D Note letter, 11/5/9

D notary

Hey there. How are you? We hope you feel as incredibly fantastic as we know you actually are.

This a beautiful weekend coming up, full of new art, music, a fundraiser and a focus on diverse community. Check it out:

Tonight, Thursday November 5, 9pm, after trivia, we have a couple local bands, Fighting for the Universe, acoustic rock trio with sounds of Jimmy Eat World, John Mayer, Foo Fighters, & Counting Crows. The Bottom Line - Denver/Colorado Springs, CO - Featuring Phil Taylor (of American Idol), up front and vocally flawless, backed by a rock solid band that plays everything from Maroon 5 to Jack Johnson. $5

Friday night we have our annual fundraiser for Intercambio de Comunidades. This is a non-profit organization that offers English as a Second Language classes to adult students in Denver. The mission is to build respectful communities and broaden opportunities for immigrants through language education, cultural exchange, and friendship. There will be lots of dancing so if you are looking for some Salsa mixed with some Merengue, Bachata and Reggaeton then you are in luck. DJ Diablo will be spinning all night. There will be a latin dance lesson at 9p. There will also be a silent auction. $12 suggested donation. It is also Monica D's birthday and she will be there and would enjoy a birthday spanking from you!

Saturday night at 6pm we have the second installment of Telling Stories. Hard to describe this series, but, from our perspective, it is phenomenal. Basically several talented classical musicians perform with local writers. The theme for this installment is something old, something new. Here's the program: The “old”: Alaunde Copley-Woods, flute, plays “Les Folies d’Espagne” by Marin Marias. More “old”: Leah Biber clarinet, and the Meo String Quartet perform Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, first movement. The “new”: Luke Wachter and Dean Hirschfield play “Three Moods of Two Percussionists” by David Mancini, 1st movement. And some more “new”: Jennie Dorris, marimba, Leah Biber, clarinet, and Chris Jusell, violin, play “When the Smoke clears” by Barbara White. Essays read by Dave Burdick, Megan Quinn, and Jeanine Fritz. I've read Burdick and always dig his humor. And Megan Quinn just so happens to write for Arvada Mile High News. $10

At 8:30pm we have an art opening for Benjamin Coleman w/ Pawn Ticket Trio, Junk Drawer and After The War. First time for Pawn Ticket Trio at D Note. It's more than a trio and they are cool, loungy and horny, with influences from Abba to Zappa. Junk Drawer is a local band we've had before and dig, the bluesier side of Ween. After The War is a new band with members from The Pinkoes.

Next Friday night we have Flamenco at 7pm and next Saturday we have The Beard and Mustache Showdown with The Clamdaddys, Wonderlic, The West and Wisebird. Start waxing your stash now.

Sayanora,

D man

Extra credit: We recently found a great little book of riddles. There is a long tradition of riddles as poems. We'll buy a drink for the first to get any of the following riddles (without cheating!) We'll give the answers next week.

1. In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

2. A bright red flower he wears on his head;
His beautiful coat needs no thimble nor thread;
And though he's fearsome, I'll have you know
Ten thousand doors open when he says no!

2. What is that which goes up the hill
And down the hill,
And of all yet standeth still?

Halloween, 09

D vill,

That time of year again. No, not talking about the snow. But there is that. We're talking about halloween. Halloween has pretty much become the official D Note holiday, which makes sense when you consider that it is the most creative of the holidays. If you haven't been in this October yet, then you're missing an incredible display masterminded by Diandra, including thousands of home made spiders, crazy webs, halloween paintings by Nicko and creepy cool surprises.

We are proud to present two halloween shows for you this weekend...

Friday night: DEAD CELEBRITY DANCE PARTY. Starts with Slo Children at 6:30 doing an entire set-list of original Halloween songs. Slo Children features Adam and Jeremy DeGraff, Adam Ferrill, Alejandro Castano and Jax Delaguerre. Then at 8pm we have Stonebraker back in the house, a rockin' band who always get the room jumping. At 9:30pm there is a Thriller dance lesson led by Roberta Farley of Shut Up And Dance (in homage to the biggest of the recent slew of dead celebrities.) At 10pm we have the infectious funk of Ten Pound Elephant. $5

Saturday night the theme is PSYCHOZOMBIE and we have some great psychobilly bands, Hillbilly Hellcats (9:30pm), Hellbound Billy (11pm), Redline Rockets (8pm). Starting the night off at 7pm is The Jackson Induced Mutant Laboratory, spooky theramin and synthesizers. $8

You can see the fantastic posters Matt Dougherty did for this weekend on the homepage of www.dnote.us

Tonight, Thursday Oct 29, we will be open, and we'll have the world series on, but no trivia or band. Come out for a hot toddy.

Next Tuesday there are two great bands, one from St. Louis MO at 8pm called Fundamental Elements. These guys have come through before and knocked us out. Just some of the best R&B style music we've ever had. Then at 9:30pm we have Electric Tickle Machine. ETM is a great psychedelic garage band from E. Ville New York. It is amazing to have two bands this great "randomly" playing on a Tuesday night in Arvada, an embarrassment of riches. We hope you will come out and be part of it. Really, it'll be worth the extra effort. Those few who show up will be saying "BEST. SHOW. EVER!" $5. Also on Tuesday we have Game Night, so the board games will be out. And Downtown Toys and Games will host guitarhero, the full band version, on the big screen starting at 5:30pm. free.

Next Wednesday there's a free swing lesson at 7:30pm before the clamdaddys come out.

We hope you are working on your beards and mustaches for The Beard And Mustache Showdown happening Nov. 14. Tell all your friends, especially the ones with the fascinating facial hair.

Over and out,

D fenestrator

Extra Credit: The lyrics to a Slo Children song, so you can sing along this Friday night.


I Feel Tractor


Over the fields I go

Seed by seed I sow

Row by row I hoe

Watch the garden grow

Watch out SCARECROW!

10/22/9

D nature,

So bluegrass, reggae, jazz, hip hop, salsa and rock and roll walk into a bar. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Tonight, Thursday Oct. 22, after trivia, is a reggaebilly band called The Way Low Down. Reggaebilly is a genre first explored to fine effect by bluegrass musician Peter Rowan. This band makes it sound even more natural. They also have a banjo player named Peter Cogan, which sounds strangely similar to Peter Rowan. $5.

Tomorrow night we start at 6:30pm with the jazz trombone of Darren Kramer, one of the finest around. He's playing with special guest LA guitarist Brian Monroney. LIve looping w/ electric trombone, electric guitar, virtual synths, vocoder and lemur! $5

Then at 9pm we'll have a halloween show by House of Waxx w/ Boombox Saints, Casuals, Dj Curly and Emcee Ocelot (from Steamboat), Casuals. House of Waxx have put on some great hip hop flavored shows at the D Note over the years and this will be no exception. $5

Saturday from noon to 4pm Pro Drum Studio Presents: The Cavalcade of Stars...Drum Solo Competition. Head to Head contests of drum solo technique featuring the top young drummers in the area, and the debut of the newest progressive rock band in Denver. "Marlo Narwhal," w/ special guests "Heart Beat." free

Then, starting at 7pm on Saturday we have 7even Days Till Sunrise, Ryan Macpherson and Illuminate. Indie rock bands eager to party at the D Note. $6

This Sunday night is our 6th annual Salsa Halloween bash. (6th annual!) There will be a costume contest for cash at 10pm! Check out the gorgeous hand drawn poster Matt Dougherty did for this one on our myspace. If you blow it up you can see that the fingers of the middle dancing skeleton echo the branches of the tree.

Next Tuesday we have Martin Gilmore trio playing at 7pm and a new improvisatory composition group called Manhorse (feat. Matt Dougherty and Geoff LaPlant) playing at 8:30pm, free.

Thanks for being you,

D natural

Extra Credit: We always read the poems in the New Yorker, even though we don't usually like them. Why is that? Because sometimes you find a good one, one that resonates, perhaps even enlightens. Maybe you feel the same way about the poems in this newsletter? Here's one from a recent New Yorker we liked and hope you do too.

THOUGHT PROBLEM

How strange would it be if you met yourself on the street?
How strange if you liked yourself,
took yourself in your arms, married your own self,
propagated by techniques known only to you,
and then populated the world? Replicas of you are everywhere.
Some are Arabs. Some are Jews. Some live in yurts. It is
an abomination, but better that your
sweet and scrupulously neat self
emerges at many points on the earth to watch the horned moon rise
than all those dolts out there,
turning into pillars of salt wherever we look.
If we have to have people, let them be you,
spritzing your geraniums, driving yourself to the haberdashery,
killing your supper with a blowgun.
Yes, only in the forest do you feel at peace,
up in the branches and down in the terrific gorges,
but you've seen through everything else.
You've fled in terror across the frozen lake,
you've found yourslef in the sand, the palace,
the prison, the dockside stews;
and long ago, on this same planet, you came home
to an empty house, poured a Scotch-and-soda,
and sat in a recliner in the unlit rumpus room,
puzzled at what became of you.

--Vijay Seshadri

10/15/09

D holler,

Here's a riddle for you. What's comes at the end of the end? We'll tell you the answer at the end of this newsletter.

Let us get started. Tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15, after trivia, we have Conscious Elliot. Solid local band. Check out the cute poster on their myspace.

Tomorrow night is a typical D Note potpourri. First, at 7pm, are bands Convergence and Fervor, acoustic indie pop from Chicago and Atlanta. Then at 9pm we have The Jake-Leg Shakers, a band from Denver w/ a classic rock sound. Then around 10:30pm we have Waffle House Funk, a fun(k) band out of Boulder. $5

Saturday at 2pm we have the Music Train Family Concert Series featuring The Hobo Nickels. We love this band. And not just because their songs are all about landmarks. Listen to "Weaubleau Well" on their myspace page to get the flavor. $7 adults, $3 kids.

At 7pm Saturday we have the Topsy Turvy Halloween Spooktacular Show & Hafla w/ Phoenix, Yallah! & The Sultry Emberz plus DJ Slave 1. The Halloween Hafla (or "Haflaween" as we like to call it) is always off the hook. Check out the website for the entire agenda for the night. Costumes are encouraged. $8 adults/ $5 kids.

We have a few more halloween shows coming up this month, 6th annual salsa halloween bash on 25th, Without Trees sings Misfits on 29th; Thriller dance lessons, Slo Children, Stonebraker and 10 lb Elephant on 30th (dead celebrity theme); Redline Rockets, Hillbilly Hellcats and Hellbound Billies on 31st.

The answer to the riddle is the letter D. It also happens to be what comes in the middle of the middle.

Ever,

D lirious

Extra Credit: Somebody mysteriously left a book of Langston Hughes poems at the D Note, which we found and devoured. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin MO in 1902, which also happens to be the hometown of Ma and Pa DeGraff. Here's a favorite poem from the book.


DREAM

Last night I dreamt
This most strange dream.
Everywhere I saw
What did not seem could ever be:

You were not there with me!

Awake,
I turned
And touched you
Asleep,
Face to the wall.

I said,
How dreams
Can lie!

But you were not there at all!

D ants,

First this Sesame Street D D D Dance Video.

Then, as per usual, there is a lot going on this weekend. Party!

Tonight, Thurs, Oct 8, after trivia, we have The Green Screen Effect, a Beastie Boy influenced hip hop/electronica group from Denver. Fun stuff. 9pm. $5.

Friday night we have a fundraiser for Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition. Starts early with the Clamdaddys at 5pm, then moves into the OC Varmitz, followed by The Flyte Guys. Around 8:30pm there's Sammy Dee Morton, a gifted blues guitarist with a long history, including touring with the great Doug Kershaw for a few years. $10 suggested donation.

At 11pm Friday night we'll have a band called Captain Quirk and The Cosmic Rangers. The nice bit of accidental kismet here is that this band is tied into the phenomenal Phamaly (Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League) so it dovetails perfectly with the CCDC benefit. Captain Quirk is working on putting together the entirety of Abby Road and will feature several songs from the Beatle's classic Friday night late. $5

Saturday we have one of those unique shows at 4pm which we are so proud to be able to offer. Mohommed Alidu & The Bizung Family from Ghana with special guests from Afro-Fiesta from Congo. Kids will love it. $8 adults, kids free. Come support these musicians and enjoy a great show.

At 7:30pm we have the return of The Lovely & Talented, a great local band with a touch of devotchka, a touch of latin, a bit of tin pan alley and a little tap dancing. $7.

Then at 9:30 we'll have some young cute boy indie bands doing a free show, Regret Night, TShirts For Tomorrow and One Too Many. Free. Fun.

For all you football fans with kids? Come watch the game at the D Note on Sunday while your kids do the Baby Boogie.

Thought I'd give a heads up for Halloween so you can start making plans. On the 17th we'll have a halloween Hafla. Please dress circus/burlesque/goth etc. On the 25th we'll have our annual Salsa Halloween party, with $100 going to best costume. On the 29 we'll have Halloween trivia followed by Without Trees playing Misfits songs. On 30th we have Slo Children, Stonebreaker and Ten Pound Elephant, a thriller dance lesson. The dress code is Dead Celebrities (choose your favorite and come as). On the 31st is Psychozombie Night Of the Dead w/ Redline Rockets, Hillbilly Hellcats and the Hellbound Billies, so polish off your best zombie wear.

See you often,

D pants

Extra Credit: Since we're on a roll lately, let us drop another of the great shining poems. This is a fall classic by John Keats, often considered the perfect embodiment of poetic form, intent and effect.


TO AUTUMN.

1.

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

2.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

3.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

10/1/9

D tanglers,

Top of the month to you all.

We're trying some new things out at the D Note that we're excited about.

First is a series called Telling Stories which starts up this Saturday night at 6pm. Telling Stories pairs writers up with classical musicians for some laid back refinement. If it goes well they will do more, so if you're a fan of this kind of thing then we're hoping you'll come out and support so we can keep doing it. Just so happens that the first show at D Note, aptly titled PILOTS, features 3 of our favorite composers, Britten, Paganini and Cage. Music: Luke Wachter plays John Cage’s One4, Chris Jusell plays two Caprices from Paganini’s Opus 1, the Telling Stories string quartet plays the first movement from Britten’s string quartet, and a performance of Anne Guzzo’s “Two Pieces for Clarinet.” Words: Essays from Jennie Dorris, Sharon Glassman, and Jeff Becker. 6pm, $10. Perfect for an impressive dinner date.

And, next Tuesday, Oct 6, we are starting a Game Night first Tuesday of every month. At 6pm Downtown Toys and Games will host a Guitar Hero band competition, especially designed for all levels of play, with some fantastic prizes, including gift cards. Then at 7:30pm we will start the sign up for all of your favorite board games (Twister anyone? Monopoly?) for prizes and fun. There will be two Wiis on hand thanks to Scott Genke and Gamestop! DJ Not So Much will spin tunes.. Come by yourself and meet some friends or bring a crew. FUN. FREE.

So many reasons to get your date on!

Another one is the free blues swing dance lesson at 7:30pm next Wednesday night before the Clamdaddys.

As for the rest of the line up. Tonight, Thursday, Oct. 1, at 9pm (after trivia) we will have The Mighty High Band. These guys are not a Grateful Dead tribute band, but a Jerry Garcia Band tribute band. There is, surprisingly, a difference. $5.

Friday night we have a CD release for Bret Sloan (of Soul Rabbit) at 7pm ($5) and then the 9 piece horn driven Arvada band The Spin will keep the crowd dancing. $10.

At 8:30pm on Saturday night we feature four up and coming metal-ish bands playing an acoustic unplugged show; 8:30p Four to Go, 9:15p Cypher, 10p Random Hero, 11p Glyphic. Glyphic will be playing live on KPBI Friday night. $5.

Time to get your game on,

D face

Extra Credit: We've been touching up on Perce Bysshe Shelley, trying to memorize his famous Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. We've only got the first stanza down, so we'll leave you with that. The rest will follow in the unforseen future.

The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats through unseen among us,-visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower,-
Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,
It visits with inconstant glance
Each human heart and countenance;
Like hues and harmonies of evening,-
Like clouds in starlight widely spread,-
Like memory of music fled,-
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery.

9/24/09

D light of the world,

THIS WEEKEND. WOWSERS.

There's a lot of really great things happening, beginning with tonight, Thursday, Sept. 24. After Trivia, at 9pm, we have a CD release for Molina Soleil and Aju. Because their bio is so interesting we're gonna quote it here for you...

"Molina Soleil & Aju’s genre-bending style is pure fusion. The bold and eclectic duo blends cultures, languages, and artistic styles, pairing masculine and feminine energies, water and fire. Molina Soleil is a nationally acclaimed poet, emcee and performance artist from a blue-collar Mexicano/Chicano background. Molina’s savvy, streetwise lyrics reflect his sense of social responsibility. Molina is a first-generation college student who graduated from law school in 2006. He chose to forgo a career in law and follow his passion, working tirelessly as an artist, educator, and youth advocate. Molina has performed at hundreds of events in clubs, cafes, parks, community centers, universities and public schools. Molina has shared the stage with artists like Saul Williams and the Flobots./ Aju is a human bridge, gypsy traveler, poet, dancer, and vocalist who spent the first half of her life in Japan. Aju weaves her verbal repertoire of five languages into soulful verses that reflect her hybrid cultural upbringing and distinct artistic flare. As a poet and presenter, Aju is a candid divine feminine voice; her emerging body of work focuses on her experiences as an Asian-American woman, as well as her concerns for human rights and the global environment. "

Tomorrow night we have benefit for Elana Rogers, a local musician very much tied into the scene. Those ties will be apparent on Friday night as Something Underground, Tempa and The Tantrums, The Demon Funkies, Naor Nave and the Melanie Susuras Band come to rock the D Note to help raise funds for Elana's medical bills. That's a lot of incredible music coming together for a beautiful reason. We love this community. If you need an uplift in your life you will get it at the D Note on Friday night. $10 suggested donation. Also, check out the elegantly beautiful poster Matt Dougherty put together for this show on Elana's website.

Saturday we have the return of Paul Green's School Of Rock and this time the kids are doing all Rolling Stones. There is a show at 1pm and 5pm. $8. These kids make the classics feel young again. Time is on their sides.

Starting at 8pm on Saturday we have an alternative country vibe for the night, first with ramshackle freak folk out from Seattle WA, The Foghorns, then with country rock of local veterans Tequila Mockingbird and ending the night the psychobilly surf music of Whiskey Throttle. $5.

Sunday at 4pm we have a special Baby Boogie treat, Aden Harrell and friends are going to do a free show for the kids. Aden is working a bunch of amazing new kids songs that are gonna sweep the nation. Aden Harrell will undoubtedly delight your child.

Finally, we want to remind you to work on your beard and mustache design and execution for the first annual Beard And Mustache Showdown coming November 14.

Who could ask for more?

D ark,

Extra Credit: The poet Jim Carroll died a few weeks ago. They made Jim's autobiographical novel "The Basketball Diaries" into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. And Jim's also famous for a song he recorded in the seventies, "People Who Died". And now Jim himself is a person who has died. Jim wrote some great poetry. Here's two. The Frank mentioned in the second is the poet Frank O'hara, Jim's favorite poet.


Into


even the

perfect

jumpshot



can't match

the perfect

pass



for insight

into the

mysterious


***


from "8 Fragments For Kurt Cobain"

8/

If only you hadn't swallowed yourself into a coma in Roma...
You could have gone to Florence

And looked into the eyes of Bellinni or Rafael's Portraits

Perhaps inside them
You could have found a threshold back to beauty's arms
Where it all began...

No matter that you felt betrayed by her

That is always the cost
As Frank said,
Of a young artist's remorseless passion

Which starts out as a kiss
And follows like a curse