Weekend planner

Labor Day weekend...a time for BBQ and one last party @ the pool. Here's a bit of what's going on:

Dfest3, w/ a Christie Front Drive reunion show!

Taste of Colorado, for free, by the state Capitol, in Civic Center Park

And to get you in the mood for CU vs CSU at Mile High on Saturday (9/1, 10 a.m.), here's a little joke we heard from Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley on situational awareness, tweaked to fit our beloved Buffs and Rams: Two college rivals -- say CU and CSU -- were driving on a road in opposite directions and came along a narrow bridge at the same time, colliding in bad weather. The Buffalo got out, looked at the damage to both cars and was thankful to be alive and unhurt. His rival got out, saw the damage and also was thankful to be alive and unhurt. He went to his trunk and found an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels. "Hey, this is a sign. We should toast and forget about old differences," the Ram said. He handed the bottle to the Buff, who said cheers and drank about half before handing the rest back to his rival. "Your turn," the Buff said. "No," the Ram said. "I think I'll wait til after State Patrol gets here."

Sniagrab at the sports castle, 10th and Broadway, for ski deals, 9/1. People are already in line

Red Rocks has the B.B. King Blues Festival on Saturday, 9/1, and the Yonder Mountain String Band on Sunday, 9/2, for all the hippies.

The Colorado Rockies are out of town for the weekend but host San Francisco on Labor Day.

Don't forget The National play Denver on Sept. 18. Here's an interview from The Onion's A.V. Club

Blast from the Past

Crowded House played the Fillmore last night, with Fountains of Wayne opening. It was FoW's very first Denver show. I'm short but it looked like FoW had 5 on stage. They played Stacy's Mom (I kinda hate that song) and Radiation Vibe, but also selections from the new album in a short set before turning things over to Crowded House. FoW said back in the day they went to a Crowded House show and threw demos at them, so they were so eXcItEd to share the stage w/ them.

Crowded House performed "Private Universe," (which would've been really cool to hear at Red Rocks), "Don't Dream It's Over," "Something So Strong," "Italian Plastic," "Four Seasons in One Day," Take the Weather With you, with some sweet audience singalongs. Also "Locked Out," "Pineapple Head," "Distant Sun" a cover of "Happy Together." Neil Finn's son Liam played in the band. Crowded House will be at Austin City Limits in Sept. Only bad thing about the show was it was hot inside the Fillmore and it smelled like stinky feet

More here here and probably eventually here

Christie Front Drive reunion

Christie Front Drive, the emo band that captured Denver hearts and minds back in the 90s, gets back together to play at DenverFest, Sept. 1 at the Marquis Theatre. Planes Mistaken for Stars playing too. $10 gets you into the show, or get a $30 pass for all the venues and shows for DenverFest (Aug. 31-Sept. 2).


The Cubbies are cleaning up the Rockies. Two more games, one tonight, one tomorrow afternoon. Lots of tickets left

Tidbits

_ Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper made it inside the pages of Esquire, in a feature on what mayors of America are wearing. He wasn't just mentioned. He got a full page.

_ Page France at the Hi-Dive, 8/7 (Tuesday)

_ The National @ the Ogden, Sept. 18. Yippeeee

_ Voxtrot! and the Little Ones! Together! @ the Bluebird Oct. 1

_ Buy a Cuban sandwich from the guy at the stand across from the Denver main library. So what if it's made of lard. It's Eric Bachmann

Ryan Adams @ Red Rocks

Ryan Adams played Red Rocks last night w/ Lucinda Williams, Devotchka, Old 97's (love them!) and others as openers. A looong evening of music.

Old 97's had to start off w/o lead singer Rhett Miller because of flight delay issues, but he came running on stage in the middle of one of the songs and the crowd was so happy. He sang for "Timebomb" and "Murder or a Heart Attack." Yippeee!

Ryan Adams played w/ the Cardinals. He was well-behaved, even when he refused a request from a guy in the crowd for "New York."
"No," he said. Then added, "Because if I play that song then you'll all go home. And you'll go home and you won't take me. And if you do take me home, you won't like me. So. No."
There was a lengthy, lengthy encore ... I think 5 songs? At least? He tried out his 5-groan Red Rocks standup: ("If the wind picks up anymore, I'm really gonna storm off the stage! Then you'll be stuck between a rock and a hard place! It's all downhill from here! That's OK, this place rocks!")
He played despite having a major wedgie. ("It's been going on for quite a while," he said about midway thru)