In their heyday in the Seventies, Southern rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd were the baddest of the bad, a devout hell-raising outfit that helped put their chosen genre of mayhem in the ears of America. Pushing a wall of sound that borrowed from blues, British rock and country, the band’s Dixie…
Denver resident Dave Granger is a radio junkie who’s not afraid to make waves in order to satisfy his addiction. So when the former disk jockey, production man and programmer with KTCL-FM/93.3 FM burned out on corporate rock and “too many dick jokes” on the commercial dial, he decided to…
Earl Dodge could use a drink. That is, if he believed reports that a daily alcoholic beverage or two drastically reduces the risks of coronary artery disease. But Dodge, who is recovering from multiple bypass surgery, is the last guy to have a cool one for his health’s sake. “Alcohol…
Back in the early Seventies, Ed Neal was a professional actor and part-time drama student at the University of Texas when a shoestring film crew came to campus looking for actors. A Shakespeare student who had already worked with actress Sandy Duncan in a touring production, Neal looked at the…
For most of us, twirling a yo-yo for eight hours would be the ultimate display of slacker behavior. Not so for Denver resident Jon Gates, a professional yo-yo player who earns his keep “walking the dog” around the world. “I travel around the planet,” Gates says matter-of-factly, “playing with my…
Outside the St. Francis Center, a day shelter a few blocks from Coors Field, it seems as if the Colorado Rockies are drafting employees from the area’s minor leagues. Among the crowd of down-on-their-lucks milling around out front, a handful are resplendent in the green-and-purple windbreakers that have been the…
If Ike Turner’s life were evaluated strictly on his musical contributions, he might be considered a pop-cultural saint. As an A&R man for a number of Memphis talent scouts and record labels, he was something of a modern-day Noah, rescuing B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Parker and plenty of other…
Pianist/accordionist John Magnie and drummer/percussionist Steve Amedee, the key members of a new quartet called Magpie, were once half of the Subdudes, a group that earned a lofty place in Colorado music history and an impressive national reputation prior to its 1996 breakup. But on this April afternoon, the two,…
Chastity looked up from the lettuce bin and there he was, his eyes burning holes in the glistening head of romaine she held in her hand. While she pondered Clint’s intense gaze, a gentle mist began to spray, soaking her bare wrists and sending shivers through her body…Nah. Let’s try…
On April 8, 1995, Larry Fiolkoski and his partner were piloting their freight train through a dark night when they came to the crossing at Titan Road in Littleton. The conductor was at the switch when Fiolkoski heard a muted crunching sound beneath the engine’s rolling steel wheels. “What’d we…
Paul Shellooe, the hard-rocking frontman and guitarist for Dirty Pool, is a software designer by day, so it’s no surprise that he’s eager to discuss his outfit’s plans for using the latest whiz-bang gadgetry to achieve success in Colorado and beyond. But that’s not to say he’s averse to more…
For the past year, Susan Tedeschi has been the hottest woman in the blues. Following the release last spring of her debut disc, Just Won’t Burn, she’s earned pages of great press, hosted countless sold-out shows and upheld a touring itinerary that makes her feel practically homeless. Along the way…
Twenty years ago, Harlem nightclub singer Sandra ReAves-Phillips decided to put together a one-weekend show to honor her musical heroes. Two decades later, she’s still serving as the one-woman cast of a tribute to America’s best blue-note singers, The Late Great Ladies of Blues and Jazz. “It’s a labor of…
It’s swing night at a Denver dance club. Sweating couples are whirling around a crowded dance floor. Decked out in glorious fashions from days gone by, the revelers juke and jive through a dizzying array of footwork as a combo blazes through a set of vintage jazz. The frenetic gathering…
Of all the groups now enjoying success in the Americana format, the Freight Hoppers may be the most backward-looking. Unlike those red-white-and-blue acts that specialize in vintage forms of country, Western swing and bluegrass, the Hoppers focus on a far more dated sound: old-time string-band music circa the 1800s. But…
When local promoter Pat McCullough decided to book a Denver installment of the Once Upon an Accordion tour last year, his associates thought he’d sprung a leak in his bellows. “When you tell people you’re going to have a concert with a bunch of accordion players,” McCullough says, “they look…
It’s a late January evening at the Denver Rescue Mission, and the Mission Band is getting ready to play in front of a typically tough crowd–approximately sixty disheveled men (and a handful of women) who hardly seem excited about the music to come. Most of the men stare solemnly ahead…
It’s the night before New Year’s Eve in lower downtown Denver, and the city’s party district couldn’t be more dead. The streets are eerily free of thrillseekers and stumbling suburbanites, creating a ghost-town atmosphere that’s heightened by acres of empty parking spaces and the locked doors of LoDo bars that…
Last summer, Thomas Hendrix canvassed the sidewalks of Denver, hustling up signatures for the petition drive that got Amendments 15 and 16 on the ballot in November’s election. The amendments, pushed by Gary Boyce’s Stockman’s Water Company, would have required flow meters on pumps and payments for water that farmers…
This time of year, you’d think a truckload of Christmas trees would be a welcome sight, a Hallmark moment to lift the holiday spirit. But that’s not the case if that truck is rolling through Boulder County with Tony Smith at the wheel and a load of local trees in…
Since releasing “Light My Fire” in 1968, Jose Feliciano has been a part of pop-music consciousness. The tune, originally recorded by the Doors, became an instant smash and provided the basis for a career that’s still going strong for the blind guitarist from Puerto Rico. But while the cut’s star…
Thursday December 10 While the Avalanche isn’t exactly living up to its past standards, there’s another iced-up troupe at McNichols that certainly is. The perennial band of cartoon bladers in Disney on Ice hits the rink tonight, giving fans their annual fix of fun without the fisticuffs of Big Mac’s…
