Slick Rick Behind Bars (Def Jam) Rick James Bustin’ Out: The Best of Rick James (Motown) With the Snoop Doggy Dogg trial looming and accused multiple murderer O.J. Simpson presently getting more press than he ever did for packing a pigskin, it’s no surprise that jailbirds everywhere have begun to…
In the media business, it’s considered suicidal to admit feeling panicked. But given the latest report from the Arbitron ratings service–a report that could portend the biggest power shift in Denver radio this decade–you can bet that more than a few local media pros are running scared. The reason? KXPK-FM/96.5…
Pianist, composer and New York-music-scene veteran Robin Connell has very little patience for musicians who whine. In fact, Connell–currently living in Greeley, where she’s working on a doctorate in musical composition at the University of Northern Colorado–has integrated a no-complaints philosophy into her outlook on both life and music. “A…
“I’ve had experiences,” recalls Corrina Peipon, singer and lyricist for the Denver postpunk band St. Andre, “where I’ve been at Kinko’s making fliers and people will look over my shoulder and say, `Oh, hey, are you a death-metal band?'” Misunderstandings like this are all too common for Peipon and her…
The people have spoken. At the conclusion of our recent list of pop history’s most overplayed classic-rock songs (“Stairway to Hell,” December 7), we invited you, our readers, to point out any tunes we might have overlooked. The response was voluminous. Either we struck a chord, or we did such…
As the sun sets and “apres-ski” begins at Acoustic Coffee and News, a snug hippie haunt in Nederland, clumps of snowboarders drag in and mix with other flannel-wearing Boulder refugees. It’s pretty typical as such scenes go–mellow people with stringy hair and baggy clothes serving coffee, the hiss of steam…
Various Artists The Colpix-Dimension Story (Rhino) On first listen, many of these forty cuts sound downright terrible–and they don’t improve with repeated plays. Nonetheless, this collection exerts a certain fascination, if only because it captures on plastic some of the more blatant attempts to put rock and roll on an…
Independent labels aren’t the cozy, accessible harbors of artistic freedom they used to be. Call most of these onetime upstarts and you’ll find yourself playing tag with a chain of receptionists, press agents and tour managers every bit as convoluted as those found at Atlantic or Columbia. But Simple Machines,…
Approaching a certain nondescript building in the warehouse district north of downtown Denver can be an unnerving experience–especially if you’re visiting at night. The street is poorly lit, the people meandering nearby have the look of the criminally insane, and the rabid, wildly yapping dogs prowling the adjacent properties seem…
William Clarke, Thursday, January 19, at Herman’s Hideaway, is a California native and harmonicat who caught the blues bug at sixteen. While his peers were listening to Beach Boys tunes, Clarke was sneaking into Watts dives in order to learn at the feet of Lowell Fulsom and Big Mama Thornton…
Ice Cube Bootlegs & B-Sides (Priority) I’ve gone back and forth on this character so many times that the only thing I’m sure of in 1995 is that he’s still got the potential for greatness. Hard to describe why–there’s plenty of idiocy sprinkled throughout these thirteen intermittently engaging tracks, which…
Todd Snider, Friday, January 13, at the Bluebird Theater, Saturday, January 14, at the Fox Theatre, and Sunday, January 15, at the Boulder Theater for a taping of E-Town, stands out from the vast majority of young singer-songwriters for an exceedingly uncomplicated reason–he’s funny. Not that he’s a slacker version…
In a world seemingly ruled by ego, Boulder-based singer-songwriter John Vecchiarelli is a definite exception. “I don’t know the name of one chord I play,” he confesses. A largely self-taught strummer who picked up the guitar less than two years ago, Vecchiarelli adds that he’s a big jazz fan, but…
Puppies eventually become dogs. Teenagers bloom into young adults. And jazz guitarist Howard Alden wants people to know that neo-swing players–those young guys who perform with and like the old guys from the original swing era–can grow up, too. “I should hope so,” says Alden, who at 36 is among…
The recent reunion of the Eagles thrilled a disturbingly large number of the nation’s music lovers, who gladly handed over wads of bills for the privilege of seeing the outfit play note-for-note renditions of its Seventies staples. Not everyone jumped on the band’s wagon: Glenn Frey’s suggestion (in Rolling Stone)…
Todd Snider Songs for the Daily Planet (MCA) Country A&R guys are certainly feeling their oats these days. How else to explain the signing of Snider, an often jubilant busker who sounds no more country than, say, Loudon Wainwright III? “My Generation (Part 2),” Planet’s opening track, is indicative of…
As a new year dawns, let us take a minute to thank the members of Green Day and Offspring for all they’ve accomplished in recent months. No, we’re not talking about how they managed to break a genre of music (punk) that PR folks have been struggling to keep under…
When journalist Albert Goldman issued the book Elvis in 1981, the rock-and-roll community was stunned and appalled. Fans who still got misty at the thought of Elvis Aron Presley’s 1977 demise weren’t ready for a tome that painted their hero as a moronic hillbilly and a sexual deviant who would…
For guitarist Mike Serviolo–the creator of the wonderfully twisted Denver-based group Iz–making music is an arduous and painstaking process. And keeping a band together isn’t that easy, either. Iz, you see, has existed for only about a year, but during that time it’s already undergone the kind of personnel shifts…
This was the year that was. And what was the year 1994? From a musical standpoint, it was a transitional period. Some trends arose and some trends died during the past twelve months, but no movements were so overpowering that they brushed aside everything else in their paths. As a…
Every year sees the release of new Christmas albums, but 1994 has witnessed an avalanche of them. And they’re flying out of the stores–really flying. At this writing, Miracles: The Holiday Album, by that epitome of evil in the late twentieth century, Kenny G, is the biggest-selling CD in the…
Eric Richter, guitarist and lead vocalist for Denver-based Christie Front Drive, boasts an extensive–not to mention goofy–range of influences. “One of the albums I’m listening to a lot these days is the Xanadu soundtrack,” he reveals. “It brings back a lot of memories of when I was a kid. And…
