Weekend Preview: October 13th – October 16th, 2011

Here’s what’s going on in Denver this weekend. Events I plan on attending are in RED. Come say “Hi”!

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

• Dax Riggs w/ In The Whale, and guests @ Larimer Lounge – Riggs brings his band of Louisiana voodoo rock to the Larimer Lounge for two nights starting Thursday. Everyday (In The Mile High) friends In The Whale are opening! 8 PM, 21+, $15 ($20 for a 2-day pass).
• “FORTY FIVE with ALF” @ The Meadowlark – No, KTCL’s “Locals Only” DJ Alf is not turning 45 (but he’s not that far off). Wikipedia informs me that “45’s” are actually vinyl platters which are seven inches in diameter and have grooves that produce audio when a special needle is dragged along them. What will they think of next? He’ll mostly be playing instrumentals from the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Soul, funk, rock and jazz. 8 PM, 21+, cover unknown.
• Pete Stein w/ Statue of Liberty and Black Dots @ Lion’s Lair – 8 PM, 21+, $5
• Boulder Acoustic Society @ Illegal Pete’s Downtown – 7 PM, All Ages, FREEEEEE!
• The Photo Atlas begin their East Coast tour in Omaha, Nebraska. Knock ’em dead, boys!
• CSS @ Bluebird Theater – 7:30 PM, 16+, $20

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Dirty Rotten Rhymers

• Places w/ The Canopy, Dirty Rotten Rhymers, and CrOoKiD @ Rockstar Lounge – P is for Party! And S is for Sexy… and Shoes. Places rocks and Dirty Rotten Rhymers will debut their latest jam about footwear. 8 PM, 21+, $5
• Chris Daniels & The Kings @ Nissi’s (Lafayette) – The big news hear is “holy shit! There’s a live music club in Lafayette?!?”. 7:30 PM, 18+, $10
• Yellowcard @ Fox Theater (Boulder) – 9 PM, $25, All Ages

Saturday, October 15th, 2011 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY E.J. JOHNSON and ALEX HALVORSON (Popcult)!!!

Petals of Spain w/ In The Whale

• Petals of Spain w/ In The Whale @ Bar Bar – What’s black and white and has 14 arms and 18 eyes?  9 PM, 21+, FREEEEEE!
• Tankcsapda w/ Monroe Monroe @ Buffalo Rose (Golden) – Monroe Monroe has been pretty quiet while recording their new record. They’ll probably be playing lots of new stuff while opening for the Hungarian metal band. 8 PM, $15
• Rose Hill Drive w/ Dax Riggs and Mercuria and the Gem Stars @ Fox Theater – 9 PM, All Ages, $15
• Between Fate @ D-Note (Arvada) – Between Fate brings hard rock to Arvada! They’ll play some of their songs “unplugged” to make the ladies swoon. Sounds like a “target rich” environment! 9 PM, 21+, $5
• Howard Jones @ Summit Music Hall – The 80’s synth scientist will play his hit albums “Human’s Lib” and “Dream into Action”. I was totally gonna go until I realized that Jones and Thomas Dolby are not the same person – 7 PM, All Ages, $35
• Snake Rattle Rattle Snake begins their West Coast tour in San Diego, California. Knock ’em dead, boys (and Hayley)!

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

• Hawthorne Heights w/ Life in Electric, ViFolly, and Calibrate Me @ Hi Dive – The triumphant return of Life in Electric as they open for Ohio new-wave emo rock band Hawthorne Heights! Channel 93.3 Big Gig finalists Calibrate Me will also be on hand. Not to be missed! 6:00 PM, 16+, $10
• Roger Daltrey @ 1st Bank Center – The Who’s vocalist promises to perform the rock opera “Tommy” in its entirety plus Who hits and more! 6:30 PM, All Ages, $45 – $126

Why Doesn’t KTCL Play Local Music?

Denver has one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the country right now.  Over 13,000 people showed up to the Westword Music Showcase in June, and another 11,000 tickets were sold for July’s Underground Music Showcase which featured 350 local bands over four days.  You’d think that Denver’s Alternative Rock radio station, KTCL 93.3 FM, would want to take advantage of this demand for local music and play more of it.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Using statistics from http://www.yes.com/#KTCL and a mid-week sample date of Wednesday, August 31st, I discovered that KTCL had a total of 220 “plays”.  Of those plays, only 14 were from bands that are (or were) based in the Denver/Greeley/Fort Collins area.  That’s just barely over 6%.   It’s even more pitiful when you consider that these 14 plays only represented 7 unique songs.  One local musician said to me recently “People don’t need to hear [the Flobot’s hit] ‘Handlebars’ every fucking day”.  It may sound like he was exaggerating – only he wasn’t.  “Handlebars”, a song that is now 4 years old, was played twice on Wednesday.  “Girlfriends” by Single File was played three times.  As far as I can tell, these guys broke up almost two years ago!  Tickle Me Pink’s “Carolina” was played – they, too, are no longer together.  Breathe Carolina and The Northern Way (formerly known as Set Forth) also got two plays each.  Then there’s the biggest slap in the face: The Fray was played four times!  Why is this the biggest slap in the face?  Because, KTCL’s Alf was pretty much single-handedly responsible for breaking The Fray through his “Locals Only” show on Sunday nights.  Proof positive that radio airplay (along with listener demand) can turn a local act into a national act.  In fact, I’m not even sure it’s fair to count their four plays against the 14, because they are probably just part of Clear Channel’s “Premium Choice” program anyway.

Premium Choice is an initiative to “identify Clear Channel’s most effective content across music genres”, in other words: an approved playlist.  Clear Channel claims to give the local Program Director “total choice and flexibility in choosing the Premium Choice programming elements, and can use large portions, single elements, or none of the programming if they choose”.  But, there is no way that can be true.  According to his LinkedIn page, Nerf is not only KTCL’s afternoon drive DJ, but the station’s Program Director as well.  Nerf works very hard to get local bands onto larger stages, such as KTCL’s Big Gig, Hometown for the Holidays, and this year’s Denver County Fair (where he got  Take to The Oars, My Body Sings Electric, and others into the Stadium Arena at the National Western complex), but he can’t be bothered to play their songs on the radio?  It just doesn’t add up.  His hands must be tied.

So, what are we as concerned citizens and lovers of local music to do?  Stop listening to KTCL?  Do you think Clear Channel has any problem shutting down one radio station?  No way, and KTCL does too much good for the local music community to risk that.  My suggestion is to make “Locals Only” the most popular show on the channel by listening every Sunday night, and to call the request lines every other hour of the week to request local bands.  The fact is, I probably wouldn’t even be writing this blog right now if it wasn’t for KTCL spending 4 minutes out of a 1,440 minute broadcast day to play “Hunting Season” by The Epilogues.  Never in my 18 years of living in Colorado had I gone out to see a local band headline a show.  But that single play led me to the Bluebird Theater just days later where I saw Monroe Monroe, My Body Sings Electric, and The Epilogues.  Since then, I’ve been addicted to the scene and have shoveled money into the pockets of musicians.  One play.  That’s all it took.  Judging from my research, I got lucky.