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Volume 3, Issue 10
MusicRattle the BonesThe Blues &Bones Festival highlights a local revival of the blues.Do you think you can recognize the blues when you hear it? Is it the 12-bar chorus song form? The three-line stanza with the first two lines repeated? Is it the singer, the dipping inflection of the notes or grittysmoky sound in the voice? Maybe it's the guitar, accompanying a lone singer or crying and wailing as leader of the band? Do you prefer downndirty lyrics or the sad and mournful type? How about the simple feeling of "the blues." Can you describe it? The blues has come a long way since its humble beginnings, and it is both difficult and limiting to suggest there is one correct type of blues music. The subset genre we call the blues today has a complex history which, like its cousin jazz, reflects and responds to every segment of American culture and society tracing through the last century. While this is no place for a history lesson, Denver can catch a glimpse of its blues evolution as the 5th Annual Blues and Bones Festival rolls into town May 25, 26, and 27. With both national and local acts on the bill and a continuous barbecue recipe contest, the smells and sounds of the festival should be bigger and better than in past years. Acclaimed recording artists such as Delbert McClinton, Marcia Ball, Curtis Salgado, Rosie Ledet and Coco Montoya offer a huge amount of variety, making it easy to please the anticipated large crowds. From a local standpoint, Denver offers some of its most respected blues talent, including Erica Brown Band, Sammy Dee and Tommy Thomas, and Chris Daniels and the Kings (see schedule below). Jim Primock is the vice president of the Colorado Blues Society, formed five years ago in response to the growing number of fans, players, and venues throughout the state. "Obviously the Blues and Bones is great for the local blues community because it's a big event, and everyone can mix and mingle and expand their fan base," Primock noted. "Denver has a few active blues venues such as Brendan's and Ziggy's, but more clubs like Herman's, the Gothic Theatre, and Soiled Dove are booking blues acts. And people are coming out to hear it." Although the blues sound was made famous by Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Bessie Smith, the hybrid blends influenced by jazz, rocknroll, gospel, soul, R&B and swing attract a more mainstream culture. Today, open jam sessions occur every night except Fridays around town, and the audience and stage are becoming filled with younger fans listening, learning, and apprenticing the blues. Boyd Baker is marketing coordinator for Performance International, the producer of Blues and Bones. He is happy with this year's lineup as well as with the importance of the festival for the Denver blues community. "We're bringing some of the best national and regional acts to downtown Denver who folks might not have the opportunity to see otherwise," Baker said. "These performers are all ages and styles. We've got Robert Belfour, a 60plusyearold country bluesman who recently released his first album; Rosie Ledet, a young starlet known as the "Zydeco Sweetheart" who has won three "Best of the Best" awards from Offbeat Magazine; and Eddie Cotton, a newcomer with a stinging guitar and a voice reminiscent of Al Green or Sam Cooke." One local blues singer, Tommy Thomas, looks forward to this opportunity to perform his brand of blues among the other styles featured at the festival. Thomas has been steadily building a reputation as "The Working Man," trying to find outlets for his mix of traditional southern blues he heard as a boy in Mississippi and the styles popular today. "I can get to a wider audience from a festival like this," Thomas said. "I like to sing from my heart and entertain people. I put my soul into it, and that's where blues comes from. The blues is a story. It's all about expression. You don't need an orchestra to do it. The blues is the blues." Denver seems to have a knack for cultivating a few styles of blues that have moved in from other parts of the country. Bands like Tony Luke Trio cultivate "real" Texas Blues, made most famous in recent history by the late guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. Both Primock and Thomas see a growing number of bluesrock bands geared toward bars and getting people to dance. Bands like Tempa & the Tantrums and Little Mary & the Tom Cats are good examples. "I definitely can't put my finger on one particular Denver style," said Primock, "but more people are playing and paying attention. And that's great for everyone." --Judy B. Find out more at www.coblues.com or www.bluesandbones.com DENVER BLUES & BONESFRIDAY MAY 25, 2001
SATURDAY MAY 26
SUNDAY MAY 27
BEAT DIETThe Colorado Electronic Music Association announced the nominees for The Electronic Music Awards for 2000. In order to decide these nominees, ballot boxes were placed in raves, clubs, and stores around town, and online voting was also held in order to collect votes in various categories such as Best Club, Best Record Store, as well as Best DJ from many different genres. The votes are in, and the nominees are as follows:
Best Club: Snake Pit, Soma, Synergy, Tracks 2000 The winners will be announced May 25 at the Gothic Theatre at 3263 S Broadway. Doors will open at 8 pm, and there will be cocktails, appetizers, and a special cocktail set by DJ Ivy. The awards will transpire from 9 to 10 pm, when there will be an after-hours event until 4 am featuring last year's Favorite Local DJ, Fury, Vitamin D (who was nominated for numerous awards last year), and Julius Papp. The event as well as the awards are coordinated by CEMA, whose goal "is to unite individuals within the scene and protect our rights to peacefully assemble." Members and sponsors include DJs, promoters, club owners, and record stores. The organization was started this year in order to help act as a mediator between the rave/club scene and the media, as well as law enforcement. The hope is with a main contact person, the message is sent out to the public by the media will be a more consistent, truthful, and accurate representation of the nightlife community. It is also hoped this will provide a common ground for all promoters and club owners, creating a more unified society. One of the recent group's projects was to put together a packet of letters and essays written by people within the community. These were given to the mayor's office, as well as various media crews. An article concerning this packet was featured in the Rocky Mountain News. CEMA also sells memberships to anyone interested in being a part of the movement, which, for a yearly fee, can get you discounted door cover, discounts at various stores, and free admission in to the award ceremony. If you are interested in purchasing a membership, stop by Soulflower at 114 S. Broadway in Denver. Check out www.coloradodancemusic.com for more information. --Erin Marsh 
ORANGE PEELShow me the line between self-confidence and super-ego. Show me the line that divides the belief in one's self to do what one will, and creaming one's self with the lies. For an American who has proven he is capable of topping dance charts in the United Kingdom, Ovum recording artist Josh Wink should be commended for taking Brian Wilson's advice and keeping his ego in check. Mixing dance sets for a mobile DJ service wedged Wink's 13-year-old foot in the door of the music industry nearly two decades before turntables began outselling guitars. Bumping into fellow Philadelphian King Britt in 1988 eventually led to the formation of Ovum recordings with Britt in 1994. Liquid Summer, Wink's first Ovum wax, put him on the road to Moby remix work right away. Don't Laugh, I'm Ready and Higher State of Consciousness followed in Liquid Summer's footsteps to conquer British dance floors one more time in 1995. Left Above the Clouds, Wink's fulllength debut, earned him a distribution deal with Ruffhouse/ Columbia, which was negotiated to include Ovum labelmates King Britt and New Jersey junglist Jamie Myerson. On May 11, Josh Wink sealed another chapter of Hardy Kalisher's (of Boulder's world-famous Soma lounge) global nightclub culture experiment by transporting the dance floor at Club Next to a higher state of consciousness. Here ye, hear ye. Club Next/Vinyl is located at 1082 Broadway in Denver. For more information on Next/Vinyl upcoming events, give their info line a buzz at 303- 267-2677. For more information on Soma, you can visit it in cyberspace at www. somalounge. com or give its info line a buzz at 303-938-8600. --orange peel moses CD Review
ERICA BROWN BAND: BODY WORKErica Brown has earned a reputation as a great lady with a great voice who works her ass off. Now that she is devoting all her energy to her new band, Brown & Co. have created Body Work, a debut 11track CD filled with fun, straight blues tunes influenced by R& B. It's "high energy rock'n blues," according to Brown, and it features a bunch of local music talents including Jim Ayers (keyboards), Rich Sallee (bass), Bob Pellegrino (guitar), and Scott Rivera (drums). The best thing about Body Work is it showcases Brown's voice and all of its stylistic bends and curves. Her voice is strong but inviting, smooth yet rough around the edges. While the recording is professional and done well, the band takes few risks and delivers a solid contemporary blues/ rock sound. Body Work will definitely earn Brown fans among the blues friendly bars around town. Plus, her enthusiasm for the music is evident whether it's a tune she wrote or a nicely chosen cover. Rock'n blues sounds like something from the '70s ... kind of the feelgood music that spawned disco, except with blues harmonic changes and much, much more soul. Two songs were cowritten by Brown and Pellegrino, the title track and "Crying and Trying." On "Body Work," Brown reveals her strengths in the soul department, while "Crying" brings it back to more of a sassy, swinging blues reminiscent of the rhythm and blues music of the '50s. The cover tunes are a treat because not only are they great songs in themselves, they encompass a wide variety of styles. If Brown's band were a musically narrow ensemble, they could never pull out the Otis Reddingish "Nothing Takes the Place of You," or the fast boogie of "Honey Hush," or Al Green's "Ace in the Hole." Track six is Ike Turner's "Matchbox," which was also recently recorded by blues guitarist Johnny Lang. The song is one of those gems that romps so well through the blues form that too many versions of it can never exist. "The Weight" is another suprise, being that it is usually heard on classic rock stations around the country performed by Robbie Robertson & The Band. Brown seems to know enough not only about straight blues music but good tunes in general, and she's putting her band and voice to the test. B --Judy B. CD Review
CHRIS DANIELS & THE KINGS: . . . SO FAR.This CD is a great place to start if you don't know Chris Daniels. It's a compilation CD that takes the listener back through 18 songs and more than 15 years of recordings. Daniels has an international reputation for great tunes and great shows, and recently signed a lucrative record deal with KTel (yes, that KTel), which will rerelease and nationally distribute his first seven records and front the money for a new one.
Not bad. The Kings are fantastic and versatile enough to cover an array of songs on this selection ranging from a funky pop three-minute pickup line "I Like Your Shoes," to a ballad titled "An American Tragedy," which is endearing both for its sincerity and its old school sentimentality. Closer to honky-tonk is a fiesty "It Could Have Been Worse." Track ten is "Black Cat," written by Daniels himself, perhaps the closest to a blues track as you're gonna get here, but still defying a qualitative adjective that explains what this music is. So Far is the epitome of Chris Daniels and the Kings, and can only be described as one of the many great party, get-up-and-shake-your-ass gig bands that can entertain almost any crowd. Chris Daniels is popular because he can take a blues-based song form and craftily incorporate fun, energy and middle-America crowd-pleasing flavors. Is this for everyone? Hell, no. But the band is tight. Daniels is a solid leader, talented musician, and good businessman. The tunes reflect a growth among the players, Daniels's singing style, and the instrumental arrangements. You can't tour Europe nine times on pipe dreams, and Daniels has found a lucrative and enjoyable niche wedged tightly between allout corporate rock and the jungle called contemporary blues. A-- Judy B. CD Review
KATOORAH JAYNE: IT'S ALL THE RAGESo, are angry women over with? Alanis, Paula Cole, Tracy Bonham, Liz Phair-- they're all MIA. Like all trends that idly threat to consume the music industry (rap/ rock, Latin music, sampled R& B songs), the angry women have gradually fallen out of favor and become a victim of backlash: 28 million people bought Jagged Little Pill, but only five will admit to it. Quasilocal rocker Katoorah Jayne (she recently moved back after a few years in London) belongs squarely with the angry women. She comes completely equipped with tales of bad breakups, intimidating muscles, hellaciously ugly consonants, and strumanddrum rhythms halfway between rock and country. Comparisons to Alanis come so quickly to mind, it's easy to miss the fact that Katoorah is one of the best singer/ songwriters on the scene right now. It's All The Rage, her latest offering, is like a Snickers bar-- packed with singles, Rage is guaranteed to satisfy. "Trip" (a clever Nashvilletype lyrical trip from hell to heaven via Kansas), "Just Another Day" (Shawn Colvin influenced balladry spiced up by a sweet hook), "Chromosome Face" (a queerly old school inyourface song) and the eponymous track all rock ... make that Rock. Katoorah incorporates the hard edges of the blues without succumbing to the style's vulnerability-- she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve because it's tattooed on her bicep. Katoorah Jayne has experienced a boon of success lately on MP3. com and in England, and it's well deserved since she crafts radiofriendly songs with enough edge to be distinguished from the crowd. However, one gets the feeling she's trying too hard to make that next step ... little cracks in the perfection need mending. For instance, in order to sound 'tough' she sometimes bends her R's so out of shape you fear her tongue will implode; this isn't due to poor technique, since she handles that difficult consonant well most of the time-- it's an affectation she can drop. And the spoken word throughout "Trip" is gawky and only mars an otherwise perfect little song (as evidenced by the strange Katoorahaftersexchange hidden track). Still, tiny flaws notwithstanding, Rage is an easy purchase for supporters of the local scene, and Katoorah Jayne is an act to be caught while she's still in town. The angry women won't be kept quiet for long. A-- Chris J. Magyar |
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