Monday, December 14, 2015

Newcomer's Guide to Popular Colorado Concerts and Events

 

Welcome to Colorado. There are many people who loathe new residents to CO because of increased cost of living and traffic. I understand them, however I realize you are here to stay. So enjoy your time here and by the end of this guide you will know which events and concerts are the most sought after each year here in good ol’ ColoRADo. Note- Events are not ranked by preference or any sort of organizational system. Additionally, the author is neither a fan of all of these events, nor NOT not a fan.

Decadence
This two night non-camping(I believe?) festival held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver is every hard-partyer’s dream. From what I can tell the music selection is mostly electronic and dance. The event is always on December 30th and 31st (aka New Year’s Eve.) This event has potential to sell out quick resulting in expensive tickets in secondary markets like Craigslist.

Red Rocks
You have probably heard of Red Rocks and it is one of the reasons you moved here. Fair enough. Make sure to check out the event schedule when Red Rocks releases it so you can snag tickets early. Some examples of shows you want to get the jump on are Colorado’s own Pretty Lights and Atmosphere.

Arise Music and Arts Festival
This is a relatively newer festival that is the first camp onsite festival in Northern Colorado. Located in Loveland, you can expect to see folk and electronic type music played here, along with a variety of hippie activities like yoga and stuff. Being a newer festival, it is still pretty affordable when compared with Bonnaroo, Coachella, and the like.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival
For over forty years this high-altitude festival has brought together people of all ages and locations in a beautiful setting just outside the main downtown area of the mountain town of Telluride. You can get a 4 day pass, or get each day pass a la carte. Don’t hesitate too long after they release the tickets.

Rocky Mountain Showdown
Growing up in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Showdown is pretty much the most popular college football game in a state where college football is not especially huge. Colorado State in Fort Collins takes on Colorado University from Boulder in the stadium where the Denver Broncos play every year. These tickets have a tendency to be sought after.

Country Jam

 In the western part of the state lies Grand Junction, home of the Country Jam country music festival. This multi-day, camp onsite festival has a ton of good country and the tickets are pretty affordable when again, comparing to Lollapalooza-size events. Yee-Haw. 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

12 Fort Collins and Northern Colorado FM Radio Presets You Should Have in 2015

            This list is an insider’s guide to some quality FM radio in the Fort Collins and Northern Colorado area from the ears of a music aficionado and local. It is current as of 7/22/2015, and is subject to becoming invalid due to normal business change in radio industry. FM Radio is free, reliable and diverse. For that it is still relevant.

Without further adieu, here are the top 12 FM Radio stations (in no order) that should be programed in your presets in Fort Collins and the Northern Colorado region- (12 because some genius invented the whole FM1 and FM2 system, giving you not 6, but a whopping 12 presets of fun to shake a stick at.)   

91.5 KUNC- This is basically NPR…News and stuff. Hell yes.

FLO 107.1- Man these cats are killing it with the hip hop from 1990 to like 2005. The signal is very sketchy is Northern Colorado so be warned.

Radio 94.9- Dope alternative station who devotes a small portion of time to local CO artists.  

93.5 Pirate Radio- These people play the greatest oldies, from C.W. McCall, to Frank Sinatra to the 
Beach Boys. Warning- Jesus stuff on Sundays.

90.5 KCSU- Local college station who when they get it right, they play a swath of good music, but when they get it wrong, you are hearing tribal drums and shit.

100.7 KOLT – This country station is straight outta Cheyenne, so you know it’s going to be legit stuff. I heard an amazing Chris Ledoux song on this station once and got hooked. The signal can be sketch on this one as well.

97.3 KBCO- Alternative/Dave Matthews/Counting Crows type stuff. Local stalwart station from Boulder. Good easy listening.

94.3 Loudwire- This is a solid rock/metal station. Long morning radio show that is ok I guess, but overall solid mix and not too many interruptions from ads.

89.3 KUVO- Lots of jazz and latin on this station. They also have genre-dedicated shows like Saturday’s hip hop and R&B show and gospel on Sundays. I got drunk and donated $50 to this station once during a pledge drive, and got a shout out on the radio…totally worth it.

KOOL 105.1- 70’s and 80’s popular stuff. Good for when you and the squad are rollin’ up to da party.

96.1 KISS- Crappy pop songs repeated too often, with the saving grace of funny skits on Jon Jay and Rich’s talk show in the mornings like fiancĂ© Friday or war of the roses.


88.9 KRFC- Local Fort Collins radio broadcast that you can expect to hear anything and everything.