That dapper man in the beard is none other than Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk.

Girl Talk’s mashups are gleeful, schizophrenic trips through the pop culture tunnel, channeling hip-hop, electro-pop, classic rock and old-school indie through the same narrow, twisting pipes. They’re also ready-made for sweat-soaked hipster dance parties, and the live shows of Gregg Gillis (i.e. the man behind the talking girls) of the last few years have attracted a particularly zealous crowd.

Girl Talk was just here at the Fox Theatre in July, but returns Friday, Oct. 31 to Denver’s Ogden Theatre for a sold out show with the Death Set and CX Kidtronik. We chatted with Gillis via e-mail about the road, his favorite new music and the best hangover cures.
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The bar at Jet Hotel… the seat of a burgeoning nightlife empire?

When Wicked Garden (1403 Larimer St.) opens next week, it’ll be another salvo in Jet Entertainment Group’s battle to win over Denver, bit by bit. Occupying the space that once housed Open Bar and Hush, Wicked Garden is the latest hot spot from the burgeoning Jet empire. This time, the new place promises to bring a blast of rock to upscale Larimer Square.

“It’s going to be a lavishly decadent rock ’n’ roll club,” says Jet’s vice president of marketing, Jordan Bullock. “Lavish” is right — with bottle service, leather and animal prints everywhere, Wicked Garden is more “Pour Some Sugar on Me” than “Gimme Shelter.” “It’s really high-end, but with a rock ’n’ roll chic feel to it,” says Bullock. “It’s just going to be so over the top.”

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It’s been a long day of shopping. Your lower back hurts. The kids are cranky. Everyone’s hungry. You don’t want fast food, but you don’t want to go home and cook, either. With six Colorado locations, mostly in newer shopping areas, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery offers a nicely varied menu of dependable dishes and generous servings.

Even the teenager who eschews beef will find something satisfying among the burgers, steaks and ribs. Mine chose the grilled mahi-mahi tacos, which come with a tangy pineapple slaw that’s good with the black beans and red ale rice. The salads are mixing-bowl huge, with lots of crunchy, satisfying bits (like the candied walnuts and Granny Smith apples in the Tuscan chicken salad).
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René Heredia should be no stranger to anyone with an eye on the metro-area cultural calendar. The award-winning dancer and guitar player has made a name for himself internationally with his passionate performances, including this weekend’s “The Gypsy Chicks & Flamenco Fantasy Theatre.”

Self-described as the “true flamenco,” the show features palmas (hand clapping), pitos (finger snaps) and dancers with authentic traditional costumes from the different provinces of Andalucia, Spain. Heredia, who has performed before presidents and royalty, knows how to put on a show, tending to the guitar while the ten dancers whirl around in their Spanish gypsy dances.
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Magnetic Fields leader Stephin Merritt (second from the left) is a man of few words — at least when he’s not making music.

Most musicians know how to play nice in our celebrity-addicted, star-humping culture, dutifully submitting to interviews and playing concerts in order to promote their wares to the masses. Not so with Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields. His hatred of live shows, media interviews and having any kind of public persona speaks not just to his social awkwardness but the audience’s desire to meaningfully connect art and artist.

Merritt, in other words, helps us realize that we often can’t just appreciate a song for being a song, or a painting for being a painting — that we have to feel some bond with the person who created it. That perhaps makes it all the more bizarre that I was able to interview Merritt (he rarely does them) in advance of the Magnetic Fields’ show at the Boulder Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 15. I’ve been a drooling fan of Merritt’s since high school and having the opportunity to speak with him seemed almost too much to ask. In hindsight, perhaps it was.
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