Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, getting splashed in a Halloween horror show in the basement of a spaghetti emporium, sweating through a DIY D&D in a comic shop, savoring (har har!) Sweeney Todd’s enraged high notes, and trying to quiet my howling dog in a public house. I’ve found myself in some odd and awkward scenarios. To update the metaphor, writing this column is a lot like drunk-clicking through an endless algorithm of... Read More

I’ve written about boylesque before, the male iteration of the classic art of the striptease. It’s a lot of fun, even if the performers don’t have boobies—boobies being the currency of fun, of course. I want to talk about another specific boylesque event because it’s happening not only for the sheer joy of ogling males with the female gaze, but also for the protection and promotion of all booby-having people in the Denver area. The Front Range’s male improvisers and stand-up comics are moonlighting as Chippendale dancers and taking (most) of their clothes off to raise money for women’s... Read More

I sometimes feel like the universe wants me to be a lesbian, despite (as far as I can tell, after a great deal of introspection) my straight orientation. Many people, including multiple men I’m actually out on dates with–even literally in bed with! make of that what you will– have asked me if I’m really gay or bi. I have owned big, shaggy dogs. I wear corduroy pants and drive a Subaru Outback. I do not, however, have a side-shave haircut. I recently had a friendly chat with a woman at a networking group who suggested we get a drink at a later date. She was a fun conversant and I... Read More

I wish online dating apps had filters that were really useful. If I could type in “artist, athlete, ginger beard, and total weirdo” and get search results, I’d be a happy OKCupid camper. Unfortunately, “weirdo” isn’t yet a viable search term. (If it is, someone please let me know!) I have specific reasons for wanting each of the above items and I think that “artist” might be the most compelling. Artists interest me because the nature of their work and themselves constantly demands growth and change, reincarnation to support the new life continually developing out of the old one.... Read More

If you’re a member of the human species, then you like looking at naked ladies. Even those of us who consider a peep to be a sin would still generally admit that it’s a damn fun sin. The art motif in my apartment consists of naked ladies. (Mostly, naked ladies on bicycles…it’s a niche genre.) People used to go to great lengths to acquire an eyeful now and then, but then the internet happened and now we can see amateurs and professionals being naked for free all the time. You get what you pay for, though, and so I suggest unplugging your laptop for a few hours and getting yourself something... Read More

Burlesque gloriously celebrates the art, the performance, and the subversion in the embrace of sexuality. It’s an opportunity for women to kick off some of the social expectations and oppressions that society at large has about female power, expression, and sex. It’s also huge fun. It’s exhilarating to create exactly the appearance and presentation that you want and have an audience raucously endorse you for it. I understand the urge for gentlemen to join in the fun, but burlesque is a female art form. When men dress up and strip down, it’s not called burlesque, but rather “boylesque.” A... Read More

Someday, when I’m rich and famous, I’ll have my own dressing room with a responsive thermostat and at least 35 watts of lighting. Until then, I’ll continue to prep for burlesque and comedy shows in a variety of dim, crowded green rooms that seasonally vacillate between frigid and sweltering. If these tiny purgatories didn’t contain some excellent people, they wouldn’t be half as much fun, which the same thing I would expect to say about an actual Purgatory. I’ve been in a green room that also serves as the utility locker for the building’s main HVAC unit. I’ve been in a “green... Read More