A DAM Good Friday

This past Friday was one of the best nights I've had since moving to Colorado. Kristen, my newest girlfriend, who I adopted from Linzi, came over after work for Bloody Mimosas to toast the royal wedding with me as we snacked on some cheese and crackers.

Our plan has been to B-Cycle for a night out but, as I am finding out, you can't depend on the weather here in Colorado. Just because it was nice enough for you to ride your bike to work in a dress, does not mean you will not need your down coat for the ride home. Sure enough, it was one of those days and we were thankful we opted for the car as the (hopefully last!) snow fell on this Spring night as we were leaving the museum.

I'd been to the Denver Art Museum before - years ago when I brought Superchunk to Denver for his 30th. We took photos throughout the exhibit, checked out the gift shop, I got locked in a phonebooth - it was good times. The experience that I had with Kristen on Friday night was totally different though. We had been wanting to check out the BLINK! exhibit before it left town on May Day. DAM does Final Fridays (doesn't that have a nice ring to it?) where the museum stays open until 10 p.m., they have DJs performing out front, live music upstairs and oh, WINE - so if not now then when became the question. The first thing I thought of as we started to explore the museum was "I just do not remember it being this large!" Apparently, they've added a whole new expansion since I was there last in 2007.

The BLINK! exhibit was fascinating. We were there for an hour and a half or so - mainly because we didn't get there until 8:30 and knew the place shut down at 10 but we could have spent an entire day there - taking photos, watching the band, exploring the exhibit. BLINK! was very interactive as it explores light, sound and the moving image. For example, one of the rooms we went in to had a bunch of old televisions sitting right side up with the screens toward the ceiling, 3 groups, each scene/sound had a different color assigned to it and we were in the middle of Vietnam. Instead of me wasting your time trying to explain the incredibly moving experience, watch for yourself here. Just imagine sitting in a dark room, surrounded by art, instead of in front of your computer.

Amazing, right?











So, understandably, we got lost in ourselves while exploring BLINK! at DAM. And, as previously mentioned, it was snowing by the time we left the museum. There was only one thing to do at that point - head to the bars. We ended up at Dougherty's on the Broadway South strip to see if Erin, Linzi's cousin, was working. She was not but she was there with her brother, and the night ended up being one for the books.

You can tell Summer is coming when nights like last Friday come your way.