Best New Online Music Resource 2001 | www.bandguru.com | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best New Online Music Resource

www.bandguru.com

Mark Bliesener's decision to expand his musician consulting business to the Web is a gift to bands and artists anywhere, not just those who share his Denver area code. Bliesener is what those in the music industry refer to as an "insider": a former critic, performer, publicist and manager who now helps artists at all levels improve their chances of making a living at this thing called music. Bandguru.com's primary function is to introduce potential clients to Bliesener's background and services for hire, but it also contains a wealth of information that's free for the clicking, including an exhaustive listing of American and international record labels and Web links galore. Guru, we have so much to learn from you.

Best Web Site for Agoraphobic Music Fans

www.jammingconcerts.com

While there ain't nothing like the real thing, jammingconcerts.com provides a pleasant alternative to the live-concert experience. The Denver-based site hosts a dizzying archive of live audio and digital video footage of local and touring artists, all culled from performances in Englewood's palatial Gothic Theatre. A hell of a lot more fun than e-trading, it's an online pleasure that's free, easy to access -- and legal.

Best Musical Education on Radio

KVCU-AM/1190

KVCU-AM/1190, the student-run station at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is staffed by musical enthusiasts who break down barriers as a matter of course. They're eager to inform young listeners about great music of the past through the use of artist features focusing on acts that rose to prominence long before most of them were out of their Pampers. But they're just as enthusiastic to clue in older listeners about the finest underground sounds being made today via playlists that spotlight the most interesting acts in virtually every genre. The result is a benefit for music lovers of all ages.

Best Specialty Show on a Commercial Radio Station

Doo-Wop Sunday Morning
KXKL-FM/105.1

Jay Mack is no spring chicken. He's been in the radio biz for decades and made news last year after having an on-air respiratory attack; a concerned listener who called 911 on his behalf may very well have saved his life. But the years have made him terrifically knowledgeable about rock and roll, and on Doo-Wop Sunday Morning, he puts his smarts to use, breaking free of the tight KOOL 105 playlist to spotlight forgotten obscurities from the music's golden era. Fans have responded so favorably that Mack's time has been expanded: He can also be heard Sunday nights and weekdays from noon until 1 p.m. Rock on.

Best Radio Show

Destination Freedom
KUVO-FM/89.3

For three years running, KUVO's Destination Freedom has been broadcasting its own brilliant re-creations of historical black radio dramas every third Tuesday at 9 p.m. The scripts were written in the late 1940s by Richard Durham, who wrote 104 plays about significant African-Americans. His subjects included everyone from artists like W.C. Handy and Marian Anderson to historical figures such as Ida B. Wells and Harriet Tubman. So far, the station has aired 28 shows, with some sixty actors participating. In addition, the half-hour time frame has expanded to an hour in order to include commentary and musical guests. Don't touch that dial.

Best Commercial Radio Station

KBCO-FM/97.3

KBCO is easy to take for granted. But despite being part of the enormous Clear Channel conglomerate, which critics charge with contributing to the homogenization of radio everywhere, the station is still in touch with the singularly Bouldery vibe that it's emitted from the beginning. And for that, locals should be extremely grateful.

Best Non-Commercial Radio Station

KGNU-FM/88.5

In a day and age when too many public-radio stations are generic and canned, Boulder's modest-sized KGNU remains intensely local, proudly idealistic and wonderfully idiosyncratic. Sometimes smaller is better.

Best Radio DJ

Alisha
KVCU (AM/1190)

The morning personality on the CU-Boulder station, Alisha is perky without being cloying, and she goes out of her way to give listeners new information about the tunes she spins. Special features include regular interviews with the station's music director, Denise von Minden, that highlight the latest additions to the outlet's playlist, and "Artist of the Week" segments assembled in part by listeners. Through these efforts, Alisha keeps the focus right where it belongs, which is on Radio 1190's great music.

Best Band Name

Anne Frank on Crank

Let's be Frank: She got da stank! You can take it to the bank.

Best New Non-Fiction Book

Powder Burn
Daniel Glick

When Newsweek correspondent Daniel Glick set out to chronicle the October 1998 fires that did $12 million in damage to Vail, he wound up writing what could be Colorado's ultimate whodunit -- albeit one still without a conclusion (the list of suspects is long, however). But in shining a light on the alleged acts of eco-terrorism, Glick illuminates a much bigger puzzle: How a sleepy nook in the Eagle Valley turned into the world's biggest ski area, a company town that answers to Wall Street rather than the romantic muse of the ski bum. Powder Burn adds up to a stunning indictment of how Colorado sold itself down the Eagle River. And where there's smoke, there's ire.

Best Of Denver®

Best Of

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy Westword may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. ©2024 Denver Westword, LLC. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell or Share My Information
Powered By Foundation