Spectacle Music brings danceable healing vibes to the Colorado music scene

Spectacle Music is made up of eclectic musicians who are bringing chill, danceable music with a healing vibe to Colorado's music scene. Image courtesy Hunter Perkins at Beyond Form

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It has been a year of collaborations and big things for the trioSpectacle Music. They’ve rounded up their first festival appearances at Arise Music Festival and have been in the studio creating new releases for their rapidly growing fanbase. With a solid goal of bringing a new sound to the Colorado music scene, Spectacle has plans to continue moving on at a fast clip after commemorating their first year together as a band at their upcoming anniversary show on Halloween. By next spring, the band hopes to be on tour, with airplay on college radio stations to help them amplify their work. “We’ll hopefully be able to do a whole summer of festivals. We’re kind of a festival band,” said Michael Lee Mahan, founder and leader of Spectacle in an exclusive interview with AXS.com.

Spectacle seems to be moving in flow with barely a hitch. Mahan explained that he’d been writing music on his own for a year before meeting violinist Jessica Borth at a house party. “I always thought that live instruments over electronic music was a little more interesting,” he said. “I always wanted to add more instruments. I started playing guitar over my own stuff and then when I was at a party, I met Jessica Borth who plays violin and she just sat in with me.”

The two musicians clicked and they continued creating together. Then, while immersed in academic studies for sound engineering, Mahan met a percussionist named Rob Brandon. Brandon suggested that the three music makers do a show right away. “After our first show, which went well, we decided to stay together as a trio and then we would add featured artists such as live singers and saxophone players,” Mahan explained.

Featured artists have included Denver singer/songwriter Eian O'Brien and the saxophonist Miles Holland. Funk/soul singer Andrea Pares also features in some of Spectacle’s upcoming releases and performances.

Spectacle’s music is rhythmic, danceable and described by Mahan as “chill with a bit of a healing vibe.” Each of the players bring their personal experience. Mahan with his influences of jazz guitar and UK electronica, Borth’s classical background and Brandon’s Afro-Cuban rhythms synthesize to create what Mahan considers something new. “When we make this music, I feel like it’s kind of a worldly sound.”

First and foremost, Mahan considers himself a producer and audio engineer. He has quite the experience in that realm, having recorded all types of music. He’s even done some recordings for theDanny Elfman orchestra (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Corpse Bride”).

By next spring, Spectacle will be heading west. In the meantime, the band is putting together releases that they announce on their Facebook page. To get some sneak peeks of what’s to come, check out theirSoundCloud. The band also has an Instagram.

*originally published at AXS. 

Historic Unity Concert brings thousands for spiritual activism and healing

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This weekend, Sept. 13-14, thousands will gather in the Black Hills of South Dakota for an historic event called the Unity Concert for the Black Hills Initiative. The gathering will be in support of the Great Sioux Nation who have been fighting for their land for more than 200 years. The event “will mark the beginning of a vital unification process to reclaim guardianship of the Black Hills as their rightful homeland, states Uplift in a recent video. The gathering will bring many different people from many different backgrounds together who are “committed to educating and raising support for the Black Hills Initiative.”

The organizers and participants of this initiative and event strive to hold the United States of America to it’s word, which for almost 150 years has been dishonorable. It was the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 which promised “the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills” that was repeatedly broken.

The event this weekend strives to serve as a potent act of spiritual activism that holds an intention for reobtaining stewardship of the Black Hills for the Great Sioux Nation and the unification of all peoples for the peaceful care of the planet.. “In these momentous times of spiritual and ecological crisis and climate change,” wrote the The Unity Concert for The Black Hills Initiative Facebook page, On Sept. 9, “the Unity Concert is our symbolic [cry of] appeal for humans across the globe to reconnect with the sacredness of nature, to respect and protect the Earth and restore her to balance so we can sustain our planet for future generations.”

The event is free and open to all the public and will be held in the very heart of the Black Hills at the Elk Creek Lodge and Resort. At the event, a coalition of elders from the Great Sioux Nation along with elders from many Native American tribes, environmental, spiritual, and social activists, artists, musicians from all over the world, performers, Native and Non-Native allies and supporters will join together this weekend to support the return of stewardship of the remaining undeveloped parts of the Black Hills to The Great Sioux Nation.

The event will start off in ceremony which aims to clear the pain that has passed between the United States and all of America’s First Nations. Many of the performers and participants of the event will also make their own statements of apology, forgiveness and healing. The idea is to bring about peace enough for unification for one cause; In peace, the participants aim to promote and instill the proper and loving care of a shared planet, not only for those living now but for generations to come.

Peter Yarrow (from Peter, Paul and Mary), Arlo Guthrie, Buffy Sainte Marie, Nahko Bear, Earth Guardians, and Ta'kaiya Blaney are some of the artists who will perform this weekend. They will be joined by many other Native American artists and performers from tribal nations nationwide. There is a special page for more information about the lineup which you can view right here.

Free registration for the event is here. For those who are unable to physically attend the event, Uplift Festival will stream a free, live global webcast on their website. Supporters can also contribute to the cause by clicking on this link or by sending a tax-deductible donation to:

Return the Black Hills

The Center for Sacred Studies

PO BOX 2904

Guerneville, CA 95446

*originally published at AXS.

Mike Love finds a way and sings it straight from the heart: New album and tour

Mike Love | Friday August 7th 2015 | ARISE Music Festival

Photo courtesy David Novin (www.DNPhotos.rocks/)

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Reggae artist Mike Love immersed himself in the music he adores to the point that it has become his life’s work, a labor of love. Anyone who has seen him perform knows that he sings straight from the heart. With sincerity and mastery, Love expresses earnest messages that are meant just as much for those who hear them as they are for him when he performs them. “People are hungry for something, and a lot of times they don’t even know what it is. Positive music that has messages of spiritual and social change can be a beacon for them in the darkness,” he says. “That’s really the inspiration for all I do—healing. We need it now more than ever, myself as much as the next person. The music heals me as much as it does those I play for.”

Love is in preparations for a tour that starts this month in support of his new album, Love Will Find A Way, which released Sept. 1. The album is a collaboration between Mike Love and 25 other musicians, many of whom are dear friends and who represent a cross section of communities from around the world who are aligned to the common goal of uplifting the consciousness of the planet for social change.

“It’s really cool to be a part of that,” he said in an exclusive interview with AXS.com. “A lot of us kind of found each other and have worked together in the past” -- Xavier Rudd from Australia, for example,Trevor Hall, Paula Fuga and Nahko. “We all know each other so we can share stories about each other, even when we’re not together.”

“Nahko is on tour kind of non-stop. Sometimes, we’ll come to random festivals like ARISE or Shangri-Laand we’ll see each other; we’ll share the stage together. Sometimes we’ll even get to tour together,” Love relates. “It’s cool to be able to share that space and to do the work that we are called to do. Sometimes we are able to do it together. Sometimes we put albums together; we can call each other and help each other out.”

When asked about how he came into reggae music, Love explained that it was the music that he grew up with. He notes artists like Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy, Israel Vibration, and The Abyssinians as influences. “That’s always the kind of reggae that appealed to me; the roots reggae from Jamaica,” he said. “The thing that appealed to me about it -- Bob Marley’s music, for example -- is that he had a message; his music was all about having a message. The music was about something spiritual, revolutionary, about positivity, about love. Those are the things that got me deep into spiritual roots reggae music.”

For a long while, Love played strictly reggae, emulating the artists he followed and adored, but over the last couple of years, he’s begun to incorporate some of the other music that influenced him early in his life such as the blues, rock and even flamenco. He’s also found that just as he’s emulated some of the reggae masters, his music is becoming a part of the reggae canon. He explains how his song “Permanent Holiday”, which presented a sort of complicated puzzle that Love didn’t think anyone else would be able to copy became a song that many people have covered in their own musical projects. “It took about a week to memorize it all. It’s kind of like learning a new language,” he said. “It’s kind of funny because a lot of times when I make music, it’s really different, far from being simple in a lot of ways. I used to think that no one else would ever cover it. I didn't think people would take the time to memorize the full sections on a song like 'Permanent Holiday', but on the internet, there are a bunch of people that have covered it and there is even one band that broke up all the parts between them. I thought about doing that with my band but I thought, ‘Nah. It’s too much work.’ And then somebody went and actually did it.”

Love takes it as a compliment these days. “It feels amazing. It’s hard to grasp sometimes when other people love your music so much they learn it themselves. I’ve done that so much with so many other people’s music, it’s kind of how I started out performing -- so it’s really kind of a trip to think that other people are doing that with music that I have written.”

Mike Love’s new album Love Will Find a Way has been a long time coming. “It’s an album I’ve been working on over the last couple of years,” he said. “A lot of these songs represent some of the best music that has come through me and I’m really excited to finally put it out and share it.”

To find out more about Mike Love, check out his website. His album is available now on Amazon for download. To stay connected, find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Fall 2015 tour dates

September 8 , 2015@ The North Door - Austin, TX

September 9 , 2015@ Cambridge @ House of Blues - Dallas, TX

September 10, 2015 @ Rose Music Hall - Columbia, MO

September 11, 2015 @ Subterranean - Chicago, IL

September 12, 2015 @ Shangri La Festiva - Clarks Grove, MN

September 13, 2015 @ Black Swamp Fest - Bowling Green, OH

September 15, 2015 @ The Knitting Factory - Boise, ID

September 16, 2015 @ Nectar's Lounge - Seattle, WA

September 17, 2015 @ The Goodfoot - Portland, OR

September 18, 2015 @ Volcanic Theatre Pub - Bend, OR

September 19, 2015 @ Provolt Community Center - Provolt, OR

September 20, 2015 @ Leo's - Oakland, CA

September 21, 2015 @ City Winery - Napa Valley, CA

September 22, 2015 @ Moe's Alley - Santa Cruz, CA

September 23, 2015 @ Harlow's - Sacramento, CA

September 24, 2015 @ The Knitting Factory - Reno, NV

September 25, 2015 @ El Dorado County Fairgrounds - Placerville, CA

September 26, 2015 @ Harrah's Rincon - Valley Center, CA

September 27, 2015 @ Avila Beach Resort - Avila Beach, CA

*originally published at AXS.

Baur's Listening Lounge announces musical lineup for September

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YouTube / Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Baur’s Listening Lounge and the Music Appreciation Society are excited to announce their lineup for the month of September. They kick off their exciting month of music with rock and roll legend Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen Wednesday, Sept. 2. Singer and jazz pianist A.J. Croce closely follows on Thursday, Sept. 10. Sonny Knight & The Lakers will also be featured on Baur’s stage, Sunday Sept. 13. James Maddock closes out the month of featured performances on Sunday Sept. 27.

Commander Cody’s show on Tuesday Sept. 2 promises a night of fun music infused with boogie woogie, country-rock, western swing, rhythm and blues, jazz and some bona fide rock and roll. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen have been heating up stages with their fusion of American roots music since 1967. The band is led by George “Commander Cody” Frayne IV (piano) and features Steve Barbuto on drums, Mark Emerick on guitars/vocals and Randy Bramwell on bass. This show is co-sponsored by the Colorado Blues Society.

On Thursday Sept. 10, Baur’s teams up with KUNC to bring American singer/songwriter A.J. Croce for an intimate night of music at the listening lounge stage. Croce is the son of late singer/songwriter Jim Croce and has been creating music through his loss and adversity. “I learned to play music by listening and playing along to the radio and to records…” Croce says, “At some point I was given the music of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder as inspiration, which it was, and has been ever since.”

Sonny Knight & The Lakers visit Baur’s stage, Sunday Sept. 13. The eight-piece funk band brings music reminiscent of albums from Stax and Motown records. It’s music that may make you want to boogaloo. Band members include Sonny Knight on vocals, Eric Foss on drums, Sam Harvery-Carlson on organ, Blair Krivanek on guitar, Nick Salisbury on bass, Cole Pulice on saxophones, Riley Helgeson on trumpet and Tony Beaderstadt on trombone.

On Sunday, Sept. 27, British born James Maddock’s “vulnerable” folk and Americana comes to Baur’s stage. Maddock is an artist who has earned the respect of artists like Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nile. His most recent release, The Green is now available. Much of his work is highly acclaimed and has been featured in in “American Songwriter Magazine” and “CMT Edge.” His music and his rusty croon is sure to inspire.

For more information and to purchase tickets for any of the above shows at Baur’s Listening Loungecheck out their website. The restaurant and lounge features great music ongoing, including free shows featuring bands like the Locust Honey String Band, Joe Smith & The Spicy Pickles, Ricardo Peña and Nate Leitchman. All shows start at 8 p.m. except the James Maddock Concert which begins at 7 p.m.

*originally published at AXS.