The environment; the space you are in externally and between your ears can make music magical. It can also make music sad, stressful, angry and every other emotion you can conjure up. But that is what always brings me back to the feeling of magic. It’s like a smell. There are certain smells that take you places. A faint perfume as you walk down a busy street can transport you back to summer camp and a first love.

I had a plan of action – a solution to obviate an habitual problem. It was a good solution, too. At least I thought it was. In the end, it turned out to be myopic and futile.

Poor Man’s Whiskey brings “A Special Tribute to The Allman Brothers Band” to the Fox Theatre to Boulder, Colorado.  The sound of California meeting southern rock, in the form of renditions of PMW’s favorite Allman Brother’s songs, is a show not to be missed.

While NASCAR superstar and eleven-year running fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured an irrelevant win last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was hard at work racing down the road. The first leg of the glam-pop duo’s fall tour culminated in a voracious three-band onslaught at the Fox Theatre in The People’s Republic of Boulder, Colorado.

Last weekend Greensky Bluegrass hosted two sold-out shows at The Odgen Theater in Denver, Colorado. The shows were nothing short of spectacular - with killer sets that match the energy and skill Greensky fans love. The two performances showcased their new album, If Sorrows Swim, released last September. On Friday, Greensky mixed a few of those new songs with old songs, and a few old classics to boot.

I cannot believe that it has been almost a decade since I first saw Matisyahu perform “Close My Eyes” with his musical idol and mine, Trey Anastasio at Bonnaroo in 2005. After that joyous performance, I attended one of his concerts. And, in 2008, I saw him play at the Jammy Award Ceremony with Rose Hill Drive and his bandmates Aaron Dugan and Rob Marscher (formerly of 2001 Jammy nominees Addison Groove Project). They played a Flaming Lips song, and that night was one of my favorite moments in music.

How many more Dead tribute bands does the scene really need? There’s truly already plenty out there. Even if the music is structured to be boundless and open for continuation, it seems like bands could better serve the music with an improvisational spirit, but playing originals instead of Dead covers. Indeed it takes a special group of musicians who understand the music inside out and have the ability to diversify the extensive catalogue instead of simply parroting it.

It is really incogitable, but a delight for me to follow the growth of these two credible musicians appropriately called Big Gigantic.  It seems like yesterday that I was eating at a restaurant in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia with Dominic Lalli, while he was in The Motet, and my good friend and their road manager at the time Ben Scrimalli.

I moved to Colorado in 2010 to pursue my Masters degree in education. I chose CU because it had a strong program for my discipline, but I’d be lying if I said the town of Boulder, itself, held no sway in my decision. Having wandered in a proverbial desert of live music for five years, I was a deeply dehydrated Deadhead who needed an oasis to slake my thirst. Occasionally, a noteworthy band played at The Santa Fe Brewing Company or an hour south at one of Albuquerque’s few ramshackle venues, but these were rare occasions.

West Water Outlaws “Paranoid” New Year’s Eve at the Fox Theatre will feature one original set plus one cover set of the ENTIRE ALBUM of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”. The Yawpers and In the Whale join the special NYE show.