Celebrate Day of the Dead With Juba Juba at the Moon
The Grooview
TELLURIDE, Oct. 26, 9:47 a.m. - Ahh-ooo! Get ready for pre-Halloween,
post-Halloween and everything in-between over the next week, with All
Hallows’ Eve falling on Wednesday this year. Stir in this week’s full
moon fever and a horde of haunted happenings, and the resulting
concoction is a tasty brew of ghostly revelries in Telluride and beyond.
Tonight,
get in the spirit at the oh-so-haunted Fly Me to the Moon Saloon with
Juba Juba and the Day of the Dead celebration and costume party.
The Denver-based Grateful Dead cover band Juba Juba is comprised of
heavy-hitting Front Range players, including main man Steve LaZar on
guitars and vocals. LaZar has played in a bundle of popular Denver
bands, including Radio Blue, Unifari Band, Jamaican Eclipse, Hollow
Bones, Pangea, and Ship of Fools.
“Juba
Juba has been around for a couple of years, and we rotate through
personnel, which seems to happen in the jam band scene,” explains
LaZar. “We’re back again with Haven McInerny, who used to play with me
in Ship of Fools. So now it’s the Steven-Haven powerhouse, which is a
little different sound.
“I switched to the rhythm guitar and
Haven is now playing lead, so we whack it a little harder than we used
to,” he continues. “It does keep it fresh, and that’s what we like to
do - give new life to the Grateful Dead music, and let people hear
unique and unusual versions of the songs.
“We also have a new
keyboard player, Greg McBroome, so with two ‘Mc’s’ in the band, we
might have to throw in a version of ‘Whiskey in the Jar,’ an old song
that Jerry used to love,” he laughs. “It includes one of Jerry’s
favorite lines, ‘Stand and deliver for I am a bold deceiver.’”
LaZar
added that he and McBroome have teamed up before. “Greg and I played in
a band called Reasonable Doubt with Terry Peacock, one of the original
members of the Byrds. Our drummer Ian Bodley was also in Ship of Fools,
so it’s sort of a moveable musical feast of musicians within the jam
band community.”
The band also includes talented bassist Rick
Roseberry, who just returned from four years of touring in Europe, and
percussionist Francisco Saldanya, a recent addition to the group.
“Having a drummer and a percussionist really makes the music
infectiously danceable,” notes LaZar. “Not that we don’t take the
occasional foray into space, but the percussion really drives the
grooves.”
So what’s in the name? “Juba Juba comes from an old
Dead song from the 60s called ‘Mr. Charlie,’” explains LaZar. “Juba was
a trance dance from slave times when people would get together in drum
circles and dance, leading them to experience a trance-like state.
That’s the Juba.”
LaZar added that the music of the Grateful
Dead is simply fun for musicians to play, and allows the audience to go
along for the ride. “It’s very improvisational, and lends itself well
to interpretation. Those of us who have been listening to it for so
long know that it’s a matter of capturing that feeling of transcendence
from the live shows of the Grateful Dead. It’s more than just a
concert. We want to give people that experience.”
Bound by the
enduring music of the Grateful Dead, the powerfully talented group not
only can cover the legendary band, but takes the interpretation of the
music to a lofty, mystical state, and this show is sure to be a
gratefully groovy time. “We love coming out to Western Colorado, there
are great people out there,” says LaZar. “This will be our first time
in Telluride, so we’re looking forward to it, and hope everyone will
come out for the show.”
Come out they will, in all shapes
and forms, including a possible pied piping guest. LaZar says the band
will award a prize for their favorite costume, and the Moon will offer
prizes for costumes, too. So put on your finest deadly attire and get
ready to shake your bones with Juba Juba at the Fly Me to the Moon
Saloon tonight.
By the way, Juba Juba will roll into
Ridgway Saturday night for a second show, with the Halloween Boogie
Party at the Sherbino Theatre, starting at 8:30 p.m. If you don’t have
a costume, talk to Shannon at the Sherbino, she has some awesome stuff
at the theatre!
Saturday night in Telluride, prepare to howl at
the 32nd Annual KOTO Halloween Bash at the Sheridan Opera House, which
this year features two sensational spinners, DJ Dylan and DJ Naka-G.
“These
guys are big-time DJs from Aspen,” explains KOTO Events Coordinator
Janice Zink. “DJ Dylan plays everything, and runs the musical gamut.
Naka-G has been playing in the Aspen area for the last seven years, and
the two team up frequently for gigs there, including the Winter X
Games.”
Naka-G is wildly popular in Japan as well, with his progressive mix of house, techno and electronica.
DJ
Dylan says he likes to play with various styles, and manages to stay
plenty busy with the thriving club scene in Aspen. “I play every week
for DishAfterDark, a weekly night club here in Aspen. I also play
weekends après ski at the Sky Hotel, which was voted the ‘Sexiest Ski
Bar’ by Playboy Magazine,” he says. “I do X Games, HBO Comedy Festival,
Food and Wine Festival, as well as many fashion shows and other stuff
that I can.”
Dylan adds that the two have opened for some major
names, and all genres of music. “We both play at Belly Up a lot,
opening up for such groups as Z-Trip, Damian Marley, Ziggy Marley,
Steel Pulse, Jurassic Five, Ice Cube, Chemical Brothers, and Foreigner.”
Yeah, these dudes are big-time, and will have even the stiffest of zombies groovin’!
Zink
notes that the historic Sheridan Opera House lends itself well to the
bash. “It’s kinda’ cool,” says Zink. “We’re gonna have two different
themes. Upstairs will be the Garden of Eden, and downstairs, Urban
America. So, we’ll have two styles of music in two different rooms, and
one great party!”
She adds that prizes for the best costumes
will again be awarded this year, with the top prize $200, so don your
best goth, goddess or ghoul persona, and prepare for one of the
biggest, baddest costume balls around, Saturday night at the KOTO bash.
Tommy’s
also has a full cauldron of Halloween events on tap, including
tonight’s Full Moon Party with the popular Bruce Hayes. This is a solo
show, but Hayes is an amazing one-man band, and can fill a room and get
you movin’ with his big and funky sound. Hayes has most recently been
working on a new CD for Bill Wright, a buddy from his high school days
in Connecticut. According to Hayes, Wright is a super songwriter, and
currently gigs around Denver with his bands Barney’s Last Bullet and
the Bill Wright Band, known for their high-energy old school/new school
funk and rockin’ blues. You can check him out at billwrightband.com.
In
the meantime, check out Bruce Hayes at Tommy’s tonight, and again at
Teetzel’s Halloween Party in Dolores on Saturday night, where there’s
sure to be a little howlin’ at the moon!
Coming up next week at
Tommy’s, Open Mic Night happens to fall on Halloween, and to celebrate,
Tommy’s will hold an All Hallow’s Eve Hextravaganza.
“In the
fabled Telluride tradition of holiday celebrations, Halloween ranks at
the top of the list of festive auspicious occasions,” says open mic
host Andrew Wynne.
The festivities begin a little earlier
than usual, at 8 p.m. on Wednesday evening, with an open mic costume
and performance contest. Wynne notes that performers must pre-register
and appear in costume to enter the contest. A panel of “esteemed”
judges will determine the Best Costume and Best Performance, with
prizes to be awarded.
“It’s something different,” explains
Wynne. “Contestants can choose to impersonate their favorite rock star,
or simply dress in costume when they perform a favorite song, either
individually or as a band. Think lip sync, except the performers are
actually playing and singing live!”
Following the open mic, an
unknown Mystery Live Band is going to rock out and wrap up the evening,
so who knows what will transpire! One thing is for sure: Tommy’s
Hextravaganza is certain to be a fantastically ghoulish treat this
Halloween!
Next weekend, you can still get freaky, with
Fractalia ready to rip it up at the Halloween Bash at the Sherbino
Theatre on Saturday night. Fractalia, by the way, will be jamming
wickedly at Smugglers in Montrose this Saturday night.
In
Durango, go retro, with two classic rock groups teaming up for a
dynamic double bill at Ft. Lewis College. Pure Prairie League and
Firefall are both on the line-up, and the two 70s bands continue to
have plenty of spontaneity and energy in their live shows.
While
they have gone through some personnel changes, and Vince Gill is no
longer in the band, Craig Fuller continues to head up Pure Prairie
League, widely known for their hits “Amie” and “Let Me Love you
Tonight.” The band just released their 14th album and continues to wow
with their tight vocal harmonies and country-rocking style.
Boulder-based Firefall has also continued to flourish, and recently
released Colorado to Liverpool – a Tribute to the Beatles to wide
acclaim. Catch the two legendary bands together at the Community
Concert Hall at Ft. Lewis College tonight at 7 p.m. You can check out
the fall concert series on the campus at durangoconcerts.com.
The
Summit in Durango has a great fall line-up this year as well, and
tonight you can catch the discofunkgrass of Last to Know. Saturday
night it’s Revision, a hot trio out of Ithaca, N.Y. that has shared the
staged with many artists familiar to Telluride audiences, including
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, George Clinton, Derek Trucks, and
Soulive. Next week, the hot ticket is the Halloween Partaaaay at the
Summit featuring the Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, which is sure to
be huge, with GPGDS’s relentless roots reggae and experimental dub
sound.
Best wishes for a raging week of Halloween happenings!