Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

D licious turkeys,

We are thankful, and even amazed, that there is a holiday focused on being thankful. If only we had one every month. Or maybe even daily. At any rate, we are glad to be able to have an extra excuse to say that we are very grateful for each of you.

We are closed tonight for Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow night, Friday Nov 25, come dance off the turkey and stuffing. Bring the extended family. We start off with Simon Levene at 5pm. The very British Simon used to play the D Note as the lead of the band King For A Day, but now is doing a solo thing and we are looking forward to hearing it. Then at 7pm we have a remarkable one man band named Grant Sabin. Tom Waits meets Jack White, very cool. At 8pm we have Ryan Macpherson playing smooth songwriter rock opening up for a CD release for Reverend Hooch, an acid etched rock band with serious chops. We end the night at 11pm with The Gones. $5.

Saturday at 4pm we have James Hurtado playing his Mexican/R&B flavored songs, followed by the beautiful songwriting of Drew Schofield at 7pm followed by hopping bluegrass of the Missing Stringband at 8:30p followed by the local Arvada hip hop of the 303 Movement. $5

For the rest of the calendar and events check out dnote.us.

Got you covered,

D ressing


Extra Credit: A 2000 year old, but still relevant bit of wisdom by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus...

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

Thursday, November 17, 2011

D Note love letter 11/17/11

D ants in your pants

First, a question. Who wrote the book of love? We can't even pick the dang thing up. It's full of charts and facts and figures. And instructions for dancing.

We instruct you to come dancing this weekend at the D Note. Tonight, after the hilarious Geeks Who Drink trivia with jeezmaster Paul, we have the funk of the Charlie Milo trio followed by the tribal shake of The Gaia Experiment. These bands come with their own dancers, and they would like you to join them. $5.

Friday night we have A Curious Ghost at 5pm. You've really got to check out The Curious Ghost. Start at Curiousghost.com and then end at the D Note Friday. George Inai, the curious ghost in question, is one of our favorite local songwriters for sure.

Then we have Autumnal Fall and Dave Edwards at 7pm. This will be acoustic transcendentalism w/ a little bit of rock and roll. $5

The evening ends with the full on rock and roll of The JSK band at 9pm, which will be prime dance enabling music. $5

Saturday at 1pm we have a Gypsy Vs. Jazz showdown w/ Aaron Walker, Bob Schlessinger, Bob Montgomery and more. Excellent lunch date, most impressive. $10

At 4pm Saturday The Music Train Family Concert Series presents Michael Friedman & Swing set Jazz. $7/$3 kids. Your kids will dance wildly.

At 7pm we have the country blues music of the trio that goes by the name Some Train Yard. $5

At 8:30 pm we are back in rock and roll territory with The So What Brothers. This dance rock band won Channel 7's best band in Denver a few years ago. Come see why. $5

For those of you that need some yoga, Nicki Viera teaches a great class on Sunday morning at 10am. Melissa Ivey and Adam DeGraff provide the meditative music. Free, but donations toward local charities accepted.

Next Tuesday at 6pm we have the jazz quintet called The Metrognomes. (An apt name, as these guys are both little and on beat). Then at 8pm Tuesday we have The Statue Of Liberty Band, playing good old American bluegrass.

There are some choice choices for you.

Yours,

D tractor

Extra credit: Robert Frost is one of the few poets most folks have actually read. So it is about time to include a poem by Frost in this long running anthology of poetry called the D mail. This is our personal favorite poem by Frost, "cold as a spring as yet so near its source."

Directive

Back out of all this now too much for us,
Back in a time made simple by the loss
Of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off
Like graveyard marble sculpture in the weather,
There is a house that is no more a house
Upon a farm that is no more a farm
And in a town that is no more a town.
The road there, if you’ll let a guide direct you
Who only has at heart your getting lost,
May seem as if it should have been a quarry—
Great monolithic knees the former town
Long since gave up pretense of keeping covered.
And there’s a story in a book about it:
Besides the wear of iron wagon wheels
The ledges show lines ruled southeast-northwest,
The chisel work of an enormous Glacier
That braced his feet against the Arctic Pole.
You must not mind a certain coolness from him
Still said to haunt this side of Panther Mountain.
Nor need you mind the serial ordeal
Of being watched from forty cellar holes
As if by eye pairs out of forty firkins.
As for the woods’ excitement over you
That sends light rustle rushes to their leaves,
Charge that to upstart inexperience.
Where were they all not twenty years ago?
They think too much of having shaded out
A few old pecker-fretted apple trees.
Make yourself up a cheering song of how
Someone’s road home from work this once was,
Who may be just ahead of you on foot
Or creaking with a buggy load of grain.
The height of the adventure is the height
Of country where two village cultures faded
Into each other. Both of them are lost.
And if you’re lost enough to find yourself
By now, pull in your ladder road behind you
And put a sign up CLOSED to all but me.
Then make yourself at home. The only field
Now left’s no bigger than a harness gall.
First there’s the children’s house of make-believe,
Some shattered dishes underneath a pine,
The playthings in the playhouse of the children.
Weep for what little things could make them glad.
Then for the house that is no more a house,
But only a belilaced cellar hole,
Now slowly closing like a dent in dough.
This was no playhouse but a house in earnest.
Your destination and your destiny’s
A brook that was the water of the house,
Cold as a spring as yet so near its source,
Too lofty and original to rage.
(We know the valley streams that when aroused
Will leave their tatters hung on barb and thorn.)
I have kept hidden in the instep arch
Of an old cedar at the waterside
A broken drinking goblet like the Grail
Under a spell so the wrong ones can’t find it,
So can’t get saved, as Saint Mark says they mustn’t.
(I stole the goblet from the children’s playhouse.)
Here are your waters and your watering place.
Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.





--


www.dnote.us

Thursday, November 10, 2011

weekend update 11/10/11

D follicles,

This Saturday night starting at 6:30pm is the D Note 3rd Annual Beard & Mustache Showdown and Beertasting w/ Oakhurst, Acoustic Mining Bluegrass & Wonderlic. $10 general/$20 w/ beertasting. Proceeds benefitting Sun Valley Youth Center. If you have good facial hair or know someone that does have them sign up for the contest at 6:30p. Registration 6:30pm, 7:30pm Beer tasting w/ Wonderlic, 8p Showdown, 8:30p Judging w/ Acoustic Mining, 9:30p winners announced, 10pm Oakhurst. We are stoked that Oakhurst came back to play this year. They are the perfect band for dancing beards. Acoustic Mining and Wonderlic both good for wiggling your whiskers too. Andy worked hard and has 12 breweries on hand for the beer tasting. Beers, beards and great music. Hard combination to ignore. Check out Matt Dougherty's sweet poster here.

Saturday during the day starting at 1pm we have Movemberfest, a jam band jamboree. Free.

Friday night we are closed for a wedding. 11/11/11 nuptials are the thing this year...

Thursday night (tonight as we write this) we have Geeks Who Drink trivia followed by a band called The New Olds at 9pm. Rock and roll, old-new style. $2 cover.

Next Tues we have a killer line up for our Acoustic Showcase w/ Jay Ryan, Melissa Ivey, Lara Ruggles, and Colan Simpson. Free.

Yours,

D bear

Extra credit: Oakhurst does one of our songs. We'll present the song here as the so-called "poem" of the week. Whether it is a poem or not is up for debate, but we'll include it here regardless so you can sing along Saturday night.

Twango

When I was just a young man I thought I knew my way
But now that I'm a little bit older I'm just getting in the way

When I was a young man I thought I knew what to do
But now that I'm a little bit older I just wanna play a song for you

I was standing in the light
Now I'm dancing in the shadow of the night

Come on baby, go baby go, come on baby do the twango,
come on baby do do do the twango, it goes

1,2,3...5,6,7, spin your baby up to heaven
Come on now and do the twango, it goes like this...

Hold her arm out nice and straight
Twirl her home and through the gate
and that's the way you do the twango

When I was just a young man I thought I knew what was right
But now that I'm a little bit older I know I might be wrong*

Now that I'm a little bit older I just wanna stay out of a fight
Now that I'm a little bit older I just wanna play this song

I was standing in the light
Now I'm dancing in the shadow of the night

Come on baby, go baby go, come on baby do the twango
come on baby do do do the twango, it goes

1,2,3...5,6,7, spin your baby up to heaven
Come on now and do the twango, it goes like this...

Spin her round, dosey do, then drop her down real low
and that's the way you do the twango

I was standing in the light
Now I'm dancing in the shadow of the night

(Repeat final refrain. Sing along.)



*line stolen from Moses Walker of the Clamdaddys

Thursday, November 3, 2011

weekend update 11/3/11

D fenders,

This Friday night we have a show put together by Mark Sundermeier. It is possible that Mark knows more people in the music biz around here than anyone. He books music at The Toad Tavern and before that he booked for The Soiled Dove for years. A few months ago Mark was in a terrible car crash and spent a few weeks in a coma. We're lucky he's still with us. This show will be his first since the accident with his new band Author Unknown, like a phoenix from the flame. It is also a CD release. He has brought along The Reformers, Janessa Ho, Tequila Mockingbird and Loose Gravel for support, so it is sure to be an amazing night all the way around. $7

Saturday at 3pm we have Project Acoustic New Talent Showcase. Free.

At 7pm Saturday we have a CD release for Synergy. We've watched this young band really grow into their own over the last few years and are excited to hear the songs off the new CD. With Katie Thomas supporting. $5.

At 9:30p we have the triumphant return of Dwight Carrier. We've had a lot of great Zydeco in the D Note over the years thanks to Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco (CFCZ), but Dwight is definitely a favorite. He is Zydeco royalty, the son of the late great Roy Carrier, and has the good stuff. $10.

Next Saturday we have our third annual Beard and Mustache Showdown w/ Oakhurst. Really looking forward to that one. If you have or know someone who has awesome facial hair, sign up for the competition.

Off,

D tour

Extra Credit: Bob Dylan was a 5 to 1 favorite to win the Nobel prize for literature this year. But, though he surely deserves it, why not give the prize to someone who could use the exposure? That's exactly what happened, against the odds. The prize went to little known Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. Here is an excerpt from Transtromer's poem "Vermeer". Translated by Robert Bly.

from Vermeer

Passing through walls hurts human beings, they get sick from it,
but we have no choice.
It’s all one world. Now to the walls.
The walls are a part of you.
One either knows that, or one doesn’t; but it’s the same for everyone
except for small children. There aren’t any walls for them.

The airy sky has taken its place leaning against the wall.
It is like a prayer to what is empty.
And what is empty turns its face to us
and whispers:
“I am not empty, I am open.”