Week 15: See 5 Concerts in One Week

Here we are at the Ides of the year.  Is that a thing?  Does Ides mean 15?  Should I be capitalizing Ides?

These and many more questions are what fill the air this beautiful spring Thursday.  A perfect day for a drawing.

Today's drawer is the veritable Prince of Sri Lanka and half of the soon to be famous vaudeville comedy troup Preetham and Kumar.

Seen here looking at stage right

And the result, nothing special, but a nice opportunity for this gentlemen to have some fun this week.

Probably shouldn't have waited until Thursday for this one

There we have it.  Of course I'm at the mercy of the fates (but aren't we all) in terms of my choices.  I will endeavor to visit a different venue for each concert, and undoubtedly will see and discover different musical styles and bands.

So stick around as I pull out my tiny notebook, and play musical journalist for a week.

Why yes, it is resting on my crotch, and on an unrelated note I'm no longer allowed in the coffee shop

Thursday:  Dan Croll

No time to waste I quickly perused my options and chose the band playing with the best sounding name.  In this case because it reminded me of Krull the movie.

Genre:   Brit Pop/ShoeGazer
Dan Croll and his band are the answer to the question no ones asked, what would "Flock of Sea Gulls look like today?"

All but one of the band members were British, there was one American though.  Can you guess which?

Hint: It's the guy with the beard

They sang bouncy songs about hearts and loves and sent the many young women in the audience into mixtures of wacky white girl dancing, swooning and frantic picture taking.

Venue:  Larimer Lounge

Ah the Larimer Lounge, once in one of the scariest neighborhoods in Denver, now a hotspot of young professionals, yuppies and hipsters, and the occasional Yupster (which if it isn't already a word should be).

The lounge has held onto its divey soul though, with reasonable drink prices, dingy dark and dank atmosphere, and ever-judging staff, that will make even the hipest guy in town feel inferior about the quality and quantity of his facial hair and tatoos.

Also notable for being the only club to let you sit behind the band.

Your mileage may vary

Audience:  Youngins.  Helpfully identified with a giant black X on their hand, and by their inappropriate excitement at a show at the Lounge.

Case in point

Friday:  Colorado Symphony

What better way to follow up hipster central than with a trip down sophisticate lane.

Genre  Classical Music
Beautiful stuff really, really a shame it seems to be a dying thing, much like looking at the stars the youth seem to have found better things to do.

You have to respect a band that out-dresses it's audience.  And isn't lady Gaga

Also anvil.

Told ya

 Venue Boetcher Concert Hall

Located in the Denver performing arts district, it stands alone as a place for the old to escape the young, the cultured to escape the philistines, the me to escape the you.

Audience Music lovers, npr listeners, old timers, east coasters, country club members, napping children you get the idea.

These guys

This guy

Friday Again:  The Pack A.D.

Surprisingly the symphony isnt really for night owls, so with time to spare, I headed back out to catch the all female, all rock, Pack A.D.

Genre  Riot Grrrl

It's totally a thing, look it up.  Say you took the white stripes and turned them into women (I know, I know), you'd get the Pack A.D.  One part drums and one part guitar, they managed to pull the attention of the fairly drunk, normally aloof Hi Dive patrons, which is no small task.

Annie Leibovitz eat your heart out

Venue  The Hi Dive

Self-billed as the last dive on Broadway, and as "The hipster cave" by me, it is a great place to see a nationally touring band that isn't metal, or a jam band, for $10 or less.  Used to be $5, thanks a lot Obama.

Still the drinks are cheap, the lighting is atrocious, the bathroom is best avoided, and you're usually guaranteed at least one mediocre or better story to tell by the end of the night.

Also, nice it has a little viewing window for the side of the stage

There's that drummer

Audience  Hipsters, homeless people, and some hybrids of the two

Yup

Saturday:  The Infamous String Dusters 

Saturday night rolled around, and it was off to Colfax, Colorado's shame.  To catch a band selected on name only "The Infamous String Dusters" at the Ogden.

Genre  BlueGrass, Jam Band

Well folks, some times you strike out.  It may come as a surprise to you, but I am no fan of the Jam Band.  Granted this was a bluegrass jam band, so they had different instruments than your average phish show.  And, to be fair, they played them very well.  But, still, the Jam Band, or musical wank off as its known in Europe, proved to be quite a chore.

Also, when did Jam bands all start to look like frat boys?

Venue  The Ogden

Anyone who's lived in or around Colorado long enough has to have a soft spot for the Ogden.  They draw bigger acts than the bluebird, but at smaller and better shows than the Fillmore

Like the north star it beckons above the hookers and crack.

Audience  Hippies, as far as the eye can see.

Seriously, everything smelled of stale pot, and patchouli.  Actually, I suspect patchouli might be latin for stale pot.

No picture: just Google hippies

Tuesday:  Nekromantix at the Bluebird

Sneaking in at the last second to finish off the goal, concert number 5, the Nekromantix.  Probably the best Danish, monster themed, psychobilly band touring mid-level venues today.

Famed mostly for the singers Coffin-Bass, and ... well isn't a coffin-bass bad-ass enough?

Genre  Psychobilly

So if you're like me, and you probably aren't, you probably thought to yourself, "Nekromantix, I bet that's a goth show".  The answer is, of course, "nope, psychobilly".  Psychobilly, is an offshoot of punk music and rock-a-billy.  Think if the sex pistols and the stray cats had a baby, and that baby married it's cousin, and had another baby who became a scientologist.  Psychobilly is like the rebellious teenage son of that baby.

Venue  The Bluebird

The bluebird lives further east on Colfax away from the Ogden and dangerously close to Aurora.  It's a nice little club that you can usually see a cheap show at, any night of the week.

Also I think it was the porno theater in "Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead".

More like blue balls am I right?

Audience  Punk Rockers, Rude Girls, Meth Heads good people.  Salt of the Earth.

One of the nicer surprises in life, is that with a couple notable exceptions, the scarier a sub-culture looks the nicer they can be. 

They even let strangers in their group photos

Until next time folks.