The building that was once the Motel de Ville, located at 650 W. Colfax, is no more. Demolition began in October 2022 to make way for The Finch, “a 7-story [apartment] project designed to cater to young professionals and affluent singles who enjoy city living.” Demolition was completed in December 2022.
Continue reading “Motel de Ville: An Obituary”
“Warren is not a saloonkeeper or a strip joint owner. He is a creative artist who might have been an outstanding designer, painter, or architect, but who happens to run the world’s most exciting night club. He’s the exotic dancer’s dream. He’s a master showman.” – Evelyn West (1956)
“With the almost overnight success of his Tropics, St Thomas became night club king of Denver.” -Cabaret Magazine (1956)
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“Deine Vorfahren zu vergessen bedeutet, ein Fluss ohne Quelle zu sein, ein Baum ohne Wurzel.”
“Forgetting your ancestors is to be a river without a source. A tree without a root.”
Continue reading “Fritts/Fritz: Down Through the Roots”
“I’ve been a folk singer, or should I say, a singer of folk songs, for most of my adult life. My idea of folk singers is men like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Merle Travis, and dozens more who worked and traveled through the hardships and joys of the folks they wrote about. The music I choose to interpret is really a vicarious expression of my life, because for every song I sing I have a memory from my own travels. That’s what keeps this music alive-the shared association we all have with these songs.”
–Walt Conley, from liner notes of After All These Years
Continue reading “Walt Conley: The Founding Father of the Denver Folk Scene”
Dethtoll was an early American death/thrash metal band based in Toledo, Ohio. The band was formed in 1986 on New Year’s Day by Todd Evans and Joe D. Evans got his first guitar as a high school graduation present. According to Evans, Joe D had been screaming, yelling, and singing his entire life. Their first song, according to Evans, was written in Joe D’s bedroom with Evans on guitar and Joe D singing through a vacuum cleaner tube. In 1986 Dethtoll created their first recordings, an untitled five song demo tape. At this time the band consisted of Todd Evans (guitar), Joe D (vocals), John Gingrich (drums), and Howard Kolb (bass). The Dethtoll sound, according to Evans, was influenced by various bands including Slayer, Exodus, D.R.I, Voivod, Black Flag, Die Kruezen, Dark Angel, Dr. Know, The Mentors, and GWAR.
Continue reading “Toledo Metal: The Story of Dethtoll 1986-1989”
Hard to know which way the wind was blowing when Bob Dylan crossed the Colorado border on a summer day in 1960, heading west to Denver to stake his claim in the vibrant folk scene growing in the city. But like towns before and towns that followed, Denver turned out to be just another place Dylan was passin’ through.
Continue reading “Passin’ Through: Bob Dylan’s Denver”
