If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email Caitlin at [email protected].
EVENTS
Virtual Mobility for All — RTD LiVE and Mobile Ticketing Workshop. 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, via Facebook Live, bit.ly/3o6Lnv1. This event is free.
During this virtual workshop, you’ll learn how to sign up for RTD LiVE and how to download and use the RTD Mobile Ticketing app. The LiVE Program lets qualified riders get a 40% discount off regular fares. To qualify, you need to be between the ages 20 and 64, live within the RTD service area and have a gross household income at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. This app lessens contact between individuals through contactless payment while boarding RTD buses. Download the RTD Mobile Ticketing and Transit apps on your smartphone or tablet prior to this workshop to follow along with the presentation. Interested participants will need an internet connection, a computer and a smartphone. Once registered, participants will receive instruction on how to join the class. Participants will receive free RTD passes upon completion of the workshop and a survey.
‘Is Civil Discourse Dead?’ — an evening with Dr. Robert George and Dr. Cornel West. 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, via Zoom, colorado.edu. This event is free, but registration is required.
In this free virtual panel discussion, Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Robert George, the “ideological odd couple,” discuss the importance of civil discourse in this era of polarization. Leftist West and conservative George are friends who teach together and travel the country to demonstrate their commitment to free speech. They explore their opposing views on several policy areas, respectfully disagreeing as well as finding common ground.
Virtual Presentation: Seed Characteristics and Identification. 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22, via Zoom, longmontcolorado.gov/senior-services. Free, but please register in advance, either online or by calling the Longmont Senior Center at 303-651-8411.
We may be in the heart of winter, but it will be spring before you know it, making now a great time to learn how to identify seeds. Sharon Bokan, CSU Extension small acreage coordinator, will introduce participants to some of the plant family seed features. This class will cover garden plant seeds along with some native plant seeds, but also how seeds are produced, cleaned, tested and made available for sale.
Picnic on the Farm. Friday, Jan. 22 (and additional dates each month through the year), Growing Gardens, 1630 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder, growinggardens.org. Price: $65-$100.
Enjoy the beauty of each Colorado season with Growing Gardens’ monthly Farm Picnic Series. Each picnic features a unique menu curated by Growing Gardens Farm Chef, Carly Silberman. Enjoy all the fixin’s for a cozy picnic made from fresh, local ingredients. Bring your blanket and find a spot on the farm, or pick-up to enjoy in the comfort of your home or backyard. Meals are fully cooked and ready to eat upon pick-up.
Event of Note with Pianist Simone Dinnerstein. 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27, via Zoom, boulderphil.org. Tickets: $30 (Delivered hors d’oeuvres are $20).
Tune-in to the Boulder Philharmonic’s virtual venue for a captivating evening of music and conversation with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, an international performer with 10 albums that have topped the Billboard classical charts. Guests will hear more about Dinnerstein’s commitment to broad musical interests and giving concerts in non-traditional venues. Make it a party by ordering hors d’oeuvres and a cocktail mixer from Three Leaf Concepts. Delivery is available for Boulder, Louisville and Lafayette residents; others may pick up at Zucca, 808 Main St., Louisville.
Applications due for COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund. Tuesday, Jan. 27. To apply, visit: apply.denverfoundation.org.
Applications for The Denver Foundation’s COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund are due by Jan. 27. The fund aims to provide emergency support to struggling arts organizations across Metro Denver to help ensure organizations are able to maintain staff, artist engagement and minimal operations while planning for future sustainability. Arts organizations with a 501(c)(3) status are eligible for funds between $5,000-$50,000. Priority will be given to organizations that offer free/discounted admissions/ticketing, scholarships and engagement to communities that are traditionally under-resourced, and those with limited access to other relief funds or endowments.
PODCASTS
‘Conviction: American Panic’
The roots of the “Satanic panic” that overtook America in the 1980s stemmed from a Canadian memoir, Michelle Remembers, in which a woman claims to have “recovered” — with help from a psychotherapist — memories of satanic rituals she was forced to take part in as a child. Despite any evidence to support the claims, hundreds of people were erroneously accused of abusing their children in satanic cult rituals over the course of the decade. The second season of the Gimlet series Conviction traces this dark and bizarre chapter of American history, sussing out the reasons a whole nation could succumb to a madness comparable to the Salem witch trials or McCarthyism. “[Police] would just go in[to schools] and ask to question the kids, and then they would take them away,” said one parent. “So you would never know if your kid’s gonna come home from school.” When the nation finally came to its senses in the mid-’90s, victims of this moral crusade were left to pick up the pieces of their lives: parents subjected to trials and jail time, families torn apart, children indoctrinated with bunk psychotherapy. Conviction offers a reminder of the slippery slope of moral superiority. —Caitlin Rockett
‘Bundyville, The Remnant’
After the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, most of us are asking, “How did we get here?” For decades, the anti-government movement in the U.S. has been growing. In the West, it’s long been a battle over public lands, led in recent years by the Bundy family and symbolized by their standoffs with the federal government both in Nevada and at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Building off a successful first season exploring the history and inner workings of the Bundy family specifically, the second season of Bundyville, The Remnant dives deeper into the armed uprisings and violence the Bundys have inspired. At one point, a Trump supporter who tried to blow up a government building says, “People are wanting retaliation, revenge, payback for a lot of things. They want retribution.” Recorded in 2019, host Leah Sottille takes the listener on a long-winding journey of discovery, ending with prescient questions and observations for the moment in which we currently find ourselves. —Angela K. Evans
‘Slow Burn: David Duke’
He was once the Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. More recently, we saw him at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right Rally” in 2017. He may be one of America’s most infamous white supremecists, but in the late 20th century, David Duke was an elected politician in the Louisiana House of Representatives who eventually mounted very public campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and governor in 1991. Season 4 of Slate’s popular podcast Slow Burn covers the rise and fall of David Duke in Louisiana politics, hosted by Josh Levine, a native Jewish Louisianian who was in elementary school at the time. This binge-worthy podcast explores the misinformation circulating around Duke, how voters came to embrace his message, and ultimately what it took to stop him. —Angela K. Evans
THEATER
The Catamounts present ‘The Whiskey Tasting.’ Feb. 4-March 7, thewhiskeytasting.com. Tickets are on sale now.
The Whiskey Tasting is an online, immersive theater experience, presented by The Catamounts. You and one member of your household will join two other households for a whiskey tasting, exploring the history and nuanced varieties of this spirit from the comfort of your own home. You may find that as your virtual bartender begins to divulge details about their own life, you’ll be inspired to toast to the moments that brought you to where you are today. Tickets are on sale now for shows running Feb. 4-March 7, with multiple shows daily.
CU Boulder College of Music presents ‘#LIFE: A musical revue.’ 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22-Monday, March 4, cupresents.org. This is a pay-what-you-can performance.
In this musical revue of compositions by Steve Marzullo and Michael Gruber, College of Music performers ask themselves and the audience about life’s frustrations. What is our outlook toward the future? How do we keep smiles on our faces? How do we maintain hope? As in the real world, #Life explores the ways we survive and thrive in the face of obstacles.
Theater 29 and the Lulubird Project present ‘LOOK.’ Streaming through Jan. 31, theater29denver.com. Free.
LOOK is a collection of Colorado-made video plays designed for uncertain times. Starting in November 2020, a group of local playwrights and theater artists began working on short video-plays on the theme of “There’s something I want to show you” using following parameters: Each play had to be recorded by an actor-as-character using a hand-held device like a phone or tablet; and each piece must contain an implicit or explicit reason for the recording using a hand-held device. The theme and parameters of LOOK were devised to reflect and incorporate pandemic-prescribed means of communication. Viewers will be able to access the LOOK video collection for free on the Theater 29 website and be invited to support the local theater arts community by donating to the Denver Actors Fund.
The plays:
‘Morning Cafecito,’ by Iliana Lucero Barron and Adelina Gonzales
‘Signing Off,’ by James Brunt and Molly Bibeau
‘Claire’s Live Feed: Randonaughting,’ by Tami Canaday
‘Just In Time,’ by Collin I. Hood
‘Following Fiona,’ by Melissa Lucero McCarl
‘First Vlog,’ by Pamela Nocerino
‘Made Up,’ by Matthew Schultz
BOOKS AND WORDS
Scott Skinner-Thompson — ‘Privacy at the Margins,’ with Kristen Carpenter. 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, boulderbookstore.net. Tickets are $5.
In Privacy at the Margins, Scott Skinner-Thompson highlights why privacy is of acute importance for marginalized groups. He explains how privacy can serve as a form of expressive resistance to government and corporate surveillance regimes — furthering equality goals — and demonstrates why efforts undertaken by vulnerable groups (queer folks, women and racial and religious minorities) to protect their privacy should be entitled to constitutional protection under the First Amendment and related equality provisions.
LocalWRITES Spoken Word Presentation. 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, via Zoom, localtheaterco.org. Membership starts at $49.
In this virtual event, students from Boulder’s Casey Middle School will present original material they created while participating in LocalWRITES, a playwriting and literacy program developed and hosted by Local Theater Company. With the guidance of educators Ilasiea Gray and Val Wheeler, the eighth-grade participants created personal narratives in the form of short spoken word pieces. Local Theater Company season 10 members have access to the spoken word presentation (live and archived, for later viewing), as well as Living Room Local events (featuring working creatives talking about their craft), new play readings, and discounts on writing for stage and screen classes.
David Allen Sibley — ‘What It’s Like to Be a Bird,’ in conversation with Ted Floyd. 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, via Zoom, boulderbookstore.net. Tickets are $5.
Can birds smell? Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year? Do robins hear worms? In What It’s Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds, Sibley’s book also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin.
Khadijah Queen reads from ‘Anodyne.’ 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, via Zoom. Donations appreciated. Register at bit.ly/2KrGTjD.
In this Innisfree Workshop Series event, hear CU Boulder professor Khadijah Queen read from Anodyne, her most recent collection of poetry. Donations for the event will help Innisfree Poetry Bookstore pay debts and continue to bring poetry to the people.
