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Blog Entry 9 of 55 The Lush Report

I'm trying to bring some of the more overlooked stuff from the local music scene. I have to balance it against a full-time real job, so I can't be as thorough as I'd like, but hopefully you'll find some of the stuff that Mark Brown and Ricardo Baca don't cover. If you've got a tip on a great venue for live music or great musicians to check out, e-mail me here. To bookmark this blog, click here.

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Contributed by: John Zwick on 5/17/2006

I cut my teeth in music writing at the late Riff Magazine, a scrappy little rag that covered the Colorado music scene (and, like most publications representing the whole of Colorado, totally neglected the Western slope.) It was, for the most part, a pretty awful publication, but then, I was a terrible writer. It was a perfect fit.

I haven't thought much about Riff in the years since its demise - not until recently anyway. I think it all centered around on-the-come-up rockers Love .45, a decent if not always daring outfit of guitar-slingers who represented Denver's first stab at mainstream rock credibility since Big Head Todd. Riff was one of the first publications to feature Love .45. And like most all other local press on them, it just didn't sit right.

That article and most everything else in Riff didn't feel like it was talking about music. It was selling it. All of Colorado was selling it. We've been selling it ever since we had it to sell. Colorado's just like that. We're the Napoleonic state for art and entertainment. We're the short, angry drunk guy at the bar with the huge biceps, and by damn, we've got something to prove.

It made sense at the time. Writing about other bands whose destinies clearly weren't with big labels or national recognition felt like a waste. Running a band with no ambitions for stardom wasn't just silly - it was morally treasonous. Or at least that's what I thought.

It's what most wannabe pundits think when they talk about the Colorado music scene. There's endless hand-wringing about trying to compare our scenes to cultural juggernauts like NY or in trying to recreate the success of other cities with uber-hip populations like Lawrence or Austin.

We don't talk about the fun band we caught at the bar. We talk about whether The Fray's success is going to stick. We kvetch over Atlantic Records and their decision to let go of Vaux.
It's not fair to hold artists up as our ticket to big-time cultural relevance. That's why in future editions of The Lush Report, I'll be scouting out the local bar and club circuits for a simple goal: a good night out with music.

Come along, and if you have a hot tip, just let me know.

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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments

Submitted By: Joel Hunt

posted on 2/28/2006 @ 1:57:28 PM

Rated Blog Entry

Come on. Kip Winger and Gunnar and Matthew Nelson have all been to Colorado in the past 6 months. That's worth something even if they aren't from here, right? And some band called Coldplay. Not sure who they are though.

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Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo

posted on 2/28/2006 @ 11:08:53 AM

Rated Blog Entry

Excellent blog, John. But I do have to say, gosh, aside from the Rocky Mountains, the fact John Denver sang a song about us and having the star of "Felicity" go to school here, what else does Colorado have to offer besides a hit band making it into mainstream music? Yeah. Oh by the way, I'm forming my own band someday. Look for them in a few years under the name, "8 Ball Yoda."

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Submitted By: Seth Davis

posted on 2/28/2006 @ 11:02:45 AM

Rated Blog Entry

Well said. I think Rose Hill Drive will soon be added to the list.

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Submitted By: Brendan Leonard

posted on 2/28/2006 @ 10:57:41 AM

Rated Blog Entry

Devotchka.

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