This is how famous Denis Leary is: He begins and ends a story by saying, “To this day, when I see Mick…,” and by Mick, he means Mick Jagger. They became pals, oh, seven years back, when the Rolling Stones were on that week’s farewell tour, kickin’ it in the…
Hello, what’s this? Why, could it be another cautionary tale from Hollywood about recreational drugs being — alert the media! — not particularly good for people? Indeed, with Blow, director Ted Demme (Beautiful Girls, Monument Ave.) has set us up with a morality tale in which the moral is obvious…
On the day she turns nine years old, an Iranian girl must bid childhood farewell. Male playmates are banished; girlish dresses are exchanged for a loose-fitting chador to hide the curves the wearer will develop as her body matures, and a rigid segregation of the sexes is suddenly enforced. Increasingly,…
When Olu Dara put out his first album, In the World: From Natchez to New York, in 1998, most jazz lovers knew what to expect — the sort of avant-garde trumpet playing that Dara had contributed to performances and recordings by the likes of David Murray, Henry Threadgill and Jamaaladeen…
Thomas Buckner only interprets living composers. An expressive, theatrical baritone (and the grandson of IBM founder Thomas Watson) who’s part performer, part perpetual student, part impresario and 100 percent avant-garde, he’s sung the modern operas of Robert Ashley and jammed with synthesizers, electronic-music environments, computer screens, sculptures, all manner of…
Ennio Morricone can tell you stories about each of his 400 children — where they were conceived, what they mean to him, why each one remains so singular and special he cannot and will not choose a favorite. He’s proud even of the orphans, the runts, the bastards, the children…
Yes, it’s a school night, but that doesn’t bother the lively and loyal crowd on the dance floor at Rock Island. So What, a weekly dance night at this LoDo institution, finds DJs K-Nee, Style ‘N Fashion and Aztec playing just about anything they and the crowd feel like. The…
A pub named Streets of London might seem an unlikely place for a night of country-flavored entertainment, but don’t tell that to DJs Stagger Lee and Chester Fields. These good ol’ boys are the hosts of Country Gone Wrong, an inside-out C&W show that pairs heartbreak with hilarity. Country classics…
Jake Jabs came out fighting when the News and Post announced their proposed JOA. But then, he’s taken on wilder beasts than rampaging publishers, as becomes clear in the first few pages of his self-published autobiography, An American Tiger ($19.95 at an American Furniture Warehouse store near you, or online)…
Recorded and/or filmed at Red Rocks, Road Rock V.1, an in-concert CD, and Red Rocks Live, a DVD, aren’t just fine documents of Neil Young’s undimmed musical energy. They’re also reminders that the natural amphitheater located in the foothills west of Denver remains the most primordial place to see a…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Let’s be Frank: She got da stank! You can take it to the bank…
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…
From navy blazers to red vests to bold Hawaiian luau-wear, Denver’s frat-rock revivalists, the Orangu-Tones, are always in complete harmony — from a fashion standpoint, that is. “Authentic” is the key adjective here: These guys wouldn’t look out of place at a 1962 sock hop. The Tones’ reliable uniformity is…
Denver’s long-lived country establishment has had its share of troubles over the past year. But despite a little scandal, some ownership troubles and battles with state liquor law-enforcement agencies, there’s a bloom on the Rose again. Thanks to new management — the place is now helmed by longtime Grizzly Rose…
