Thursday, July 16, 2009

mid July, 09

D flowers

What is "soul"? In this week's New Yorker the actor Paul Giamatti says he pictures his own soul as a decorative garden toad. Similarly, he sees Willie Nelson's soul as a cob of corn, Dolly Parton's as a hummingbird, Merle Haggard's as a rusty engine block, Sigmund Freud's as a Babylonian statue of a half lion with beard and wings, Donald Trump's as a nice set of whitewall tires, Jessica Simpson's as a tape measure, Slash's as a blood orange left on a window-sill, all dried out and leathery and Kim Jong Il's as a crazy box of crabs. How do you see your soul?

However you see your soul, if you are in need of a bit more of it, and who isn't? then we highly recommend you come down to the D Note on Saturday night, July 18, to hear Denver's queen of soul, Hazel Miller, sing her heart out. 8pm. $12. After Hazel, at 10:30pm we have the rock band Ephesus, a "...turbulent, emotional blend of hard charging guitar strewn rock and roll with a dash of americana...a constant bombardment of heartfelt lyrics and mind blowing guitar riffs."-Colorado Music Buzz. $5

Friday night at 9pm we have the return of Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble at 9pm, presented by Colorado Friends of Zydeco and Cajun. These guys always bring great bands to the D Note from Louisiana. Curley Taylor is the Usher of the Zydeco set. $12. Before Curley Taylor we have our friends Crowboy back and starting at 7pm. Crowboy is a one of those sleeper bands that sneaks up on you like a lynchburg lemonade on a hot day. $5.

Sunday, July 19, we have the first annual Blues-n-BBQ festival in Olde Town Arvada to benefit Habitat for Humanity. The D Note will host a RockBand competition, Pete McKay from The Mountain and a silent auction. And right out our front door will be 20 great local blues acts. Baby Boogie won't be in normal mode, but feel free to bring in the babies anyway.

And tonight, Thursday July 16, after Trivia, we have a band from St. Louis, MO called Fundamental Elements, a very smooth R&B band with a retro 70's sound. Good stuff. No cover.

word up,

D scribe

Extra Credit: Since "soul" is the subject this week, then let us have the last two stanzas of William Butler Yeats "A Dialogue Of Self And Soul"...

I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man's ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.

I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

early to mid july

D light,

Sometimes we get the most interesting surprises. A few months ago we were offered a night with the Blues legend Lazy Lester. At the time we weren't familiar with him. But then a few weeks later we were reading in the New Yorker about the Ponderosa Stomp, a popular roots festival that takes place in New Orleans every year, and read that the festival was named after a song by Lazy Lester. And then we were in Boston for a wedding a few weeks later and were reading the Boston newspaper. You know how there is always a section in a paper listing the famous people who were born on that day? It said Lazy Lester was 76. We began to realize we had a more momentous show booked than we realized. He'll be playing at 7pm this coming Saturday, July 11. Check out his rich history on his website. And we hear he's a very entertaining performer too. After Lester we have Lion Vibes, a nine piece reggae band. We love these guys and have all their songs memorized by heart. Only $10 for the night.

Friday night, July 10, we have the return of The Dick Ramada Band at 8pm, a high energy rock and roll band. Here's a note from them, "The renowned Steve Jenkins (original Bassist/Dick and the Chicks) and rocker Jerry Jerome (Defined Print and The Capitol Hillbilly's) will be joining us on stage. Star watchers will not be disappointed, as
Lenny Sita (The Heartbeats), Jay Charles Wetzler (The Heartbeats), Richard Bryans (Bad Finger), Art Carlson (Comedian), Karen, Glen and Mason (The Firewalkers), Carl Trowbridge (Songwriter of the Year in 1984) and "Steely"Stan (Steely Dan Manager) are rumored to be appearing at this party!" Whoa. $5. After DRB, at 10pm we switch directions and feature an indie power pop band called Six Months To Live. Hard to describe their sound. Give a listen to their myspace and tell us what you think. Flaming Lips crossed with Big Star? $5.

And tonight, Thurs, July 9, after trivia, at 9pm, we have another hard to describe band called Violent Hippie, from Spearfish South Dakota. Kinda pop, kinda punk, kinda electronica, kinda prog rock, kinda none of these. Come hear for yourself. $5.

Killer weekend. Hope to see you here.

later,

D ark

Extra Credit: Here's a blues poem by Emily Dickinson, dedicated to Lazy Lester...


There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
'Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

early July, 09

Ditizens,

The preamble today was sent over from Matthew D: "About two hundred thirty three years ago, we, the fine citizens of the United States, fed up with Britain's tweedy aloofness and insistence on calling pants "trousers" and underwear "pants," decided to get our Independence on. So Thomas Jefferson took a break from having awesome hair and wrote the Declaration, effectively telling Britain to take a dirt nap because the uncouth colonies were in charge of themselves now, thank you very much. Then, you know: the fighting, muskets, the French, Indians, Paul Revere, et al. After that: This land is our land, you monarch-lovers. Keep your trousers on."

On Saturday July 4th we have a couple local bands starting at 2pm to help celebrate the independence; Ironwood Rain and Wastin' Daylight. Ironwood Rain is like Crosby Stills and Nash meet Jack Johnson and Wastin' Daylight is good old southern rock. $5 And if you want to you can order pizza with BBQ sauce and consider this an afternoon BBQ. Have you tried our new BBQ sauce on the pizza yet? Awesome, truly.

After the afternoon bands we'll take a break for fireworks. After the fireworks, at 10pm, we'll branch out of the country with Bridgers, a Russian band playing American blues rock. Bridgers lead singer is something to behold. Quite entertaining, almost surreal. $5.

Friday night, July 3, we have a birthday party for brother Jeremy D and our old friend Rico. Jeremy and Rico are both big fans of the man Jerry Garcia, and so we'll have The Mighty High Band, a Jerry Garcia Band tribute band. The Mighty High Band is made up of members of Purple Buddha, a band we miss around the D Note and it'll be good to have them back in a different form. Opening will be John Waite And Southern Flavor at 8pm, featuring the killer mandolin playing of Nick Amodeo. And the beautiful Liz Clark will play a dinner set at 6pm. $5. Check out the sweet poster Matt Dougherty made for this show on our myspace. Happy birthday Jeremy and Rico.

Thursday night, July 2, at 9pm, after Trivia, we have Bad Chicken playing classic rock with a ragged verve. $5

Next Tuesday will be some killer jazz with Andrew Trim Quartet, featuring Alejandro Castano on drums. 7pm. And then a cool duo playing at 8:45pm, Baby and The Badger. Give them a quick listen and you may get as hooked on them as we are. free.

Also worth noting on your calendars: blues legend Lazy Lester will be playing before local favorites Lion Vibes next Saturday, July 11 at 7pm. $10. Yeeaah!

Yours,

D merican

Extra credit: Frank O'hara is one of our favorite American poets, so we include a very American poem of his from an old copy of The Paris Review we found in a bookstore in Boston.

My Heart

I'm not going to cry all the time
nor shall I laugh all the time,
I don't prefer one "strain" to another.
I'd have the immediacy of a bad movie,
not just a sleeper, but also the big,
overproduced first-run kind. I want to be
at least as alive as the vulgar. And if
some aficionado of my mess says "That's
not like Frank!", all to the good! I
don't wear brown and grey suits all the time,
do I? No. I wear workshirts to the opera,
often. I want my feet to be bare,
I want my face to be shaven, and my heart--
you can't plan on the heart, but
the better part of it, my poetry, is open.