Ah! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! When we indulge in too much champagne and cheap party favors, whilst singing songs of old. “Auld Lang Syne” anyone? Well if you’re like us, you know it’s been a festive 2011 and most are ready to shuffle in the next…
Swallow Hill’s Julie Davis School of Music, which starts 2012 classes on January 3, is expanding its Core Programs, something that was previously only used in the Core Guitar Program. The teaching style, which focuses on students playing songs on their instruments right away, is designed for the beginner with…
Voted best club night by Westword in 2007, Chit Chat’s weekly soul night at Old Curtis St. was essentially the city’s best house party. Headed up Jason Heller and Big Al, the two took turns spinning ’45s of deep classic soul cuts, R&B, early funk, vintage mod and Northern soul…
Denver’s all vocal hip-hop group Urban Method, who made it to the final three on NBC’s The Sing-Off, and Boulder-based all vocal rock band FACE, who was on the show in 2009, team up for a night of a cappella at the Paramount on Saturday, February 25. Tickets ($15/$25) are…
Correction: Bop Skizzum performs at Moe’s BBQ & Bowling on New Year’s Eve. An earlier version of this story included an incorrect venue. While there’s plenty of action in the clubs over New Year’s weekend, there are also a ton of bands playing in Denver and Boulder, and a lot…
Last July, Austin-based singer-songwriter Darden Smith gathered a team of other professional musicians to lead a songwriting retreat for nine servicemen and women. Songs written during the retreat were performed at the Faces of Freedom concert on September 11 at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. As a follow-up to…
A few years ago, Slim Cessna made CDs of old cassette recordings and sold them to help make ends meet. Now he’s offering those two volumes of rare recordings again, but as download only. Some of the cuts date back to the ’80s, some include his brother Whiff, some were…
Over the last decade, the space that was once Regas Christou’s Deadbeat Club at 4040 East Evans Avenue has changed names and concepts a number of times. The same folks who owned the club as it changed its name from Skin to Posh Ultra Lounge and then to Club Next,…
Although James Cooley, who releases albums under the Mesita moniker, doesn’t really play shows, he’s written a few hundred songs, some of which ended up on his latest effort, the outstanding Here’s to Nowhere. Cooley is currently working a new album, The Coyote, which he says “will have a lot…
Memphis-based alt-country act Lucero is hitting the road in February in support of Women & Work, the band’s forthcoming album, slated for release next spring on ATO, and will stop at the Bluebird Theater for a two-night stand on Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31. Tickets ($25) go on…
While Kamtin Mohager started performing under the moniker of Chain Gang of 1974 in Denver about five years ago, he’s been living in Los Angeles for close to a year now. As he tells David Dye in a recent interview with World Cafe, “I was just never a big fan…
After 35 years with Warner Bros., Van Halen signed a deal with Interscope last month, and rumors spread that the band — with David Lee Roth back on board — had a new album nearly in the can and a tour in the works. Now one of those rumors can…
Happy hip-hop holidays (try saying that three times fast)! As usual, we’re keeping our eye on all things new in the hip-hop streets, and for this week’s rap roundup, we’ve got everything you need: A Paul Junior-directed clip from Fresh Breath Committee’s Myke Charles; a Phil the Agony-assisted joint from…
There were a ton of albums released this year, and while we spent a great deal of time with the staggering number of outstanding local releases from the past twelve months (see last week’s annual Moovers and Shakers list), we also found time to devote to the imports. And while…
A number of new venues opened in 2011, while others changed hands. Here’s a look back through a year’s worth of club scouting: After a seven year-run at 2401 Blake Street, in June 2010, Blake Street Tavern moved a block south, to the former Club 303/Polly Esther’s space at 2301…
Communikey had a huge year in 2011; the annual music festival brought beats to the masses for the fourth year in a row this past spring. But you won’t have to wait until April to get another fix: On Saturday, December 31, head to A Very CMKY NYE, which will…
The Westword office is closed until Tuesday, December 27, and the blogs will be taking a break until then (although we’ll post some party/concert slide shows over the weekend). If you’re looking for fun over the holidays, our online calendar lists hundreds of entertaining options around town. And if you’re…
As with every year, the Mile High City had absolutely no shortage of compelling releases from across a wide variety of genres. There were so many, in fact, that, also like past years, we just didn’t have the room to fit all of them into the paper this week (a…
Going strong for nearly four decades, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival just announced that Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, John Prine, Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Leftover Salmon, Bela Fleck & the Marcus Roberts Trio, Punch Brothers, Peter Rowan and the Del McCoury Band are among the preliminary…
Here are two quick lists to warm you up on this snow day; the ten best club shows and local shows (the two aren’t mutually exclusive, by any means) of 2011, as picked by Backbeat writers and ranked by music editor Dave Herrera. Find our ten best arena concerts of…
After selling out stadiums and arenas in South America and Europe over the past few months, Lenny Kravitz will kick off his first American tour in five years in January. That tour includes a stop at the Buell Theatre on Friday, February 10. Kravitz, who has been making appearances on…
An extensive user of Auto-Tune, T-Pain helped bring the pitch correction software to the masses with his iPhone app, I Am T-Pain. He doesn’t skimp on the Auto-Tone on his latest effort, Revolver, which was released on RCA earlier this month. In support of the disc, T-Pain stops at the…
