D Note love letter 12/15/11

D Lux,

Hope you can make it to... D. All of the below.

A. This Friday at 5pm we have Hezekiah Goode, who's music sounds a lot like his name, country folk of the Lefty, Woody, Hank variety. Free.

Then at 7pm Friday we have T&T back in the house. These guys have been away for awhile and we're happy to welcome them back. It is duo consisting of Japanese Taiko drums and guitar, forming a big unique sound. $5.

At 9pm Friday we are happy to host a 900 lb Gorilla Cypher. What's that? It's a local hip hop thing, and this will be the release of a mixtape including Brer Rabbit (Flobots) Kalyn from Wheelchair Sports Camp, The High Tops and more. Gonna be fun. $5

B. This Saturday at 4pm Music Train Family Concert presents The Okee Dokee Brothers. Bring the family. The kids will love it. $7 adults/$3 kids.

Saturday night we have a special Haiti relief benefit w/ Dr. Harlan's Amazing Bluegrass Tonic (7pm), In Due Time (9pm) and August On The Equator (11pm) and live painting by Laurie Maves. This is a really good cause, with moneys going directly to relief work. See this article in the Westword for more info on the benefit. The band In Due Time, a truly infectious, super good and fun local band, is also using this show to produce a live CD, so your energy will be well used Saturday night! Also check out Matt Dougherty's beautiful poster for this evening here. $5-$10 suggested donation.

There will be lots of spirit next Tuesday as Bob's Big Band will be playing Christmas tunes starting at 7pm. Big band Christmas!

C. Also, we have an amazing line up for NYE this year, with Ron Miles trio (jazz legend) at 7pm, followed by the African reggae of Selasee and then the latin reggae of our favorite dance band Mono Verde at 11pm. Only $10 for the night.

D. All of the above.

Yours,

D Me More

Extra Credit: Here's a ridiculous poem by Alicia Ostriker.


Ridiculous

This is ridiculous
said the literary old woman
nobody gives us any respect
the young in one another's arms
are talking on their ipods
the politicians are lying through their teeth
and our husbands are taking a nap

this is ridiculous
said the tulip
all those genetically altered blossoms
those stupid long-lived orchids
that are practically plastic
and those fancy designer grasses
getting more than market share

this is ridiculous
said the dog
now they not only have to walk me
they have to rush up with their
sanitary plastic bags
what is it but old-fashioned
imperialism



--



www.dnote.us

weekend update 12/8/11

Mellow D,

How's it going there? We hope you are taking fully advantage out of the beautiful weather, whether that means staying inside, curling up around a fire with a good book, or going gonzo outside, riding the giant wave of a mountain. Or maybe it means coming to the D Note to get hot pizza, hot toddy, hot music, hot dancing and hotties.

Tonight after Geeks Who Drink Trivia at 6:30pm we have a band called Crow Agency, rock, folk, and blues originals.

Tomorrow night, Friday Dec 9, we have the eclectic guitarist Robert Eldridge playing at 5pm. Free. You'll be amazed. Then at 7pm we have several indie rock bands. In order: Yardog Keeter, Botas Rodeo,The Atomic Americans, Circle Number Dot. It will be a very cool night of music. $5.

Saturday we have a lunch time welcome home concert for Victoria Woodworth at 1pm. Free. Victoria won Westword's Best Songwriter a few years back and then promptly moved to Nashville. She's coming back for a visit and we are glad to have her at the D Note for a special show while she's here.

At 7pm we have a Sarah Reed, performing acoustic solo, followed by Robert Eldridge's excellent chameleon like band ZEUT at 8pm. $5. Then at 9:30pm Saturday night we have a CD release for The Supreme Justice League on Velcro Records. Primo electronica. Check out the cool poster and get more info here.

That's the gist of the weekend. Lots more going on Sun through Wed. For more info check out dnote.us

Love to you and yours,

D mando

Extra Credit: Our friend Noel Black just put out a great book on Ugly Duckling Presse called "Uselysses". Here is a sample poem.

Children of Children of Adam

I’ve been meaning to reread Whitman since we moved to Brooklyn a month ago,

so I finally pull down this strange beige Heritage Editions Reprints complete and
unabridged hardcover edition ex libris Dorothy Anne Naskin with illustrations by
Rockwell Kent that my grandmother gave me years ago.

It doesn’t have a publication date & only a strange preface from George Macy, Director of
The Heritage Club, explaining that the smaller margins and thinner paper have been
used so as to comply with the government’s wartime regulation governing reprints.

Also, there’s this strange image on the title page that cleverly spells “WW” in grass sprouting
out of a black block that contains the cryptic numbers 8611776 and 6071492
respectively in a deco font, which I imagine for a moment are the clues to George
Washington and Christopher Columbus’ posthumous Masonic cell phone numbers
in a teen time travel super-hero history mystery…

Anyway, I don’t love this edition, but it’s the only one I’ve got, and it’s getting late,

so I flip open to “Children of Adam” on page 96 and read:

“The boy’s longings, the glow and pressure as he confides to me what he was dreaming…”

&

“The limpid liquid within the young man…”

“What a queen!” I think,
remembering how naïve & surprised I was to find out he was gay,
though certainly not as surprised as when I found out my father was.

I wish Whitman could have saved him—
streaking back across the dark skies of history in his hot pink tights
with that grassy “WW” emblazoned across his chest
to kiss his eyes & tell him he would be alright.

I snap the book shut after a few pages,
head back to the kitchen for a drink of cold water
& stand in front of the window fan in my boxer shorts,
hand on my hip,
staring out at Whitman’s city—
all the night’s lights winking at me.

weekend update 12/1/11

D icers,

Brave the snow and come to the warmth of the D Note tonight to play trivia with friends (6:30p) and then stay to hear a picking circle lead by mandolin wizard Nick Amodeo.

Tomorrow night we have the excellent songwriting of Eric Forsyth at 5pm (free), followed by the rock and roll of The B Team (7pm), Jake Leg Shakers (9pm) and Frokus (11pm). $5

Saturday we have a birthday party for Andy, w/ the Clamdaddys at 5pm, then The Broken Everlys featuring the great Tempa (blues) at 7pm followed by Drum and Bass DJs and MCs (Dozha, Diknow, D Tawx, Relyt and more) starting at 9pm. $5. This is also a going away party for Tempa, who is moving to Hawaii! Come give due props to Andy and Tempa and hear some great music. The community is calling.

Sunday at 11am we start Sunday School back up (electronica for parents who used to rave, and their kids). Free.

That's the short scoop. See dnote.us for the long one. Hope you are staying warm.

D scribe

Extra Credit: There were some beautiful sunrises and sunsets this week in Colorado. So for this week's poem we're going to re-appropriate a Facebook status from a few days back by Cellist Monica Sales, the same Cellist who plays Sunday mornings for our Mello Cello Brunch. This is what is known as a "found poem".


Today I Will Stay Awake

The hue of the room in a normally brief encounter with the morning
sent me flying up the stairs and out onto the driveway, still in my nightshirt,
to be enveloped in a sky lit on fire. Like waves of silken magenta,
a canopy of wind-swept clouds filled the sky, and as I watched,
the hue turned from magenta to a brilliant orange and now to a sea of gold.
Today, I will stay awake, for any further dreaming would only pale in comparison
to what beauty this morning has already brought me.

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."

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

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

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.”