Want to see Nick Urata and DeVotchKa at Red Rocks on September 20 with the Colorado Symphony and the Airborne Toxic Event? Of course you do...and we have a way you might be able to do it for free.

To enter our contest to tickets for the event, all you need to do is sign up to "like" Westword's Backbeat blog on Facebook and then sign up to leave comments on our blogs using Livefyre -- before Friday, September 14. See the link below for complete instructions.

Or if you like a challenge -- and maybe like to take things apart and put them back together again -- there's another option...

See also:
- Win tix to see DeVotchKa at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony and Airborne Toxic Event
- Best RiNo Boutique - 2012: MegaFauna
- Art for the people: MegaFauna comes to roost at the Meadowlark

More »

Photos by Natalie Gonzalez

The crew films an interview next to the style board.

Style Strike debuted yesterday in the plaza of the Denver Pavilions. In this home-grown reality show, host Samuel Schimek -- of the I Heart Denver store in the Pavilions -- chooses audience members with old, out-of-style accessories to "strike" and replace with new items that are actually in "style."

Every Wednesday through August 15, the Pavilions will feature a new Style Strike, focusing on different kinds of accessories. Yesterday, three lucky winners took home brand-new, trendy bags -- and I received free movie tickets just for showing up!
See also:
-- Denver Pavilion's new series Style Strike
-- Cash Mob at I Heart Denver

More »

Every heard of Extreme Makeover? How about Say Yes to the Dress? Well, the Denver Pavilions debuts its own series tomorrow from noon to one in the plaza. With the tagline "If you don't like it...STRIKE IT!," Style Strike replaces outdated accessories with new, trendy items hand-picked by style host Samuel Schimek for a few lucky audience members. Every Wednesday starting July 11 through August 15 everyone is welcome to register an old accessory corresponding to the weekly category at 11:30 a.m. Participants may also randomly receive a $25 mystery gift card or be asked to say the tagline on film! You have nothing to lose but items worth up to $200 to win, so take a lunch break and learn about fashion at 16th Street Mall with Style Strike.

More »

Some of us hate Bridesmaids, if only for the fact that it likely was one of the reasons Kristen Wiig decided to leave SNL. Oscar nominations will do that to an actor/writer.

However! We found a pair of tickets to see the movie at Film on the Rocks on Tuesday night at Red Rocks, and we know that many of you love Bridesmaids. So we're willing to give these tickets up to our readers.

Find out how to get them below.

More »

New Belgium's Clips of Faith -- a free, outdoor film and brew fest -- reels into Boulder tonight for the third year running. We think the chance to lounge on a picnic blanket, drinking in the fresh (albeit smoky) air as well as rare selections from New Belgium's line of "esoteric" beers, is reason enough to go. But the videos, submitted by amateur filmmakers, are the real attraction. Here's a peek at some favorites from the judging panel, all of which are part of the Faith-fest's fourteen-city tour.

More »

To call Free School Denver "grassroots" is almost too mild: Like a relic of the '60s, DFS has no hierarchies. Formed in that nascent spirit of community education, the school offers all classes for free, and anyone can attend or teach one. Sessions tend to go down in private homes or welcoming venues that range from coffee houses to public parks, and subjects might include anything from an ongoing Revolutionary Reading Group to Hemp Jewelry Making.

More »

Scott Russell

Scott Russell expected to find stories, and he did. On bike rides between Denver's alleys and street corners, he found twenty of them, eleven of which will be on display this weekend at Wazee Union at Cardboard & Concrete, the project that resulted. But there were a few surprising turns in his attempt to turn Denver's sign-fliers into works of art, to put a few faces on the city's homeless issues. He didn't expect to change his mind, for example.

"I'd go around on my bike, and I'd feel drawn to people," Russell says. "There are just so many stories out there, and I felt changed by all of them. What I didn't expect was a new perspective -- on homeless people and on people in general."

More »

Update: Congrats to "denverfour," you're our winner of the LEGO KidsFest passes! Your video -- as seen above -- melted our icy hearts. Check your e-mail.

---

More »

Spring has sprung early in Denver, bringing with it crocuses, daffodils and March Madness. And if all of that puts you in a mood to shoot a few hoops in the Mile High sunshine, you're in luck: The freshly painted Southwest Court at Skyline Park opened for business last Friday. Now you can hoop it up to your heart's delight from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

More »

Via Instagram

Swapping on Saturday night at the Curtis.

Denver's frugalistas flocked to the Curtis Hotel Saturday night to get rid of old looks and find new favorites at the And Then She Saved accessories swap sponsored by Denver's own Handbags.com.

"I really wanted new clothes but I didn't want to pay for new clothes, and I'd heard about swaps so I thought that'd be great," says co-organizer Anna Newell Jones.

More »