Doing it live

Absolute Vinyl begins hosting bands to build community

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As Absolute Vinyl opens its doors to live music tonight,
owner Doug Gaddy says he hopes the venue fills a gap in Boulder’s music scene.

“There’s a lack of decent places for bands to play,” Gaddy
says. “There’s all these start-up bands and there’s no place for them to play.”

The show tonight starts at 7:30 p.m. with Seattle band The
Soft Hills, Boulderites The Alright Band, and Sedges Have Edges.

Providing a place to host local bands is one of the reasons
Gaddy decided to add live music to Absolute Vinyl’s record and audio equipment
sales. He says he hopes Absolute can be “a place where music happens” — where
people can buy vinyl records and audio equipment and hear the bands they want to
buy.

And let’s be clear: It’s vinyl records. Don’t come looking
for CDs here, Gaddy says.

“I have a heavy commitment to vinyl and analog,” he says. He
will allow CDs in the store this evening since The Alright Band is celebrating
a CD release party. Otherwise, he says, “I’m not gonna carry Arcade Fire or
Katy Perry, because everybody else does.”

Gaddy says live music at Absolute should help build a sense
of community among music lovers. “Anyone should be able to come there and share
an experience,” he says. “It’s all music-centric. I won’t be serving beer or
anything, so it’s about the music and meeting people.”

He says he can already see that happening at the store at
times.

“Hopefully I’m going to have 60-year-olds and 20-year-olds listening
together,” he says. “That already happens sometimes with ‘record people,’ and I
try to introduce them to each other.”

Gaddy hopes to book a variety of talent for the venue, he
says, which is located at 55th Street and Arapahoe Avenue. He mentions Denver
rapper MC Time and jazz improvisers The Bottesini Project as upcoming acts.