Photo: Tom MurphyHot Congress Show 1: The Jim Jims, Lil Slugger, The Pseudo Dates and Vitamins
Friday, January 30, 2009
Moe's Original Barbecue, Denver
Better Than: A bill where a random group of bands is thrown together.
Opening this show was the Jim Jims. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't a good post-punk band that wasn't going for the whole faux-Gang of Four thing. The band's singer reminded me of Sam Mickens from the Dead Science, but instead of a falsetto, his singing
Honey Kix
General Mills
Rating: A half-spoon out of four
Cereal description: Petite corn orbs -- some a bit oblong or misshapen, but most circular. They're a bit darker than the light-yellow hue associated with original recipe Kix, with darker spatters meant to imply that they've been sprayed with sweetener. Of course, implications don't always sync up with reality...
Cookie Crisp
General Mills
Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four
Cereal description: Whole grain corn, corn meal, corn starch and corn syrup -- in other words, a helluva lotta corn -- mashed together and pressed into light brown, slightly puffy discs with what looks like a light sprinkling of powdered sugar. (Excuse me for a moment while I wipe the slobber off my keyboard.) The bits are pocked with darker brown speckles meant to resemble chips, although some of them more resemble Rorsc
Trix
General Mills
Rating: Two spoons out of four
Cereal description: Puffed corn orbs in a variety of notably radioactive colors: a light green that would result in thousands of casualties if it was ever used on camouflaged uniforms, an orange that looks like a nugget of hellfire, a yellow as blinding as the sun, a pink that suggests an internal organ, an aquamarine seemingly made of fish-tank rocks and a purple that -- well, actually, the purple is pretty much just purple. I'll bet the oth
With former Denver Broncos like John Elway and Brian Griese chugging down Bazi like it were the almighty sweat of Zeus, the liquid nutritional supplement by local company XELR8 is building a strong following here in Colorado. But unless you've been personally hit up by one of the company's 6,400-or-so independent distributors, you've likely never heard of Bazi or its supposed health-and-wealth-building powers discussed in this week's Westword cover story.
Actually, Bazi is just one of several
Tom MurphyHere We Go Magic, Vitamins and Achille Lauro
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Larimer Lounge
Better Than: A straightforward interpretation of a band's album.
This show opened with Denver's own Vitamins. Since coming to the Mile High City from Greeley two years ago, it seems Vitamins have shed a bit
of the sunny and innocent sound that characterized much of its earlier
material. Instead of hurting the band, I think the outfit wears the
darker, slightly grittier sound well. A decided power and driv
Total Cranberry Crunch
General Mills
Rating: Two-and-a-half spoons out of four
Cereal description: Brown wheat flakes of the sort that are typically described as "hearty" (presumably because they're supposed to prevent your aorta from exploding), supplemented by wads of oat bits typically described as "oat clusters" (because "wads of oat bits" isn't all that appetizing) and dried cranberries typically described as "dried cranberries" (because that's what they are).
Longtime Denver dance music stalwart Vitamin D has a new album coming February 24 and, from the sounds of the tracks he has posted on his MySpace, it should be a good one. He announced it back in July and today, he released this image of the album cover. Not sure if this is the final art or not, but as a fan and collector of vintage vinyl, I certainly hope it is. It fits the music within too, which clearly pulls samples and ambiance off an album or two with a cover just like this one. Plu
