:: Ryan Adams and The Cardinals :: :: Fox Theatre :: August 2 :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: August 3 ::

By Brian F. Johnson

By all accounts, I shouldn’t be writing this article. In fact, no one should be writing articles on Ryan Adams. A year or so ago we should have all written obituaries on him — obituaries which would have poignantly compared him to the alt-country legend Gram Parsons (with whom Adams shares a birthday, November 5) and to other musicians and actors who died tragically before their time from drug overdoses. Adams’ penchant for speedballs (a lethal blend of uppers and downers) would have placed his death alongside the likes of Brent Mydland, River Phoenix and Layne Staley, as well as John Belushi and Chris Farley, who all died from speedball overdoses.
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:: Brett Dennen :: Rocky Mountain Folks Festival :: August 18 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

Brett Dennen. Be sure to make note of that name. With intricate lyrical phrasing that calls to mind Paul Simon and a spirited upbeat performance style that has entertained crowds in some of the biggest and some of the smallest venues across the country, Dennen has already made a name for himself in the folk world and seems destined for true musical greatness.
In the midst of a swing through New England with his band, Dennen took some time to sit down with The Marquee and, in his own humble way, talk about his summer and his career as a whole. He had just played a tiny show in a small Methodist church in Lebanon, N.H. and it was clear that he had really enjoyed the experience. “They were packed in there,” he said. “In an environment like that you can really connect with the audience, they can pick up on your subtleties and you can get really quiet if you want to. It can create a very magical, intimate vibe that I don’t think you could ever replicate in one of those big shed shows.”
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:: Jason Isbell :: Larimer Lounge :: August 9 ::

By Brian F. Johnson

Jason Isbell came into his own with the southern rockers Drive-By Truckers, over the course of a six-year tenure with the band. He appeared on three of the Trucker’s albums and wrote and performed tracks like “Outfit,” “Decoration Day,” “Never Gonna Change” and “Goddamn  Lonely Love” as one of the three front men and lead guitarists for the band.
But this year, in what came as a surprise to many Truckers fans, Isbell left the band and has already double-clutched into high gear to release a solo album that he has been working on for the better part of four years.
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:: The Comas :: Hi-Dive :: August 6 ::

By Tiffany Childs

Perhaps it was recording in a spooky mansion in the Catskills that makes The Comas’ new album Spells so enchanting. Or maybe it’s that the band has finally found its place in the music world. Whatever it may be, The Comas and their new album Spells both leave an indelible mark on the listener.
If it is true that a record invariably documents an artist’s life during a particular time period, then things are certainly looking up for Andy Herod (vocals/guitar) of The Comas. The band was catapulted into the spotlight in 2004 with their album Conductor, which focused rather publicly on Herod’s breakup with actress Michelle Williams. Now, their new release Spells sees The Comas growing stronger in their particular brand of psychedelic garage pop and branching out into new topics.
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:: G. Love and Special Sauce :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: August 17 ::

By Heather Jarvis

Guitar slung over one shoulder, Garrett Dutton rolled up to his new bass player’s house on his skateboard for one of their first band practices. Drummer Jeffrey Clemens went outside to check out Dutton’s board, but before Dutton could show off the new deck, Clemens promptly snatched the board and locked it in his car for the next year. For reasons more selfish than big brotherly, Clemens didn’t want Dutton to end up riding that board under a bus somewhere, because to him, this kid was his ticket out of Boston. In that house, sans skateboard, the creation of a satisfying recipe known as G. Love and Special Sauce was born.
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:: The Rentals :: Gothic Theatre :: August 9 ::

By Tiffany Childs

It’s true. The Rentals are back and in a big way. With their first release of new material in over eight years and a 44-date tour scheduled, both slated for August, the band that brought Moog synthesizers and boy/girl lyrics in the ’90s are set to bring it again.
The Marquee recently spoke with front man Matt Sharp (ex-Weezer bassist) about the break, the new album and the upcoming tour.
“We just needed to take some time off to figure out where we wanted to go,” Sharp said of The Rentals break. “And we also decided that if we were going to do a recording, it was going to be with a permanent band.”
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:: Cypress Hill :: Rock the Bells Tour with Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Talib Kweli and more :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: August 22 ::

By DJ Hippie

Cypress Hill hasn’t been the most prolific band over the last few years but their influence on hip-hop is eternally monumental. Despite the fact that they are known to the masses as a stoner band, Cypress Hill, comprised of rappers B-real, Sen Dog and turntableist DJ Muggs, is one of the more calculating and business savvy crews in the rap game, as their career longevity makes evident.
That considered, it is no surprise that rapper Sen Dog — who spoke to The Marquee while ordering his family lunch at a McDonald’s drive-through — is unfazed by the various critics that are saying rap has run its course. “That’s total horseshit and it’s totally off line. Every few years that same argument comes up and it is just false. Hip-hop will still continue to flourish, you can’t put a time and date on its demise,” said Dog.
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By Brian F. Johnson

A lot of people are talking about death in the music industry these days. “CDs are dead” is the new hip catch-phrase of the last two years. These days you can’t swing a dead Sony Discman without hitting someone who will proclaim that it’s a dead media.
Satellite radio is still relatively new, but the viral proliferation of iPods may be lumping it together with cassettes and eight-tracks, or at least AM-FM radio.
But the final nails may have been driven into the CD and satellite radio coffins earlier this month when Bob Lefsetz, an industry legend who writes a column for celebrityacess.com, re-iterated the statement in his “Lefsetz Letter.”
In his column, hysterically but appropriately titled “Blood on the Click Wheel,” Lefsetz said he was talking to his shrink, who had just gotten a new car equipped with free satellite radio. He asked his head doc how he liked it and he learned that since the car also came with an iPod jack, that the guy hadn’t even used it. “Satellite radio,” Lefsetz wrote, “is a boy band with a minor hit, never to be heard from again.”
Lefsetz explained that the reason iPod is so easily killing these mediums, seemingly with its eyes closed, is that the iPod does one of the most magnificent things since the remote control: “It gives us what we want, when we want it,” and it does so quickly and easily at that. “Napster wounded the CD, but the iPod killed it,” Lefsetz wrote.
Truer words aren’t often uttered.
And you know what? I might not even shed a tear when the CD and satellite radio are placed in the ground. I hopped on the bandwagon early with the iPod (when the 10GB model was twice the size of the current 80GB model), and the only time I’ve listened to a CD or radio since is when my iPod battery ran out, or when I forgot it at home. The times I have had to flip through radio stations, I’m appalled at how bad it is. I heard, like, 15 Eagles songs in one one-hour trip and that’s just completely unnecessary.
So I’m going to agree with Lefsetz that these mediums are dead, or at least very riddled with cancer, but I’m going to say that it’s not the iPod that’s doing them in. What’s doing them in is the same thing that’s causing death in other areas of the business: Failure to change. The programming directors that still allow the Eagles to be played 400 times a day, they’re the fuckers killing radio, satellite or otherwise. The labels that want to give you 12 songs, and no bonus material or DVD on an $18 purchase, they’re the fuckers killing the CD.
The iPod isn’t the Kevorkian of those mediums, it’s the blindfold we can use to avoid seeing the gruesome death — and sometimes avoiding gross things is the best thing you can do.
See you at the shows.

David Gans
Twisted Love Songs
Perfectible Recordings
3.5 out of 5 stars
If you haven’t heard of David Gans yet, either you’re not a Dead fan or you were still in diapers while Gans was interviewing stars like Phil Lesh, Pat Benetar and Rod Stewart. Best known as the host for the radio show “The Grateful Dead Hour,” Gans has tested his 30-plus years of experience with music to his own most recent album, Twisted Love Songs.
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By Brian F. Johnson

It’s no secret that in today’s music business the focus is on the almighty dollar. Artists are being lost in the shuffle at an alarming rate. Ironically, now is the time that more focus on the artists could result in more dollars and happier relationships.
With these thoughts in mind, two Boulder-based agents have joined forces, jumped ship from the popular Crescendo Artists and started their own agency, Sweetwine Entertainment Group.
Ira Sweetwine and his business partner Koryn Johnson, both musicians themselves, opened the doors to their agency earlier this year with a goal of making and keeping the focus directly on the artists.
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This Month in Music History
August 1
1981: MTV is seen in 2.1 million homes during its first day on the air
1942: Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead is born Jerome John Garcia
August 3
1968: Over 100,000 people attend the first Newport Pop Festival in Costa Mesa, California
August 4
1958: Billboard Magazine debuts its “Hot 100” record list
August 6
1973: Stevie Wonder’s car collides with a logging truck in North Carolina. (Wonder was not driving.)Wonder slips into a four-day coma and permanently loses his sense of smell.
August 7
1987: Ozzy Osbourne is found “not responsible” for the suicide death of a fan whose parents filed suit against the rocker blaming his song “Suicide Solution” for coercing the teen to take his own life
August 8
1992: Metallica’s James Hetfield is seriously burned onstage by a pyrotechnics machine
August 9
1995: Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead dies of a heart attack while in a rehabilitation center
August 11
1966: John Lennon apologizes for his statement that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus”
August 12
1994: Over 350,000 people attend Woodstock II in Saugerties, New York
1983: While drunk, Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil is involved in a serious car accident which kills Nicholas Dingley of Hanoi Rocks
August 15
1969: The Woodstock Music and Peace Festival, which attracts over 450,000 people, opens on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York
August 16
1977: Elvis Presley dies at “Graceland,” his Memphis, Tennessee mansion
1974: The Ramones play their first show at CBGB’s
1962: Pete Best is replaced by Ringo Starr as the drummer for The Beatles
August 23
1980: AC/DC releases their LP Back in Black with new lead singer Brian Johnson replacing the deceased Bon Scott
August 26
1970: Jimi Hendrix makes his final public appearance at The Isle of Wight Festival in England
August 27
1990: Stevie Ray Vaughn dies in a helicopter crash near Alpine Valley, Wisconsin
August 28
1965: The crowd boos Bob Dylan for plugging in during a concert in Forest Hills, New York