house shows & music summits in Colorado this weekend!

This weekend is a terrific one in Colorado music.

First up, on Friday night I am hosting a Fuel/Friends House Concert & Dinner with Alex Dezen of The Damnwells! The Damnwells are a band that I listen to a lot, over the last eight years or so, and I never get tired of them. I may not talk about them as often as they merit but every damn time I put their albums on, I marvel at the rich romanticism and melodic power in Alex Dezen’s voice and songs. “Forgive me baby, I’m so full of hearts / swelled up with sadness and broken in parts.”

Kung Fu Grip Kiss – The Damnwells

Originally the band was from Brooklyn and released my favorite album of theirs, Air Stereo, on Rounder/Epic Records in 2006, and many other tremendous songs that I have followed closely over the last decade – oh, and that great documentary about them that sprinted across the indie film circuit a few years back.

I’m thrilled that Alex is heading across country and stopping to do a special, intimate house show for Fuel/Friends readers on Friday night! For the house address and all the good details, check the FB invite, and I hope to see you there. The dinner part is full, but there is still room for folks at the show.

Then on Saturday & Sunday, you’ll find me at the Denver Music Summit again! This type of community-oriented musician education and creative vitality-infusion is one of the best things that our city has done in various iterations over the years, and I am happy to be a part of it once again.

I will be speaking on a panel for musicians Saturday morning with the luminous Storm “Hey Now” Gloor, professor of Arts & Media at University of Colorado Denver (and keeper of some of the best/nerdiest spreadsheets about music that you will ever see). We will be talking about branding yourself as an artist (AT TEN AM SORRY) and tips for reaching out to music blogs. You should preregister for the Saturday & Sunday workshops – it’s only ten bucks for all the sessions.

Saturday night I was thinking of telling a story again with The Narrators and friends like Will Johnson and Dave Bazan, but buckled because my brain is too addled lately. I do believe in the power of public storytelling (especially around music themes!), and there are some wonderful storytellers involved, so come on out for that!


The whole weekend of musical guests for the Denver Music Summit reads like a Fuel/Friends House Concerts hall of fame. If you’re reading this post, you’ll like it.

Some of the friends in town / playing the Summit include PHOX, The Changing Colors, Ark Life (the new endeavor of Jesse from These United States), Josiah Johnson of The Head and The Heart, Chimney Choir, Yonnas Abraham of Pirate Signal, Dave Bazan, Will Johnson (Centro-matic), Joe Pug, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Esme Patterson (Paper Bird) – and many more. Whew.

GIVEAWAY: I have two full all-access passes to give away for the Denver Music Summit weekend! Please email me with “Denver Music Summit” in the subject line and some good reasons about why you deserve it & how you’ll use it, and I will judiciously find good homes for them.

Full schedule details for the Summit here. See you all out there this weekend!

Do you like Denver music? (we like all kinds of music)

An opportunity to celebrate all that is right with music in Denver, and look forward to where we can be headed, the Denver Music Summit is happening this Friday! I am extremely excited to be a part of this multifaceted event that will both serve as a crash course for Denver-area musicians on how to get their music heard on a wider scale, as well as for policymakers and music folks from around the country to come together to discuss how we can help from the top-level policy perspective.

A joint vision of both the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation (who commissioned that in-depth study on the Denver music scene last year), the Denver Music Summit is the culmination of a lot of planning and dreaming. Musicians have scheduled one-on-one consultations with experts in a variety of fields, including promotion and booking, blogging/press, audio engineering, song licensing, and artist management. In the afternoon, my amiable southern friend Storm Gloor (who teaches music business at UC Denver) will be presenting a series of seminars to the large audience with the help of guest speakers like me, to talk about topics like The Future of The Music Business, and Marketing Effectively in the Digital Age.

On Friday morning I’ll also be helping to facilitate a policy symposium with high-level folks from arts organizations, universities, fellow music-centric cities (like Austin), record labels, and more. We’ll be discussing things like cultural policy, the creative economy, music education – things that I could talk about all day. I am pretty excited to hear what all we can come up with, and actual ways that it can affect music in this great city.

Plus, the mayor/governor-elect is gonna be there for lunch (I call him Hickenloop) so I am wearing my Sunday pants.

WIN TICKETS!
The Summit proceedings are pretty much full-up this time around, but you can still win tickets to come to the kickoff concert celebration tomorrow night!

Come join your fellow music lovers at the Bluebird to hear a varied gathering of local musicians: some of Denver’s best artists in classical, jazz, hip-hop and rock. Performers include the Lamont School of Music’s Playground Ensemble, internationally-renowned jazz artist Ron Miles, local hip-hop luminaries Mane Rok, DeeJay Tense and Prime Element, and local indie popsters Fingers of the Sun. It should be interesting and fun! Come drink and dance with us.

KICKOFF CONCERT CELEBRATION
Thursday, December 9
Doors – 8 p.m. / Showtime – 8:30 p.m.
Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO 80206
$10, or email me by noon to win a pair of tickets!