When I published a review of RAH’s last show from the Bluebird Theater a couple of months ago, I knew and predicted that they would take off like wild fire, but I did not know it would happen this quickly. Since that opening gig, they have added bassist, Nat Lombardo, who absolutely tore it up on this night.

It was bound to happen that the San Francisco-based Brothers Comatose, one of the hottest bohemian bluegrass bands on the circuit would wind up pickin’ and grinnin’ from the Terrapin Crossroads stage at Phil Lesh’s lair in San Rafael, California.

“From death comes life and so on.”

I was honestly a bit wary of seeing my first Elephant Revival show sans Sage Cook. And I’m sure quite a few people felt that way. But most of me was excited to see what new journey the band was on with their new member Charlie Rose, playing a range of instruments and seamlessly adding his Rufus Wainwright-esque vocals on a number of songs. And like the lyrics above state, there’s a new life to Elephant Revival – one just as wonderful as I had hoped.

It was my second trip to Denver’s newest musical oasis of sound indulgence, Baur’s Listening Lounge. This venue is a fascinating place to see live music even if you have not heard of the performers. They do not book bad musical acts at this place. And there is intentional reasoning behind whom the Music Appreciation Society and Tsunami Music Publicity books here. On this night, the music was jaw dropping.

This was the first night of a series of hyped up, Grateful Dead infused, powerful shows that lasted almost a week. There were three shows at the Ogden Theatre, one Bisco Inferno extravaganza featuring Break Science and Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and a Billy & the Kids show at the Ogden featuring Bill Kreutzmann, Aron Magner (Disco Biscuits), Tom Hamilton (American Babies, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead), and Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green).

When I was going through a period in my life where I thought there was a real chance I would become a percussionist in a reggae band or a ska legend, my dad would casually say things like “When I saw the Wailers here…” or “The first time I saw Bob Marley…” and I would endure the crushing realization that I was simply born at the wrong time. Well, thankfully, I’ve restored balance to the universe.

While classic rock giants such as the Rolling Stones, The Who, and even the Dead are booking gargantuan sport stadiums, legends of jazz have a distinctly different approach. Popularity aside, jazz naturally thrives in intimate venues. The music wouldn’t sustain it’s full power in much larger than a cozy theatre. The comparison is only novelty since jazz necessitates more attention of its audience. In the late 1960s certain jazz musicians were growing tired of clichés about jazz becoming less mainstream with rock ‘n’ roll music then dominating the pop charts.

When a legendary reggae band tours with the hottest new reggae act on the touring circuit the result is a sweaty dance party with a lot of chucking going on. After touring for 40 years, Steel Pulse knows how to do it, and they also know how to seek out other talented musicians because Satsang was coming in hot.

Every time that I have seen Random Rab or saQi it has been an incredible memory. Therefore, when I heard they were both coming to the Fox Theater, amongst other stops in the state, I had to make sure that I was in attendance.

Taarka is a little (although sometimes bigger) indie folk / gypsy-jazz / bluegrass band from Lyons, Colorado. And if you lived here through the tragic floods of 2013, you know that the town of Lyons was ravaged by the unrelenting waters. It has been a long road to rebuild, and David Tiller and Enion Pelta-Tiller, the leads in this 5-piece string band, lost their home in the devastation. So, fittingly, Taarka’s most recent album, released on March 24^th, is titled Making Tracks Home.