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.

Merry Christmas!

(photo from Colorado Ski Country)

And after Christmas ... on Dec. 26, go to the Marquis (20th and Larimer) for an all-acoustic show with the Meese brothers, Chris from Epilogues, Randy from the Heyday and Danielle Ate the Sandwich. $5. 8 p.m. (all ages)

Friday specials: Think Indie offers free Elliott Smith track

There are so many reasons to love ThinkIndie, and now here's another: Today they're offering a FREE Elliott Smith download. It's the previously unreleased song "Cecilia/Amanda" recorded in 1997 and written by Smith's high school band.

ThinkIndie was started by a bunch of indie record store owners who wanted to offer digital downloads of indie artists. Twist and Shout works with them.

***

TONIGHT: Jiberish Clothing celebrates its grand opening tonight, 12/18, @ 1620 Platte. 7-11 p.m.

Or go to Andrew's on Lincoln for KTCL's Hometown for the Holidays. The Epilogues (mopey), The Heyday (poppy, bouncy, toe tappers) and Churchill (acoustic bluegrass) are competing starting at 8 p.m., 12/18, (11th and Lincoln). They each perform, and then the crowd decides who wins the $1,000 prize (and other stuff) for being the favorite local band. Remember, Flobots won Hometown for the Holidays a couple years ago so.... Check out Churchill

Tuba Christmas

Tubas and sousaphones in the makeshift amphitheatre of the clock tower and downtown buildings in Skyline Park

Weekend fun

Vail Snow Daze this weekend

Hot Congress on Saturday, 12/12

Tuba Christmas at Skyline Park, (16th and Arapahoe), 12/13, 1 p.m. Lots and lots of tubas playing in the park for free

HOT CONGRESS

Time to celebrate the new sampler from Hot Congress, Denver's favorite collective! The CD sampler has been floating around for a while, but Achille Lauro, Action Packed Thrill Ride, Fissure Mystic and Vitamins from the collective are playing a show a week from Saturday, 12/11, at the Oriental Theater (44th and Tennyson) to mark the official release. Fun starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are a measly $5. Want a FREE copy of the sampler before you head to the show? E-mail us. First in, first to win. Cheers!

Tracks:
1. Cardboard Divas – Achille Lauro
2. I Just Want to Get Out of this Body – Kissing Party
3. There’s No Id in City – Li’l Slugger
4. Sequined Dress – Vitamins
5. In this River – Action Packed Thrill Ride
6. Horny – The Jim Jims
7. Songbirds – The Pseudo Dates
8. Ageless – Breakfastes
9. Maggie – Ken Arkind
10. Aren’t You Scrumptious? – Action Friend
11. Young Psychedelic Flowers – Fissure Mystic

E-mail us for a copy!

Eating our way through Denver

Even though we cooked up a feast for Thanksgiving, we still managed to gorge ourselves on way too much restaurant dining during the week.

It wasn't all pricey though, because our first stop (not including a heaping scoop of Sleepless in Seattle ice cream from The Market) was The Walnut Room for CheapA$$ Wednesday. It was after 9 p.m., so we got $1 domestic drafts (Coors, Coors Light, PBR). The appetizers are already affordable, but it was half price, so we got pesto breadsticks (hit the spot) and wings, each for under $3.

For Thanksgiving, it was home-roasted duck, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, pumpkin-cranberry bread and pecan tarts for dessert.

Next up was City O'City. The vegan pizzas there are good, but I'm not going to recommend anything else at the moment.

Sushi Sasa has gotten a lot of hype, but its sushi is pretty good. We also tried the mussels appetizer (with saffron, tomatoes, greens...very flavorful, and the sweet potato crisps on it add a bit of crunch) We'll probably have to order omakase at some point to get the full experience, but we instead splurged on dessert. What a treat. We tried wasabi tiramisu (all the textures you expect from tiramisu, with just a cool hint of wasabi flavor) and the pineapple-banana fritter, which was sugary and crispy. The place has a cool, crisp white design with light wood floors and furniture and mirrors to make the small room seem cozy but comfortable. The staff is attentive. The customers are trendy and hip, but the place is casual. There were fancy 40-somethings but we were sitting next to a guy in a football sweatshirt and baseball cap. His date was talking about calamari, tentacles and whether tentacles and testicles are the same thing. If the tables were further apart, we wouldn't have had to try so hard not to laugh.

We stopped at Parallel 17 for a fantastic brunch on the weekend. We tried our favorites, blueberry french toast and 2 eggs, and added the croque madam. The home fries were nicely seasoned and perfectly crisped, but the greens on the side were pretty limp. Thankfully there wasn't much dressing on them. The ham and cheese weren't too salty, and the open-faced style gave it a twist. Good service here. We left happy and overly stuffed.

We rolled into LaLa's Wine Bar and Pizzeria for Sunday supper (all-you-can-eat bruschetta, salad, spaghetti and pizza) and then crawled home with our stomachs dragging across Governor's Park. It tastes like there have been some substitutions to cut costs on the Sunday supper. The mushrooms tasted canned, not fresh. And now meatballs with your spaghetti will cost you a buck or two extra. However, the restaurant is still packing them in. If you want to eat around 7, you might have to wait a while for a table.

Free movie :: deals from Monolith

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Wanna see a free movie? If you are available to see a free screening of "Brothers" in Denver on Monday night, 11/30, at the Mayan, go here and enter the RSVP code 8T5Y14BPUH to get passes. (It's a free screening before the movie comes out, so you still have to get to the Mayan early to make sure you get a seat). "Brothers" stars Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal.

This Black Friday, you can help out the Monolith Festival by buying some merch at its store. Use the discount code MONOLITH30 to get 30 percent off.