Like gay marriage, marijuana use and tattoos, public perception of female sex toys is not what it used to be. While male sex toys still weigh heavy on the shame scale, a female pleasure device is mostly seen as a cute novelty. Encountering one while snooping is comparable to finding a rutabaga in the fridge or a Kid 'n Play record on the shelf: more "Oh, that's interesting" than "You filthy slut."

In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, which opens tomorrow at the Bug, takes us back to a time before female sexuality was acknowledged, when the buzzing phallus was used to treat women for "hysteria" -- and once its alternative uses were made known, was vilified as an unmentionable weapon of evil, a disgusting appliance of hell-bound harlots.

In honor of this theatrical monument to the social evolution of female sexuality, we are proud to present this brief pop-culture history of the vibrator:

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J. Wohletz

It's almost swimsuit season, and I was sporting a rocking case of "winter bush."

Ladies, we all know what that is: You wear jeans and heinie-hiding girl-brief panties all winter long, into early spring, and when you finally snap and look down at your privies in the shower, it looks like you are hobby-horsing a yeti.

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While it often gets overshadowed by the music scene, Denver actually has a rich history of underground literature. From the Kerouac-inspired bohemian coffee and bookshops of 1960s Colfax to the Yellow Rake readings at Old Curtis Street Tavern, our city has been spawning independent works of fiction and poetry for decades. And there are few locals today more closely associated with DIY publishing than Charly "The City Mouse" Fasano. Whether hustling his books of poetry or impressively crafted audio-books, or giving one of his now iconic readings (he once opened a sold-out show at the Gothic -- an audience size almost unheard of for a live poet), Fasano has rooted himself in this city, becoming as much a part of the creative fabric as home-brew or cutesy indie-folk bands.

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It's difficult to say exactly what "mod" means in 2012. Even when the movement reached its zenith in London in the early '60s, the definition wasn't clear: not quite hippie, not quite punk, not quite English, yet not quite American, either. Inventing a sort of bohemian dandy aesthetic, the mods wore pork-pie hats, listened to jazz records, gobbled down amphetamines like pac-man and rode Vespa scooters through London, on their way to fights with "the rockers." Ah, but some would say that's not quite right, either. In its evolutions from the Quadrophenia/mod-punk revival of the late '70s to the Britpop aesthetics of the mid-90s, what's considered mod has gone through many changes and titles -- yet, like the Supreme Courts definition of pornography, you know it when you see it.

Here in Denver, the mod lifestyle of high fashion, scooters and record-collecting has been growing, due in part to groups like the Denver Vintage Reggae Society, whose events allow people to get dressed up in mod (or skinhead, ska, northern soul, etc.) gear and dance to records made before most of them were even born. And this Friday, May 18, you can check out these bohemian dandies yourself at the Mods Mayday 2012 event at the Skylark Lounge, featuring DJs spinning ska and northern soul, as well as live music by The Manxx and The Sonic Archers.

Westword reached out to Mods Mayday 2012 event organizer Steve Antonio to discuss scooters, music and shopping for mod clothes in Denver.

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Stephen Batura, "Stock", casein on panel

This week's review of Appropriated: The Chronicled West at the Robischon Gallery by Michael Paglia examines the show which opened back on March 29 and runs through Saturday.

Below are a few images from the show.

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Eat shit, Blockbuster.

A twelve-year-old degenerate needs a spot for daily operations: someplace that's secluded, where he can stash his collection of pornos and light a bunch of weird shit on fire, and no one will bother him. For my best friend Noah and me, the central vector for our troublemaking was behind the Blockbuster Video in our neighborhood, where, between the summers of sixth and seventh grade, we lit an unprecedented amount of weird shit on fire. That, in itself, was a triumph.

But our most awesome victory came at some point around mid-July, when we discovered a bunch of tossed-out old Blockbuster VHS cases in the dumpster. It was like we didn't even have to talk about what we were going to do with them. Instinctively, we both just knew we were going to fill those things with dog poop and put them in the drop box.

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Where do our libraries come from? Beginning at the turn of the last century, there was a building boom across the nation, thanks to the deep pockets of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. In Denver alone, nine Carnegie libraries were built early in the twentieth century -- five of which still operate as public book-lenders. But that's just a snippet of local library lore. For a deeper chunk of the narrative, you need to turn to "Dr. Colorado" Tom Noel, the beloved arbiter of Colorado state history, who always seems to have the inside story.

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"People really bring their kids to this thing?" my girlfriend asks.

The kids, dressed in their Sunday best, hold their parents' hands as they walk toward the Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus. We follow behind, my girlfriend gripping my own hand tightly. At the foot of the steps there's a football pre-game party just getting started; kids holding red cups are sitting on thrift-store couches, listening to "Born in the USA." Someone asks if we want a beer but I decline; we are not here to drink. We are here to get our Jesus on.

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Carlos Heredia plays Sean White in Then Sean Met Khalid

The death of Trayvon Martin has thrust race relations back to the top of America's list of conversation topics. But Carlos Heredia hopes for discourse that doesn't just happen as a result of violence. He wrote and directed a musical that he hoped would help create it: Then Sean Met Khalid, showing this Saturday at the Crossroads Theater. It tackles many difficult issues, but does so with levity, wit and, of course, music.

The show centers on a young black man who has been adopted into and raised by a white family. After watching an interview between Sean Hannity and the late Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad, African American activist and former chairman of the National Black Panther party, Sean White -- no coincidence there -- begins to examine and question the normalcy of his relationship to the people around him.

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21 Jump Street

This is not the best time of year for new movies. So we have Wrath of the Titans, Mirror Mirror and American Reunion. Judging by the box office receipts, you went and saw Hunger Games like everyone else, and were probably were angry that Jennifer Lawrence is too fat and the little black girl from the books was played by a little black girl. You'd love to see Titanic 3D this weekend, but you don't want to pay $25 a person for a 3D markup ticket just to listen to Celine Dion screech at you and watch Kate Winslet lie to Jack about "letting go," considering she immediately lets go. You're probably also not a cat lady.

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