Good reading

For your Tuesday:

English is dead, Gene Weingarten says!

Money can make life easier, but does it always make you happy? The New York Times

Rufus in Denver

It was a family affair at the Ogden when Rufus Wainwright played there Tuesday night.

His sis Martha opened. Martha charmed the audience with little chatter in between songs. She said it's good touring with Rufus, because he writes a lot. "I feel envious and guilty," she said. The songs she sang included "Black Sheep Lodge" and she also sang one sang a cappella without the mic.

For Rufus, it was a performance in two acts. Part One was more art piece, Part Two traditional concert. For the first part, the audience was told not to clap at all until Wainwright had left the stage. He entered slowly wearing a dark cape on a dark stage and sat at his piano with a big screen behind him continually showing images of slow-blinking, dark eye-shadowed eyes. The first act included slow, melancholy melodies like "Zebulon," with others like the lively "Give Me What I Want and Give it to Me Now" punching things up. Wainwright is an intriguing songwriter, with layered piano melodies underlying the long notes he likes to have himself sing over them. It'd be interesting to hear a classical artist interpret them.

Anyway, in the second act, his playful spirit was back on display. He came out in a bright orange patterned suit and white shoes. He joked with the audience, saying Colorado seems to be the place where people who are really , really poor or really, really rich seem to come to drop out. ("I've done the drive from Denver to Aspen," he said. "That's the whole spectrum of dropouts") Songs in the second half, after an intermission, included his version of "Hallelujah" (Martha sang it with him as a duet)

He left off with "Poses," and "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," and a song his late mother, Kate McGarrigle, wrote about his parents' courtship

Colorado Symphony

Did you get your ticket for Itzhak Perlman yet? He plays with the Colorado Symphony on 4/27 for one night only. Symphony series subscribers got first dibs on tickets, and single tickets (for Perlman and all the other symphony concerts) went on sale today. The symphony website was buggy all morning, phone lines were ringing busy, and there was a long line out the door at the box office that took a few hours to clear. But there were still Perlman tix available at various prices this afternoon. Idina Menzel, Ben Folds, Olga Kern, Brandi Carlile and Kathleen Battle also are part of the symphony's 2010-2011 season.

Rufus Wainwright in Denver

The Rufus Wainwright show scheduled for the Paramount (capacity 1,870) has been moved to the Ogden Theatre (holds maybe 1,500) on 8/17. Still reserved seats, Rufus' peeps say. Should be an intimate show. He's written a French opera, but his latest album "All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu," focuses on just vocals and piano. Here's "Zebulon" from the album:

It's the weekend....

True Love has its pink champagne happy hour tonight, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. If you have a rewards card, you get 15 percent off shoes, or 20 percent off shoes that are on sale. They're doing a summer clearance, and there will be free champagne.

Icelantic Skis is showing off new top sheets and having free beer, 6:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. at their space at 948 W. 8th Ave. tonight, 8/6. Filthy Children playing live.

Free festival at the plaza between Tattered Cover and Twist and Shout on Saturday, 8/7. Porlolo plays 4 p.m., Ian Cooke at 2:15 p.m. And Watercourse will have a food truck there. The whole festival is 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The very last Jazz at the Park is this Sunday, 8/8, at City Park, 6-8 p.m. FREE. Come out! Bring your Frisbee, grill, flip flops, lawn chairs! Fun. E-mail us if you want to try to meet up out there

Sting @ Red Rocks :: April Smith and The Great Picture Show @ the Larimer Lounge

April Smith and The Great Picture Show showed up at the Larimer Lounge last night. Rollicking, moxie, spunk, are words that come to mind. April belted out tunes about not thinking about an ex, keeping a rival away from her man, and good ol' trouble. She got the crowd into it, telling stories, dancing on stage, clapping and keeping the energy up, up, up. Everyone in The Great Picture Show can improvise and throw down, from the stand up bass to drums to guitar to the accordion/keyboard/etc, etc man. All on a night when Sting was playing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at Red Rocks.

April Smith and The Great Picture Show

Songs by April Smith and The Great Picture Show are engaging enough, with hints of swing or ragtime and sweet adelines, but word has it their live show is even more of an old-style, entertaining, big tent event. We'll see soon enough when they come to the Larimer Lounge this Thursday, 6/10.

Weekend musings...

Entertaining conversation at the garage sale today when I tried to buy a mini-Igloo cooler marked $5, and a plastic colander and a shrunken CU Buffs T-shirt that didn't have prices on them:

Me: How much for all three?
Homeowner: For all three? It'd be $15
Me: Oh. How much is the shirt??
Her: Each one is $5
Me: What if I just get the cooler and the colander how much is that?
Her: Oh, well, I'll give them to you for $5 altogether.

Don't ask me about the math. I still didn't get the shirt.

Good weather for the Five Points Jazz Festival on Welton yesterday and the pool party at 9th and Pearl. Even better weather today ... a bit cooler. Jazz in City Park starts in 2 weekends. Free jazz in the park!

Brontë Sisters Power Dolls

Free at Twist & Shout

Nathaniel Rateliff (The Wheel, Born in the Flood) plays at Twist and Shout for free 6 p.m. Tuesday, 5/4, the same day his new album comes out on Rounder Records.

The University of Colorado's Conference on World Affairs is going on this week, and Roger Ebert and Werner Herzog are scheduled to appear. Check out the schedule and details