Welcome back to the Name Game, the periodic Backbeat feature in which we check in with a local act and ask members to share the story behind their nom de tune (if there is one) to find out how and why they chose their handle and to spell out any…
As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it’s not surprising that the most common (and favorite) topic of conversation among us is the same: “What are you listening to right now?” Stick a quarter in us, and, boy, wouldn’t you know it, off…
Twenty years ago this Saturday night in the basement of City Spirit on 14th and Blake, DJ K-Nee hosted the very first edition of So What! with DJ L7-Square. Little did K-Nee know back then that So What! would not only go on to become Denver’s longest running club night,…
Hi. Uh, erm, happy Monday? Yes, we know: A certain sports team let everybody down (grumble, grumble, f*@king Broncos! grumble). Not to mention it’s overcast and bitterly cold. So what’s happy about it, right?! Music. That’s what. Nothing picks up spirits like, well, spirits and music. And since you live…
Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary tomorrow. To commemorate the occasion, the club is throwing a party with the Bob Montgomery/Pete Olstad Big Band and the Funky Fresh Trio benefiting the Gift of Jazz, an organization supporting the past, present and future of jazz in the Rocky…
After graduating college and moving to Denver in the ’70s, Kevin Geraghty started going to the Club 404, which Jerry Feld sold a year ago after a six-decade run. After a brief stint as Denver Wheel Club 404, Geraghty, who owned Brendan’s Pub for almost ten years on Market Street,…
Welcome to the weekend! And, oh, fingers crossed, what a weekend this will be. The sun was orange and the sky was blue when we woke up this morning. We’re taking that as an omen or something. That could just be the tequila shot from last night talking, though. Saw…
Without a doubt, the biggest draw this weekend is going to be the first Slam show in Denver in more than a decade on Saturday night, but there’s plenty more on tap, including a brand-new monthly vegetarian dinner buffet/yoga practice/tai chi lesson/dance party that’s bound to bliss you out in…
TRAMPLED BY TURTLES @ OGDEN THEATRE | 1/10/13 Eerie sounds were coming out of the fiddle, the base of which Ryan Young had lodged into his chest. With his elbow bobbing up and down furiously with the movement of the bow, he summoned tones from those four strings that sounded…
Alright, so, admittedly, you’re going to have to suspend disbelief a little as we frame this next item, and you’ll need to operate under the premise that A) time travel is a reality, and B) the internet existed in the mainstream realm in 1983. Got it? Okay, good. Now imagine…
Early in his career, pianist Uri Caine got to play with jazz legends like Philly Joe Jones and Hank Mobley. While Caine is a deft improviser and can play the hell out of bop, he’s incredibly multi-faceted and also quite equally at home playing avant-garde, classical (Caine’s released a number…
Just before Christmas, the folks behind SnowBall Music Festival began revealing the lineup for the third edition of their annual mountain music festival, which is moving to Winter Park this year from its previous location in Avon. Pretty Lights, Big Gigantic, Kendrick Lamar and Zion I were among the first…
Organizers for Communikey (aka CMKY, Boulder’s annual electronic music festival) have revealed the first part of the lineup for this year’s festival, which is slated to take place from Thursday, April 25, through Sunday, April 28. A limited number of $100 passes for the sixth edition of the four-day festival…
Longevity is rare in many professions, and it’s especially elusive in the fickle electronic-music business, where fleeting trends come and go almost overnight. So it was a very special occasion in 2011 when the legendary DJ/producer duo Slam (comprised of Scotsmen Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle) celebrated the twentieth anniversary…
Alex Pelissero was one of the people behind the Danger Zone, a short-lived DIY venue in Boulder. In addition to helping maintain welcoming places for people to play, Pelissero, as Jack’s Smirking Revenge (due Tuesday, January 15, at Seventh Circle Music Collective, 2935 West Seventh Avenue), also writes wonderfully profane,…
Third-wave ska was last in vogue when people still thought Y2K was a threat, but the passage of a decade hasn’t changed the fact that many of those bands still make an awfully accessible and enjoyable racket on stage. See: well-vetted Huntington Beach six-piece Reel Big Fish, the main attraction…
There’s surely some sort of official story behind the origin of the Used’s name, but it might as well describe the elements that make up the band’s music. The threads of pop punk, metal and even good old-fashioned rock and roll that are woven into the screamo-tinged tunes are well…
Quicksand formed in New York City in 1990, when Walter Schreifels’s band Moondog broke up. Schreifels, however, may be better known for his part in the hardcore bands Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits. Quicksand was a different type of entity altogether: The band’s dynamic flow wasn’t made up of…
There’s a notable ’60s influence in Ash Reiter’s laid-back California style and sunny, well-crafted pop songs. And while that sort of thing has been trendy lately, Reiter and her band also play music that is bright but has a social conscience — one that delves into a refreshingly open exploration…
Matt Rissi (previously known as DJ Sonar) is proof that you don’t have to be from a big (or EDM-centric) city to master mixing beats for dance floors around the world. This Iowa native has been weaving sets since the mid-1990s, but he’s never been exactly what you’d call traditional; his…
Some sad news to pass along today, in case you haven’t heard: We’ve just received word that local blues drummer Donnie Eden passed away last week, and last night at El Chapultepec, a spot where he used to perform at regularly, a memorial wake was held for the drummer. Eden,…
A new year is here, and from the looks of this week’s new batch of music, it’s going to be a good one for local hip-hop. We’re off to a good start, anyway. We’ve got new beats from Man Mantis off his label’s new comp, a fresh joint from production…
