Category: Features

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Trying To Catch A Wave: Murs & The Music District Bring Open Mic Hip Hop Back

December 3, 2019

Murs was well aware the open mic part of hip-hop culture was dying, or at least inching toward its last breath. So he and The Bohemian Foundation started Groundwaves: a monthly hip-hop open mic / proving ground mentored by Murs himself,the finale of which was lat month. There, hopeful MC’s would spit their stuff in front of a critical, constructive audience of their peers. “I think you can get your feedback right there. That one little word of feedback (from the crowd) is all you needed to do more work,” Murs explains. Before Groundwaves returns in 2020, Hodi’s Halfnote will house Co-Op, an open mic workshop hosted by Bad Neighbors.

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The Blasting Room: FoCo’s Punk Rock Heart Beats For 25 Years

November 11, 2019

The Blasting Room didn’t start with a Big Bang, as you might expect, but a drunken nap. The engineer for one of the Descendents’ mid-80s records fell asleep at the recording console. As he snored, Bill Stevenson, the band’s drummer, rolled the engineer’s chair out of the way to work the dials himself. 25 years later, the studio he built with Jason Livermore has become a punk rock recording institution, producing pop and folk records too. But the heart of the original Blasting Room still beats like a punchy snare, a place where young bands make their punk rock dreams come true.

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A Tempest Of Inspiration: Whippoorwill and The Nature Of Storms

November 8, 2019

Alysia, Staci, and Tobias were in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma when the sky turned green. They could see the tornado dead-ahead through an eerie, rainy clearing in the atmosphere. Even though the gusts of winds were powerful enough to lift their van packed with equipment, the three friends made it safely to the next stop. Literally and metaphorically, this resulted in Fort Collins folk trio Whippoorwill’s first full length album The Nature Of Storms. The album releases November 15 at Washington’s in Fort Collins.

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The Lone Vulf: Cory Wong Ventures Outside The Pack

October 21, 2019

As much of a beast as Cory Wong is on the guitar (and how catchy his composing and songwriting is) “Motivational Music For The Syncopated Soul” isn’t exactly a pedestal of attention for himself. Instead, he collaborated with several well established musicians, evoking a collaborative vibe like that of his other band Vulfpeck. Wong (with support from Paris Monster) play sThe Aggie Theater on Halloween night as well as Boulder and Denver November 1 and 2.

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Rebirth Brass Band: Old Tradition, Different Groove

October 14, 2019

The Rebirth Brass Band have to answer two questions every time they play a gig: 1 – Are you going to play some traditional stuff? 2 – Are you going to play your own stuff?

“We’re not trying to recreate the wheel,” founder and and bass drummer Keith Frazier said, “but we want to do something different.”

Catch the Grammy-winning band October 25 at Washington’s in Fort Collins and October 26 at The Ogden in Denver.

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First Class: Greeley Arts Legacy’s Hall Of Fame

October 2, 2019

“We do not want to forget what happened,” said Ed Rogers, chairman of the Greeley Arts Legacy board. “It’s easy to select what we know, but we also want to go back and make sure our past is remembered.” The Arts Legacy board did just that, honoring Ruth Savig, a visual artist for decades in Greeley, Hellen Langworthy who started Little Theater Of The Rockies 80 years ago, the Greeley Philharmonic and more. Friday, October 4 at Union Colony Civic Center, all 6 inductees will be celebrated.

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Mike Doughty: Escape and Return to Ruby Vroom

September 18, 2019

Mike Doughty knew he wouldn’t be able to shed his association with Soul Coughing, though he describes the band as “a dark, abusive marriage.” The only thing he chose to keep was their approach to music: the idea that compositions were fluid, not songs to be played in their recorded forms to-the-note. “You reinterpreted it,” Doughty said. For his current tour he broke his own rule and listened to ‘Ruby Vroom’ (Soul Coughing’s debut) for the first time in decades, using it as a reference to honor the 25th anniversary of the recording. He performs ‘Ruby Vroom’ in its entirety October 5 at Washington’s in Fort Collins.

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Weld Found: Tim Coons And The Anti-Isolation Movement

September 16, 2019

Tim Coons, a longtime spiritual musician in Greeley who’s released several albums now works for the Weld Community Foundation. He recently launched Weld Found – a new podcast examining the phenomenon of isolation and loneliness in the modern world, particularly in Weld County. Episodes feature Neyla Pekarek, Sociologist Dr. Josh Packard and more.

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