Marquee Magazine » July, 2007
Packway Handle Band helps to send off brother and Boulder’s musical mayor
:: Packway Handle Band :: :: Avogadro’s Number :: July 26 :: :: Oskar Blues :: July 28 :: :: BB’s on Pearl :: July 29 :: :: Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey :: July 29 ::
By Tiffany Childs
Packway Handle Band is a bluegrass five-piece that calls Athens, Georgia home. That is why it’s a bit odd that their honorary sixth member lives in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies.
The sixth member in question is none other than Doug Baker, who has been an integral part of the Colorado music scene for the past few years. Working as the box office manager for the Fox Theatre in Boulder, he has become known as one of the biggest enthusiasts of music in our area. His brother, Tom Baker – banjo/vocals - is Doug’s connection to Packway Handle Band.
“The genesis of the band was in Athens and Doug just happened to be visiting during the formation,” Tom Baker told The Marquee in a recent interview. “He comes down pretty often and we are able to work together during those times.”
Packway Handle Band — rounded out by Josh Erwin (guitar/vocals), Andrew Heaton (fiddle/ vocals), Michael Paynter (mandolin/vocals) and Zach McCoy (bass) — is a group whose roots began with an interest in vocal harmonizing, which is why Doug’s efforts are so appreciated by the quintet. “Doug’s biggest influence is with our harmonies,” Baker mentioned. “We sing four-part harmony a lot and Doug will sneak into the thick of that and contribute a fifth harmony that we didn’t think was possible. We’ve even rearranged a few songs because of his input at times.” Continue — Read more »
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Leftover Salmon reunite at their spawning grounds for festival dates
:: Leftover Salmon :: with moe. :: :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: July 28 ::
By Brian F. Johnson
When the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, 2004, and the calendar flipped to 2005, Leftover Salmon was at home — on stage, playing to a sold-out crowd at Boulder’s Fox Theatre. Three hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, the band played their final song (“Pasta on the Mountain,” with a medley in the middle that included “Free Bird,” “Third Stone” and “The Star Spangled Banner”) and called it a night, and with that, also called it a wrap. After 15 years as a band, to the very day (their first gig was on New Year’s Eve in 1989 at The Eldo in Crested Butte, Colo.), the machine had outgrown the band and the incessant touring needed to feed that machine had gone beyond the band members’ threshold.
Leftover Salmon never claimed they were breaking up, but the “indefinite hiatus” label was cast upon them, and with members swimming off to pursue solo projects and spend time with their families, it looked like it’d be a very long time before they’d be onstage again.
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Page McConnell gets comfortable with his first post-Phish project
:: Page McConnell :: Fox Theatre :: July 16 ::
By Timothy Dwenger
It has been nearly three years since four of Vermont’s most famous musicians took their final bow on the stage of their final festival, Coventry. Those four men have gone their own ways and are now seeking new musical identities. Page McConnell, possibly better known as “The Chairman of the Boards,” has finally broken his silence with a self-titled solo album rather than in the form of his hiatus project, Vida Blue.
After that final bow three years ago, McConnell more or less went home and said, ‘now what?’ “As a member of Phish for so many years that kind of became my identity, even to myself to a degree,” McConnell said, speaking with The Marquee while getting ready to head out on the road for the first time in several years. “I don’t think I even realized how much that was the case until some time had passed and Phish wasn’t around and it was just me. At that point in my life, to have everything completely cleared off the table and to have a blank slate in front of me isn’t an opportunity that everybody has and I wanted to make sure that I appreciated that.
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Tokyo Police Club continue to arrest festival fans despite short tenure and lack of album
:: Tokyo Police Club :: Larimer Lounge :: July 21 ::
By Timothy Dwenger
With one EP and scarcely 16 minutes of music released in their brief 18-month lifespan, Tokyo Police club have become a sensation of sorts. They have played Coachella, traveled across the Pacific to play a gig in their namesake city in Japan, and just days after, The Marquee caught up with keyboard player Graham Wright, right before the band took the stage at the legendary Glastonbury Festival in England.
“We’ve been asked to play a few festivals this year, we’re doing a bunch in the U.K. and we’ve done Coachella and Sasquatch already. Coachella was the first one that we got the offer for and that was just incredible,” Wright said. “It is just one of those big things that you hear about when you’re a kid and you think, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool if we could drive out to California and go to Coachella.’ Obviously, to be asked to play it was really flattering. Then to be asked to play Glastonbury, which is sort of the great-grandfather of every festival, particularly for people like us who grew up on Radiohead and hearing about the legendary Glastonbury performances by bands that we just loved, is pretty indescribable.”
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James McMurtry gets mileage out of politics in his outlaw-style country rock
:: James McMurtry :: Bluebird Theater :: July 13 ::
By Brian F. Johnson
Last summer, as my father and I drove through North Carolina on a weekend getaway, the old man posed a question that neither he nor I have quite been able to answer yet.
We had been listening to my iPod when John Prine’s “Some Humans Ain’t Human” came on. For those who don’t know the tune, Prine does a little rant in mid-song that talks about “a cowboy from Texas who starts his own war in Iraq.”
My dad’s query was simple, “Where are all of the protest songs?”
The only answer we’ve been able to come up with is that there really aren’t any. Sure, almost every artist on stage these days can be assured some applause by throwing a dagger at President Bush, but it almost feels as trite as a band playing the Fillmore in Denver mentioning Colfax Ave., just to get that recognition cheer.
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Ryan Montbleau Band breaks out of Boston and prepares sophomore release
:: Ryan Montbleau Band :: Southern Sun Pub & Brewery :: July 2 :: :: Quixote’s True Blue :: July 10 ::
By Lisa Oshlo
Ryan Montbleau is the kind of talent that doesn’t come around too often, and his insightful lyrics and dynamic guitar style make the kind of impression that one will not soon forget.
From playing bar gigs and coffeehouses in his native Boston just a few years ago, Montbleau and his band have spread his gospel and grown his fan base grassroots-style, without the benefit of a slick marketing campaign or major label support. Touring relentlessly for the past few years, the Ryan Montbleau Band has begun generating the kind of buzz that only surrounds a talented artist on the verge. Continue — Read more »
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