Category: News & Notes

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

Over 400 Musical Instruments Donated by Colorado Public Radio Listeners Being Distributed to More Than 30 Colorado Schools This Month

Over 400 Musical Instruments Donated by Colorado Public Radio Listeners Being Distributed to More Than 30 Colorado Schools This Month

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – August 2, 2011 –

Over 400 instruments donated by listeners during the Colorado Public Radio (CPR) Annual Instrument Drive last spring will begin making their way into the hands of Colorado students this month.

The instruments will go to more than 30 schools and music programs around the state – including 20 schools and music programs in the Denver metro area and schools in Grand Junction, Vail, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Fort Collins, Loveland and elsewhere. Many of them will be presented to students and their teachers on August 20 at the University of Denver’s Newman Center.

Tripling expectations, more than 1,300 musical instruments were collected last March during the instrument drive. Eight-five percent of them were repairable, which means that more than 1,000 of the instruments collected ultimately will end up in schools around the state for use by students.

The instruments being delivered to schools this month have all been repaired and refurbished by the Colorado Institute of Musical Technology (CIOMIT) of Castle Rock and are ready for use. Repairs on the remaining instruments will be made in the coming months.

CPR worked with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to review applications from schools throughout Colorado and place refurbished instruments in deserving school music programs around the state.

“This is one of the most gratifying activities I’ve ever been involved with,” said Steve Blatt, CPR’s director of community programs, who spearheaded the drive. “The public’s generosity was really overwhelming. And this wasn’t about people just cleaning out their attics. People donated instruments that have been in their families sometimes for generations. It’s a real acknowledgment on their part of the importance and value of music in kids’ lives.”

Research shows that children who participate in music demonstrate enhanced critical thinking, creative abilities and academic performance. A study from the 1999 College-Bound Seniors National Report shows that students who took music performance or appreciation classes scored higher on the SAT than students with no arts participation.

Schools and music programs that will receive instruments from this year’s instrument drive:

Denver Metro Area: Arvada K-8; Aurora Academy Charter School; Aurora Frontier K-8; Aurora West College Preparatory Academy; Casey Middle School, Boulder; City Strings, Denver; Denver School of the Arts; Denver Young Artists Orchestra; Eiber Elementary, Lakewood; Foster Elementary, Arvada; Gateway High School, Aurora; Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, Denver; Lawrence Elementary, Arvada; Murphy Creek K-8, Aurora; Pinnacle Charter School, Federal Heights; Polton Elementary, Aurora; Prairie Middle School, Aurora; Slater Elementary, Lakewood; South Middle School, Aurora; Thornton Middle School.

Buena Vista: McGinnis Middle School.

Clifton: Mt. Garfield Middle School.

Colorado Springs: Griffith Children’s Center and Harrison High School.

Fort Collins: Lincoln Middle IB World School.

Grand Junction: Bookcliff Middle School and Grand Mesa Middle School.

Keenesburg: Weld Central High School.

Loveland: Conrad Ball Middle School.

Olathe: Olathe Middle and High School.

Pueblo: Freed Middle School.

Vail: First Notes.

The schools were selected based on the financial need of their students and the schools’ interest in promoting music education.

In addition to CIOMIT’s participation as repair partner for the drive and Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation’s help in reviewing school applications, a number of organizations and retail businesses across the state supported the Colorado Public Radio Annual Instrument Drive by announcing it at events or serving as drop-off locations: The Arvada Center, Boulder Philharmonic, The Colorado Symphony, Denver Philharmonic, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, Friends of Chamber Music, Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Colorado, Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, HB Woodsongs, Denver Folklore Center, Flesher-Hinton Music, Kolacny Music, The Music Box, Rockley Music Company, and Golden Music Center.