bandwagon magazine - january 2013

BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine january 20134


ALBUM REVIEWS 5

Bones MuhroniSavvy

Bones Muhroni is a name that has a very soft spot in the northern Colorado music scene. The group spent their founding years in Greeley, performing in just about every venue the town had to offer for a folk rock band. Having played extensively in Colorado, Bones built a strong base for themselves in their home state. On Christmas Day 2012, the boys dropped the long-awaited full-length album Savvy, a record that truly captures the quirky, soft-hearted sound northern Colorado fans have come to love.

“Epiphany” sets the mood and a standard for the album in a jig that calls to the scientific side in all of us,

somewhat reminiscent of a Weird Science kind of age. It showcases rhythm guitarist and vocalist Crew Rienstra’s unique talent of playing the harmonica while simultaneously beatboxing. This song also reintroduces us to the core Bones sound: that rock, off-country, more rhythm than blues, folk rock masquerade that fans have been intrigued by for the last two years.

The true jewel of this album is “The Mender,” an ode to an older form of songwriting, where the imagery is simple yet evokes a sense of the bigger picture around the music. Rienstra’s vocals, coupled with harmonies by Chris Jones, and the pairing of their guitar styles create a fullness many mainstream folk rock acts are missing. Topped with Craig Basarich of Paul Beverage and Company on flugelhorn,

the song has an atmosphere that stands alone.

The album shifts gears at this point with tracks, such as “Not No Hell” and “Squeezin’ and Pleasin’,” that assume an almost jam-band style, which departs some from the stronger points of the record but still holds onto that Bones core sound. On “Cookie,” Bones goes doo-wop and here drummer Ryan Wykert really shines. On this track, we suddenly realize how big of a role he plays on this record. His playing is never overwhelming or overshadowing of the other members, creating space where needed and leaving room for Rienstra and Jones to stretch their vocals.

“Salem” returns to the singer-songwriter style that fits well between Rienstra and Jones, obviously well-tailored from their start as a simple acoustic guitar duo. “A, Live, Sad, Guy” closes out the album in epic fashion, with an emotion that is raw and open (although the lyrics about Sylvia Plath are hilariously off-putting).

Recorded here in Colorado, half at the University of Northern Colorado recording studio and half in Jones’s parents basement, it would be a disservice to call this anything other than a rock and roll album. It has elements from all over the musical spectrum and never stays in one place for long. This, however, is one of the album’s greatest strengths as well as one of its biggest weaknesses. The diversity shows that Bones can pretty much play anything they put their minds to, and they can be comfortable musically in any environment. But the distance they go across the musical board is almost too far apart sometimes. Each member clearly has their own style, and fitting those styles together, while at the same time holding on to those dynamic elements that makes Bones so irresistible, is going to be a big challenge for the band. This being said, Savvy is a step in the right direction for Bones as they now have a solid platform to move onto bigger and better things. This album gives a perspective on the band that cannot be found in their live performances, and shows that what they decide to do next will surely be big.

Jed MurphyBandWagon Magazine

JuvenileJuvie Tuesday

John HannBandWagon Magazine

Juvie Tuesday is the first mixtape or album release since June for the 37-year-old rapper from New Orleans, Juvenile. What makes it so unique is that it features members from Cash Money’s group Hot Boys, such as Lil Wayne and Birdman, who have not rapped together in years. The track “Picture Perfect” demonstrates that although it’s been a long time, these guys can still rap together well with the same talent from their old Hot Boys days. The album features many other MCs, like Dorrough from E1 Music and Juicy J from Three 6 Mafia.

Juvie Tuesday is a free sponsored mixtape and has been grabbing the ears of the public, pulling in over 92,000 hits in its first week of release on DatPiff.com. Since Juvenile’s last album in June 2012, Rejuvenation, released by Rap-a-Lot Records, Juvenile has been facing several court issues for not paying child

support for the past few years. The court mandated child support fees piled up to nearly $50,000 and had the potential to slow the production of the mixtape, but Juvenile stayed focus and was able to drop Juvie Tuesday within seven months of his previous album. The mixtape has sixteen tracks that talk about Juvenile getting paid for his raps, the hard road of getting through the rap game, and the partying that occurs along the way.

Juvenile has been rapping actively since early 1994, and his years of experience show through his catchy style of lyrical production. Juvenile’s rap is great to listen to because of the diversity between his tracks. The rapper’s ability to create tracks that uphold his New Orleans style, while combining it with a hip-hop bounce that stirs up the party, makes Juvenile unique and entertaining for anyone who enjoys hip-hop. Juvie Tuesday also shows off Juvenile’s ability to slow down and discuss the difficulties of giving your life to hip-hop and the trials that come with making such a decision, in tracks such as “The Explanation,” and “Ode To My

Projects.”Although some of the tracks on the

mixtape seem to draw out the hooks and intros a little too much, Juvie Tuesday is absolutely worth checking out for free on DatPiff.com. The rapper has been in the rap game for almost two decades and even though the new mixtape is not his best project, it still illustrates Juvenile’s lyrical talent and rap style that he has maintained since the early ‘90s. See for yourself what Juvenile, the Hot Boys, and other featured MC’s have been up to on this well constructed new mixtape. The New Orleans rapper has created a great collection of tracks once again.


David LeonardTo and From

NightlandsOak Island

Dave Hartley, bassist for Kurt Vile’s The War On Drugs, is set to release his sophomore solo-album, titled Oak Island, on January 22nd of this year under the name Nightlands. With a sound that effortlessly evokes a blend of The Smashing Pumpkins and Bon Iver, Nightlands is poised for a breakthrough year in music. Confidently riding the wave of the aptly named “ambient folk” genre, it’s easy to see how Oak Island might be a daunting endeavor for some of the more casual music listeners. But the real beauty of Nightlands’ new album is that the sound never ventures too far into its plethora of influences, remaining a wholly unique experience.

Oak Island’s opening track (“Time and Place”) outlines the thesis of the album, “I’d like to invite you / For just a little while / To place I used to go / When I was only 17 / Back to the place that I once knew”. Over the album’s ten-song spread, the listener begins to feel the weight of this statement. Nightlands isn’t aiming to make your generic album; instead, it embraces the idea of music as art and each song feels like a different memory revisited. “So Far So Long” and “You’re My Baby” sweep through a series of choral vocalizations layered with a quiet and static sound that draws the listener in.

Oak Island really begins to distinguish itself with songs like “Nico” and “Born To Love.” “Nico” erupts with acoustic energy, which is a welcome blessing after the calm that drifts over the first three tracks of the album. The vibrant track asks the listener to “dream on” repeatedly, its percussive nature inviting the listener to get up and dance. “Born To Love” feels like a

sister song to Bon Iver’s “Perth” in all the best ways. Jangling and free, “Born To Love” proves Hartley has learned from The War On Drugs and is using it to his benefit in Nightlands.

Nightlands’ most stand-out song on Oak Island is easily “I Fell in Love With a Feeling”. Opening with a blaring horn arrangement, the song feels like a guttural kick to the senses in comparison to the other tracks. The lyrics mention that everything is a “matter of taste / A matter of time,” something that feels very akin to the overall experience of Oak Island itself.

While not every track packs a punch, Nightlands is intelligent enough to recognize when to use his sizable bag of tricks. Oak Island feels breezy and yet succinct in its driven purpose to place the listener in a memory of a time that is clearly important to Hartley. The ups and downs of the album are perfect for people who are new to the genre or are seasoned fans. If all Nightlands set out to do was capture a feeling, he has more than exceeded expectations.

Jay WallaceBandWagon Magazine

Sean HunterBandWagon Magazine

Leonard’s 2011 debut album, consisting of pleasant classical guitar noodling, is something you listen to after the end of a long day to unwind. Anyone can rock out or get their thrash on, but sometimes it’s nice to just listen to something calming, and that’s what Leonard’s pickings are. You pop in his CD or pull up his tracks on iTunes and just chill.

According to his website bio, Leonard, a registered nurse, began playing guitar at the age of ten, mostly studying rock and jazz. At 18 years old, he studied classical guitar for a year, mulling over the idea of making it a career. He later decided against it to pursue a wider variety of music.

His years of study shine through on his debut album. From the first track, “If I See You Tomorrow,” you find yourself just mellowing out, letting the music flow over you. It’s clear Leonard is no amateur. His composition is lovely and his picking is smooth and clear as can be.

“Breakfast at Noon,” the following track, has a bit a country/folk feel to its composition, leisurely and enjoyable. “Basque Country” has bit of a rough-and-tough sound. Though it doesn’t really sound aggressive, it’s an energetic song and a stand-out track on the album.

Track four, “Ribbon and Tears,” is the polar opposite of the previous track: calming and slow. “Time Apart” keeps that calming sensation, but picks up the pace and sounds more enjoyable. “T.V. Eyes” picks up the pace even more, the fastest picking Leonard does on the whole album, while “Held by the Moon” starts out slow and keeps a slower pace than the previous tracks.

“Like Hell,“ the eighth track on the album, possesses a more aggressive sound compared to the rest of the album, but is still leisurely. Meanwhile “Christine,” the following track, has the feel of a romantic ballad; very sweet sound. “Thi” reminds me of a fun Mexican tune, bringing the mood up. “Pedagogue” then brings it back down, having a melancholic sound to it.

This is followed by “Wood and Steel,” picking up the pace and cheer. It wouldn’t sound out of place in a southern summer home. “Summer Wheat” closes out the album, feeling like something that wouldn’t sound out of place on A Prarie Home Companion.

Leonard’s work is pleasant and soothing. There are days when you just want to relax, and Leonard’s stuff does that. Buy this album and listen to it while working to keep calm and collected.

Those interested in checking out Leonard’s live performances can hit him up at his website, DavidLeonardGuitar.com. To And From is also available on iTunes.

BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine january 2013 7

Pearl NecklaceSoft Opening

LydiaAcoustics ‘12

Jordan WoodBandWagon Magazine

Straight out of the Brooklyn electronic music scene, Bryce Hackford and Frank Lyon make up the band Pearl Necklace. Pearl Necklace immediately draws attention to themselves with the blatant innuendo in their name, along with the title of their first album, Soft Opening. Hackford and Lyon say they “share a fascination with language,

sound, meaning, and with forms of communication.” These naturally creative Brooklyn boys recently signed with the Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound, and their debut album is set to be released on January 29th.

Soft Opening is a ten-track taste of what this fledgling band has to offer. It is rich with short, but well-placed samples, and other electronic sounds to create an album that is ambient, and almost conversational in nature. The album begins with “Another Invocation of the Breath,” which is a simple, dark,

but not necessarily “soft” opening for the album. The next few songs on the album seem to evolve from the first and have a similar beat that ties them all together. Alexis Georgopoulos (or ARP) is featured on four of the ten tracks, and is responsible for helping Pearl Necklace get signed to their label. There is not a distinct difference between most of the tracks on Soft Opening, and the album is also entirely instrumental.

Although the absence of vocals does not make it lackluster, Soft Opening does become a bit stagnant after the first couple of songs. “Don’t” is one of the strongest and most unique tracks on the album with it’s repetitive samples and an interesting

William WoodsBandWagon Magazine

It is rare for a band to produce two albums in less than two years, but Lydia hates to disappoint. So, to keep their fans at bay before the release of their fifth full-length album in February 2013, they released Acoustics ’12, a small EP that packs a soft but reassuring punch. Originally released only to fans who showed up at the “Up Close and Personal Tour,” which only covered four states, Acoustics ’12 was meant to be an up-close-and-personal thing. But with such a large amount of complaining/crying on their Facebook and Twitter pages, the band decided to release it on Spotify and then as a hard copy via their website.

The EP encompasses five tracks from the last two records that, without a doubt, seem to be made for such a winter ambiance. The intro track, “I’ve Never Seen A Witch,” plays in with odd percussion and xylophone, placing the listener in a lens-whacked

dream. The song is without exception seductively haunting and just like in any Lydia album the listener is pulled into the words of front man Leighton Antelman and his desolate obsession with a girl by the name of Hailey. The intro sets the stage for the other four tracks and certainly surprises. The majority of acoustic albums seem to be based around a guitar and some light percussion. Yet it seems with Acoustics ’12, Lydia has gleaned the idea of almost rewriting each one of these songs into a coffee-shop setting. Every song now sounds as casual as Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes” but captures the same emotions the tracks originally conveyed.

These are songs for your personal library, the types of songs you don’t want to share with anyone unless you have a really hot date in your bedroom at one in the morning. The 20-minute length of the EP is perfect timing. No one can deny the unique cries of Antelman as he practically murmurs his lyrics into your heart and thus into

the deepest darkest cracks of your past relationships.

Songs like “Best Nights” and “Skin + Bones” are a redemption to the clouded skies that subconsciously sit throughout the majority of Lydia’s music. As the coldest months of the year settle in and you find yourself either needing to snuggle up with someone or just need some soft tracks to validate drunk-dialing your ex, Lydia is right there for you. This album isn’t ground-breaking nor earth-shattering, but it does its job in keeping the fans pastoral until the full-length release in February.

beat that sticks out among the rest. Andrew VanWyngarden, singer for MGMT, is also featured on the final song “Wist,” making it another noteworthy song. The ethereal, alien-like synthesizer sounds combine with a slow drumming to end the album on a higher note.

Soft Opening is the type of album that might go well with an evening of psychedelic drugs. Its ambience allows the listener to zone out and relax and it can be interpreted as slightly monotonous. It is clear with this album that Pearl Necklace has definite potential to be a big electronic band once they make their sound more complex. Hackford and Lyon are clearly talented, and Soft Opening is

a soft beginning to a band that could be big in the years to come. Check their album out on January 29th via SmallTownSuperSound.com.


On paper, The Perks of Being a Wallflower sounds like a typical “coming of age” film: Troubled, insecure Charlie (Logan Lerman of Percy Jackson & The Olympians) navigates his first year of high school, becoming friends with a pair of outcasts (Emma Watson and Californication’s Ezra Miller,) falling in love and dealing with the terribleness that is being a teenager. The film, an adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’s novel,

actually possesses a bit of a hard edge, dealing with rather weighty issues, while also having a sense of fun and energy that comes with adolescence. It is not an afterschool special or a teenage soap opera.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower takes place sometime in early-1990s Pittsburgh, where Charlie is a freshman in high school, friendless and only making a connection with his English teacher Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd) on his first day. One of his old friends, Brad, (Johnny Simmons of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The

Perks of Being a Wallflower

FILM REVIEWS


2012 - 102 minutes – Rated PG-13

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first in a new trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 Lord of the Rings prequel of the same name and directed by Peter Jackson. Starring British television favorite and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy star Martin Freeman as a young Bilbo Baggins (relative of Frodo Baggins from LOTR and previously played by Ian Holm.) The Hobbit follows Bilbo as he embarks on a journey across Middle Earth to reclaim a lost dwarven homeland with the great wizard Gandalf (a role reprised by Sir Ian McKellen) and a band of misfit dwarves. Unlike Jackson’s previous Tolkien films, The Hobbit sets aside the epic battles and focuses more on the intimate details of Middle Earth.

It’s evident from the start that The Hobbit is geared at a younger audience than Jackson’s previous outings. With bodily humor and some borderline cartoonish characters, it might make previous fans of the series wonder whether Lord of the Rings is entering it’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace era of cheesiness. This fear rings the most true throughout the first half of the film’s nearly three-hour runtime. The Hobbit opens with the same kind of world-building monologue previously used in LOTR. There are fibers of that universe woven into The Hobbit that are brushed through this first installment but won’t have a genuine payoff until later films, making the initial 20 minutes feel like more of a deleted scene than a proper opening. Once the dwarves (of which there are thirteen) are introduced through a comical series of entrances, the film begins to feel less meandering and

Sean HunterBandWagon Magazine

The Hobbit:An Unexpected Journey

2012 - 189 Minutes - Rated PG-13

World) drifted away from him and became one of the football team’s best players. Another friend of Charlie’s killed himself the previous year, which only exacerbated Charlie’s mental issues that have him on pills in the beginning of the story.

Charlie eventually falls into the sights of step-siblings Patrick (Miller) and Sam (Watson.) The two eccentric teens take Charlie in under their wing, guiding him through high school. Coupled with Mr. Anderson’s encouragement in his writing, Charlie’s mental state and confidence improves

throughout the year, despite some bumps along the way. Charlie begins a relationship with one of Patrick and Sam’s friends, Mary Elizabeth, (Scott Pilgrim and Parenthood star Mae Whitman) who proceeds to dominate the relationship and irritate Charlie to no end, leading to one of the worst break-ups imaginable during a game of Truth Or Dare.

Lerman drives the film forward as Charlie, with Miller and Watson backing him up. Emma Watson is thoroughly impressive. She’s not a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who demands love from Lerman; her character genuinely cares for Charlie, even when he fucks up royally when dumping Mary Elizabeth. Whitman and Simmons are also excellent in their roles.

Miller’s Patrick plays the livewire that coaxes Charlie out of his shell, and he does a great job of it. Both Miller and Watson bring a lot of youthful energy and emotion to the film, but it’s Miller who stands out. He’s not just a goofball though; after some trouble involving his closeted boyfriend Brad (Simmons,) Miller gets dramatic without being mopey or angry. Briefly, Patrick lets himself get down, and it works; you feel for Patrick.

Stephen Chbosky, author of the novel and the film’s director, filled the movie out with a terrific cast. Lerman plays Charlie’s fragility and naïveté well without becoming too melodramatic or dopey. He’s not just a dumb kid

who doesn’t know what to do or a tragically damaged child.

Along with Rudd, Chbosky also stacked the film with Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott (both of Grey’s Anatomy fame) as Charlie’s parents, Vampire Dairies’ Nina Dobrev as Charlie’s ineffectual sister Candace, Pittsburgh fixture and horror film vet Tom Savini as shop teacher Mr. Callahan, and Two and a Half Men’s Melanie Lynskey as Charlie’s deceased Aunt Helen. Their roles are relatively small, but they’re just as important to Perks as Lerman, Miller and Watson are, particularly Lynskey.

Perks is not just a drama; it also has its funny moments, such as Charlie describing Mary Elizabeth’s many annoying tics, Patrick’s mental games with Mr. Callahan, and the goody-two-shoes act of Candace’s boyfriend known as Ponytail Derek (Nicholas Braun of Red State.) The music is also pretty good; the highlight of the film being the iconic scene featuring Charlie, Sam and Patrick driving through a tunnel into Pittsburgh, listening to David Bowie’s Heroes, which sets the tone of the movie early on.

Overall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an excellent “coming of age” film that’s not corny or over-the-top dramatic, while also being a fairly accurate depiction of growing up. You will not be disappointed. 9/10

more goal-oriented. Out of the thirteen dwarves there are only about three who are central to the story; the rest just feel like a gaggle of fart jokes and plot contrivances.

The leader of the dwarven party is named Thorin Oakenshield (played by the brilliant Richard Armitrage). Thorin’s hot temper and sordid past bring of a lot of life to the otherwise drab opening half and Armitage’s performance is surprisingly layered for a man whose appearance is covered in prop-hair and makeup. The other dwarves of note are Balin the Elder (Ken Stott) and Bofur (James Nesbitt), both of whom take relatively small roles and make them shine. The rest of the dwarve’s party fade into the background and you’ll most likely only remember the wacky facial hair as a means to distinguish each character. Jackson does his best to give each character their “moment” but it will probably take another film to fully flesh them out. Still, no character feels out of place and only serve to elevate the performances of the leads.

The Hobbit doesn’t hit full steam until halfway through its three hours. Upon a second viewing, the first half doesn’t seem as tedious, but it’s still something most people will have trouble sitting through more than once. However, once the film hits its stride, it becomes one of the more thrilling and exciting fantasy adventures since… Well, Lord of the Rings. Watching Martin Freeman sink into the role of Bilbo is a wonderful thing to behold, as he displays a massive amount of emotional insight into the

character and the audience is never in question of his bold choices. The most enjoyable sequence of The Hobbit takes place in the deep caverns of a mountain as Bilbo encounters Gollum (a role that is once again played through motion capture by the outstanding Andy Serkis.) It is an absolute delight to see Serkis play Gollum again on the big screen and the small advances in CGI have made the character feel more tangible than ever. If the Academy recognized motion capture as an equal acting platform, Serkis would be a lock for a best actor nomination this year.

It’s obvious that Peter Jackson has taken the soft pace of The Hobbit into consideration and borrows heavily from the Lord of the Rings appendices to fill out the larger game at play (which casts a shadow on the events of The Hobbit and ties directly LOTR.) It’s a smart move as it will give new fans of the series an entry-point into the other films and satisfies the important need for action in an otherwise dry story. Fans of Lord of the Rings will appreciate the continuity of The Hobbit as well as the efforts the cast and crew have taken to make Middle Earth feel more intimate than ever. If there’s anything to take away from this first chapter in this new and promising trilogy it’s that Jackson hasn’t made a film motivated by a paycheck, but by genuine love for the source material. With its successful run over the holiday season, it’s safe to say fans of The Hobbit are equally as motivated by their love for the series, and rightly so.


Hodi’s Half Note, bar and music venue in Fort Collins, is under new management and despite recent rumours is not up for sale or going under. The venue has been one of the few sources of exposure for smaller bands on the rise for many years in Fort Collins and this tradition is being revamped.

“We’re not going under; everything is fine. We’re back on our feet,” said Dan Mladenik, the new sole-owner of Hodi’s.

To celebrate the venue’s changes, a grand re-opening event is taking place Thursday, January 24th, featuring the band Dave Watts and Friends (which includes members of The Motet and Juno What?!) and special guests. The cost is $5 at the door and there will be two free kegs donated by New Belgium for the first people to arrive. Also look for all kinds of New Belgium and Hodi’s swag, raffles, and cheap drink specials.

Hodi’s was most recently owned by three partners and as such any decision-making had to be done as a consensus between them, which Mladenik explained could be difficult and time consuming. Eventually two of the owners decided they were burned out and ready to move

on in other directions and voted to put the bar up for sale.

But Mladenik, who had been a regular at Hodi’s since he moved into town in 2003, wasn’t ready to part with what was for him the heart of the local music scene and opted to buy out the other two partners and run the bar by himself.

Along with the change in ownership, everyone can look forward to being served by an all new staff including bartenders, managers, and security, all of whom were hired to make the atmosphere for musicians and customers feel more welcoming, correcting some past mistreatment by old staff members.

“There were some issues with the old staff, and the treatment of patrons and bands,” Mladenik said. “We’re just getting rid of some of that negative energy.”

Another area Mladenik wanted to change was the idea that Hodi’s is simply a music venue. He wants everyone to feel welcome on any night of the week, whether your best friend’s band is opening for The Motet, to hear some hilarious open-mic comedy, or even just to chill out with a beer.

“We’re trying to get it to where we’re not just a place where people will only come to see a really good band. We want

James GarciaBandWagon Magazine

10

Photo by Jade Ehlers

people to come for the drink specials, the atmosphere, stuff like that,” he said.

Mladenik explained how many bands got their start at Hodi’s and went on to play bigger venues in Denver and on tour. He feels his venue is the heart of the local music scene.

“I’ve always loved the sound there, it’s always really clear,” said Jon Miguel, drummer for Greeley band Ashida. “We had a good time. The atmosphere of the place is good, I like it.”

Hodi’s has hosted bands such as Ween, Misfits and Trampled By Turtles when they were still just beginning to garner the massive followings they have now. And local bands like the Kyle Hollingsworth Band and Head For The Hills, who are now playing larger venues in the area have graced the stage in their early days as well.

“We’ve had so many different caliber of artist, whether they’re local artists or out of town artists,” he said.

Under New Management

They’re always open to any genre of music, from punk rock to funk jam to hip-hop to electronic, and even stand up comedy, live performance has a home under the Half Note. For people like Mladenik, Hodi’s is a local tradition for the area and it isn’t going anywhere.

“The Aggie isn’t gonna book anything that can’t bring 400-500 people and that is why we are here and must continue to be here. Hodi’s is local music,” he said.

Hodi’s Half Note in Ft. Collinsre-opens with a new vision for 2013

Pictured Above: The Colorado based funk-jam band The Motet.Members of the The Motet and the Kyle Hollingsworth Band will be featured at

the Grand Re-Opening concert at Hodi’s on Thursday January 24th.


Mikey UnruhBandWagon Magazine

Greeley’s art community has been growing rapidly over the past few years, guided by a few lo-cal art enthusiasts and supported by the large art department at the University of Northern Colorado. When a culture like that develops so naturally, the demand for a way in increases, too, so non-tradition-al art education centers become a key element. Places like The Clay Center of Northern Colorado, lo-cated in downtown Greeley, give people interested in learning and becoming a part of an art com-munity a chance to do so without having to get a four-year degree to learn a skill.

Offering a variety of courses for anyone from beginners to competent sculptors, The Clay Center has been giving those in-terested in clay working a chance to try out something new or devel-op their craft further for the past four years. The skilled instructors, headed by owner Tim Preston, teach a number of different styles of sculpting through both day and evening classes. They even have classes tailored specifically for homeschooled students. The rea-sonably-priced courses include all supplies and equipment required to build, glaze, and fire projects.

Looking to expand their role in the art community, The Clay Center is hosting their first an-nual Chili Showdown at Whiskey River on January 26th. The pro-ceeds from the event will benefit the construction of the only wood-burning kiln in all of northern Col-orado at The Clay Center.

“We’re hoping to raise a cou-ple thousand dollars from this event, but we plan to do more fun-draising as well. The whole pro-ject realistically could cost up to five thousand dollars,” explained Preston. This would give them a chance to strengthen the connec-tion of the art culture in Greeley to the rest of northern Colorado in a tangible way by providing a new resource for clay workers. “The ash from the wood flows through the kiln with the flames and melts onto the pottery and becomes a glaze you can’t get from other sources of heat.”

The new kiln would also add a new place for people to get in-volved with art in Greeley. “Only using wood as your source of fuel is a real community builder. It takes a lot of people to fire the kiln and takes about two to three days. It takes people working in shifts and is a very traditional means

of making pottery,” Preston de-scribed.

The Showdown will feature a number of chilis from local restau-rants, including A.F. Ray’s, Wing Shack, Taste of Philly, and many more. “The chili cook off was mas-terminded by Brian Seifried, the owner of the Wing Shack. He has been a huge supporter of the Clay Center since its inception,” said Preston, explaining how enthusi-astic the community has been of The Clay Center. “Also, a person very instrumental for pulling this off has been Victoria Schuster, who has played a key role in or-ganizing the event.”

Tickets are available from The Clay Center’s website, ClayCen-terNC.com and will give cook-off goers a chance to support local art, hear local music from the Leg-hounds, and help decide which local business is the King of Chili.

For an art community looking to grow, an event such as this is critical, and The Clay Center has garnered the support of enough local businesses to deserve suc-cess in the event and their shot to really make an impact on the thriving art scene.

The Clay CenterFundraises for Wood-Fired Kiln

Photos by Rachel Waltman

Chefs from local restaurants & home cooked entries are competing for your “Best Chili” vote!

Presents the 1st Annual

SAturdAy

JAnuAry 26th 2-5 Pm

Live music by the Leghounds

door Prizesand more!

At the

ProCeedS Benefit the CLAy Center for the firSt & onLy wood-fire kiLn in northern CoLorAdo

$20 ChiLi tASting

$30 ViP ChiLi tASting includeshandmadeCeramic Bowl

tiCketS claycenternc.com or at the door.


BATTLE OF THE BANDS


1.

Established in 1922, Florio’s shoe shop has served downtown Greeley for nine decades, becoming Greeley’s only full-service shoe store. BandWagon Magazine sat down with 59-year-old Greeley resident Mark Florio, who runs the family business with his brother Brian, to discuss the Ninth Street store’s history and goals.

Q: What led to you guys to taking over the store?

A: We’re the fourth generation. My family came from Italy – Calabria,

which is in northern Italy. They started the business in 1921, but they’ve been here since probably beginning of the 1900s. My great-grandfather used to make shoes by hand in Italy in the 1800s. Probably about 1890 my great-uncle, Leo Florio, decided to come here. And then my uncle Ernest took over the store, then my dad, then Brian and I.

Q: Were you always interested in taking over the family business?

A: Well, I got my education in physi-cal education and health. I got my

degree. But I decided at that point, “You know, you got quite a bit of history here.” I’ve been in the business now for 46 years, my brother’s been in the business for 45 years. So when we started back in – it’d be the 1970s, ’73, ’74 – when I was a child, we used to come down here and clean the store for Dad, and just decided, after my education at UNC, I would go into the shoe business. Basically, it’s tra-dition. Not that we were forced into it, we just decided it was a good business.

Q: Are you just like a normal shoe store, or do you specialize in something?

A: We specialize in comfort shoes, comfort dress or comfort casual.

We specialize in fitting people. It’s a full-service shoe store, where you sit down, you get measured, you get waited on, you get your shoes put on, whereas shoe stores today, it’s all self-service. You go in, you pick your shoe out, they don’t even sit you down, and you put it on yourself and you lace it up. We got some young shoes like Keen, but we cater to a lot of older people, 35 and up. You got seniors that aren’t able to find out whether they have the right shoe size on and why their feet hurt. We do a lot of

Florio’s Shoes of Distinction has been serving downtown Greeley since 1922. A family-run

business, brothers Mark and Brian Florio are the fourth generation to run Ninth Street’s full-

service shoe store.


orthopedic work, orthotics and that to fit shoes on them, but it’s a full-service shoe store. You get waited on and that’s very unusual today.

Q: You said you primarily deal with older customers, but you have some

“younger” brands of shoes?

A: I’ve got Clark, which is a young line. I’ve got Keen, which is a very

young line. But I only go for shoes that are better. There are a lot of young lines out there that I won’t touch because they’re not very good shoes.

Q: Are we talking major brands that get a lot of advertising?

A: Yeah, major brands that are re-ally well advertised, I won’t touch.

They’re made for cheap, inexpensive, you’ll find them at a lot of big boxes. I want quality shoes. We carry quality shoes, top lines. I can tell you some of the areas that we buy shoes from that are made in these countries like Ger-many, Israel, and we got two lines that are still made in the USA. (San Antonio Shoes, Wolverine.)

Local Business Profile:

Q: What would you say to convince someone under 25 to spend money

on a quality shoe?

A: I can only tell you what I’ve learned with my own life, which is

once you hit 40, you have no idea how things go apart, even though you’ve taken care of yourself. Without good shoes on my feet, I can only tell you, it’d be worse than what it is now. I have to have a hip replacement at age 59, and it shocked the heck out of me this last year; eight months ago I was told this. And the doctor looked at me and he goes, “You’ve been taking really good care of yourself,” and I said, “Yeah, that’s what I do.” And he says, “Well, it has to do with genet-ics, but if you hadn’t been taking care of yourself, it would have been worse. You’d have to have both of them done.” It just shocked me. How I convince peo-ple? That’s the best thing I can tell young people: you walk on them all day long, and if you don’t take care of them they’re going to fall apart.

Those interested in checking out Florio’s can head on over to 820 Ninth Street in Greeley.

Florio’s Shoes:A Walk-In Tradition

Photos by Jay Wallace

With layers of harmonies that exist to move and flow, a soulful sweetness, and technical savvy, there is little surprise as to why the Leghounds won our Battle of

the Bands and the $1,000 prize. With their new End of the World EP, the Leghounds are marking their territory as a Greeley groove machine.

Three music majors and a criminal justice major, this newly-formed group ignited when Karl Markgraf (guitar/vocals/harmonica) and Daryl Cozzi (drums/vocals) met in a former band. In the Fall of 2012, the duo scoped out bassist Jake Batts in a University of Northern Colorado music course, and they invited Batts to join. Likewise, Markgraf recognized Jon Ruffin’s (lead vocals) talent in a vocal jazz class, and the Leghounds gained a vocalist. By September, the band was practicing as an official group, and they quickly began booking a series of shows around town at community venues such as The Clay Center and The Jager.

Despite their rapid success, the four members of the Leghounds are humble and simply excited to share their own original music. The group established that it needed the Battle of the Bands win, but they also loved performing the show.

Batts admitted, “That was the probably the most fun performance I’ve had so far. It was a blast! A lot of it because all the other bands were so good too.”

Cozzi added, “It is great as a new band to gain popularity right off the bat.” In fact, according to Markgraf and the rest of the

Leghounds, winning the Battle of the Bands “was the best thing that could have happened to us.”

The songs that wooed the judges at the Battle of the Bands are the same original songs showcased on their new EP.

Markgraf said, ”[The EP] is kind of like a teaser for our full-length album, which will hopefully come out [in the spring.]”

The dynamic interplay of several different musical styles highlights the technical and instrumental abilities of the band. Addressing the bands knowledge of music, Markgraf said, “We study our instruments a lot, and the goal is to get so comfortable with our instruments that it’s second nature, like an extension of our bodies, and because it’s second nature, we can express anything we want through our instruments. We all have a really solid understanding of music and have a strong facility, which opens a lot of creative doors.”

From the passionate R&B-vocal sound like Brian McKnight caressing the lyrics in their track “The Last Cigarette” to the electric Hendrix-like guitar chords that introduce the song “Sugar,” every track demonstrates the Leghounds’ musical influences and the use of their musical knowledge to transcend that inspiration to make each song their own.

Working from and through their influences, Ruffin said, “A lot of bands think they have to sound a certain way or they don’t. They kind of discard other styles. I think we take from all different styles of music, and we put it together. I think that’s what keeps

By Willow SummersMark Their Territory

1st Place

Pictured left to right:Daryl Cozzi - Drums

Karl Markgraf - GuitarJon Ruffin - VocalsJake Batts - Bass

us really cool.” Some of the band’s influences are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Al Green, Passion Pit, and D’Angelo but, as Cozzi said, they “are not restricted to one certain thing [when it comes to songwriting,] but when we keep going in one direction we also keep those unique sounds in mind.”

And it seems that live music’s undeniable ability to ask the audience to be in the sounds of the music in the moment, feeling each note, is also at the heart of the Leghounds as a band. The band really began to find a relaxed, improvisational niche when they got started by booking one and two hour gigs that turned into three and four hour gigs. Appropriately so, the band’s new EP was, Cozzi said, “pretty much recorded live with mostly live rhythm. We then went back in and added a few layers.” Giving a big shout-out to their producer Greg Heinbecker, the guys recorded the End of the World EP at UNC Recording Studios, and as a gift to their fans they included a cover of the classic Christmas tune, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

Check out photos, bios, and hear the band’s single, “Last Cigarette,” at their website LeghoundsMusic.com. Their entire EP is also available for sampling on SoundCloud.com and BandCamp.com.

Upcoming performances include Friday, January 18 at A.F. Ray’s in Greeley. The Leghounds will also be playing with another Battle of the Bands contestant, Grits and Gravy, at the Marquis Theater in Denver on March 15th.

Photos by Luke Leasure


Grits & Gravy stand apart from other hip-hop acts. The duo of Neal Titus, providing the instrumentals, and Marcus Steward, aka Giovan-niRaps, on vocals, are both classi-cally trained musicians and bring a unique perspective to the rap scene. What has typically been a street-driven and trained art form has grown to the tipping point, be-coming an art that can be studied and composed academically.

“Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, jazz was not looked at academically at all,” notes Titus. “And now look at it, jazz is one of the biggest things for college kids. I would like to see hip-hop like jazz was, I’d like to see it taken more seriously in the aca-demic world.” Grits & Gravy strive to create something that is techni-cally composed and soulfully expe-rienced. Though both parties have largely studied and performed as percussionists, their music is about more than just a cool rhythm in sync with a few clever words. Their classical studies have also given them a love for all kinds of music, classical and jazz in particu-lar.

It’s the time and devotion they have dedicated to studying and lis-tening to music that defines much of the work they produce. But it

Mikey UnruhBandWagon Magazine

isn’t only their knowledge of mu-sic that makes them connect with what they hear. “It’s honestly about what’s going on in our lives, and for me it’s what I’m listening to, what’s in my ear,” Neal comments. “Music is the best way to relate to [what’s going on in our lives.] If we didn’t have music we’d just be a bunch of lame poets.” Honesty is key to what makes Grit & Gravy as solid and fo-cused as it is. The relationship be-tween Giovanni and Titus is a true artist collaboration, rather than the traditional beatmaker/MC re-lationship seen in most modern hip-hop. The ideas are developed together, making the lyrics and in-strumentals inseparable.

This unity creates an atmos-phere on Grits & Gravy record-ings. “A lot of the stuff on People Like You is extremely moody,” Titus states, referring to their ability to create a tone. This comes primar-ily from the openness and honesty that Neal and Giovanni share with each other. Having a partner helps each half of the duo perfect their craft and find something unifying to center each track around. “I’ll send Marcus a beat and he’ll be like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool, but you need to change this and this,’ and I’ll change that. And then he’ll record a verse and I’ll say, ‘I really don’t like this part, you need to change this and this,’ and he’ll go back and rewrite it,” recalls Titus, describing

Grits & Gravy’s writing process. The back-and-forth challenges them to constantly improve their music and think about it thorough-ly and critically, honing their craft and skills. “We wait until we’re ab-solutely 100 percent about a prod-uct before we put it out.”

Currently, Grits & Gravy are preparing their next recording, Symphony, for release in early 2013. For them, the album is a chance for them to prove their strength as composers and song-writers, and to show hip-hop in an academic perspective. As an effort to change the face of the genre as a whole, they plan to release the record for free and are financing the entire project out of pocket. Steward and Titus both work to pay for recording and equipment, while also striving to complete col-lege degrees. Though their lives are busy, they constantly work on music for Grits & Gravy. Their pas-sion for the music they make isn’t about finding fame or getting rich, it’s about creating something origi-nal and smarter than anything that came before them. It’s this tireless work ethic and commitment to creativity that make Grits & Gravy one of the most prominent up-and-coming hip-hop acts in Colorado. Like them on Facebook for release information about Symphony and the latest news about the duo.

Grits & Gravy2nd PLACE

Photo by Kendra Hamman


THE SQUID KIDSThe Squid Kids have been around

the block a few times when it comes to playing shows in Greeley. Moving up a spot from fourth to third from last year’s Battle of the Bands, these Gree-ley natives continue to elevate them-selves musically with each show. Origi-nally started as a jam between front man Will “MC Grape” Duran and drum-mer Tom Martinez, the idea of a few songs quickly expanded into a full band fused with the unique and honest lyrics of Duran. The Squid Kids are made up of five very talented musicians: Duran on vocals, Carlos Gutierrez on lead gui-tar, Chris Manichanh on bass, Martinez

Jed MurphyBandWagon Magazine on drums, and Hector Lopez on rhythm

guitar.Although hip-hop bands are com-

mon, the Squid Kids have a frankness to them that separates them from the run-of-the-mill band that happens to have a rapper in it. You won’t find Duran emu-lating the “thug” image that has been popular in mainstream hip-hop for so long now, but rather he approaches his audiences with stories anyone from any walk of life can relate to, because that is simply who he is. All five members of the Squid Kids are just regular guys who enjoy making the kind of music they love to listen to. This is an element that has taken them from a basement band to a staple in the northern Colo-rado music scene, which came across

to the audiences and the judges at the Battle of the Bands.

“We tried to approach it as just an-other night for the Squid Kids. We’ve been gigging pretty heavily in the Fall of 2012 and there was a temptation to notch it just and do something crazy to win the contest, but we knew that if we just did our thing that it would work out better. And that’s what happened,” says Manichanh.

On the instrumental side of the band, it all starts with lead guitarist Gutierrez. According to the band, he is usually the one who comes up with the first licks that form the basis for their songs. From there, the rest of the band jams and builds off of it while Du-ran develops the lyrics. Musically, the

band grooves less like a hip hop band and more like a rock band, almost in the vein of Gym Class Heroes and, dare I say, Interpol, where none of the mu-sicians were tempted to take the lead over the lyricist. Even though, with two guitarists and a live drummer, this can be a difficult task, the Squid Kids have found a solid medium between the two.

With them now gigging regularly in Denver and the rest of Colorado, their sound has really solidified over the last year, showing the potential they have future success. With the improvements made in the last year since the last Battle of the Bands, all the band really needs is a solid album to tour on and they will find a receptive audience out-side of their usual venues.

3RD PLACE

Photo by Rachel Waltman


COLORaDO CONCERT CALENDAR

Tuesday January 1st

The Stubby Shillelaghs @ Patrick’s Irish Pub - Greeley

Agent Orange @ Larimer Lounge - Denver

Wednesday January 2nd

Hump-Day Hilarities @ Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Party Like Thieves @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Pikes, Nasty Bunch of Bitches, The Hinckleys

Thursday January 3rd

Johnny B @ Tavola Bar and Lounge - Greeley

Grant Mcintosh @ The Pourhouse - Loveland

Cody Canada and The Departed @ The Bluebird - Denver

A Benefit for NYC Musicans Who Lost Instruments in Hurricane Sandy w/ Rick Jones @ Hi-Dive - Denverw/ Buck Perigo, Sleepers, Voz-Eleven

The Greys of Gold @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Cult of The Lost Cause, Ghosts of Glaciers, Lightlooms

The Panoramic Album Release Show, @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Rather Dashing, Rome Incarnate, Eyes Like the Tide, The Arturo Complex

Friday January 4th

Chumffoe @ A.F Ray’s - Greeley

Adrien Mesa And Matt Monroe @ Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Until the Violence Stops @ Syntax Spirits - GreeleyFeaturing: A night of art and poetry inspired by the Vagina Monologues

Drag The River, Right the Helm, & Jeremy Grant @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Kingman Brewster @ Road 34 - Ft. Collins

The Poudre River Irregulars@Avagadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Blues Ambassadors @ The Pourhouse - Loveland

Jason Boland and The Sragglers @ The Aggie - Fort Collinsw/ Dirty River Boys, Gromet

Who’s Bad (Michael Jackson Tribute) @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ Three Legged Fox

Goodnight Gravity @ Hi- Dive - Denverw/ Knockout Kid, From the Sidelines, LAMA Live, Face Over Fire, the Host Club

Boom Box @ The Ogden Theatre - Denver w/ Signal Path, Romona

Twin Peaks @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Hindershot, The Royal

Virga @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Vespyra, Lawnmower Lobotomy, Even Death May Die

Perfect Like Me @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ Caramel Carmela, Calling Out West, White Flag Raised

Saturday January 5th

Vacant Throne @ A.F. Ray’s - Greeleyw/ Frost Thane, & Cellador

Adrien Mesa And Matt Monroe @ Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Lucid & Ruthless, DJ K Chow on 1’s & 2’s, Whyte Out,Toke, Devine&D, Wreck, Ryan Cates, Street Flo, Ca$ual, Ger’Money, PRG, LA&Misfit Ryder & Razzel @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Genetics @ Road 34 - Ft. Collinsw/ Star Count

Who’s Bad (Michael Jackson Tribute) @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ Three Legged Fox

Royal Dead @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Coupstick, Resonance, Averse to The End, Number Station, SR3

Boom Box @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Orgone, Ramona

Calibrate Me @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Regret Night, Taking Canyon, Head Injuries

Rich Johnson @ The Pourhouse - Loveland

Monday January 7th

Black Veil Brides @ Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ William Control

Drag The River @ Hodi’s Half Note - 1/4/13


Bleaker Street Cowboys from Dallas, TX@ A.F. Ray’s in Greeley on 1/11/13

BLEAKERSTREETCOWBOYS

Justin Beiber @ The Pepsi Center - Denver

Tuesday January 8th

Parlor Pickers @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Mondo Generate @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Saviours, Wino


Wednesday January 9th


Ghostranger @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Gasoline Lollipops, Harlquin Dreams, Pulling Parachutes

Impending Doom @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ The Browning, Hearts & Hands, This Or The Apocalypse

Thursday January 10th

Sophistifunk @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Nordic Rangers Avalanche Awareness @ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collinsw/ Carry Me Ohio

The Billy Goats @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Purple Coffin, Mechanical Routes

Trampled By Turtles @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Honeyhoney

Goodnight Gravity @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ The Coast Is Ours, Defy You Stars, Syke 96, Saving Avery

Reel Big Fish @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ Pilfers, Dan Potthast

Friday January 11th

Bleaker Street Cowboys @ A.F. Ray’sw/ J. Luke & the Drifters

Chris Voth @ The Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Jordan Doll@ Ryan’s Sports Grill - Ft. Collinsw/ Christie Buchel

T Band Bluegrass Show@ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Blind Strike @ Road 34 - Ft. Collinsw/ Aspen Hourglass, Glass Delerium

Cash’d Out (Johnny Cash Tribute) @ The Bluebird Theater - Denver

The Centennial Album Release @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/Princess Music, A Boy and His Kite

Trampled By Turtles @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Honeyhoney

James and The Devil @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Green River Vibe, Eldren, Dan Coyle, Grant Sabin

September Skyline @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ Saving Verona


Bumping Sounds Electro Showcase @ A.F. Ray’s - Greeleyw/ Mayan DJ Quin, Zaid, L3SSON, Treyy G., Funduhmental

Hollywood Undead @ Bluebird Theater - Denver

Chris Voth @ The Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Cualli, Tron Javolta, Mitch Black@ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Rebel Tongue @ Road 34 - Ft. Collins

Robert D Music & Memories@ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Augustana @ The Larimer - Denverw/ Lauren Shera

We The Pandemic and Between Suns & Seasons Dual Album Release @ The Marquis Theatre - Denver

Assembly of Dust @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ West Water Outlaws

Reel Big Fish @ The Aggie - Fort Collinsw/ The Pilfers, Dan P of MU330

Monday January 14th

Take Action Tour@ Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ The Used, We Came As Romans, Crown The Empire, Mindflow

Tuesday January 15th

Lori Callahan w/ Tim Messenger @ The Boot Grill - Loveland

Quicksand @ Bluebird Theater - Denver

Brave Julius @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Dagan Amaris, Skull Full of Blues, Robert Harrison




Gravity A @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collinsw/ Genetics


False Colours @ Hi-Dive - Denverw/ Black Dots, Party Like Theives

Nacko CD Release Party w/ Slo Pain - Hosted by DJ Macey Paradise @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Coyote Grace @ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Assuage @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Oriion, Psyzmic, Alex D

J Luke @ Tavola Bar and Lounge - Greeley

Particle @ The Aggie - Fort Collins

Friday January 18th

Leghounds @ A.F. Ray’s - Greeley

Jason Keyes @ Down Under Comedy Club - Greeleyw/ Dick Black

Rob Drabkin’s 6th Annual Birthday Bash @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ shel

Instant Empire CD Release @ Hi-Dive - Denverw/ Hinder Shot, Gun Street Ghost

Naiive Melodies (Talking Heads Tribute) @ Hodi’s Half Note - Ft. Collins

The Just Jazz Quintet @ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collinsw/ Finnders & Youngberg

The Echo Chamber @ Road 34 - Ft. Collinsw/ Post Paradise

Geographer @ Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ On an On

Chumffoe @ Tavola Bar and Lounge - Greeley

Railroad Earth @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Good Gravy

Blackalicious @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ J.O.B, Turner Jackson

New Years EVOlution @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ No 1 Left Standing, Tattooed Strings, Rukapuff featuring Toilet Water, Nick Payola, Pena

Potato Pirates @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ A oks, the Hate, Anchor Point, Hatrick Penry

Dead Floyd @ The Aggie - Fort Collins


UNC Student Radio Presents:My Body Sings Electric@ A.F. Ray’s - Greeley

Jason Keyes @ Down Under Comedy Club - Greeleyw/ Dick Black

“A Place to Stay” Benefit @ Hodi’s Half Note - Ft. Collins

Common Anomaly @ Road 34 - Ft. Collinsw/ In The Whale

Folk Ragout Celtic duo@ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Glo @ Fillmore Auditorium - Denverw/ Bad Boy Bill, Darude, Triad Dragons, Robo, Ston3, Strike, Audio X, Cruz, Mastermash


Oak Creek @ Hi-Dive - Denverw/ Surviving Cecelia, The Lost Caravan

Transdermal Celebration (Ween Tribute) @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Mr. Knowitall, The Inactivists

Railroad Earth @ The Ogden Theatre - DenverOakhurst

Blackberry Smoke @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ Drake White

SP Double -- LHRII (THE PREQUEL) CD RELEASE w/ Special Guests @ The Gothic Theatre - Denver

Sunday January 20th

Magic Trick @ Hi-Dive - DenverShady Elders - Rossanian

Afro-Zep @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Railroad Earth @ The Ogden Theatrew/ The Congress

The Animal In Me @ The Marquis Theatre - Denver

Blackalicious @ The Aggie - Fort Collins

Monday January 21st

The Walkmen and Father John Misty @ The Ogden Theatre - Denver

Trapt @ The Marquis Theatre - Denver

Tuesday January 22nd

Right The Helm and Imaginary Points @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collins

Willy Mason @ The Larimer Lounge - Denver

Bloc Party @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ IO Echo


Wednesday January 23rd


Sweatshop Union @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collinsw/ Prime Element and Abstract Collective

Bestfriends @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Option 4, Black Amex

Ben Folds Five @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Nataly Dawn

Sea Wolf @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ The Donnies The Amys, We Are Not a Glum Lot


Wax Tailor & The Dusty Rainbow Experience @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ Sam Lachow

Down Goes Frazier @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ E Famm, L.A.M.A., Ambition

Cat Power @ The Ogden Theatre - Denver

Danny Tramel @ Tavola Bar and Lounge - Greeley

Robert Walter’s 20th Congress @ The Aggie - Fort Collinsw/ Kung Fu, The Garrett Sayers Trio

Friday January 25th

Bestfriends @ A.F. Ray’sw/ The Photo Atlas, Mitch Black, Futurebabes

Rachel And The Kings @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ Eldren, PrettyMouth, and Post Paradise

Kevin Fitzgerald @ The Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Bimarinal @ Hi-Dive - Denverw/ Strange Americans, Belle Jar

Signal Path @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collinsw/ YuYu feat Omega and Cualli, and Seth Abrumz

Halden Wofford and the Hi Beams @ Road 34 - Ft. Collins

Abandin Picture and The Whales @ The Larimer Lounge - Denver

Disco Biscuits @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Future Rock

Nonpoint @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Candlelight Red

Anchorage Album Release Show @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ My Body Sings Electric, T-Shirts For Tomorrow, The Greys of Gold

P-Nuckle @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ Apex Vibe, Green River Vibe, The Repercussions, No Bueno!


Kung Fu Grip @ A.F. Ray’s - Greeleyw/ Scarlet Canary, The Darkest Gray

Kevin Fitzgerald @ The Down Under Comedy Club - Greeley

Contraband Ska Jam @ Syntax Spirits - Greeley

Papagoya @ Hodi’s Half Note - Fort Collinsw/ Big Medicine Gang

Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic @ Road 34 - Ft. Collins

Chuck Pyle / Shawn Waggoner@ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collins

Carniverous Greed @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ Harvest of Decay, Hateface, Scalafrea, The Silent Divine

Reverend Horton Heat @ The Ogden Theatre - Denverw/ Reno Divorce

You Me and Apollo @ The Aggie - Fort Collinsw/ Esme of Paper, Turn 4

Bestfriends @ Larimer Lounge in Denver on 1/23/13 & @ A.F. Ray’s in Greeley on 1/25/13


Bill Cosby @ UCCC in Greeley on 1/27/13Allstar Weekend @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Cute Is What We Aim For, Tiffany Alvord, Beneath The Sun

Sum 41 @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ IAMDynamite, Hunter Valentine

Sunday January 27th

White Chapel & Emmure @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ Unearth, Obey The Brave, The Plot In You

Bill Cosby @ The UCCC - Greeley

The Toasters @ The Marquis Theatre - Denverw/ Mrs. Skannotto, The Dendrites, Hatrick Penry

Pinback @ The Gothic Theatre - Denverw/ Judgement Day

Tuesday January 29th

Delta Rae @ The Bluebird Theater - Denver

Silverstein @ The Summit Music Hall - Denverw/ Like Moths To Flames, Secrets, Issues, Glass Cloud




Dada @ The Bluebird Theater - Denverw/ Jared Fink, Take To The Oars, and 7 Horse

Red Wanting Blue @ The Larimer Lounge - Denverw/ The Yawpers

Pennywise @ The Aggie - Fort Collins

Thursday January 31st

Bearfoot Bluegrass Band @ Avogadro’s Number - Ft. Collinsw/ Mike Finnders & Alex Johnson

Anna Sia and Kraddy @ The Bluebird Theater - Denver


The latter half of 2012 was marked by a series of deadly shoot-ings, including one right here in Col-orado. The mass shootings in Auro-ra, CO and Newtown, CT were just two of sixteen that happened last year, with a total of at least 88 casu-alties and many more wounded.

These shootings, especially the highly-publicized ones in Aurora and Newtown, have reinvigorated the call for stricter gun controls. The debate caught fire quickly, with gun control advocates crying out for a ban on assault rifles and Second Amendment defenders advocating for more, not fewer, guns in pub-lic. After the Newtown shooting, the fighting exploded: There was a call for armed teachers in schools to protect students. The clamor for tighter gun controls grew.

In late December, Colorado Sen-ators Mark Udall and Michael Ben-net amplified the clamor and came out in favor of more gun control. Udall, in a statement posted to Fa-cebook, said, “We all recognize that Colorado and our nation have a long and storied tradition of gun owner-ship for hunting, outdoor recreation and self-defense. However, I am not convinced that combat weapons are necessarily part of that herit-age.” Udall also agreed with Gover-nor John Hickenlooper’s proposal to “improve background checks and bolster mental health services.”

Bennet posted similar remarks to Facebook in which he said, “I believe a combination of improved access to mental health services, restrictions on certain weapons in-tended for the battlefield, and elim-ination of the gun show loophole [which allows unlicensed sellers at a gun show to sell guns without a background check] are sensible steps that can reduce our children’s risk.”

A bill backed by Democratic Representatives Carolyn McCarthy (New York) and Diana DeGette (Colorado) and introduced in De-cember aims to outlaw high-capaci-ty magazines, which have been used in a number of mass shootings in years past, including the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. The bill would ban magazines for over ten rounds of ammunition and prohibit the trans-fer, possession, and importation of those magazines manufactured af-ter the bill is signed into law.

In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) plans to introduce a bill that would ban the sale, transfer, impor-tation, and manufacturing of a num-ber of automatic and semi-automat-ic rifles, handguns, and shotguns, including 120 specifically-named firearms. Feinstein’s bill would also ban high-capacity magazines, like the bill in the House of Representa-tives, and include a number of other controls on the sale and transfer of guns.

Austin WulfBandWagon Magazine

This is the kind of legislation gun control advocates have wanted for years. And we need it: The num-ber of mass shootings this country has seen is inexcusable. Why has it taken so long to see this kind of action taken? Many blame the Na-tional Rifle Association for the lag in gun control reform. The NRA and its supporters have been the biggest voice of opposition to assault weap-ons bans and similar legislation over the past few decades.

After the Newtown shooting, the NRA went silent for a week be-fore executive vice president Wayne LaPierre held a press conference in Washington, D.C. in which he ar-gued that new gun laws would not prevent similar incidents in the future. His, and by extension the NRA’s, counter-proposal was to place armed security in any school that wanted the protection.

This was followed by the pre-dictable outcry from the left as well as an unexpected chiding from the right. Utah Representative-elect Chris Stewart, a Republican, called the NRA’s proposal a “bad idea.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) re-minded Meet the Press viewers that “we had an armed guard in Colum-bine, we had an assault ban. Neither one of them worked.” And Repre-sentative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said on NBC, “I wouldn’t suggest neces-sarily that we give everyone a gun. It’s not for everybody.”

One option that many legisla-tors and pundits seem to have ig-nored in this debate is the prospect of ammunition control. This is the only absolute way to stem gun-re-lated violence. After all, Americans own over 300 million firearms, and those owners are not likely to give them up. So even if we ban addition-al gun sales, those guns will remain in private hands.

Ammunition, on the other hand, is easily acquired. Wal-Mart carries it. Your local sporting goods store does, too. In fact, there is no men-tion of ammunition in Colorado’s gun laws. You can even buy it online – James Holmes, the shooter in the Aurora incident, bought over 6,000 rounds from ammo websites. The only restriction to online ammuni-tion purchases is proof of age (buy-ers must be 21 or older,) but there is no limit to quantity.

Legislators are now looking to change this. Bills have been intro-duced proposing a ban of online ammunition sales, but so far noth-ing has passed. What can be done? Treat the sale of ammunition as we do that of guns: impose background checks and waiting periods. Place limits on how much can be pur-chased at one time. And, yes, ban online ammo sales.

What’s the alternative? We’ll re-peat these mass shootings over and over again, year after year, result-ing in thousands more unnecessary deaths.

GUN CONTROL in Colorado


The dining area smelled like ammonia. It was nauseating. Sarge could taste it in the lukewarm stew on the table in front of him. His feet were freezing, and the cold white-speckled floor offered no comfort. Through the window, Sarge could see a few prisoners walking in the garden. They were being closely guarded. No one was allowed outside without an escort. Sarge’s long boney fingers shook as he lifted his spoon to his mouth. Even eating made him tired these days, and he was sure it had to do with the medication his captors forced him to take. It wouldn’t be long before it confined him to his bed. Sarge had seen the long term effects of the medication. Some prisoners couldn’t even speak. They just lay in their cells as their bodies and minds slowly deteriorated. He was determined to not let that happen to him.

Sarge sat with Jimbo and Polly at little round table near the west wall of the dining area. Most of the tables had four or five people sitting at them, but Sarge’s table was only big enough for three. They all ate quietly. Sarge could see the cast iron gate on the far end of the lawn. He wasn’t sure how far they were from the front lines, but he knew that he could get them out of the camp. Navigating the European countryside while behind German lines would be difficult, but he was sure they could make it. Especially if the allies were continuing to advance as quickly as they had been before he was captured. “I’m tellin’ ya, Jimbo, this is going to work,” Sarge said.

“It just seems pretty risky,” Jimbo said.

“Risky? What the hell did you get in the service for, a goddamn cakewalk?”

“No, it’s just…”“You wanna go home don’t ya?

What about you Pol? Don’t you wanna go home?”

Polly smiled.“Ya see? Polly wants to go home,”

Sarge said.“But how will my kids find me?”

asked Jimbo.“They sure as shit aren’t going

to come lookin’ for you here,” Sarge yelled.

Jimbo hung his head and took another bite. Sarge knew Jimbo was home sick. He was too, and that made him all the more convinced that escape was their only option. He grabbed Jimbo by the shoulder and said, “We’re goin’ home.”

“Okay, Sarge, I trust you,” Jimbo said quietly.

“Ya know, we’re probably goin’ to get a medal for this,” Sarge said. He could picture the ceremony already. There would probably even be a parade. Sarge, Jimbo and Polly would ride down the street in black convertible with flags on the hood. The street would be lined with people waving flags, and the newspaper headline would read “Three American Heroes Return Home.” Roosevelt would be

standing on a makeshift podium in front of the Capitol Building as the caravan arrived, and there, in front of thousands of onlookers and television cameras, they would have the Congressional Medal of Honor looped around their necks.

“Good evening guys,” a voice said from behind Sarge. “Time to take your medication.” The voice belonged to Klaus, one of the camp guards. He was tall and handsome. He placed a small translucent cup in front of each of them. The cups were filled with what looked like little pebbles and pieces of chalk.

“We’re not taking your fucking Nazi mind control,” Sarge said.

“Mr. Simmons, you know that you have to take your medication. Don’t you want to keep that heart of yours beating?”

“Are ya going to stop it if I refuse?”

“Of course not.”“Then I’ll pass.” Sarge motioned

to Jimbo and Polly to put their cups down.

“Well, I’m just going to have to sit here until you take it,” Klaus said, and he pulled a chair over from another table and sat down. Sarge didn’t mind Klaus as much as the other guards, but he was still the enemy. Worse yet, he had the determination of a mule, and he would sit there all night or until they took their medication. Even if Sarge didn’t mind Klaus as much, he still didn’t want him around. Especially since they had been talking about the escape plan, so Sarge decided to oblige the young man.

“Well I guess we won’t have to put up with this much longer,” Sarge said as he winked at his companions. He lifted his pill cup into the air and looked at Klaus. “To the Führer and long live the Third Reich.” He dropped the pills into his mouth as took a big swig of his iced tea. “There you go ya filthy kraut.”

“Did you swallow them?”“Sure did.”“Let me see.”Sarge opened his mouth wide to

prove that he had in fact swallowed the pills. Klaus seemed satisfied, but he continued sitting at the table until Sarge was sufficiently irritated.

“Do you mind?”“Sure, Mr. Simmons,” Klaus said,

and he left.The three finished their dinners

in silence since there wasn’t much to talk about. Sarge was still confident in his plan despite Jimbo’s worries, and Jimbo seemed to remain nervous despite Sarge’s confidence. Who knew what Polly thought; she never voiced an opinion either way. She just sat and ate quietly, smiling at Sarge and Jimbo in between bites. Nothing was planned for that evening, and Sarge returned to his cell when he finished his meal.

Sarge’s cell was depressing. Its plain beige walls in flower trim suggested that nothing resembling human compassion came anywhere near its design and construction. The paint was chipped, the walls were scratched and a fly buzzed, trapped in the light covering above the bed. Sarge sympathized with the fly. The cell also had a nightstand, a lamp, a reading chair and a chest

of drawers in it, but what really intrigued Sarge was a small still life painting that had been hung right above his bed. The painting was of a small red pot filled with yellow flowers. The pot sat on a wooden table in front of a plaster wall.

Something about the painting held Sarge’s attention – it wasn’t particularly good, and it was most likely not an original – but Sarge loved it. He had taken such a liking to it that he began recreating the painting in his journal. It was not an ode to the piece nor was Sarge interested in some kind of artistic expression, but he found something very therapeutic in this disciplined act. That night as Sarge sat in his bed sketching the still life in his journal, he was fully aware of the fact that the next day he would lead his small band of commandos out of the camp and home. He slept very well that night with this thought in mind.

The next morning, Sarge and his companions met around the same table the as the night before. Eggs Benedict was on the menu, but what Sarge had on his plate would have been indistinguishable from last night’s entrée, and the smell of ammonia from the night before lingered. “Good morning,” Sarge said, breaking the silence. “Are you guys ready for tonight?”

“I’m a little nervous,” Jimbo said.“There’s nothin’ to be nervous

about,” Sarge said. “It will be a fuckin’ cake walk.”

“I know. I just hope my kids will be able to find me.”

“Well they’ve got a better chance of finding you out there than in here,” Sarge said as he pointed out the window. “What about you Pol? Are you ready?”

Polly smiled and leaned in close to Sarge. “I think they over cooked the eggs this morning,” she whispered.

“If you can call these eggs,” Jimbo said. He pushed his plate toward the middle of the table, and silence fell over the table but only for a moment.

“Is there a bird in here?” Polly asked. Sarge was confused by the question and the expression on Jimbo’s face suggested that he felt much the same way. But, before long the sound returned, this time the tiny waves found their way to Sarge’s ear and reverberated on the same muscle they presumably had in Polly’s. It did sound like a bird, but, as Sarge quickly realized, the source wasn’t anything like a Robin or a Blue Jay, it was a man, sitting on the opposite end of the dining area.

Sarge knew that people in the camp dealt with the trauma of war and being captured, in many and often strange ways. One such prisoner dealt with her imprisonment by walking around the camp, taking her clothes off as she walked. Another prisoner acted as if he and everyone else in the camp were on a boat, and he wandered around the camp looking for the captain or the lifeboats. The man on the other end of the dining area must have found something therapeutic in the emission of second-long, high-pitched whistles. And who was Sarge to judge; he sat

in his room and sketched the still life.

“Ok guys, it’s time for your medication,” Klaus said from behind Sarge.

“What did Dr. Mengele cook up for us today?” asked Sarge.

“It’s just your morning medication, Mr. Simmons. You take the same pills every morning.”

Sarge knew that it wasn’t worth squabbling with Klaus. This would be the last day they had to take the pills anyway. He grabbed the cup and, with a big swig of his orange juice, swallowed the pills.

“Thank you Mr. Simmons,” Klaus said.

“Don’t thank me. Thank your dirty kraut friends that overran my platoon.” Klaus didn’t say anything as he left, but his departure created the opportunity for Sarge to discuss the morning’s most pressing matter. “Everyone knows the plan for tonight correct?”

Sarge was disheartened by his companions’ silence.

“Jimbo, what are you going to do?” he asked.

“I’m going to open your cell,” Jimbo said.

“What time?”“Seven…”“2330,” Sarge exclaimed“What?”“Eleven-thirty. What’s my cell

number?”“Four zero…”“Damn it, Jimbo! 603.”“Right.”Sarge was unconvinced by

Jimbo’s exhibition of his retention abilities, so he wrote the following on a napkin:

11:30 go to Sarge’s Cell 603

Unlock the door.“Keep that in your pocket. Me

and Jimbo will come get you after he opens my cell,” Sarge explained to Polly. “Then we will make for the front gate.”

After breakfast, the trio went about their day as usual. Jimbo sat and watched television in the sitting room, and Polly wandered around the halls of the camp without the slightest bit of purpose. Sarge sat in his cell and sketched the still life.

It would be hard to find words for the mind numbing boredom Sarge experienced while in the camp. Sketching the still life seemed to be the only thing keeping him sane. Other than recreating the painting over and over, Sarge’s entertainment options were extremely limited. He could have sat in front of the television with Jimbo or wandered the halls with Polly. He found neither enjoyable, much less entertaining, and he couldn’t expect to change his tastes on that kind of day. So Sarge sat in his room and faced the boredom head on.

If the time between breakfast and lunch felt like an eternity, then the time between lunch and dinner felt twice as long, and Sarge felt as uneasy about the impending mission as the philosopher contemplating a span of time twice the length of eternity. Jimbo’s unconvincing display worried him, and although he had slept easy the night before,

A creative story byZachary Martinez

For You the War is Overall his confidence slipped away as soon as he had to write the time and his cell number down for Jimbo.

Sarge didn’t know much about Jimbo other than he was from Alabama and extremely polite. At first Sarge found Jimbo’s compliance with the guards’ requests annoying, borderline treason, but Sarge soon realized that Jimbo’s behavior lead to certain privileges. The guards trusted him. They left his door unlocked at night, and this, Sarge thought, could be extremely lucrative. Sarge had tried many times to escape, but he was never successful. This time, he decided to bring Jimbo along. Sarge knew that the plan would work as long as Jimbo performed his role.

Eight-thirty rolled around, and Sarge retired to his cell. All he could do was wait and hope that Jimbo remembered. He sat on his bed and thought about the last few years of his life. He could clearly remember stepping onto the bus that would take him to basic training. It was 1938, and Sarge had just graduated from a small high school in southeastern Colorado. He and three other classmates were recruited together; little did they know that within four years they’d each be fighting on three different continents. Sarge was in Italy originally, but back then, everyone called him Tom, Tom Simmons. By the time the Allies were ready to invade Europe; Tom Simmons had earned a few more stripes and was known by everyone close to him as Sarge.

On the eve of the June sixth invasion, Sarge and the rest of the 101st Airborne were dropped behind the German-occupied French beaches to eliminate gun batteries that were in range of the invasion site. Following the success of the invasion, Sarge and his platoon fought in little villages and hedgerows across northern France. In December of 1944, after months of fighting, Sarge was given a week of R&R in the port town of Calais. In Calais, Sarge met a young French girl named Paulette Girard, whom he called Polly. She was thin, with blue eyes and strawberry blond hair that swirled and curled on its journey from her scalp to her shoulders.

Like most of the GI’s in Calais, Sarge spent his days in the cafés and his nights in the bars, chasing the young French girls who were intrigued by the oddities of the young Americans. Polly was one of those girls. She was wearing a short white sundress when Sarge first saw her, which was strange for early December, and that night they danced until the bartender finally kicked them out around three in the morning. Sarge left the next day for the Ardennes where his platoon was overrun, and he was captured.

Polly was at the camp when Sarge arrived. How and why she was there, Sarge had never found the answers to. It was a topic she never seemed to want to talk about. In any case, Sarge felt obligated to take her along, due to their previous acquaintance. So Sarge assembled his team and set the date for their escape.

Part One


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