Music notes

Been listening to new music by Achille Lauro, and boy, the song "Summertime" sounds so gorgeous. "Sandra" is all right too. Their record release party is April 10 at the Hi-Dive.

By the way, Pee-lander Z is back in town and playing at the Larimer Lounge tonight, 3/31. $8.

The Flobots are playing on Saturday, 4/3, at the Colorado Rapids' home opener. Game time is 2 p.m.

News via The Seattle Times: All the old issues of Spin are available on Google Books now.

-- A

Law and Order

Watch Law & Order tonight (3/15) and see if you think it rips from the headlines on Northwestern University's Innocence Project

A poem

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Colorado's James Beard nominees

The list of Colorado nominees includes not only Frank Bonanno for outstanding restaurateur (the man behind Mizuna, Luca d'Italia, Osteria Marco and Bones) but also Chipotle Mexican Grill founder Steve Ells.

A bunch of Colorado chefs got recognized with nominations for best chef in the Southwest:

Alex Seidel, Fruition, Denver
Mark Fischer, Six89, Carbondale
Jennifer Jasinski, Rioja, Denver
Kelly Liken, Kelly Liken, Vail
Bertrand Bouquin, Summit at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
Ryan Hardy, Montagna at the Little Nell, Aspen

Yasmin Lozada-Hissom (Duo, Olivea) picked up another nomination for outstanding pastry chef.

James Rugile from Venue Bistro in Denver was nominated for Rising Star Chef of the Year.

The Penrose Room at the Broadmoor was nominated for Outstanding Service.

Here's the full list.

Denver Restaurant Week

We're in week 2 now of Denver Restaurant Week, when you can get a meal for two for $52.80 (or $26.40 per person) at tons of restaurants.

Three of us gorged ourselves at Firenze a Tavola at 44th and Tennyson (it's attached to Parisi. Just walk inside and head immediately downstairs.) None of us had ever been there before. It's a warm inviting place with staff that's really from Italy. We took advantage of the Denver Restaurant Week menu. For the first course we tried the spinach salad with mushroom, pear, pancetta and gorgonzola vinaigrette; the fried cheese (like a battered grilled cheese with marinara on the side); and the tomato soup (creamy, with basil and extra virgin olive oil). For the second course, we tried scallop and mushroom risotto and peas; braised short ribs with carrots, wine-soaked shallots and potato (didn't even need a knife); and spaghetti (imported, it was gone pretty quick). We went for tiramisu (served in a cup, with ladyfingers dipped in); bread pudding (rich with caramel and chocolate); and the truffle plate (holy decadent, with tiny chocolate squares that pack a punch and a coconutty, sugary ball in the middle). We ate so much, it kind of hurt.

Best of Bonnaroo, FREE

Head to www.musicforaction.org, write to your member of Congress about climate change and download music from artists like Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Pearl Jam, Raphael Saadiq, Dave Matthews and others for free. You don't have to do anything at all if you just want the free music, but of course, they would like you to make your voice heard.

Haochen Zhang with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver

If you didn't get to see Haochen Zhang play with the Colorado Symphony on Fri or Sat night, you have one more chance! Don't miss it! The Van Cliburn Competition gold medal winner plays again at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, 2/21, at Boettcher Hall. Students really have no excuse, because if you get there about 10 minutes ahead, you can get a really good seat for $5. (We sat in the 3rd row)

The program started with Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini, Symphonic fantasy after Dante, Opus 32. The high-energy piece was a nice setup for Zhang, who played the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major. He is only 19. Nineteen! After such a showy, hard-edged performance, the flowing, delicate gentle encore was a nice contrast to show what he can do. Not sure what the encore was. Chopin? (If you were there, please help out)

Then the orchestra finished with conductor Scott O'Neil leading a brisk reading of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, arranged by Ravel. The trumpet was fantastic: clear, confident in the Promenade, precise tonguing. The french horn, I think it was, had some tough breaks on a couple of notes. The final movement was magnificent, especially from the third row. The brass really shined, and the audience was on its feet.

Langhorne Slim

All right. So Langhorne Slim didn't make it out to Denver last time because of snow. Will it happen again??? Langhorne Slim is slated to play Wednesday night, 2/10, at the Hi-Dive. Here's hoping it happens this time.

SIA Snow Show!

photo by EA

SIA's Snow Show is here! After years in Vegas, the trade show where stores and resorts place orders for next year's ski and snowboard gear has moved to Denver for the next 11 years. That makes Denver tourism, hotel and restaurant folks happy, but lots of vendors are disappointed that they no longer have an all-night party right outside their door any more. The Snow Show IS a lot closer to the slopes, and attendees are getting breaks on lift tickets to any Colorado resort. Of course, that prompted one dude at the show to say, "All I keep thinking is why am I not there? Why am I here? I'd rather be skiing!"

Denver is doing its part to keep people happy with an apres ski that pretty much takes up all of the downtown core. Colorado resorts have teamed with bars to offer drink specials and give away swag and lift tickets. Stop by the Rialto Cafe, Rio Grande (Echo is giving out stuff), Appaloosa Grill (Telluride deals), Tilted Kilt, Wynkoop, among lots of others.

Inside the Snow Show, Burton tried to bring Vegas to Denver. Their booth at SIA was turned into a casino floor, complete with fake Elvis, sales reps dressed as card dealers, the whole nine yards.

Smokin' Boards brought out Buck Ferton. (If you're nice they'll share their beer with you.) The Skullcandy girls are giving away Skullcandy necklaces and bandanas, Volcom is handing out T-shirts.



photo by EA

On-snow demos at Winter Park for SIA attendees, Feb. 1-2.

Matt Morris :: album debut

Matt Morris got a taste of show biz as a kid when he tried out in a Denver-area audition for a new version of the Mickey Mouse Club. There were about 800 kids who showed up, and by the end of the day there were just eight. And after singing "Wind Beneath My Wings," (a song his dad Gary Morris had recorded as a country musician) Morris was among those left. He ended up being on the show with the likes of Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

Today, Morris' album "When Everything Breaks Open" is debuting on Timberlake's record label, Tennman Records. He and his band will be on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Friday, the CBS morning show the next day and then on Ellen on Tuesday.



Morris had kept in touch with his MMC co-stars as their careers went "astronomical," and he has written with Aguilera and Timberlake before. About five years ago, Timberlake mentioned he wanted to start a record label and sign Morris to it.

"Sure, thank you!" Morris remembers thinking. "It was a really generous thing."

Til then, Morris had been going the indie route. Unlike his co-stars, Morris took a break from show biz after MMC to be a regular teen, go to high school, sing in high school musicals. Rather than pursue a big contract, he spent time between his junior and senior year volunteering in Paraguay. "It's sort of the opposite of celebrity life. It's not about the glorification of you. It's about the betterment of others," he said. You might have seen him playing in coffee shops or The Walnut Room.

He planned to go to CU Boulder _ it was the only place he applied _ until he got a look at a syllabus and realized there wasn't much he wanted to do. On a whim, he applied to Belmont in Nashville and got in and called home to say he was moving. He says that's where he went through great change musically.

"When Everything Breaks Open" (produced by guitar great Charlie Sexton and Timberlake) has a breadth of styles, but we think Morris is at his best on the quieter arrangements where you can focus on his trembling vibrato, insightful lyrics and smooth voice.

Tennman head Ken Komisar says Morris came to the table with songs, then he, Timberlake, Sexton and others would work musically together to flesh them out. Here's a rundown of some of the songs on the album:

1. Don't You Dare :: Can't believe this is the first song on the album. Sounds overproduced, but if you like Maroon 5, maybe you'd still like this. The songs get better from here.
2. Money :: This should've been the first song, but maybe they didn't want to make people think too much of Timberlake on Morris' album right away. The song opens with sax, trumpet and trombone alone, to voices, then acoustic guitar. Timberlake does background vocals. It's a rhythmic groove, smart lyrics, not a lot of distractions
3. Love :: Some reggae influences here. Written shortly after Morris met his now-husband. Morris plays guitar and piano on this. Edie Brickell sings backing vocals
4. Bloodline :: A beautiful storytelling piece with strings and Patty Griffin doing background vocals
5. Live Forever :: Produced by Timberlake. Nice anthem
6. The Un-American :: If it were a drawing, it'd be a political cartoon
7. Let It Go :: A pleading ballad, just Morris and the piano. The strings envelope him later. He has such a full tone in the upper notes. Beautiful.
8. You Do It For Me :: Funk to spare. Plugged-in block party song
9. Just Before the Morning :: Inspired / reworked from an ambient song guitarist Dave Preston (now in Morris' band) recorded into a song with separate melody and lyrics.
10. In This House :: Thoughts about materialism and what really matters
11. Forgiveness :: Timberlake adds vocals again. The drums, guitars, loops add a lot of musical layers. Not a religious song per se, but more spiritual tones in the lyrics
12. Someone to Love You :: The album finishes with heavier fare.
13. Eternity :: This one tells a story, takes you on a journey.
**Bonus: 100,000 Strong

And that's it. Kind of makes you wonder what's next in the Matt Morris story, doesn't it?

Morris played recently in Boulder to open for the Flobots. As for Denver bands, Morris is digging Houses and Snake Rattle Rattle Snake.

He's playing in NYC tonight. More touring to come.