Live Nation Steps in to Save the Colfax Museum With Jim Lauderdale Concert

The Colfax Museum is homeless again, and Jonny Barber, with help from Live nation, is trying to raise money to save it.

June 10, 2019

Image: The Colfax Museum is looking for a new home.

The Colfax Museum is looking for a new home. Brandon Marshall

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Elvis impersonator, singer-songwriter and amateur Denver historian Jonny Barber, the head of the Colfax Museum, told Westword last week that his archive of the wickedest street in America — which has bounced around town and was most recently been housed at Pasternack’s Art Hub in Lakewood — is once again in search of a home. The exhibits are locked up in storage.

The timing of this move is particularly bad for the museum, which had been planning to host a fundraiser, the Root 40 Music Fest, on Saturday, June 29. But on June 10, Barber announced that international music giant Live Nation has stepped in to rescue the festival — and perhaps his museum. fundraising. The event has been rebranded as the Root 40 Presents: Save the Colfax Museum! concert, and all proceeds from ticket sales and any additional donations will go toward Barber's project.

Bluesy roots singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale will headline, and Barber himself will play an all-original set, celebrating a seven-inch that he's putting out on the Root 40 Record Label.

"Donations are desperately needed at this time to ensure that the museum doesn't disappear along with so much of Denver's history," says Barber.

The show will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are available at the Live Nation website. Donate ahead of the festival at the Colfax Museum website.

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