A 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.
“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.”
Taking 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.
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.
“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.
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.
For 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
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.
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.
For her new mural on the Maddie Apartments in Downtown Greeley, Betony Coons found herself challenged with how to include Union Colony’s most famous principle: temperance. Not only is “the active moderation of libation intake” hard to paint, but ironically, one of the reasons downtown Greeley continues to thrive is the world class breweries and distilleries it inspired.
To honor the memory of their deceased loved ones, the peoples of ancient mesoamérica (e.g., the Azteca, Tolteca, and Olmeca) held elaborate festivals and processions with music, dance, food, and flowers. Today, the tradition—known as Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)—is continued by Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and the U.S. mainstream society as well. Celebrations take place on November 1st and 2nd.
As the time goes by, the fabric of Greeley is changing. With over 65 languages spoken in Weld County’s school district alone, it is clear that our beautiful city is growing, being woven into a colorful, unique tapestry. Realizing this, community members decided it was time to celebrate this diversity on a local level and partnered with the Downtown Development Authority to create the 2017 Greeley Multicultural Festival.
Fort Collins, Colorado is a collaborative, non-competitive, startup music city without a big ego. This is a city built for musicians by musicians. For over ten years, musicians laid the groundwork for the next golden era of “musicprenuers“ by constructing an ecosystem built on encouragement, support, and empowerment. This shifts the paradigm and disrupts the music industry systems of the past.
“Wes has been exploring courage for some time now,” Silva explained, “as far as his work goes, and it just so happens that I’ve been exploring the symbol of the heart. How it’s a thing we all have, to have life, it’s something we have reference to. We dug deeper into these two things, and we find that they actually have a common root. So we decided to go from there and grow from that.”
Over the last few years, a culture of muralists and visual artists have emerged in Northern Colorado. These artists, embraced by the local community and business owners, brought vibrancy to many of the empty walls the residents have known for so long.
Hodi’s Half Note has been a long time staple of the Northern Colorado music scene. Once known as The Starlight, it has changed hands several times over the years but it has always served as one of the best places to catch local and national music in Ft. Collins.
