When a single spotlight illuminated the bottle of Black Grouse whiskey resting on a bar stool center-stage, the 2,800 people in the audience at the Temple Buell Theatre rose to their feet, their deafening applause seemingly cheering the bottle of booze itself until Southern sass-man Ron White casually materialized out of the dark to a generic blues soundtrack. Performing for a mixed audience of pro-military, anti-tax suburban conservatives and city-based, grass-loving comedy fanatics, White exuded a fun-loving poise as he casually delivered his arsenal of anecdotes on sex-toy conventions, getting fucked up with Dr. Phil and dropping a heavy dose of Viagra before his pat-down at the airport.

See also:
- Comedian Josh Blue on the pros and cons of being an "inspiration"
- Ron White on gay marriage, marijuana and opening acts -- including Josh Blue
- Comedian Chris Hardwick on hipsters, sobriety and the true meaning of being a nerd

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Kate Gibbons

Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park has started its 123rd season with a new family-friendly roller coaster, seven more shows and a third custom-craft beer.

The park's new Blazin' Buckaroo allows cowboys and cowgirls as short as 36 inches high to climb aboard (but they'll need to be accompanied by an adult until they reach 42 inches). While the new coaster may not have the vertical drops or speed of the park's other roller coasters -- Twister 2 and the Mind Eraser -- the Blazin' Buckaroo still makes two full spins around the 360-foot track with a 15-foot drop, several quick turns and hits a speed of 15 mph.

See also:
- Radium and roller coasters: A brief, dirty history of Elitch Gardens
- Custom beers: Great Divide rolls with Chipotle while the Wynkoop rides with Elitch's
- For Your Amusement: Elitch Gardens' summer plans

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This week's cover story, "Paging Doctor Bang Bang," recounts the medical adventures of Denver Roller Dolls skater Kimmy Kimmy Bang Bang, a foot-and-ankle surgeon known professionally as Dr. Kim Wilms. The 32-year-old is the league's unofficial in-house doctor, assisting skaters with the sprains and bruises that come with playing the fast-paced contact sport. Over the past two years, she's also operated on several skaters' broken ankles. (For gruesome photos of said injuries, check our Latest Word blog.)

To see Dr. Bang Bang in action, look no further than the 1STBANK Center on Saturday.

See also:
- Denver Roller Dolls' new Orange Crushers to sport Broncos colors
- Denver's eleven best roller derby nicknames
- Photos: Roller derby super-fans spotted at the WFTDA Championships

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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.

Ryan Demers, a Denver-based filmmaker, is the co-founder of Gaylord St. Productions; he's accomplished the impressive feat of helming two independent films without going completely bankrupt and abandoning the dream, including The Honey Cooler, a farcical detective story set in the milieu of an economically depressed Denver rife with furries. In this week's edition of Westword Book Club, Demers discusses his noir influences, politics, primary sources and trying to avoid being derivative.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
- Westword Book Club: Jodee Champion on Candide, Catcher in the Rye and comedy
- The Honey Cooler: Gumshoes and furries and masked wrestlers, oh my!

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You won't need to crack open that piggy bank to go out this weekend, because every event on our 10 for $10 list is absolutely free. Whether you choose to peruse mandala drawings at an art show, gaze at vintage Volkswagons at a car fest, or take in Denver's jazz history, you won't have to frantically check your bank balance on Monday. Share information about other bargain events in our comments section below, and head to the Westword events calendar for a complete listing of goings-on around town.

See also:
- The Girls in the Band is a look at unheralded musicians
- Paco Fish on burlesque, living in a van, and quitting his day job to do what he loves
- Film on the Rocks 2013 announced: Back to the Future opens and The Princess Bride returns

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A work constantly in progress, the Crochet Coral Reef is an installation of ten textile pieces at the Denver Art Museum, part of its summer exhibition, Spun: Adventures In Textiles. Through the project's Denver Satellite Reef, museum visitors have a chance to contribute to the installation directly, by coming in any Saturday or Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and crocheting a piece of the reef.

"As we were kind of exploring different installations that would relate to this big textile initiative that has been spearheaded by the re-installation of our own textile collection, the Crochet Coral Reef was one of those things that popped up on the radar," says Jenna Madison, manager of studio and artists programs at the DAM. "We contacted the Institute for Figuring [the Crochet Coral Reef organization started by Margaret and Christine Wertheim in California], and got the ball rolling about when and if we could get the pieces installed onsite."

The Crochet Coral Reef is both an environmental and educational project involving a global community, everyone from expert crafters to beginning crocheters, all led by the Wertheim sisters. The Denver Satellite Reef is just one of many offshoots, which have been installed in New York, Chicago, London, Dublin and other cities around the world.

See also:
- Spun spins a museum-wide web of textile-related exhibits at the Denver Art Museum
- 100 Colorado Creatives: The Ladies Fancywork Society
- DIY feminist writer Margaret Wertheim discusses the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

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Lucas Samaras, "Reconstruction #20," 1977. Sewn fabrics; 87 x 85 in. Denver Art Museum; National Endowment for the Arts, Dayton Hudson Foundation, Alliance for Contemporary Art M/M Edward Strauss, M/M Donald S. Graham, and anonymous donor, © the artist. Detail.

Spun: Adventures in Textiles, this summer's huge, campus-wide aggregation of exhibitions devoted to the textile arts at the Denver Art Museum, is definitely going to require more than one visit to absorb. In fact, DAM curators -- every single one of them had a hand in putting the shows together -- are banking on it. The wildly varied products of their labors collectively represent the wealth of textiles that have been tucked away for years in the museum collection, out of view.

See also:
- Spun: Adventures in Textiles, at the Denver Art Museum
- Photos: Two abstract solos showcase Colorado's best
- DIY feminist writer Margaret Wertheim discusses the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

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Tonight The Office bids farewell after eight seasons and 200 episodes. Series finales have a complicated history; final episodes have left viewers with tears of joy as well as fists of fury as beloved characters have ended up in prison, happily in love, having mental breakdowns...or alone.

Keep reading for four classic TV finales.

See also:
- Which version of The Office was better: U.S. or U.K.?
- Dear television: It's over
- Five reasons Game of Thrones is the best show on television right now

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Stevie Crecelius

Update: Congrats to therealstevecoogan! Check your email for details on how to claim your tickets.

Original post: On June 22, as part of this year's Westword Music Showcase, the Colorado symphony will partner with special guests to perform the Beck Song Reader. But you can catch the CSO even earlier than that, thanks to four free tickets Show and Tell has scored. On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the Colorado Symphony will be performing "Rhapsody in Blue" at Boettcher Concert Hall. Continue reading for details on how you can see Colorado's best perform the famous score for free.

See also:
- Westword Music Showcase: Colorado Symphony performs Beck Song Reader
- Win admission for two to Toques and 'Tails on Thursday, May 23, at Casselman's
- Five Points Jazz on Film presents The Girls in the Band, a look at unheralded musicians

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The annual Five Points Jazz Festival is Saturday, May 18, and to kick it off, the city is offering a special screening of the 2011 documentary The Girls In the Band at the McNichols Building tomorrow night. The film traces the history of female jazz musicians who were marginalized and often hidden from the spotlight, starting in the 1930s and continuing to the present day; it includes rare footage of the players, and many sharing their own stories of struggle and triumph on camera.

"We thought it was an important film to show because it is a story that no one really knows," says Niecie Washington, special event coordinator for Denver Arts & Venues, which puts on the Five Points Jazz Festival.

See also:
- The five best jazz shows in Denver this May
- Women + Film = Discussion
- Arts & Venues Denver: The city's artful merger of culture and concrete

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