http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5Group seizes the means of music production With a straight-out-of-agit-prop name like John Common , he might have been, in another place and time, at the head of a revolutionary vanguard. And yet, there is still something vaguely revolutionary about Common's latest labor. On Jan. 28, th...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverNorth/Blogs/Archive/Pop-Culture/Blog~576631.aspx2/4/2009 3:15:42 PMJohn Zwick In late 2005, Jonathan Coulton did the unthinkable. The New York City software writer and new father won his wife's blessing to set out on an impossible quest; he quit his job and became a full-time musician, writing quirky folk-rock songs about zombies, mad scientists and other geek culture ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Pop-Culture/Blog~565623.aspx1/7/2009 2:25:16 PMJohn Zwick Because the piano, trumpet, double bass and saxophone hog all the glory, the violin doesn't get all the love it deserves for its place in jazz. Plenty of fans, challenged to name some of the greats, would come up with a list you could count on one hand. And there's a pretty good chance it would i...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~537868.aspx10/21/2008 7:43:22 AMJohn Zwick Chance gets a bad rap sometimes. Get on its bad side and it can seem precarious, unsympathetic -- even conspiratorial. But once in a while, chance delivers on something spectacular, such as with Denver jazz composer and bandleader Chie Imaizuimi . It was chance, after all, that put Imaizum...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~521691.aspx9/16/2008 9:18:41 AMJohn Zwick You don't catch up with Laura Goldhamer . The most you can do is try to figure out where to position yourself so that you might occupy the same space long enough to talk. As the resident program director of Brooks Underground Teahouse, organizer of creative goings-on upstairs from the teahou...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~455875.aspx4/15/2008 1:56:55 AMJohn Zwick I got the chance to talk to one of the most respected men in the business of independent record shops, Twist & Shout owner Paul Epstein regarding the store and its place as it approaches 20 years. In my days as a record store clerk, even my own boss spoke of Epstein as not just a man who'...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~446296.aspx3/24/2008 11:58:41 PMJohn Zwick When pressed to come up with uniquely American art forms, jazz is one of the first and most frequent ones one can expect - not only because it's representative of the America-as-melting-pot narrative, but it's a field where we can reliably kick the snot out of pretenders. Jazz is America's baby a...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~432865.aspx2/24/2008 11:53:36 AMJohn Zwick Members and supporters of the Urban Citizen Project ( story ) had their pick of six acts to get their blood pumping at the Oriental Theater on Nov. 30, but two of the standouts came near the very beginning. Portrait of a Friend ( myspace ) continues in the tradition of one-man bands tak...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverNorth/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~399646.aspx12/3/2007 1:42:21 PMJohn Zwick Sandwiched in the middle of a hipster-heavy set at the Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., was an unknown quantity called Brainhammer. And now they're my favorite new band in Denver. Past the event staff, past the cover band drawing way more love a cover band should and past the fresh rec...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~366547.aspx9/23/2007 11:00:06 PMJohn Zwick It was on recommendation from Connor Williams that I caught The Chain Gang of 1974 at the Marquis Theater on Sept. 8. Couldn't pick a better night, since the hyper-kinetic one-man dance band was playing with The Epilogues, Signal to Noise and The Swayback. I'd last seen the Epilogues ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~360060.aspx9/10/2007 2:36:44 PMJohn Zwick I'm gonna get fat again. To the jerk who just cracked "again?" - okay, so I'm still saddled down by the reserve fuel tank I keep up front. That might be a forever thing. But a year of city living, with its multi-mile treks on foot, its sweaty concerts, its crowded dance floors and its sauna-li...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Blog~359700.aspx9/9/2007 11:26:54 PMJohn Zwick Stranahan's distillery tour gives a look at the science behind the art of distilling. You couldn't ask for a better guide than Dave Nice . The avid cyclist and braniac of booze took me on a tour of the Stranahan's distillery - the first and only legal one in the state. You see, I happen to ...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverNorth/Blogs/Archive/Blog~356728.aspx9/3/2007 8:06:22 PMJohn Zwick I got independent confirmation from two people with all the seriousness of an insider stock tip: You can't live in Denver and not see Denver Joe. I don't make a habit of Wednesday night drinking, but when you get word from a pretty wizened bartender and a guy at (the most excellent) ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~350206.aspx8/20/2007 12:58:00 AMJohn Zwick It was supposed to be the song that got them over. Instead, Denver rockers Vaux have remixed their single "Are You With Me" into something like their own eulogy. The opening is punctuated by sampled howls and stabs of processed drum sound - like the last terrified gasps of a dying man. ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~331959.aspx7/8/2007 12:56:23 PMJohn Zwick If I hyped The Pirate Signal any more than I already do, people might call me out as on the take, but when a Denver group has a video, you write about it, right? I was there at the Gothic Theater when "Go" was filmed. What Emily and Mary Grace of digital video duo Lockerpartn...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~320428.aspx6/12/2007 1:02:55 PMJohn Zwick City Park Jazz is huge. The free weekly summer concert series sounds like the kind of shindig that draws about a couple hundred old people clapping politely in the shade of the trees - somewhere between high society and senior night at the rec center. Think again. Huge. June 10 was the s...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~319828.aspx6/11/2007 11:23:00 AMJohn Zwick I assume there have to be people who get to the CHUN Capitol Hill People's Fair every year just for the perennial tie-dye, Bob Marley shirts and turquoise jewelry - the Bigfoots or Nessies of humanity. They leave behind evidence that they've been through - a footprint here, a homemade soap v...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~317239.aspx6/4/2007 2:09:16 PMJohn Zwick The Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St.,has a sense of grimy permanence. The graffiti on the walls - by artists who put away the cans years ago - makes it look like the bar that time forgot. That's a good feeling for anybody still coming to grips with becoming "the old guy at the show." (If you can...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverNorth/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~305376.aspx5/8/2007 11:41:03 AMJohn Zwick If they'd been born 20 years earlier, the kids at East High School would have witnessed the birth and infancy of hip-hop. Ten years and they'd have seen its jump into the mainstream. But the current crop of East Angels came into a world where hip-hop has always been the mainstream and the closes...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~295037.aspx4/16/2007 11:29:07 AMJohn Zwick If you've caught a local rock show any time in, say, the past five years, there's a pretty good chance you've been getting two shows for one -- live tunes and a look at the living, breathing gallery sporting the work of ink-slingers at Th'ink Tank Tattoo Studio at 172 S. Broadway. The shop, f...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverSouth/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~287773.aspx4/2/2007 2:01:45 PMJohn Zwick I know not everybody thinks like I do, but the way I see it, you can get funnel cake or random vendors selling Bob Marley shirts at just about any kind of street fair in America. What makes the annual People's Fair worth it is the variety of music. YourHub.com managing editor Fairlight Baer...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~284062.aspx3/26/2007 10:39:28 AMJohn Zwick You can measure a great rock show by the number of bodily fluids spilled. I counted sweat, spit, blood and vomit, which puts March 15's tour kickoff show for Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire as one of the better shows a guy could hope for. Trees (that's what we're going to be cal...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~280262.aspx3/17/2007 4:27:21 AMJohn Zwick You would almost feel bad about the Denver Post having such a big section on hip-hop the day after the Rocky did the same. Since the two don't collaborate on stories, they must not have known each would cover similar ground, unless both just decided that Black History Month was the time t...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverSouth/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~184769.aspx2/18/2007 6:34:58 PMJohn Zwick Having shunned and increasingly disappointing national music scene (and my own isolation from my best hook-ups to what's going on - record store friends and the glorious, addictive, practically intravenous flow of free music from my magazine writing days,) I'm kind of out of my depth in trying to...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~182658.aspx2/13/2007 1:02:37 PMJohn Zwick When I call Melissa Ivey mercenary, it's a value-neutral kind of thing. She's managed to climb the ranks and become one of Denver music's up-and-comers without kicking too many people in the teeth (and good on 'er for it,) but it can't hurt not to give the girl a reason. So when I got notice ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~178847.aspx2/5/2007 2:24:21 AMJohn Zwick The plan: Hit up the Winter Brew Fest on Jan. 26 and down as much as I could from the fourteen or so breweries and rogue meadery of the group. Write about it as my consciousness fades and I wait out the dizzy blur against a wall. The execution: Not so much. Prologue - The pre-beer beers. ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~175953.aspx1/27/2007 2:43:10 PMJohn Zwick Just a little while ago, I did a blog entry edging toward "rant" territory about KTCL and my opinion on their involvement in local music. This morning, I got a response from NERF , program director and on-air pesonality at KTCL. NERF, being a generally classier guy than I am, handled i...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverSouth/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~162707.aspx12/19/2006 11:42:20 AMJohn Zwick I've needed to get back to a Forth Yeer Freshman show for a while now. The Denver mainstay has been kicking out the jams ever since my fragile teenage psyche latched on to punk rock a decade ago, so it was kind of fitting that I'd see them opening for spiritual forebears (and band I hadn...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~162291.aspx12/18/2006 11:46:11 AMJohn Zwick Before I get around to writing a blog entry on the righteous Forth Yeer Freshman , I wanted to leave you guys with something to talk to me about, think about, wonder about, etc. KTCL seems to have gained some sort of notion of just how much deeper the iceberg goes, at long last. After ...http://denver.yourhub.com/DenverSouth/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~161843.aspx12/16/2006 5:17:53 PMJohn Zwick The way I see it, there are two kinds of musicians in this world: those who are in command of their music, and those who are commanded by it. The first type are solid, efficient music machines. They can crank out album after album with machinelike efficiency without letting quality suffer. Th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~157056.aspx12/4/2006 10:16:34 AMJohn Zwick