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Warning: “Blasted” at Benchmark is brutal — but powerful | Theater review

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

British playwright Sarah Kane’s “Blasted” is dark. This bears repeating, not to warn you off seeing the play, but as a critic’s version of due diligence.This existentially fraught drama — on stage at Benchmark Theatre — is dark.Given news of the world, you may want to factor that into your entertainment choices. There is sexual assault, and no small measure of racist, misogynist and homophobic slurs. And although one of the characters uses the word “love,” it’s hard to locate that emotion anywhere in the one act. And yet Benchmark’s production of the abrasive work set in some sort of wartime, reviled by critics at its premiere in 1995 and subsequently praised — with its bold direction and bolder performances — is a cause for, if not joy, celebration.Before Benchmark took over its intimate space just north of Colfax in Lakewood, it was home to the Edge Theatre. Edge’s productions were strong and keen in their way. Under artistic director Neil Truglio, Benchmark has whetted that edge,...

Where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce should eat and drink while in Denver for the Chiefs game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

Are you ready for some football? If you’re like this one little fan, you might be excited to see your favorite player, Taylor Swift, in Denver this weekend.While we don’t know for sure whether or not T-Swift will attend Sunday’s game at Empower Field between the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs, her suspected relationship with KC tight end Travis Kelce has become slightly more official.In recent weeks, they’ve been spotted holding hands, and one photo even shows Swift kissing Kelce on the cheek. The Chiefs have been on a hot streak since she appeared in box seats, leading coach Andy Reid to tell the press “Taylor can stay around all she wants.”As many football and music fans likely know, Swift cheered on the Chiefs last Sunday from a box in Arrowhead Stadium. She departed the game with Kelce and the two then dined in a private room at Piropos Restaurant, one of the football player’s favorite eateries in Kansas City, Entertainment Tonight reported.The last time local S...

The Denver Art Museum has been quietly removing plundered artworks from its website without explanation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

The thousand-year-old Indian statue sat in the Denver Art Museum’s Asian art collection for six decades, a gift from prominent New York art dealer Robert Ellsworth.Sculpted around the 10th century, the 38-inch sandstone piece depicts a celestial woman beneath a mango tree. It was once part of the Ghatesvara Temple in northern India, built as a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva.Indian archaeologists, for years, said this priceless work was stolen. Four years ago, the museum quietly handed the statue to U.S. law enforcement to be repatriated to India.Denver Art Museum officials did not issue a press release. The artifact has been scrubbed from the institution’s website as if it was never there. Aside from saved webpages on Internet archives, there’s no public-facing evidence that the statue was once a part of the museum’s collection.RELATED: Looted: Stolen relics, laundered art and a Colorado scholar’s role in the illicit antiquities tradeFor years, the Denver muse...

How do you vanquish evil entities? For this Denver exorcist, the devil is in the details

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

“I always felt someone was watching me, and sometimes, I’d see him. He was a man in a dark suit,” said Kate Whalen of Denver’s Highland neighborhood.“One night my, grandson was in the living room and I was in my bedroom down the hall. My grandson said, ‘Grandma, someone is standing next to me,’ and it was him. I could see him, too.”The tools of the trade for exorcist Tony Bulota. (Dan Danbom, Special to The Denver Post)So Whalen, a small-business owner, reached out to Antanas (Tony) Bulota, a Colorado exorcist, for help.Bulota, whose business card says that he provides Energy Worker Protection Services, is a self-described, non-denominational exorcist. In Bulota’s world, that means “shifting energy in places to create a safe environment.”Vanquishing the man in the dark suit (Bulota favors an all-black wardrobe himself) wasn’t the first time Whalen had enlisted Bulota’s talents. When she opened Mile High Holistics on West Colfax Avenue in a space formerly used as a ...

Officer, suspect hurt after chase, shooting near South Gate high school football game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

A police officer opened fire on a fleeing man after a football game at a South Gate high school Thursday night.At about 9:45 p.m., a Los Angeles School Police Department officer spotted a man with a weapon near Legacy High School and gave chase, authorities said.The man tried to drive away in a white SUV, but that SUV crashed into another vehicle, footage from the scene shows.The officer's foot was injured in the incident, but another officer opened fire on the SUV, wounding someone inside the vehicle. It remains to be seen if the person who was shot was the subject of the pursuit or a passenger.Both the officer and the wounded person suffered minor injuries, police said.While the school was put on lockdown, no students, teachers or parents were hurt.

Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Yesenia Moffett, Pittsburg water polo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

Pittsburg water polo player Yesenia Moffett is the Bay Area News Group’s girls athlete of the week for Oct. 16-21 after she received 39.87% of the vote by the deadline Wednesday.Archbishop Mitty water polo player Gracie Imrisek finished second.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Moffett scored six goals — five in the first half — to go along with six steals and three assists to propel Pittsburg to a 12-3 victory over rival Antioch. The junior began this week with 49 goals on the season.To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email [email protected] by Monday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m. Please include stats and team results.We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches/team statisticians for consideration.Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News & East Bay Times websites and in the print edition of the Mercury News and EB Times sports sections.

Look of the Week: LeBron James flies the flag for the man bag

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

By Leah Dolan | CNNFour-time NBA champion LeBron James is the latest male celebrity to be spotted out and about wearing a high-fashion bag. On Tuesday, the 34-year-old professional basketball player arrived at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado for the latest LA Lakers game against Denver’s Nuggets. If James wanted to make a sartorial statement for his first game of the season, it came in the form of the forest green Speedy bag from Louis Vuitton which sat at his hip — one of the standout pieces from Pharell’s debut collection as creative director of menswear this summer.James paired the cross-body bag with a custom tweed “Damoflage” jacket (Pharell’s pixelated, Minecraft-esque print which has already become a brand motif, endorsed by Kim Kardashian and Rihanna), sunglasses and black derby shoes. He follows in the footsteps of several famous men of late who have been seen sporting not just any functional receptacle, but an “it bag.”James arrived in Denver wearing a green Louis Vuitt...

‘Parasites’: Mother wins court case to evict two sons in their 40s

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

By Barbie Latza Nadeau | CNNA mother’s love does have limits, it seems. At least for a 75-year-old woman in the northern Italian city of Pavia who won a court order after suing to have her sons, aged 40 and 42, removed from her house, a court clerk in Pavia told CNN Friday.The two sons, described in court papers by their mother as “parasites,” had been living in the family apartment without contributing financially or helping around the house, according to the complaint filed by the woman, who has not been named, in a the Tribunal of Pavia district court. Both men are employed, the court documents state.Judge Simona Caterbi sided with the retired mother, who is separated from the men’s father and whose pension went entirely on food and maintenance of the home, ruling that the two “bamboccioni,” or big babies, have until December 18 to vacate the premises, according to Tuesday’s court ruling, seen by CNN.Caterbi wrote: “There is no provision in the legislation which attributes to the...

49ers’ McCaffrey finds yardage tougher to gain even as touchdown streak continues

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Christian McCaffrey keeps scoring touchdowns but yardage has been harder to come by of late right up until the point where he crosses the goal line.McCaffrey can tie an NFL record set by Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts in 1963-65 by scoring a touchdown in his 17th consecutive game when the 49ers host the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.Rather than jinx the streak, McCaffrey avoids the topic as he would a defender.“We’ve just got to keep it going,” McCaffrey said Thursday. “I try not to talk about it. Keep it rolling.”Since Moore’s streak included a recovered fumble from a teammate in the end zone, McCaffrey already owns the record of touchdowns from scrimmage (rushing or receiving), passing Hall of Famers O.J. Simpson and John Riggins, who each scored touchdowns in 15 consecutive games.McCaffrey’s streak includes touchdowns scored in each of the 49ers’ three playoff games last season.Tied with f...

Huge San Jose housing project, retail in hilly neighborhood are OK’d

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:28 GMT

SAN JOSE — Well over 1,000 homes and a village center atop San Jose’s Communications Hill that could offer residents an array of dining and beverage choices have landed final approval from city officials.The homes and village center are included in the most recent phases of the massive Communications Hill neighborhood development in San Jose. The city’s planning director approved these components of the project as part of an administrative hearing.“This approval allows KB Homes to move forward with phase three and phase four and all of the infrastructure that is required,” said Jerry Strangis, principal executive with Strangis Properties, which has provided consulting work for KB on the Communications Hill project.All told, 1,304 residences were approved on Communications Hill through the planning director’s hearing, which enables an expedited approval process for certain projects.The approval on Oct. 25 included three primary components:— 5...