Melissa London lists the ability to cast siren spells among her talents as the frontwoman of Project 12:01, an electronically enhanced combo that she co-founded with keyboardist Noel Johannes. And just one listen to her voice, whether live or recorded, supports that claim. Situated somewhere on the dark side of…
In almost every filmic biography of a successful recording artist — from Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter to Richie Valens in La Bamba – there’s a pivotal scene in which the protagonist first hears his or her song on the radio and knows, in that instant, that life has…
There’s a self-conscious import to Uphollow’s Ten Fingers, the unabashedly arty band’s first release since Soundtrack to an Imaginary Life, a rock opera released in 1998. Guided by bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Ian O’Dougherty, the recording is a meta-musical that chronicles three characters in ten songs and clocks in at a…
Much of the music was forgettable. But Pearl Jam’s appearance at the Pepsi Center on April Fool’s Day — particularly the on-stage antics and anti-war comments of lead singer/guitar hobbyist Eddie Vedder — reverberated through the land in Dixie Chicks-ian fashion, making headline fodder not just of the show, but…
Adriana Aguilar doesn’t remember what happened on May 25, 2002, but doctors, family members, cops, insurance agents and friends have told her it went something like this: Derrick Daisey, her friend, was driving his Jetta along Monaco Boulevard near Evans when he suffered an epileptic seizure — his first –…
The crisp young couple sitting next to me on the plane from Austin to Dallas couldn’t stop snickering. Native Austinites on their way to a business convention, the two had recognized a common denominator among the passenger load. “Everyone on this plane is, like, so coooool…,” said the male, who…
At the Grammys last month, Fred Durst did his best to enter the grand fraternity of musicians who use artistic platforms to make political statements. Perhaps inspired by the creative protestations of everyone from Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan to Ian MacKaye, Marvin Gaye — heck, even yappy little Zack…
Some recent alterations to Denver’s nightlife have been merely titular, as with the metamorphosis of Club Sanctuary to Butterfly. But in other cases, the change is more formal: For example, Friday, March 7, marks the grand opening of the Starline Lounge — the makeshift dance-and-performance space in the former Denver…
A couple of years ago, artist and fledgling filmmaker Ben Wolfinsohn got a call from his friend at KXLU, Loyola Marymount University’s student-run radio station in Los Angeles. Wolfinsohn has a taste for weirdo music, and his friend figured the band getting ready to play an on-air set was right…
I’ve come to the 16th Street Mall with no other plan than to walk it, at noon and at night, to see how the mile-long stretch feels after a couple of difficult months. On February 17, the mall logged its first murder of the year when 21-year-old Stan Leachman was…
Chris Dellinger has seen the future, and he’s pretty sure it involves big things for his band, Blister 66: record contracts, sold-out shows, huge tour buses stuffed with video games and attractive female fans. In the late ’90s, when Blister was the region’s reigning rap-metal hybrid, in lockstep with Limp-centric…
The City has weighed in on the Skylark Lounge saga, and, from the looks of it, owner Scott Heron’s bird shall sing: On Tuesday, Department of Excise and Licenses director Helen Gonzales approved Heron’s application to transfer the bar’s tavern and cabaret licenses to a new space on south Broadway…
As a “content provider,” Backwash feels a moral obligation to shun reality programming on TV, and I await the day when American networks exhaust the public’s appetite for ready-made voyeurism and have to start hiring actual writers. But I gotta confess, I love American Idol, which entered its second season…
Frank Caeti spends much of his time on the road: living in hotels, hanging out in airports, traveling in buses and inciting audiences to bust their guts. As a member of one of three Second City Touring Company ensembles that orbit the Second City Theater Company’s home offices in Chicago…
Ryan Policky is one of the very few Denverites who didn’t spend last Sunday watching football. He was too busy getting ready for a gig at the Church. Policky’s band, Pure Drama, which performs only a couple of times a year, recently added two members, bassist David Ferguson and drummer…
Joseph Brenna and his fans have much to celebrate on Saturday, January 25, when the guitarist performs at Nederland’s Acoustic Cafe. The most obvious is the release of Inventing Time, an instrumental recording he co-wrote and produced with Rob Gordon, founder of the Boulder-based indie label What Are Records?. At…
Although the patient isn’t comatose, its condition isn’t particularly stable, either. At a state-of-the-union-style meeting on Sunday, January 19, Colorado Music Association president Tommy Nahulu and the five other members of COMA’s board of directors took the stage at the Soiled Dove to respond to questions and criticism and defend…
Rhode Island was founded as a dumping ground for criminals, no-goods, drunks and lunatics exiled from tony enclaves like Boston and New York. Like everything else, its musical legacy has been difficult to define. What the heck is Rhode Island music, anyway? The Blackstone Valley Sinners hope to include “country”…
Like Don Quixote, brothers Jay and Phil Bianchi are trying to create their own world. As the brains behind Quixote’s True Blue, Sancho’s Broken Arrow and Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey, they’ve succeeded in making Denver a destination city for touring jam bands — in the process threatening San Francisco’s title as…
Local audiences first came to know Liza Oxnard as the gutsy vocalist for Zuba, a position she enjoyed for more than eight years. But after that group disbanded, the singer, guitarist and songwriter decided to strike out on her own, rather than retreat into the past. So far, she seems…
Acoustic Syndicate plays newgrass music for the attention-deficit set, often moving from funk and reggae to rock and plain old blue Kentucky soul within the space of one elongated jam. It’s a fusion that’s found the North Carolina-based quartet a hearty following among Front Range fans of musical mishmash. The…
The bar at the Skylark Lounge shows every one of its 59 years. In front of each vintage stool that lines the long, Formica countertop, faded, worn-away patches suggest the oily and beery hands of patrons who’ve been saddling up for a setup since the early ’40s, when the lounge…
