Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Rockies

Paul Humphreys & Andy McCluskey – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark In a year of seemingly unending ups and downs, 2016 held one of my personal and professional high points. I was granted an in-person interview with two of my all-time musical heroes, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Best […]

Greg Humphreys Lucks Out – Part 2 – The Interview

As I said in my previous post, Greg Humphreys and I spoke for about 2.5 hours earlier this year. I hadn’t spoken to him since 1993 when I interviewed him for the San Diego fanzine 360°. I’ve cut some of the small talk here and edited for clarity, but this is most of the conversation, […]

Greg Humphreys Lucks Out – Part 1

The Greg Humphreys Electric Trio‘s Lucky Guy fall tour kicks off this Friday, September 23rd at the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival, the Carolina Ramble & Reunion on Oct 1 and continues through the Carolinas & Georgia in early October. Go see them live!! The transcript of my interview with Greg about his career will post on Wednesday September […]

Prince 4 Ever

If, like me, you hit puberty in the early 80’s when Prince was in his heyday, you likely learned about sexuality, sensuality, and love through purple lenses. The same man who broke our hearts in songs like “Purple Rain” and “Nothing Compares 2 U” also taught us about the slow grind in “When Doves Cry.” […]

Riot Fest 2015 – Denver Day 2

It’s always easy to get up for Day 2, especially when I’m taking it easy and pacing myself for three days. If I was just attending Saturday (which it sounds like a lot of people did, just attend the one day), I might have busted my ass to be there when the gates opened, but […]

Twenty One Pilots for Youth On Record

On Friday, December 11th, band-of-the-moment Twenty One Pilots played the Gothic Theater in Denver as a fundraiser for Youth On Record, a local nonprofit organization that helps provide music instruction and guidance for at-risk students. The band visited the organization earlier in the day at the Youth Media Studio and met with some of the students Northern […]

for KING & COUNTRY at Aloft Live

I was invited to check out the final show of the Aloft Live concert series, for KING & COUNTRY at the downtown Denver Aloft hotel. I received invitations to previous Aloft Live shows (Christian Burghardt, The Veronicas, Michelle Chamuel) but wasn’t able to make it out for those. This time around the hotel smartly offered a […]

Riot Fest 2015 – Denver Day 1

First off, I need to thank a few people & organizations – most notably Ultra5280 and WideFoc.us. I won tickets after entering contests from each and ended up with surplus tickets that I gave away to some people who were really thankful. I’d also like to thank my friend Chad, who hooked me up with […]

Album Listening Club – Every Kingdom

…And we’re back! The last album that the club chose was Ben Howard‘s Mercury-prize nominated debut Every Kingdom, released in September 2011. The music is very solitary, to my ears. He reminds me of other solo acoustic artists that play with effects, like Kim Churchill, Garrin Benfield, Julie Collings, and Howie Day. Before this album was chosen […]

ThURGHsday #12 – Athletico Spizz 80

I’m sorry, what? Athwhoica whazza wha? Spizzenergi was formed in the late 70’s in England and changed the name of the band every year – hence “Athletico Spizz 80.” (Also known as Spizzles, Spizzology, Spizzoil, etc.) The track featured here,”Where’s Captain Kirk?,” had a bit of a novelty feel to it, as Star Trek: The […]