Hubris: an overweening self-confidence that can lead to calamity. Many a hero in Greek literature met a grim fate as a result of this failing, and in virtually every case, their collapses were richly deserved. These characters weren’t merely examples of the how-the-mighty-have-fallen concept that gives many of us common…
“There are questions I’ve tried really hard not to ask myself about my own music–what lifestyle does it reinforce, what niche does it fit into,” claims accordionist David Willey, the creative force behind Denver’s Hamster Theatre. “Because I’m operating, under the guise at least, that I’m following my heart.” If…
The hype surrounding the current tour by the Chemical Brothers has been somewhat less overwhelming than the hoopla associated with U2’s current jaunt (see page 71)–Dennis Hopper hasn’t offered to narrate any network television specials for them yet. But in some ways, the expectations are just as heavy. The Brothers–Brits…
Avoid writing about Denver radio for a few months and look what happens: hirings, firings, format shifts and random bloodletting. Let’s try to catch up, shall we? Hilary Schmidt, among the brightest DJs on the local scene over the past couple of years, is gone; after stints with the late…
Pat Kincaid, frontman for Denver’s Foggy Mountain Fuckers, first encountered country music at age seven. “I had this babysitter who I’d stay with, and she was really into country,” he says. “Every day for about a year, she played the live Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson record, so all those songs were…
“College music has evolved into instrumental music being accepted,” says Erik Deutsch, keyboardist for the singer-less Boulder-based collective Fat Mama. “Bands like Medeski, Martin & Wood and Groove Collective are popular now just because it’s a nice evolution from the Grateful Dead and Phish. It’s the next step, and I…
Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, among the few sparks on the swiftly dimming alterna-scene, is a guitarist, singer and songwriter of great skill and intensifying renown thanks to Perfect From Now On, an impressive full-length recently released by Warner Bros. But he has another job that’s just as important…
The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre (Columbia) Despite the presence of Jello Biafra on “Disclaimer,” a bit o’ hucksterism plopped at the top of this disc in an effort to rent a little credibility, Ixnay is punk rock only in the broadest sense. The comfort lead shouter Dexter Holland displays…
For over a decade, singer Blag Dahlia and the band he fronts, the Dwarves, have done a good job of rattling the cages of rock-music fans. Since its 1986 debut, the group’s players (currently Dahlia, guitarist Whslley Smskes, bassist Gash Money and drummer Vadge Moore) have offered up a blistering,…
Anyone who’s ever paid the slightest attention to popular music in these United States has long realized that the record industry’s response to an economic slump is to manufacture a trend. There’s no shortage of examples: The birth of rock and roll, the British Invasion, the singer-songwriter era, the disco…
“People can’t just take Stevie Ray Vaughan and think he’s the creator and almighty god of the blues, because that’s just not how it is,” says Denver bluesman Lonesome Dan Kase. “He played rock and roll, which was good. But when you base your whole philosophy on a guy who…
Johnny Dowd Wrong Side of Memphis When I began reviewing albums, I instituted a simple rule for myself: I must listen to at least three songs of every recording I receive before deciding whether or not to put it in my giveaway drawer. This doctrine has caused me no shortage…
Last week’s column about the ruckus during the April 9 Jeru the Damaja date at Boulder’s Fox Theatre contained a lot of information about the incident, but it lacked an important element: the comments of Jeru himself. When yours truly finally tracked down the rapper, on tour somewhere in the…
Most acts that are part of the so-called third wave of ska promote themselves using a simple formula for success: touring, touring, touring. But Isaac Green and the Skalars, among the best of this new generation, recently discovered that the road can sometimes be rough. “We’ve only been on tour…
Veruca Salt Eight Arms to Hold You (Outpost/Minty Fresh) In my review of Veruca Salt’s much-ballyhooed debut, 1994’s American Thighs, I lamented the band’s derivative nature (the Breeders and Sonic Youth were among those paid homage via imitation) but suggested that, given some time, the players might eventually develop into…
Guitarist/vocalist John Cephas and harmonica expert Phil Wiggins, collectively known as Cephas & Wiggins, play what’s alternately called Tidewater music or Piedmont blues. And while they’re not the only ones to do so, Cephas is frustrated that more young players aren’t following in their footsteps. “You know, I can’t really…
Singer-songwriter Dan Bern is of the rather old-fashioned belief that words–as in lyrics–actually matter. Too bad most of the ones that show up in popular music are so banal. “We live in a very polite time in some ways,” he says in a halting yet intense voice that only occasionally…
Although Denver has been growing its own brand of DJs for as long as there have been clubs to mix records at, the last five years have witnessed a maturation of the scene and an explosion of urban record-slingers whose work rivals anything being done by their smug big-city cousins…
The Jeru the Damaja/DJ Shadow gig April 9 at Boulder’s Fox Theatre should have been memorable for musical reasons. Instead, what will stick in the minds of most of those who were present will be the actions of a handful of knuckleheads who helped perpetuate the impression that live hip-hop…
In its three years of existence, the Fort Collins-based Immortal Dominion has received about as much attention from the mainstream media as Tom Selleck might from ticketholders at your average Indigo Girls concert. But that doesn’t mean that the group’s members–guitarist/vocalist Ray Smith, guitarist Brian Villers, drummer Ben Huntwork and…
Denver’s Big Mike is not a man wanting for confidence. In describing the sort-of rebirth of his best-known band, Phantasmorgasm, he declares, “On a pompous, pretentious note, it’s my intention to reclaim Denver from the dregs–from how dismal the scene around here has become.” He declines to elaborate on this…
To many observers, the 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate sect who recently committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, are tragic figures. To the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, they’re something more: material. The good reverend, who specializes in comic entertainment of an especially Southern-fried sort, has already been working…
