Statewide restrictions on campfires have already dampened the spirits of local rugged types who’ve resigned themselves to spending summer indoors, lest they endure freezing-cold evenings at high altitudes warmed only by a Coleman stove. And next summer, fans of Colorado’s many outdoor concert series and festivals could face an even…
“The Maze,” an improvisational collaborative piece by the Magma Trio, erupts from the Bug Theatre on Saturday, May 25. Like the white-hot molten substance it’s named for, the Trio’s form is shaped by a number of organic variables, including the spontaneous reactions experienced by its three players: actor and spoken-word…
From Kansas City, here they come: The state line isn’t the only thing cutting through the heart of Kansas City these days. In February, organizers behind the gigantic Kansas City Blues & Jazz Festival — one of the largest events of its kind in the nation — announced that this…
On the eve of her entry into adult life, Debbie Baker had a change of heart that would alter her destiny. “I didn’t like Barbie when I was a little girl,” she says. “I liked baby dolls to play with.” All of that changed in 1978, when a friend gave…
Randy Ship’s opponents have had enough. Ship, the Paramount Theatre’s leaseholder, launched a campaign earlier this year to torpedo CityLights Pavilion, the Kroenke Sports/Clear Channel Entertainment-operated venue that’s slated to open in the Pepsi Center parking lot in June. Along with signatures on petitions — which Ship hopes will land…
Vocalist and guitarist Pete Vincelette recorded the bulk of Twilight Motel’s CD, One in the Oven, all by himself in the basement of his home. Only later did he add the work of drummer Rick Arsenault, bassist Eric Taylor, violinist Joel Denman and mandolin/lap-steel player J.T. Saint on four of…
We all know that wine can make even the best music sound that much better. But thanks to some party-pooping liquor-code policies, vino has been vetoed from the list of picnic items that concert fans can pack in for this summer’s outdoor performances at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Those who…
Laymen Terms vocalist Andy Tanner puts emphasis on expression over angst, a quality that just might endear this band to listeners wary of punk’s bratty edge. In fact, there’s plenty to set this Colorado Springs four-piece apart from the pop-punk pack. Fond of roving melodies and vocal harmonies, the band…
Randall Shipp is not a newcomer to the entertainment business. He’s owned the Paramount Theatre for ten years, a veritable eon in the concert industry. But the wealth of Shipp’s experience lies in mortgage brokering — he’s the owner of the Denver-based Mayflower Capital Company — which makes his current…
The public library, unlike many other limbs of government, is built upon a nearly perfect system. Libraries have the blissful and unique distinction of being the only places on earth where individuals are invited to select whatever items they fancy and take them home — for free. Proletariat to the…
We expected Barry Fey, head of the Denver extension of House of Blues Concerts and sworn battlefield warrior in the local concert-promotions war, to have an opinion about the possible sale of his company to Clear Channel Entertainment. Clear Channel, which had made moves to acquire the heart of the…
It’s safe to say that Fancy — a weeklong celebration of sound and style that kicks off in these parts on Sunday, April 21 — has very little to do with Fashion Week, which is held in Paris each spring. Now in its sixth year, Fancy probably won’t attract too…
Lexington, Kentucky, is a smallish city smack dab in the middle of the South. It is home to the University of Kentucky, several Civil War museums and a whole lot of horses, hence its nickname: The Horse Capital of the World. At last count, the population was 260,512. Get ready…
Montview Heights is a sizable apartment complex in Aurora, with fifty units that are, at least from the outside, similar to one another: modest, two-story, single-family dwellings, each with a small front and back yard. Like the buildings they live in, Montview’s tenants — a racially mixed group — have…
Funk’s good name is sometimes tarnished by fusion bands who think all the genre requires is a fat bass line, a funny name and a “Brick House” cover. Buckner Funken Jazz, which appears Friday, March 29, at Herman’s Hideaway with the Funky Babylonians and the Fabulous Boogienaughts, rectifies this situation…
It’s been a big week for Big Head Todd and the Monsters: The locally bred band released Riviera, its first recorded effort since 1998’s Live Monsters, on Tuesday, March 26. Note for note, the album is as solid — if not more so — than Sister Sweetly, the major-label release…
The rest of the world knows something about Americans that we prefer to deny: We are lazy slouches. We’re good at plenty of things, yes, but we’re generally wary of pursuits that require intensive training, discipline or any physical discomfort. We can’t really be blamed, though. As a culture, we’re…
An underground East Coast MC made good, Talib Kweli has rightfully earned his title as a hip-hop headliner. But before the rapper takes over the Glenn Miller Ballroom in Boulder on Saturday, March 16, some local groups will show that Colorado doesn’t have to import talent in order to put…
Leftover Salmon fans have done their band proud. When word spread that banjo player Mark Vann had lost his bout with cancer on March 4, the band’s post office box in Nederland began to swell not only with cards of condolence, but with checks and other pledges of financial support…
Boubacar Diébaté was, literally, born for music. The native of Senegal, West Africa, is part of a family of griots — traditional musicians who view music as the most important tool of communication and cultural preservation. Now he’s a drummer and master player of the kora, a harplike instrument that…
Harvey Sid Fisher is not the sort of performer who usually turns up on the 15th Street Tavern stage on Saturday nights. For starters, he’s in his sixties — a proper gentlemen with a wildly fluffy, mad-genius-style coif who wears suits (preferably of the powder-blue variety) to his gigs, likes…
Daniel Johnston has just returned from his first British invasion — a transatlantic journey that had all the personal importance of a trip to Mecca. “I just got back from London, home of the Beatles,” he says over the phone from the house he shares with his elderly parents in…
