Music
About Face
All right, so what if Ben Folds doesn’t get an invite; Face is closing in on another vocal-madness holiday gig at the Boulder Theater; part holy night, part holy crap, how do they do that...
Stepping outside the country box
Phil Vassar found out that country music is still a play-it-safe genre when the song “Bobbi With An I” was floated to radio as a first single off of his current CD, The Traveling Circus...
With shades of ‘Trane
It may not matter to most listeners that John McLaughlin’s latest CD To The One is a tribute of sorts to a virtuoso of another time...
Spiritual changes
Brother Ali’s two-day stint at the Fox Theatre this Sunday and Monday is bound to be a good time. Just don’t be surprised if the rapper seems pensive rather than celebratory...
Country soul
For years, Lucero has been considered by some to be an alt-country band. But ask Lucero frontman Ben Nichols about the label, and it’s obvious he always saw his band in a different light...
Life under Duran Duran
For some, the bulk of popular music in the 1980s is looked back upon as a mere punch line. Flock of Seagulls? Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney doing “Say Say Say”? Poison? Bob Dylan hamming it up in a tacky video that found him earnestly singing, “What’s a ...
Joyous upswing
If you couldn’t already tell from listening to his music, Michael Franti isn’t afraid to wear his emotions right on his sleeve. He even confesses he still cries every time he watches the final scene in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...
Licking the beaters
When I was a 12-year-old aspiring musician and daydreamer, music flowed through my mind like heroin in William Burroughs’ blood. I wanted to play hard and crazy like the metal bands I idolized. My dad’s friend loaned me a nice Yamaha acoustic guitar, and I rigged it ...
Time traveler
For a period of time last year, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore was simultaneously summoning the past and chasing bits of it away...
A Pandora’s box of rock ‘n’ roll
Near-fatal car crashes, naked arm wrestling, runaway girlfriends and drummers, and even the unfortunate deaths of two dear friends. That’s the short story of Ego Vs Id’s debut album, Taste (Abattoir Records), recorded next to a strip club in Boulder over the past two...
Flowers in bloom
After six years of almost non-stop concert tours, with more than 15 million CDs sold, Las Vegas band The Killers decided they needed a break. Their hiatus, except for an upcoming Christmas single, has provided the opportunity for their charismatic lead singer, ...
