Q&A with the Photo Atlas

The February 26 Westword profile on the Photo Atlas only scratched the surface of our interview with singer Alan Andrews Jr., guitarist Bill Threlkeld III, bassist Mark Hawkins and drummer Nick Miles. At the house where the band practices and where Hawkins and Miles live, they spoke at length about…

Leonard Cohen, Chris Cornell, STS9 shows anounced

Leonard Cohen’s concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre last Thursday marked his first American performance in fifteen years. As he took the stage, AEG Live announced a run of North American dates that, as of now, concludes with a stop at Red Rocks on Tuesday, June 2. It was one…

T.I. grabs top spot at Independent Records

Rapper T.I.’s Grammy-nominated album Paper Trail knocked Bobby Valentino off the number one spot on Independent Records top seller list for the week ending February 22. The Fray moved up to the number two spot from number four, while Lil Wayne and Ludacris still remain in the top ten. See…

Morrissey top seller at Twist & Shout

Morrissey’s new album, Years of Refusal, released last week on Decca, grabbed the top spot on Twist & Shout’s top seller list for the week ending February 22. Andrew Bird, M. Ward and Beirut also performed strong while the Fray’s latest album dropped from its number one position for the…

Airborne Toxic Event show postponed

Due to illness, tonight’s Airborne Toxic Event show at the Bluebird Theater will be postponed until Wednesday, April 15 at the Ogden Theatre. All tickets to the Bluebird show will be honored and refunds are available at point of purchase. Henry Clay People, who were supposed to open the show…

DeVotchKa to open for David Byrne at Red Rocks

DeVotchKa just got tapped to open for David Byrne, who visits Red Rocks Saturday, June 20  as part of his tour playing songs from his collaborations with Brian Eno, including tunes from Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Byrne played a stellar show…

Bobby Valentino tops Independent Records best sellers

R&B sensation Bobby Valentino, whose sophomore album The Rebirth hit stores on Tuesday, February 10, grabbed the top spot on Independent Records’ top sellers list for the week of February 16. Potluck and Ne-Yo grabbed the second and third slots while the Fray came on fourth. See the full breakdown…

The Fray grabs top spot at Twist & Shout again

For the second week in the row, the Fray’s new self-titled album grabbed the number one spot on Twist & Shout’s top seller list. Elsewhere, it’s not too surprising that Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’s Raising Sand,which just won a Grammy for Album of the Year, claimed the second spot,…

The Culhanes

During its twenty-year run, the redneck variety show Hee Haw became an American institution of sorts, bringing country music and humor into the living rooms of a ton of folks. Recurring skits included the adventures of the Culhane family, who would sit on an old-fashioned sofa in a parlor and…

Smokin’ the (karaoke) competition at Smokin’ Joe’s

A guy doing a karaoke version of the Violent Femmes’ “Add It Up” was about the last thing I would’ve expected to find at Smokin’ Joe’s Bar & Grill (4700 Kipling Boulevard, Wheat Ridge), which until recently was Jammin’ Joe’s. But the guy nailed the ’80s alt-pop tune, from the…

Eric Clapton, the Faint, Pennywise shows announced

After teaming up for a successful three-night run in New York City last year, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood announced an exclusive fourteen-city U.S. tour that stops at the Pepsi Center on Sunday, June 21. They’ll each play their own solo hits as well as perform tunes by Blind Faith,…

Obi Best at Larimer Lounge

Obi Best Sunday, February 15, 2009 Larimer Lounge Better than: An angry note on your car. Sometimes vintage music gear sounds cool as hell, but other times the older gear is a pain in the ass when it doesn’t work like it did four decades ago. Before Obi Best started…

Wil Key

Clearly, Wil Key put a lot of work into his latest effort, from singing and playing most of the instruments to tapping five-time Grammy nominee Ryan West (Beyoncé, Jay-Z) to engineer the disc, which was recorded in New York, Los Angeles and Denver. He also recruited a number of deft…

You could get lucky at Cap City

“Women have a sixth sense. They know when they’re gonna get laid.” I forget where and when I first heard that, but I’ve thought about it many times since. Guys may have some idea if they’re going to get lucky, but usually only the women know for certain — and,…

U.S. Pipe gets funkier than an old batch of collard greens

Chris Sauthoff has learned a thing or two from George Clinton. Working alongside the legendary godfather of funk, first in the studio and then on the road, the U.S. Pipe leader, who goes by the name Citrus, picked up a few studio tricks that he used on his band’s self-titled…

Hazel Miller serves up the gospel this weekend at Comedy Works South

If your soul’s in need of saving after a night of Valentine’s debauchery, Hazel Miller singing gospel and R&B might just do the trick. This Sunday, February 15, Comedy Works South’s (5345 Landmark Place, Greenwood Village) No Joke Gospel Brunch gets under way at 11 a.m., with the restaurant serving up a Southern-style…

The Decemberists, Thievery Corporation, John Prine shows announced

It’s been a busy week for concert announcements. Live Nation announced three new Fillmore shows, including Jack’s Mannequin on Tuesday, April 7, Thievery Corporation on Tuesday, April 16 and the Decemberists on Tuesday, May 26. John Prine and Levon Helm’s Saturday, June 13 show at Red Rocks with Levon Helm…

TheSaurus

In the early ’90s, Gang Starr rapper Guru helped pioneer the fusion of hip-hop and live jazz with his various Jazzmatazz groups and recordings. While he might not have been the first to mix the two, he proved that they can be worthy companions, as does TheSaurus. As the band’s…

Lavish is easy on the eyes

A cigar-smoking buddy of mine dragged me into the original Purple Martini on 15th Street (between Market and Larimer streets) back in the mid-’90s, when it was one of the first martini lounges in town. We were sitting in a booth, and my friend had just lit up a stogie…

Ludacris Independent Records’ top seller

For the second week in a row, Ludacris grabbed the number-one spot on Independent’s top seller’s list (week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1), beating out Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen and Akon. The full breakdown is listed after the jump…

Bruce Springsteen grabs number-one spot at Twist & Shout

Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, Working on a Dream, nabbed the number-one spot on Twist & Shout’s top-seller list for the week ending Feb. 1, while Bon Iver’s For Emma Forever Ago album and the Blood Bank EP each landed in the top 10 as well. The full breakdown is listed after the…