Brad Weismann
Westword
Boulder, CO, United States
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Past articles by Brad:
Thirteen Horrifying Colorado Murders
A historical survey of significant murders in the state of Colorado. → Read More
Ten Long-Gone Denver Institutions, From Sid King's to Stapleton
The faster old Denver gets torn down and discarded, the longer our lists of long-gone Colorado monuments and landmarks becomes. We've already shared lists of monuments that include a comedian's arm and a plaque dedicated to the other Columbine massacre. Now here are ten more weird and wonderful Colorado landmarks you... → Read More
Bruce Dern to Be Honored at Twelfth Annual Boulder International Film Festival
The Boulder International Film Festival just announced that Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern (The Hateful Eight, Nebraska, Coming Home) will be honored at the twelfth annual festival. A Conversation with and Tribute to Bruce Dern is set for Friday, March 4, at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street. Dern's first screen credit... → Read More
Violist, Conductor and Instructor Basil Vendryes Leads Colorado Young Sinfonia to Its 15th anniversary
“It’s been pandemonious,” says Basil Vendryes, nonchalantly coining a new word as he describes his busy schedule. Since 1993 he's been the principal violist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra; he performs and records as a soloist; he teaches at such programs as the Lamont School of Music, the Castleman Quartet Program... → Read More
Ten Top Picks at the Denver Jewish Film Festival, Opening February 10
What do we think of when we think of Jewish film? For three generations, the grainy black-and-white footage of the Holocaust has dominated the collective mind, a trauma that will take the passing of generations to dissipate. Recent Jewish-themed films however, reflect a resilient and rebounding worldwide Jewish population, displaying... → Read More
Ten Can't-Miss Movies at CU International Film Series This Season
CU-Boulder's International Film Series provides several dozen new and classic films on its 2016 spring schedule. → Read More
Ten More Weird Colorado Monuments, Including One Dedicated to the Other Columbine Massacre
When I started looking for obscure historical monuments, sites and artifacts across Colorado —rather than the celebrated, well-known tourist attractions around the state — I thought I'd find maybe ten worth sharing. Now my list is up to 200 and counting, as I keep finding odd, fascinating pieces of our... → Read More
Eleven Films That Tell the Story of Martin Luther King Jr.
How do we remember our heroes? Colorado was one of the first states to celebrate MLK Day, and on January 18, the annual Marade honoring Martin Luther King Jr. will kick off in City Park. But there are now more Americans born after the death of Martin Luther King Jr... → Read More
Eight Great Ways to Cure Cabin Fever During a Colorado Winter
A guide to Denver area activities to stave off the cabin fever of winter. → Read More
Bill Pullman and Jennifer McCrary Rincon Will Debut The Wild Hunt in Denver
"It's a cautionary tale," says actor/director/writer Bill Pullman, sitting in the lounge of the Hotel Teatro with his longtime friend and collaborator, Jennifer McCrary Rincon of the Denver Academy of Dramatic Arts. The two are in the process of transforming a pagan myth into an engaging, multimedia, one-night-only theatrical event, The... → Read More
Top Twelve New Year's Eve Movie Moments, Scenes and Entire Films
Is there a movie you watch every New Year’s Eve? For many years, local TV station KWGN played Casablanca on New Year's Eve, and it's still a perennial favorite with Denverites (as well as sentimentalists everywhere). In Russia, people like to watch the 1976 romantic comedy The Irony of Fate at this time... → Read More
The Ten Best Westerns Filmed in Colorado (Before The Hateful Eight)
Quentin Tarentino’s The Hateful Eight opens this week, the latest chapter in a long tradition of Westerns filmed in Colorado. The state’s epic scenery has made this a destination for filmmakers for more than a century, and many of them made Westerns. From film’s beginnings to the early 1960s, Westerns were... → Read More
The Twelve Despicable Entertainments of Christmas, Part 2
The dismal march through Christmas kitsch continues. While we value love, kindness, faith and redemption, when you fetishize any values and work them over for their commercial value, they ossify. They sour. They become shorthand for real feelings. Then they take their place entirely. That's when they become despicable. That's... → Read More
For Some, December 31 Is a Time to Party; for Others, It's New Year's Evil
This week we'll post the 2015 winners of our My Best/Worst New Year's Eve contest. To prime the pump, Brad Weismann is sharing his memories of not one bad New Year's Eve, not two — but three. Keep reading for the sad stories. Ah, New Year’s Eve! That gala night... → Read More
Holiday Hell: The Twelve Despicable Entertainments of Christmas
More traumatizing events happen during the Yuletide season than during any other period. This time of year, you can't throw a brick without hitting a holiday well-wisher — and believe me, we've tried. The crushing rush of Christmas is so culturally pervasive that you can’t escape the traditional holiday entertainments that... → Read More
The Bug Looking for Bucks in IndieGoGo Campaign
“We’re not in danger, but we need help,” says Alex Weimer, Bug Theatre executive artistic director. That job title sounds impressive, but Weimer is going on eighteen years as the guy who sweeps up, fixes the toilets and keeps the Bug going. And what is the Bug? “The quintessential community... → Read More
Ten Depressing Things About Star Wars, the World's Greatest Film Franchise
Are you sick of it yet? We are drowning in a tidal wave of promotion pushing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s everywhere you look, and the premiere set for next Friday, December 18, is the anticipated film opening in history. Things weren't always this way, though. Creator George Lucas was... → Read More
Ghosts of Christmas Past: Unwrapping the Creepy Rankin/Bass Holiday Specials
Singing elves. Dancing snowmen. The awkward beauties of stop-motion animation. Yuletides threatened by mad professors, insane dictators, giant buzzards and Arab stereotypes. Welcome to the world of Rankin/Bass, a company that took the shiny, pop-culture Christmas ball and ran with it, creating a demented body of video work that will... → Read More
Get Scrooged! Ten Essential Portrayals in A Christmas Carol
Why do we love A Christmas Carol so much that we see it again and again, year after year? It’s an annual pageant of redemption that gives us a villain we get to boo, and a reformed soul we get to cheer. Scrooge stands in for our guilty and regretful... → Read More
Old Movie Theaters Are Finding New Life in Denver
After World War II, downtown Denver started to decay, and movie palaces disappeared. The Curtis Street pleasure row came down, and the grand old houses that remained turned into adult-film showrooms, places that sold beer, too, dark and dangerous and filled with stink. (The tradition of dirty movies downtown is old... → Read More