Interview Featuring Michael Bracy, Co-Founder and Policy Director of the Future of Music Coalition.
Please join Arts for Colorado for a music advocacy interview featuring Michael Bracy, co-founder and policy director of the Future of Music Coalition. Future of Music Coalition is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want. Founded by musicians, artist advocates, technologists and legal experts, Future of Music Coalition works to ensure that musicians have a voice in the issues that affect their livelihood. FMC’s activities are rooted in the real-world experiences and ambitions of working musicians, whose perspectives are often overlooked in policy debates. Michael Bracy is also the co-owner of Misra Records, home to such bands as Centro-Matic, Destroyer, Great Lakes Swimmers, and more. He is also a partner at Bracy, Tucker, Brown, and Valanzo, a government and public affairs firm in Washington, D.C.
The interview will be led by Storm Gloor, Professor of Music Industry and Entertainment Studies at the University of Colorado Denver. Professor Gloor will also with Bracy the types of resources musicians have at their disposal to maintain sustainable careers as artists. Attendees of this presentation will also be provided with an overview of major policy challenges facing the music industry and the work that the Future of Music Coalition is doing to address these challenges. Finally, Michael Bracy will also discuss national and local musician and artist-led advocacy. Attendees will have the chance to ask questions and engage in a dialogue with Bracy and Gloor.
The event will take place at Deer Pile, located above City O’ City in Denver on Thursday, April 4th at 5:15 pm.
For more information and to ensure your space at the event please contact Aleah Menefee at info@artsforcolorado.org by Wednesday, April 3.
More information about FMC can be found at www.futureofmusic.org
“Stages”, Ian Cooke
stages from 1930pictures on Vimeo.
Ian Cooke and 303 Choir meet, rehearse, and perform together in Stages, a 23-minute doc about musical collaboration. In this short doc, produced by Ray Trout and Ian O’Dougherty, 303 Choir (local singers aged 9 to 16) sing harmony with local cellist and songwriter Ian Cooke on his post-apocalyptic song “Rover” from his most recent album ‘Fortitude.’
Trout, a local media producer, and O’Dougherty, a local musician (Ian Cooke, Uphollow, Tauntaun, Eolian) and video editor, have been producing this doc since early 2012 with no budget, and will be offering downloads to try to fund more Stages docs.
The download includes an HD video file of the final performance, plus a 5-track EP featuring several versions of the song, documenting the evolution from demo to finale. The ‘pay-what-you-want’ download is available at www.iancookemusic.com.
Video Premiere: Paper Bird “As I Am”
Paper Bird has released a video from the song “As I Am” off of their upcoming album Rooms.
Rooms is being released on Friday, March 22nd at the Oriental Theatre.
“In this video,” explains drummer Mark Anderson, “you see the seven members of Paper Bird working together to arrange and construct a large sculpture made with an assortment of materials — yarn, wood, metal, bone, wire, fabric, etc. These sculptures in their completion are the “rooms” where we join to play “As I Am.” The construction of the physical rooms was very similar to the process of writing our album. We all presented different elements and materials in the process of writing and recording, and the album’s sound is entirely the product of our collective contributions. There is no sole writer in Paper Bird; we all write then allow the rest of the members to interpret the songs and contribute to the finished sound. The video really was our way of celebrating this album [by] visually representing what it was like to write and record it.”
Paper Bird will be playing IMTour shows in June and September of 2013. Please check this site or the band’s facebook for details.
“Stages” trailer, Ian Cooke
Catch the first glimpse of “Stages” in this preview from producers Ray Trout and Ian O’Dougherty. In the full 23-minute doc, 303 Choir (local singers aged 9 to 16) collaborate with local cellist and songwriter Ian Cooke on his post-apocalyptic song “Rover.” The doc will be released on Cooke’s website and hosted on OpenAir on Tuesday, March 26, 2013.
Trout, a local media producer, and O’Dougherty, a local musician, producer, and video editor, have been producing this doc since early 2012 with no budget, and will be offering downloads in exchange for donations.
Audio and video files of Ian Cooke and 303 Choir’s final song performance (plus additional live versions and demos of the song) will be available for download at www.iancookemusic.com on March 26.
Ian Cooke band is playing this Thursday, March 21st at Moe’s in Englewood with Widowspeak.
Carry On by Ballet Nouveau Colorado and Paper Bird
Arts & Venues Denver presents Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s (BNC) award-winning, full-length production of Carry On with Paper Bird, on September 7, for one night only, at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. This special performance will be presented in association with the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Annual Conference Performance West Series.
Tickets range from $20 - $60, get yours today:
After more than 10 years, the WAA Annual Conference returns to Denver, September 4-8. The conference convenes presenters, artists and agents around the shared goal of programming live performances.
“We are deeply proud to be working with Arts & Venues Denver and WAA to bring Carry On to a national audience,” said Garrett Ammon, artistic director for BNC. “It is an honor to represent Denver and its thriving arts community at this important conference, and there is simply no better way to do it than at the city’s most beautiful and historic performance venue.”
Paper Bird composed and orchestrated all new music for Carry On, and the band subsequently released a full-length live album of the show. Paper Bird’s rare and beautiful approach to music has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and they have been voted into Denver Post’s “Top 10 Best Underground Bands” three years in a row. Their haunting and authentic sound is a refreshing and breathtaking blend of folk, jazz, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues.
Ian Cooke’s Daytrotter Session Posted, “Still with Shaky Hands in a Deep Night”
Ian Cooke’s Daytrotter Session Posted, “Still With Shaky Hands In A Deep Night”
Illegal Pete’s / Greater Than Collective’s Ian Cooke’s Daytrotter.com has just been posted! It’s seven tracks over two sessions, one of which occurred right after Ian’s van accident while out on tour. Read about it in the write up, listen to the incredible recordings, and please share with a friend. Congratulations Ian! This is SO AWESOME!
A Message from Professor Storm Gloor
In my role as part of the IM Tour program, I’ll be providing the educational element. Through interactive presentations and discussions, my aim with the workshops will be to provide insights and information to local artists in a way that best meets their needs and pursuits.
The workings of the music business have been forever changed by technology in the past few years. Though there are new opportunities for independent musicians and songwriters as a result, everything is transforming so fast that the best and most current information and resources are not only challenging to find, but constantly changing as well.
In these workshops we’ll make sense of social media and music marketing, entrepreneurship for musicians in the digital age, and other topics from the most current perspective. We want to ensure artists have the most useful information, tools, and support to achieve their goals at any level. We’ll tailor the content to the particular needs and characteristics of the local community.
As a music business professor at the University of Colorado Denver, I teach a diverse group of aspiring students pursuing a career in the music business as an artist or a professional in one of the many areas of the industry. Courses and topics instructed include music marketing, record labels and retailing, and the future of the music industry, among other subjects. In the Denver community I’ve led seminars, workshops, and panels to help local musicians thrive. My research is focused on the effects of the changing industry and how it will affect music and the artists who create it, music business education, and technology as it’s applied to learning.
Feel free to find more information at www.stormcitings.com or follow me on Twitter (@stormsignal)
IMTour Artist Profile: Paper Bird
While we are in the process of accepting applications from nonprofit presenters in the West, we would like to give some information about each artist through a series of artist profiles.
Next up is Paper Bird.
Since the band’s formation over five years ago, Paper Bird has been playing its joyful blend of folk, roots, and Americana to delighted audiences across the country. Their unique sound is a combination of a dynamic and energetic rhythm section intertwined with effortless and flowing harmonies. The group’s backbone is their songwriting, musicianship and general allergy to all limitations and trends. With seven members and no leader, the possibilities are ever unfolding, with fluctuations in style and mood akin to weather patterns. A household name across Colorado, Paper Bird continues to tour and develop its voice and presence across the country. With three full-length albums and several national tours under their belt, Paper Bird has steadily grown in both their success and sound while continuing to expand and explore what the band can do musically.
The seven members of the band include Mark Anderson (drums), Sarah Anderson (voice, trumpet), Paul DeHaven (guitar), Esme Collins (voice), Genevieve Patterson (voice), Caleb Summeril (banjo, guitar), and Macon Terry (bass). Each individual writes songs for the group, and this keeps new material rolling of the shelf at a healthy pace. Paper Bird’s live performances showcase the diversity and good-time vibe of the group while providing a fresh and unique take on a sound that has a tendency to bring the listener back to a different era. Young in age but timeless in spirit, Paper Bird continually captures the hearts of new listeners and long-time fans. Their rare and beautiful approach to music led them to be featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and were voted in the Top 10 Best Underground Bands by the Denver Post three years in a row, as well as being 5280’s Top of the Town 2009 “Top Local Band”.
Paper Bird has released two studio albums, Anything Nameless and Joymaking (2007) and When the River took Flight (2010), and also a live album, Carry On (2011), which was the score to a collaboration with Ballet Nouveau Colorado of the same name. 2012 has the band on the road once again while releasing Carry On, remixed and remastered on vinyl in the fall. A new studio album is being written and recorded and is set to be released in early 2013. The band is just returning from a tour of the West coast.
Check out this live video of their new song, “Light of Day:”
IMTour Artist Profile: The Changing Colors
While we are in the process of accepting applications from nonprofit presenters in the West, we would like to give some information about each artist through a series of artist profiles.
Next up is The Changing Colors
Hailing from the tiny town of of Manitou Springs, Colorado, The Changing Colors - comprised of Conor Bourgal and his twin brother, Ian - create music that poetically sums up the stark yet beautiful landscape they grew up in. The duo sings of longing, beauty and hope while touching upon the regret that comes when these values fall by the wayside.
Their latest album, Ghost of Red Mountain, takes its entire theme from the legendary story of Manitou resident Emma Crawford. Sometime in the early 1900’s Crawford’s coffin was washed down onto Main Street from it’s perch above town on Red Mountain. The story is the source of Manitou’s biggest festival – the internationally renowned Emma Crawford Coffin Races held each Halloween. Bourgal chose to look beyond the gothic story and to bring a hardscrabble pioneer woman’s life to light.
The result is a set of songs that are poignant and moving and carefully crafted. Using the simplicity of acoustic guitar and the melancholy tone of a lap steel, Bourgal sings of promises of remembrance and anticipated romance. Bourgal’s narrative style creates stories of the human experience that are sparse, haunting and unforgettable.
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“Conor’s melodic purr is like a morning winter snowfall.” - C to G Magazine
“The brothers Bourgal tell stories and create atmospheres that will have you seeing ghosts.” - Reverb, Denver Post Music Blog
“The Bourgals excel at making sparse songs sound resonant and atmospheric.” - Frequency
IMTour Artist Profile: The Photo Atlas
While we are in the process of accepting applications from nonprofit presenters in the West, we would like to give some information about each artist through a series of artist profiles.
Next up is The Photo Atlas
The Photo Atlas have been a staple of the Denver music scene for years - improving on their brand of At The Drive in style post-punk with each high energy show and each cleverly complex song.
Forming in 2006, the band, called just Atlas at the time, quickly released their first EP, Handshake Heartattack. From there, the group devoted themselves to becoming a full-time band, adhering to an exhausting tour schedule which has allowed the group to earn fans and accolades across the country.
Since their inception, the group has released two more EPS, a full-length record, (No, Not Me, Never) played SxSw, CMJ, Warped Tour and Monlith, were named “Artist of the Day” by Spin Magazine and have played shows with such notable acts as Alkaline Trio, The Bronx, The Appleseed Cast, These Arms Are Snakes, Unwritten Law, The Bravery and more.
Currently, the group is wrapping up their second, still untitled, full-length album, hoping to elevate their status to that much deserved ”next level.”
All the years of experience and hard work have turned the Photo Atlas into a band with an indomitable DIY spirit and a total package chock full of intensity, passion and longevity.
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“The Photo Atlas create the perfect recipe for dance punk perfection that makes it impossible to remain stationary.” - hearnebraska.org
“The Photo Atlas are superb songwriters; their edgy lyrics overlap with wonderfully-realized music that enters your ear and seeps into your memory. This is memorable music that elicits a variety of different responses from the listener.” - Sputnik Music
“The Photo Atlas are getting better with every release. Their mixture of Faint hyperactivity and pop choruses has truly blossomed.” - Absolutepunk.net
