Twenty years ago, Jim Salestrom was lured to Breckenridge by a folk-friendly bar culture and the Rocky Mountain mentality that John Denver made famous in his music. Like that songwriter, Salestrom built a career around writing high-altitude odes to life in the mountains: In his adopted hometown, locals still refer…
For a child navigating the uneasy interval of pre-adolescence, few things can guarantee nerd status like the decision to join the school band. All that lugging of equipment and shameless practicing is enough to crush the coolness out of any child who’s unlucky enough to pursue musical knowledge. Darren Kramer…
he Jury Room at Pints Pub (221 West 13th Avenue) is a quaintly named nook that’s ideal for discussing the day’s events over grade-A pub fare. But several times a week, this upstairs meeting room lives up to its name and becomes much more, as juries make the two-block trek…
For Dave Bryan and his West Washington Park neighbors, nothing sucks like success. Four years ago, Dave achieved his lifelong dream of buying a neighborhood bar, the 43-year-old Candle Light Tavern, just south of Alameda Avenue on Pearl Street. Since then, Dave and his wife, Lisa, have cleaned up the…
The year 2001 produced its share of catastrophes: major terrorist campaigns in D.C. and New York, a widespread anthrax scare — and J. Lo’s solo debut. Fortunately, there’s plenty worth remembering about the first official year of the new millennium, as artists of every genre proved that music still matters,…
This Christmas, Stan Hendrickson will wish for a gift he cannot have. It’s a gift he possessed for over seven decades before losing it three years ago: the ability to taste. Since 1998, the Boulder resident has been living a foodie’s nightmare, unable to savor the things that once brought…
Fruitcake is the most maligned food in America, the dessert world’s equivalent of polka music. Especially this time of year. Come Christmas morning, shabbily made fruitcakes will be the coal in the bottom of the stocking, jokes to be passed from person to person. Seasonal Spams, they’ll end up in…
Candye Kane, Thursday, December 6, at the Boulder Theater, is a bisexual ex-porn vet, a poster girl for the pleasingly plump and an entertainer extraordinaire. Kane miraculously incorporates her charmingly candid perspective on various vices into one of the most uplifting rhythm-and-blues shows imaginable. Her difference-destroying performances have made her…
Harlan Hendrickson has issued a challenge to all the closet lovers of ’80s metal: It’s time to step up — fist held high, pinkie and index fingers extended — and get ready to rock. “There’s no need to be embarrassed any- more for loving Mötley Crüe,” he says proudly. Grab…
It’s not often that a journalist gets the chance to speak with residents of death row. But here in her suburban backyard, Carrie Stewart has put me nose to nose with two of them. Make that nose to beak. “This is Dumb and Dumber,” Stewart says, introducing me to two…
For seven years, the hemp ice cream produced in Das Agua’s shop, Original Sources, made him a successful businessman. Today it makes him a criminal. Created with “milk” made from the ground seeds of industrial hemp — marijuana’s low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) sister plant — Agua’s Hemp I Scream may now be…
Mary Flower is a hero of American acoustic-guitar music — and proof that the most moving art is often found in one’s own back yard. Ladyfingers, which sees release on Friday, November 16, at Swallow Hill, is the Denver native’s finest recording yet. Flower’s seasoned singing and acoustic playing dig…
Some of the best days of my childhood started with pancakes. If I stumbled out of bed to the clang and clatter of Mom mixing batter in the kitchen, I knew she had a rare day off. I knew she’d be spending time at home, with me. And I knew…
Paul Burch, Sunday, November 11, at the Gothic Theatre, may not have earned the flood of attention poured over No-Depression sweetheart and headliner Ryan Adams. But Burch has earned much respect among knowing alt-country types for his exceptional back-dated country and Americana. With his band, the WPA Ballclub, he’s released…
Like many musicians, Chris Watkins has a tough time putting a label on his sound. “I’m one of those hyphenated people,” says Watkins, who plays under the name Preacher Boy. “You know, folk-blues-roots-jazz-soul-blah-blah-blah. The influences I pull off of are rooted in the folkie, storytelling kind of songwriting thing.” Watkins…
Paul Galaxy and the Galactix are slicked-back proof that rockabilly is far from dead. Their success is also evidence that a bar band can make a living — and a name around the country — while based in Denver. The Galactix have overcome the alleged out-of-favor status of their chosen…
There’s a reason that soup kitchens feed the poor with their namesake dish. “Soup is satisfying,” says Michael Mack, a volunteer cook with Denver’s Catholic Worker soup kitchen. “And it’s the easiest way to stretch things. If you’ve got a stone, a couple carrots, some celery and some water, you…
Dusty Drapes & the Dusters, Thursday, October 11, at the Bluebird Theater and Friday, October 12, at the Boulder Theater, have pulled off a comeback that would make Elway envious. The group — the state’s first alt-country outfit, formed in 1976 — initially reunited for a sold-out concert at the…
Les Fradkin’s band, Get Wet, plays a brand of instrumental music that mixes old-school surf and classical touches, with the guitar parts played on new-tech gear. So far, the group isn’t familiar to Front Range listeners. But that’s not the case when it comes to Fradkin’s back catalogue. He was…
Three years after they joined forces in Nederland, life is mighty good for the members of Yonder Mountain String Band. But bassist Ben Kaufmann swears that he and his mates can’t take all the credit for their rapid rise in the jam-band universe. “There’s always been this sense of timing…
Last December, Robbie Fulks delivered one the finest shows to hit Denver in the year 2000, a neo-country pop set that won’t soon be forgotten. Unfortunately, only a small group of locals were there to witness that wintertime performance at the Gothic. Too bad: Fulks has rightfully earned the status…
Roger James first made a name for himself in local music circles as a jazz pianist. Last year he released Voyages, a collection of tasteful keyboard-laden originals that wouldn’t seem out of place next to recordings by Yanni and other artists who straddle the line between jazz and new-age music…
