From l-r: Jim Hickox, Greg Baumhauer and Adam Cayton-Holland of Denver’s Wrist Deep Productions. (Denver Post file photo by Cyrus McCrimmon)

UPDATE: This event has been postponed until May 2.

The name says it all: Rockbar. The East Colfax quasi-dive is saturated with music events, from their classic rock-themed booths and DJ nights to the occasional live performance. But the hipster haunt is also happy to morph when it needs to — witness their transformation into BarackBar during the DNC and around election time — and will do so again this weekend when it welcomes its first-ever comedy show.

Entitled “Slumming It,” the show will feature Denver’s best comedy troupe, the no-holds-barred, rippling pecs ‘n’ abs of Wrist Deep Productions. (For a primer, check out this piece I did on them for The Denver Post).

“There’s going to be be a lot of people who have never seen us, so we’ll put on all-around Wrist Deep Show,” said comedian and writer Adam Cayton-Holland. “I’m going to show the dating video (see below). We’ll show the DNC video. And I believe it’s the first time they’ve ever done comedy there. Intentionally, at least.”

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French electro-house DJ Surkin will heat things up at the Church on Thursday. Photo from thefastlife.org.

There’s no shortage of places to wet your whistle on East Colfax. Bars and liquor stores populate the strip in equal measure, beckoning with their glowing beer signs. But just a few steps away from the traffic, on Marion Street, there’s Tooey’s Off Colfax (1521 Marion St.) behind an unassuming storefront. It’s got a nickname, “The Secret Bar,” given by service-industry employees who pop over for post-work libations.

“It’s a place they could go on a Friday night and not deal with a bunch of stupid meathead drunk people,” says Alissa Anderson, who owns Tooey’s with her husband, Zach. “It was kind of the underground speakeasy.”

Tooey’s was “secret” because it didn’t have a sign for a while. But now that there’s a banner out front, and more people are smoking on the patio, the secret is getting out.

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For more than two decades, James Paul Hutchinson gave his handcrafted ales to friends and family as Christmas gifts. “Everyone said the same thing everyone always says about free beer: ‘This is great,’ ” says Hutchinson, who answers to Hutch.

So four months ago, Hutchinson took those beery blessings to heart and opened the Ourayle House in Ouray.

Wedged into a long garage where summertime tourists not long ago rented Jeeps for excursions into the surrounding San Juans, Hutchinson now reigns over his own beer temple. His brews ferment in 80-gallon vats in the back room of Hutch’s nascent Mr. Grumpy Pants Brewing Co. Split-log walls and a wood-burning stove — with sizzling pans to cook up your own grub — give the front-of-the-house tavern a cozy cabin feel.

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Literary Death Match is sorta like this, except with words — and minus the steel cage and the sweet stretch pants.

What has brought together talents as diverse as Moby, Lemony Snicket and writers for The Believer and The New Yorker? What involves the words “death match” and “opium,” and takes place at a bar?

If you guessed “a night of marathon drinking and drugs,” you’re only half right. Get ready for the Mile High City’s first-ever Literary Death Match. The hybrid arts/entertainment event, created by Opium Magazine’s Todd Zuniga (who’s also pitching it as a TV show), has been running strong in New York, San Francisco and Beijing for more than 30 installments. And now it’s Denver’s turn.

The event is essentially a showdown of four writers before a panel of three judges and a live audience. After the writers trot out their most compelling works, the judges choose two finalists to compete in the big finale, a “decidedly un-literary competition” that determines the winner of the Literary Death Match Crown. Of course, there will be drink tickets.

“There’s kind of a dearth in Denver of fun, entertaining literary events in general,” said Boulder author and event co-curator Jody Reale. “That’s why I’m really excited about the series because I think there’s a need for that kind of event — especially when the Broncos aren’t playing.”

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Alibi provides a sleek, multi-level experience for the thirsty LoDo partiers looking to shake their butts. Photo from Denver.org.

It can be hard to keep up with Denver’s night life. And that’s a good thing. Despite the gloomy economic situation, Denver’s still moving and shaking, though perhaps a little more gingerly than before.

Sometimes, sadly, new places get lost in the mix of openings, closings and reworkings. The Basement (in the alley next to the Martini Ranch at 1317 14th St.) and Alibi (1523 Market St.) are two places that haven’t been covered in this column, and they deserve a little love.

Peering down an alley between Larimer and Market streets, there’s a set of unexpected velvet ropes among the trash bins and cigarette butts. Further investigation reveals the entrance to a gently thumping club below street level.

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