Email Author Jon Solomon

2008 Stories by Jon Solomon

• Kosmos saved money pressing CDs and poured the profits into better production

  published August 14, 2008

  Before forming their band Kosmos, brothers Ben and Tim Tonak grew up listening to Pearl Jam and could play nearly every song in the group's... More >>

• Getting "the look" from regulars at the Rockette Tavern

  published August 7, 2008

  I've gotten used to walking into places and getting that look from regulars. You know, the "Who the fuck are you and what the hell are... More >>

• Git Some: It's what you get when Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Jesus Lizard

  published August 7, 2008

  A Git Some show is a visceral, high-voltage experience. The act is a bundle of frenetic energy on stage, as dangerous as it is magical. The... More >>

• Republic Tigers Yearn to Make Music for Movies

  published July 31, 2008

  The last time Republic Tigers singer and multi-instrumentalist Kenn Jankowski was in Denver, he destroyed his guitar and punched his effects... More >>

• RooBar

  published July 31, 2008

  It doesn't take a genius to make a Mind Eraser. The drink's usually just equal parts Kahlúa, vodka and tonic or soda water. But there's... More >>

• Spontaneity Is the Spice of Life for Kenny Garrett

  published July 24, 2008

  By the time Kenny Garrett was eighteen, his alto-sax chops were already good enough to earn him a spot in the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which... More >>

• B.Side Lounge

  published July 24, 2008

  Any guy would probably love sitting between two girls in a bar — until they got into the dreaded cock talk, that is. A few years ago, I... More >>

• Paradox Lounge

  published July 17, 2008

  A cousin in Louisiana once shot a cow with an AK-47. Legend has it that he and some friends hoisted the dead cow pumped full of bullets into... More >>

• Meet Curtis Fuller, Living Jazz Legend

  published July 17, 2008

  While preparing for John Coltrane's 1957 landmark album Blue Train, trombonist Curtis Fuller says he had only three hours to learn the... More >>

• Tavern 13

  published July 10, 2008

  If you ask a teenage boy why he's learning how to play the guitar, there's a good chance he'll reply, "To get chicks." Sure, he might say... More >>

• Nels Cline Has the Best Gig in America

  published July 10, 2008

  Nels Cline got an electric guitar when he was twelve years old, but he wasn't really serious about trying to play, and he admits that, at the... More >>

• Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

  published July 3, 2008

  The morning after playing a party for his high-school graduation, Josh "Reverend" Peyton woke up with severe pain in his hands. Doctors thought... More >>

• Meet Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

  published July 3, 2008

  The morning after playing a party for his high-school graduation, Josh "Reverend" Peyton woke up with severe pain in his hands. Doctors thought... More >>

• Streets of London

  published July 3, 2008

  I had a high-school Spanish teacher who was Yosemite Sam personified. Seriously, I was convinced the guy modeled his mustache after the cartoon... More >>

• Oriental Theater

  published June 26, 2008

  At the beginning of True Romance, there's a scene in which Clarence Worley (played by Christian Slater) is in a movie theater, eating... More >>

• The Explorers Club

  published June 19, 2008

  After Brian Wilson completed the Beach Boys' watershed album Pet Sounds in 1966, he started work on Smile, which would be his... More >>

• Q Blues and Jazz Lounge

  published June 19, 2008

  I grew up in Cherry Creek North in the '70s and '80s, and it's hard not to think about the days before the Cherry Creek Shopping Center... More >>

• The Supreme Court

  published June 12, 2008

  Several film directors have used actors as their alter egos: François Truffaut had Jean-Pierre Léaud, Federico Fellini had... More >>

• David Booker

  published June 5, 2008

  Bluesman David Booker, who moved to Denver from England in 1981, is one of the busiest musicians in town. You can hear the guy nearly every night... More >>

• Bettye LaVette

  published June 5, 2008

  Soul singer Bettye LaVette and the Drive-By Truckers recorded The Scene of the Crime in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where one of the most... More >>

• Maceo Parker

  published June 5, 2008

  "We like to do 2 percent jazz and 98 percent funky stuff," proclaimed Maceo Parker on his 1992 live album, Life on Planet Groove. Sure,... More >>

• Irish Snug

  published June 5, 2008

  In Woody Allen's film Sweet and Lowdown, Sean Penn plays guitarist Emmet Ray, who said he cried every time he listened to the great... More >>

• Return to Forever

  published May 29, 2008

  After working with jazz luminaries like Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Chick Corea performed and recorded in Miles Davis's... More >>

• Return to Forever

  published May 29, 2008

  After working with jazz luminaries like Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Chick Corea performed and recorded in Miles... More >>

• Caldonia’s

  published May 29, 2008

  For a lot of guys, the more important things in life all start with the letter "B": babes, boobs, butts, bikinis, beer, barbecue, burgers,... More >>