Betcha didn't know that Dylan played the piano for a stripper in Central City once. Okay, so maybe some of you did, but I certainly didn't. Not until I stumbled across this Times Online article touting unreleased photos of the young troubadour taken by his friend Barry Feinstein (none were actually taken in Denver, though, as it turns out). The pics are still worth checking out, as is the article, in which Feinstein briefly recounts the pair's meeting Denver, which is where they first became acquainted. -- Dave Herrera
Just received word from Live Nation (natch) that the "world's tastiest sweetheart" will be bringing her Sticky & Sweet tour to the Pepsi Center on Saturday, November 1. Tickets for Madge's first-ever trip to the Mile High City go on sale on Saturday, May 31. Gay dudes and wistful soccer moms from the classes of 1984-1989 are reportedly stoked. -- Dave Herrera
We're knee-deep into Depression 2.0. We're running out of jobs, and we're overwhelmed with the amount of people looking for them. You're unemployed — or if you aren't, then there's a good chance that you will be, because your job can be combined with the guy in accounting and the receptionist, and so you can head home. You're not the first, though. Musicians love writing about work — or a lack thereof. With that in mind, here's a mix (in its entirety; an abbreviated list appears in the print version this week's issue) for you to listen to while you wait for that first unemployment check to roll in:
Before Laurie Anderson came to perform at the Boulder Theatre last month, she chatted at length with Michael Roberts about her new project, Homeland. But as it turns out, she was about to make a change in her own homeland's status, by marrying long-time live-in Lou Reed.
The April 12 marriage ceremony was conducted by Nick Forster, the co-host of etown who just happens to have a certificate of ordination from the Universal Life Church, which he got in order to help facilitate etown's renovation of an old church in town.
In a recent Playlist review, I complained about the frequency with which music-scene observers equated the Nine Inch Nails set Ghosts I-IV with Radiohead's In Rainbows during discussions about major artists releasing material for free or at radically reduced rates online -- my point being that Ghosts constitutes a series of disposable studio doodles and the like, while Rainbows qualifies as a major new work. Little did I know that NIN's Trent Reznor had a bolder plan in mind. At 12:01 a.m. Pacific on May 5, he made a new recording, entitled The Slip, available for free download at his group's website, NIN.com. Better yet, The Slip is a real NIN album, not just a compendium of leftover material that didn't deserve the hype that accompanied its arrival.
Here's a selection of the best of last week's music blogging from around the Village Voice chain:
Learn the history of Seattle music as seen by John Roderick of The Long Winters in a special two-for-one show of love, because I somehow missed part one last week. Here are the firsttwo pieces in this epic rock and roll odyssey, My Seattle Rock Journey.
So, the one and only Metropolitan Tom Waits, once a mainstay around these parts, has announced his summer tour plans. Guess what... no Denver date!! Two freaking shows in Phoenix (two!!), and he's even making his way to St. Louis, but nothing for us?! Waits explains the glaring oversight routing, or "PEHDTSCKAJMBA," as he puts it, after the jump.
So, when I first heard the song “Colorado” by the Tijuana-based Nortec Collective with its chorus line of “Run, Colorado! Run, Colorado!”, I thought it was either exhorting illegal immigrants to head towards our fair state or run away from it – a lyric that takes on new meaning given Rep. Douglas Bruce’s recent labeling of workers from south of the boarder as “illiterate peasants.” I thought it a good future possibility for state song, given that it sounds more hip than John Denver’s white-bread “Rocky Mountain High" and will better reflect future demographics.
But then I listened closer and realized it was about a Mexican guy in a red (colorado) car who drives across the boarder while running from the federales. So now I’m thinking the tune should instead be named the official state song for Cinco de Mayo cruisers running from the police on Federal. Run, Colorado, run! –- Jared Jacang Maher
The Pharrell Williams Q&A published in conjunction with an April 24 article contains a mention of Westword’s previous N.E.R.D. interview – one conducted back in 2003 with Chad Hugo, Williams’ partner in the band and the Neptunes production duo. The earlier piece, which appears in its entirety below, provides greater detail about the Neptunes’ rise, N.E.R.D.’s origins and the flexibility of membership. Indeed, Hugo revealed that he wouldn’t even be performing on that year’s N.E.R.D. tour owing to his busy schedule – a bizarre indication of just how different the group is from the typical combo.
For more information about how the other half of musicians live, read on:
Here's a selection of the best of last week's music blogging from around the Village Voice chain:
Sometimes, you can judge a book by it's cover -- or an album, at least. A look at thirteen soul-blues albums, a genre that's mastered the art of capturing the record's flavor with a perfect cover.
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Uh, yeah, there's at least one recently deceased 27-year-old rapper who'd probably beg to differ with that adage after an MC battle turned deadly earlier this week in the Motor City. Having witnessed countless battles in my time, I figured that sooner or later someone's ego would be irreparably damaged to the point where they'd lash out. Hell, I've seen some pretty ruthless rhymesayers say some pretty jacked up stuff over the years, and I have to admit that pervading sense of impending violence was half the draw. But at most, I was thinking fisticuffs. Never imagined anyone would actually get killed over some shit like that. Yikes.
Joel Harvey is Ari from East High School's new hero.
Mine, too.
On his day off, Harvey happened to head into work at the Bluebird Theater and caught a phone call from Eli asking if the Bluebird would be willing to post his prom date invitation on the marquee. Having been spurned by a girl himself in high school -- and suffered the kind of pain and humiliation that is exponentially multiplied by age, acne and punk music -- Harvey jumped at the chance and jumped on a ladder. He says he even had to craft a question mark out of electrical tape to complete his masterwork of charity.
Remember when the Beastie Boys produced Grand Royal Magazine and every month featured another installment of "Real American Badass?" (The only one I can remember was Aaron Burr.) Well, I hereby declare Joel Harvey a Real American Badass. If anyone knows if Emma said yes (the marquee was changed after East High School's lunch ended; even charity has its limits), please let us know. Oh, and big-ups to Brofax for keeping it real on the 'fax.
Is it wrong to write such catchy songs from a killer's perspective? Am I a sick man for finding this so cool? Does this mean I have deeply buried issues?
Probably.
What can I say, I always wanted to see a band that sounds like a David Byrne-fronted Devo tribute band write a song paying homage to one of my favorite fictional serial killers (the song's called "Lotion" by Greenskeepers, by the way). And then see it set to a video made from footage of that same character. So that's that part of my life fulfilled. Now I can move on to looking for a country song about a male to female pre-op tranny looking for love in all the wrong places, with a video made from cleverly recut footage from Urban Cowboy-- Cory Casciato
Denver's newest celebrity -- Daisy Graves, semi-finalist for the heart of Poison's Brett Michaels on Rock of Love II, almost fucked her way to the top. Well, if by the top you mean being chosen from a house full of attention-starved, drama-drunk reality-TV contestants as the (most likely) throwaway squeeze of a man who (presumably) had eyeliner tattooed on his lids in the '80s. But Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and sadly, Graves was passed over for Ambre, despite having acquiesced to Michaels's request to Lay Your Body Down. "I Won't Forget You" was her only consolation prize, the poor Fallen Angel.
Michaels sent Daisy packing after discovering that she'd hung out and was friendly with members of his band ("and the opening band and the opening, opening band") on several occasions and yet never made an attempt to introduce herself to "this guy that you're trying to tell that you absolutely want to live with and love and be with for the rest of your life."
Michaels could've saved himself a lot of heartache if only he had read this 2004 Seraphim Shock feature, "State of Shock," in which Graves talks about meeting and hanging out with a far cooler member of Poison.
Photo by Stephanie Berger from laurieanderson.com
