Sure enough, there's a festival this weekend, with the Balloons 'N' Varooms fest ready to blast off tonight in Ridgway. The hot air balloon festival and classic car show also features loads of live music at local venues, with many of the area's finest musicians lined up to entertain.
"All of the musical events are free and open to the public, including tonight's 'Tunes in the Park,'" says festival organizer Gary Woods. "Carolyn Stiltner of Rock Creek and Co. has done a great job of putting together all of the entertainment for the festival," he added. Some of the featured artists include Rock Creek and Co., Christina Callicott and James O. Patterson.
"You'll find me all over the place on Saturday, picking flapjack Jimmy style at the Bluegrass Breakfast," quips Patterson.
He added that he will be at the Galloping Goose later in the afternoon as well, plus sitting in with Rock Creek and Co. at the Doghouse Saturday night. Music will be pouring out of most venues in town, including Ashé at Chipeta Sun Lodge, The True Grit, Cimarron Guitars, and Drake's, among others.
The festival features mass ascensions early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and the evening alpenglow is always a stunning visual treat, accompanied by dramatic recorded music. Be sure to check out this fantastic festival, which runs through Sunday in Ridgway.
In Telluride, the first Musician's Showcase at the Fly Me to the Moon Saloon last week was a big hit and had a great turnout, despite the snow.
Katherine "Kat" Snips sang her heart out on the "second stage" at the Moon, accompanied by the fine guitar work of Dan Leroy. Look for those two to return tonight, plus a number of other familiar faces, including the ubiquitous James Patterson, Andrew Wynne, Michael Psarras, and who knows who else.
The Showcase is designed to highlight local aspiring musicians and give players a chance to get together and jam. Come out and support live music, starting 10-ish tonight at the Moon.
On Saturday night, get a load of Beaver Avenue at the Fly Me to the Moon Saloon. The duo features guitarist and lead vocalist Gavin Hecker along with Aaron Radder, who plays phenomenal keyboards and commands the live looping of the experimental rock "ghettotech" band.
"It's a different, unique kind of sound," explains Hecker. "We're not bringing our drummer on this tour, so we have this program on the laptop that allows us to loop pre-recorded drum tracks for the live show," he continued. "It's kind of a weird mix, everything from folky, bluegrass type of stuff, to funk and heavy rock. We have a lot of influences."
The looping technique allows the guys to go beyond the scope of your average duo, and the young group has already garnered quite a following in Philadelphia and beyond. In fact, the band is doing a three-week tour across the nation, heading toward a gig at comedian Doug Stanhope's bash, according to Hecker.
"We put this tour together after we got invited to play at his party in the desert, and lined up some gigs across the country. I've been in Telluride a few times," explains Hecker. "We have a good friend there, Kevin Grambly, who helped get us the show at the Moon."
Hecker explained that he and Radder both went to Penn State, where the idea for the band was launched. "Me and Aaron were hanging out having breakfast one day and trying to figure out what to call the band," he explained. "One of the main drags at state college is called Beaver Avenue, so it kind of stuck.
"Of course, there are lots of beaver jokes," he quipped.
The band's debut CD was called Smell the Beaver, and according to Hecker, that name is indicative of the group's nature. "When we started the band, I put up the name on the myspace site as a joke, it wasn't really serious. I just wanted to put the name out there.
"It goes along with our not being too serious in our lyrics and songwriting," he added.
The group plays mostly originals with a few covers thrown in. "We'll play some danceable stuff, some weird trippy stuff, some jammy stuff and some familiar stuff –maybe," jokes Hecker, who cites Ween as one of his major influences. Look for these wonderful, wacky performers to put on quite a show. "We promise to entertain," he added. Catch the talented and eclectic Beaver Avenue, Saturday night at the Moon.
Coming up, the Community Concert Hall at Ft. Lewis College has announced that tickets will go on sale next week (May 15) for some phenomenal summer shows, including the marvelous Joan Armatrading, who is set to perform on July 14 at the campus. One of Britain's most enduring female songwriters, Armatrading has launched her "Into the Blues" tour in support of her new CD of the same title, and is at her finest. By the way, the songstress will be doing a series of dates in Colorado, including stops at the Paramount in Denver, Chautauqua in Boulder and Belly Up in Aspen.
Speaking of hot tickets, get yours for the final run of The String Cheese Incident, who are coming home to Colorado for their sure-to-be-epic shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, August 10, 11 and 12. The band announced last week that more tickets will be available to the general public, Saturday morning, May 12 at 10 a.m. through Ticket Master, so get it while you can.
Tickets are selling like hotcakes for the 34th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which is now just over a month away. Rumors of a Leftover Salmon reunion are running rampant, and it's actually more than just a rumor, with Drew Emmitt, Vince Herman and "friends" on the line-up. Leftover Salmon has announced a couple of other festival appearances this summer, including the High Sierra Music Festival in California and the All Good Fest in West Virginia.
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