Thursday, September 25, 2008

late September, ought eight

D generous,

One of the coolest things about the run of the D Note so far is the long term affairs we've had with certain bands. The Reals, for instance, or Otone Brass Band, The Clamdaddys and so on. We've been very fortunate. One of the hottest of these affairs is with the band Elephant Revival. We all have this band on our i pods! So it is particularly sweet that Elephant Revival is celebrating their CD release party at the D Note this Friday night. Kevin DeForrest opens at 7:30pm. $8. Come swoon with us.

Saturday night we are closed for a wedding. Ah, shucks.

Sunday night would be a good time to finally take those salsa lessons you've been meaning to take forever.

Check out the new face lift at dnote.us. Thanks to Sean Wolter for his good work.

as per usual,

D rigor

Extra Credit: A short sharp aphorism from Dan Rodriguez of Elephant Revival.


STAY FREE

If I go, better not roam.
If stay, better stay free.

mid to late September, ought eight

Dearest Note of All,

among the others equally dear, each themselves each the center of the universe. Astro-physicists have proved that all matter is moving away from all other matter; not moving away from some central source, a la big bang, as might be expected, but equidistantly from everything else. In other words each vantage point is the center of the universe. Try getting your head around that one...

while you listen to music at the D note to soothe the sore brain. Thursday night, Sept. 18, we have a singer songwriter showcase with Jay Ryan and friends. Always fun. And then at 9pm we have a Zydeco lesson followed by The Zydematics, a killer local Zydeco band. Remember, learning a new dance is better than anything on television.

Friday night we have a rock and roll band called Cobalt Jack at 7pm. Then at 9pm we have pandemonium in the form of Adam D's 40th birthday party. Slo Children will play a rare set around 9:30pm. Lionel Young will be up on stage along with Chris Aaron, Ken Karnisky, Alejandro Castano, Geoff LaPlante and more. No cover, but we will be accepting donations toward The Delores Project, a fantastic grassroots organization which helps shelter and feed homeless women in Denver. And did we mention Lionel Young, the man, the myth, the legend? We're gonna try to get him to do Bach's Chaconne for Adam's birthday, perhaps the most sophisticated, difficult and beautiful piece of music ever written.

Saturday night we are closed for a wedding. The cool thing about this wedding is that the couple met at the D Note!

forever,

D volve

Extra Credit: How about a poem by Adam D written in the bathroom stalls on the occasion of turning 40?


Upon Turning 40


Yesterday I was coming
and coming and come,

Tomorrow I am going
and going and gone.

mid September, ought eight

D :::::

Tilt your head and tell us what the above symbol looks like. To us it looks like tears of laughter. Best answer gets a round of drinks on us. Come on, give it a go.

This Friday night we have a CD release party for Blue Avenue. The doubly cool thing about the new CD is that the cover of it was shot on the train tracks in front of the D Note and features the Arvada Water Tower. That alone qualifies it for Phil's archives. But it is also a nifty CD. Check out the swell poster local genius artist Jack Redell designed for this show on the above link. Unique rootsy jazzy pop. After Blue Avenue we have the return of Burning Abigail. Unique funk flavored rock band that knows how to groove. Hmmm, two unique local bands with the intitials B.A. Wonder what that means? That we've earned a bachelor's degree? It's about time! $5

Saturday we got the spectacular Ruby James back in the house. She's coming through town as she tours through the country. No cover, but please tip her well. It's especially hard for musicians out there these days. After Ruby is local band Autumnal Fall and Dave Edwards. Music to ease the pain. $6

And furthermore, salsa, blues and pizza.

We love you long time,

oubt,

D

Extra Credit: How about a poem by Annalynn Hammond from an anthology of poetry from Diagram Magazine, which Dee Casalainas gave us as a gift a few years ago, that we just now found again under the mixing board?

THE GIRL WHO BECAME A TOM WAITS SONG
It must've happened when no one was looking,
'cause all of a sudden she was a walking accordion,
her arms a pair of slide trombones. There was a pipe organ
in her chest, a bowed saw between her legs
and two tiny midgets appeared on her shoulders
to play her earrings as cymbals. Her trachea
was a mineshaft, her lungs were made of iron ore
and Tom, he was riding on her back,
tipping his hat to a passing parade.

Eventually her body could no longer handle the party
of French, Cuban, Singaporean, American and Russian sailors
who'd decided to turn her stomach into a whiskey jug,
her guts into banjo strings and her vertebrae into river boats.
When Jesus and The Devil murdered each other in her duodenum,
she disinegrated into a wiggly motion like heat waves
off a Cadillac or the shuffling of cards.

Some nights she passes through New York bars
during the last round, and just as everyone begins to shrink
into their shot glasses, she slits the throat of the sax
and they jerk up their heads, spit out their cigarettes
and whisper through smoke, what the hell was that sound?

Thursday, September 4, 2008

early September, ought eight

Dpac Shakur,

You feel alright? You feel alright? let me hear you say YEAH! Let me hear you say YEAH!

No? Yes? Either way come on out to your friendly D Note. A good time would be this Friday at 6pm as we have an artist reception for Bruce Campbell with live music by the Joseph Barton Trio. We've had some great art shows, but the way this one fits the contours and vibe and even colors of the D Note is especially uncanny. We're lucky to get this artist and had to plead with him for years to get him in. He's is the featured artist in this month's Southwest Magazine. He's doing a large scale sculpture at C.U. and for next year's Bonnaroo Festival. In other words, he's hot. We hope you come out and meet him. The artwork itself is a good deal too, about half what it would be in his gallery in Taos and a good investment considering Bruce's rising star. After the reception, at 8pm, The Jagtones will play the dance tunes you grew up with. $5.

Saturday and Sunday is the harvest festival. We've got music all day, including Wonderlic, Josh Queen, George Christianson, Kit Simon, Kate Laroux, Aden Harrell, Ryan Macpherson and more. Free.

At 8:30pm Saturday we have the heavy dance vibe of Zydeco royalty Dwight Carrier . There will be a lesson at 8:30pm and the band starts around 9pm. $10.

And tonight, Thursday Sept. 4, there is a cool show with Brent Loveday from Reno Divorce and a new band on the scene called Eleanor. 7:30pm, $5. Both links are well worth checking out.

There will be at least 36 hours worth of live music at the D Note in the next 4 days. Plus killer pizza. What more could you want?

If you get a chance please vote for us to make Denver's 7 A-list.

Peace in,

Biggie D

Extra Credit: A special gift of some words from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" for all our friends.

Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and am not contain'd between my hat and boots,
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good,
The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.
I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,
(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)
Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female,
For me those that have been boys and that love women,
For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the mothers of mothers,
For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
For me children and the begetters of children.
Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,
And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

mid to late August, ought eight

Deople,

One of the odd things about the D Note is that it has caused us to think more about the letter D than normal. The D goes deeper as a letter than we at first realized. Here's what we've learned from close observation. The first word a baby says naturally is "ma". This is why "ma" is the universal word for mother, as a baby names that from which it comes with its first word. "Ma" is, not coincidentally, the reverse of "am", the word for self being. "Ma" can also be heard as the reverse of "Aum", the sound the ancient Sanskrit yogis called God because it contained within its sonic spectrum all potential sounds of the universe, from the "ah" in the back of the mouth to the "mmm" in the front as the lips close. Placing the tongue in the middle of the mouth, the middle of this spectrum of sound, makes the "d" sound. Thus the second sound a baby naturally makes is "da". This is the first consonant. Thus with the baby's second word he names his father, "da". Just as man penetrates woman to create life, so the sound "da" penetrates the word "ma" to create language. Ta da!

And of course there is also the language of music. The 6th note of the 12 tone scale is named after D. You will hear many clever uses by many creative people of both the letter D and the note D any night you happen into the D Note. This weekend is no exception.

A couple highlights include the guitarist Cari Dell playing with the blues rock band Bandango this Friday night. Cari is one of the best guitarists in the world and we hear she's fun to watch too. 2:10 Special opens the night at 7:30pm.

Saturday night is a benefit for Unicef with some stellar local bands. We've wanted to get Autumn Film in for awhile and we're glad for this chance to have them. Here's a nice description from The Onion, "Like a post-collegiate Fiona Apple jamming with Snow Patrol, [The Autumn Film] serves up a piano-drenched sincerity topped off with a voice that's wise and heartbroken beyond its years." Andrea Ball and A Girl Named Kyle make this bill even more impressive. 7pm, $10-$20 donation.

D love,

D Scribe


Extra Credit: We were rooting around in a treasury of used books around the corner from the D Note, Dick's Books, and found a fantastic anthology of poems by kids called "A Slow Flash of Light". Here's a provocative prose poem from this over-brimming collection by first grader Sierra Collum.

Whipcream Moments

this is a day with many whipcream moments. then what did we say wrong? to understand what happened when it went soft on us with talk, we must go south to the hospital of cats and get sick. so they went and bought love to blow up. a day was coming to their tail when the blood came plopping all in your beans with many pennies of plastic dada poems slipping all through the president and lace went floating in mommy's bathtub. the answer is in your country with wild butterscotch camels in pools of melted molasses where camels love people and.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

mid to late August, ought eight

D terminators,

What a tiny little thing it is, this moment. So forgettable. You'll forget it in a few seconds. Yet this moment will form an integral part of where you are a few seconds later, not to mention where you will be for the rest of eternity. Each second is a potential minefield of possibility. It's telescopically enormous, this tiny moment. No pressure or anything.

Get thee to the D Note. Tonight, Wednesday, August 20, the ever loving Clamdaddys.

Tomorrow night there are some teen singers at 6pm that go by the name Dynamix. Free.

Then at 7:30 there is a benefit for Arvada Middle School with the band Alright Alright. About this band Alright Alright. WOW! You must click on the link right now and listen to the first song "Orion". Amazing what falls into our laps. $7, with the proceeds going to a good cause.

Friday night we have The Saurus at 7pm. This band is jazzy hip hop funk. They recently won a new band competition at Dazzle. Check 'em out. $5.

At 9pm Friday we have the return of DJ Hot To Death. Click on the link and listen to "Pop it Like Kanye". This guy is just the best 80's DJ around, maybe ever. He'll be joined by DJ Goose. We love having these guys and so if you love to dance to 80's music, come support so we can keep them coming back. Disco-Bama! $3.

Saturday night we have another benefit for Bring on the Change Presents, a 501 3 c started by Colorado Lawyers, with a mission to provide educational tools to indigent students to empower the world through education. The music will be provided by Xiren, Hand of Zeus and the power punk of Primasonic. $7, or $5 with donation of 2 technical books. (Xiren has a song on a new VW commercial. Congrats Xiren.)

And not to overload you, but you would be remiss if you missed our next installment of our Deep Listening Series next Tuesday with Boulder Acoustic Society and George Inai, two of the shining stars of the local music scene. $10, 7:30pm. A reminder, The Deep Listening Series presents the best of the world's musicians in a quiet room, no talking. Be there, or be a unilateral four-sided shape.

In other news we are proud to announce the birth of a new family member. Damon Scott will be helping us book shows. Welcome to the D Damon. Amen.

Ever and over,

D bilitators

Extra Credit: So many poems, so little time. Strike that, reverse it. We googled "poem + moment" to see if we could find a poem that fit the theme of the preamble of this d-mail. The top google entry was this gem by Margaret Atwood.

The Moment

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

mid August, ought eight

Sunny D,

Summer days, something's begun, but, uh, oh those suh hummer nigh hights. Tell me more, tell me more.

This Thursday, August 14, great summer night music at 7:30pm with the incomparable crooner Rob Drabkin and an old time indie folk band called Flatfoot featuring Aaron C. Keim from the Boulder Acoustic Society. $5

Friday night we start with heavy Jazz. First is The Joshua Trinidad Trio at 5:00pm, electro progressive hip hop flavored jazz. Off the hook, check the myspace stuff. Then at 7:30pm we have a straight up heavy jazz, The Ben Markley quintet featuring Greg Gisbert on trumpet.$5. Come out and support, Jazz lovers! At 9:30pm we have a strange new bluesy band called ManApes. $5. We've heard good things about their live show and are intrigued.

Saturday night we start at 7:30pm with Trinity Demask of Third Road Home opening for The Cara Cantarella Band. A couple great examples of the many good under the radar Denver bands. $7. Then at 9:30pm we have the return of the country blues rock of MaricopaMadman. Come sway. $5

There is a new D Note blog in which these d-mails will be archived. And for those of you who are interested in the comic intricacies of the great D-mail fiasco of mid June, ought eight, check out the North Denver News article about it in the same blog. dnotebuzz.blogspot.com

blog blog blog,

D log,

Extra Credit: Charles Bukowski wrote novels and short stories. But his poems are the best, since they are even shorter stories. Here's a good one. The weird line breaks are all signature Bukowski, and so is the tone. (D Note trivia: our patron, Ivan Suvanjieff, from PeaceJam, has a correspondence with Bukowski, and you can read the dirt on Ivan, if you so desire, in Bukowski's Selected Letters.)

Bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?