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Bob Dylan is a weirdo among freaks. Even when he was a leader of the '60s folk scene, he considered himself an outcast, a stranger who was lost, and by his own admission had "no direction home." So maybe it was fitting that the Bob Dylan tribute show last night at the Oriental Theater had no direction either. It really worked for the whole tribute theme.

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Killfix
The Walnut Room

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Being a native of Littleton, I felt an immediate affinity for Januar while researching their Myspace Music page. Their profile was incredibly straightforward. From: Littleton (who owns up to that?); influences: Jeff Buckley, Mojave 3, Sigur Ros; band name is Icelandic for "January," and they're wearing woolly beanies in their thumbnail picture. In the rest of the photos -- even through minor line-up changes -- they look like best friends forever. Often with their arms around one another and ear-to-ear grins across their glowing faces. "Januar in Pittsburgh '06...1st tour ever." More than anything, they looked primed to win the battle of the bands in a dramatic, underdog One Crazy Summer fashion.

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Ethan Iverson, keyboardist for the Bad Plus, had a lot more to say than could be squeezed into the profile that appears in the May 24 edition of Westword. But the web has plenty of room -- so here's the full Q&A.

The topics discussed include the reasons behind the title of the combo's new CD, Prog; the question of whether Tears for Fears and Herb Alpert numbers can be considered progressive; Iverson's disinterest in exploring the rock music he missed as a devoted young jazzbo; the prospects of the Bad Plus ever covering a Lionel Richie number; the group's positive and negative experiences while on Columbia Records; and Iverson's contributions to "Do the Math," the trio's blog, which feature his takes on everything from the music of Sesame Street to transcriptions of Miles Davis classics.

Consider the conversation a real Plus:

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Thickly bearded and shrouded beneath a floppy hat, Sir Richard Bishop warmed up the eager, Monday night crowd. Sort of an edgier Leo Kottke, after about thirty minutes of lighting-quick guitar instrumentals he lightheartedly lambasted the freak folk scene, trying to count the beards in the crowd. Then he broke into a song about hanging a preacher and wrapping the corpse in fancy yarn before chopping it into six pieces. A gloomy number, but he floated in the word "hemlock" so it wasn't without poetry. Bishop's chugging set was an atmospheric intro for Animal Collective, who took the stage casually as the crowd erupted, doubling the whiffs of grass and BO. Band member Geologist wrapped his signature headlamp around his bean and began inspecting what looked like a small mixing board.

Panda Bear readied himself behind a much taller tower of electronic devices and Avey Tare tinkered with a ragtag assortment of percussion instruments and a lonesome keyboard set back behind them all. The band's fourth member, The Deakin, isn't on their current tour, but that didn't seem to bother the audience. One fellow at the head of the stage looked ready to take communion, bowing down and stroking the semicircular area at the front of the stage with spread palms.

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May 17’s Westword features a profile of Dimmu Borgir, Norway’s premier practitioners of symphonic black metal -- but there’s a lot more mayhem where that came from. Below, find the entire Q&A with Erkekjetter Silenoz, the band’s guitarist, lyric writer and all-around conceptualist. Along the way, he discusses the narrative and protagonist of In Sorte Diaboli, the group’s new CD; his rejection of organized religion; the similarities between Diaboli’s satanic journey and his own; Christian homophobia; the band’s predilection for pitting beautiful and ferocious music against each other; the prospects for a Dimmu Borgir movie; accusations of selling out; the outfit’s rising stateside profile; and his contention that his music’s actually capable of saving lives.

The devil you say…

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It's early in the current Red Rocks season, but the marvelous venue's most unusual 2007 show may have already taken place. The May 15 date featuring Icelandic sprite Björk and harpist Joanna Newsom offered the sort of challenging music that wouldn't be expected to draw a throng. Yet the rows along the Rocks were damn near full, and those who braved a misty, mildly chilly spring night were rewarded by performances that were filled with adventurous arrangements and artistic daring. While neither set was flawless, even the rough patches were intriguing.

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Westword's May 10 profile of Ramble John Krohn, known to the music world as RJD2, finds the hip-hop producer turned pop-music maker complaining about the press taking comments out of context. There's no danger of that here. Below, find the entire transcript of our RJD2 interview.

The conversation touches upon a slew of topics, including the similarities (rather than the differences) between RJD2's latest CD, The Third Hand, and his previous work; the challenge of releasing unusual tracks, as opposed to simply making them; the misinterpretations of his offhand joke about going "rap-free in 2006"; similar confusion over his description of some past productions as "moron music"; the propensity of critics to be as unwilling to let artists develop as some fans; the risks and rewards of a producer experimenting with singing; constant change versus the development of a signature style; so-called "Scott Storch bullshit"; the excitement of playing live using old-school instruments; and the beauty of mistakes.

As you'll see, context is everything.

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Alright, so the wait is over. This year’s Showcase ballot has finally been revealed. As with every year, the event continues to evolve and improve (we like to think so, anyway). This year, you’ll notice that we’ve added five new categories, and there’s 57 acts making a first-time appearance on the ballot -- many of whom will be performing at the Showcase on Saturday, June 16, along with our unbelievable headliners Lucero and Dinosaur Jr. (who you can also catch tonight on Late Night with Craig Ferguson, BTW).

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Tuyet Nguyen’s April 19th review of Thank God for Astronauts’ latest offering has caused a stir over on the Denver MessageBoard. One member’s letter to the editor sparked a debate of Nguyen’s merit as a music reviewer.

Not wanting just a select few to debate this important topic of musical aptitude, we here at The Latest Word want to know what you think.

Send us your comments

--Crystal Preston-Watson

As interview subjects, musicians tend to fall into a handful of predictable categories: the kind that offer canned answers, the sort who fall back on cliches, the ones just waiting for something to offend them, those who actually listen to each question and try to answer in a fresh way (those are the best), and so on. But precious few are like Regina Spektor, a profile subject in the May 3 edition of Westword -- inveterate chatterboxes who leap from subject to subject like Amazonian frogs on hot cement. During the interview reproduced below, she was consistently beguiling and charming, but getting her on track to talk about her latest album, Begin to Hope, or most other songwriterly questions was damn near impossible. Then again, the results are a lot more revealing than they would have been were she the type of person capable of staying on topic for more than a few seconds at a time.

Among the highlights of the following Q&A, which got rolling shortly after Spektor spotted a black cat walking in her Bronx neighborhood: the surprising height of the talent at Good Morning America; the problem with answering questions on live broadcasts; her decision to live life without a television; the kinship of TV and food; the Virginia Tech shootings (which took place two days prior to this conversation); the importance of teaching violence prevention, instead of exploiting tragedy for ratings purposes; the attributes of college audiences; and the joy that comes from searching out and celebrating the surprises all around us.

Like, for example, experiencing a conversation with Regina Spektor. Read on:

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What a kick ass weekend for live music in the Mile High City. Started things off this past Friday night at the Marquis Theater for the Brotherhood of Dae Han’s CD release party. The scream theater commenced with a blistering set from Ft. Collins’ In Case You’re Curious, who years from now, when all the pillow-combed hairlines of these screamo kids begin to recede, will no doubt be blamed for countless slipped and herniated discs inspired by its music, which draws heavily from the Tooth and Nail imprint. Honestly, it's shocking that these guys don’t already have whiplash themselves, what with all the relentless flailing and thrashing about they do on stage.

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Nothing warms up the soul for a little rock ‘n roll better than reggae.

Warren Haynes, a latter-day recruit of the famed Allman Brothers Band, probably learned that long ago. But regardless of when Haynes crossed paths with Toots Hibbert, frontman of the legendary Jamaican band Toots and the Maytals, Denverites at the Fillmore Auditorium on April 26 got to reap the benefits.

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Here's a bonus for fans of Joseph Arthur, who's profiled in the April 26 edition of Westword. The published piece was based on an extensive Q&A reproduced below. Among the topics Arthur touches upon: his risky new solo album, Let's Just Be, and why at least one song on it is closer to punk rock than most of the current music labeled as such; the assembling of his current band, dubbed the Lonely Astronauts; his decision to start his own label, rather than submitting to the whims of corporate suits; the issue of how much material is too much to release in a given time period, complete with a defense of Ryan Adams; a few words about his intriguing online tour blog, which can be accessed by clicking here; his participation in a Bruce Springsteen tribute at Carnegie Hall; the almost dada-like sequencing of his new CD; and a hint about what treasures remain in his musical vault.

Go, Joe, go:

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Virgil Dickerson has always suspected that people have been stealing his music. Now he has irrefutable proof. When we spoke last month, the head of Suburban Home Records had no quanitfiable evidence to support his claims that illegal downloads were taking a toll on the label’s bottom line. Still, he had his premonitions. Those suspicions were confirmed a few weeks ago, when a friend tipped him off to a blog that had been linking to free downloads of Love Me Destroyer’s latest effort, The Things Around Us Burn -- in its entirety.

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