As promised, OFCB launches today! We've spent the past few months designing a new blog for you lovely readers. The new layout is similar to what you're used to seeing, but we hope that it's an easier user-interface when it comes to commenting and following our stories. Feel free to go take a look around!

Starting today, all new blog posts will be posted ONLY on OFCB. So if you follow us in Google Reader or any other RSS feed, please change those feed addresses to this page. All other pages and subscriptions will remain the same.

OFCB will feature all the latest in local entertainment, local and national news, and of course, special deals and promotion for OFCB readers.

So go take a look around OFCB, and leave a comment to let us know what you think!

Those of you at the OFC Cover Model Finalist Party are familiar with the following image:



But what is OFCB, you ask? Well, all will revealed to you tomorrow... Check back on the blog tomorrow morning.

And know what else will be revealed tomorrow? Our 2009 Cover Model winner's cover and photoshoot. The new issue of OFC comes out tomorrow - and I promise, you won't want to miss it. Get it at your favorite gayborhood locale or online at www.OutFrontColorado.com.

In case you've been living under a rock and didn't know, the fabulous Broadway musical Wicked is coming to town at the Buell. The show opens tomorrow night - and tickets are going FAST.

Which is why it's such great news that the show has just announced it will take a cue from a great NYC Broadway tradition and offer a limited number of $25 orchestra seat tickets available by lottery the day of each show. From the press release:
"A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held before each performance of WICKED, which will be performing October 7 – November 15 at The Buell Theatre, presented by Denver Center Attractions. Two-and-a-half (2.5) hours prior to each performance, people who present themselves at The Buell Theatre Box Office will have their names placed in a lottery drum. Thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person."

This is an amazing show, and this opportunity is a great way to get a chance to see it at a fabulous price! For more details about the show, check out the DCPA website. Regular tickets are limited in availability, since several shows are sold out already. Your best bet for tickets is to look at weeknight shows.

And, as a special tip: Newly released premium seating is now available for many performances. To access these seats, use promo code PREMIUM when calling 303.893.4100 or buying online. Discount, obstructed view seats (which may not offer a full view of the stage) are also now available for all performances by entering promo code OBSTRUCTED when calling 303.893.4100 or buying online.

Editor's Note: Shanna Katz's Front Range Femme column appears weekly on the OFC Blog. Shanna will be blogging about kinky queer sexuality in all its aspects. Her posts will sometimes be explicit and may cover controversial material like BDSM, role-playing, sexual assault, and may include language which could be considered offensive. If you find this type of material offensive or inappropriate, please visit other pages on the blog or go back to our Home page. If you wish to proceed, continue reading Front Range Femme: Making Space after the jump.

WOAH. This just came into my inbox, from HRC:

"The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today that President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the 13th Annual National Dinner on Saturday, October 10th, in Washington, D.C. U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present the first-ever Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard. The award is named in honor of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a champion in the fight for LGBT equality.

“We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT people as brothers and sisters,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “It is fitting that he will speak to our community on the night that we pay tribute to his friend and mentor Senator Edward Kennedy, who knew that as president, Barack Obama would take on the unfinished business of this nation – equal rights for the LGBT community, and for every person who believes in liberty and justice for all.”

In addition to this being a BIG DEAL, the date of the HRC Campaign Dinner means the president WILL be in Washington during the National Equality March... Something that we were unsure about previously. (There's a presidential golf tournament in San Francisco that many were expecting he would attend. Seriously.) Joe.My.God. points out that Obama is only the second sitting president to speak at the HRC Campaign dinner. The other? Bill Clinton.

It's still unconfirmed whether the President will attend the March itself - something encouraged, in large part, by his own administration's shortcomings regarding LGBT equality - but this announcement is absolutely a step int he right direction. Perhaps we're getting too loud to ignore.

Goddess Duane, who hosted our fabulous OFC Cover Model Finalist Party, caught up with OFC Feature Shannel at last week's Drama Drag at Tracks. Here's video of that interview. Warning: There's a WHOLE lotta Queen up in here.

Well, it's a relatively quiet weekend here in Denver, but there are still some great events going on around town. So let's jump into them!



Tonight is First Friday at Tracks. Doors open at 6 pm, but get there at 5:30 to join the National Center for Lesbian Rights for a "Social for Social Justice." A suggested $20 donation at the door gets you access to NCLR lounge, which features a bar serving signature cocktails, complimentary hors d'oeuvres, and an auction, featuring - among other things - a trip for two on a Sweet Caribbean Cruise.

If you're looking for something a little mellower, check out Caveau wine bar, which is offering a special promotion of OFC VIP cardholders:

Caveau Wine Bar is now offering a 10% discount with the OFC VIP Card. Whether you are a wine novice or oenophile, you will have a one of a kind experience! Caveau offers quality wines, tasting flights, tapas plates, dessert and extensive wine cellar with a small selection of beer, coffee, tea, soda and espresso. It's a laid-back approach to wine in a “wine country sexy” atmosphere.

And don't worry, gentlemen, we haven't forgotten about you! On Saturday, OctoBEARfest continues. Dan over at the Denver ELEMENT has a nice post with details about the weekend, which is sponsored by Front Range Bears. According to its homepage, OctoBEARfest is the longest-running bear event in the country. So go check it out- and maybe get a few bear hugs to keep you warm this weekend. (OK, that's the last of the Bear puns... promise.)

Sunday marks the 2009 Aspen Run with the Rocky Mountaineers. While in past years, the motorcycle ride has taken members through Georgetown, CO, this year, bikers will ride up to Leadville, to ride the Leadville Colorado & Southern Railroad. Organizers stress that participants need not have a motorcycle to participate. Riders are meeting at 9:45 a.m. at the Sam’s Club parking lot at 505 S. Broadway.

As we told you last night, Coles Whalen released her fourth album, The Whistle Stop Road Record, at the Soiled Dove Underground at Lowry.

OFC was there to catch the action, and score an exclusive interview with Whalen and her band after the show. So, naturally, we discussed sushi, gay parents, and amphibians. You've GOT to watch this.



Special thanks to Sara Decker, our Assistant Art Director, for the interview and Danielle "Shake 'n Bake" Dowgoia for filming.

Denver native (and certified HOTTIE) Coles Whalen is releasing her fourth album, The Whistle Stop Road Record, tonight at The Soiled Dove Underground. Megan Burtt will open the all-ages show, which starts at 7:30 pm, with doors at 7 pm. Tickets are just $10 - a bargain especially when you consider that this homegrown talent is destined to break into the mainstream. While touring to promote this album, she's been taking short breaks to work on her fifth full-length album, which she's developing in the studio with Akon.

So, back in July, GLAAD published its "Best and Worst of National News," applauding publications which portrayed LGBT people favorably, while calling out publications that didn't. Listed in "The Worst"? The Mormon-owned Deseret News "inaccurately portrays LGBT people." Shock!

What was actually surprising was that the other half of "The Worst" list was Denver's own Westword. GLAAD cited a July comic by Westword's resident (and, ironically enough, out) comic artist which included "an anti-gay slur." From GLAAD's Web site:

"In a July 22 comic, The Denver Westword published a cartoon in its ‘Kenny Be’ series that used the anti-gay slur f*g. The comic depicts a series of camper archetypes, one of which illustrates a type of camper who spends exorbitant amounts of money on camping gear -- a person the comic calls a "Gear f*g." The Westword also featured the comic on its website which prompted online users to attack any reader who expressed concern with the defamatory term. Numerous comments are showcased including, “f*g,” “queer,” “priss,” “limp wrist,” and one user even advocated violence against another. “You deserve whatever terrible things happen to you and I have no sympathy.”

The article included a link to comment and urged readers to write Patricia Calhoun, Westword's editor.

Well, now Kenny Be and Westword are fighting back. In this week's issue (which came out today), the...ahem.. flamboyant cover story bears the following Kenny Be illustration:



... along with the headline "I'd Rather Be Gay Than GLAAD: Kenny Be comes out swinging."

In the article, Be goes on to illustrate - literally - that not only must GLAAD not have read any of his previous comics, but their condemnation of him for using the term "fag" in a noun phrase is hypocritical, since some winner of the GLAAD Media Awards are on record using the term, sometimes as a pejorative. Check out that strip here.

The GLAAD controversy surrounding Be's comic(s) brings up an interesting question of just how much is too much political correctness. I tend to agree with Be, that the more we reclaim phrases historically used to subjugate and insult us, the more power we take away from the power those phrases - and those who use them - have over us. So I commend Be for standing up to GLAAD and trying to begin a dialogue, and Westword's editors for standing behind Be.