Rick Sommerfeld (the3rdspace) and Rob Pyatt are no newbies when it comes to turning a humble abode from the mid 20th century into a 21st century work of art. Their latest project Pinon House, is yet another tribute to fine form in modern architecture. The design duo gave an unassuming Boulder, Colorado habitat a major overhaul via some serious remodeling and add-ons. The result shows off their knack for turning the seemingly simple into an appealing wonderland of geometry and practical living space.

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Boulder, CO, Day 2 SNAP Gathering: ‘Little things people can do to change the world’ was best exemplified by Paul Williams’ remarkable healthcare program in Uganda where he single-handedly eliminated childhood malaria deaths and dramatically reduced HIV infections in a small village… a bit more uplifting after yesterday’s chilling confessions by economic hit man, John Perkins. Speaking of confessions, I was perplexed and angered by activist and writer Meredith Maran’s public admission that she had falsely accused her father of molesting her as a child yet she discredited herself further by failing to articulate what her moment of enlightenment was that undid the 10 years of damage she had caused within her family. Many concurred.

Later, speeches by a not-too-bland Jeffrey Bland and others on nutrition, were a blend of fascinating and old news. The afternoon felt a bit like a corporate motivation meeting with Tori Murden, best known for rowing solo across the Atlantic and the mesmerizing John Bul Dau, one of the Sudanese ‘Lost Boys’, both rallying around the theme of not giving up in life. Other speakers varied in their abilities and topics, but a definite standout was Michael Franti of Spearhead who drew a few tears during his recount of his recent peace-seeking Baghdad and Israeli journeys. Later that night he wowed the crowd with a rocking Spearhead show, opened by notable up and coming musical artist Shawn Hlookoff. All-in-all, SNAP’s first foray to Boulder was a success. With a few tweaks and refinements it could be world-class. But I would certainly recommend it for those seeking either a liberal dose of brain exercise or ample networking opportunities in the natural, organic and alternative energy spaces. See you there in ‘09.

As an attendee and devotee of TED I was admittedly a little skeptical and thought SNAP was going to simply be a miniaturized version. Guess what … it is! But that’s not all bad actually. In fact, it’s a compliment. Mix, in a veritable who’s who of the “Organic Mafia”, a dash of some brilliant creative folks, a collection of academic thought leaders, a pinch of mainstream brand voyeurs who are diving deeper into Green-land, a teaspoon of “new economy investment bankers,” and finally some marketing agency peeps like myself and you have the makings of an interesting collection of people. I found myself inspired by Daniel Pink (always fun), Paul Stamet’s hypothesis that mushrooms could help save the world resulting in the biggest standing ovation of the day, Daniel Pinchbeck’s psychedelic discoveries and enlightened ‘neosphere’ thinking, Vanessa German’s poetic brilliance and more. So far Steve Demos’s vision of putting together a cultural elite gathering is paying off and inspiring some great conversations which went well past closing time last night at the St. Julien Hotel’s buffet. Hopefully today will deliver more of the same.

Science, Nature, Art, People: It’s Boulder’s newest intellectual get together and it’s called SNAP! Yet another acronym with a great purpose, the conference joins TED and PopTech! as an excellent place to go get inspired, educated, and network — and it’s invite only as well, and at $1500 a ticket it’s still a little spendy but on the brighter side, it’s just fraction of the price of TED.

Speakers like Daniel Pink, Author Naomi Wolf and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis and many more interesting folks will be telling their stories September 23rd to 25th at the Boulder Theater. Michael Franti and Spearhead will be on stage as well, for the musical and film portions of the program.

Oh, wait, did I mention we’ve got a ticket to give away?

The Prize: A ticket to the festivities in Boulder, with hosted receptions and meals (retail value $1500; travel and hotel not included).

This Week’s Rules: Make an acronym like SNAP! of your own. Come on, you can do it. Make it good, make us laugh, make it matter, and relate it to changing the world for the better through science, nature, art, and people. Politics, too. We’ll choose winners next week. Comment away!

While it’s more than likely that if you’re living in a city, your place of residence closely resembles a shoebox, it seems hardly likely that if living in the sprawling countryside one would want one’s abode to be representative of any sort of container…that is, until now. The University of Colorado Boulder sure can churn out some cool looking Architecture projects — from the same institution that brought you Trailerwrap comes this project from Rob Pyatt, who received a special recognition award for architecture for this research+design+build project in association with the University of Colorado Boulder from the YAAG back in 2006. “They’re boxy but they’re good” might’ve been a slogan for Volvo in the 1990 Dudley Moore film Crazy People, but it more than applies here to Pyatt’s remodeling of this 900 square foot home built in 1948 which he remodeled in order to “explore the adaptive reuse and recycling of existing housing stock in Boulder, Colorado”.

–Evan Kessler

This Friday, Colorado artist Rafa Jenn will be showing his new collection of work at Boulder’s Joy Engine. “Pin-Ups,” which features 50 drawings by the multi-aliased man, will pack out the Engine with plenty of hand-drawn nakey from 8-12pm, then hang steady until next month’s Jon Fellows opening. Rafa Jenn is well-known for his enviable collection of artistic skills — which stretch through fine art, design, web design, photography, and anything else the man takes a liking to — and it’s safe to say that his openings are the sort that will increase in importance as time sorts out exactly what place Rafa occupies in the worlds of fine art, urban art, and elsewhere. If that sounds cryptic….that’s about right. Just go.

Not too long ago, our buddy Todd (ahem, TEEBEE) from Joy Engine/Cypher 13 scored a chance to take over Installation Shoe Gallery for his first-ever solo show (joining ranks with Bigfoot and Spear Collective’s Jason Thielke, amongst others). After weeks of late-night arts and crafts parties with some awesome collaborators, including Small-but-Dangerous, sAne, and Brian Krezel, TEEBEE’s finally ready to move in to Boulder’s badassest shoe store. The theme for this one is “SPACE TRAVELERS & other affiliated shit,” and the show will include tons of wall art, cuddly Minions, Turntablist Symmetry, a few top-secret surprises… and of course, all the fun kiddies you normally find at Installation’s super rad openings. Boulder and Denver: be there at seven o’clock; the greater U.S. area: book a flight…or just follow up after-the-fact here.

Spear Collective member Jason Thielke — who very recently took over Denver’s The 400 — has another solo show coming up in Boulder. CMYK, the title of his latest batch of work, will be up for looksies at Art and Soul gallery starting September 7th. I can’t seem to find the ending date for this exhibit, but that shouldn’t be a problem; everyone who knows what’s good for them will be there opening day, from 6-10pm, for Thielke’s reception. Full flyer after the jump. READ MORE…

If you live in Boulder, you know Hapa. It’s the place to eat Magic Mushrooms and Multiple Orgasm Rolls, drink Purple Haze Sake, and listen to some of the best DJ sets in Boulder. The food may be somewhat Americanized, but it’s still very tasty. For some time now, there have been two Hapas in Boulder — one on Pearl Street, and one on the college-crazed “Hill.” The crowd is very different at each to say the least. I’ve always enjoyed the experience at Hapa on the Hill; Ken Yuasa, the manager, always does a great job of staffing it with great people. Needless to say, I was both excited and disappointed when Hapa on the Hill closed its doors after the spring semester to do a big remodel. Ken has shared photos with me throughout the process, and they really did a number on the place — not only has it been expanded to be over twice the size (the old one was pretty small– not a bad thing necessarily), but they’ve also added plenty of orange and black Hapa flair, not to mention a huge new bar. I’ve included a photo here of the ‘almost finished’ product, but you get the idea. Today it reopens with — as Ken put it — a “soft launch.” If you’re in Boulder, head up to the Hill and try to make sure the launch isn’t so soft, will ya?

Tomorrow evening, from eight to twelve, Scot Lefavor will be showing his new work at JoyEngine in Boulder. I just popped by their studio to say hello, and everyone seems to be really excited about this show– the guys gave me a sneak peek of some of what Scot will be showing, and there’s no wonder why everyone’s amped. If you’re in town, head over to take a look– their art events are always lively and fun, but this one will be especially so because Scot is a Boulder local and a JoyEngine staple. DJ Nostyle and DJ Symmetry will be on the ones and twos, and refreshments will be provided. I think all the locals should know where JoyEngine is by now, but if not, it’s at 2037 13th St.

Attention Boulderites! Word on the street is that this coming Saturday, for six hours only, there’s going to be a sample sale for some drastically discounted summer necessities from Billabong, Reef, Dragon, and Ipath shoes. Who knows, you may even be able to score some gear that won’t make it to the stores. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., head over to 2610 Pine St. in Boulder (it’s on Pine St. between Folsom and 28th St.). Obviously, the earlier the better from a selection standpoint, and tell em we sent you.

I just thought I’d remind you that our Boulder based friends over at the Installation Shoe Gallery have just re-opened their doors with a new look as part of their “This Is How We Roll” show. If you weren’t able to make it to Saturday’s launch event or if you won’t be able to see the new installation in person, don’t fret. This time around, the show is transcending the art itself, as a great group of artists were each given two months with a pair of white canvas Vans Sk8 Hi’s– the customized kicks are currently for sale via an eBay auction, and the proceeds are going to Jeremiah Brooks, a Colorado skateboarder and friend of many who is currently battling back from a horrible accident. The featured artists include Lance Mountain, Jeremy Fish, Todd Bratrud, Dennis McNett, Matt “Putrid” Carr, Chris “PeeWee” Levy, Louis Schmidt, Brian Ball, Hoshi Ludwig, Dave Soderberg, Alvin Gregorio, Shane Rymer, and Vincent Comparetto– so go take a look at the shoes and place a bid. Get your hands on some custom, wearable art for a great cause!

We’re going to give our Boulder readers heart attacks from all of this local action, but Denver punk music at the Downer is only the top of a killer list of upcoming events. Barely 48 hours after The Swayback heats up Boulder’s favorite dive-bar (seriously, that’s gonna be one sweaty party), Installation Shoe Gallery will open doors on it’s latest show, This Is How We Roll, featuring the work of Jeremy Fish, Lance Mountain, and a magnetic list of other talented artists. The featured pieces will be offered at silent auction to benefit Jeremiah Brooks, an integral member of the Boulder skate scene who was hit by a car earlier this year. Installation has quite a tradition of knocking people’s socks off at every new show, so head over next Saturday (5/5) between 7 and 10 p.m. to take a peek and help Jeremiah recover from his bummer of an accident. I’ll certainly be stopping by, but then I’m off to the Ogden in Denver to catch the mighty Kings of Leon. It looks like there are still tickets available, so if you’ve been missing out on KOL’s dirty glory it may be your time to rock out. The Rapture, Aqualung, and Shiny Toy Guns will be flitting around Colorado that weekend too, so no whining this time, Boulder; get out and play!

Boulder people: mark your calendars! Our Denver-based rocker pals The Swayback are going to be playing at the crown jewel of Boulder on Thursday, May 3rd. That’s right folks, they’ll be playing both a live set and a DJ set at the Sundown Saloon (The Downer) this time around alongside all of the $6 PBR pitchers you can handle. Bring your friends and get ready for some great rock & roll. The Swayback rule the stage in any setting, but for god sakes, they’re playing at the Downer! This is not a show you can miss (although as I just wrote that sentence, I thought about how I’m going to be crawling through a sea of you people to get to the bar for a beverage). And also newsworthy, the following evening at 4 p.m. they’ll be playing some of their new songs live on Boulder’s Radio 1190.

After reading an email from a reader a few weeks ago that strongly urged us to see Mute Math play live, I went to the Fox Theater in Boulder on Monday night to see what all the hype was about. Lets just say Mute Math had me at keytar– which so happens to be the lead singer Paul Meany’s instrument. When I saw Darren King, the drummer, wrap gaffing tape frantically and securely around his head 10 times before the band even started to play– to hold his headphones to his head– I had a feeling the audience was in for a treat. The show was at times smooth and rhythmic, and at times raucous and frantic– a combination of sounds fitting of Paul Meany’s Sting-like voice and the percussive storm booming from Darren King’s drum set. I’ve never seen a drummer take it out on a set like Darren– it was passion bordering on rage. Paul even put the keytar down towards the end of the show to hit the keyboard– literally; he was jumping over the thing like a poma horse. Mute Math are true showmen as well as gifted and passionate musicians. They have that big sound and likable songs that would work well in an arena. I’ve decided my nickname for the band is “The Police 2.0.” Who knows, maybe The Police will soon hand over their arena touring duties to these lads from Louisiana. Go download their self-titled album from iTunes, and then go see them live. You won’t be disappointed. I also want to give big thanks to Fred Heigold who came to my rescue and supplied these photos after I realized I had run out of batteries. There’s more after the jump…

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