Thursday, October 22, 2009

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

Thursday, October 15, 2009

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!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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.