In This issue: Son Lux | Anthony Ruptak | Alysia Kraft | Blast N’ Scrap | Horse Feathers | Cloud Catcher | Goatwhore | Electrik Animals | Ronan Andrews | 105.5 The Colorado Sound
Continue readingMay 2022 – Son Lux
Tag: ELy Corliss
BandWagon Expands: Tony Mason Hops On as Booking Stretches from Colorado Springs to Sheridan, Wyoming
After leaving his job as the lead talent buyer managing Lost Lake, Larimer Lounge and Globe Hall in Denver, Tony Mason saw a new position booking for the famed Gas Monkey in Dallas turn into a depressing slog of cancelling shows remotely from Denver during the pandemic.
Now, Mason will put his contacts to use to work for an expanded BandWagon enterprise which will offer a full-on, regional concert promotions and event production entity from Colorado Springs to Casper, Wyoming.
Continue readingThe Thin Black Line: Venues Fight To Survive
“It’s nowhere near the money I need to sustain, but I was lucky,” says Travis Ragan.
Ragan was a partner in the Roxy Theater in Denver and the Mesa Theater in Grand Junction, booking shows in 15 different markets. Now he hauls equipment for his brother, a construction manager out of Colorado Springs.
“I know venues are closing down, and yet, we have no leadership backing us and supporting us. We have no one telling us what we should do as opposed to what we shouldn’t do,” Ragan says.
“The place is not made to be at a 250 person capacity,” Renee Jelenik says of The Lincoln Theater in Cheyenne, “and even then, it’s not like we sold out those shows. People just aren’t coming out.”
“We’ve been asked to shut down, or told to shut down, for months now,” says Ely Corliss of The Moxi Theater in Greeley. “We’ve done that, and where are we now?”
Continue readingReunited and it Feels So Downtown – Greeley’s United Plaza and Socially Distanced District
Downtown Greeley’s been quiet since March, when the outbreak shuttered bars (for the second time now), restaurants and other fun places that made downtown as successful as it’s been in decades. But business owners hope to make some noise by closing 8th and 9th streets and putting open dining tables out. They also added an open container law that essentially extends the Go Cup law full-time until fall, only with loosened restrictions: Any alcohol is OK now, even if you have some from home, though the idea is to support the businesses on the blocks. The Greeley City Council approved the plan and began it July 1.
Continue readingVideo Premiere: Oliver Mueller – “I Wanna Play At The Moxi”
The music video for Oliver Mueller’s new single “I Wanna Play At the Moxi” premieres via BandWagon today. Under his solo-project pseudonym oliverrr, the track is a love-letter to his favorite NoCo music venue, as performers and concert go-ers alike bemoan the absence of live music. Mueller brings the same dreamy alternative style he displays in his band Slow Caves, but combines it with punk flare and humor.
Continue readingThe Fate Of Festival Future
Even right after she was the sickest she’d been in her life, Alison Hamling still cried after she essentially canceled Friday Fest in Downtown Greeley. Live music “pales in comparison” to the need to avoid a second wave, Hamling said, even as she hated her decision.
Concert producer Colin Bricker says “I find it hard to imagine pulling off any live music this summer. There’s just no way to do that.”
But WAIT! If you don’t mind sitting by your computer, part of Greeley’s summer festival season may in fact, still be on.
Continue readingNoCo Music NoGo: COVID-19’s Massive Impact On Colorado’s Music Industry
“It’s pretty easy to see how unprepared everyone was,” said Brian Claxton – a touring drummer and music educator based in Greeley, Colorado. Music venues, restaurants and bars across the globe and in Colorado have been ordered to close due to coronavirus precautions, essentially cutting off the lifeblood of the music industry. But the ramifications go deeper, from the 50th anniversary of the huge UNC Jazz Festival delaying one year to smaller bands such as Float Like A Buffalo cancelling their shoestring budget tours.
“I think it will take a year to recover, not just in the economy but in the entertainment industry here,” Moxi Theater Ely Corliss said, “and that’s if we resume in April. If this goes until May 11 or so, it’ll be catastrophic for the Moxi and (his restaurant) Luna’s both.”
