Guitarist/vocalist/composer Luther Allison sees a parallel between himself and the fictitious Jake and Elwood Blues. “I guess I’m like the Blues Brothers said,” he suggests. “I’m on a mission–a mission from God–to make things work. I am very proud to know that the world is supposed to belong to me…
Los Straitjackets The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sound of Los Straitjackets (Upstart) The Aqua Velvets Surfmania (Mesa) Friends of Dean Martinez The Shadow of Your Smile (Sub Pop) If Dick Dale can return from terminal obscurity (thank you, Quentin Tarantino), then why not a comeback for instrumental rock in…
Thanks to a current tour and a new CD (New Dark Ages) on a new label (Boulder’s W.A.R.? imprint), the Radiators have been busier than ever–so busy, in fact, that the government has taken notice. “The IRS is on my back about my ’94 taxes, which I still haven’t filed,”…
Over the years, critical reverence for the Velvet Underground (celebrated in the new five-CD boxed set Peel Slowly and See, to be released by Polydor September 26) has become a bit of a joke among rock-scene observers. Sometimes it seems that a fondness for the group is a prerequisite for…
If you’ve always found Morrissey a might too perky and Rush Limbaugh a trifle unsure of himself, U.K.-bred rocker Edwyn Collins could be the man for you. With a dossier of critically respected work dating back to the 1980s, a hit single (“A Girl Like You”) now earning plenty of…
16 Horsepower, Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23, at the Bluebird Theater, is in town to celebrate the release of an EP (issued by Ricochet Records) that is meant to introduce the band to a larger public prior to its full-length debut on a major label, A&M. But for…
Low, with Soul Coughing, Friday, September 27, at the Ogden Theatre, likes to take things slow. Really slow. Imagine the Cowboy Junkies performing from the depths of the LaBrea tar pits and you’ll get a rough idea of what this trio of minimalists from Duluth, Minnesota, is all about. Long…
Harmonica player Mark Bell is an aging baby-boomer who picked up his first harp in 1973, when he was seventeen. For Bell, it was an epiphany. “I played John Mayall’s `Room to Move’ by ear,” he says, “and I’ve been cursed with it ever since.” Bell’s way with a harmonica…
Lord of Word and the Disciples of Bass, Sunday, September 17, at the Denver University athletic fields, is far from the only act to appear at the second annual Rocky Mountain Music Association Musicfest; the bill also includes Chaos Theory, the AUTONO, Jux County, Avatar, the Hillbilly Hellcats and twelve…
part 1 of 1 The display contained the kind of paperwork most of us accumulate as we move from conception to death. A birth certificate from 1943. A doctor’s report on the newborn; under the heading “Shape of Head,” a nurse had typed, “First day–Idaho potato.” A hospital bill–it cost…
part 2 of 2 That afternoon the press was invited to enjoy free grub on a pleasure boat, the Goodtime III, rented for the evening by Radio Shack. There was finger food and liquor aplenty, as well as a band featuring a man in a sailor uniform playing Kenny G…
Steve Turre, Wednesday, September 13, at the Mount Vernon Country Club, is best known to television audiences for his stint as a trombonist in the Saturday Night Live band. But in jazz circles, he’s revered for his collaborations with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Dizzy Gillespie, Ralph Moore and Woody Shaw, and…
Henry Threadgill Makin’ a Move (Columbia) That Threadgill–a jazz-based saxophonist whose work with the trio Air and a variety of bands that have borne his name has ranged from the indescribably beautiful to the merely gorgeous–keeps landing on major labels is a credit to his perseverance. Clearly, he’s not in…
As what was once called alternative rock has become the music of the majority, Hollywood–our national trend barometer–has jumped onto the bandwagon with its usual gusto. While challenging post-punkers and their ilk once were as likely to land a slot on the soundtrack to a mainstream blockbuster as was Lawrence…
Acoustifuxx, Tuesday, September 12, at the Lion’s Lair, is one of two bands to feature Denver original Big Mike–the other, Splatterhouse, is at the Lair on Wednesday, September 6. But under whatever moniker Mike chooses to perform, you can be guaranteed that you’ll get a lot more than the government-recommended…
Bracket, with SNFU and the Joykiller, Friday, September 8, at the Glenn Miller Ballroom, contradicts the pundits. The band is proof positive that at least some of today’s corporate punk-rock acts are actually better than their forefathers of a decade or two ago. On 4-Wheel Vibe, the band’s second release…
“My grandmother, Sadie, she’s like 93 or 94–she and I have always been very close,” says guitarist/vocalist Jennifer Trynin. “And since she’s getting older, she can be kind of out of it–she’s not always all there. But on my thirtieth birthday, she suddenly became as lucid as she was when…
He may be only 22, but Denver-based techno/trance artist Jesse Allen (aka Kid Sonic) is already more business-savvy than a lot of musicians many years his senior. He owns a studio, dubbed Savage Land. He oversees his own publishing company, Alchemy Trance International. And he actually understands the kind of…
Po’ Broke ‘N Lonely? Forbidden Vibe (Big Beat/Atlantic) Sure, the music of Boyz II Men is fixated on sex–but it’s sex of a sanitized, airbrushed kind that most of us know about only from watching movies like The Blue Lagoon. Po’ Broke ‘N Lonely?, by contrast, recognizes that it’s possible…
For three decades, two words have described saxophone playing at its funkiest: Maceo Parker. Parker joined James Brown’s back-up band in 1965, and before long he’d created the immortal, punchy riffs that dominate Brown classics such as “Poppa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “Popcorn,” “Lickin’ Stick” and “Cold Sweat.” Along…
“Forward is the key,” proclaims Winston Rodney, better known to the reggae-loving public as Burning Spear. “You need to look forward. But sometimes in life, you have to look at the past, also–look at the past, and at the present, in order to move into the future. That way, everything…
John Vecchiarelli, Thursday, August 31, at the Mercury Cafe, with 40th Day and Idle Mind, won’t be here to kick around much longer; the Boulder-based singer-songwriter is moving to San Francisco October 1 in an effort to further his career. So this show is one of your last chances, at…
