​David Amram, who will perform at the Neal Cassady birthday tonight at the Mercury Cafe and tomorrow night at Dazzle, shared a close connection with Cassady, Jack Kerouac and other Beats, while also being a jazz musician who collaborated with Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus and Oscar Pettiford.

Amram has also composed more than a hundred orchestral and chamber works in addition to scoring the films Splendor in the Grass and the Manchurian Candidate. We recently spoke with Amram about playing jazz, composing, what he's done on previous visits to Denver, New York in the '50s and the Beats.

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​With Chuck Morris now back with Lotus, the group embarks upon a nation wide tour before buckling down for the festival season this summer. With bass in hand and a plethora of samples at his fingertips, Jesse Miller and the rest of Lotus are coming to the Fillmore Auditorium tomorrow night fresh on the heels of the release of their latest self-titled album. Miller took some time between rehearsing and writing to fill us in on why they decided to add some more electronic elements, what it's like to see their CDs in Japan, and what happens when you park your truck in front of their tour bus. Page down for the full interview.

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Jeff Farsai

​Fishbone, the self-described "disparate, all-black oddball crew," has released a documentary in honor of Black History Month. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone is a brutally honest portrayal of one of the wildest and most influential black alternative bands in our culture.

Fishbone began as a reggae/ska band but later transitioned to more soul and rock musical influences. The band's second album, Truth and Soul, released in 1988, included a hard-hitting rock version of Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead," opening the door for more of their leftist leaning commentary.

Using the themes of oppression involving nuclear war, racism and other ills of society, Fishbone became known as fiercely unique individuals who defied most stereotypes about young black men from America's urban communities. Using the cultural differences to drive their musical presence, Fishbone went on to become legendary in the punk band scene.

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Pax-Am Records

Update (12:53 p.m.): So check this out: A couple more things you should know here. First of all, the show has been postponed until tomorrow night due to inclement weather (shocker, we know). Secondly, whatever sensationalist malarkey you've read about Ryan Adams being some sort of uptight, humorless curmudgeon or whatever, we're happy to report that that's complete bullshit. Dude is every bit as amiable as you'd imagine. Oh, sure, he probably gets grumpy every now and then, but don't we all? We can tell you this first hand because we just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago.

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Catch Molina Speaks's Bronze Future chapbook release party tomorrow at Grohaus.

​If you manage to survive today's snowpocalypse, there's plenty of party goodness happening in the Mile High City this weekend. It's Bob Marley's birthday, in case you feel like celebrating. Oh, and speaking of celebrations, Tooey's will toast to the Clinton-era at the Aquarius edition of the '90s House Party, and the Analog Space crew represents the underground, literally, at the Meadowlark. Page down to the get full run down on the weekend's best party bets.

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A week ago today, the first-ever wintertime outdoor concert was held at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It was cold, but the lack of snow helped draw a hearty audience of hip hop fans, making Icelantic Winter on the Rocks, headlined by Atmosphere and Common, go off without a hitch. The scene was a lot different this morning. These photos were shot between 6:45 and 8 a.m. at Red Rocks by photographer Gene Tewksbury of Golden and of bigsunphotography.com. "It wasn't cold, it was just windy and difficult to keep my lens dry," Tewksbury said this morning.

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Madonna wants all your L-U-V in the video for new single "Give Me All Your Luvin'."

​Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" video, which premiered only hours ago on her YouTube channel, is proof perfect that she is still the Queen of Pop. The song itself isn't particularly innovative. It's instantaneous dance-pop infused with elements of a previous era, the 1980s, while still attempting to sound fresh with its strange inclusion of surf guitars (that's the work of producer Martin Solveig, for ya, which doesn't sound much different than the demo that leaked months ago), but the video is a wild ride of Madonna crazy.

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​Judging by the voluminous groans echoing across the country, word is spreading that Madonna will be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, alongside Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.

Coincidentally, ahem, both women are featured on Madonna's new single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'," the video of which premiered just a bit ago, and the decision to give the trio top billing for halftime reeks of either "synergistic" corporate marketing or someone's truly epic fail in the decision making department.

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David Black

Catch Ryan Adams tonight at the Temple Buell.

Update: The Ryan Adams show originally slated for tonight the Temple Buell has been postponed until tomorrow night. The Dr. Dog show has also been postponed, but a new date has not been announced.

What's a little snow? Blizzard schmizzard. There's too much great music this weekend to stay at home. There's Ryan Adams at the Temple Buell, Lotus at the Fillmore (with Denver's own Octopus Nebula opening up), Cass McCombs at the hi-dive, Dr. Dog at the Boulder Theater, Lemonheads playing It's a Shame About Ray in its entirety at the Fox, Busdriver at the Marquis, plus tons of local goodness, including release shows from Le Divorce and Negative Degree, FaceMan's Waltz at the Bluebird, Hearts in Space at the Walnut Room and more. Page down for the complete rundown.

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Lauren Gray: a female favorite going into the Hollywood round next week.

​Ah, the last of the auditions round of American Idol . With mediocre expectations of the talent going into the Hollywood round, there aren't more than ten contestants who truly blew us away thus far in the competition. However, in last night's St. Louis episode, a few contestants managed to at least raise the talent bar... and even squeeze a few tears out of the judges.

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