Cindy Miller

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

J.A. Kazimer is a Denver-based writer with a fascinating, wide-ranging set of skills and interests. The author of books with such disparate titles as SHANK, Holy Socks and Dirtier Demons and Froggy Style: A Fucked-Up Fairy Tale,, Kazimer has been uniquely influenced by the books she's read -- when she was finally able to read. This week, Westword sat down with Kazimer to discuss those books, dyslexia and her interesting work history.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on searching for spirituality
- Noir @ the Bar celebrates red-meat fiction and remembers writer Cort McMeel

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Mark Sink, photographer and arts mover.

Artists really grok the culture of Facebook better than anyone else: Like a blank canvas waiting for paint and inspiration, the social media outlet is just another empty slate -- and it's up to each artist to fill it with pictures. A lot of those pictures end up being images of the artists themselves, and we're not talking about Kodak moments with fake smiles. No, sir.

We had so much fun putting together our first post of FB portraits that we decided to do another one. Following are some of our favorite FB portraits of Colorado artists. Enjoy!

See also:
- Facebook portraits of artists: A local gallery
- Donald Lipski's The Yearling is a Facebook sensation!
- Oh, the Faces you'll see: The Arvada Center updates portraiture in a summer exhibit

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Jon Gitchoff

Stan Lee earlier this year.

Superhero legend and comic book creator Stan Lee, who was supposed to appear at Denver Comic Con at the Colorado Convention Center on May 31-June 2, announced today that he won't be able to make it because of another engagement.

Tickets to see and meet Lee, which ranged from $175 to $275, sold out within minutes when they went on sale last month. Denver Comic Con issued the following statement on Facebook, addressing the cancellation and the tickets:

See also:
- Denver Comic Con: Tickets to meet Stan Lee go on sale Wednesday, April 24
- Slide show: The women of Denver Comic Con 2012
- Slide show: The Costumes of Denver Comic Con 2012

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The dancers of Ooh La La Burlesque.

The University of Denver School of Music will rock the house tonight at the legendary Herman's Hideaway. Along with the four bands all made up of DU music students, there will be a light show and video shoot featuring Ooh La La Burlesque.

See also:
- Win tickets to see the Head and the Heart and more at DU's Music Fest this Saturday
- The ten best concerts to see in Denver this week
- Chimney Choir channels the spirit of exploration on its new album, (compass)

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Horse & Cart, a Denver-based theatrical production and publishing venture, is launching its electronic-publishing branch with a reality-style event fit for a king -- a King Lear, to be precise. Now through June 30, the company is accepting submissions for the first edition of the PlayOffs, a competition endeavoring to discover the next big name in playwriting while simultaneously entertaining audiences world-wide by employing all the delightful elements of good reality TV.

See also:
- Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company announces eighth season
- Comedy Works New Faces competition begins this Wednesday
- Repertory Cinema Wishlist: Mean Streets

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#68: Charlie Boots
Who is Charlie Boots? Yesterday you might not have known his name, but today Boots (aka Aaron Mulligan) is ready for his closeup. The young artist will make his public debut this weekend as the first-ever visual-arts fellow of the Powerhaüs Artist-in-Residence (PAIR) Program at Powerhaüs Studio, a three-month studio residency and mentorship offered by Westword MasterMInds and studio-mates Mona Lucero, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and Jimmy Sellars. He'll be joined by new fashion resident Francis Roces, selected for PAIR by fashion celebrity Mondo Guerra.

See also:
- Powerhaus Studio announces artist-in-residence program for artists and designers
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Good Thieves Press
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Couture staple and Westword Whiteout designer Mona Lucero

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Artists Merek Walczak (right) and Wes Heiss.

Denver has a new piece of public art, 14th Street Overlay, which comprises 23 optic-based sculptures by artists Merek Walczak and Wes Heiss. "We are very excited to dedicate this piece as part of the greater 14th Street improvements," said Michael Chavez, manager of Denver's Public Art Program, at yesterday's dedication.

See also:
- Crochet Coral Reef's Denver Satellite Reef will grow at the DAM's Spun
- Spun spins a museum-wide web of textile-related exhibits at the DAM
- Artist Eduardo Sarabia talks marijuana, and contemporary art at Huevos Revueltos

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Last year, a cadre of Denver's finest noir fiction writers skulked their way over to Juanita's for Denver's inaugural Noir @ the Bar fiction event. The success of that first edition was measured in viscera: "The uninitiated left Juanita's bleeding from the ears, and unsuspecting diners were found vomiting in the gutters of Broadway for hours afterwards," they reported.

In the year and change that followed, the noir genre has continued its literary renaissance, and anticipation grew for a a second set of live authorial readings of red-meat crime stories. Sadly, the past year also witnessed the death of organizer Cortright McMeel, a promising writer whose career was cut tragically short.

See also:
- Noir at the Bar comes to Denver Thursday
- One chapter book reviews: Cort McMeel Short, chapter 18
- Westword Book Club: Ryan Demers on filmmaking, furries and Gone Girl

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Bruce Price, "Medium & Large Aggregation," 2012. Acrylic paint and fabric on paper; 30 x 22 in.  Lent by the artist. © the artist; courtesy Plus Gallery, Denver & CuratorialAccessories.com.

#69: Bruce Price

A painter who started out as a musician, Bruce Price learned from his mentor, the pattern painter Clark Richert, at the Rocky Mountain School of Art + Design, and eventually stretched and bent those lessons into something that suited him better. The resulting work, abstractions expressed in a looking-forward way, have morphed into new dimensionalities that challenge the flatness of traditional painting. It looks simple, sometimes rough, but there is a careful structure behind it all.

See also:
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Theresa Anderson
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Donald Fodness
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Lauri Lynnxe Murphy

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All photos by Danielle Lirette.

Dogs and their owners brought sexy back at the Mutts and Models Mardi Growl on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at the EXDO Events Center. The event was not just about flash and glamour; it also raised funds for PetAid Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to at-risk pets. Continue reading for a few highlights, and visit our full Mutts and Models Mardi Growl slide show for more photos.

See also:
- Animal shelters charging big bucks to adopt "Very Important Pets"
- Photos: The Dogs of the Lucky Mutt Strut
- Best Shop Dog - 2013 - Buster Brown

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