dream Concert at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Jan. 16. The house will rock.
Denyce Graves, one of the top opera singers in the world, will headline the concert with the 70-member Spirituals Project Choir. Denverites know Graves best as the mezzo-soprano who blew the roof off the Ellie in Bizet’s “Carmen” three years ago.
Ticket prices range from $15 to $100. And $15 to be in the hall with Graves is some deal. It’s not sold out yet — but get moving.
“You don’t want to miss this inspirational event,” said Carolyn Ash, exec director of the Spirituals Project.
Tix available at , King Soopers and 866-464-2626. For info on the four-day Denver celebration of King, go to .
Barkley bows out.
Charles Barkley won’t be coming to Denver on Tuesday night as part of the Insight Speakers Series. Seems ticket sales were all of 100, so organizer Elizabeth Weiland was able to pull the plug — and Barkley, she says, “was very gracious” in bowing out.
Did the poor sales have anything to do with Barkley’s recent DUI arrest in Phoenix and the embarrassing explanation he gave for running a stop sign?
“People just aren’t spending money on speakers series right now,” Weiland says. “It’s a tough economy, especially for a new series like this. Barkley is such a character — but I don’t think it’s about what just happened. That’s the long answer for ‘No.’ ”
On a mission.
Joe Nolan, son of former Denver sportscaster Mike Nolan and Neiman Marcus mouthpiece Nancy Sagar, is back in Colorado to play The Club in Vail tonight through Saturday. His band, Mission 19, is a duo with Nolan and Ryan McConeghy, and they’ve packed the fragrant joint for years.
Joe got engaged to Shanon Mackey of North Carolina on Thanksgiving, and they plan to marry in the spring of 2010.
City spirit.
Diego Zhang’s Burger Cafe in Greenwood Village is getting lotsa good buzz for its stupendous sliders. . . . Restaurant Kevin Taylor celebrates 10 years with a three- course prix fixe meal, $99 for two, through Feb. 12. . . . The economy is bad, but the Four Season Private Residences going up at 14th and Arapahoe streets has only one one-bedroom unit left (out of 12); 954 square feet at $895,000. . . . Aloft, the new W-driven hotel at DIA, opens with a cocktail party tonight at w xyz bar. . . . Tix are on sale for the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, June 19-21, with Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali, Danny Meyer and Dan Philips (with a new pairing seminar: Pizza & Vino). Tix start at $1,085; special VIP “green” tix are $3,100. . . . Free days at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science: this Sunday, as well as Feb. 2, March 18, April 19, May 31, June 10, July 13, Aug. 12, Sept. 13, Oct. 4 and Nov. 2 and 22. . . . Maxim poser and extra-supermodel Joanna Krupa will host Club 303’s launch Saturday along with 20 Denver models. And don’t forget Dad’s Naughty Little Girl party tonight at Wicked Garden. . . . Sez who: “I don’t care what’s written about me as long as it isn’t true.” Katharine Hepburn
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
