Critics pick
Kicking off “the Daddy of ‘Em All”
Through july 31. It’s Cowboy-Palooza: Cheyenne Frontier Days gets off to a rootin’-tootin’ start today. It’s hard to know where to begin — the two-week Western hoedown is jam-packed with activities every day. Some of the biggest draws are the concerts: This year’s Frontier Nights lineup includes big names like Darius Rucker, Motley Crue, The Zac Brown Band, Jason Aldean and Toby Keith. The concerts start tonight with a double-whammy show by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. Rodeo is another major highlight. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association presents daily rodeos starting Saturday. And Frontier Park is a full-on Western experience: an Old West town, Indian Village (powwow Wednesday). Visit for tickets and a full schedule of events, including information on parades, the Art Show and Sale and the annual visit by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Cheyenne Frontier Days Park, 4610 Carey Ave., Cheyenne, 800-227-6336. Kathleen St. John
Family Fun
Experience a bear of an adventure in Lakewood
Tonight. Looking for a wild time? Join the Grin and Bear It Adventure Race at Bear Creek Lake Park. The family-friendly race sets teams of two off on a multifaceted journey that includes mountain biking, a water crossing and running. (Grown up competitors run a 2-3 mile course while the family division scurries about on a scavenger hunt.) The registration fee includes a T-shirt and food after the race. Space is limited; call or visit to sign up in advance. Starts at 6 tonight. Bear Creek Lake Park, 15600 W. Morrison Road, Lakewood; 303-697-6154. Registration is $20 per person.
Chill out, dig in, and learn about the Ice Age
Saturday-Sunday. Celebrate the mighty Snowmastodon at an “Ice Age Spectacular” at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Learn about the discoveries made during the seven-week fossil dig in Snowmass Village, including lots about the mastodon remains that started it all. See the “Time Scene Investigation” show, play “Ice Age Dentist” and dig around in some “dirt” for your own finds. Defy the sloth stereotypes, too, and join in the Sloth Races — wear one of the provided ground-sloth costumes and zoom through an obstacle course. 8 a.m. to noon, museum members with reservations only; noon to 5 p.m. all visitors. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd.; 303-370-6000. Activities included with museum admission: $12 for adults, $8 for seniors age 65 and older, $6 for juniors ages 3 to 18 and students with ID.
Enjoy a Monday movie night under the stars
Mondays through Aug. 15. Start off the work week with laid-back lounging at Mondays at Infinity Park. There’s a free concert followed by a movie under the stars. This week’s show features music by country-rockers Julia Bryan and the Last Flight Out, followed by a screening of 1970s baseball comedy “The Bad News Bears.” In the park’s stadium. Music starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday; movie begins at 8 p.m. Infinity Park, 4599 E. Tennessee Ave., Glendale; 303-692-5799. Admission is free.
Comedy
UMS, Comedy Works serving up the yuks
Today-Thursday. Comedy jumps out of the club this weekend with multiple showcases at The Denver Post’s 11th annual Underground Music Showcase. In addition to stand- up sets hosted by Ben Kronberg and Jake Sharon, Andrew Orvedahl will debut his “Randomicity” show at Sobo 151 tonight. The on- the-fly joke-writing competition pits members of local troupes The Grawlix and the Fine Gentleman’s Club in a bare-knuckled battle of wits. If that’s not enough local goodness, Grawlix member Ben Roy will headline Comedy Works on Larimer Square Wednesday and Thursday. And if the UMS isn’t your thing, check out “Kids in the Hall” and “NewsRadio” veteran Dave Foley’s sets at Comedy Works today and Saturday. Visit and for more details, and read our “Why So Serious?” Q&A with Roy at . John Wenzel
Dance
“Sketches of Spain,” flamenco in Arvada,
Thursday. The Arvada Center’s summer concert series continues next week with a fiery evening of dance and music: The Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra opens Thursday’s “Sketches of Spain” program with its take on the so- named Miles Davis composition, followed by Fiesta Colorado’s always-spirited flamenco concert. The show features guitarist Jose Vega from Cadiz, Spain, and Santa Fe dancer Jesus Muñoz in addition to a half-dozen area dancers and musicians. 7 p.m. Thursday, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. $15-$28. 720-898-7200 or . John Wenzel
Theater
“Great Goddess Bazaar” of women’s monologues
Through july 30. “The Great Goddess Bazaar” is a collection of women’s monologues by David Rush that features distinct female characters coping with the alternatingly comic and tragic repercussions of their life-altering choices. The one-woman play is performed by Boulder’s lowercased square product theatre company, directed by the highly regarded Jane Page and performed by Tammy Meneghini, who played the adult Scout in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s 2009 production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; plus 4 p.m., this Sunday at the Wesley Chapel, 1290 Folsom St., 303-442-0234 or John Moore
Art
21st-century femininity theme of photo exhibit
Thursday. Jessica Hilvitz explores the state of 21st-century femininity in an exhibition of photographs, “Prepackaged and Pretty.” The show, along with another, titled “I Am Kevin Durant: New Works by Derrick Velasquez,” goes on view with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Boxcar Gallery, 554 Santa Fe Drive. Both run through Aug. 17. Viewing hours are noon to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Free. 303-725-7047 or . Kyle MacMillan
Eight artists show their “Amazing Glazing”
Today. The William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee St., joins the communitywide celebration of clay art keyed to the Denver Art Museum’s massive exhibition, “Marvelous Mud.” The commercial space is presenting “Amazing Glazing,” which features ceramic works by eight artists, including such notables as Betty Woodman and Martha Daniels. The show opens with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. today and runs through Sept. 3. Free. 303-893-2360 or . Kyle MacMillan
Classical music
Jupiter String Quartet plays Beethoven works
Saturday. The Jupiter String Quartet, which was formed in 2001, is presenting its first-ever set of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 16 string quartets at the Aspen Music Festival. This ambitious rite of passage is as important to a string quartet as winning a major tournament is to a professional golfer. The second of the six performances in the series will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday in Paepcke Auditorium. The remaining concerts are set for July 26 and 30, and Aug. 2 and 4. $46. 970-925-9042 or . Kyle MacMillan
Film series
Sorting fact from fiction, with help from scientists
Wednesdays through Aug. 10. Long before HAL refused to open the pod bay doors in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” sci-fi films have teased and schooled the popular imagination about the fantasically possible (or not) and the dismayingly dystopian. In a bold gesture, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science teamed up with the Denver Film Society to present its first “Sci-Fi Film Series” in which the museum’s brightest help sift fact from fiction. Still among the slated 7 p.m. screenings: Kubrick’s 1968 classic, with astrobiologist David Grinspoon (Thursday, Denver FilmCenter/Colfax); Duncan Jones’ “Moon,” with Ka Chun Yu, curator of space sciences (Aug. 3, Denver FilmCenter/Colfax); “Gattaca,” with Nicole Garneau, curator of human health (Aug. 10, Denver Museum of Nature & Science). $12-$15 per film. or 303-820-FILM. Lisa Kennedy
Toy Stories atWilliam Havu Gallery in Denver
Toys are not always about child’s play.
That’s one of the messages of an ambitious toy-themed exhibition at William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee St., in which angst mostly outweighs whimsy and metaphor runs deep.
The show, titled “Toy Stories,” features 42 paintings and sculptures by five individual artists and one artistic duo — all from California, except for Esteban Blanco of Miami and Laurel Swab of Colorado Springs.
Although they are all dealing with the subject of toys in one fashion or another, their technical and stylistic approaches could hardly be more different, and that variety goes far in enlivening this offering.
Among the most striking highlights are four cartoonish, brightly colored works by Phillip Maberry and Scott Walker of Joshua Tree, Calif., which look for all the world like inflatable toys but are actually trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures.
Blanco’s imaginative, elaborately realized sculptures go off in a multitude of directions, but none is more attention-grabbing than “Toy Spy Plane,” a hanging small-scale reproduction of an SR-71, with dozens of eyes adhered to its bottom.
“Toy Stories” runs through Sept. 3. Free. 303-893-2360 or Kyle Macmillan
