The only shows I’ve seen recently have all been provided by SoundRabbit. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all, as I love their music, but I just haven’t been getting around to as many shows as I once did. And that’s pretty surprising to me since the music scene out here is nearly as good as it gets. Hopefully I’ll start getting out more with the warmer weather and abundance of summertime shows.

Anyway, I’ve uploaded a few recordings of recent SoundRabbit shows to archive.org. The first one available is the show from the Mercury Cafe, which I wrote about previously. Second is a short but sweet set from Herman’s Hideaway just a couple of weeks ago, available here. Both of these have a great cover of Life During Wartime by the Talking Heads.

In completely unrelated music news, the first single from O.A.R.’s upcoming release All Sides can be heard here.

As I mentioned toward the end of last week, my parents were out visiting for the weekend. This was their first trip out since they helped us with our first house hunting trip out here in Denver. We kept very busy throughout the weekend, and among the events was a concert out at Red Rocks. Though I’m not typically a country music fan, I decided to buy tickets to the show for Mother’s Day. And besides, I always say that any show at Red Rocks is worth seeing.

The lineup for the night included Sugarland and Pat Green, neither of which I was familiar with other than knowing that they sang country. I must say that I was a little surprised by both acts. First, Pat Green was a pretty funny guy up on stage and you could really tell that he was loving every minute of playing at the legendary venue. His music was a bit on the rock edge of genre, and he was accompanied by a talented band.

Sugarland is a duo act consisting of the primary female singer, and a guy on guitar, mandolin, and also vocals. In addition to these two there was a full band on the stage with them. Again, the band was totally trilled about playing at Red Rocks, and it showed in their performance. They are definitely country, and it’s hard to understand a thing the front lady is saying at times, but they were entertaining. And to complete the night, they ended the show with a cover of a Matt Nathanson song, followed up by a pretty solid take on Pour Some Sugar on Me. I will admit that I had a much better time than I was anticipating.

Today is dragging along at a slow pace. Typically Fridays fly by, but today I’m a little tired and just not feeling the whole work thing. This is probably due to me staying out a little too late on a school night. The occasion was a SoundRabbit show at this funky little place called the Mercury Cafe. I arrived a little early and walked up the steps to ask the door guy where the concert was going to be. Once upstairs I knew it wasn’t going to be there, since there was some sort of swing dancing going on. We finally concluded that the show was downstairs in a little room connected to the restaurant.

I chatted with the band while they were setting up, mostly about the tour that they just did that took them all the way out to the east coast and then back to Colorado. It sounds like they had a good time and are ready to take a similar trip next month. The show was good as always, though the manager tried stopping them after only a couple of songs saying that they were too loud. The problem was that they started off with some of the quieter tunes in the repertoire. Anyway, the show went on and the lady didn’t say anything else, she would just occasionally pop her head in and stare at everyone. It definitely toned down the night, but it was nice to see the band play again. I actually took my recording gear along and should have a tape online sometime soon.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Virginia Coalition has a new CD out that I have been listing to regularly for awhile now. It has grown to become one of my favorite CDs of the year thus far. Well we finally had a chance to hear some of these songs performed live last Friday night as the band was in town supporting The Beautiful Girls. Though VACO no longer has all of the extra percussion that we all grew to love, they do have a newer drummer that is very powerful on the kit. I’m not sure that he can fill the roles of three individuals, but I don’t think that’s what he is trying to do. This allows the other members to focus on their primary instruments (guitar, bass, keyboard) and has really tightened up the sound quite a bit. The result is a much crisper sounding show that still has loads of the energy we’ve all grown to expect.

As far as the headliner goes, I was pleasantly surprised by The Beautiful Girls. I was a little familiar with their music after recently acquiring their most resent release. In fact a few of the songs have quickly found their way into my head and I’ve found myself humming the words while sitting here at my desk. The first thing you’ll notice from this band is a striking similarity to Jack Johnson but with a little more energy. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jack but I just find some of his material and performances to be a little lackluster. Seeing the band in person draws even more Jack Johnson thoughts, as the front man of the group has a similar appearance to Mr. Johnson. The band is from Australia and is on their first major US tour. So catch them in a smaller venue while you still can.

I haven’t posted a song of the moment in quite some time, but this one is definitely necessary. It comes from Virginia Coalition’s latest CD titled Home This Year, which was just released on March 18th. Often known for their crazy live performances full of crowd interaction and high energy stage performances, this CD may come as a shock at first. It is much more subdued than any of their other material, or at least anything recent. But I feel that this is some of their strongest song writing ever, and I am not alone. One of my favorite albums of theirs is a very early one called Colors Of The Sound, and this one is quickly becoming my second favorite album from this extremely talented group. For a sample of the CD, take a listen to “Sing Along” and then go and purchase the whole thing.

Something that I am now very excited about was announced earlier today, though I had heard rumors of it for months now. The Mile High Music Festival will take place July 19th & 20th at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver. It was originally rumored to take place in City Park, which I would have much rather preferred just for convenience, but I’m still excited nonetheless. I just hope that they work out some sort of transportation to the event to/from downtown.

Take a look at this lineup and you’ll be sure to quickly realize that this is right up my alley:

Saturday, July 19th

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Steve Winwood
• Michael Franti & Spearhead
• O.A.R. (Of A Revolution)
• Spoon
• moe.
• Citizen Cope
• Brett Dennen
• Newton Faulkner
• Andrew Bird
• Josh Ritter
• State Radio
• JJ Grey & Mofro
• Bob Schneider
• Meese
• Born in the Flood
• Railbenders

Sunday, July 20th

• Dave Matthews Band
• John Mayer
• The Black Crowes
• Rodrigo y Gabriela
• Colbie Caillat
• Ingrid Michaelson
• OneRepublic
• Flogging Molly
• The Roots
• Leftover Salmon
• Martin Sexton
• Flobots
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
• Tea Leaf Green
• Rose Hill Drive
• The New Mastersounds
• Serena Ryder
• The Photo Atlas

Last week I headed up to Boulder for a Barrack Obama event. But this wasn’t for political reasons, at least not for me, I headed to the Fox Theatre to hear SoundRabbit play at the event. If I haven’t said it before, the Fox has to be one of the best sounding places I have ever heard, so it was an easy decision for me. Upon arrival I was told that they were at maximum capacity, but would be letting more people in at 9:30. So I patiently waited and finally the crowd mellowed out a little and I was able to get in. I’m not sure if people thought that Barrack was going to be there, and then left disappointed, or if the first musical act was bad, but the crowd definitely had cleared out. By the time I left later in the evening there were probably only a hundred or two folks left in the place. Fortunately, that smallish crowd was very into the SoundRabbit set. I brought my recording gear along and got a great sounding tape as well, so check it out!

A live recording of mine is currently being featured on the Live Music Podcast. The recording chosen is Will Hoge from 02.02.2007 live at the Trilogy Lounge in Boulder. The entry says that the show was on February 3rd, but looking back on it, I made a mistake and it was actually the 2nd. Oh well, that’s not really important. What is important is that you check this out and be sure to check back often for other podcasts.

Play Podcast (.mp3)

We started off the weekend by going to see SoundRabbit at the D Note in Arvada. We got there early so we could try their pizza that we had heard good things about. It turns out that the pizza is delicious and they have quite an array a vegetarian pizzas. We would definitely head back there often, if it wasn’t a fifteen or twenty minute drive from our house.

The room itself is definitely better suited as a restaurant than a concert venue, although I do appreciate the effort in doing both. The stage is oriented in the center of the long narrow room, so that there aren’t many tables directly in front. The only available table when we arrived was on the far side and directly on the side of the stage. This didn’t make for the best acoustics, but I always enjoy watching drummers closeup when presented the opportunity. As always, the music was great and it was a perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Also, I’d like to point out that SoundRabbit is donating 100% of online album sales in December via SoundRabbit.com to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So, pick up their latest disc, and support a great cause all at the same time.

Arvada on Dwellable

It’s that time of the year again. Time for another NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music CD. Picking the songs for this years disc was a little harder than in years past, since I feel that it was a pretty slow year in music. Therefore, you will notice quite a few repeats from previous years. There are still some new bands that I think you will enjoy.

1. ALO – Maria
2. Brandi Carlile – The Story
3. Green River Ordinance – Come On
4. SoundRabbit – Hazel
5. Ryan Montbleau Band – Maybe Today
6. The Alternate Routes – Time Is A Runaway
7. Cary Brothers – Ride
8. Paolo Nutini – Loving You
9. Bedouin Soundclash – Walls Fall Down
10. Brendan James – The Other Side
11. Toby Lightman – Holding Me Down
12. The John Butler Trio – Good Excuse
13. Xavier Rudd – Better People
14. Matt Nathanson – Come On Get Higher
15. Brett Dennen – Darlin’ Do Not Fear
16. Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers – Sweetest Goodbye
17. The Villebillies – Rolling Stone

Later this afternoon/evening I will be offering up a BitTorrent download for all of the geeks in the house. This will definitely be a much faster download, if you are patient enough to wait. And obviously the compilation is available for download from edpaffjr.com. If downloading from my site is slow, I hope to have it available from other hosts in the near future (probably tomorrow). I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays!

Edit: I apologize for taking so long, but the torrent download is now available here.