If you have not yet made it out to a Music With A View performance (on the NIST plaza at the 29th Street Mall in Boulder), you have one more chance. Two weeks from tonight, Miniskus will play. For free. On the flagstones. Right there between Borders and Laudisio’s. You don’t wanna miss it, I’m-a tellin’ you.

I’ve been to all three so far. On June 8, I think it was, the series kicked off with three hours of Henry Butler. Henry freakin’ Butler…
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Denver is hot. Not just hot. Steamin’. Like it’s gettin’ hot in here…actually, never mind.

The last few weeks in the city have been hot and toasty which compared to the Mordor-esque winter has been a dream. We’ve nearly hit 100 and for the most part have hovered around 80 degrees. A side effect has been the ability for me to ride my bike to work each and every day from Aurora to Highlands Ranch. It’s funny the people you meet in your travels and the entertainment people watching can bring to a otherwise boring light rail ride.

You have your sleepers. You have your ‘don’t bother me or I’ll scratch your eyes out” and the ones who just can’t stop their mouth from flapping. I’ve formed a mild relationship with a fellow rider. We’ve run into each other at least once or twice. He’s 53 and can ride 15 miles a day like a speedy road runner. I’m 25 and 14 miles makes me sound like Elmer Fudd. It’s amazing to watch Denver get on board with the light rail and really start to push it. Other cities are years ahead of us (Portland for example has a light rail to the airport and racks in the cars to hang your bikes) but I feel like Denver is trying.

It also helps to meet random people and just talk it up. It’s fun to talk about the Rockies and how they can only sweep New York (I blame Canada) and nobody else. The Nuggets and how someday they might win something resembling a championship. And how much we really do love our city. Where else can do you so much within such a short distance? At 5,280 feet we have it all.

Fun eccentric locals, amazing skiing and sunshine. So much to talk about I’ll save it for another post.

Worth it! My wife and I saw Corteo last night, and wow! I’ve seen one other Cirque show (KA, in Vegas), and while the music and story weren’t as good as KA the over all performance was incredible.
I think the story opens on a guy’s funeral, and we follow him as he moves around heavan, maybe. Or it’s a crazy french acid trip. But either way the gymnastics are breath-taking.

If you’ve got the scratch to spare, splurge for the $200 tickets (Tapis Rouge), it’s worth it. You get a private (you and maybe 150 other folks) tent with appetizers, and drinks, your own private souvenir shop, and private bathrooms. Well really the bathrooms are the same porta-johns everyone else has, but there’s a set behind the fence in the VIP section, just for you.

During intermission, you head back to the tent for more drinks and desserts, after the show you go back out through the tent and receive your gift, a “best of” CD of past Cirque shows. You also get a program when you arrive. One for each person. So all in all you get about 30 bones worth of stuff for free (well, free for $200), plus all the appetizers you can eat and all the drinks you can take. You also get VIP parking, use it. We didn’t since we stayed in Denver overnight and walked from the Hyatt. The Tent is WAY back behind Pepsi Center, so it ain’t a short hike.

The performance itself, as I said, was great, really great. Some of the acts of gymnastic insanity are stunning. I’m trying to use as many ‘powerful’ words as I can, in case you’ve noticed, because this show is not to be missed. We’d do it again in a heartbeat. We’re pretty big Cirque fans, my wife maybe more so than me, she’s certainly seen more shows, but this show is definitely up there in the highly recommend category.