Musical Inspiration

I was really hoping that having a baby would not change our interest, motivation, and ability to have live music still be a BIG part of our lives. Thankfully, it has not. We do have to pick and choose the shows we go to, sometimes we go separately, we have to factor in a babysitter (usually a grandma, sometimes a neighbor), and we definitely don't get to sleep in the next morning to recover from being out late, but we still manage to go see a lot of our favorite bands and musicians when they come through town. And now that it's festival season, we get to take Sadie with us! Yahoo!

Recently I've been lucky enough to catch a few GREAT shows in a row. On Friday, April 16 I saw Michelle Shocked with my dad at Swallow Hill. She put on a wonderful show, as usual. She is such a passionate performer, activist, and storyteller. Michelle just has a way of captivating the audience and puts a big fat smile on everyone watching her.



I was so lucky to be able to interview Michelle when I was a DJ on KCUV several years ago. It was one of the highlights of my life, I tell you. She was interesting and funny during the interview, and played live on the radio. It was like my own private Michelle Shocked show! I'd been a fan of hers for years, but have felt even more of a connection to her and her music since then. I'll have to dig out the recording of that interview and performance one of these days. I remember that she called herself the Godmother of Folk Music, and signed our studio wall, "the Godmutha!". Yeah!

On Wednesday, April 21, Brian and I left Sadie with my mom and trekked to Boulder in the rain to see the Avett Brothers at the Boulder Theater. We'd been looking forward to the show for a long time, ever since Brian received the tickets as a Christmas gift from my parents.

We've seen the Avett Brothers several times, in venues ranging in size from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (10,000+ people), to the intimate Sheridan Opera House, to the teeny tiny Dulcinea's 100th Monkey in Denver.

An Avett Brothers show is an experience like no other. You're not sure if you're at a bluegrass show or a punk show! For every beautiful, quiet moment of heartbreaking harmonies and meaningful lyrics, there's an equally compelling moment of ear-splitting screaming and thrashing around on the stage.

Not to mention that they are some SEXY men! Ooooh, I've definitely got big crushes on those two. And even their roadies are dapper in silk vests and slacks. So funny...

And a couple Saturdays ago, I snuck out of the house with my friend Heather and took the scenic route to Palmer Lake, where we saw my friends Sweet Sunny South put on yet another wonderful show. It's been a while since I've seen all of them, so it was great fun to hear them perform songs from their new album, Carried Off By A Twister.

Good people and good music, in a very cool venue that I hadn't been to before, the Tri-lakes Center for the Arts.

I really don't know how I would survive without live music in my life. It puts everything into perspective for me and I always feel refreshed and inspired after a great show.

We don't live an extravagant lifestyle, and we don't spend money on useless material things. To us, money will always be better spent in having "an experience". Most of our disposable income that's not spoken for in our budget goes towards concert tickets!

I love that it's something Brian and I share a passion for and it's what brought us together in the first place. When we first started dating, we used to go to two or more live shows a week, and didn't think twice about getting up for work the next morning after staying out till 2 a.m. dancing and rawking the night before. We definitely don't have the energy for that anymore, but we still make live music a priority because we recognize the way in which it truly enriches our lives.