Bohemian Light Brings Heavy Hitters Back to Famed Fort Collins Festival

August 3, 2021

The Bohemian Foundation will put on a music festival this summer in downtown Fort Collins, and though the headliners are big names, fans of Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest should temper their expectations somewhat.

Dubbed the Bohemian Light Music Festival, free, live concerts will commence two nights instead of three, featuring psychedelic soul band Black Pumas and singer-songwriter Randy Newman, plus Shovels & Rope and dozens of Colorado’s top bands.

Continue reading

Make More Everything: FoCo Film and Music Collide and Connect

June 30, 2021

“A lot of people that are emotionally driven tend to gravitate towards the arts,” musician Maxwell Tretter tells BandWagon. “But, then they also hit this pivotal moment between the path of isolation or the path of connection. I’m sick of hearing about the tragic origin story. I want to hear about the well connected, like, ‘life went great for me and I made amazing shit’ story.”

And thus sparked Make More Everything, a “game of telephone between writers, musicians and visual artists.” Tretter collaborated with film-slam organizer Jesse Nyander, culminating in a bonanza, multi-media event Friday, July 2nd at The Lyric in Fort Collins.

Continue reading

For Life: Emily Nelson on The Drums

June 3, 2021

Emily Nelson had a feeling the universe had something in mind for her.

“The drums were just a fun way to get healthy again,” she said, “and a year later, Erica was there.”

Erica, Brown, the Denver blues diva and Greeley favorite, brought Nelson in to her all-woman band the Cast Iron Queens after several life-changing events gave Nelson the strength not to be paralyzed by perfectionism.

Continue reading

Just Wanna Have Funds: Did the Colorado Arts Relief Grant Support the Organizations it Intended?

April 5, 2021

Over 63 days, Colorado Creative Industries (CCI), created a set of criteria, launched an application, administered the selection process and allocated just under $6 million to organizations and businesses state-wide including music venues.

“We were given the charge to distribute the funding as quickly as possible,” a CCI spokesperson told BandWagon.

This hasty allocation of public funds was met with cynical speculation from independent venue owners who were not awarded money. 

Until now, the controversy over the grant has remained purely speculative. No one has pointed to specific evidence of nepotism or neglect on CCI’s part. But, thanks to the Colorado Open Records Act, BandWagon was able to obtain a copy of the scoring rubric used to evaluate grant applicants.

Continue reading

Stayin’ Alive: Unconventional Venues Save The Scene

March 4, 2021

When Ben Mozer was 14, he took a trip to Spain with his family. Across from their hotel, a theater was playing the newly released hit Pulp Fiction, which he and his brother had been unable to see in the U.S. due to its R rating. But what stuck with him after the movie was over wasn’t Samuel L. Jackson’s iconic monologue. What stuck with him was the theater. 

Earlier this winter, Mozer’s Fort Collins movie theater the Lyric was one of the only venues in Northern Colorado that was still producing live music.

And Mozer isn’t the only one finding a creative way to amplify local sounds. This winter, Dan Mladenik has tapped local talent for the Mishawaka-produced Live on the Lanes series at Chipper’s Lanes, converting a bowling alley into a cosmic live music experience.

Continue reading