“No, sir, I can’t even play a freaking flute,” reveals Wayne Quigley. “And what’s that thing called — a recorder? My kids blow me away on the recorder.” Back in May 2003, Quigley — Big Q, as he’s known around town — didn’t have any experience with homegrown music, either…

“I’m just a little dude trying to do some good hip-hop and give love to my people by supporting their music,” says Adam Dent of Low Budget Soul, the local-centric hip-hop compilation he’s put together with Solpowa from Rraahh Foundashun. “I want to try and help as much as I…

At the Austin airport a couple of weeks ago, heading home from South by Southwest, I ran into my buddy Iron Mike — who looked like fifty miles of bad road. I’d last seen him a few nights earlier in the midst of an epic bender, when he was pleading…

This week, twenty or so local artists will invade Austin for the 2005 incarnation of South by Southwest. For those keeping score, that’s roughly quadruple the number of Denver-area acts that showcased there in 2004. Good for us — and about time. As cool as Mootown’s showing sounds, though, earning…

From the outside, the building that houses Rudy’s Studio looks like all of the other tract homes in this suburb just north of Denver — which is why I’ve driven past it three times already. But then, you don’t really expect to find one of the city’s pre-eminent studios in…

Dreaming this vision. I’m lying next to you at home in bed. I wish this were true. Five months away. Getting farther every day. Life on the road! I long to see her face again. War in my head of where I should be. Here on tour or with my…

Francois Baptiste’s ability to multi-task rivals that of an air-traffic controller. It’s 6:30 p.m. Thursday, February 17, the first official night of All-Star weekend, and I’m sitting in the passenger seat of his silver Range Rover as we barrel down Speer Boulevard en route to his apartment. Baptiste has one…

A little after five on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Cassidy Bednark, aka DJ Bedz, is holed up in the Coors Light booth high in the rafters of the Pepsi Center. Tipoff is still two hours away, but Bedz, the official DJ of the Denver Nuggets, already has his game face…

“You’re either with me or you’re in my fucking way.” There’s no stopping Melissa Ivey. Sprawled out on a jade couch in the green room of Bender’s Tavern, the fiery 22-year-old singer-songwriter sips a Coors Light and discusses her recent West Coast tour. Over a grueling thirty-day stretch, Ivey and…

Late last year, Mootown residents locked horns over the holiday lighting display at the Denver City and County building, re-igniting the age-old conflict between church and state. For all I care, next year Hizzoner Hick could put Don King in the Nativity scene and have the lights above his office…

Last week, as I watched the latest excruciating installment of American Idol, I noticed a common thread in each wannabe’s performance. One after another, these hopefuls defiantly proclaimed that their friends and family had assured them they had amazing voices. All evidence to the contrary. That clinically insane broad from…

It’s five o’clock Monday, January 17: Do you know where your beats are? If you’re like most savvy digital-music fans, your beats are on your desktop or iPod, courtesy of iTunes, eMusic or any of the countless other digital dealers online. Dance-music enthusiasts, however, know that the hottest beats come…

Okay, hands up: Who here hates neo-country? Yeah, me, too. But not everyone detests it. In fact, KYGO — which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year — consistently finishes in the top three in the Abitron ratings. “I set my alarm to it, believe it or not,” confesses local troubadour…

If what happens on New Year’s Eve is any indication of what’s ahead for the next year, then we’re in for more great music and drunken debauchery. I kicked off the night around 7:30 p.m., breaking bread with Jeff Arnold (El Jefe at the Velvet Underground) and the Supersuckers at…

Good songs are like those BMG inserts in magazines that you just can’t ignore. You’re drawn to them, no matter what page in the pub you intended to flip to. But unlike those intrusive ads, which most folks curse, then tear out and toss, you can’t disregard — much less…

Why would you want to/Hurt or kill or maim/To take a dream of life away/And why would you hear the calling/In your Napoleonic mind/To hurt so many people that way/Why would you want to pull the trigger/Of a black shaft of steel/Where have you lost the ability to feel? Last…

Dave, this is God. The Fray is the best new band ever.” It’s been said that God works in mysterious ways. He’s spoken through dreams, a burning bush, even a jackass. And now it seems he’s delivering a message through a Sony Pressman. The voice doesn’t really belong to the…

Having to replace your frontman sucks. But it’s an even more dicey proposition when the man who previously filled the role is seemingly irreplaceable, universally lauded by both critics and fans. Couple that with the fact that his absence is not the result of irreconcilable differences between bandmates — à…

These days, Radiohead clones are as pervasive as the Nirvanabes that Jammed the airwaves a decade ago. Although Starfuzz admittedly mines the same cerebral region as Yorke & Co., rather than appearing like it suffers from a bad case of The Bends, the act sounds more like Remy Zero with…

Gee whiz, is it Christmastime already? What’s that? I’m sorry: It’s hard to hear you over the sounds of cash registers clanging. Oh, what prompted Jay-Z and Linkin Park to unleash this ill-conceived collaboration upon the masses, you ask? Why, to milk their hardcore fans, of course. Because those are…