Denver often gets the headlines, but the city just to the east of Colorado’s capital shines as well, and is a worthy destination in her own right. With a population approaching 400,000 (making it the third most populous city in the state), Aurora is luring visitors and residents with both new developments as well as […]
No other musical category can encompass as many sub-genres as the term “pop music.” Emerging in the 1950s, “pop music” appealed to mainstream, and can encompass everything from country to emo to classic rock-and-roll. And while modern pop stars like Taylor Swift fill concert hall with thousands of screaming fans, and command thousands of dollars […]
If you’re looking at the Colorado sky, it may be increasingly difficult to pick out the namesake of Beetlejuice. Betelgeuse, the tenth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star that is part of the Orion constellation. As humans have progressed from the dim light of campfires to the blinding high intensity […]
Although not eligible to enlist in the Union army prior to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Black soldiers numbered around 185,000 — about 10% of Union forces — by the time the Confederates were defeated in April, 1865. Their duties were largely separate but not equal: White soldiers were paid almost twice as much per month […]
With roots in traditional blues, jazz, and gospel, rhythm and blues (often referred to as R&B) is a term coined by Billboard writer Jerry Wexler in 1949 to describe what his magazine had previously referred to as “Race Music” when ranking Black artists on its charts. The genre gained popularity with the WWII migration of […]
No doubt about it: Denver (and Colorado) loves its music — especially its rock and roll. In summer, the Centennial State absolutely explodes with sound, from multi-day festivals to free street performances to sold-out shows at its most iconic outdoor ampitheatre. There are far too many concerts to count, but some of the best can […]
Last June saw the founding of the Colorado Historic Opera Houses Circuit. Celebrating its first anniversary, the circuit connects five historic mountain opera houses. These historic venues are a reminder of the days when rough and rugged mining towns competed to construct elaborate buildings to showcase their newfound riches and support their aspirations of culture […]
When the first drive-in — the Camden Theater in Pennsauken, New Jersey — opened in 1933, movies with sound had only been around for six years. The popularity of these open-air cinemas spread slowly, but by the late 1950s there were more than 4,000 outdoor screens across the country. It was in this heyday that […]
Ireland’s Great Famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1852, was a powerful driver of immigration. Although two million refugees made the long sea journey during that time, they were neither the first nor last. It’s estimated that since 1820, more than six million Irish people have emigrated to the United Staes. Though present in Colorado […]
America’s newest national monument has an intriguing history. On August 22, 2022, President Joe Biden designated 53,804 acres of National Forest Service lands in Eagle County as the Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument. Much is written about the site’s history as a military training ground in World War II; the locale also was […]