Memorial Day is about honoring fallen soldiers, but it's also about enjoying good company, getting out of work, and firing up the grill. If you don't have a backyard to go to this year, we've got five events this Monday that won't cost you more than a five-spot, from a free barbecue to a rubber ducky race to a burlesque show. Slather on your sunscreen and get out there and enjoy the day.

For more to do throughout the weekend, visit westword.com/calendar. For concerts-only, go to westword.com/concerts.

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Sarah Slater

Sarah Slater, founder of the Titwrench music festival, is a 2011 MasterMind award winner -- and it looks like smarts run in the family. Because tonight, Sarah and her sister, Julie Slater, will host a special edition of Gorinto to celebrate Julie's acceptance to college in Berlin, where she plans to go for her masters' degree this fall. "Julie has been admitted to a unique program that she chose because it fosters a staunchly feminist, anti-racist perspective that will foster her goals to create a masters' thesis analyzing global breast cancer politics in order to redefine 'prevention' and 'treatment' outside of corporate philanthropy and interests," says Sarah.

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Update: Two corrections have been made: Tropic Thunder is now the only June 18 film, and viewers can vote on which film they'd like to see on July 16.

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It's finally here.

The 2012 Film On the Rocks summer line-up at Red Rocks Amphitheatre was announced this evening, and many movies that made the cut were picked for the people, by the people. Though carefully curated by the Denver Film Center -- and led by FOTR Program Director Britta Erickson -- if the inclusion of a film like The Notebook rubs watchers the wrong way, look no further than the audience itself:

"It wasn't just because this seems to be the year of Ryan Gosling," says Karla Rodriguez, Audience Development and Social Media Manager for FOTR. "It's because The Notebook has been one of our top five most-requested films consistently since it came out. From crowd surveys to Facebook polls, this is what the people want."

Read more about tonight's announcement and see the full schedule below.

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Does anyone ever want to wake up early on a Sunday? May 20 could be the day to try. The Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon will hit the street for the seventh year in a row this Sunday, and even if you're not joining the hordes of runners, there's plenty of fun on the sidelines. In fact, this unique urban marathon is already being celebrated with a two-day expo at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium that's now under way.

Runners who are joining in the 26-mile race are urged to arrive at City Park at 5 a.m. on Sunday (assuming they picked up the appropriate packet at the expo); the marathon will start promptly at 6 a.m.To tie up any loose ends on race logistics, view the video done by the race director Creigh Kelley.

Want to watch the race?

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As it turns out, a good Twitter account doesn't necessarily make a good television show. Nonfiction funny man Justin Halpern learned that lesson the nationally televised way when real-life anecdotes from his hilariously crabby father translated poorly from social media into a cheesy, laugh-grabbing sitcom starring William Shatner. (Captain Kirk cannot save everyone.)

So this year, Halpern channeled his riotously funny introspection (and his father's blunt advice) into his own history -- and he's already sold the rights to Warner Brothers. With I Suck at Girls, Halpern's latest novel, the author explores the pros, cons and painful embarrassments of the romantic relationships he sacrificed on his way to the altar. Let's just say he's not a smooth operator.

Before Halpern brings the book to the LoDo Tattered Cover, 1628 16th Street, on Monday, May 21, Westword talked to him about poop, his family and which of his stories won't ever make it into a book:

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The first Denver Cruisers ride of the season went down on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 with the "Back in Black" theme. Photos by Jim Wills for Westword.

View the full Denver Cruisers slide show.

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Crystal Lee is a fashion designer, seamstress, stylist and all-around bad ass. Shunning the corporate world in order to follow her passion -- and avoid beige nylons -- she is pursuing her love of fashion as a student at the Art Institute of Colorado. Her line of super-easy, fly and breezy clothing will make its debut this Sunday at Beta.
Since Crystal Lee's Block Party will also mark the launch of CRLeedesigns.com, Lee is pulling out all the stops for a sunset runway show like nothing Denver has seen before, featuring hairstyling by Ed Gillespie, a photography collaboration with Rosco Guerrero, and a cameo from hometown hero Bo Scaife of the Broncos. Crystal Lee designed, crafted and poured her blood, sweat and tears into each outfit.

We caught up with the visionary to get the details on her fashion world:

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The beef started on Facebook. Creeped out by last week's TIME cover story about attachment parenting -- you know, the weird one with the preschool-age kid standing on a stool and suckling his mom's tit -- I penned an essay for the Village Voice about how much attachment parenting sucks and posted it to my wall. As it happens, my arch-nemesis, the nefarious local comic and 2012 Westword MasterMind Andrew Orvedahl, is himself an attachment parent who, naturally, has penned his own essay on how much non-attachment parenting sucks, which he then posted to my wall. At that point, it was clear that there was only one way to settle our differences: the old-fashioned way. With a wrestling match.

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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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Artist Andrew Novick's Food Face was one of several shows that opened on May 12 as part of Second Saturday on East Colfax. Below are a few photos from the exhibit at Groundswell.

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