Category: News

Colorado’s event ticketing laws are under scrutiny. As an advocate for Colorado’s music community, Colorado Music Hall of Fame endorses Senate Bill 60 “Consumer Protection in Event Ticketing Sales,” currently being reviewed by the Colorado’s House of Representatives.

The ticketing systems in Colorado are rife with challenges for ticket-buyers, as well as musicians and their promoters. Scalpers and bots come in and buy up tickets at face value, and then inflate the prices to re-sell them. Taylor Swift made international news when her 2023 tour went on sale; tickets for her shows are being sold for as high as $30,000 a ticket on the resale market! This has to stop. It doesn’t help anyone…except the resellers.

Musicians should be in control of setting ticket prices for their shows and making them affordable for their fans.

Just this month, British band The Cure made headlines calling out Colorado’s ticketing laws as the band attempted to keep its show prices low. On March 10, The Cure made this statement to its fans on Twitter (and the story was picked up by numerous media outlets)…

“Unfortunately, despite our desire to protect our low ticket prices for fans, the states of NY, IL and CO make this very difficult – they actually have laws in place that protect scalpers! For shows in these states we urge fans to buy or sell tickets to one another on face value exchanges like twickets.live and cashortrade.org. Fans should avoid buying tickets that are being resold at inflated prices by scalpers, and the sites that host these scalpers should refrain from reselling tickets for our shows.”

We need to put the power back into the hands of the musicians and the industry supporting them. And we need to keep music and entertainment ticket prices from being prohibitive. 

Anchored by Red Rocks Amphitheatre, named the most visited venue in the world, Colorado is the music state of the United States, with prolific music tourism. And Colorado’s music industry—from the local musicians to the crew workers, venue managers, promoters, production staff and more—has a major impact on Colorado’s GDP. Colorado needs to be leading the way with laws that protect musicians and consumers; instead, we’re trailing far behind. 

YOU too can help ensure that Senate Bill 60 passes. Show your support for Colorado’s vibrant music community by participating in the legislative process:

• submit a written testimony;
• testify before a committee remotely or in person; and
• listen to committee proceedings and watching floor proceedings over the internet.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD  (Click the Ticket below)

Were you at this show?

Years ago, while working at Twist And Shout, a small piece of paper fell out of a record I had just purchased. I almost tossed it in the trash. However, I luckily turned it over and noticed that it had a cute illustration on it. When I looked closely, I was startled to see it was either a ticket or a small handbill for a concert at “Univ. of Col. Stadium.” It advertised Country Joe And The Fish, the Steve Miller Band, Buddy Guy, Sons Of Champlin and Tim Hardin. Wow, that’s quite a lineup. How is it I never heard of this event? 

Many years later, I was able to find an image of an actual poster for the event. Apparently on September 7, 1969 (less than a month after Country Joe’s career-making set at Woodstock) these bands played at what we now call Folsom Field (renamed after head C.U. football Coach Fred Folsom in 1944). 

There have been a handful of concerts at Folsom Field over the years, most consider dating back to The Grateful Dead’s legendary performance on September 3, 1972. This Country Joe show predates the Dead by three years; yet I have had an impossible time finding any first-hand proof that this show happened. I’ve never met anybody who claims to have been there, and I can’t seem to find any chatter about it on the internet. How is this possible?

I can only speculate that either it was canceled, or it rained, or that it was so poorly attended that nobody took notice. While possible, this seems unlikely- a week or two into the new semester at C.U., one of the stars of Woodstock heading an all-star line-up on campus. It seems like this show would have been a bigger deal. Which kind of brings me to my point…we here in Colorado are right in the middle of history. Sometimes it’s easy to forget, because history is such a slippery thing, and the minute turn of a news cycle or a major weather event can cancel or alter all memory and coverage of other events. Not that this was a world-shaking event, but it is surprising to me that there seems to be so little public memory or record of it. 

The poster is a cool design by an artist named Hess and has some interesting ticket outlet information at the bottom. The poster also makes mention of lights by spontaneity-I would love to know if this was a local light show company. All said, I prefer the sweet, homemade nature of the original ticket that fell from the album. 

Let us know if you were at this show.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

 

 

 

The Denver Pop Festival

You probably know all about the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival which took place in upstate New York over the weekend of August 15-18, 1969. In addition to the enormity of the event–just shy of half a million people–the big budget movie and multiple soundtrack LPs ensured that the event and the brand would become shorthand for much that happened in the late 1960s. 

However, did you know that Denver Rock Impresario and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Barry Fey mounted a similar event at Mile High Stadium a full two months earlier?

 

You may not, because it has largely been forgotten by history despite containing a number of history-making performances. Held over the weekend of June 27-29, 1969, Barry Fey assembled a tremendous line-up of bands to meet the growing demand for festivals. Estimates were 50,000 in attendance with a large contingency of ticketless hanging outside the gates. Over the course of the first two days, fans and Denver cops got contentious, causing the use of tear gas. These events led to the third day being announced as a free concert. 

Musically, the festival was highlighted by what turned out to be the final performance of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. After their performance in Denver, bassist Noel Redding would exit the group. While the band that was seen at Woodstock still contained Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, it was an entirely different sound. 

I have heard tapes of the Denver Pop Festival, and The Experience delivered a scorching performance, as did Johnny Winter and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Also of note were two performances by Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Zephyr. The local heroes, featuring guitar genius Tommy Bolin, were scheduled for the 28^th but were asked to return on the 29^th because another band dropped out. 

The 28^th also featured an amazing set by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. Zappa’s known gimmick of teaching the audience to respond to his hand signals from the stage, prompting them to make funny noises, or stand up, or wave their hands in the air, has gone down in history as the start of what is now known as the stadium wave—a funny and possibly erroneous historical footnote. Funnier still is the audio recording of the event. After the Mothers’ set, the erstwhile recordist finds Mothers’ sax player Bunk Gardner in the audience and tries to interview him. The conversation devolves into the interviewer ranting about how terrible Iron Butterfly (playing during the interview) were. A real slice of authentic fan history. In total, 17 bands played over that weekend.

Mile High Stadium was built in 1948 and was called Bears Stadium until 1968. I remember calling it Bears Stadium (out there on the Valley Highway) until well into the 70s. It was the scene of countless football, baseball, soccer and even boxing events, as well as many concerts, until it was torn down in 2001. From The Denver Pop Festival to The Eagles, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, The Grateful Dead and  Metallica, Mile High was the place to be in Denver for large outdoor concert fun.

What you see here are two rare posters. The black and white poster was the national advertising for the show. Aside from its evocative imagery, it is notable because few were made and most existing copies   (like the one pictured here) are actually a full page ad removed from Rolling Stone magazine. The other, and even rarer poster is possibly a one-of-a-kind. It came from Denver Folklore Center founder and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Harry Tuft. When he was getting ready to sell the Folklore Center, he asked me to help him sort his basement full of posters. This poster was unearthed then. (There are many other great items that came from that experience that I’ll be sharing in the future). This is such a striking poster not only because of its near-perfect condition, radiant color and Hendrix-ian image, but the specific connection to Denver institutions The Folklore Center and Denver radio station KMYR.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

 

Meep Records and a Changing Denver. Look at that image. Do you recognize it?

From 1917 until 2014, Gates Industrial Corporation hulked over several blocks of South Broadway and defined the look and feel of that stretch of Denver. It wasn’t the prettiest, especially once they started closing buildings and the natural urban decay started happening, but it looms large in my architectural memory. It, as well as the Bredan Butter factory and the Montgomery Ward on the other side of I-25 defined Broadway to me as a teenager. Now when I drive past that stretch of Broadway, I feel I could be in any city in America, unfortunately. It’s just a canyon of apartments. This isn’t a crime, and it isn’t unexpected. People have to live somewhere, and there’s no room for old, antiquated stuff. It just makes me melancholy to look at that picture for some reason. 

Something that doesn’t make me sad though is the success that Meep Records (https://meeprecords.com) has had. Meep is the brainchild of Adam Baumeister a local musician and character who worked for me at Twist And Shout once upon a time. This 45 RPM picture disc (pictured above) that Adam made reflects the end of the Gates complex era. I reached out to him to describe the recording to me, and here’s what he said: “It is a sound collage of me playing guitar with various construction noises and a little noisy jam poppin’ in. Construction/Destruction. Made when they took down the whole Gates Complex: a lament for a quickly changing Denver was the sentiment. Five made and dropped at record stores / thrift stores. One-sided square picture disc.” 

Adam was always collecting interesting instruments and recording equipment, and when he got a record cutting lathe, he seemed to really find a niche. His Denver company will custom cut records with a variety of artistic variables—length, color, imagery—and do small runs quickly which makes them unique in the current recording environment. Asked about his company, Adam states: “We started Meep Records in 2012 to make Lathe Cut Records for bands in Colorado. Since then, we have cut thousands of records for professional bands & amateur musicians all over the world. Whether you need fifty copies quickly for a tour or just one copy of a song for your lover, we can get it to you quick!”

This album represents a lot of qualities I appreciate. It’s Denver-centric; it’s homemade; it marks the passage of time; and it’s highly limited (the secret sauce of collecting). So gaze upon this weird, rare record, and remember the Colorado that used to be.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review, May 23^rd 1976

Dylan’s 1975-‘76 tour, dubbed Rolling Thunder Review was an incredible thing to behold. Somewhere between 15-20 musicians participated in varying combinations in an ever-evolving show that veered from straight folk-Dylan and Joan Baez sharing a microphone alone on Blowin’ In The Wind, to the ‘proto punk skronk’ of the full band slogging through a radically rearranged Shelter From The Storm, to the classic rock finale of Dylan and Roger McGuinn taking turns on unreleased verses of Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. At Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins (the second to last show of the tour), the show sprawled across more than five hours of rain-soaked Colorado spring weather in front of a stadium full of dazed hippies. 

Built in 1968 and torn down in 2018, Hughes Stadium was the home of the Colorado State University Rams football team and only a couple concerts over the years. The only stadium shows I remember ever happening there were Dylan and then the Rolling Stones in 1976. About 60 miles north of Denver, Fort Collins has had a music community for decades thanks to a large state university fostering radio (notably KTCL and KCSU) and an active club scene. Yet both the Hughes Stadium shows represented something of an anomaly for seasoned Colorado concert-goers. Most stadium shows happened in the Denver/Boulder corridor in those days, so it was a welcome adventure to travel to Fort Collins for the chance to see this historical show. 

I was a junior at Denver’s Thomas Jefferson High School then, and I really had to do some fancy convincing to get my parents to agree to let me go during finals week. But I prevailed and set off in the early morning, because the show was scheduled to start at noon. As soon as I arrived at Hughes Stadium, it started raining and didn’t let up until late afternoon when the show was winding down. Being there felt like some sort of biblical trial. Muddy, cold and wet, all was redeemed when Dylan and company hit the stage to give us an incredible show for the ages. 

Both an Album (Hard Rain) and television special were recorded that day, but neither really captured the magic of being there. I’ve talked to many other people who were there, and everyone agrees it was the show of a lifetime. It was one of those rare times when you felt like you were actually inside of history, not just reading about it after the fact. 

Above see a framed ad from Columbia Records promoting the album. If you squint really hard and look above the little red sign across from Dylan, you can see a very wet high schooler who was being transformed as the music played. 

There’s also a shirt and belt buckle from that show that were only given to crew members. 

The confluence of world-class music, weather and that special magic that only Colorado has made this one of my best days.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

Jimi Hendrix at Regis Field House February 14, 1968. This is one of the Holy Grails of Colorado music history. What a legendary night it must have been! When I first moved to Denver in 1968, I remember hearing about this show, how wild Hendrix was, how weird opening act Soft Machine were, and how Hendrix himself went over to the legendary Family Dog venue and sat in after the show. Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee and blues legend Otis Taylor has confirmed that he was onstage at the same time. 

The Regis University (founded 1877) Field House is a typical campus gym. Built in 1960, it holds just under 2,000 people and was the sight of a number of great concerts in the 1960s and ‘70s. I remember seeing Queen with Mott The Hoople as their opening act in 1976 and being blown away by both bands. It seems as though it does not get used for concerts anymore. 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was at their zenith at the time of this concert. Hendrix was one of the highest paid musicians in the world and his album, Axis: Bold As Love, was at the top of the charts in the U.S. (No. 3). Denver was not a primary music market yet, but Barry Fey’s Feyline Productions was fast becoming the most important promoter in the middle of the country with Denver a crucial stopping point between the coasts. Within a year, The Experience would play their final concert together at The Denver Pop Festival, but that’s a story for another blog.

Above, you can see a framed display of both the poster and two handbills from this event. In my early days of poster-collecting, this poster was something I burned with desire for. I saw a few of the handbills  throughout the years but never managed to put my hands on one. After many years, I was able to finally get these from various sources, and they hold a great place of pride in my collection. 

Perhaps even more interesting was the tale of the tape. Sometime in the late ‘90s, a guy named Daniel Smith walked into the Alameda Twist And Shout and told me he had something I might be interested in. He looked like the real deal–a leather vest with shells and roach clips hanging from it, sunglasses on indoors, Huarache sandals. When he told me he had recorded Jimi Hendrix at Regis the day after he returned from a hitch in Vietnam, I was incredulous but thought it could be possible. 

As an avid live-tape collector, I knew this show was not out there and it would be a major score if I could surface it. Daniel then pulled a cassette tape out of his backpack and held it just out of reach of my quivering hands. We commenced an hour or so of negotiation, where I finally convinced him that, even if he was the one who taped it, the music on it belonged to the Hendrix family and that there was no way for him to turn this into the giant payday he was envisioning. I told him the best-case scenario was for this to get out there into the Hendrix collecting community. He finally agreed to let me take it home and transfer it to a CD. When I got it home, I was still questioning whether this was real, and, even if it was, how good could the tape be? Well, the tape was actually quite listenable (far below release standards as I suspected though) and, importantly, provided proof of its authenticity. After playing a scorching Purple Haze, Hendrix clearly says, “pleasure playin’ up here, a mile high in Denver, Colorado.” Wow, there it was: proof! 

The set list that night was: Tax Free Jam, Fire, The Wind Cries Mary, Foxy Lady, Spanish Castle Magic, I Don’t Live Today, Jam-> Purple Haze, Wild Thing. Don’t you wish you were there? Maybe you were. Maybe you took pictures. I saw Daniel Smith a few more times as he drifted around the world; I hope he is well and still listening to the CD I made him of the show.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

Colorado rock band Big Head Todd and The Monsters, along with Hazel Miller, the R&B vocalist who’s a frequent collaborator, will be inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame at the band’s annual Red Rocks Amphitheatre show on June 10, 2023.

A true Colorado-rooted band, Big Head Todd and The Monsters was formed in 1986 at the University of Colorado Boulder by three friends who had attended Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The trio — Todd Park Mohr (vocals, guitar), Brian Nevin (drums) and Rob Squires (bass) – found its earliest audience by playing gigs in Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins, but quickly gained a following throughout Colorado and Western states once the act started touring.

“It is an honor to induct Colorado’s very own Big Head Todd and The Monsters along with Hazel Miller into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Their contribution to the Colorado music scene has been tremendous. Colorado Music Hall of Fame looks forward to celebrating this great achievement with them and all their fans on June 10, 2023 at Red Rocks,” says Brent Fedrizzi, co-president of AEG Presents Rocky Mountains.

The band launched its own record label, Big Records, which released its first two albums, Another Mayberry and Midnight Radio. In 1993, Big Head Todd and The Monsters was signed by Giant Records and released Sister Sweetly, which was recorded at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios. It went platinum, selling over a million copies. To date, the band has released 13 albums. Keyboardist Jeremy Lawton joined the band as a permanent member in 2003.

From its earliest days, the rock band with its influences of blues, funk and soul has collaborated with singer Hazel Miller. She became a regular part of the Big Head Todd and The Monster’s lineup and has toured locally, nationally and internationally with the band. She’s well-known by fans as the soulful blues singer whose back-up vocals explode into the forefront in songs like “It’s Alright” and “Please Don’t Tell Her.” Beyond her collaborations with Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Hazel Miller has had a successful solo musical career since the 1980s and has been performing with her band, Hazel Miller & The Collective, for the past decade.

All regular tickets to the June 10, 2023 concert with Big Head Todd and The Monsters, with Hazel Miller, include the induction, with a presentation by Colorado Music Hall of Fame board member and AEG Presents Rocky Mountains co-president/COO Brent Fedrizzi, as well as The Hall of Fame’s founder, legendary concert promoter Chuck Morris, which will take place during the concert.

A limited ticketed Colorado Music Hall of Fame VIP Experience is also on sale, which includes premium seats to the concert; exclusive access to Big Head Todd and The Monsters’ sound check followed by a reception with the band in the Rock Room at the Red Rocks Visitors Center; dinner provided by Pasta Jay’s; hosted bar; and musical entertainment by the Hazel Miller Trio.

“Big Head Todd and the Monsters grew up both literally and musically in the great state of Colorado. We are honored to be part of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame and really look forward to helping other musicians in Colorado,“ says Todd Park Mohr.

Big Head Todd and The Monsters is donating $1 from every ticket sold to Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and all net proceeds from the VIP experience will benefit The Hall and its new mental wellness program for local musicians and music industry professionals. The Hall of Fame is a nonprofit organization with a mission to celebrate, promote and support Colorado’s music community.

Concert tickets for Big Head Todd and The Monsters with opening act, Grace Potter, and for Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s VIP Experience are available for purchase by clicking HERE.

Sponsorships for the Hall of Fame VIP Experience are also available by clicking HERE.

The String Cheese Incident, a genre-bending band commonly included in the jam band community, will be inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame on December 29, 2022, at the first of three shows at the Mission Ballroom. Don Strasburg, board member of Colorado Music Hall of Fame and co-president of AEG Presents, along with The Hall’s founder Chuck Morris, will formally induct the band that night.

“Formed in 1993 in Crested Butte, The String Cheese Incident is the ultimate jam band, instrumental in Colorado exploding as the jam-band capital of America. Their eclectic sound combining rock, bluegrass, country and funk is undefinable in the music they play,” says Morris. “One of the great live bands in the musical heritage of our state, The String Cheese Incident has never sat on its laurels, continuing to grow and expand their music for three decades.”

The String Cheese Incident’s nearly 30-year history is packed full of surreal experiences, epic moments, groundbreaking involvement and huge accomplishments. The band has been recognized for its commitment to musical creativity, integrity and community spirit, philanthropic endeavors and innovative approach to the business of music.

With its prolific production and touring schedule, the band has released ten albums, six DVDs and more live recordings than can be counted during its relentless tour schedule. A pioneer in the music business, The String Cheese Incident has built its own record label (SCI Fidelity), ticketing and merchandise companies, and a fan travel agency. Among the first bands to use the internet to market to and share information with fans, The String Cheese Incident was an early adopter of downloadable music and file sharing. Over the years, the band has stayed committed to music as a creative endeavor.

“We are so honored and proud to have The String Cheese Incident inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame. From the bandmembers’ early days playing mountain gigs to today, they always bring it! The String Cheese Incident is an iconic band in Colorado music, and continues to inspire both crowds and the acts that have followed it,” says Scott Tobias, Hall of Fame board co-chair and CEO of Voice Media Group.

The String Cheese Incident has a huge following in Colorado and beyond. Colorado fans can count on the band headlining multiple-night shows at major venues throughout the state each year, most notably an annual run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Holiday shows and destination festivals are a common theme in its touring as well.

The String Cheese Incident is a member of The Flatirons Sessions Hall of Fame induction class of 2021, along with the Fox Theatre, Hot Rize, Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band. They join a legendary group of over fifty Colorado Music Hall of Famers to date, including John Denver; Caribou Ranch; members of Earth, Wind & Fire; Judy Collins; Barry Fey and eTown.

The String Cheese Incident’s original members include Michael Kang, Keith Moseley, Bill Nershi and Michael Travis, with Kyle Hollingsworth added to the lineup in 1996 and Jason Hann in 2004. “It is an honor to be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. From our humble beginnings of playing in lift lines and après-ski gigs, to our annual multi-night runs at Red Rocks, Colorado and its natural beauty continue to be an inspiration to us. We can’t overstate our appreciation to the incredible fan base and fertile live music scene here in Colorado that has enabled us to hone our craft for nearly 30 years. We are thankful to be a part of this vibrant community and encourage you to ‘make a joyful sound’ and pursue your dreams. Thank you!” says Keith Moseley of The String Cheese Incident.

The String Cheese Incident’s induction into Colorado Music Hall of Fame will take place at the band’s December 29, 2022, Mission Ballroom concert with special appearances by Kanika Moore and Antwaun Stanley. Tickets are available by clicking HERE.

Bob Marley And The Wailers

On May 11, 1981 Robert Nesta Marley passed from this existence to the next. It’s safe to say that none of the Coloradans who experienced his concert at the D.U. (University of Denver) Arena on December 5, 1979 had any inkling that this tragic event was on the horizon. In fact, my memories of this magical evening involve Marley, Zeus-like, hurling musical and political lightning bolts from the stage all night as though nothing of this earth could stop him. His Brilliant Survival LP had been released earlier in the year, and it was filled with anthems of social justice and national (African/Jamaican) pride and unity. 

The show itself was a remarkable gathering of slices of Colorado life that we knew existed but had never been seen together under one roof. Hippies, Rastas, Politicos, Mountain People and all stripe of countercultural ‘fringies’ crowded the floor of the large gymnasium under an impossibly thick cloud of pre-legalization pot smoke in anticipation of the prophet-like figure Marley was becoming. 

The show opened with Betty Wright, whose funky 1971 hit Clean Up Woman must have been seen as a possible calling card for Black audiences unfamiliar with Marley’s music. One of the subtexts of Marley’s career was his inability to reach a larger Black audience in America during his lifetime. Betty Wright seemed like a miss to me this night. She put on a good set, but it was rooted in older show-biz traditions and fell flat on an audience looking for transcendence. 

When Marley finally hit the stage, the crowd exploded in joyous revelry. I can remember few shows I’ve seen where there was such an overwhelming sense of happiness in the audience. We had waited a long time for this opportunity, and now here it was in Denver–an artist of true lyrical substance, producing anthems you could actually sing along with. It was truly a great moment. Everyone I knew who went was glowing for weeks afterwards.

The D.U. Arena was the home of Pioneer hockey and basketball for years before the Magness Arena was built. There were sparse concerts held there, and my memories of the place involve more family ice skating than concert-going. It was essentially the field house, the gym, for D.U. Not built for music, it was like a lot of large university athletic facilities that the 1960s and 70s turned into make-shift concert halls to meet the exploding desires of students taken with rock and roll. 

Above see the (full) poster of the show as well as a rare photo of Bob at D.U. Both came from a woman who was an early customer of Twist And Shout. She came in to the Alameda Ave. store one day and told me she was dying of cancer. She also told me she had been photographing Denver concerts for years. She handed me those two items and over the next few weeks brought me many more, including incredible photos of David Bowie and Keith Moon at Denver concerts. I hope she and Bob are both in a safe place.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein

The poster above hung in my house and then at Twist & Shout for years.

When I first moved to Denver in 1968, it was not at the forefront of hip and trendy the way it is now. At that time, it was on the back end of being a Cowtown, and while there was a culture counter to the norm, you had to look for it. Beginning in April of 1971, hipsters with their ears to the ground started finding out about KFML radio. A freeform, underground, radical radio station, broadcasting from the University of Denver neighborhood, it is not an exaggeration to say it changed my life and helped form the person I became. I was just a teenager at the time, but KFML seemed to point the way to a cooler, young-adulthood right around the corner. The music they played was sublime—the most cutting of the cutting-edge juxtaposed with unexpected throwbacks. (I remember a Sinatra song being sandwiched between The Chambers Brothers and Frank Zappa in one late-night set). It was surreal comedy, political commentary and lots of hippie ‘wink-wink’ to a knowing and willing listening audience. 

KFML had a show called High Street where they would choose an old movie on local TV and have the listeners turn the sound on the TV down and the sound on KFML up. The deejays would voice-over the movie in what seemed to me at the time to be the most subversive thing ever. I couldn’t believe they were getting away with it. In addition, they broadcast live concerts, which was a gift from the heavens for someone too young to get into clubs. I still have the tapes I made of King Crimson and David Bromberg off KFML broadcasts. 

KFML was one of the formative stepping stones pushing Denver from Hicksville to Happenin’ Town in the 60s and 70s. Having an underground radio station that so accurately reflected the youth community of the times was a tangible sign of Denver changing with the times. Many of the people involved with the station continued to be movers and shakers in local and national media, making KFML an important historical marker in any number of ways. If you’d like to learn more about the history of this great station, check out this website: http://www.kfml.org/.

One person involved with KFML back in the day was James Pagliasotti, who was also the first rock and roll critic for The Denver Post. Today, Jim just launched a new website called Radical Radio (www.radicalradio.media) which delves into the phenomenon of underground radio in general. The site has a big focus on KFML, including lots of samples of radio and music, along with loads of information and interviews, including one with yours-truly about being a listener.

Jim also wrote a book I recommend about growing up in Denver/Boulder and being part of the beautiful scene that he helped create. It’s called What It Was: Growing Up When The Music Mattered. If you spent any time in Denver/Boulder in those years, this book will stir a lot of memories and feelings.

– Paul Epstein, Co-Chair, Colorado Music Hall of Fame; founder/former owner of Twist & Shout; music historian and archivist

“I moved to Colorado in 1968 and started going to concerts almost immediately. I eagerly grabbed posters, flyers, ticket stubs, advertisements, concert recordings, pretty much any proof I could find that the event happened. In 1988, I started a record store called Twist & Shout, and my collecting of memorabilia went into even higher gear. Over the next 34 years, I had rare access to memorabilia of all types and sizes. Now that I’ve retired, the time seems right to start sharing these things, and the stories that go with them. So, every other Tuesday, I will ask you to Let Me Take You Down (to the basement) to check out some of the good stuff!” – Paul Epstein