Critic’s pick
A not-to-be-missed Folks Festival lineup
Today-Sunday. When the 21st annual Rocky Mountain Folks Festival opens its doors today, it will be welcoming sellout crowds and one of the best lineups of the last decade. On today’s bill: one of the most beautiful voices in contemporary music, Brandi Carlile, right, folk singer Martin Sexton and songwriter Livingston Taylor. Saturday: masterful songwriter Josh Ritter, folk legend Mary Gauthier and a supergroup made up of the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson and songwriter Jackie Greene. Sunday: folk-rock star Jackson Browne, pop crossover artist Missy Higgins and exciting newcomers the Civil Wars and Dan Mangan. All tickets for this year’s festival are sold, but check the Festivarian Forums at for last-minute releases or secondary-market offers, not to mention schedules and information. Ricardo Baca
Family Fun
Big Bird, Elmo take a trip to the moon
Daily. Youngsters can beat the late-summer heat with “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure” at the IMAX theater at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The 20-minute film follows Big Bird and Elmo as they learn about the night sky, count stars, draw constellations and even take a quick trip to the moon. Then they meet Chinese pal Hu Hu Zhu and see that they share the same sky. 10 and 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2:30 and 4 p.m. daily. Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd.; 303-370-6000. IMAX-only tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, students and juniors ages 3 to 18 (members get a discount.)
Peachy-keen fun at Lafayette festival
Saturday. Lafayette celebrates the peach harvest at the town’s annual Peach Festival. Fruit fans will be in heaven as thousands of pounds of organic peaches roll into town from Palisade. Pick up a crate to take home, or just grab one of the hundreds of pre-made peach pies and cobblers. Also: live music, non-peach- based foods, a farmers market, art and antique vendors, free face painting, magic, children’s theater and more. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Public Road, Old Town Lafayette. Free.
Butterflies are free, and so is this event
Sunday. It’s a butterfly bonanza at this weekend’s edition of the Market at Belmar. Featured activities include a butterfly-themed craft tent for kids presented by Abrakadoodle and an “Urban Gardeners” class on butterfly gardening. Vendors will set up outdoors, too, creating an old-fashioned market feel. The markets continue through Sept. 25 with chef demonstrations, an apple-pie contest, gardening ideas and more. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. West Alaska Drive, Lakewood. Free.
Stage adaptation brings Oz to Littleton through Aug. 27.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road: The Inspire Creative theater company presents “The Wizard of Oz” in Littleton. Adapted from the classic movie, the musical follows Dorothy on her strange journey through Oz, from the Wicked Witch of the East to the Wicked Witch of the West. 7 p.m. today, Saturday and Aug. 26-27. The Burgundy Theater, 9136 W. Bowles Ave., Littleton. Reserved seats are $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, $15 for kids age 12 and younger. Gallery seating is $12; VIP tickets $30.
Automotive eye candy rolls into Gunnison
Through Sunday. Car culture comes to the high country in the 24th annual Gunnison Car Show. Starting tonight, the mountain town will be filled with antique autos and custom classics — rockabilly band the Lustre Kings will provide the soundtrack as the cars roll into town. The festival winds down on Sunday with a Breakfast Cruise to Crested Butte. Cruise-in: 5-9 p.m. today. Main Street, Gunnison. Car show: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jorgensen Park, U.S. 50 and Teller Street, Gunnison. Breakfast cruise, 8 a.m. Sunday. Elk Avenue, Crested Butte. Free to spectators; breakfast cruise meal tickets $15.
Classical music
Mahler’s “Resurrectoin” concludes Aspen season
Sunday. This year’s edition of the Aspen Music Festival, the state’s largest and most respected summer classical series, concludes Sunday. The final 4 p.m. program, featuring the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Colorado Symphony Chorus, will culminate with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with music director-designate Robert Spano and soprano Twyla Robinson (substituting for Isabel Bayrakdarian, who is ill) and mezzo- soprano Sasha Cooke. $82. 970-925-0942 or . Kyle MacMillan
Art
“Mud”-related exhibit on display in Boulder
Today. “Overthrown: Clay Without Limits” is the largest and most ambitious of the eight new exhibitions that make up “Marvelous Mud” at the Denver Art Museum. One of the highlights of that contemporary offering is “Apoptosis,” a massive collaborative installation by Martha Russo and Katie Caron, both members of the faculty at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Lakewood. The two are showing related works in “Collective Tissue,” an exhibition running through Sept. 30 at Mercury Framing, 4292 Broadway, in Boulder. It opens today with a public reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Free. 303-938-0123 or . Kyle MacMillan
Theater
“Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” In Arvada
Today and Saturday. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival brings its well-received summer staging of “Romeo and Juliet” from Boulder to the Arvada Center’s outdoor amphitheater for two performances. Shakespeare’s tragedy follows the star-crossed lovers as they hurtle from their first shy glances to their last heartrending kiss. Featuring a lush, Renaissance-design setting, this is the production aimed at satisfying the classic Shakespeare lover. 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, 720- 898-7200 or . John Moore
Film series
Library shines spotlight on female film directors
Tuesdays. What a resounding opening salvo by the Denver Public Library and resident film critic Walter Chaw: starting their “Chatelaine: Women Directors in Film” series with a work by Ida Lupino, actress-producer-director and trailblazer. Lupino’s “Outrage” (1950) tells the story of Ann Walton (Mala Powers), who on the cusp of being married is raped. Surprisingly tough material for the time period, but not for Lupino. In addition to Lupino, the series will show films by Liliani Cavani (“Ripley’s Game”), Lynne Ramsay (“Ratcatcher”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost In Translation”) and Jane Campion (“Bright Star”). Tuesdays, 6-9 p.m. Central Library, 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway. 720-865-1111 or . Lisa Kennedy
Music
Niwot hosts “Jazz on Second Avenue” festival
Saturday. Little Niwot, just 10 minutes northwest of Boulder, is starting an annual tradition this weekend. Jazz on Second Avenue is a jazz festival in the streets of the quiet rural community. This year’s line-up includes Henry Butler, the Don Grusin Quartet, Brad Goode, Conjunto Colores, the CU Jazz Ensemble and others. There will also be food — they’re advertising “culinary delights from Louisiana and Spanish Harlem” — along with a wine bar/ beergarden. 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., free, . Ricardo Baca
See works of Nathan Abels’ alter-artist
It is impossible to ignore the the resemblances between the paintings of Alan Kitchen, who moved to Denver in 2008 and is still establishing himself, and those of Nathan Abels, a well- known figure on the local scene.
Although the slightly younger Kitchen has not yet attained the technical virtuosity of Abels, both work in a similarly compelling, ambiguous realm between reality and the imagination, depicting ghostly glimpses of memories and dreams.
It turns out that the two met as students at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Ind., and have remained friends since.
Fourteen of Kitchen’s works are featured in a solo exhibition at the new GroundSwell Gallery. The handsome, window-lined space is housed in a midcentury modernist building at 3121 E. Colfax Ave., alongside a marijuana dispensary.
Among the show’s highlights are “There Was No Sound,” in which the viewer looks through chain-link fencing to a shadowy, mysterious scene of a pack of wolves. Kitchen only goes wrong when he pares down his imagery too far, as he does in the overly scant “Something Will Talk Back to You.”
The show runs through Sept. 6. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. daily. Free. 303-309-0078 or . Kyle MacMillan
