POP MUSIC
Flamenco now
Tuesday. Music and dance. Paco Peña’s idea of flamenco is singular, and that is why Peña is a legend in the classical-music and dance worlds. Peña sees flamenco as a spontaneous explosion among players, dancers and singers, and his shows have played to packed (and moved) houses across the world. Peña brings his latest production, “A Compás,” to the Boulder Theater at 7:30 p.m. And while flamenco might mean one thing in a world of cheap stereotypes, it takes on new meaning with Peña at the helm. Tickets, $32-$40, at . Ricardo Baca
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Familiar face
Today, Saturday and Sunday. Symphonic music. The return of conductor laureate Marin Alsop to the Colorado Symphony is always a welcome event. Making this weekend’s program especially appealing is her inclusion of two less frequently heard works by her mentor, Leonard Bernstein — “Opening Prayer” and Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as soloist. Also featured will be Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $15-$75. 303-623- 7876 or . Kyle MacMillan
VISUAL ART
Go visit
Saturday and Sunday. Studio tour. More than 125 artists in the Boulder area, working in virtually every medium and style imaginable, will throw open the doors of their studios from noon to 6 p.m. Detailed guidebooks for Open Studios 2009 are available at stories across the region for $12, with proceeds benefiting the annual showcase. A good place to begin is the Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd., where each participating artist has a work on view. Free. 303-444-1862 or . Kyle MacMillan
Posing posters
Through Dec. 22.
Poster art. The latest edition of the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition — the only such event of its kind in the United States — takes to the walls at Colorado State University. The show, featuring 82 artists from 28 countries, will be shown in one venue for the first time, CSU’s new University Art Museum in the University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington St., Fort Collins. Related exhibitions and events are happening concurrently. Free. 970-491-1989 or or . Kyle MacMillan
EVENTS
Chow down
Saturday. Good food. Get a taste of Colorado’s finest at Golden’s second annual Knock Your Boots Off Beer Tasting and Chili Cook-off. This outdoor festival would make Homer Simpson proud: Try different chili recipes and styles, then put out the fires with samples of 60 different beers. Kids are invited, too, and can mix carriage rides, mini-train rides and a puppet show with their chili tastings. 1-5 p.m. on Arapahoe Street between 12th and 13th streets, Golden. Tickets are $20 for adult chili-and-beer tickets, $10 for chili-only tickets. Kids under age 10 are admitted free. More information at . Kathleen St. John
FAMILY FUN
Train trek
Saturday-Sunday. Fall adventure. Take a ride on the Great Pumpkin Patch Express and search for your very own Great Pumpkin. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad presents this Peanuts-themed Halloween extravaganza, a daytime trip to “the most sincere pumpkin patch.” Youngsters can hang with Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy while they choose a pumpkin, go on a hay ride, do some trick-or-treating and otherwise bounce around the patch. 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 31. Trains leave from the Durango depot, 479 Main Ave. Standard-class tickets are $24 for kids ages 2 to 11 and $32 for adults, premium class tickets are $34 for kids and $42 for adults. For more information or to book tickets, call 888-872-4607 or visit . Kathleen St. John
Get stuffed
Saturday. Early Halloween. Now that it’s fall, the scarecrows can come out of the fields and join the fun at Arvada’s Festival of Scarecrows. The centerpiece of the event is a scarecrow competition, with festival goers as judges. Cast your vote, then join in the fall fun. Kids can dress up and march in the Costumed Kids Parade; every marcher gets a bag of treats for participating. There’s also face-painting, games, balloon animals and a kiddie cornstalk maze. Bring a can of food to donate as admission for the maze. Everyone will want to see the Giant Pumpkin Contest, then search for the perfect jack o’ lantern. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Olde Town Square, West 57th Avenue and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard in Arvada. Free. For more information, call Historic Olde Town Arvada at 303-420-6100 or visit . Kathleen St. John
Fly high
Sunday. Kite party. Colorful kites will be soaring high at the 24th annual One Sky One World kite festival. Everyone can bring a kite and help fill the sky over Stapleton’s Central Park. There’s also plenty to do when necks start to get sore from staring at the sky: a harvest market, vendor villages, a food-and-wine tent and live entertainment. Don’t forget the cute pet and kids parade, too, and get ready for a giant kite battle up in the clouds. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Stapleton Central Park, Martin Luther King and Central Park boulevards. Free. Find more information at . Kathleen St. John
Kiddie tale
Through Jan. 3. Not so ugly. It’s hip to be square in the Arvada Center’s production of “Honk!” A modern retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling,” the lighthearted musical follows the story of a strange-looking little duck named Ugly, who’s searching for his mother. He runs into a beautiful swan along the way, and proves that true beauty isn’t skin deep. Days and times vary. The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd.; 720- 898-7200. Tickets to weekday shows are $8, weekend shows are $10. To buy tickets in advance, call or visit . Kathleen St. John
FILM
Source material
Friday and Saturday. The original. Mining genre is what the Denver Film Society’s monthly “Watching Hour” series does best. So it makes whip-smart sense that it would screen a 35mm archival print of the strange war movie that inspired the master prospector of pop-culture ore, Quentin Tarantino, to make “Inglourious Basterds.” Italian director Enzo G. Castellari’s “The Inglorious Bastards” (1978) was part of the subgenre of war flicks dubbed “macaroni combat.” At 10 p.m. at the Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, 900 Auraria Parkway. $6-$9.50. 303-820-FILM or . Lisa Kennedy
Snow Patrol ready to reclaim the mic
Not long ago, Gary Lightbody was asked by his U.S. record label to write a song for the new Gwen Stefani record. Lightbody, the lead singer and songwriter behind Snow Patrol, gave them a track for Stefani, who later passed on it.
But when Snow Patrol’s U.K. label first heard the track, they couldn’t believe Lightbody hadn’t kept it for his own band.
“And so we reclaimed it for ourselves. Lightbody said of the track “Just Say Yes.” “It was originally a ballad, but now it’s far from that.”
Indeed, Snow Patrol’s latest single, one of the three new songs on the forthcoming hits-and-favorites compilation “Up to Now,” isn’t a familiar ballad. “Just Say Yes” is an electronic-infused, ’80s-kissed track that sounds like a natural hit for the popular Scottish-Irish alt-rock export.
“It’s one of those songs that we’ve always had in us,” said Lightbody, who brings his band to the Fillmore Auditorium tonight. “I’ve loved dance music since I was an 18-year-old kid going to nightclubs, so it was bound to happen at some point. But I’m surprised it took me 15 years.”
Even though Snow Patrol popped in the U.S. only in the last five years, Lightbody started playing with since-departed bass player Mark McClelland in 1994. And that time is the perspective Lightbody and his bandmates used to collect songs for “Up to Now,” slated for release Nov. 9.
It takes guts to release a compilation album — and real courage to release a double- disc compilation. The band is careful to point out it’s not a greatest-hits collection.
“We couldn’t have a greatest-hits at this point, because we only have a couple of them, and I hate those records anyway,” Lightbody said. “And ‘best of’ sounded like it’s final, like it’s the end of the band. What we wanted to do was say, ‘This is the last 15 years, and here are three new songs so we can get excited about the next 15 years.’ Hopefully this is just the beginning, and we wanted to make sure that people knew that this isn’t our parting shot.”
The release will include alternate versions, live tracks, covers and a couple of songs from Reindeer Section, a Scottish/ Irish indie supergroup that puts Lightbody with folks from Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, Idlewild and others.
When playing live, Snow Patrol is made up of three Northern Irishmen and three Scots, a bill that gets them hometown receptions in multiple European cities.
“We get hometown welcomes in Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow,” said Lightbody, a native of Belfast. “We get a big reception in southern Ireland, too, which is amazing given everything we went through all those years.”
With a recent U.K. tour with Coldplay and 20 dates in North America opening for U2 under its belt, it’s fair to say that Snow Patrol is bigger than ever. Nonetheless, the band is thrilled to be headlining again.
“When you’re opening shows like that, you have to be confident enough to get up there and give a great performance — but be reverential, too, and let the crowd know that you realize that your position is what it is,” Lightbody said.
“But when you’re headlining, you have to go out with all guns blazing, like you’re meant to be the last band of the night — and that’s a great feeling.”
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
SNOW PATROL.
Alternative rock. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., with the Plain White T’s. Today. 8 p.m. $27-$29. 877-598-8497 or
80 works presented at Camera Obscura’s first juried exhibit
When one of the country’s oldest and most respected photography galleries announced its first-ever juried invitational exhibition earlier this year, it was no surprise that the event immediately sparked interest.
More than 300 photographers across the country deluged the Camera Obscura Gallery, 1309 Bannock St., with nearly 1,400 entries.
Owner Hal Gould and his longtime associate Loretta Young-Gautier — both fine photographers in their own right — served as jurors and chose 80 photographs by 72 artists. The works are on view through Oct. 24 in a packed exhibition aptly titled “The Art of Photography Today.”
While the selections offer a considerable range of styles and approaches, it’s hard not to wish for more experimentation and originality. There are too many cliched images of running horses and hot-air balloons.
That said, some notable inclusions can be found, such as Sean Dolan’s “Curvature,” an innovative work that is as much sculpture as photography, and Allen Birnbach’s fantastical “Loxachatchee River Study No. 7.”
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Free. 303-623-4059 or . Kyle MacMillan
