Category: News & Notes

Colorado Public Radio Begins Distributing Instruments Donated by Listeners

Over 400 musical instruments donated by listeners during Colorado Public Radio’s Annual Instrument Drive last spring begin making their way into the hands of students during this event marking the kickoff of the instrument distribution. Ultimately, about 1,000 of the instruments collected will be repaired and given to Colorado schools.

WHO:           Colorado Pubic Radio staff, students and teachers, repair-fund donors and others.
WHEN:         Saturday, August 20, 1-2 p.m.
WHERE:       Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center, University of Denver 2344 East Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80208

VISUALS: LOTS OF KIDS AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

About 400 repaired and refurbished instruments will be on display, each with tags identifying the recipient school / music program.  Students and teachers representing about two dozen of the 30-plus schools and music programs accepting instruments, loading them into their vehicles at end of the event.  Isaac Allen, 14, will play a brief violin solo. Isaac has been playing the violin since he was nine and made his public solo debut with the Boulder Youth Symphony at age 10.

BACKGROUND

Tripling expectations, more than 1,300 musical instruments were collected last March during the instrument drive.  To date, nearly 500 instruments have been repaired and refurbished by the Colorado Institute of Musical Instrument Technology (CIOMIT) of Castle Rock. Repairs on the remaining instruments continue. Ultimately, about 1,000 of instruments will end up in schools and music programs around the state for use by students.  Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation reviewed school applications and helped select the schools and music programs to receive instruments.

Instruments were collected at nine locations, including CPR, music stores around the Denver metro area and at the Grand Junction Symphony office.

Eleven cultural organizations helped publicize the instrument drive by including fliers in event programs, pre-concert announcements and emails to their followers.

Studying music in school has been shown to improve academic performance. It also has a positive effect on students’ self-discipline, self-esteem, as well as thinking and listening skills.

Colorado Public Radio is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides 24-hour, in-depth news and music to about 450,000 listeners each week (Source: Arbitron, Spring / Fall 2010). More than 90 percent of CPR’s funds come from the private support of listeners, businesses, and foundations.

Where Ya Been Goat???

Ok, so some folks are asking “where ya been goat?”  Seriously, this is THE single busiest month of the year for me.  Two festivals – Carbon Valley Music Festival (Dacono) and Bohemian Nights @ New West Fest (Fort Collins) – PLUS I typically take on a home remodeling project in August (this yr is building my wife a kitchen pantry) + host any visiting family (8 yr old grand daughter this year) + any foh sound work I have (Oskar Blues in Longmont this wk and next) + receiving and listening to new music (list follows) + ….. oh well, you’ve got the picture … there ain’t much time to just sit and chew on the grass and old tin cans (but I try anyway LOL).  New shows coming up beginning this weekend … stay tuned for that.  Lots of great new music to share, including:

a shoreline dream – Losing Them All To This Time
Achille Lauro – Low Cha Cha [Hot Congress Records Sampler 2011]
El Toro de la Muerte – Danger These Days
Grant Sabin – Grant Sabin
Houses – Winter
Lionel Young Band – On Our Way to Memphis
Pat Murphy – Paul Howard Project
Post Paradise – the New Normal
The Dirty Lookers – Audio Voyeur

Speaking of festivals — here’s some of my favorite pics from this month —

Goat and Miss Pattie caught walking around the festival grounds at Bohemian Nights at New West Fest (Fort Collins) on Day 1 …. a very rare picture of the goatz captured by our friends at the Fort Collins Coloradoan / GoFoCo.net …

and then … after 3 days of emceeing the Mountain Ave Stage (main stage) of BoNi / NWF … we enjoyed an incredibly splendid private room dinner hosted by and provided by our friends at the Melting Pot … when we walked into our little private booth and saw this, both the goatz were brought to tears.  This all after viewing the following from our vantage point on the Mountain Ave Stage … we look forward to doing it again next year.

Day 1 = Lionel Young Band (no video), Cracker (f/ Coloradoan Johnny Hickman), G. Love & Special Sauce (our first ever Friday night nat’l headliner)

Day 2 = Patti Fiasco, Churchill (not in video), Bonnie & the Clydes, Whitewater Ramble, Musketeer Gripweed, Nathaniel Rateliff & Fairchildren, Fox St. Allstars, Tedeschi Trucks Band 

Day 3 = The Big Motif (killed it!), Lindsey O’Brien Band (rumors circulating about a new album this next year?), Dovekins, John-Alex Mason (goat’s heart goes out on the passing of his Dad this summer), Romano Paoletti (inc. an all star cast of some of my favorite Colorado bluegrass/country players), Asleep At the Wheel (despite being one of my all time favorite bands, it took me 37 years to finally see them live). 

One special note:  KRFC Fort Collins did a major overhaul of their music offerings beginning Aug 8th under the care and direction of legendary Colorado program director John Hayes.  During BoNi @ NWF, KRFC aired the Mountain Ave Stage live each of the three days — kudos to them for that.  HOWEVER — based on numerous emails over the past year (and direct knowledge of what was supposed to happen) KRFC was supposed to have flipped to a Colorado-centric music format … which I’m sorry to say has not yet happened.  A scan of their playlists since August 8th indicates that 1/7 songs (14% on average) is Colorado in nature.  That’s up from 6% (1/17) Jan to the end of July ….  Props for the increase (these tallies include cuts that have been aired on The Colorado Sound) … and I’m hoping to see the fruition of the goals and direction passed by the KRFC Board of Directors last August 2010 directing a Colorado-centric format be put in place.

Currently, the most played Colorado titles of 2011 at KRFC are:

1. Finnders and Youngberg – FY5 (bluegrass/country)
2. John-Alex Mason – Jook Joint Thunderclap (blues)
3. Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams – Sinners & Saints (americana/country)
4. Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore – Saints & Sinners  (americana/folk)
5. Big Head Todd & The Monsters – Big Head Blues Club: 100 Years of Robert Johnson (blues)
6. Fierce Bad Rabbit – Spools of Thread (rock, alternative)
7. Devotchka – 100 Lovers (adult alternative)
8. Grant Gordy – Grant Gordy (neo-acoustic, bluegrass, jazz)
9. Bonnie and The Clydes – Bonnie And The Clydes (americana/trad-country)
10. Musketeer Gripweed – Dyin’ Day (rock, blues, jamband)

Okay – that’s it … I’ll be back this weekend with a new playlist and more new music ….

Carbon Valley Music Festival

What’s new in the goat pen?  No new shows for Aug 6-12 and Aug 13-20.  Too busy with festivals and a kitchen remodel of all things.  So, I’ll have a new episode of the Colorado Sound out to all the stations for the week of Aug 20-26.

I just experienced a spectacular couple of days.  I just finished up with the Carbon Valley Music Festival IV.  Drew Emmitt Band, Hazel Miller Band, Onda, Boa & the Constrictors, Bonnie & the Clydes, Lalla Rookh, and the Frederick High School Gold Tones Jazz Band set a new standard by which future bills will be measured.  Every single act was rightfully on their game.

Thanks go out to a stellar production crew:  Bob Foss/Riffactory on foh, Skinny from SSS Productions on lights, Big John (stage manager) and the INCREDIBLE Marshall Austin MAP32 stage.  I will have pics up sometime soon, I promise.  We also had a couple of tapers out doing sound and video of the Drew Emmitt set – and from what I heard, the audio will be up on archives.org sometime in the next couple of months.

About that stage:  As a performer and/or emcee, I’ve been on countless numbers of stages going back to 1970.  As a show producer I’ve used smaller stages, like the MAP24 and the SL100.  As a member of the production staff and crew, I’ve been on stages as large as the SL450.  In every single case, the MAP32 kills.  The design was thought up by someone with experience playing on and/or doing production on a stage.  As someone standing in the audience with an eye on visual aesthetics this stage sets a standard the others can really only aspire to.  It is a truly magnificent visual presence.

We just used one at the 2011 Carbon Valley Music Festival (Dacono, CO).  My client (the city of Dacono), the several thousand fans in attendance and each and every single musician and crew member who participated was absolutely blown away.  Nothing but complete praise … oh, and the two man crew, consisting of “Senior” (age 72) and Greg (age about 30 something, I’m guessing) had no problem putting the stage up, taking it down, and driving it off on a 1 ton dually.  I rebooked it for next year on the spot.  Best value for the dollar you can imagine if you want a stage presence that really impresses everyone.

Chris K. / Rocky Mountain Music Network