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Local business, art and the people behind the scene.

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CommunityFoCoMX 2026: A Celebration of Colorado MusicMusic festivals have gone through a lot changes in Colorado.Jed Murphy · Apr 4, 2026CommunityLocal Theater Produces Two Spring Break Camps and Two Friday Night ShowcasesGreeley’s concert and comedy venue is producing kids showcases again this Spring Break, but this year they are doubling down… Friday March 20, 2026⏰ 5:30 PM Doors | 6:00 PM…Rowan Clark · Feb 25, 2026CommunityFollowing the Thread Not Spinning the Yarn with The Common Sense CowboyPatrick Dorinson has had his fair share of conversations with that “old guy at the bar” during his life.Zant Reyez · Jan 30, 2026CommunityBehind the Sound Bar, The Newest Music Venue in Fort CollinsThe music venue at the corner Linden Street in Old Town Fort Collins has gone through many changes over the past several years.Zachary Visconti · Dec 8, 2025CommunityThe Road to Wondergrass: Top 6 Bands Battle for Glory, Community, and DreamsBy: Sawyer Matz Six bands, one winner, one festival, $1,000, and one night—jam-packed with thrilling and good-natured rivalry.Sawyer Metz · Jan 31, 2025CommunityLuna’s Tacos & Tequila Pauses Operations in Downtown Greeley: A Wake-Up Call for Supporting Local BusinessesDowntown Greeley was dealt another tough blow this week as Luna’s Tacos & Tequila, one of its most beloved establishments, announced a temporary closure to “reenergize, refocus,…BandWagon Magazine · Jan 27, 2025CommunityUPLIFT: FoCo – New Generation on the Rise“My thinking was, ‘Yeah, get me off this bus,’” Andy Whilden said. He decided to leave touring as a musician for a job at The Matthews House, a place for underserved youth. Starting the Uplift: FoCo festival two years ago gave Whilden more personal satisfaction than he expected. The benefit festival will feature acts that are acoustically driven. “They can play any genre,” Whilden said of the house band, though the 2021 installment will also deliver something different, and, well, a little less tenured.Dan England · Dec 2, 2021CommunityThe Motet: Colorado Sound Featured Artist, October 2021A motet, in Western classical music, is a composition, diverse in form and style, dating all the way back to medieval times; a polyphonic form described by scholars as “a piece of music in several parts.” Today, we might call such a conglomeration simply … a jam. Maybe that’s where the head of drummer Dave Watts was in 1998 when he founded what would become one of Colorado’s (and the world’s) most well-loved live bands: The Motet. Always laying on a fresh coat of funk, rock, soul and jazz, the band is known for surprising their die-hard audiences with top-tier special guests, but have other tricks, and indeed treats, up their sleeves too, especially for Halloween.Kevin Johnston · Oct 12, 2021CommunityLady Denim: Colorado Sound Spotlight Artist, September 2021“We were desperately trying to stay optimistic,” Lady Denim’s lead vocalist Nick Lundeen tells BandWagon, “which – to be honest, was a lot easier said than done.” On September 10, Fort Collins indie-pop quartet Lady Denim release “Loosely Held Hands” with plans to rock the block at Downtown Greeley’s Block Party festival that night in celebration of the EP’s release. “Loosely Held Hands is about holding on to something during tough circumstances,” Lundeen says. “We became a lot more dependent on one another and the songwriting became more fluid.”Kevin Johnston · Sep 8, 2021CommunityBuckle Up: FoCoMX Drive and Jive Continues Despite BoHo NoGoTaking place on Sundays this month at the historic Holiday Twin Drive-In, FoCoMX: Drive and Jive continued its live offerings last month with further programming into August and beyond. Reimagining the series to feature a mix of established veteran Colorado acts as well as “discovery” artists from the region, Drive and Jive aims to build engaged audiences and more. In light of yesterday’s news that the Bohemian Foundation’s recently announced Bohemian Light Music Festival is now in fact cancelled due to COVID precautions, the Drive and Jive series offers a live music format which has proved to function well under pandemic restrictions.Kevin Johnston · Aug 7, 2021CommunityBohemian Light Brings Heavy Hitters Back to Famed Fort Collins FestivalThe 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.Dan England · Aug 3, 2021CommunityMake More Everything: FoCo Film and Music Collide and Connect“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.Gabe Allen · Jun 30, 2021CommunityFor Life: Emily Nelson on The DrumsEmily 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.Dan England · Jun 3, 2021CommunityFailure to launch: Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application is delayed after months of anticipationFor the past three-and-a-half months, independent venue owners around the country have anxiously awaited an application for the now $16 billion in grant funds that the U.S.Gabe Allen · Apr 13, 2021CommunityJust Wanna Have Funds: Did the Colorado Arts Relief Grant Support the Organizations it Intended?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.Gabe Allen · Apr 5, 2021

CommunityArts Funding RubricClick HERE to read the original Bill 20B-001 And Click HERE for a complete list of which entities received funding and how much each venue was awarded.BandWagon Magazine · Mar 22, 2021CommunityBandWagon Magazine Battle of the BandsJoin us for the Final Round of BandWagon Magazine Battle of the Bands!Ely Corliss · Mar 12, 2021CommunityStayin’ Alive: Unconventional Venues Save The SceneWhen 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.Gabe Allen · Mar 4, 2021CommunityTurning The Dial: Radio’s Stu Haskell Passes OnStu Haskell shot rattlesnakes for fun and shot tequila with co-workers.Dan England · Mar 3, 2021CommunityThey Saved Our Stages: Pandemic Relief saves hundreds of stages just before the deadline[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The “SOS” in Save Our Stages was a bit of a happy accident, but it also wasn’t a coincidence. The $15 billion in grants set aside for locally owned venues, movie theaters and performance halls in the stimulus act is exactly what places such as The Moxi needed to survive. “It’s literally going to saveDan England · Dec 29, 2020