In October 1997, Sista D began making In the Mile High City, a disc that she hoped would become a life preserver for her mother, who’d battled heroin addiction for years. But something happened the following February that nearly derailed the project: Her mom died. “I really had a hard…
From a musical perspective, Vienna, Austria, remains best known as the birthplace of the waltz, a dance that is as beloved today as it was during the nineteenth century, when Viennese composer Johann Strauss Jr. was first recognized as “the waltz king.” But for aficionados of the international club scene,…
Time may have healed most of the wounds opened by the backlash against disco, but not all of them. Although the frequently bashed genre is enjoying a revival of late, thanks in part to the boom in throwback nightspots (such as Polly Esther’s), the popularity of these joints owes more…
I review the songs. The local songs, that is. There’s nothing particularly novel about Keg O’ Dynamite, by Chicago Skinny; the CD employs the styles in which nationally known bluesers such as Little Charlie and the Nightcats and Duke Robillard traffic. But these guys clearly do the same old thing…
New York City-based Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is a name-dropper of a very high-flown sort. He seems congenitally incapable of talking about the influences on his challenging experimental hip-hop without mentioning Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel, a pair of eighteenth-century German philosophers who weren’t exactly known for their phat…
Until recently, disco entrepreneur Kekoa Franconi was a kindergarten teacher. But these days, the younger brother of internationally known dance maven Keoki (“DJ Keoki, Superstar,” July 18, 1996) is offering a much different form of instruction. With Kidnapped, his mysteriously named partner, he’s created Playscool, an ultra-swanky sixteen-and-over event at…
Most musicians tend to avoid arguments about centuries-old nomenclature such as “chamber music,” but not David Balakrishnan, violinist and composer for Oakland’s Turtle Island String Quartet (TISQ). The Hamburg Concert, the group’s latest CD, supplements classical variations with jazz standards, a globe-trotting hybrid and a funk cover associated with Tower…
The biggest behind-the-scenes news in the music industry these days concerns the recent $10.4 billion merger of two corporate behemoths, Polygram and Universal Music. The Universal Music Group–the handle placed on the enterprises’ joint assets–is now the biggest label on the planet, bar none. But because the overseers of this…
The ties that bind can often strangle. Just ask the members of Skull Flux, who during their six years together have experienced as many setbacks as successes. But after nearly dissolving in 1998, the band–vocalist Conrad Kehn, drummer David Hesker, bassist Steve Millin and guitarist Greg Stretton–appears to be back…
Of all the groups now enjoying success in the Americana format, the Freight Hoppers may be the most backward-looking. Unlike those red-white-and-blue acts that specialize in vintage forms of country, Western swing and bluegrass, the Hoppers focus on a far more dated sound: old-time string-band music circa the 1800s. But…
Denver Concert Wars: The Next Chapter. In early 1998, mere months after Universal Concerts took over the Fey Concerts empire following the semi-retirement of scene king Barry Fey, longtime Fey associate Chuck Morris and Bill Graham Presents, a venerable West Coast firm, joined forces to create Bill Graham Presents/ Chuck…
Performers at concert: The Rolling Stones, with Bryan Adams. Date of concert: February 2, 1999. Location of concert: McNichols Arena, Denver, Colorado. Description of pre-concert hoopla: Less than anticipated. The weeks of relentless hype that usually precede Stones shows is largely drowned out by the weeks of relentless hype that’s…
Busta Rhymes Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front (Elektra) Over the years, Rhymes has transformed himself into a full-fledged cartoon character. Given the Tone-Loc model, that probably means he’ll win a supporting role in a Jim Carrey movie and then disappear from the entertainment firmament until VH1 does a…
In the February 27, 1997, edition of this column, Reed Foehl, longtime leader of Acoustic Junction, explained why he and his mates had decided to rechristen themselves Fool’s Progress shortly after signing a two-album deal with Capricorn Records. “We felt that we weren’t reaching as many people as we could…
For Lucinda Williams, the birth of a song is seldom easy. Every so often, a tune springs from her consciousness in something close to its final form. But more frequently, the elements of her compositions accrue slowly over months or even years, and Williams tinkers with them each step of…
Chicago-based singer-songwriter Edith Frost designs corporate Web pages by day, and on her personal site (accessible at www.edithfrost.com), her expertise shows. A carefully organized guide to Frost’s discography, tour dates and press bites, the destination includes a gazillion links to locales ranging from the Schwa Corporation to the Stick Figure…
It’s a late January evening at the Denver Rescue Mission, and the Mission Band is getting ready to play in front of a typically tough crowd–approximately sixty disheveled men (and a handful of women) who hardly seem excited about the music to come. Most of the men stare solemnly ahead…
Marc Sabatella is camped on a slippery musical slope. He refers to this location as the “outside shore” of today’s jazz mainstream, and it’s an apt metaphor. The 33-year-old Fort Collins-based pianist and bandleader isn’t immersed in these waters, but he drinks deeply from them on a regular basis. Second…
Tommy Boy’s Greatest Beats: The First Fifteen Years, 1981-1996 is a thoroughly enjoyable four-volume collection recently issued by Tommy Boy, arguably the independent label most responsible for bringing hip-hop into the musical mainstream. From “Planet Rock,” a genre-defining opus by Afrika Bambaataa + Soul Sonic Force, to “Gangsta’s Paradise,” a…
As noted ever so briefly in last week’s column, bassist/vocalist Chanin Floyd and guitarist/vocalist Tim Beckman, of Spell fame, are currently part of the GEDS, a new group that’s just starting to perform on the local circuit (catch the act next on Friday, January 29, at the Lion’s Lair). Now,…
Info: Long Live the King DJ King Britt is making Boulder part of his royal domain. By Michael Roberts King Britt is a musical force of nature. His whirlwind of activity includes fronting his own band (Sylk 130), running a label (Ovum Recordings, distributed by Sony), remixing songs for the…
“I don’t have nothing to prove to no one in Colorado,” claims DJ Chonz. “I already proved it.” He’s right. The 21-year-old beat master has already amassed numerous accolades for his prodigious talents as a turntablist, including positive writeups in The Source, Rap Pages and Blaze, but he hasn’t quite…
