D Note love letter plus poem 12/29/11

D livery,

We are starting 2011 in the right way this weekend. First we have The Teaching on Friday night. The Teaching, a very dynamic and rocking jazz quartet from Seattle, have been playing the D Note annually for 5 years now and it is always a treat. Serafin Sanchez (from Bop Skizzum) will be joining them. Come early to secure a seat and be prepared to be musically entertained. $10. The horn driven Lindsey O'brien Band will be playing afterward at 10pm. $5.

For New Year's Eve we have dreamed up a perfect set of music for you. First we have the legendary trumpet player Ron Miles playing with his trio at 7pm. If you've never heard him before you are in for a treat. Super good vibrations emanating from that man. Then we have the African tinged reggae of Selassee at 8:30pm and finally the awesome Mono Verde (latin/world reggae) take over the stage at 11pm and lead us into 2012...DANCING. (What better way to start the year?). And the price is right too...$10. So excited.

We are having a special New Years day Salsa Fiesta on Sunday night with several dance performances and the high energy of La Candela. Lessons at 8pm, band at 9pm, performances scattered throughout. $8.

We will start up swing dance lessons again on Wednesdays at 7pm with a new outstanding and fun teacher, Lark Mervine. $5. Followed by the swinging band The Clamdaddys. Free. Yes!

Looking forward to spending the next year with YOU!

Ever

D D D dum

Extra credit: How about a long imaginative poem upon snow and fire by John Greenleaf Whittier?

Snowbound: A Winter Idyll

"As the Spirits of Darkness be stronger in the dark, so Good Spirits which be Angels of Light are augmented not only by the Divine Light of the Sun, but also by our common Wood fire: and as the celestial Fire drives away dark spirits, so also this our Fire of Wood doth the same."--
COR. AGRIPPA, Occult Philosophy, Book I. chap. v.

"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow; and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight; the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm."
EMERSON.

The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray,
And, darkly circled, gave at noon
A sadder light than waning moon.
Slow tracing down the thickening sky
Its mute and ominous prophecy,
A portent seeming less than threat,
It sank from sight before it set.
A chill no coat, however stout,
Of homespun stuff could quite shut out,
A hard, dull bitterness of cold,
That checked, mid-vein, the circling race
Of life-blood in the sharpened face,
The coming of the snow-storm told.
The wind blew east; we heard the roar
Of Ocean on his wintry shore,
And felt the strong pulse throbbing there
Beat with low rhythm our inland air.

Unwarmed by any sunset light
The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirl-dance of the blinding storm,
As zigzag, wavering to and fro,
Crossed and recrossed the wingàd snow:
And ere the early bedtime came
The white drift piled the window-frame,
And through the glass the clothes-line posts
Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts.

So all night long the storm roared on:
The morning broke without a sun;
In tiny spherule traced with lines Of Nature's geometric signs,
And, when the second morning shone,
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below, --
A universe of sky and snow!
The old familiar sights of ours
Took marvellous shapes; strange domes and towers
Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood,
Or garden-wall, or belt of wood;
A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed,
A fenceless drift what once was road;
The bridle-post an old man sat
With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;
The well-curb had a Chinese roof;
And even the long sweep, high aloof,
In its slant spendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle.

A prompt, decisive man, no breath
Our father wasted: "Boys, a path!"
Well pleased, (for when did farmer boy
Count such a summons less than joy?)
Our buskins on our feet we drew;
With mittened hands, and caps drawn low,
To guard our necks and ears from snow,
We cut the solid whiteness through.
And, where the drift was deepest, made A tunnel walled and overlaid
With dazzling crystal: we had read
Of rare Aladdin's wondrous cave,
And to our own his name we gave,
With many a wish the luck were ours
To test his lamp's supernal powers.

All day the gusty north-wind bore
The loosening drift its breath before;
Low circling round its southern zone,
The sun through dazzling snow-mist shone.
No church-bell lent its Christian tone
To the savage air, no social smoke
Curled over woods of snow-hung oak.
A solitude made more intense
By dreary-voicëd elements,
The shrieking of the mindless wind,
The moaning tree-boughs swaying blind,
And on the glass the unmeaning beat
Of ghostly finger-tips of sleet.
Beyond the circle of our hearth
No welcome sound of toil or mirth
Unbound the spell, and testified
Of human life and thought outside.
We minded that the sharpest ear
The buried brooklet could not hear,
The music of whose liquid lip
Had been to us companionship,
And, in our lonely life, had grown
To have an almost human tone.

As night drew on, and, from the crest
Of wooded knolls that ridged the west,
The sun, a snow-blown traveller, sank
From sight beneath the smothering bank,
We piled, with care, our nightly stack
Of wood against the chimney-back, --
The oaken log, green, huge, and thick,
And on its top the stout back-stick;
The knotty forestick laid apart,
And filled between with curious art

The ragged brush; then, hovering near,
We watched the first red blaze appear,
Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam
On whitewashed wall and sagging beam,
Until the old, rude-furnished room
Burst, flower-like, into rosy bloom;
While radiant with a mimic flame
Outside the sparkling drift became,
And through the bare-boughed lilac-tree
Our own warm hearth seemed blazing free.
The crane and pendent trammels showed,
The Turks' heads on the andirons glowed;
While childish fancy, prompt to tell
The meaning of the miracle,
Whispered the old rhyme: "Under the tree,
When fire outdoors burns merrily,
There the witches are making tea."

The moon above the eastern wood
Shone at its full; the hill-range stood
Transfigured in the silver flood,
Its blown snows flashing cold and keen,
Dead white, save where some sharp ravine
Took shadow, or the sombre green
Of hemlocks turned to pitchy black
Against the whiteness at their back.
For such a world and such a night
Most fitting that unwarming light,
Which only seemed where'er it fell
To make the coldness visible.

Shut in from all the world without,
We sat the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north-wind roar
In baffled rage at pane and door,
While the red logs before us beat
The frost-line back with tropic heat;
And ever, when a louder blast
Shook beam and rafter as it passed,
The merrier up its roaring draught
The great throat of the chimney laughed;
The house-dog on his paws outspread
Laid to the fire his drowsy head,
The cat's dark silhouette on the wall
A couchant tiger's seemed to fall;
And, for the winter fireside meet,
Between the andirons' straddling feet,
The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And, close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown October's wood.

What matter how the night behaved?
What matter how the north-wind raved?
Blow high, blow low, not all its snow
Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow.

At last the great logs, crumbling low,
Sent out a dull and duller glow,
The bull's-eye watch that hung in view,
Ticking its weary circuit through,
Pointed with mutely warning sign
Its black hand to the hour of nine.
That sign the pleasant circle broke:
My uncle ceased his pipe to smoke,
Knocked from its bowl the refuse gray,
And laid it tenderly away;
Then roused himself to safely cover
The dull red brands with ashes over.
And while, with care, our mother laid
The work aside, her steps she stayed
One moment, seeking to express
Her grateful sense of happiness
For food and shelter, warmth and health,
And love's contentment more than wealth,
With simple wishes (not the weak,
Vain prayers which no fulfilment seek,
But such as warm the generous heart,
O'er-prompt to do with Heaven its part)
That none might lack, that bitter night,
For bread and clothing, warmth and light.

1865

--



www.dnote.us

weekend update 12/22/11 plus poem

D ears,

We've always thought that the letter D looks like an ear. Though it could also be other body parts we suppose. A round belly perhaps? Santa's belly? We're now imagining the D shaking when it laughs like a bowl full of jelly.

This Friday night we have Ryan Ambrose playing at 5pm (free), then Big Universe playing at 7:30pm. Big Universe is a fun cover band. This will be a benefit for Jeffco School Outdoor Labs. $5/$10 for family. At 10pm we have The Bottom Feeders (blues, R&B). $5

Then we are closed for Christmas eve. We'll be back open for salsa on Sunday night starting at 6pm.

We have a couple of great shows next weekend. Friday the 30th we'll The Teaching w/ Serafin Sanchez followed by the Lindsey O'brien band. Then on NYE we have an amazing show w/ Ron Miles Trio (legendary jazz great), Selassee (african reggae) and Mono Verde (latin reggae) and only $10...

Love to you and yours...

Extra Credit: We recommend a wonderful new translation of the 3000 year old Vijnana Bhairava Tantras by Dr. Lorin Roche. Here's a sample.



Sutra 64


Secrets are hidden in darkness

And difficult nights.

You awaken to a pang of aloneness,

A howl of separation.



This is the call of the Dark One,

The roar of life seeking its source.

The union you long for is within reach.



Throw off all hesitation.

Become one with the fear.

Plunge into the uncanny blackness,

Eyes wide open,

As if there were no other choice.



Vibrating with fierce tenderness,

Breathe intimately

With the Lord of infinite space.

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.”

love letter 10/27/11

D Vourers

Our favorite holiday is upon us. Diandra D and Adam Ferrill have turned the D Note into a space ship and we are ready to take off.

Friday night we have a really big shew for you. At 5pm Alex Boyd, then at 7pm Slo Children doing an all Halloween song set. Slo Children consists of D Noters Adam and Jeremy DeGraff, Adam Ferrill, Jax Delaguerre and Alejandro Castano. Then at 8pm Dave Preston and Sam Gathman, followed by Something Underground, with Meniskus batting line up. Meniskus rocked our socks off last time they were in the D Note. People are still talking about it. And Something Underground are always awesome too. We love those guys. Check out the wicked video "poster" by Jim Krzyzaniak here. $8

Saturday at 1pm we have a garage band music recital by Music Lessons Of Westminster ($5). Then at 4pm we have Sentimental Sounds Big Band. Free! And finally at 8pm we have the return by popular demand of Angus Mohr playing their annual Halloween Show and Samhain (highland rock and roll w/ bagpipes) $10.

Sunday we have our 8th annual salsaween. There will be special performances and, as always, a killer costume contest with cash prizes. W/ DJ Louis. $6.

Monday night, actual Halloween night, we have our open stage, and you get extra points for coming in costume and/or performing halloween songs.

Could we do Halloween any bigger or better? We don't think so.

Next Tuesday is another chance to see a big jazz band, w/ Serenade In Blue at 7:30pm.

Around the corner, on Nov 12, is our 3rd annual Beard And Mustache Showdown and beer tasting w/ Oakhurst, Acoustic Mining and Wonderlic. So start working on your beards now. Competition is going to be fierce this year. Q. What do you get when you add the D to Beer? A. Beerd

Yours,

D notary

Extra Credit: How about the lyrics to a Slo Children song?

Wildwood Holler

Way up in the Wildwood Holler
face to face with my killer

He raised his voice
He raised his fist

I raised my glass

I said here's to you
Here's to me
Here's to us

Now kick my ass

Way up in the Wildwood Holler
face to face with my killer

He raised his sun
I raised my moon

He raised the knife
I raised the spoon

He raised the gun
I put the flower in

Come on now and let's begin

Lightning bolt, lightning bolt
lightning bolt and thunderclap

I had to laugh

Way up in the wild blue yonder
face to face with my creator

He raised the sky
I raised the balloon

He raised the bar
I raised the saloon

He raised the morning
I raised at noon

He raised the evening
I raised my gin

Come on now and let's begin

Lightning bolt, lightning bolt
lightning bolt and thunderclap

I had to laugh

D Note love letter 10/20/11

D particles,

So much going on. Let's dive in. Ready?

Tonight, after Trivia, Kingman Brewster (hip hop) 9pm, followed by The Gaia Experiment 10pm, followed by Antioquia from San Francisco (psychedelic rock) 11pm. $5. Yes, it will be a late Thur night chock full of beauty!

Tomorrow, Friday Oct 21, we'll have Jamie Lynn performing for dinner hours 5-6:30p. Then we'll have a Flamenco show at 7pm. This will be a "tablao" style show feat. Vincent Chavez, Guitar, Mark Herzog, Cante, Natalia Perez del Villar & her cuadro dancing $12. Recommend getting there early for a seat.

At 9pm Friday we'll have The Old Stage Renegades (gypsy folk rock), and at 11pm we'll have August On The Equator (experimental jazz and hip hop). $5.

Saturday at noon Rockin Raven presents Colorado Vocal Prodigy Contest (18 and under). Benefit for Hope Haven.

At 7pm we have our annual halloween Haflaween, a belly dance spooktacular presented by Phoenix, w/ performances, games, live music from Yallah! and more. Always a blast! $8 adults, $5 kids.

Speaking of halloween we have some great shows next weekend too. First we have Something Underground, Meniskus, Dave Preston and Slo Children next Friday, 10/28. CHECK OUT the awesome promo video for this night here! Saturday night we'll have Angus Mohr in back in the house for a Samhain halloween show. Then the 30th we'll have our 8th annual Salsaween, with a cash prize costume contest.

Also come in and check out the new halloweenish art work by Blk Mtl, Matt Dougherty, Adam Ferrell and Diandra D.

Exeunt,

D scripter

Extra Credit: Here's a poem by Vera Pavlova we were struck by, found on the Poetry Foundation website.

To converse with the greats

To converse with the greats
by trying their blindfolds on;
to correspond with books
by rewriting them;
to edit holy edicts,
and at the midnight hour
to talk with the clock by tapping a wall
in the solitary confinement of the universe.

Love letter 10/13/11

D tocks

How, hi are you?

Tomorrow night, Friday Oct 14, at 7pm we enter into the magic land of the Beatles with the tribute band The 3eatles. This will be the third visit by this band to the D Note. It has been a blast the last few times and we expect the same this time. Goo goo G'joob. $7. After The 3eatles at 9pm we have the Idlewhile band. Hillbilly swagger with a touch of Bauhaus. Driving music. $5

Saturday at 4pm we have a Music Train Family Concert w/ The blue Canyon Boys. We've had this band in the D Note before and they are great. The whole family will dig. $7/$3 kids.

At 7pm Saturday we have our friends The Duke Street Kings rocking out to the classics. Bring your dancing shoes. At 9pm we have a CD release for Squidlick, a hard rocking band worth checking out. And we end the night with Between Fate, slinging melodic grunge a la Foo Fighters. $5.

Yoga on sunday at 10am is calling your name. Salsa on Sunday night will be beautiful too.

We've got a flamenco show next Friday. A halloween themed belly dance extravaganza next Saturday. Then the following week we have Something Underground, Meniskus, Slo Children and Angus Mohr coming your way.

Factually,

D Facto

Extra Credit: All talk is slippery. So let us have a poem by Elisabeth Frost.


Happiness

Again I'm trying to explain how all talk is slippery.

See, I might want to convey one thing—frustration, say—
but all that gets conveyed is some other thing—rage—my hand
coming fast, erratic, menacing.

Who can say how a thing in words turns and flowers like that?
It happens.

Now say I want to say to you happiness.

No motive. Nothing behind it.
Just the awareness of a valve suddenly opened and—
happiness!

It's in the lungs, the bones.
But somehow all you hear is I don't need you.

We're in this room, and you're not hearing
how I'm still trying to say this thing to you.

I'll say it again. Here. Happiness.

D Note love letter 10/6/11

D coy,

October is pretty much the D Note's favorite month. Diandra always transforms the place for halloween festivities. This year she is turning it into a spaceship with plenty of aliens on board. Come watch the transformation happen...

Tonight after Geeks Who Drink Trivia we have Martin Gilmore's picking circle. If you are a picker, or just a grinner, come on down, always a good time.

Tomorrow night we start with Jeff Lambert and JC McKim playing acoustic at 5pm. Then at 7:30p we have Roscoe's Dusty Bottle Boxcar Band, an excellent jug band helmed by Bret Sloan. At 9pm we have Quillion and Mechanical Dan trading sets for the rest of the night. Rock and roll. Quillion and Mechanical Dan are made up of good friends of the D Note and it is always special to us to have them in. $5

Saturday is a full one starting with Zumba at 10:30am. Then we have a drum recital with ProDrum at noon. Free. At 5pm we have our fourth annual benefit for Friendship Bridge, an organization that helps secure micro-loans for Guatemalan women. Clusterfunk will be providing the tunes. There will be a silent auction too. $10 suggested donation. Then at 9pm our friends at Velcro City Records will throwing a dance party. Free. Check out the beautiful flyer for this event here.

Yoga Sunday morning, then mello cello brunch, then baby boogie, then salsa. Have you ever tried a salsa lesson? It is easy to begin and quite addictive. Way more fun than a rollercoaster ride. Vow that this week will be the week you finally try it.

Next Tuesday there is a big band show with Bob's Big Band at 7pm. Then we have a special rock and roll show with Goldenboy at 9pm. Goldenboy has a very impressive resume having formerly played guitar for The Eels, The Rentals, Neil Finn and Elliot Smith! $5

Next Friday we have the return of the 3eatles, a super fun Beatles cover band.

For the rest of the scoop check out www.dnote.us

Hope to see you soon, wink wink

Coy D

Extra Credit: Speaking of Coy, here's one of the great poems of all time, by 17th century poet Andrew Marvell



To his Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day;
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood;
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust.
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.
Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball;
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Love letter 9/29/11

Dear Major D,

The key of D Major is well-suited to violin music because of the structure of the instrument, which is tuned G D A E. The open strings resonate sympathetically with the D string, producing a sound that is especially brilliant.

Tonight, Thursday 9/29, after Geeks Who Drink Trivia (so much fun) we have latin hip hop of Indigenous Peoples and Flowetry In Motion. If you are not already, get into it. $5.

Friday at 5pm we have Dustin Morriss playing. Free. Then we have the dance happy classic rock of PJ Zahn at 7p and then the blues rock of Big Muddy at 9pm. $5

Saturday night at 6:30 we have our annual benefit for Denver Family Institute w/ music by Clusterfunk (classic rock/dance). This organization always has a fantastic silent auction too. $10 suggested donation. Have fun and help out at the same time.

Yours,

Private D

Extra Credit: Here's yet another attempt at our own translation of French poet Stephane Mallarme's impossible to translate poem, Petit Air.

Little Air (in D Major)

Any solitude

(without dock or swan)

mirrors its disuse

in my gaze withdrawn

from vanity

too high to be held

the sky streaked

with sunset's gold


but lazily skirts off

like white linen doffed

a fleeting white bird

in exultation dives


into the wave come to life

your naked joy

Re:

Re is usually an abbreviation for "regarding", and this is also true in the case above. But, since we always lead off with some variation on the "D"... it is also the name of the note D in the solfege system. "Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi." Woody Guthrie.

So, fa, la, tonight, Thursday, 9/22, after the hilarious good time trivia with Geeks Who Drink, at 6:30p, we have a DJ in the house, a genre bending DJ known as Aphonix. If you are into that, then come support a brother. 21+ free, under $5.

Tomorrow night, Friday, 9/23, we have a very cool line up. Starts out with Diet Folk at 5pm. Diet Folk's bio says "imagine Amos Lee leading Old Crow Medicine Show, Ray Lamagntane sharing a stage with the Avett Brothers, or Bon Iver and the Del McCoury band birthing a wild americana/bluegrass love child." After Diet Folk at 7pm is The West. The West is made up of local players we have long known and loved. 2 of the players used to be in The Reals. According to their bio "The West is a Denver-based rock band that has been compared with Spoon, The Smithereens, Elvis Costello, and Tom Petty." Then at 8:30 we have Firebird 4000 Project. According to their bio, "Influenced by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Braid." Finally at 9:30p we have Offcolor, very tasty indie rock. Check out the poster for the show here. $5

Saturday at 1pm we have a poetry reading. We will be taking part 100thousand Poets For Change, the largest international poetry reading in history, Arvada chapter. There will be several featured readers, including Piper Mullins, D. Brooks, Ian Dougherty, Claire Connolly, Peter Aquino, Adam Degraff, Mary McDonough, Miranda McGuire, Kate Schilling, and more. Free.

At 4pm Saturday we have a swing dance lesson followed by the big band jazz of Serenade In Blue. At 7pm we have a salsa dance/ fundraiser for Addison Kleinhans. Addison is an awesome 7 year old with acute lymphoblastic Leukemia. We're really hoping to raise a bunch of funds to help this family and hope to see you there. $10 suggested donation.

There's a couple of cool bands playing next Tuesday too. High 20 (ska, reggae) at 8pm and Back To The Woods (Funk-Folk-Reggae-Acid-Jazz-Swing-Bluegrass) at 9pm. Free.

Awesome weekend! And we didn't even mention Zumba, Yoga, Baby Boogie or Sunday night salsa, which you can find out about at dnote.us

Yours,

La Re

Extra Credit: Somethings just have the spirit of poetry, even if they might not strictly be poetry (whatever strictly poetry means). So here's a found poem for you. You have to watch the youtube video for full effect. Thanks to Brice Hobbs for sending. See video here.


Reality Hits You Hard Bro

Well, I was just driving down Northern Avenue
I was just minding my own business.
And all of a sudden

BAM!
It hit me hard from the back!
FOOM!
The fire was everywhere!
FOOM FOOM!
Blowin' up, made a big loud noise like
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

I was like - OH!
The fire was arcing like a rainbow
SHEWW!
A little spark jumped up and I was like
WHOA!
Totally out of the blue.
Reality hits you hard, bro!

D Note love letter 9/15/11

Alveolar Plosives,

One of the odd side effects of writing this D mail has been thinking far more than normal about the letter D. Today we are thinking about the sound of the letter D. In most languages using the Latin alphabet, D represents the voiced alveolar plosive, but in the Vietnamese alphabet it represents the sound /z/ (pronounced /j/ in the southern variety). In Fijian it represents a prenasalized stop /nd/. In some languages where voiceless unaspirated stops contrast with voiceless aspirated stops, ‹d› represents an unaspirated /t/, while ‹t› represents an aspirated /tʰ/. Examples of such languages include Icelandic, Scottish Gaelic, Navajo and the transliteration of Mandarin. Who knew?

This Friday we have Bill McKay from Leftover Salmon playing for free at 5pm. Killer dinner music! Then at 7pm we have the classic rock dance band The Bucktones. This will be followed by the horny funk/ska band In Due Time at 9:30p and then rock band Broken Parts at 11pm. $5.

Saturday we have the season opener of The Music Train Family Concert Series, featuring JT Nolan and friends. JT Nolan is an amazing songwriter and performer and generally has the best players in Denver on board. $7 adults/ $3 kids.

At 7pm we have The Jazz Partners (jazz) followed by Portobello Road (alternative blues rock) at 8pm. Then we have a super uper 3 band show put together by Matt Dougherty; Hellfire and The Mother Dog, Stealth Hippo and Firemouth $5. Great night of music. Check out Dougherty's poster in which he cleverly incorporates all 3 band names into the art here.

Sunday night we have the best salsa night in Denver (so says the authority on such matters, Salsa Central.)

Next Tuesday we have Jay Ryan's Acoustic Showcase w/Jay Ryan, Holly Lovell, Adam Lockwood and T. Strickland. FREE.

For the rest of what's going on check out www.dnote.us

Love to you and yours,

Aspirated Stop


Extra Credit: There was an article about the French poet Arthur Rimbaud in a recent New Yorker. The author Daniel Mendelsohn includes an except from an unnamed poem by Rimbaud that gave us a special feeling and stuck in our memory. Almost a haiku.

I have recovered it.
What? Eternity.
It is the sea
Matched with the sun.

D Note love letter 9/8/11

D flower

Look how full and beautiful you are! We love to watch you grow. This weekend is the Harvest Festival in Arvada and so the metaphor is apt. Come enjoy the Harvest Festival and stop in the D Note while you are at it.

Friday night we have an incredible Led Zeppelin tribute band called Zeppephilia playing at 7pm. We're excited for this one! $7. After we have Junk Drawer, a bluesy Ween-like band that we have grown to love over the years.

Saturday there is a Music Lessons Of Westminster Garageband recital at 1pm. Then at 7pm we have Blues Torch back by popular demand. Super fun. At 9pm we have Hazardous Matthew, also back by popular demand. And to end the evening we have Squidlick. $5

Note: Sunday Harvest fest continues so we won't be having baby boogie this week. Everything else is as scheduled.

Down and through,

D rain

Extra Credit: An oldie but goodie by Walt Whitman.


A Noiseless Patient Spider

A noiseless patient spider,
I marked where on a promontory it stood isolated,
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

D Note love letter 9/1/11

D purple,

The horror writer H.P. Lovecraft said "Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane." George Carlin said "Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." We're with George.

Friday night we have Alicia Fall a 5pm (free). At 7pm we have Bailout and Reunion Drive, rock and roll. $5. And then salsa and bachata lesson at 9:30p with DJ Juanito.

Saturday there is a bellydance swap 1-5pm (kind of like a yard sale, with clothes jewelry etc). Then at 7pm Pinetree Refugees (bluegrass), The Constant Tourists (indie folk rock) and Blow The Vault. (Americana folk bluegrass rock). This will be a fun night fo sho. $5.

Also you should know that we have started Tango/Swing dancelessons at the D Note on Wednesdays. $7. Led by Jess Rodriguez and Elizabeth Baker. A perfect dance lesson to lead into the music of the legendary Clamdaddys on Wednesday nights.

Heads up, next Friday we have a Led Zeppelin Tribute band Zeppyphilia. If you are a Zep fan mark your calendar.

Out and out,

D and wide

Extra Credit: An inspiring poem by Ellie Evans found on Daily Poetry website. How to make warts cool? Make them magic...


They were Too Poor for Buttons

They were too poor for buttons, so her mother would collect
cherry stones, apricot kernels or conkers, and would crochet round them.
When she went cleaning she was given cast-off jumpers
which she unravelled and made up again, re-mixed, so Jean
had a cardigan blue as Quink ink, with yellow walnut buttons
and a scarlet rose in a mohair mix, that covered up a hole.

I sat beside Jean in Sunday School, admiring the silver paper
she'd saved from a cigarette packet and used to line her pencil box.
How I liked the lettuce-green of the blanket stitch around her cuffs,
but most of all, I envied her for the magic warts proud on her knuckles.

D Note love letter 8/25/11

Sunny D,

How are you holding up on your end. Weather is hot here, but we are soaking it in. We often like to duck into the D Note to keep cool.

This Friday we have Alex Boyd at 5pm playing his beautiful brand of American folk. Free. Then we have Canyon Creek Band at 7pm. These guys are Country blues rock. $5. And we end the evening with Salsa and Bachata, with a lesson at 9:30p and DJ Juanito spinning afterwards.

Saturday we have jazz with Alejandro Castano at 2pm. Free.

At 5:30pm Saturday we have a bellydance student show. Free.

At 8pm we have a comedy show titled "Hot chicks with Brains". Comedy by Kristina Hall and Jennifer Coken exploring all things edgy salty and absurd. R rated. $15 door/$12 advance. This will be a riot. Figuratively.

After the comedy, at 10:30p, we have the return of one of our favorite Colorado/international bands, MonoVerde. It is an infectious form of Latin Reggae and super fun to dance to. $7. Come get loose and dance your troubles away.

Next Tuesday at 7pm we have a benefit show for Jon Friedlander w/ Clam Daddys, Quillion, Hour Glass Rock Band, Mint Novacaine. Come support and hear some great music at the same time. $10 suggested donation.

Yours

Moony D

Extra credit: Yesterday was Jorge Luis Borges 112th birthday. So here is a poem by the great Argentinian writer.

INSTANTES

If I were able to live my life anew,
In the next I would try to commit more errors.
I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more.
I would be more foolish than I've been,
In fact, I would take few things seriously.
I would be less hygienic.
I would run more risks,
take more vacations,
contemplate more sunsets,
climb more mountains, swim more rivers.
I would go to more places where I've never been,
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans,
I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

I was one of those people that lived sensibly
and prolifically each minute of his life;
Of course I had moments of happiness.
If I could go back I would try
to have only good moments.

Because if you didn't know, of that is life made:
only of moments; Don't lose the now.

I was one of those that never
went anywhere without a thermometer,
a hot-water bottle,
an umbrella, and a parachute;
If I could live again, I would travel lighter.

If I could live again,
I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of spring
and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends.
I would take more cart rides,
contemplate more dawns,
and play with more children,
If I had another life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85,
and I know that I am dying.


--


www.dnote.us

love letter 8/18/11

D vu,

How do you do that voo doo that you do so well? Do tell.

This Friday we have a performer from L.A. with no little voo doo, Michael On Fire. “It’s an American roots, folkish, bluesy, country, tribal, gypsy rock and roll.” – The Huntsville Times. 7:30p. This will be a SHOW. $10

At 5pm Friday we have Zenda Marie. Also bluesy, rootsy voo doo music. Free.

At 9:30pm we have a salsa lesson followed by DJ Juanito.

Saturday we have a family lunch concert at 12:30p with the band PJ Zahn, playing rock and roll covers. Free.

4pm Saturday we have Serenade In Blue Big Band Jazz w/ dance lesson. $10.

7:30p Saturday we have Dave Edwards. $5

9:30pm Saturday we have MC Subcon CD release party w/ Wandering Monks, Heaven, Small Hands, DJ C-NICE $5

Full day Saturday. And another one Sunday as we have a benefit from 11am to 3pm called Friends Of Val. From the website: "5 Great musicians/bands for sure and a few surprises in the works! **Monica Sales & Friends **Jack Hadley **Matt Nasi**Sharla Jackson and more. Great door prizes every hour. $10 suggested donation (or lots of love if you are broke!!). This Friends of Val fundraiser is for medical cost for our dear friend and sister Valerie, fighting Stage IV Breast Cancer. Come help us send a lot of love her way!!!"

Next Tue we have an indie rock/hip hop show with Sid Madrid, Cubone and House Of Trees at 8pm. Yes. $5.

Lots more too. Check out www.dnote.us

Yours

D ark of D light

Extra Credit: Here are 2 funny serious poems from the 19th century writer Stephen Crane.

A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
He climbed for it,
And eventually he achieved it --
It was clay.

Now this is the strange part:
When the man went to the earth
And looked again,
Lo, there was the ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
It was a ball of gold.
Aye, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold.




I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never -- "

"You lie," he cried,
And ran on.

love letter 8/11/11

D File

The sweetest hours that ever we spend are spent dancing with the lasses. There is nothing but care on every hand in every hour that passes. What signifies the life of man if it were not for the dances? The worldly race may riches chase, and riches still may find them. But though at last they catch them fast, their hearts can never enjoy them. But give me a dance at the D Note, arms about my dearie, and worldly cares and worldly men may all go topsy-turvy. For you so grave, you sneer at this, you are nothing but senseless asses. The wisest man the world ever saw he dearly loved the lasses. Old Nature swears, the lovely dears are the noblest work she classes. Her apprentice hand she tried on man, and then she made the lasses.

All lads and lasses welcome to the D Note this weekend. Friday at 5pm Tyson Ailshe and Steve Denny playing jazz. Free. Wanna wow a date? Bring him/her to the D Note Friday night for pizza and jazz. Then at 7pm there's a double header with Travis Grode Band and Sharla Jackson band (starting at 8pm). $5. Travis has a lyrical whisper of a style that gets inside and intimate quick and easy. Goes perfect with Cello. Listen to Rhubarb Garden on his Reverb Nation page. Also he is from Arvada, always a plus for us. Sharla Jackson is a rocker with a soft side. Sometimes she reminds us of what would happen if Barbara Steisand had been in the band Heart. Check them out.

We have Bachata lessons at 9:30p Friday followed by the tropical latin mix of DJ Juanito. Bachata is like salsa with extra soul, slowed down and sultry. $5

Saturday we have a band called Lila Bloom at 7pm. The Lila Bloom Band is an indie/alternative/folk/pop band from Denver. They say they were born on a warm summer night, when an old woman called the wrong number and spoke in a teary voice of "little songs". They remind one a little of Concrete Blonde. $5.

After Lila Bloom, at 9pm we have the return of The Denver Creative Movement. The theme of the show is Rebirth. Several artists will be on display. They will have some fantastic live art happening too. As usual there will be some great live music too, feat. Lucida Tela, The Daggermouth Spectacular, Free Electric band and ALYY. $5. This collective perfectly embodies the creative and open spirit that the D Note strives for and we are always happy to be included in their celebrations.

Also this weekend, Zumba, Yoga, Baby Boogie and Salsa. Next week includes an Open Stage, an acoustic showcase w/ Amanda Capper, Esther Sparks, Joseph Barton and Jay Ryan, The Clamdaddys, Trivia, Martin Gilmore and more. See dnote.us for more details.

Yours

D Fault

Extra Credit: Robert Burns was an 18th century Scottish poet and is much celebrated in those parts. Here's one of his most famous songs.

Green Grow The Rashes, O

Chorus
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent among the lasses, O.

There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In every hour that passes, O:
What signifies the life o' man,
An' 'twere na for the lasses, O.

The war'ly race may riches chase,
An' riches still may fly them, O;
An' tho' at last they catch them fast,
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.

But gie me a cannie hour at e'en,
My arms about my dearie, O,
An' war'ly cares an' war'ly men
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!

For you sae douce, ye sneer at this;
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O;
The wisest man the warl' e'er saw,
He dearly lov'd the lasses, O.

Auld Nature swears, the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes, O:
Her prentice han' she try'd on man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.

D extrous,

This coming weekend is classic D Note. It is full of multi-cultural events that will take us to Spain, The Dominican Repubic, the Middle East and Cuba.

Friday night at 7pm flamenco maestro Rene Heredia is making a return to the D Note by popular demand. Several flamenco dancers will accompany Rene and bring duende to the D Note. $20.

At 9:30p we'll have a Bachata lesson and then dancing with DJ Juanito. Bachata is the soulful cousin of salsa dancing and comes from the The Dominican Republic. $5.

Saturday at 2pm we have a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society w/ more flamenco style music (of the contemporary Rodrigo y Gabriela style) w/ Guitarsaurus and Chordzilla. $5-$10 suggested donation.

Saturday at 7pm we have a special Hafla, with the theme of Evolution of Bellydance Styles- Tradition & Transformation. A show featuring folkloric to fusion bellydance styles with information and history on each performance. $7 adults/$5 kids under 10. Show followed by open dancing to Yallah! (eclectic bellydance band).

At 10:30p Saturday we have an up and coming indie rock band called The Amends. Here's a very interesting review of the band here. $5

Sunday we have Yoga at 10am, then Mello Cello Brunch at 11:30am, followed by Baby Boogie at 2pm, followed by our fantastic salsa night at 8pm. (And that's where we pick up the Cuban flavor.)

Next Tuesday at 7pm we have a FREE BIG BAND SHOW by the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, presenting the music of Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. We know we have a few big band fans out there, so gather up your friends and come enjoy and support the music.

Love,

D partment of D interior

Extra Credit. A few weeks ago we had a dark poem in this space by Pablo Neruda. Here is the "antidote" poem, also by Neruda.

Keeping Quiet

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Love Letter 7/21/11

D deuces,

Hiya! Sorry we missed you last week. Our D Scriber was down. We got it back up and running and are ready to bring you the news. To start with...

Ladies and Gentlemen...THE BEATLES. Well, not really, but we can pretend, which is pretty much the best we can do these days anyway, what with a couple of the fellows gone and the other two a bit out of our price range. So instead a Beatles tribute band, The 3eatles, will be rocking out the D Note stage fab 4 style this Friday at 7pm. $7.

At 5pm Friday is the Sam Golden Trio, lovely acousticians from Golden. A man called Golden from Golden? Music better be pretty good, right? Free. Then at 9:30p we have bachata dancing, w/ a lesson and then DJ Juanito spinning bachata and salsa. Bachata is a suave offshoot of salsa that is catching on like wildfire. It comes from the outback of the Dominican Republic. Come dancing. $5.

Saturday at 6:30p we have Ironwood Rain. This local band has a distinctive Crosby Stills Nash harmonic sound and we always enjoy the vibe they bring. Goes perfect with pizza too. At 8:30p we have Fall Line, a raw young alternative rock band from Wheatridge. Finally at 10pm we have a band almost opposite in style from Fall Line called Matic, a super smooth strawberry jam rock band. $5

Tonight, Thurs, July 21, we have a benefit for AIDS Colorado at 9p, after our awesome Geeks Who Drink Trivia (starts at 6:30p).

Also, for those of you keeping in shape, we have Zumba Saturday morning at 10:30a and Yoga at 10a Sunday. Yoga is accompanied by live music by Melissa Ivey and Adam DeGraff. Hope to see you there.

www.dnote.us for more info.

Exeunt,

D scribe

Extra Credit: Here's a poem by New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock. We hereby dedicate it to long time friend of the D Note Jax Delaguerre.


A Rose Tree

When we went to live at Top Lodge
my mother gave me a rose tree.

She didn't have to pay for it—
it was growing there already,

tall and old, by the gravel drive
where we used to ride our scooters.

No one else was allowed to pick
the huge pale blooms that smelt like jam.

It was mine all through that summer.
In October we moved again.

But even never seeing it
couldn't stop it from being mine:

one of those eternal presents.
At the new house I had a duck.

D Note Love Letter 6/16/11

D rail,

A couple of accolades have come our way. Salsa Central have named us the best place to dance salsa in Colorado, which is a quite an honor as there are some great salsa clubs around. We were also voted best place to hear live music in JeffCo by Mile High Newspapers. Huzzah!

For dinner music this Friday night at 5pm we have nuevo-flamenco music, with Chordzilla and Guitarsaurus. This duo wowed us last time and are back by popular demand. Free.

Jon Boland will be playing at 7p Friday and Treehouse Sanctum at 8pm. $5. Mellow and beautiful.

Then we'll have another great Cumbia/Bachata latin band at 9:30p on Friday, Los Chavos Dun Dun. w/ DJ Juanito. $10 /$5 ladies.

Saturday we have a tango lesson at 3pm followed by a the big band jazz of Serenade In Blue at 4pm. $10.

Saturday at 7pm we have the return of Laughing Hands. This stellar group is made up of master musicians Steve and Brian Mullins, Mike Fitzmaurice, Ed Rudman and Ed Contreras. They have not played the D Note in half a decade and we can't wait to hear one of our favorite bands again after all these years. The music is hard to describe, but includes original compositions written in a world fusion style. $7.

Saturday at 9pm we come back home with the Americana of Olive Street Rehab, followed by Johnny Barber and The Living Deads at 10:30pm. This is the first, uh, incarnation of The Living Deads we've had at the D Note. This is one of Johnny Barber's illustrious rockabilly projects. Some of you may remember Barber as Velvet Elvis. $5.

Thanks for being you, you.

D Train

Extra Credit: This week a classic, a villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop.

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Love Letter 6/9/11

D File

If you dig the D Note then please vote for us in Intuit's "Love A Local Business" contest. Easy to do and it could be a big help to us. Thanks in advance!

Congrats to Paige Becker for winning the D Note dessert contest. Her entry was: 'Cinnamon Sugar crust. Chocolate sauce topped with lots of strawberry slices. Name it "Strawberry Fields Forever"!' Our chef and GM chose the winner. We'll feature that dessert pie for the next week. It was a close contest as there were some great entries. Check out our Facebook page to see some of the others.

This Friday we have a great little bluegrass band called The Hummin'birds playing the free Friday afternoon concert at 5pm. Check out the crazy cool poster they did for the show here. Then we switch to jugband music with Roscoe's Dusty Bottle Boxcar Band feat. Bret Sloan at 7pm. Followed by the smooth pop of The Ash Ganley Band at 8pm. $5.

Friday at 9:30p we have hard-core latin dance w/ 9 piece band Kaoba and DJ Juanito. $10/$5 ladies. Bachata, Cumbia, Reggaeton. Come dance and help us get this series off the ground.

Saturday night we have the return of Blues Torch at 7pm. These guys packed the house last time and put on a great show. Come dancing. $5.

Saturday at 9pm we have 3 indie bands, all with very cool names, Lounge Eater, Postal Holiday and Cougar Pants. $5.

Next Tues we have a benefit for a super cool new org called Communified Sounds that sends musicians out to hospitals to play for the sick. Music really does have the power to heal and so we are very psyched about this show. They pulled together 3 fantastic bands too, The Gypsy Lumberjacks, Rogue Sound and Jet Edison. Stellar. $10 suggested donation.

Next week we have the long awaited return of Laughing Hands, plus Johnny Barber and The Living Deads and more. Check out www.dnote.us for more details.

Out,

D Rank

Extra Credit: Here's a poem by a mysterious poet named Truck Darling. Enjoy.

I SHALL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME

St. Matthew 26: 6-13 & Isaiah 50: 4-7



The tenant next door: a prince of the night

with diamond vocals. I have trouble chewing

with grace, need a voluptuous rescue dog

to stay warm so I can keep working off



the grid in mascara. The violent must need

to put their pain somewhere? I had his head

handed to me & I know what to do with it. I

parade the length of 9th Ave. in Converse



& pearls. People yell at me & I find myself

on planes, passed out on dirt, a lone ascetic

in noon pajamas. A potpourri of hockey feet

& quicksand in my cot. When things get crazy,



my impulse is to go radical, crack up during

a Lifetime cameo. My resolve wishes to cave

like an avalanche, but I’ve set my face like flint,

like Rushmore. I know I shall not be put to shame.



I shall not be locked away in fear with this deer

musk, a wet leather jacket, ginger ale. The saddest

shepherd’s pie attracts me to myself. The trust we

love maybe attracts us to ourselves. It’s arrogance



to think I am breathing without a machine. At least

the Blood & Beer Days are over on my soaked earth.

I’d awfully like to drift back into a world of fireflies,

single~pump gas stations, overalls & 1st century



Palestinian sunbeams shooting through my dirty hair

before everything became so… but Love detonates

softly in my present. You are my regal tripwire, it is

good to keep stumbling like this I’m thinking?

D Note love letter 6/2/11

D ssert

We've got a contest challenge for all of you. If you've got an idea for a fantastic dessert pie, then suggest it on our Facebook page, including a band or song related name. Winner gets a large pie of his or her creation, plus a spot on our specials board. Can hardly wait to taste what you come up with.

This weekend starts off this Friday at 5pm with a kid from Austin Texas named Hogan Sullivan. This kid is great! Free.

Then at 7pm Friday night a local legendary band in the making, the Omnibuds, take the stage. Omnibuds is quite a name. The moniker is obviously derived from "Ombudsman", meaning an official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration, esp. that of public authorities. but it is made much more evocative here. "Omni" means "all" and "buds" can mean friends, flowers, etc. Cool Americana music too. $5.

At 9:30pm we begin a new series at the D Note. This is for lovers of hard core latin dancing and music. It is called Noches Tropicalia and for our opening night we'll have a great band, Los Lunaticos. DJ Javi will spin before, between and after. $10 for men, $5 for ladies. Expect Reggaeton, Cumbia, Bachata and some hot dancing.

Saturday we have the big band jazz of Sentimental Sounds at 4pm. This is a benefit for a great local organization Jeffco Outdoor Lab Foundation. $10 suggested donation.

Saturday at 7pm we have a showcase for a local studio, Global Sounds, featuring some of their bands. Free.

Saturday at 9pm we have a CD release for Mike Murray. The CD is called "International" and it is pop, pops. $5

For more info check out www.dnote.us. And don't forget to dream up your dream dessert pie and enter it into our Facebook page.

Deepest,

D pest

Extra Credit: This poem by Dean Young showed up the other day from Poetry Daily. It is a funny puzzle garden of a poem.

Madrigal

Maybe we put too much faith in the heart
when any blockhead knows everything falls apart,
turn to mush the storied administrations of the brain,
there's no statue that won't eventually dissolve in rain,
the continents are in pieces, the empire a mess,
the fleece full of holes, the rivers distressed.
Not what we promised and swore, didn't and did,
not the terrible things that happened to us as kids
makes much diff. We're the types
who bring parasols to gunfights.
A dove backfires, a dump truck coos,
everything's out of whack since I lost you.
Worse than a job chicken-processing,
worse than a courtroom of the deaf addressing,
like trying on a shirt with the pins still in it,
listen to the heart you'll soon regret it.
The photos in their oval frames bestow blame and frown,
whatever you used all your might to heave into the air is due to
come crashing down.
Not the hatchet job you wanted but the one you took,
you stagger from the feast for a look
at a polluted brook, rather polluted yourself.
You feel like something fallen from its shelf,
a yo-yo with a busted string, chipped ceramic elf
because all you can think about is not there,
the eyes not there, not there's hair.
You still don't know what to say
and keep saying it, still trying to give your hiding place away
making a silly commotion with the leaves
of the tree you're falling from. But once that paper's creased,
there's no uncreasing. Once the numbers are deleted,
there's nothing to add up. So time for the tarry slumber
of so what who cares what's it matter,
what should be open closes, should be soft hardens
while the next set of fools scampers into the puzzle garden
detonating with laughter.

love letter 5/26/11

D Section

First up, if you are a fan of the D Note, will you please go onto Yelp and say why you are a fan? That would help us out a bunch. And if you do put something up, then come in and let us know. We want to say thank you in person.

Also, we are looking for a part time sound man. If you are interested, or know someone that might be, inquire within. Gracias.

Friday night this week starts out with a free concert by the uber-talented songwriter and performer Rob Drabkin at 5pm.

At 7pm Friday Drew Schofield Band is back in the house. Class act. Then the blues dance band Blind Child is playing at 9pm and will rock the night away. $5.

Saturday we have a tango lesson at 4pm followed by the big band jazz of Serenade In Blue. Perfect way to spend an afternoon.

At 7pm Saturday we have the beautiful (and funny) bluegrass folk of the OK Trio at 7pm. They do an excellent Men At Work.

One of our favorite local bands, Junk Drawer, plays at 9:30pm. This is a heavy blues rock band, with a Ween side to their personality. Last time they played they all wore the classic Get Your Phil At The D Note t-shirts.

At 10:30pm we have crunchy ska dub of Transverse Universe. Altogether Saturday is gonna be a lovely night.

Next Tuesday we have band who is traveling through from Austin Texas called The Warm Guns, twee indie rock. They are playing with a local Arvada band called The Belle Jar. Good stuff.

Just a heads up. Next Friday at 9:30p we start a new Friday night series at D Note, Tropical Latin Nights, featuring the band Los Lunaticos and DJ Javi (spinning Cumbia, Bachata, Reggaeton and more.) Mark the date. www.dnote.us for more info.

Yours,

D sponder

Extra credit: Here's a poem from a recent New Yorker by W.S. Merwin called "Turning". It is one of those poems that we read and dismissed. But then it came back later to haunt us.


TURNING

Going to fast for myself I missed
more than I think I can remember

almost everything it seems sometimes
and yet there are chances that come back

that I did not notice when they stood
where I could have reached out and touched them

this morning the black shepherd dog
still young looking up and saying

Are you ready this time

weekend update 5/19/11

Freddy Franks

Strange how when someone goes
they instantly become myth,
the most of the that that they were.
There is an essence, a spirit

that stays behind in which we can feel
the whole arc of the life.
He preached the gospel every
Sunday for fifty eight years

at the Silver Moon Full Gospel Church
in Granby Missouri. You can imagine
how good he was at the end after all
that practice. (He never retired.)

To give you an idea consider
that he played baseball in college
and could have gone pro, but
instead became a pastor.

(That is the stuff legend is made of,
the All American future baseball star
giving up fame and fortune for
the tending to of a few.)

So just imagine all the heat of the great athlete
directed into the performance at the pulpit,
a little bit of Jerry Lee Lewis' great balls of fire
crossed with the charm of Elvis Presley

and the vocal inflections of Woody Guthrie.
It is a special music that I can hear in my own voice sometimes,
but just barely. This special voice is shared by my grandfather too.
I wish I could hear even more of the sound in me.

Perhaps in homage to these men I will begin to imitate them
and draw out my adverbs, juuuuust for emphasis,
and throw in more "shoots", "brother", "sister"
"man" and "friend" into my language too.

. . .

Think of the vulnerability at the pulpit, the humility
necessary in baring your soul before a congregation
week after week, for thousands of weeks. My Land!
I love to walk in the graveyard in Granby

that Freddy tended and in which he will be buried Saturday.
My Grandfather has taken me through this cemetery
several times and likes to tell stories about the people
buried there, dozens of which, I would imagine,

Freddy helped bury. Even in death
a community will stick together, held together
by the names carved on the stones
and the memories of the living.

. . .

Often as I'm feeling something powerful
I find the music I just happen to be listening to will suddenly
mean something. As I'm writing this I'm listening to a CD
by a songwriter that hopes to play the D Note, John Statz.

The one-line chorus of this beautiful song
repeats over and over, "They mean everything to me."
These words seem to me now to embody
the very meaning of the Granby cemetery.

And it feels appropriate that these words
should come to me in song. Fred
had a beautiful voice and often
led the congregation in song.

I can hear him now in my voice, friend,
ever alive in my vowels, singing
with the angels in heaven and sung
for an lo o o ng time to come.

weekend update 5/12/11

D La Souls

Hello again dear friends. Thanks for being here. We hope to make it worth your while.

Friday night we have a Free Afternoon Concert w/ Vickie Pompea from Ft. Collins at 5pm. Think John Denver if he was born a woman. Then at 7pm we have the 1, 2 punch of Mitch Lehn Folk Trio (and we always have to qualify that these guys are not a trio, nor folk, nor named Mitch Lehn), followed by The Jake Leg Shakers. These guys always give us a good show. The night ends with an ALL Cream and Jimi Hendrix set by Reverend Hooch at 10:30p. $5. There is a drink special for the night, Hendrix gin w/ cream and Chambord. Ask for a Hendrix and Cream.

Saturday afternoon we have a D Note World Family Concert w/ Rocky Mountain Steel Bands. $7 ($3 for kids under 12). There will be several student steel bands performing.

Saturday at 7p we have a CD release show for Victoria Woodsworth. Victoria once lived in Denver and even won a Westword nod for best songwriter 6 years ago. She now lives in Nashville and we're excited to hear her new songs. Trinity Demask will open the show, another excellent songwriter local to Arvada. $5.

At 9pm we have 3 indie rock bands, Vagrant Son, Firebird 4k and Zombie Survival Guide. Rock on. $5.

Next Thurs night mark your calendar for the ALL BILL MURRAY trivia quiz at 7pm hosted by Geeks Who Drink.

Next Friday we have a Long Spoon Collective Showcase w/ Ian Cooke, Esme (from Paperbird) and several more.

Next Saturday is a birthday party for Bob Dylan who is turning 70. Check out www.dnote.us for more info.

Exeunt,

D Facto

--

Extra Credit: On the front left window of the D Note someone has pasted a Petrarchan Sonnet by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is a tricky one and we've been turning it over and over in our minds ever since we first saw it. Here it is.

First Fight. Then Fiddle.

First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string
With feathery sorcery; muzzle the note
With hurting love; the music that they wrote
Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to sing
Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thing
For the dear instrument to bear. Devote
The bow to silks and honey. Be remote
A while from malice and from murdering.
But first to arms, to armor. Carry hate
In front of you and harmony behind.
Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.
Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too late
For having first to civilize a space
Wherein to play your violin with grace.

–Gwendolyn Brooks, 1949

love letter 5/5/11

D friend

The D Note has two things in common with Facebook. Number one they are both community oriented. But they are both a lot of fun too. FB is, essentially, life boiled down to pithily witty comments between friends. If you have pithily witty friends that is. If not you can always friend the D Note and we'll do our best to be withily pity.

Okay, focus. The keyboardist for Leftover Salmon, Bill Mckay, has moved to Arvada. To welcome himself to Arvada he is playing a free Friday afternoon concert this Friday at the D Note at 5p. Come enjoy the treat. Good stuff all night after that, Jonina Diel (7p), James Hurtado (8p), Dave Boylan Band (9p), Cadillac Grip (R&B and funk dance band) (10:30p). We will be dancing.

Saturday morning is more dance, with Zumba at 10:30. Then at noon, even more, as the Music Train Family Concert Series presents Ricardo Pena salsa band. $7 kids/$3 adults. Cool lunch date with your kids. At 3pm Saturday is more music, with a open jam-band jam (is that a tautology? a jam sandwich?) hosted by Ben and Bill. At 6:45p Saturday is a very young, but good rock band called Synergy. They pump a lot of energy into the D Note.

At 8:30p Saturday we have the long awaited return of the The Mumbles. Firefighter Mike Berg has been a friend to the D Note since day one, and he's also a hell of a songwriter, especially if you like XTC, or say, The Beatles. Mike has brought along another couple bands made up of firefighters, Hot Robots and Reckless Nights. $5. We're stoked (like a fire)

This coming Sunday morning we have designed especially with Mothers in mind. Moms can leave kids at home with Dad and come treat themselves to yoga lead by Nicki Viera w/ live music by Melissa Ivey and Adam DeGraff at 10a. And then have the rest of the family come meet you at 11am for Mello Cello brunch w/ breakfast pizzas, mimosas, bloody marys and of course, cello beautifully played by Monica Sales. Then go home for naps and come back for Baby Boogie at 2p-6p. Cocktail hour. Then take the kids home to the sitter and come back to the D Note for salsa lessons at 8pm followed by La Candela salsa orquestra. $8. Sounds like an epic mother's day to us!

Next Tuesday there will be several student acapella groups. Fun. Next Friday night we have a Jimi Hendrix and Cream Tribute. Next Saturday day is a D Note World Family Concert featuring steel bands. Go to www.dnote.us for details and the rest of the scoop.

Signing off,

D scribe

Extra credit: In recent weeks we have shared poetry with the theme of blessings and curses. Here's another take, lyrics from a new song by Lucina Williams.


Blessed

We were blessed by the minister
Who practiced what he preached

We were blessed by the poor man
Who said heaven is within reach

We were blessed by the girl selling roses
Showed us how to live

We were blessed by the neglected child
Who knew how to forgive

We were blessed by the battered woman
Who didn't seek revenge

We were blessed by the warrior
Who didn't need to win

We were blessed by the blind man
Who could see for miles and miles

We were blessed by the fighter
Who didn't fight for the prize

We were blessed by the mother
Who gave up the child

We were blessed by the soldier
Who gave up his life

We were blessed by the teacher
Who didn't have a degree

We were blessed by the prisoner
Who knew how to be free

We were blessed by the mystic
Who turned water into wine

We were blessed by the watchmaker
Who gave up his time

We were blessed by the wounded man
Who felt no pain

By the wayfaring stranger
Who knew our names

We were blessed by the homeless man
Who showed us the way home

We were blessed by the hungry man
Who filled us with love

By the little innocent baby
Who taught us the truth

We were blessed by the forlorn
Forsaken and abused

We were blessed

weekend update 4/28/11

D Bonair,


Last weekend at D Note we were treated to Spanish guitar and dance, an 18 piece Gamelan orchestra with dancers, world class blues violin, a sitar concert and a 10 piece salsa band. It was like a master class in world music, which is pretty remarkable when you consider we are located a thousand or so miles from the nearest ocean!

This Friday night we would love to have featured some proper English music for the royal nuptials of William and Kate, but we didn't think that far ahead. We are however doing a benefit, which seems to be in the spirit of the occasion, as Prince William, like his mother, seems to be a very charitable guy. The benefit, which starts at 7p, is for HIV Care Link w/ music by Austin Collins. $5-$10 suggested donation. Austin's music is akin to REM and early Replacements.

After the benefit, at 9p, we have local favorites Stonebraker and Wonderlic. Whole lotta love. $5.

Saturday at 4pm is a ballroom dance lesson followed by the old school big band jazz of Serenade In Blue at 5pm. $10 covers lesson and band.

We have another benefit on Saturday night, this one for The Denver Voice, an organization that helps the homeless (one of Prince William's main concerns, just saying). This show will have some wonderfully unique music by The Coyote Poets and The Skeleton Key Orchestra, both in the Gypsy Americana World Music vein. $5.

Sunday morning we have yoga with the fantastic teacher Nicky Viera and live meditative music by Melissa Ivey and Adam DeGraff, starting 10am. After yoga, at 11:30p, we have the third installment of Sunday (music) School (House/techno) $5 adults, kids free. This is perfect for you, if you used to be an all night raver, but now have kids.

That's now,

D Bone

Extra Credit: Here's an abridged version of a wedding poem (properly called an Epithalamion) by English poet Tennyson, for you know who. O heart, are you great enough for love?


Marriage Morning

Light, so low in the vale
You flash and lighten afar,
For this is the golden morning of love,
And you are his morning star.

Heart, are you great enough
For a love that never tires?
O heart, are you great enough for love?
I have heard of thorns and briers.

Over the thorns and briers,
Over the meadows and stiles,
Over the world to the end of it
Flash of a million miles.

Weekend update 4/21/11

D spectacled

This weekend the D Note will be taking vacations to Spain and Bali, at least musically. It is strange how music seems to carry the spirit of a place. Spanish flamenco music is an excellent example. Flamenco guitar master Rene Heredia and several dancers will present a show this Friday at 7pm. $20 (subtract airfare to Spain). Then Saturday at 4pm we have our first D Note World Family Music Concert w/ Tunas Mekar, a group of 16 musicians that play a very unique style of music from Bali called Gamelan. $10adults/kids free (subtract airfare to Bali.)

Of course we will also feature some great American music this weekend too. Are the blues considered American? The form goes back to Africa, but it has certainly taken on a certain sound here. Lionel Young, who once played the D Note every Friday night, has recently won the 2011 International Blues Contest in Memphis. Lionel is the only person to ever win both the solo and band competition. We've always known he is one of the most phenomenal musicians in the world and we are proud to see him receive such esteem. The Lionel Young Band will be celebrating their victory Saturday night with a show at the D Note. We missed Lionel and can't wait to have him back in the house. Opening up for Lionel Young Band at 7:30p is A New Brain For Arnie, a new band led by Kristina Ingham. This band lit us up last time they played the D Note. It is an odd but wonderful combination of R&B and classic rock, w/ a dash of hip hop. You kind of have to hear it. The band name, btw, is a line from the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". $8

On Friday night after flamenco we have a couple of cool new bands from Boulder, Mach-Zender (alt country) and Tommy And The Tangerines (classic rock? Listen to the song "Friends Today" on their Facebook to get a feel for this unique band). $5. The bands have commandeered a Banjo Billy Boulder Tour bus for this show so if you live in Boulder and are interested let us know. $20 for the ride (includes show and beverages).

There is a cool indie show next Tuesday with Lady Parts and Ft. Wilson Riot (from Minnesota). Doo Crowder (of Pee Pee) opens the show at 7p. Doo is one of the best songwriters in Denver (listen to the song "Jaroline" here on Pee Pee Myspace page). Fort Wilson Riot was recently signed to Thom Yorks tbd label!. $5

Ever,

D spencible

Extra Credit: Last week we featured a thought provoking poem considering the idea of being "blessed" and "cursed". This week we'll present a poem that takes this idea a step further. This one is by Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. Beautifully translated by Christian Wiman.


Casino

Pointless any happiness that happens by plan:
To live in nature is to suffer luck.
Thus blessed, thus cursed, I am myself again,
Empty-tipsy, drinking to the lees my lack.

Wind-tousled cloud, cloud-tousled chance,
Deep in the unseen an anchor drops, and clings.
O my lilting, my light-sheer, my linen existence:
As of another nothing floating over things.

I like the cakelike casino on the dunes,
And how the strict fingers of skeletal light
Come alive on the baize, and the view, vast as mist.

I like the tone of green that oceans in,
And the tight rosebuds of wine that bloom in the mind,
And the towering, scouring seagull, in whose eyes nothing is lost.

(1912)

D Note weekend update 4/14/11

D finest,

Did you know only one of the original seven wonders of the world has survived? The Great Pyramid of Giza. The rest are all gone. Makes you think. But even stranger perhaps is that the idea of "seven wonders of the world" has survived. The idea was originally based on guidebooks used by Hellenic sight seers around the Mediterranean. The number seven, to the Greeks, represented perfection and plenty. The idea stuck and people still, for some reason, try to get their lists of wonders down to the magic number seven. You can see a few of these lists on Wikipedia. They are interesting for sure, but we should make up our own. We'd have to list D Note's salsa night as a wonder. And also the Clamdaddys. Five more anyone?

As for the news...

Tonight, Thursday, April 14, and every Thursday, we have Geeks Who Drink Trivia. Geeks Who Drink Trivia was started by our friend John Dicker. It has become so successful in Colorado that John is taking it national and doing very well for himself. Go John! It does make for a very entertaining night and we laugh more on Thursdays than we ever have at any comedy club. After trivia Martin Gilmore (another nominee for wonder of the world) holds a bluegrass picking circle.

This Friday we have Ryan Macpherson at 5pm for Free Friday Afternoon Concert, then Dave and Judy Edwards at 7pm, Bottom Feeders (blues rock) at 8:30pm and In Due Time (funk/ska) at 10:30p. $5.

Saturday we have Music Train Family Concert at 4pm featuring Beatles Revival. $7 adults/ $3 kids.

At 7pm Saturday we have a benefit for Colorado Special Olympics w/ R.I.C.E., The Jonglare, Suicide By Proxy, The Killwatch $5-$10 suggested donation.

Then at 9:30p Saturday we have another benefit, this one for Japenese Earthquake/Tsunami relief via Doctors Without Borders. D.A.R.C. (Denver Art Rock Collective) is putting this one together and the show will feature Amphibious Jones, The Mourning Sickness and The Inactivists. Get weird and do good, that's the motto. $5-$10 suggested donation.

Sunday morning we are having a special session of our yoga w/ live meditation music. The Larson brothers (from Something Underground) will join Melissa Ivey and Adam DeGraff for the music and Crystal Larson will be teaching the yoga. 10am. Donations welcome and will go this time toward Chandra House.

Next Friday we have a flamenco show with Rene Heredia at 7pm. We have a family world music show featuring a 16 piece Balinese Gamelan Orchestra at 4pm next Saturday. And 8p next Saturday we are proud to announce the return of International Blues Challenge winners of 2011, The Lionel Young Band (another of the seven wonders.)

Hope to see you all soon,

D Finer


Extra Credit: There was a fantastic poem in the New Yorker last week by Carl Dennis that really made us think. We'll copy here for you, word by word.

New Year's Eve

However busy you are, you should still reserve
One evening a year for thinking about your double,
The man who took the curve on Conway Road
Too fast, given the icy patches that night,
But no faster than you did; the man whose car
When it slid through the shoulder
Happened to strike a girl walking alone
From a neighbor's party to her parent's farm,
While your car struck nothing more notable
Than a snowbank.

One evening for recalling how soon you transformed
Your accident into a comic tale
Told first at a body shop, for comparing
That hour of pleasure with his hour of pain
At the house of the stricken parents, and his many
Long afternoons at the Lutheran graveyard.

If nobody blames you for assuming your luck
Has something to do with your character,
Don't blame him for assuming that his misfortune
Is somehow deserved, that justice would be undone
If his extra grief was balanced later
By a portion of extra joy.

Lucky you, whose personal faith has widened
To include an angel assigned to protect you
From the usual outcome of heedless moments.
But this evening consider the angel he lives with,
The stern enforcer who drives the sinners
Out of the garden with a flaming sword
And locks the gate.