Happy Valentine's Day from Jonny Barber

Happy Valentine's Day!! If you are looking for something special to do tonight with your loved one(s), join ColfaxAvenue.com founder Jonny Barber for his Burnin' Love Valentine's Day Show at the Soiled Dove! A gourmet, four-course meal will be served before the show, then you will be treated to an Elvis Tribute Show with an incredible live band (voted "Best Elvis" by Westword) which includes hit songs "Suspicious Minds", "Love Me Tender", "Love Me" and "Can't Help Falling in Love With You".
If you can't make the show tonight, Jonny's alter-ego, Mr. Saturday Night, will take the stage this Saturday Night, Feb. 16th, at the Zephyr Lounge on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora. Join him for a night of music, interviews, comedy, and see a live TV show created with YOUR input!

The Motet coming to The Fillmore Auditorium

THE MOTET

OZOMATLI

Soul Rebels Brass Band & DJ Mikey Thunder

Fillmore Auditorium

Saturday, April 20

Live Nation is pleased to present THE MOTET at The Fillmore Auditorium on Saturday,

April 20.  Special guests OZOMATLI, Soul Rebels Brass Band and DJ Mikey Thunder will open the show.  Show time is 8:00 PM.  Doors open at 7:30 PM

2012 brought a new sound to a familiar face in the national music community. With an astonishingly talented cast of musicians, The Motet has refined their sound and their vision into a dynamic and expressive improvisational force.
                                                           
Founded and led by drummer Dave Watts, the group began over ten years ago and hasn’t let up since. Featuring complex compositions written and arranged by Watts himself, the music tells a story through syncopated rhythms and melodies. As music and technology evolve at an astounding rate, so too has The Motet pioneered their unique sound while continuing to defy categorization. With roots in Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk, Salsa and Samba, The Motet keeps their audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering House and Techno rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own.
                                                           
With its 6th release, Dig Deep, The Motet once again proves that it is a group committed to exploring and pushing the sonic envelope, while still remaining dedicated to the musical traditions that have defined their sound. A heavy-horned Afrobeat influence countered with a textural blanket of Electronica, this album showcases the talents and strengths of the cast of characters that drummer and producer Dave Watts has assembled. Keyboardist Joey Porter lays down the funk under the coursing melodies of saxophonist Dominic Lalli in pure Motet fashion, with the ever driving beats of Watts' masterful rhythmic production pushing the music through sonic peaks and valleys that tantalize and invigorate listeners. If you've loved The Motet for years or are just tuning in, listen up. You won't be disappointed.  

From years of incessant touring and with a rich legacy under their belt, The Motet’s “resolve to evolve” has made them indispensable in the East and West Coast groove circuits. Writes Dave Kirby of Boulder Magazine: “Watts' dedication and artistic integrity have created an elusive musical entity which seems to be as much fun to play in as it is to go out and hear.”   The Motet is a world-class ensemble that whips audiences into a whirlwind using sheer impromptu force. The rhythms are spontaneous and textured and the beats are hard driving.          The band uses this energy to create a rapport between the audience and themselves that is rarely seen in today's world of manufactured rock. The Motet consecrates the ground on which dance music meets free-form improvisation.  

In their fifteen years together as a band, celebrated Los Angeles culture-mashers Ozomatli have gone from being hometown heroes to being named U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors.  Ozomatli has always juggled two key identities. They are the voice of their city and they are citizens of the world. Their music — a notorious urban-Latino-and-beyond collision of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East LA R&B and New Orleans second line, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga— has long followed a key mantra: it will take you around the world by taking you around L.A.

Ozo is a product of Los Angeles’ grassroots political scene. Proudly born as a multi-racial crew in post-uprising 90s Los Angeles, the band has built a formidable reputation over five full-length studio albums and a relentless touring schedule for taking party rocking so seriously that it becomes new school musical activism.

The band had long been a favorite of international audiences-playing everywhere from Japan to North Africa and Australia-and their music had always been internationalist in its scope, seamlessly blending and transforming traditions from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.  Ozomatli has spent 15 years working diligently to spread its message of peace, communication and understanding through music, with a long standing tradition of performing for children all over the world, from the schools of North St. Louis to the orphanages of Southeast Asia.

  

TICKETS WENT ON SALE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 @ 10:00 AM

at the Fillmore Auditorium Box Office, online at www.ticketmaster.com or call 800 – 745 - 3000

Tickets are $27.50 GA ADV and $30.00 GA DOS plus applicable service charges.

The Fillmore box office is open Monday - Friday from 12:00 Noon - 6:00pm & Saturdays from 10:00am - 2:00pm.  On days of Fillmore shows, the box office is open from 12:00 Noon – 9:00pm. 

The box office accepts cash, MasterCard, Visa and American Express – No checks!  Service charges may apply.   

THE FILLMORE AUDITORIUM IS LOCATED AT 1510 CLARKSON ST. AT COLFAX.                              

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 Ages 16+

Bourbon Grill

This is the original home of the tiny walk-up eatery at 1618 East Colfax, run by owners Lien Vo and Tom Lieber. It's located at 571 E. Colfax Avenue today.

Bastien's Restaurant Closed Today in Memorium

Photo by Colfax Jack

Bastien's, at 3503 E. Colfax Avenue, is closed today in memory of William Bastien Jr (1922 - 2013).

William B. Bastien Jr.
In Loving Memory  
Born
January 19, 1922
Wichita, Kansas  
Passed Away
February 5, 2013
Denver, Colorado
 

Biographical info: Lived in Denver most of his life. Went to Regis High School and College. Married Marge March 1, 1949 and had 4 children. Served in the Merchant Marines during World War II. Came home from the war and owned and operated Bastiens' Restaurant (aka The Moon Drive-in) side by side with his father William Sr. Belonged to the knights of Columbus and was a Toastmaster. Loved his dogs and loved to go fishing.

Preceded in death by his spouse (Marguerite aka Margo), his mother (Ruth Lorraine) and his father (William B Sr.)

Survived by his children Colette (married to David S. Bowdish), Mary P. Vigil, M. Jeannine Bastien, and William B, III (married to Lisa Bastien). Also survived by 4 grand children (Jessica, Lara, Ryan, andf William IV) and one great grandchild (Eli) as well as his brother (C. T. Bastien) and sister (MaryLou Kenney) and several nephews and nieces.

Memorial Services:
Rosary followed by Catholic mass at Loyola Church (2305 Gaylord St) at 9:30 a.m. February 11. 2013

Interment at Fort Logan at 12:30 following mass - Staging area B.

In lieu of flowers please send any donations to Dominican Sisters Home Health Agency of Denver

Spiritualism: Real or Fraud?

     Spiritualism: Real or Fraud? This was the subject of debate that brought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (universally associated with his most popular literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, one whose fervent belief in Spiritualism dominated the final dozen years of his life), and world-renowned escape artist and silent film star Harry Houdini (who in the 1920's strode into the public arena to confront fraudulent mediums) together at the Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Avenue, in the 1920's.

Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle

     After extensive travelling abroad, Doyle returned to the States to continue his lecture tour and, in Denver, he met Houdini. They had long discussions about Spiritualism and some recent psychic investigations. Doyle had witnessed a demonstration by the Zancig, a couple of vaudeville mind-readers, and was convinced they were real telepaths. Houdini, however, knew them personally; they were acknowledged magicians and members of the Society of American Magicians, but nothing of this moved Doyle. "Sir Arthur said that he was capable of detecting trickery," wrote Houdini in his notes, "and we had a discussion in which I said that I did not think he could. He looked amazed at me, and I said, 'Why, every once in a while I see something I cannot account for'". While staying in Denver, the local newspaper interviewed Doyle; the reporter told him that Houdini was offering five thousand dollars for any medium's feat he could not duplicate, and Doyle said that he would give the same amount of money if Houdini could "show me my mother". Immediately, Doyle apologized to Houdini, saying he had been misquoted.
     Spiritualism brought Houdini and Conan Doyle together in 1920, but it was hardly the only thing they had in common. Both men were famous around the globe, and while their career paths were quite different they shared an energy and a virility that few could match. Houdini’s athletic feats were obviously central to his act, and although more famous as a writer, Arthur Conan Doyle was an avid sportsman and adventurer, a large man who struck many as the very embodiment of English manhood. But for all their similarities, the men had divergent approaches to Spiritualism.
     After a séance in which he believed he had been contacted by his son Kingsley, who had died in the War, Conan Doyle became a leader of the movement, defending it in lectures around the world. Even the embarrassing Cottingley fairy hoax, in which he had championed faked photographs of wood fairies and goblins that were later revealed as fakes, did not deter him. "The Elusive American," Houdini, on the other hand, thought he knew trickery when he saw it, and set out to punish those taking advantage of a vulnerable public. That their friendship lasted for several years is largely due to the fact that Houdini, always seeking intellectual respectabilty, deliberately hid his real feelings about Spiritualism from Doyle.
     Soon after their correspondence had turned into a friendship, introductions from Conan Doyle gave Houdini entrée to dozens of mediums during an extended tour of Great Britain. Unknown to Doyle, however, Houdini was far from converting: "The more I investigate the subject," he wrote, "the less I can make myself believe." Inevitably, despite a growing personal friendship, the two great men moved toward a confrontation.
     Their falling out began when Houdini joined the Doyles for an intimate séance, in which Lady Doyle proposed to contact Houdini’s beloved mother. Although a skeptic, Houdini did believe in an afterlife, and as biographer Kenneth Silverman wrote, "closed his eyes and tried to rid his mind of all but religious thoughts." But by the time Lady Doyle had filled fifteen sheets with automatic-writing she claimed had come from Cecelia Weiss, Houdini had only become further convinced that he was witnessing a fraud. Although he left without disclosing it -- "I did not have the nerve to tell him," -- Houdini knew that he had not heard from his mother. A rabbi’s wife, she never would have begun with a sign of the cross; although she had barely uttered a word in English while alive, suddenly she was fluent, saying things like "I am almost overwhelmed by this joy." It simply did not sound like his dear mother, and Houdini resented it.
      Although they both tried to prevent it, Houdini and Conan Doyle were arguing privately over medium cases within months; by the spring of 1923, they were exchanging sharp letters in the "New York Times." After a public feud when their tours crossed in Denver, the friendship seemed beyond repair. While praising him as "the bravest man in our generation," Conan Doyle condemned Houdini for being biased and publicity hungry. Houdini wrote that "There is nothing that Sir Arthur will believe that surprises me." It had been one of the oddest pairings of the century. Their meeting at the Ogden Theatre was to be the end of their friendship.

Scene on Colfax: The Lumineers

May 7, 2012: As late-night host Conan O'Brien introduced the Lumineers on his show, he shouted out to an oddly familiar landmark on Colorado's East Colfax Avenue: “On Friday and Saturday nights, they'll be appearing at the Bluebird Theater in Denver, Colorado. Please welcome, the Lumineers!”

The Seafarer Opens Tonight at the Aurora Fox Theater