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The Show(case) Must Go On!

Continued from page 5

Minezai, which also includes fellow MC Neil McIntyre and DJ Thought (Leroy Saiz), is in the midst of recording its debut disc, Fear of Lack Planet, at Toys for Noise studios in Denver, with noted hip-hop instrumentalist Gunther B at the helm. According to Graham, the group will be exercising a good, old-fashioned, do-it-yourself work ethic on the album and plans to self-release and distribute it on its own dime.

In addition to the outfit he helps front, Graham is also a member of local favorite Yo!, Flaco, and together with McIntyre co-hosts Denver's only weekly live hip-hop showcase -- You Night -- every Monday at the Soiled Dove.

The mere existence of You Night is proof positive that the local hip-hop scene is steadily gaining speed. "When we first started out, the only way I was able to get a show was to make friends with a rock band and they let us play on their bill," recalls the MC.

Needless to say, these days Graham has little to be ashamed of; in fact, someday hip-hop may be crediting him for saving its life, at least locally. -- Herrera

DJ MLE
NOMINATED IN DJ/DANCE/ELECTRONIC
Despite being known as "that hot DJ" in many circles in Denver, DJ MLE (aka Emily Javors) has earned her recent appointment as a resident DJ at Club Vinyl the hard way -- with her high-energy style of new-school breakbeats and progressive house. Her success is proof that a good-looking girl with fashion sense and attitude has a rightful place behind the tables, not just decorating them.

Originally from Texas and born into a family of musicians (Mom was a singer/songwriter of considerable note, and Dad was a bluegrass guitarist), MLE found inspiration in everything from Freak Chakra and Hardkiss to Madonna and her father's bluegrass licks. She's been mixing for friends since age thirteen and began spinning vinyl in public around seven years ago. Mainly through self-promotion, MLE began stepping up her appearances in the state the past four years.

Some have called her the "breakbeat goddess" for her personal blend of funky breaks and hard-rolling bass lines. The style earned her the Vinyl gig, as well as appearances spinning on the same bill as Paul Oakenfold, DJ Icey, DJ Ani and Supastar DJ Dimitri from Dee-lite. She now serves up her danceably dirty house with a self-proclaimed "feminine touch" every Tuesday and Saturday night. MLE has produced three mixes in the past two years and is also creating her own music. In addition to her nights at Vinyl, she's a staple at the Burning Man Festival and has played almost every major club in Denver and Boulder. She can be seen regularly around Colorado, from Vail to Pueblo and everywhere in between. Goddess lives. -- Carpenter

BOB MONTGOMERY/
PETE OLSTAD BIG BAND
NOMINATED IN JAZZ/SWING
Big bands, though usually associated with swing, have a rich tradition in the otherwise small-group orthodoxy of post-bop jazz. Charles Mingus and Oliver Nelson are just two of the many great bandleaders who used larger ensembles to expand the range and emotion of the jazz vocabulary. Add Bob Montgomery and Pete Olstad to that list.

"The appeal of a big band as a player is that seventeen or eighteen musicians can come together and play as creatively as a small band, but with the added electricity and energy," Montgomery says. "We also play in small bands of four or five and love the creativity of those groups, but there is something special about a large group of musicians thinking together, listening to each other and working musically in tandem that creates a musical excitement."

Montgomery and Olstad, both trumpeters, organized the group two years ago. "When Pete and I first decided to put it together, the word got out quickly. Most of the top musicians in Colorado called us, wanting to be in the band," says Montgomery. The list is long and auspicious: Tom Baker, Al Hood, Garner Pruitt, John Davis, Jeff Jenkins, Pete Lewis, Clare Church, Wade Sander, Al Hermann, Alex Heitlinger, Jeff Young, Ken Walked, Pete Sommer, Jayn Pettingill, Mike Marlier and Jerry Noonan. Their collective credentials could choke a tuba: The players have served time in the bands of everyone from Clark Terry to Tommy Dorsey to Quincy Jones. Olstad is a member of Tom Jones's touring and recording group, and Montgomery has won numerous awards over the years as both a musician and a music educator.

The band doesn't have a CD released yet, though there are plans to assemble a compilation of its live performances sometime in the future. In the meantime, the ensemble should be experienced in its natural habitat: live, in concert, a synergistic collective of soloists all breathing, thinking and expressing itself as one. -- Heller

MATTHEW MOON
NOMINATED IN SINGER/SONGWRITER
Moving through drummers at an alarming rate -- he's worked with seventeen skinsmen in six years -- Matthew Moon has been performing in Denver since 1990. Having first distinguished himself in the singer/songwriter category, Moon -- who boasts a large catalogue of original compositions -- pooled a larger group of musicians to take his sound to the next level. And despite personnel challenges, his show goes on.

"Our drummer situation got to be kind of joke after a while," he says. "The main thing, though, is to not lose steam. You gotta keep it going, no matter what. Even if you have to do the gig with a xylophone player and a tuba for bass."

His ensemble's debut disc, 1999's More Than I Can Give, featured help from some of the taller talent of the Denver music scene: Hazel Miller, Jake Schroeder from Opie Gone Bad, Yvonne Brown and Coco Brown all contributed vocals. The Hate Fuck Trio's Sam DeStefano plucked banjo on one cut, and drum virtuoso Kenny James contributed his timekeeping skills.

A consummate renaissance man, Moon studied at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and lists influences as broad as Michael Hedges, John Coltrane, the Indigo Girls, Bruce Hornsby, Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow and Rufus Wainwright. Known for penning moving love songs, he culls his material from real life, as exemplified on his most recent releases, 2002's I Thought U Should Know and this year's XOM.

"As far as writing, I am mainly inspired when my relationships are in the shitter," he says. "Normally, one bad relationship can render a whole record, if not more."

Let's hope he continues to dodge Cupid's bow. -- Hutchinson

THE MOTET
NOMINATED IN JAZZ/SWING
5 P.M., OUTDOOR STAGE
The Motet's influences come from points as distant as Africa, the Caribbean and New Orleans. Melding world rhythms with blues, funk and jazz, the group has developed a reputation as one of Colorado's most promising acts in the increasingly well-worn jam niche. Drummer Dave Watts, known for his work in the Theory of Everything and on Keller Williams's Laugh, propels the band in and out of a variety of fusion-esque musical journeys and plain old dirty grooves.

"We try to integrate all the sounds that we've come up with over the years -- Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and what have you -- into a cohesive whole," says Watts. "We're looking at mixing it all up, trying to put maybe a Tower of Power horn feel to salsa, or a jungle beat to Afro pop. We like to stir up the genres in an intriguing way."

Formed in 1998, the Motet consists of vocalist Jans Ingber, slide guitarist Mike Tiernan, percussionist Scot Messersmith, bass guitarist Garrett Sayer, keyboardist Greg Raymond and Watts on drums. The band combines the precision and exploration common to jazz with the tribal percussion associated with West Africa. The group has amassed quite a following in Boulder and Denver and has hosted some great guest musicians on recent gigs: Members of bands including Deep Banana Blackout and the Flecktones are recent sit-ins. Says Watts, "You never know who might show up." -- Hutchinson

OPEN ROAD
NOMINATED IN COUNTRY/BLUEGRASS/ROOTS
Some bands are coy about their influences; others are blatant, taking the music they draw inspiration from and trying to twist it into a hybrid or a gimmick. Open Road is neither: The combo plays bluegrass, straight up, with a freshness and vitality that makes the antique style sound young.

"We like to honor the tradition of bluegrass," says Caleb Roberts, who plucks the mandolin for the Lyons group. "I prefer the power of simple melodies and the tones of the bluegrass instruments that seem to resonate with the most basic human emotions."

Roberts was once a member of Denver's now legendary Slim Cessna's Auto Club, and the rest of Open Road -- Keith Reed, Robert Britt, Eric Thorin and Bradford Lee Folk -- have noteworthy backgrounds in bands like Grass Route and Cheyenne Lonesome. Now, however, the five players have absorbed the soul, earthiness and virtuosity of bluegrass icons such as Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, blending the echoes of tradition with a modern emphasis on songwriting and energy. On Cold Wind, the group's 2002 Rounder Records debut, the Appalachian strains of fiddle, banjo and mandolin jump and holler around Folk's twangy, authentic vocals. The whole thing hums with the rootsy essence of Americana.

"I love the recordings of the first generation of bluegrass musicians, especially the recordings of live performances," Roberts says. "Part of the intensity of the performance of this music is the interaction the musician has with the audience. The audience creates a greater urgency for the performer to convey the emotion of the music." This chemistry with its listeners is a big part of Open Road's ever-increasing appeal; the band has been nominated twice, in 2001 and 2002, for the title Emerging Artist of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. With a hectic summer schedule full of festival appearances -- not to mention preliminary work on a new album slated for the spring of 2004 -- Roberts and company hope that someday their own work might enter the hallowed canon of bluegrass.

"Some traditional music has a unique power to be timeless, which is why it's remembered, replayed and drawn upon in new music styles," he explains. "Traditional music has its place in the music world today because of this power to speak to people." -- Heller

OPIE GONE BAD
NOMINATED IN POP
Having just finished his fifth season as the house crooner of the "Star-Spangled Banner" for the Colorado Avalanche, and having logged more than a decade fronting what in 1997 became Opie Gone Bad, Jake Schroeder has developed a keen sense about the business of rock and roll.

"Since we started as a nine-piece R&B cover band in 1992," he says, "the music industry has turned upside down and is currently going through what I think is the biggest changes in its history. And we're not twenty anymore. We love to travel, but it has to make sense. None of us can hop into a van and be gone for six months and go in the hole financially to do it."

Playing music festivals from LoDo to Laramie and boasting three CDs (including a Live at Red Rocks platter), Opie Gone Bad throws down a high-octane funk, pop, hip-hop and alt-rock-tinged sound that gets audiences up and moving. And while the band plans to scale back on its busy touring schedule, its musical program is far from over.

"We're lucky enough to be able to use Rocky Mountain Recorders as our lab for recording new stuff," Schroeder says. "It really is an amazing and truly state-of-the-art facility. So for now, we're going to work on writing and recording and, by thinning out some of our gigs, work more in the vein of this being a creative endeavor. We're really lucky to have had the band as our main jobs for so long, and we're really blessed by the support we receive here in town." -- Hutchinson

PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS
NOMINATED IN PUNK
8 P.M., SERENGETI
When Planes Mistaken for Stars moved to Denver from Peoria, Illinois, in 1999, the small-town band dreamed of building a modest following in Colorado. Four years later, after touring extensively throughout North America and Europe, Planes has earned a worldwide notoriety as one of the most brutal -- and brutally passionate -- live acts around.

"Our philosophy? Get laid, stay wasted," says singer/guitarist Gared O'Donnell, laughing. "Seriously, though, we play this music to keep from flinging ourselves off bridges."

The group, composed of O'Donnell, Jamie Drier, Matt Bellinger and Mikey Ricketts, has had numerous releases on prominent indie labels around the country, such as Deep Elm, Dim Mak, Initial and No Idea; its newest disc, Spearheading the Sin Movement, is a three-song blitzkrieg of melody and fury that rips the heart out of emo and cauterizes the wound with a searing assault of hardcore and rock and roll.

"Some kid was posting stuff about us on an online message board," O'Donnell says. "He was like, 'I saw them play in Boston, and they've turned into total nasty cock-rock. It wasn't that cool when they got naked at the end of the show either. I don't want some heavy metal ass in my face.' Too many of these kids are so candy-ass and see-through. They just go to shows to check out each other's shoes."

Planes Mistaken for Stars has destroyed stages with everyone from Hot Water Music to Motörhead, and recently contributed to a Black Flag tribute album. Like these bands, Planes purveys epic, cathartic anthems that soar with majesty as much as they thunder with heaviness. Still, when asked where his band is headed in the future, O'Donnell responds with a healthy shot of nihilism: "Down the drain." -- Heller

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