:: The Airborne Toxic Event ::
 :: Bluebird Theater :: Feb. 23 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

A band leader is often born out of many awkward teen years toiling in a friend’s garage, working on songs he would never admit to today. Maybe he followed that with a classic rock cover band that might have gotten a few gigs at local bars and frat houses in college, and then two or three mediocre original bands before he finally landed that sweet opening gig on a Sonic Youth tour … or something like that.

It is pretty rare that a successful journalist-turned-aspiring-novelist decides one day to drop everything and start a rock band, but that’s exactly what happened in 2006 when Mekell Jollett decided to form The Airborne Toxic Event. “I’d just gotten into Yaddo, the writers program in upstate New York, and I’d just gotten an agent for my book,” Jollett told The Marquee, days before The Airborne Toxic Event set out for the U.K. to kick off nearly three months of touring on two continents.  “I was at this crossroads where I could have gone deeper into my writing career but I just suddenly snapped and decided I had to start a band. Everyone thought I’d lost my fuckin’ mind.  When I told my folks they were like, ‘WHAT!!!’ and they looked at me like I was nuts. But, suddenly the idea of being alone in a room for three months or six months or a year as this tortured solitary writer just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my time.” Continue — Read more »

:: Bill Kreutzmann ::
 :: Bluebird Theater :: February 20 ::
 :: Fox Theatre :: February 21 ::

By DJ Hippie

If you are even remotely a fan of the Grateful Dead you would have to be obtuse or completely cut off from all modern forms of communication to be excused for not knowing that the surviving members, supplemented by Warren Haynes and Ratdog alumni Jeff Chimenti, are mounting a somewhat abbreviated spring tour as The Dead; the group’s first since 2004’s “Wave That Flag” jaunt.

But just as important in the short run, as folks scramble to secure their tickets to those shows, is the current project and mini-tour by drummer Bill Kreutzmann, Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge and Max Creek guitarist Scott Murawski. The group, that toured a bit last year and will be hitting a few select venues this February, has mistakenly been labeled by many Deadheads as a power trio.

Continue — Read more »

:: The Pretenders ::
 :: Paramount Theatre :: February 24 ::
 :: Belly Up (Aspen) :: February 25 ::

By DJ Hippie

You would be pretending if you didn’t just admit that Chrissie Hynde wasn’t the heart and soul of The Pretenders. The woman is a true rarity in the musical landscape. While not exactly a sex symbol, the woman exudes a charisma and confidence. Whether she’s singing playful come-on’s like “Brass in Pocket” or bearing her soul on a classic track like “Back on the Chain Gang,” it’s clear that Chrissie Hynde is ‘the man,’ so to speak, when it comes to kick-ass female fronted rock and roll.

That established, it’s fair to say that few, if any, people have a better feel for the inner workings of Hynde’s musical mind than her long-time musical partner, Martin Chambers. That’s saying a lot when you consider Hynde’s rock and roll resume goes far beyond The Pretenders and includes highlights like being a close friend of departed punk legend Sid Vicious and recording a duet with the late Frank Sinatra. (You’ve got to love the irony in that.) Continue — Read more »

:: Susan Tedeschi ::

:: Paramount Theatre :: February 25 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

If there was a first family in the world of the blues it would have to be the Trucks/Tedeschi family. Susan Tedeschi is riding high as one of the top female blues artists in the world and her husband Derek Trucks is at the top of his game, playing with The Allman Brothers Band, his own band and the project that he and Tedeschi started to keep their family together in the summers, Soul Stew Revival.

Interestingly enough, it is that band, Soul Stew Revival, that was invited to play at Barack Obama’s inauguration last month, just a few days after The Marquee caught up with Tedeschi at her home in Jacksonville, Fla. “It’s incredible; it still doesn’t even seem real. I can’t even picture it,” she said in her sweet southern drawl when asked how it felt to be part of such an historic event. “It’s exciting. We are going to get to go to the inauguration during the morning and then that night we’ll play at one of the balls. As everyone knows, it’s not just any inauguration. It is such an historic event and it really symbolizes such a great time in our country. We seem to be overcoming some of our past mistakes.”

As Tedeschi revealed later in the conversation, they didn’t get to play just any ball. She and her husband got to headline their own ball, The Southern Ball. “We were supposed to play with The Dead but we couldn’t fit all of our gear on the same stage, so that’s when they said, ‘Okay, we’ll give you guys your own ball.’ I was like, ‘What? … well okay, cool!’”

Continue — Read more »

:: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band ::

:: supporting Greyboy Allstars ::

:: Ogden Theatre :: February 21 ::

By Kathy Foster-Patton

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band came together in 1977 and incorporated their own funky style into a base of their traditional hometown New Orleans music. They travel extensively and will return to Colorado in February during a northwestern U.S. tour.

Roger Lewis, founding member and baritone and soprano saxophonist, spoke with The Marquee about channeling Marvin Gaye, playing with the same bandmates for over 30 years, and their upcoming tour schedule.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band formed out of a Baptist youth music group that ultimately morphed into a brass band. After a couple of iterations, they named themselves the Dirty Dozen and issued their first professional recording in 1980. Lewis is joined by Gregory Davis on trumpet, Kevin Harris on tenor sax, drummer Terence Higgins, guitarist Jake Eckert, Efrem Towns on trumpet and flugelhorn, Julius McKee on sousaphone and trombonist Revert Andrews. Davis, Lewis, Harris, and Towns are the original founders of the group and thus have been playing together for 32 years. Continue — Read more »

:: Oakhurst ::

:: Belly Up (Aspen) :: February 3 ::

:: Samana Lounge :: February 4 ::

:: Aggie Theatre :: February 5 ::

:: Tugboat (Steamboat) :: February 9 & 10::

:: Bluebird Theater :: February 13 ::

By David Stuhlemmer

“We’re trying to build our career around that high energy and we’re going to come smash you in the face and then party with you and have a good time,” Oakhurst bassist Johnny James Qualley told The Marquee, sipping on sparkling water and sitting on top of the world at home base: The Appaloosa Grille in the heart of downtown Denver.

When the band is not out conquering the world in their eco friendly grease-gas bus or playing cruise ships on the big pond, they rest their weary bones at this beautiful bar. “We all took that chance when we came in and said let’s do this, and let’s use it as a way to propel our career rather than slow it down.” Running the restaurant has become a valuable asset to the band’s persistent touring. “Instead of being consumed by the responsibility of the restaurant, we got consumed with the opportunity of being a band.”

“Our goal is just to melt people’s faces,” Qualley said with an affable grin, “We just like to shred. We like to rock and we like to have a good time.” The band brings an eclectic energy to the stage unmatched in the Rocky Mountain region today. They follow a simple formula, which is proven bliss: “We try to embrace each other as individuals and concoct that into something larger than ourselves,” said Qualley. The free flowing positive energy on stage is natural between good friends, allowing them to focus. “The longer we do it the more fun it gets. As long as we’re having fun we are going to keep doing it.” Continue — Read more »

:: Rev. Horton Heat ::

:: Aggie Theatre :: Jan 31 ::

:: Black Sheep :: Feb. 1 ::

:: Fox Theatre :: Feb. 3 ::

:: Three 20 (Breckenridge) :: Feb. 4 ::

:: Sand Bar (Vail) :: Feb. 5 & 6 ::

By Benjamin Smithson

After hitting the last button of his phone number and cautiously placing the phone up to my ear to hear its first ring as it traveled en route to meet the surely mad guitarist of Reverend Horton Heat, fictitious mental images of this infamously untamed three-man punkabilly wrecking crew on stage in a saloon-esque environment blowing fire out of their mouths, diving off their drum kit and sliding down the bar while spilling drinks and shattering glass all over the joint … overtook my mind. Luckily, just before the roof collapsed and the screaming masses in my mind fled the burning building in a stampede of panic, he answered the phone.

“Hello,” the voice said, in a dreamy, lackadaisical voice heavily laden with a cozy Texas drawl. “Jim, how the hell are ya?,” was all I could think to say. As it turns out, Jim Heath, guitar-man for Reverend Horton Heat, was doing just fine, relaxing and getting ready for a show in Portland, Maine. This month when the good reverend and his two deacons (Jimbo Wallace, upright bass; Paul Simmons, drums) thump their psychobilly bibles on the Colorado stage, you might not see the life-threatening antics of yesteryear (or of my imagination), but you can definitely expect the still wildly-driven, shit-slinging rockabilly fallout that these Lone Star caballeros have been delivering for years now. Continue — Read more »

What’s going on? I don’t recall seeing any memo that 2009 was the year for the gifted and talented of music to pack it up and leave. Did you get that memo?
Apparently, Ryan Adams did. He announced in  mid-January that he would be leaving music after he and The Cardinals wrap up their tour in Atlanta, Ga. in March. In his typical esoteric way, Adams was vague about his future plans, but said that he was “ready for quieter times.”
Unlike many bands who’ve recently announced “indefinite hiatus” status, Adams has made no such distinction. He says he’s quitting for good, even if many people aren’t putting too much long-term stock in that. (I do believe him, however, and have in fact, already purchased tickets to the show.)
Then, on January 23, David Berman of Silver Jews (who we featured in our October, 2008 issue — remember, they were on their second tour in 20 years?) announced that he was leaving music. Berman wrote in a blog: “I guess I am moving over to another category. Screenwriting or muckraking. I’ve got to move on. Can’t be like all the careerists doncha know.”
Continue — Read more »

:: Andrew Bird ::
 :: Ogden Theatre :: Feb 26 ::

Andrew Bird
Noble Beast

Fat Possum

4 out of 5

Attention Axl Rose: There is someone who’s a better whistler than you — Andrew Bird.
Joking aside, native Chicagoan Andrew Bird has created a musical gem of an album with his fifth studio release, Noble Beast.

If intelligent music is something that has been lost in the mainstream, Bird has harkened back to a time when studio albums and musicianship actually meant something more than a singer’s bust line or chiseled chin.

Continue — Read more »

M. Ward
Hold Time

Merge Records

3 out of 5 stars

M. Ward is the type of lo-fi darling that indie critics love. He writes an occasional great song, he has a good singing voice and is an adequate guitar player. To be honest, that about sums up M. Ward.

The critical comparisons of him being the next John Fahey or Tom Waits are absolutely ridiculous. He is not the second coming of greatness; however, his musical contributions have left a dent in the world of music while his reputation seems to have created a crater.

Ward’s last album, Post-War, was released in August, 2006. With My Morning Jacket’s Jim James onboard as co-producer, the album made a critical splash and thrust Ward into the spotlight as the-next-big-thing in indie folk. The album was his first to utilize a backing band and his upcoming release, Hold Time, continues the tradition. Continue — Read more »

Ween
At Cat’s Cradle, 1992

Chocodog

4 out of 5 stars

I know this review is coming a little late, but after listening to At Cat’s Cradle, 1992 again and laughing my ass off, I thought I would give the Ween boys some love and file a review. This is clearly one of the more hysterical albums I have heard in quite some time — easily funnier than anything Dane Cook has ever released.

The album finds a very young Ween plowing through 21 songs in just under an hour and 20 minutes. The songs are quite funny if bad, over-the-top songwriting and singing is your bag.  However, the gem of this album is the stage banter — some of the best I have ever heard and it is beyond comical. Hearing Gene Ween scream at the lazy audience, “Yeah, you better clap!” at the end of “Cover It With Gas and Set it On Fire,” is one of the many moments that show that they never took themselves seriously, even in the beginning. Continue — Read more »

Amy Ray
Didn’t It Feel Kinder

Daemon Records

3 out of 5 stars

Amy Ray’s newest album Didn’t It Feel Kinder starts out with a fantastic soulful, bluesy, rocker called “Birds of a Feather.” The track is such a departure for the Indigo Girl that you find yourself almost straining to identify her oh-so-familiar voice. Slinging an electric axe instead of an acoustic, Ray comes off sounding like her peers Mellisa Etheridge and Lucinda Williams, but with Ray’s own distinct stamp.

The problem is that the rest of the album doesn’t follow that direction.

Continue — Read more »