When The Simpsons come on at William’s Tavern, all activity stops. The eclectic jukebox (it’s got everything from The Cramps to Hank Williams to Motown) clicks off and patrons hunkered at the bar and sitting in the church pews pay their respects in the House of Simpson. Regulars know to…
People can get their groove — and their buzz — on at Nederland’s Acoustic Cafe. This funky coffee shop, founded by state representative Tom Plant, attracts both yuppie skiers and hippie townies. The diverse clientele comes not only for the beans, but also for the beats. Most Friday and Saturday…
Yuppies go to the Red Room to feel edgy and urban, not to mention partake in a kick-ass selection of microbrews. Hipsters go to the Red Room for the amazing appetizers and $1.75 cans of Old Milwaukee…and, of course, to make fun of the yuppies. The rest of us go…
The see-and-be-seen bar that is the Funky Buddha has an equally fancy-pants upstairs lounge that keeps its cocktail-toting patrons nice and toasty, even in the heart of a snowstorm. In the summer, the plastic eaves roll down, and the place transforms into Denver’s most beatific rooftop patio — and we’re…
As Boulder’s goody-two-shoes influence spreads insidiously across the Front Range, more and more smokers are forced to find public spaces that still allow the open practice of their vice. At Charlie Brown’s, smoking is not only allowed, it’s practically encouraged. Four people settling down to dine will be provided with…
For a bathroom to be considered “the best,” it must reek more of personality than of your drinking buddy’s puke. The men’s restroom at Sancho’s may not be the cleanest in Denver, but like the tie-dyed audience at a Phish show, hygiene is not central to its appeal. With elaborately…
A women’s restroom must always give a little bit more. For the ladies, it’s a place not only to take care of business, but to seek refuge when the guys are going over the score of last night’s Avs game for the umpteenth time. Gabor’s offers a collage-crazy restroom that…
It’s hard to believe that one can actually find a bar with some diversity in a town teeming with rich white frat boys. Everyone from toothless locals cadging ciggies in the penalty box (smoking room), to burly Air Force guys out for some rugged homo-social bonding, to poor graduate students…
Larry Daniel is the unflappable gent who has been running the door and deejaying at the Climax and its predecessor, the Raven, since the locale’s disco heyday. He’s also been putting up gracefully with hordes of punk brats and drunk scenesters since the venue started hosting rock shows in 1994…
Golden’s historic Buffalo Rose is one of the state’s better music rooms. What makes it so special? A split-level roadhouse layout and soundman Mike Maloney. The always-accommodating Maloney finesses the Rose’s full-sized P.A. to perfection, thrilling listeners with a sound that’s big but never blows out eardrums. Patrons enjoy Maloney’s…
Ronnie Crawford could probably bench-press more than all of the young rockabilly kids who sidle up to the Skylark Lounge’s long bar combined. At sixty, the stylish, sunny barkeep pulls pints and chats up the retro and twang-loving crowd that frequents the Baker neighborhood watering hole with a vigor and…
The idea of a lawyer for Qwest — a company that just saw four of its executives indicted on a variety of nasty charges — making new-age music in his spare time makes perfect sense: Who in such a position couldn’t use a little stress relief? But considerably more unexpected…
While Norah “Where the hell did she come from?” Jones went home with an armful of awards after the 2003 Grammy awards in New York City, Denver-reared India.Arie managed to grab two of her own. The soulful singer snagged statues for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the song “Little Things,” and…
Change, especially the easygoing kind, takes time. But after a while, it starts to show. Such is the case at Swallow Hill, where in the few years since the venue moved to its present space and Jim Williams took over as director, the concert hall/music school has quietly turned into…
Taking the Rock ‘n’ Bowl concept to a higher level, the Beats and Bowling underground parties at Elitch Lanes offer glow-in-the-dark bowling ’til 5 a.m., with a continuous underground party-music soundtrack, for the imminently justifiable cover charge of fifteen bucks (which includes all bowling). Upon arrival, bowlers pick up their…
You’d be wise to arrive at the Gemini Tea Emporium early on the last Friday of every month; by 10 p.m., the bright, lovely Gemini spills over like a too-filled teacup. Packing them in is Cafe Nuba, a performance-poetry series that draws the most energetic, passionate and politically infused young…
Most evenings at the Climax Lounge, the game area in a back room is open to everyone. But every Thursday night, novices are advised to step aside and let the experts do their thing. Boasting one of Denver’s only competitive p-ball competitions, the Lounge has become a sporting destination for…
In 2002, Otis Taylor was named Best New Artist at the W.C. Handy Awards — the Grammys of the blues field. Of course, Taylor is anything but a new artist, having been part of the Colorado music community since the ’70s. But this acknowledgment, as well as a pair of…
When Tony Furtado first moved to Colorado, he was known as a bluegrass banjoist — but the tag soon proved far too restrictive for such a talented player. American Gypsy, Furtado’s latest CD, is as eclectic as it can be, touching upon folk and acoustic styles from across town and…
Halden Wofford’s authentic bray is a vocal time machine, a stirring, nasally joy that yanks traditional country fans back to the days of Hank Williams and other classic country singers. It sends chills down the spines of listeners and gives Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams a huge, genuine-article stamp…
In the pre-O Brother, Where Art Thou? years, many bluegrass musicians felt that the music they loved would appeal to a wide audience only if they changed it in substantial ways. But Open Road, which calls Fort Collins home, makes no such compromises on Cold Wind, its latest release on…
Now don’t get us wrong: On stage, every member of the Risk (bassist Nick Anderson, drummer Greg Wildermuth and guitarist Nathan Marcy) burns more calories than Bush did death-row inmates. But this group’s prince of perspiration is definitely singer/guitarist Joaquin Liebert, whose sweat glands could stand in for squirt guns…
