Molina Speaks Cultivates Creative Power and Hustles for Denver’s Soul

Molina Speaks is not demure. His new podcast, about different perspectives on art, healing and activism, which he’s co-producing with his partner and fellow artist and poet Sheree “Lovemestiza” Brown, is called Brown Genius. Molina, who used the tag “Chicano Picasso” on works he’s created in the past year, made…

10 Bygone Alternative Spaces That Shaped Denver Underground Music

Last week we brought you a list of twelve defunct DIY spaces that shaped Denver’s music scene; this week we’re focusing on alternative venues. Though the distinction between the two is blurry, what distinguishes an alternative space is that it has another function entirely: Perhaps it’s a coffee shop, an art gallery or a bike repair shop, but it also hosts occasional concerts.

Meet DJ Bedz, the Official DJ of the Denver Nuggets

Perched high above the basketball court, nearly in the rafters, Cassidy Bednark watches Pepsi Center workers prepare for another game: the Nuggets versus the Clippers. Bednark is nestled into his signature yellow and powder-blue DJ booth. Going over his playlist before tip-off, Bednark — who is the official Denver Nuggets DJ — steps behind his turntables and becomes DJ Bedz: The White Shadow, ready to rock the stadium.

Six Old-School Jukeboxes: Where to Find Them in Metro Denver

Used to be that a bar was only as good as its jukebox, until even the most respectable of hole-in-the-walls started going digital. Not that we can blame them. Maintaining a thirty-, forty-, fifty-year-old machine that’s constantly prodded by drunk people is expensive. Indeed, the list of bars that maintain…

Ten of the Best Denver Hip-Hop Artists to Watch in 2017

The metro Denver hip-hop and rap scene has been booming for a long time now, although there’s always that nagging feeling that people further afield should be paying more attention. We have artists here that span the various nooks and crannies that make up the genre, creating intelligent and fascinating music. Here are ten artists that could well make a big noise this year, ordered alphabetically.

Composer Kevin Puts on 9/11, the “Tragedy” of Trump, and Beethoven Envy

What happens when you juxtapose Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor,” an orchestral masterpiece whose sublime grandeur seems impossible to rival, with Kevin Puts’s much gentler (albeit not that gentle) “Symphony No. 2,” a modern orchestral work the contemporary composer wrote in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks?

Talib Kweli Won’t Let Lies Spread Unchecked

Brooklyn hip-hop artist and social activist Talib Kweli has built a career on incisive, intelligent lyrics with his thought-provoking rap. Surrounded by a family of university educators, Kweli came to the public’s attention in 1996 when he appeared on the album Doom by Cleveland group Mood. It was in 2002, with the release of his debut solo album Quality, that he saw his reputation blossom nationally.