Web Happenings

Arts & Culture Web Roundup

By Jenny Shank, 12-13-06

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Tattered Cover's podcast service, Authors On Tour-Live! According to a press release, "more than 100,000 of its free podcasts have been downloaded by book lovers around the country." The press release offers a further breakdown of the podcast's audience: "According to tracking statistics, users and subscribers have been growing every month since its inception and come not only from the Denver region but from around the United States and nearly 20 other countries. The podcasts attract approximately 5,000 unique listeners every month who listen to an average of 2.5 podcasts per month. They also click nearly 40,000 page views at the podcast web site." Those aren't huge numbers for a website, but they're pretty impressive for a literary endeavor in this increasingly book-shy country.

The Center of the American West launched its new website this week. The updated site isn't totally completed yet, but it does offer free downloads of documents and reports on such topics as "Abandoned Mine Remediation" and "Boom/Bust Economy." Fans of scholar Patricia Limerick should check out her piece, "Patty's Pedestrian Diet." In it, she details how she lost forty pounds by walking everywhere she went around town. The weight loss was spurred by the untimely death of her husband, who "died of a sudden stroke" at age 56. Limerick writes, "Grief was the beginning of the diet, but at least partial recovery from grief was one of the outcomes."

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art offers an online gallery tour and history lesson on its website. Patrons can download the tracks onto their own iPod, or borrow an iPod at the museum to listen to the commentary as they stroll the galleries.

Finally, congratulations are in order for Nick Urata and his band, DeVotchKa. The soundtrack to the film Little Miss Sunshine that they composed is up for a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack. Those of us who have been Urata fans since his days fronting The Reejers in the late '90s in Boulder are delighted. While fellow Colorado Grammy nominee The Fray enjoyed virtually overnight success, Urata has been toiling away at his unique music for decades, and is finally reaping the rewards. DeVotchKa will play two New Year's shows at the Ogden Theatre (Dec. 30 & 31), and music is available on the band's website.

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