Rock N Roll weekend

Neko Case

The weekend passed with much fan fare. Friday my insatiable appetite for Neko Case was fed at the Chicago Theater. Truly an elegant setting for for a woman of such punk rock roots. Gone are the days of the intimate settings of Shubas (seating around 500?) and possibly the mid sized venue too as she sold out the cavernous auditorium. She played through her new album Middle Cyclone and mixed in some previous singles too. Kelly Hogan kept the banter coming while Neko kept uncharacteristically quiet for the majority of the show. However along with Jon Rauhous on steel pedal and the rest of the band Neko sounded the best I've ever heard. The only issue I had was my confinement to my seat but I know Ill be dancing when I see her in Grant Park this summer.

M Ward

On to show number two on Sunday. M Ward a singer Nick turned me on to last year when he made me a CD for my 18 hour drive across the heartland. Since then yet another Nick that I work with has been playing the man nonstop here at work so we all caught him at the Vic. The show had some high energy mixed with slow deep rhythms. In the middle he donned a harmonica sans band and did his best Bob Dylan. He ended his set with a rockabilly feel and had the story ended there it would have been fine. However the Rock N Roller that she is Janine took us all to the only decent dive bar in the area for PBR's and in walks the opening band, The Watson Twins. Upon realizing this we notice that we were sitting nixt to M Ward at the bar the entire time. Janine splits to talk to the Watson Twins and leaves me to buy M Ward a beer and have a good long conversation with the man. To top it off when I tell him I work at the Art Insitiute he introduces me to his friends as such "this is Tommy he works at the Art Museum" I had to reply "hey man you make great music, your job is way cooler". If that is not a Rock N Roll weekend I don't know what is.

March right into April

Denver Art Museum

March turned out to be a fantastic month. I took a few days off and got out to the city I cheat on Chicago with. Denver. Make no bones about it its a great city. I get the local treatment every time I'm there thanks to Nick and his crew. I got to drop in on former ski bum Amy and talk about the old times. Then who would have thought that snow would put a damper on a Colorado vacation. It dumped like 17" in the front range and kept us from climbing and some mountain biking. Oh well we'll hit it next time. I did get to socialize at St.Marks Coffee House and have a drink at the Thin Man. Two primo spots for good culture. We hit up some thrift stores for wacky 70's garb to sport at some clubs. The Denver Art Museum was also visited. Finally it was all toped off with a night ride out to Morrison. This was truly the tops of the trip. We took the Platte River bike trail out 20 miles at about 7pm and leisurely rolled into the Morrison Inn for chow at 10:30 pm. We were 6 deep with tunes commin from Josh's ghetto blaster and blinky lights all around. We got back into Denver about 1am and it couldnt have been more fun.

The Crew at Cheeseman Park.

Josh's ghetto blaster ipod rig.

Chowin' down at Morrison Inn.

The Crew half way home.