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Meet...
Erica Brown
Among the perks of this "job" are the exceptional people
I've been able to add to my list of friends and acquaintances. Musicians,
singers and artists often posses special qualities beyond their
talent that would make anyone proud to be associated with them.
I've never ranked this list. But, if I had to do so, Erica Brown
would certainly find a spot at the top.
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Erica Brown
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From my perspective, there
are two Erica Browns. Off stage, there is the quiet, unassuming
woman who can slip into the circle of people you are talking to
at a gathering without anyone noticing just who it was
who joined the group. In moments stolen to speak with her between
sets, she is soft spoken and demonstrates that she is first a kind,
compassionate and caring woman.
On stage that all changes. Erica Brown the performer lets it all
hang out. With a flirtatious little gleam in her eyes, she taunts,
she teases and she lets loose with a fun-loving, high energy rhythm
and blues show that will knock your socks off!
So just who is Erica Brown? Well, she is a gracious woman... and
she's Denver's Queen of Rhythm and Blues.
Erica moved to Colorado from Missouri in 1976 and began her professional
singing career in 1984. The first band of note that she played with
was Foreskin 500 and then Cherry Bomb Club. She said she has some
great road trip stories with those bands... (but she isn't telling
us any of them). She has since shared the stage with the likes of
Tab Benoit, Kenny Neal, Delbert McClinton, Sonny Rhodes, Debbie
Davies, Bernard Allison, and Larry McCray, to name a few. Her vocals
were featured in the Sony Pictures movies, “The Fan”,
with Wesley Snipes and Robert DeNiro in 1996.
Performers often become "larger than life." When they
are up there on that stage singing our troubles away, it's easy
to believe they have none of their own.
Not so. Most have had to overcome tremendous hardships on their
path and Erica is no exception. In 2000, she was diagnosed with
vocal cord cancer and with that came the terror that she might never
sing again. As "luck" would have it, Erica landed one
of the top surgeons in the country, Dr. Mona Abaza of the National
Center for Voice and Speech. Then she learned to speak and sing
again from her vocal coach, Ms. Kate Emerich.
Erica says that thanks to the talent of these two "amazing"
women that she now sings better than before the operation. She wants
Colorado vocalists to know that we have resources available in Colorado
that other states don't have. The University of Colorado voice practice
medical clinic is actually located within the Denver Center for
the Performing Arts.
Lucky Erica and lucky us. The tireless performer puts in a 40 hour
week at her day job, rehearses with her band, puts on public and
corporate shows each week and still finds time to play out with
other bands... as does the rest of her band. Her drummer, Scotty,
ocassionally plays with Tommy Thomas. Scotty, and her bass player,
Rich, recently worked on a commercial that is being aired in Japan.
Erica's recent accomplishements, outside her own band, include
doing vocals with Frankie Lee for Dan Treanor's African Wind
CD. She also did the vocals for three tracks on Homebrew's new CD,
Smoke and Mirrors. In particular the song, Fandango
in Paris is a masterpiece and presents a side of Erica's talent
that you've never heard before.
The CD release party for Smoke and Mirrors is April 23rd
from 4 to 7 pm at Ziggies Saloon.
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Meet...
Sarah Quarles
Eleven-years-old might seem a bit young to be on the stage belting
out Abba tunes and playing straight man for comedian Jefferson Arca
at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret — until you learn she has been
practicing for 9 years.
It would not be an exaggeration to say Sarah has been singing since
before she could talk. By the age of two she was singing in the
car and turning the home stereo up and singing. One of the first
songs she mastered was "With One Look" from the
Broadway show, Sunset |
Sarah Quarles
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Her first public appearance was at the age of three!
Sarah is currently performing on Tuesday nights at Lannie's Clocktower
Cabaret, Saturday nights at The Steaming Bean Coffee House, with
the Douglas County Children's Chorus, the Church Children's Choir,
and at Illegal Pete's on the 16th St. Mall once a month. In addition
to singing, she also dances, plays the piano, hand bells and is
planning to learn guitar.
Her mother tells us Sarah has no career plans at this point in
her life... "after all, she is only eleven." That may
be. But whatever she does, you can bet it will be on the stage.
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Meet...
Carmen Allgood
If local independent musicians and music lovers ever had a friend,
it’s Carmen Allgood – creator of The Colorado Wave and
The Tidal Wave radio shows. The Colorado Wave is the first nonstop
homegrown music showcase, and also the first and only syndicated
radio show of its kind in the state. Featuring Colorado artists,
The Wave airs in over a dozen Colorado cities and in Salt Lake City
and Los Angeles. |
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| Musicians seeking airplay from the big stations
don’t need to be told the situation. If you don’t have
a name, the stations turn a deaf ear to your CD. And without the
radio play, the road to getting a name can be long. For more than
7000 local artists, Carmen has been a beacon of hope and a way to
expose their music to millions of listeners.
Carmen has been producing “homegrown music” radio shows
since the eighties. As she tells it, The Colorado Wave crashed onto
the shores on October 26, 2000. By December of that year, she found
she had so much music that she expanded the show to 3 hours long
once per month and called it the Tidal Wave. It’s all music.
With no commercials and little talk, about 42 songs are played during
the Tidal Wave. (Currently The Tidal Wave airs only in the Los Angeles
market.)
Asked who she has helped to put on the road to success, Carmen
says, “It takes more than a one hour show once a week to launch
an artist to stardom.” But she also recognizes her role in
the local music scene. “I play tons of music that could be
‘hit material’ if it just got the right exposure. The
Wave just might be the ticket.”
Why did she give up a successful business to produce a local music
show? “I love all the energy the bands have and all of the
good things that come out of music,” she said. “It moves
me to see how much time and love artists give to help out in this
world. Without music the world would be a very uncomfortable place.
Musicians are the spokespeople reminding us that we need to lay
our weapons down and call on the Source of Love that is in each
of us. Until we listen to that message, the world will be in chaos.
Every show rewards me with the certainty that love is the answer
to whatever confronts us today.”
Carmen is generous about returning the love she gets. It’s
more than the tireless work to get the local artist radio play.
It’s a “way” about her. You won’t be able
to say why, but after a few moments with her, you’ll somehow
feel back on track – reminded of your roots, your goals and
the fact that is it possible to reach them. The simple truths of
the universe we all know deep, deep down inside bubble into the
conscious mind and you walk away feeling right with the world.
Colorado has recently been ranked as one of the top states in the
nation for its local music scene. “There is a constant need
for new music and a lot of opportunity for indie artists right now,”
Carmen said. She urges artists who have not been on the show to
change that and mail their material in as soon as possible.
For information on where to hear the show and to send your material,
visit www.thecoloradowave.com. We also suggest businesses looking
to get word out visit the site as well. The Colorado Wave is one
of the best kept secrets in advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
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| Meet...
Tempa
If you haven’t felt Tempa sing the blues, let us
introduce you. Tempa is the soul piercing passion that has shared
the stage with such notable acts as BB King, Jeff Beck, Bernard
Allison, Luther Allison, Lucky Peterson, Tab Benoit, Lonnie Brooks,
Shemika Copeland, Coco Montoya and Anson Funderburgh at major festivals
and theaters across the region. Her band, Tempa and the Tantrums,
was selected as one of the Best Underground Bands by the Denver
Post 3 years running and won the Colorado Springs Music Awards,
“Best Blues Band” in 2001. |
Tempa
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Yes, we did mean “felt” . When Tempa
sing the blues, you feel the blues and that seems to be part
of a divine plan. From the receipt of the perfect stage name
shortly after birth, to her unusual upbringing, to the colorful
people she has met along life’s path, and a healthy
dose of her own passion, Tempa has been molded into a one
of a kind performer with a haunting, magnetic quality that
holds her audience spellbound.
As she tells it, “I was two weeks old when my mother
brought me to my Mamaw (Southern for grandmother). Mamaw said
she had a dream that my name should be Tempa Jane. That’s
the story. My Mamaw dreamt my name should be Tempa…”
And so a singer was born. Tempa wrote her first song at the
age of four and sang it on the radio the age of seven.
She lived in a West Virginia “Holler” with her
grandparents until the age of five when her “hippie”
mother re-claimed her. “I wanted to be a Singer/Songwriter
from the first moment I heard music,” Tempa said. “My
formative years were spent listening to and singing Gospel
and Bluegrass, but I never had a favorite genre of music when
I was young. It all was magic to me. After the age of 5, I
lived with no electricity in a school bus. Having no TV, I
read books and listened to music on battery powered radios
and I had a tape recorder. I would go out into the woods and
practice singing for HOURS recording and re-recording my vocals,
I think not having a television was the best thing that ever
happened to me.”
Tempa didn’t always sing the blues. She moved to Colorado
at the age of 19 and began playing with local bands. She was
playing with an alternative band called the Flesh Mannequins
at Cricket on the Hill when that all changed. “A musician
called Sundance walked up to me,” Tempa said. “He
said to me, ‘Baby Girl, what you doin’ singing
this music? Your voice was meant for the Blues.’ That
was it. Shortly after, I started singing Blues.”
Today she is the mother of three children and married to
her guitar player Joseph Barton. When we asked her about the
marriage, Tempa replied, “Oh, haven’t you heard?
To be a member of Tempa and the Tantrums, all band members
must marry me!”
Tempa has a new CD about to be released titled, “Holding
on to the Blue.” She’ll be performing at Manny’s
on August 20th and at the Trinidaddio Blues Festival on August 27th.
Catch her act soon. Tempa and the Tantrums is a band that will not
stay confined to the local music scene long.
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Meet...
Jill Watkins |
Jill Watkins |
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Whether it’s upbeat — as in
I’m too Happy to Sing the Blues,
or sassy — as in One Good
Man, or sultry — as in Summertime
(one of the few covers she does), Jill Watkins
sings the blues with silky smoothness.
A veteran on the stage, Jill has been playing
with bands for over 15 years. Of her current
band, Jill says, “I'm such a blessed
little redhead. I get to play with extremely
talented, humble, and kind men. 2.5 years
playing with these guys and not ONE flare
up of bullshit."
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Songwriting is a joint effort. “It usually
works like this,” Jill says. “John,
our music director, will bring a song structure
and some lyrics to rehearsal. I'll embellish both
lyrics and melody. Then, Chris-Dax, our creative
director, will invent some of the signature licks
and creative breaks, intros, and endings. Walt
locks in on the perfect groove. And BLAM! we have
a song. It's a pretty well-oiled machine, on all
levels.”
Of herself, Jill says she means everything she
sings, has made all of the mistakes and broken
her own rules.... something we're all guilty of.
She tells us that she is older, wiser and happier
now.
Look for Jill at the Empire Blues Festival on
August 7th where she will be sharing the stage
with such notable artists as the Delta Blues Project,
Tommy Ventura, Phil Bassist Sr, J.D. Kelly, the
Willie Houston Blues Band, the Delta Bluesman
and the Fred James and Mary Ann Brandon Blues
Band
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Meet...
Don Miggs and the Miggs |
Don Miggs & The Miggs
at Oriental Theatre |
| At the age of six Don recorded
himself playing drums and singing "Then She Kissed Me".
By eight he was writing songs that “actually freaked
my parents out” and at the age of ten he had organized
his first band and taught the other band members to play their
musical instruments.
Fast forward to 2005 and Don is the driving force behind
the San Francisco-based rock band, Miggs. We caught their
May 14th show at the Oriental Theatre and are inclined to
agree with Don when he said "Our competition is U2, the
Rolling Stones, the Beatles -- the greats. I want to leave
timeless music behind me. I want it to be forever." |
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Timeless it is… with a quality that transcends the factions
of rock to reach the broader audience and a supercharged stage performance
that leaves no one wanting. It’s a quality that didn’t
arrive by accident. Miggs is all business: no attitudes, no BS,
no alcohol or junk food before shows... nothing
is allowed to cut across the quality of the performance.
Watch for Miggs when they come through again. This band is hot.
As a concert-goer who drove up from Alamosa to catch the act said,
"I wanted to see them again now before their ticket prices
are sky high." The band recently released its 2nd CD, Insomnia,
available at Borders record stores. |
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Jed Gustafson & the Crazed Individuals |
Jed Gustafson
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If only one word could
be used to describe Jed Gustafson, it’s
music… something Jed says he has been
“doing” since a kid. Currently
Jed is the lead singer and bass for Crazed
Individuals, the group that won Brewski’s
Battle of the Bands.
Crazed Individuals was created by Jed and Jimmy Baker (guitar/vocals)
and later joined by Jake Mertes (drums). The band left Minneapolis
in 2001 to take up residence in Denver. Musical influences
are an eclectic collection including Beethoven, Bob Marley,
Guns & Roses, Johnny Cash, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd
and The Doors.
Jed isn’t content to just play music. He is also active
in promoting the local music scene. Vehicles he uses to achieve
this end are RockDenver.com,
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DenverMusicVideos.com
and LocalMusic.TV.
LocalMusic.TV was founded in 2003 by Jed, Adam Ciboch and Todd Gardiner
with the goal to further Denver live music through the Internet
and get local bands and music venues the recognition they deserve!
Crazed Individuals departs on a Midwest Tour
on May 26. They are also working on a live album
which is being produced by ex-Porno For Pyros
guitarist, Peter DiStefano.
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