HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLORADO

Being 138 years old can be pretty young. If you don’t believe it, ask Colorado.

That is the age our beloved Colorado will celebrate August 1st, 2014, and the party is ON.

Colorado is definitely a special state with character, history and tons of creativity of its own. For example:

•  Colorado was the first state in the union to grant the right to vote to women through a popular election in 1893.

•  Colorado is the only state in history, to turn down the Olympics. In 1976 the Winter Olympics were planned to be held in Denver. 62% of all state voters chose, at almost the last minute, not to host the Olympics; because of the cost, pollution and population boom it would have on the State of Colorado, and the city of Denver. As everyone knows Olympics are bad business for hosting cities, Am I right Sochi?

•  Colorado’s geography is unique. The state owns the world's largest flat-top mountain in Grand Mesa, contains 75% of the land area of the U.S. with an altitude over 10,000 feet, and has in Denver the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks in city limits and 20,000 Acres of parks in the nearby mountains.

travel.nationalgeographic.com

www.myrockymountainpark.com

But not everything is so serious,

•  Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state and we are investing "green

BACK TO #DEVERLIVING

Ok, I am not going to pretend that almost 6 months hadn’t passed since the last time I wrote a word in this blog. However, I have very powerful reasons for the abandonment. 

First, I was traveling non stop with my show Montera, Russia, Spain, Cuba. I am going to assume you all read about it in this blog, since Paula took the time to spread the news.

Cuba theater Festival Poster

Solo Festival Moscow

Then I moved to our house, which for a New Yorker transplant is a big event. I have never had a HOUSE, you know. In that part of the country people live in tiny places where the bedroom has a queen bed and a mounted T.V. that’s it. A Living room, you might ask... forget about that, most people have a sofa bed so when parents come to visit they don’t have to go and rent in airbnb the same sofa bed in some else’s house for a low rate of $60 a night. So as you can imagine I had to spend some time decorating my house... my house... I still cant believe I have a house.

Stencil painting 

Then by the time the moving/decorating madness passed, my beloved Mother was visiting from Colombia. I had to show her Denver, Boulder, Vail and all those amazing places Coloradans are surrounded with.

Without even noticing it was January, and then the Christmas hangover sat in, leaving me incapable of writing anything.

However, after this very long hiatus, here I am ready to talk about my favorite subject... 

Fun in Denver

Lets start with Love in the Mile high city.

I am happy to be back :)

By Loren Escandon

AN ITALIAN PARTY

When someone is married with an Italian, as it is my case, you learn 2 basics; family is the most important thing in life and food can’t be poorly executed.

My husband is one of those Italians who does not speak Italian, has never been in Italy and knows nothing about wine. But what he knows very well is the perfect recipe for meatballs (sponsored by his mom Diane), the best stuffed artichokes (sponsored by grandma Roslyn) and the best “gravy” which for all of us is tomato sauce (sponsored by grandma Rose) He knows exactly the difference between a good and bad canolli, italian sausage with pepper and onions and penne a la vodka. 

I remember the first time I met the family, it was a thanksgiving week where grandma Roslyn made me chop tones of onions, garlic and parsley for which I did not complaint a bit, because like people say “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” We made an Italian feast that the ladies cooked for 2 days and the gentleman ate in 2 hours. But that is Italian, a great homemade meal in a long table filled with family and infallible olive oil for the bread.

I miss it all.

That is one reason I am very excited about the Festival Italiano at Belmar. An entire weekend where I feel I might have the chance to enjoy all those homemade Italian specialties I usually enjoy with La Famiglia. The festival promises to have great live music, kids activities, like grape stomping (so bad I am not a kid anymore) a bocce tournament 

and much more. 

Don’t miss the chance to have a slight idea of what La Famiglia means to Italians and to try the richness of their cuisine. It is a free event.

Mangiare! ! !

Belmar

408 South Teller Street
Lakewood, CO 80226

For more info click here.

By Loren Escandon

LA SANTA CECILIA IN TOWN!

ROJO AMERICANO SI, ROJO

La Santa Cecilia

Rojo is almost here. 

August 23rd is the day where the benefit concert annually organized by Museo de las Americas is taking place.

In their effort to bring Denver the most representative music of our Latino Culture, this year the event is featuring the trendiest Latino band of the moment. La Santa Cecilia.

For the few of you that have no idea who La Santa Cecilia is, let me update you:

• Recently sign by Universal Latino Label,

• A super cool Mexican-American band from L.A ...that is killing it with their close to the heart music.

• Written and scored by the very talented Pepe Carlos, Alex Bendaña, Miguel Ramirez and the unique Marisoul, 

• Yes you read it right Marisoul, because her voice speaks for her soul.

This Band with their salpicon of influences like Norteño, jazz, blues, boleros and the other 10 musical genres they have mastered. They give thanks to the inspiration of legends like Janice Joplin, Miles Davis, Mercedes Sosa and Led Zeppelin. They are coming to Denver. Yeah!

So my advice is, do not miss this chance to enjoy La Santa Cecilia because the next time you might see this band that close is in your HD TV during the next Grammy’s when they get an award for their last album “Treinta Dias”, which by the way is already NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of The Year (So Far)

This band is on a meteoric rise to success because there are not afraid to speak their minds. They sing about subjects that matter to people like me and you, they support causes that will help future generations to have a better life and they love kids and want to motivate them to be the best they can be.

Besides coming to indulge us all with there music, they will be visiting the East High School in a “Platica” (Little conversation) that will take place at L2 Arts and Culture Center at 4:00 p.m. Students from Metropolitan State University (MSU), Metro Leadership Program and East High School‘s Music department will be part of this journey where the Band members will talk about finding their musical voice within all the genres of world music, and how they developed a quality and distinct modern sound that engages audiences. 

I had the chance to Interview the members of La Santa Cecilia for Viva Colorado (Interview link coming soon) and they are as fascinating as their music. Delightful, simple, mature, generous artists with a long path of success ahead.

If you miss this chance don’t blame me. I will be there :)

Benefit Concert for Museo de las Americas

August 23, 2013

5:30-8:30pm

L2 Arts and Culture Center

1477 Columbine St

Denver CO 80206

$50 Reception, Silent Auction, and Concert

$30 Concert

For Tickets contact Marlyn Ruiz 303-571-4401 ext.20 

By Loren Escandon

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Making films are hard. 

Forget about the length, the script, the actors or the budget... As an actress I am telling you making films is damn hard, but fun at the same time.  That is probably the reason a bunch of us still dream of telling stories that move audiences, that shows the important of film and eventually, why not, will write our name in some sort of hall of fame...I guess the Oscars will take that credit.

Screw big budget movies, and writers that take years rewriting an idea that has been clear to everyone from the first draft, or producers that do not know how to cast an actor, or actors that have panic attacks as soon the schizophrenic director screams...ACTION. 

Forget about all that paraphernalia because you have exactly 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and score your short film in this sweet twisted festival taking place in Denver August 2-4, 2013 and is looking to produce the best short film ever.

Yeah, let’s get back to the basics and cut the BS of this business that is plagued with people with too much ego to admit that they have no idea what in hell they are doing.

BIENNIAL OF THE AMERICAS

Have you seen all of these colorful pendants around the city that read “The Americas are coming”?

Is it funny or embarrassing, I am not sure. Whatever you want to call it, the first time I read one of those I thought... Biennials are created for cities like Paris, Rome or London, what is a Biennial publicity doing here?. For some reason the word biennial sounds too sophisticated for an outdoorsy city like Denver.

However, we have a Biennial of the Americas in our very own Denver. 

This Biennial of the Americas is an amazing accomplishment that was developed for the first time in 2010 during the government of then Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, as proposal to celebrate the Americas in Denver.