This Just In Wu-Tang Clans New Album!

The long awaited follow-up album to ‘Iron Flag’ will be hitting store shelves soon. This is the first time all remaining members of the Wu-Tang Clan have been in the studio since the untimely death of Ol’ Dirty in 2004.  ’8 Diagrams’ is scheduled for release on December 11th while the legendary Gods tour. Forget the snippets and leaked versions floating around the internet and get ready for crispy clean beats by the RZA who handles the majority of the production, while Mathematics and Easy Mo Bee jump on a couple tracks. The M-E-T-H-O-D man starts the album off with the first verse on “Campfire,” and the psychedelic track “The Heart Gently Weeps” features vivid storytelling and RZA’s signature analogue sound. On “Life Changes” a tribute to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, features members of the group  weighing in on his life and it’s rumored that one of the verses was recorder in the same studio where he passed. “Take It Back” is exactly what the track name claims. One of the most influential Hip-Hop groups, is ready to be back on top. ‘8 Diagrams’ features the same Kung-Fu clips we’ve all gown to adore, and any die hard heads will be smiling ear-to-ear. Tracklist For 8 Diagrams: 01. Campfire 02. Take It Back 03. Get Them Out Ya Way Pa 04. Rushing Elephants 05. Unpredictable 06. The Heart Gently Weeps 07. Wolves 08. Gun Will Go 09. Sunlight 10. Stick Me For My Riches 11. Starter 12. Windmill 13. Weak Spot 14. Life Changes

November Concerts

Del Tha Funky Homosapien:Nov.  2nd @ CervantesNov. 4th @ The Fox  TheatreGhostface Killah, Rakim, Brother Ali, and Rhythm Root Allstars:Nov. 8th-  @ The OgdenKRS-One:Nov. 8th @ The Fox TheatreFeist:Nov. 14th @ The OgdenOpie Gone Bad:Nov. 18th @ The GothicBuck 65:Nov. 27th @ The Fox Theatreand as always more updates as they become available! 

Museum of Contemporary Art | Denver opens today

From 10-12 today the Museum of Contemporary Art is offering a free tour, which This Week in Denver says includes “a sneak preview of Power: Museum as Body Electric, curated by Cydney Payton; tours of the green and sustainable elements of the building by Karl Kister, President of the Board, and tours with architect, David Adjaye himself, discussing the concepts behind the new MCA Denver building.”

They’re located on 15th & Delgany in LoDo. Visit their website for more info.

Steve Zissou is helping Travis Henry?

Bill Williamson writes in the Post that “An attorney representing the Broncos running back filed a motion in U.S. District Court stating the NFL violated a temporary restraining order. The order was to prevent the league from testing a second Henry urine sample after the first one came back positive for a ‘negligible amount’ of marijuana.”

Attorney Steve Zissou’s motion asks that the case be returned to the Supreme Court of the State of New York from the federal court so the judge whose order Zissou says was violated can determine sanctions against the league.”

Zissou’s motion states the case never belonged in the federal court and the violation of the temporary restraining order is further reason to have it sent back to the state court. The NFL requested the case be moved to federal court, contending it involves national labor laws because of an agreement between the league and the players union regarding the substance abuse program.

“We are confident we will prevail,” said Zissou when reached for comment after the motion was electronically filed in the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday.

 

 

Our very dedicated staff has been away on a planned vacation and not, you know, neglecting to update because the site’s become a burden. Expect substantial entries tomorrow.
In the meantime, can you believe the Rockies are in the World Series?

Is Denver full of fair weather fans? Yep.

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Here’s proof, along with our sudden love for the usually-ignored Rockies.

Travis Henry could be suspended rest of season after testing positive for marijuana use

FOX 31 interrupted their “special Rockies edition” newscast at 5:30 to report that the Broncos may possibly be fucked. Travis Henry, the team’s leading rusher, tested positive for pot use in a drug test and if found guilty after the presumed appeal, he’s gone for the season. The penalty is a one-year suspension from the NFL and will be effective immediately following his appeal’s finding.

“Henry, 28, previously served a four-game suspension from the National Football League for violating the leagues substance abuse policy in September 2005 as a member of the Tennessee Titans.”

Henry’s suspension will be a terrible hit for the Broncos. It was unlikely he’d play this weekend against the Chargers due to a knee and ankle injury, but it looks like his absence will last the season.

Rockies win second straight game versus Phillies, 10-5

The Colorado Rockies have just secured their lead with a second win against the Phillies. Stretching the margin of victory from a 4-2 win yesterday to 10-5 today, the Rockies look confident to win the best-of-5 series here at Coors Field.

Undoubtedly the play of the game was in the fourth inning where Kazuo Matsui hit a grand slam to put the Rockies in a comfortable 6-3 lead. The Denver Post has an inning-by-inning recount of the game and over at Purple Row, a Rockies fan blog, they are celebrating the win with a commemoration of what’s already the Rockies best season.

Nirvana’s ‘Unplugged’ concert finally sees DVD release Nov. 20

Following Nirvana’s lackluster box set and greatest hits record, which were released more for Courtney Love’s purse than Nirvana’s legacy, comes news that Nirvana’s “Unplugged in New York” will come out on DVD. The news comes from Billboard, who reports that MTV finally got off their ass and will let us own what’s probably the best in their series of “Unplugged” concerts.

From their site: “Like the CD, the DVD will include the songs ‘Something in the Way’ and ‘Oh Me,’ which did not appear on the original MTV broadcast. The DVD also sports four tracks from the band’s soundcheck and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage.”

I don’t remember ‘Oh, Me’ being left off the TV broadcast but I’m glad they included it on the DVD release–it is one of the strongest songs in the concert. Owning this DVD will be a great nostalgic trip for fans of Nirvana and grudge rock, and the DVD will gladly join both the CD and tape versions in my collection.

Interesting fact: Billboard notes that “Unplugged in New York” was the first Nirvana product to come out following Kurt Cobain’s suicide. Full track list after the jump.

Hip-Hop shows in October

Atmosphere:

Friday Oct. 12th @ The Ogden Theatre 8:00 PM

Saturday Oct.13th @ Belly Up Aspen 10:00PM

DJ Qbert:

Wednesday Oct.17th @ Cervantes 8:00 PM

Aesop Rock:

Wednesday Oct.17th @ Black Sheep (CO Springs) 9:00 PM

Thursday Oct.18th @ Cervantes 8:00 PM

Friday Oct.19th @ The Theater Boulder 8:30 PM

Lyrics Born:

Tuesday Oct. 23rd @ Cervantes @ 8:00 PM

Little Brother:

Tuesday Oct. 30th @ The Blue Bird Theatre @ 8:00 Pm

Rockies beat Phillies in series opener, 4-2

The Rockies hot streak continues in Philadelphia where they beat the Phillies 4-2. Update later.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Hixon released, potheads for Williams, ‘get out of jail free’ card for baby killers

• Ricky Williams asked to join the Broncos courtesy of the group that decriminalized pot in town. Meanwhile, news outlets everywhere excited to use “Rocky Mountain High” in headline. (I’ve counted three uses so far.)

• Domenik Hixon was released today by the Broncos and WR Brian Clark was re-signed. But the real question is: Why did we let Quincy Morgan go?

• Take your acid tripping bare-ass back to Texas. The only kind of story we want to make national headlines for CU are football rape cases.

• Iverson sued for not attending a speech where he was supposed to speak. Seems reasonable to sue, even if he did miss because of a family emergency. I can’t think of anything that makes more sense.

• Denver makes a hobby of keeping parents that kill their children from serving time. First it was the Ramseys, and now this loving couple. It’s time for a Denver mob to take justice into our own hands… pitchforks, torches and protest slogans all at my place. We meet at 7 tonight.

Rockies vs. Phillies playoff (!) series schedule

Here it is, the first schedule since 1995 that includes “Rockies” and “playoffs” in the same sentence. The Phillies have also been in a playoff drought, theirs since ‘93, but that included a World Series appearance.

(All games on TBS)

Today: At Philadelphia, 1:07p.m.

Thursday: At Philadelphia, 1:07 p.m.
Saturday: At Colorado, 7:37 p.m.
Sunday: At Colorado, 8:07 p.m., if necessary
Tues., Oct. 9: At Philadelphia, 4:37 p.m., if necessary

Denver Post: Complete MLB playoff schedule

Breaking News on ‘The Cool’

Chicago born rapper Masalu Muhammed Juco, more commonly referred to as Lupe Fiasco, looks to duplicate his debut success with The Cool which, if it isn’t pushed back, will drop December 18th. The self proclaimed nerd is set to release a “dark” album over reportedly poppy beats in this, his sophomore effort. For the most part, news on the follow up to Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor has been kept under wraps. But good news isn’t always accessible.

In an interview with MTV, Lupe partially disclosed the concept for the new album. Hidden in the title is an almost obvious hint. On Food and Liquor, Kanye West produced a track entitled ‘The Cool’ which chronicles a bodied street hustler who digs himself out of the grave and retraces his steps to the hood as if it were business as usual. Being as how the song ends without any conclusion, Lu decided to pick up where the track left off and go almost comic bookesque. He chose to create two additional characters around ‘The Hustler’ to form a rarely, if ever considering the avenue, used tactic to enhance his already prolific creativity on the upcoming LP. ‘The Game’ (not to be mistaken with the rapper) will personify “Whatever the game may be – the hustle game, the pimp game, the mack game” he says. To fill out the trio ‘Streets’, a female character, will personify street life and show how easy it is to fall in love with the lifestyle and so forth.

The album will have said storyline educed with said trio but DO NOT mistake it for a concept album. “I didn’t do it heavy ’cause I didn’t want to get caught up in chasing a storyline and sacrifice me doing real records, like a single.” Lupe told MTV. Expect about five tracks to creatively cover an assuredly interesting sub plot. Speaking of singles, there are two available at the time being. ‘Superstar’ is available exclusively courtesy of Atlantic Records at www.lupefiasco.com and the video for ‘Dumb it Down’ can be viewed at www.youtube.com/lupefiasco or, for readers partial to internet based social networking, on his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/lupefiasco). Both tracks are currently available in a package deal through iTunes.

As far as production and features go it’s hard to say at this point. Look for Lu’s fam First and Fifteenth to contribute quite a bit to both. Hopefully, Kanyayo and Pharrel will contribute to some extent but, sad to say, don’t expect the God MC to wreck a verse as he did on Food and Liquor. Furthermore, there is no full track listing available of yet although six tracks have been confirmed. They are as follows:

• ‘Superstar’ featuring Matthew Santos
• ‘Paris, Tokyo’
• ‘Dumb it Down’ featuring Gemini
• ‘Intruder Alert’
• ‘The Coolest’
• ‘Untitled’ featuring Patrick Stump

With a plethora of exceptional hip hop albums released in August alone it won’t be easy for Lupe to replicate the breath of fresh air he conjured on a semi arid hip hop climate last year when Food and Liquor hit. To that, fans of hip hop and anybody who enjoys great music alike can only hope Lupe will simply reply “I gotcha”.

DENVER DIVES: The Lamplighter

Upon arriving at The Lamplighter (6970 Eudora Dr) my initial reaction was “I hope someone doesn’t break a pool stick over my back.” But after further inspection I realized the regulars were more scared of a city boy like myself then I was scared of them. A subtle collection of bikers, ex-cons, and maintenance alcoholics makes for interesting conversation. Open at 9 A.M. everyday The Lamplighter offers one dollar draws of three beers on tap so selecting a brew doesn’t cut into time that should be spent drinking. This dive is for people on the mission to drink, featuring only the bare necessities: one pool table, a cigarette machine (half stocked), no TVs and no ladies under 40.

This place is not for the weak minded. If you can stand the crooked eyed patrons at the bar who seem to be looking through you with the left eye, and to the floor with the right caused by a severe head trauma in their youth or a touch of autism, then you’re golden. If you feel uncomfortable being hit on by women your mothers age chasing their fleeting youth, keep on driving. It’s always easy to find someone to shoot pool with and if ten beers doesn’t do you in, the intoxicating smell of nearby oil refineries will.

All in all The Lamplighter is a great place to get tanked without keeping up appearances, or celebrating your friends recent release from jail.

New Radiohead album, ‘In Rainbows,’ available Oct. 10

A few days ago Radiohead fans were teased when a website, RadioheadLP7.com, counted down to a Saturday morning release for the band’s new album. Before the timer could hit 0:00, a Radiohead spokesmen said the site wasn’t official and the release date was a fake. Knowing that, it’s hard not to be wary over the news that the seventh album is coming out so soon when previously we heard it wouldn’t be released until sometime in 2008, but this latest date comes from the band members themselves through their website and it’s actually incredibly good, and, well, sort of bad too.

First off, the band are out of their EMI contract and are releasing the album independently on October 10th. It’s perhaps the most unprecedented move in the recording industry yet; not because it’s a band releasing an album exclusively through the Internet, but that it’s a band of Radiohead’s stature doing it. That’s good. But the album perhaps making history is called In Rainbows, and that’s almost unforgivably bad.

Listeners can get the album as either a digital download (where you set your own price!) or a ‘discbox’ that includes the album on CD & Vinyl, along with an extra CD & Vinyl of new music, digital photographs, album artwork and a lyrics booklet all in a Stanley Donwood-designed hardback book and slipcase. Very good! What’s bad is that it’s £40.00 (including postage) worldwide, meaning $81 for us Americans, and that’s to buy an album called In Rainbows. So it’s a steep price, but it’s going entirely to the band. Sadly, there won’t be the experience and instant gratification of buying the album in a music store, but then again, I don’t know if anyone really wants to be the one in line holding an album called In Rainbows anyway.

You really hope Radiohead is trying to be ironic and tongue-in-cheek with the album name, and not getting all cutesy Coldplay on us, but who knows what Yorke & Co. are thinking. Now that I think of it, it sounds more like a Zwan album.

So here it is, the final tracklisting for… In Rainbows:

01 15 STEP
02 BODYSNATCHERS
03 NUDE
04 WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
05 ALL I NEED
06 FAUST ARP
07 RECKONER
08 HOUSE OF CARDS
09 JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
10 VIDEOTAPE

CD two and vinyl (only w/ ‘discbox’ purchase):

01 MK 1
02 DOWN IS THE NEW UP
03 GO SLOWLY
04 MK 2
05 LAST FLOWERS
06 UP ON THE LADDER
07 BANGERS AND MASH
08 4 MINUTE WARNING

Awkward Moment of the Day: Brought To You by Starbucks©

As a barista at one of the sixteen (there is no such thing as excess!) Downtown Denver Starbucks locations, one is somewhat prepared to serve/deal with a motley crew of patrons. The RTD drivers are more demanding than the businesspeople who prefer Splenda in their lattes, and yes, though we rarely interact with small children at this location, there is thrice the amount of homeless yelling about religion and complimentary coffee.

None of those people however, are responsible for afflicting on me today’s awkwardness. Someone else’s something else is responsible.

My shift manager had been encouraging me to “check the bathrooms for anything weird” in my last 20 minutes of work; which I automatically came to assume would be needles, baggies, aluminum foil, or any other super fun paraphernalia of downtown recreation! The women’s restroom had been occupied for some time, so I decided to move onto the men’s.

Jiggling the handle, not a sound could be heard on my side of the door and it easily swung open. Too easily. I was horrified to spot a man both sipping his Iced Grande Coffee whilst dancing and peeing into the urinal. His head bobbed from side to side, causing his grey ponytail to wag against his pale orange shirt collar. He didn’t even notice I’d opened the door; he seemed so amused. Quickly as I could, I shut the blasted thing (which didn’t slam for emphasis as I’d have liked).

I might pose a question: How, how, does a person forget to lock a Downtown Denver public restroom in a busy Starbucks? When there is not just one lock, but both a button in the handle and a dead bolt? And how, most importantly, can one drink his coffee, dance to some silent song, and piss at the same time? I suppose if you’ve got two hands and an able body, why not use them? Good. Grief.

Anyway, I ran behind the espresso machines at the bar (after washing my hands twice, who knows why) to make someone’s Pumpkin Spice Latte. One of our regulars made matters worse as he looked at my flushed face, looked at the bathrooms, smiled and said, “Did you see his thing?”

Yes I saw his “thing”. EGADS.

As Lauryn Hill might say: “Girls you know you better watch out, Some guys, some guys are only about, That thing, that thing, that thing.”
Translation: It is inevitable that once in a while, you may walk in on someone urinating or worse in public. So watch out, dear friends. And always knock. Loudly.
I’d like to thank you, Mr.PeesWhileHeBlowsBubblesInHisCoffeeAndJigs – hopefully seeing your “thing” will be the most awkward aspect of my day.

DENVER DIVES: The Dirty Duck @ Evans and Dahlia

If you’re like us, you hate long lines leading into a bar and cover charges on top of an already expensive tab you’re sure to accumulate in an honest night’s drinking. Shitty electronica played insanely loud only enrages you more as you push through the crowd to reach a bartender, and then there’s the long time it takes to get a beer when there’s plenty of hot girls that will obviously be served before you.

So you opt for the dives, or if you haven’t, maybe you will after we take you through inside tours of some of the best dives in Denver to buy a drink. Places where the beer is cheap and there aren’t many on tap, or where you might hear a decent live jazz group instead of 50 Cent’s recent suck-ass single blasting on club speakers, and the kind of place where degenerate colorful people get their buzz going.

The first place to be featured in Denver Dives is The Dirty Duck (4780 E Evans Ave), where its non-central location blocks away from Colorado and Evans means overcrowding probably won’t ever be an issue in this bar’s shed-like confines. Here you’re not going to face the crushing realization of your self-worth when a crowd full of attractive men or women (according to your preference) collectively ignore you. Instead of full-chested, youthful ladies who only pay attention to you if you buy them several cranberry-vodka mixed drinks, you get saggy-bosomed, life-drained women who might have enough heart left in ‘em to fuck you for a Keystone Light. As for the men, well, the guys operate the same as anywhere else: drunk and trying to impress any “fives” or above with small talk or drinks, but at least they’re too old to pop their collars, and that can only be a good thing.