We know, the beginning of the work week sucks. But if you take a quick look at the calendar, you'll see we're off to a pretty good week of art events, sports games, dance parties, and more. Here are our must-see events from now to the weekend...
Monday, October 15: "Things That Go Bump In The Night: An Exhibition of Monsters and Mayhem" @ Vision Gallery As an adult, it's easy to look back on our truly traumatic experiences as children fondly. "Oh, me," you think. "How could I ever be so silly?" But when you're convinced a demon from another dimension is staring at you through the cracked doors of your bedroom closet, it's difficult to accept that one day you'll look back on it with a hearty chortle.
As it turns out, those experiences are necessary for our transition into adulthood, where we become the official defenders and monster-checkers for the generations that follow. "Things That Go Bump in the Night: An Exhibition of Monsters and Mayhem" portrays those nightmares and nighttime visions artfully by regional artists who have a hard time forgetting their childhood haunters, from ghosts to clowns. Because, hey - you never forget the first time you were paralyzed with paranormal fear. It's cute, really. -- Christina Caldwell
Tuesday, October 16: Stacy London Book-Signing @ Changing Hands We know that Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is the latest in addictive reality programming from TLC. But ,we consider ourselves purists when it comes to the network, and that means our loyalty lies with Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear.
London has a tough-love-meets-fashion-therapist way about her, with a keen ability to seek out what prevents women from embracing a more stylish self. In her new book, The Truth About Style, the former Vogue assistant dishes on her own struggles with fashion and hooks a few ladies up with makeovers. Price: Free; book costs $32.95 -- Becky Bartkowski
Wednesday, October 17: Pumpkin Days and Corn Maze @ Tolmachoff Farms
Yeah, it's sort of cooling off out there. But we're still sporting shorts and flip-flops. And that means the main tell-tale sign of fall is the return of the pumpkin spice latte. Jack-o-lantern supplies are sprouting up, too, almost as quickly as temporary Halloween shops. That means the time's right to buy a nice, ripe pumpkin. Tolmachoff Farms celebrates the gourd with Pumpkin Days, a fam-friendly event featuring a corn maze, petting zoo, train ride, and, of course, pumpkin picking. Guests can also race pedal carts and play around in a hay pyramid. Price: $8.00 each ages 2 & up. -- Melissa Fossum
Thursday, October 18: "West of Center: Art and The Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977" @ Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
The art of the West often gets pegged as a celebration of cowboys and cow skulls, but Colorado curators Elissa Aurther and Adam Lerner are on a mission to bring to light another major movement and aesthetic founded this side of the Mississippi.
The countercultural movement thrived during the 1960s and '70s through the work of artists who strayed from stereogypes. In video, drawing, photography, installation, and ephemera, these artists created what is now widely known as psychedelic art (though Aurther and Lerner would argue the work spans a much wider range), which continues to influence contemporary art and culture.Price: $7 for adults, $5 for students, free for members and those 15 and under, and free on Thursdays. -- Claire Lawton
Thursday, October 18: Underneath The Lintel @ Second Stage West
The real-life mysteries that creep into our drab day-to-day existence are far more mundane than mystery tehater's two favorite themes: death and deception. But they aren't the only things worth investigating. That's why we all have a bit of detective in us, whether we're finding the source of that leaky roof, from where that sweater in the back seat came, or even following our hearts for an answer that's inconsequential but no less meaningful.
In Underneath the Lintel, a librarian comes across a returned book. Suspiciously, the book is 113 years overdue -- a pretty exciting development in the bookworm's otherwise quiet life. He discovers in the book's pages a 73-year-old laundry ticket to a still-open Laundromat in London, and that takes him to the first stop on a globetrotting trek that puts an innocent twist on the standard whodunit model. Price: $7-$10 -- Christina Caldwell
Check out more things to do today (and everyday) in our Calendar section ...
