Pancakes & Booze showcases local art on Friday

Taking over City Hall for one night only this Friday, the Pancakes & Booze art show is exactly that -- a showing of work by local artists combined with a smorgasbord of sweet treats and liquor. The traveling party originated in Los Angeles in 2009 and now makes a circuit of cities across the U.S. a couple of times a year, adding live local music and painting to the mix at each stop.

Creator Tom Kirlin says that after living in Denver more than a decade ago, he recognized that this city's thriving art scene was a prime location for his conceptual party. "Denver isn't a huge city, but the amount of artists working here is amazing," he notes.

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Kirlin initially came up with the Pancakes & Booze idea while attending college in Tucson, but he soon moved to Los Angeles to become a filmmaker. Still, he never dropped the idea.

The first Pancakes & Booze became reality after Kirlin realized he had a warehouse in L.A. that was virtually empty at night. During the day, the space was used to shoot music videos and movies -- but the rest of the time, it was free. So he decided to utilize the blank canvas of the room to curate regular art shows.

The once-a-month gatherings attracted hundreds of people, and Kirlin soon decided it was time to take the popularity of his Pancakes & Booze art shows to other cities. Now in places like Minneapolis, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta and Austin, the semi-annual live performance and pancake party showcases artists and musicians specifically from the area. Eventually, Kirlin hopes it to take the concept to an international level.

This Denver edition of Pancakes & Booze kicks off at 8 p.m. Friday, November 30 at City Hall, with hundreds of pieces by local artists for sale, along with live DJs, music from The Outfit and Abandin Pictures and on-site body painting. Just five bucks gets anyone 21 and up in the door; the all-you-can-eat pancake bar runs until 2 a.m. for an additional fee. For more information on Denver's Pancakes & Booze art show, visit the Facebook event page.

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