Courtesy photo
The spring of 2019 will be the quietest offseason in years, when it comes to cultural offerings and entertainment options.
The Wheeler isn’t doing its On the Rise series, which has filled recent fall and spring seasons with concerts by ascendant musicians just breaking onto the national landscape. The Temporary at Willits is shutting its doors for good, after becoming the go-to night club for the midvalley over the past two years and programming the shoulder seasons with comedians and musicians who drew Aspenites past the roundabout.
But, hey, at least we’ve got “Avengers: Endgame” at the Isis and Movieland, with a “John Wick” sequel and the live-action “Aladdin” soon to follow as summer blockbuster season gets going.
And thank goodness for Belly Up’s unflagging bookings — which trend toward the free and the affordable in this quiet stretch — and the Aspen Art Museum’s six (also free) exhibitions running through offseason.
So here are 10 reasons to stick around through mud season:
CLOZEE
FRIDAY, MAY 3
9 p.m.
Belly Up Aspen
$28-$45
The French DJ and rising global star is coming off of a Coachella set and making her Aspen debut.
‘LINEAR//PLANARR’
STARTING FRIDAY, MAY 3 R2 Gallery, Carbondale
Free
Carbondale Clay Center resident artists Savanna LaBauve and Stephanie Sequin have collaborated on a new body of work exploring the fine line between two- and three-dimensional art.
BAUHAUS EVENING & BAUHAUS COSTUME WORKSHOP
TUESDAY, MAY 7 & WEDNESDAY, MAY 8
5 & 5:30 p.m.
Aspen Art Museum & Red Brick Center for the Arts
Free
The Aspen Art Museum will host a “Bauhaus Evening” conversation between Aspen Institute curator Lissa Ballinger and Basalt-based artist Richard Carter, who served as Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer’s assistant in Aspen in the early 1970s. The following night the Red Brick host a costume workshop for locals as they prepare for the much-anticipated Bauhaus Ball at the Wheeler Opera House in June. Also, the Aspen Historical Society exhibition “bayer & bauhaus: how design shaped aspen” is running through summer.
BBC EARTH’S ‘DYNASTIES’
WEDNESDAYS THROUGH MAY 22
7:30 p.m.
Belly Up Aspen
Free
Picking up a recent offseason tradition of showing the best of new nature docs, Belly Up is screening all of Sir David Attenborough’s latest on family life in the animal kingdom, with multi-generational portraits of families of penguins, lions, wolves, tigers and more.
AAM ARTIST FELLOWS PRESENTATION
THURSDAY, MAY 16
5 p.m.
Aspen Art Museum
Free
Locally based artists Wewer Keohane, Michael Lorsung, Shannon Richardson and Andrew Roberts-Gray discuss the projects they undertook as the inaugural class of the museum’s new Artist Fellowship program.
BOOMBOX
FRIDAY, MAY 17
9 p.m.
Belly Up Aspen
$40-$50
The beloved psych-rock and electronica duo have been regulars at Belly Up for a decade. This promises to be the live music event of the offseason.
BAUHAUS 3D PRINTER WORKSHOP
FRIDAY, MAY 24
Noon to 4 p.m.
Pitkin County Library
Free
Make a Bauhaus-inspired artwork in the library’s “Maker Space” with fabricator Shannon Foster.
DEADPHISH ORCHESTRA
FRIDAY, MAY 24
10 p.m.
Belly Up Aspen
$8
The Colorado-based four-piece plays popular tribute versions of the Grateful Dead and Phish catalogs.
TESKEY BROTHERS
THURSDAY, MAY 30
8 p.m.
Belly Up Aspen
$5 (free before 9 p.m.)
Throwback soul from Sam and Josh Teskey’s band, who are tuning up for a Bonnaroo set this summer.