Denverfest Post Mortem coming soon

What a weekend! I’ll be blogging about this extensively later today (as time permits, I have midterms to finish grading and lecture to prepare), but for the moment, here’s a nifty photo of Neil from Planes Mistaken for Stars from their show with Christie Front Drive, Crestfallen and the Volts at the Marquis Theater.

Denverfest, a Journal in Various Chapters

1:22 PM, Lindbergh Field Airport, San Diego, California
Seven hours later than expected, I’m sipping a beer and waiting to hop aboard a Frontier Airlines (the one with the animals on the tail and the free DirecTV in the seats) flight to Denver. I arrived at the airport at 5:20 AM, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, only to [...]

Hey cat dirt, I’m mounting an expeditionary force of my own…

Some call it a cow town. Sure, it’s a cow town, in the same sense that Brooklyn is an Italian ghetto, San Diego is a Catholic mission and I am a zygote. Denver is a wonderful city, in my opinion. Close to the mountains, 300+ days of sunshine a year, a city with an ethos [...]

My D-fest Schedule:

Traffic/level of inebriation willing, this is what I’ll be tracking down this weekend at Denverfest.
Friday:
6 – Ryan Windham: I’m hoping it’s Barry Windham’s son, but I’m probably wrong.
7 – Brainhammer: From the name, I’m expecting smooth jazz.
8 – Bailer: One of my favorite Denver bands, and one that’s jumped up a notch.
9 – Across Tundras: [...]

Denverfest shows and set times ANNOUNCED…

They’re all here. Highlight shows of each night, in my opinion:
Friday: Marquis Theater, all ages
Smoke or Fire, The Forecast, Concrete Cleaner, Bailer, Eyes and Ears
Saturday: Marquis Theater, all ages
Christie Front Drive, Planes Mistaken for Stars, Crestfallen, The Volts
Sunday: Arapahoe Warehouse, all ages
The North Atlantic, Think in French, Golden City, Red [...]

Denverfest lineup is OUT

DenverFest 3 LINE-UP
It would be ridiculous of me to try and point out all the “highlights” (personal and otherwise) to which I’m looking forward. This will be my first look at Smoke or Fire, The Forecast, and my first look in a while at several others. In the interest of festival spirit, I’ll be posting [...]

Denverfest lineup out TOMORROW…

…but that’s no reason I can’t engage in some speculation right now.
Let’s start with the obvious:
Christie Front Drive
Golden City
The North Atlantic
I know those guys are playing.
Let’s move to pure speculation, based on things I’ve heard, things people have said, things I may or may not have made up:
Mastodon
Cursive
Avail
The Autokinoton
Red Cloud West
Ghost Buffalo
Bailer
Mustangs and Madras
Across Tundras
Git [...]

Planes Mistaken for Stars, RIP

Planes, circa 2007

Planes, circa 1997
Planes Mistaken for Stars, Denver-by-way-of-Peoria emo/punk/hardcore barbarians, are calling it quits. I’m glad that their last tour, a bro-fest blow out with Mastodon, Against Me! and Cursive, was a lot of fun and got them in front of the kind of audiences they’ve long deserved. The North Atlantic had the pleasure [...]

The North Atlantic: drummer leaving the band (you heard it here first)

The July 27th show, at Black Box Studios in San Diego, will be my last hometown show with The North Atlantic. Our performance at Denverfest, over Labor Day weekend, will be my last show with the band, period. I’m closing in on a finished dissertation and will be setting my sights on contributing to the [...]

Lock up your daughters (and sons): Ghost Buffalo is on their way…

Ghost Buffalo is coming back to San Diego for an August 2 show at the Zombie Lounge. Their last show in San Diego was at the Rosary Room with Jason Hendrix (solo, semi-acoustic) and Red Cloud West, and it was a barnburner. Like Red Cloud West, the most obvious touchstones for Ghost Buffalo’s music are [...]