What’s more awesome than glitter? Nothing.

– If you’ve paid attention to the Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar in Lakewood you know it’s a cutting edge, hard-to-define institution with ambitious ideas and the skill to carry them out. According to its website, the Lab “combines elements of a museum, think tank, and public forum. Focused on contemporary art and culture, The Lab offers international art exhibitions, lectures, performances, symposia, and publications.” That sounds about right.

– On Oct. 26 the Lab will hold another typically sweet event to celebrate the opening of the new Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Denver. The Glitter Power Gala features a drag revue with the Demented Divas and the white trash-tastic corn dog cook-off, muscle car display, glitter pen give-a-ways, food and beer. The best part? Tickets are only a buck! You heard me right, sucker. Call 303-934-1777 for more information, and don’t forget to wear something shiny. Every day.

Improv lovers gather outside Denver’s Avenue Theater before a performance.

– Like to make stuff up? The third annual Denver Improv Festival, which continues in various locations through Sunday, might just be for you. The events include performances and workshops at the Avenue Theater, Impulse Theater and Bovine Metropolis Theater. We chatted with Cindy Laudadio-Hill, chairwoman of GroupMind Foundation, which organized the festival, about the benefits and variety of improv, and why it’s so hot right now. Check it out…

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– Torrid, sexy love affairs, painful beauty and monstrous wrath aren’t just tabloid fodder, they’re age-old themes. Catch an armload of them when the Colorado Chamber Players and David Taylor Dance Theatre open their respective 2007-2008 seasons on Oct. 27-28 with “Medusa,” James Wallace’s intimate chamber work for dance featuring the haunting music of André Caplet, Dmitri Shostakovich and Erwin Schulhoff.

– According to the organizers: “This tragic Greek myth tells the story of Medusa, a beautiful young girl caught in Athena’s wrath because of her love affair with Poseidon. Jealous Athena transforms Medusa into a monstrous, snake-haired creature that turns to stone anyone who catches her gaze. Accompanied by the CCP String Quartet and harpist Lynne Abbey-Lee, DTDT dancers bring to life the sexy drama of the ancient fable.” Get all the details right here.

– Ethiopian food gets short shrift. For many of us, it’s a novelty, an act, the African equivalent of the Benihana empire’s take on Japanese food: tossed cleavers and eggs cracked in the air and squirt bottles shooting liquid into piles of sizzling vegetables and meat.

The food-as-entertainment thing, with Ethiopian cuisine, revolves around the lack of forks, the spongy bread that replaces the forks, and the communal platters. A good place to start – a good place to finish, too – is Ras Kassa’s Ethiopian Restaurant in Boulder.

Read more here…

Can Seinfeld help prop up ratings for NBC’s “30 Rock”?

Jerry Seinfeld appears on Thursday’s typically sharp season premiere of “30 Rock.” He signed on partly as a favor to his pal Tina Fey and partly to promote his “Bee Movie,” out next month. NBC offered a transcript of a canned, inhouse interview with the man who once powered the network to ratings heights…