Weekend update 4/21/11

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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

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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)