Kane moves up in Aggie organization — Long-time Marquee contributor Cornelia Kane, who wrote her first story for the magazine in 2003, has recently been appointed as the head publicist for the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins. Kane, who in addition to contributing to The Marquee, books shows under the moniker Semi vs. Diner, has been a bartender at the Aggie for several years, and also works down the street at the crispy-crunchy CD/smoke shop Rock N’ Robins. Congrats Cornelia! Continue — Read more »

Burns burning up the charts — Colorado local (by way of Suffolk, England) Jessie Burns, the fiddle player for the celtic band Gaelic Storm, has had her “dream come true.” Gaelic Storm’s new album, What’s the Rumpus, debuted at number one on the Billboard World Music Charts, knocking Peter Gabriel off the top. The album also hit number 165 of the top 200 albums in all genres. Burns formerly played with the Wayfarers and, more recently, collaborated with Gregory Alan Isakov in his band, The Freight and recorded on his album That Sea, The Gambler.

Spring Creek Signs — Colorado pickers Spring Creek Bluegrass, who late last month opened the RockyGrass Festival, have signed a deal with Rebel Records. The award winning quartet are set to enter the studio in late fall with an expected release in spring of 2009.

Swallow Hill goes for the Guinness — Swallow Hill, The Denver Film Society and the City and County of Denver are taking a shot at Guinness Book of World Records fame. On Monday, August 18, before the Film on the Rocks screening of Zoolander, those groups will help to host the world’s largest guitar lesson. The lesson is billed for people of all levels, from those who have never picked up a guitar before to those considered virtuosos. To register, visit swallowhillmusic.org.

Adler’s Appetite nets an arrest — Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler was arrested in Hollywood last month for alleged drug possession. According to police, Adler was picked up at 4 a.m. after officers were called about a man who was creating a disturbance. He was jailed and held on $45,000 bail. Adler was an original member of G N’ R but was fired from the band in 1990 due to “excessive drug use.” Since then, he has toured on and off with his band Adler’s Appetite, which mostly covers Guns N’ Roses.

CSN team with Rubin - Crosby, Stills and Nash are getting set for their first album since 1994 and the trio have chosen Rick Rubin to produce. In recent years Rubin has produced Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways, and Neil Diamond’s 12 Songs, in addition to churning out dozens of albums with younger artists. Graham Nash told Billboard that the album will be a set of covers, “songs that we wish we’d written.”

Phish 3.0? — In the last few months, rumors about Phish’s reunion have been more prevalent than dank buds at an actual Phish reunion. Although the four members were on stage together in May for the Jammy Awards, legions of crispy-crunchy heads had their dreams shattered when the band chose not to perform. But a new report from Jamtopia.com brought so much attention that even Billboard picked up the story. The report stated that producer Steve Lillywhite would be working on a new Phish album this year. Lillywhite worked on Phish’s 1996 album Billy Breathes. Lillywhite has offered a “no comment” on the subject.

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Flobots are winning – On their CD Fight With Tools, Denver’s own Flobots have a tune called “We Are Winning,” and indeed the hip-hop act is. The band’s single “Handlebars” has spent four weeks at number one on radio charts, it’s been the number one song in the country for alternative radio spins and it’s reached up to number 11 on the iTunes charts. Additionally, Fight With Tools is the number three album at Denver’s Twist and Shout. The band also performed on May 20 on Carson Daily’s talk show and spent the remainder of the day answering sex questions on “Loveline” with Dr. Drew and Stryker. As of press time stats were not available, but the last week of May the band was expected to be on the Billboard charts after their first week of national soundscan for Fight with Tools. So, just like their song “Handlebars” says, they can finally “throw their hands in the air like it’s good to be alive and I’m a famous rapper.” Congrats!

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O.B. celebrates Haggard — Lyons’ music hot spot Oskar Blues hosted a fundraising celebration in honor of Merle Haggard in April, and in doing so, raised $2,000 for the Blue Sky Bridge Foundation in Boulder, which helps abused children. Lyons resident Pat Lemmon won the “Mama Tried” essay contest for her piece which detailed her efforts in raising two kids and her undying love for them, despite them building a police file three inches thick. Though Oskars had put out the word that anyone who could prove they “turned 21 in prison” would receive free beer and food for the day, no one was able to prove that they lived the line of the song “Mama Tried.”
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DeVotchKa crushing — It’s very typical to see a Colorado band selling well at Denver’s famed Twist & Shout. But in the last week of March it was announced that Denver-based DeVotchKa is racking up serious numbers at the music outlet. What’s really unique is that while the band’s new album Mad & Faithful Telling is selling best, (grabbing the number one spot for the week ending March 23) DeVotchKa is on Twist & Shout’s Top 30 CD list, not once, but twice more. The band racked up three spots in total on the Top 30 list. The band’s release How it Ends took home the number nine spot, while Una Volta notched the 21 spot.

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Highly Depressing — Citing decreasing advertising revenue, changes in the music industry and the economy, No Depression magazine, which has covered American roots music and more since 1995, announced this month that their May-June issue will be the last print copy of their magazine. The mag’s website www.nodepression.net will continue. In its time the magazine, run by a skeleton staff of three along with a team of freelancers, has featured such performers as Son Volt, Drive-By Truckers, Whiskeytown, Johnny Cash, Ralph Stanley and Elvis Costello, among many, many others.
Clear Channel settles in fire suit — Clear Channel Broadcasting has agreed to a $22 million settlement with survivors and relatives of those killed in the 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire during a Great White show. Hundreds of victims sued after the February, 2003 fire at the West Warwick Club, which occurred when pyrotechnics used by the band ignited flammable soundproofing around the stage, killing nearly 100 people. With this most recent settlement, Clear Channel has paid more than $70 million to victims and families. Clear Channel was sued because one of its radio stations sponsored the show by running on-air advertisements.
Blogs over Myspace — A recent study by New York University’s Stern Business School showed that blog chatter, not myspace hits, helped to sell more albums. The study tracked 108 albums for four weeks before and after their release dates. The results showed that if 40 or more blog posts were made before an album’s release date, sales ended up being three to four times the average for both indie and major releases, while myspace had “a weaker correlation to sales.”
That being said, it was also reported last month that myspace, or more directly News Corp., has plans to begin distributing digital music on-line. Reports stated that music may be free, supported by advertising dollars on the site. A time frame has not been officially announced, but one source said that one of the major labels could be “two weeks” away from inking its deal.
Dead get political — Despite coming of age in the ’60s, the Grateful Dead have remained relatively apolitical throughout their career. However, last month, Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart reunited for a concert to support Barack Obama. Billed as Deadheads for Obama, the show was the group’s first since 2004’s reunion tour.
Grammy Schmammy — The 2008 Grammy Awards show garnered the lowest rating in more than a decade and showed a slip of 17 percent from last year. Overall viewers are estimated at 18.2 million, down from about 20 million in 2007.

Moon over Sundance — Denver’s own Matthew Moon got a once-in-a-lifetime chance last month when he was asked to join Velvet Revolver on stage at the Sundance Film Festival. The Marquee’s chief photog, Soren McCarty, who shoots Sundance each year, reported that Moon’s amazing opportunity arose when Velvet Revolver’s front man Scott Weiland missed a flight into Sundance.

The band grabbed several singers to complete their set at Harry O’s, and Moon was chosen to sing on the band’s Rolling Stone’s cover, “Honky Tonk Woman.”

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Editor’s Note: The following column is the first in what we hope will be an ongoing piece that seeks to pick up the little tid-bits of information that fall through the cracks each month.

• Richmond Fontaine — We told you it was good. Willy Vlautin, lead singer for the Portland-based Richmond Fontaine, announced in mid-December that his novel, The Motel Life was ranked by The Washington Post as one of the best 25 books of 2007. Continue — Read more »