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Pueblo Chieftain, 5/24/07 - "Holly Keeps a Promise" - Holly Days Bluegrass Festival
By ANTHONY A. MESTAS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
HOLLY - Even though cleanup continues after a tornado that killed two people and destroyed about 164 homes, residents of this tiny farming community are proceeding with plans for one of their favorite annual events.
The day after a deadly tornado ripped through the center of this 105-year-old town on March 28, city leaders and residents, still stunned as they picked through shattered homes, promised that the annual Holly Days Bluegrass Festival would take place.
"There was never a question that we would not have a bluegrass festival - the only question was where. I think, had the tornado wreaked even more havoc than it did, we still would have put this on," said Marge Creech, an event organizer.
The fifth annual free Holly Bluegrass Festival will be held in conjunction with Holly Days, a celebration that commemorates Holly's recovery from a 1965 flood that nearly wiped the town off the map.
This year's festival is scheduled to run on June 8, 9 and 10 at the Holly High School football field on the east side of town.
In years past, the festival was held under a canopy of shade trees at Gateway Park, but the long rows of decades-old oaks were splintered and broken in the twister. The tornado struck at night, snapping trees and lifting houses off their foundations cutting a swath 2.2 miles long and three to four city blocks wide.
The storm killed 29-year-old Rosemary Rosales and 78-year-old Dolores Burns.
"We are just going to celebrate the town - we want to look ahead and put the storm behind us. We want to put on the best bluegrass festival possible. That's our focus," Creech said.
Events planned for the festival include fun and games for the kids, a coed softball tournament, a duck race, horse-drawn wagon rides, free swimming and much more.
An all-star lineup of artists will blister their fingers on the strings during the bluegrass festival.
Featured musicians will be Grass It Up, Palmer Divide, The Highway 385 Band, The McLemore Family and Silver Mountain Fiddlers.
The event will kick off on June 8 with a jam session and a barbecue starting at 6 p.m. The session is open to anyone who wants to play.
The football field will come alive at 11 a.m. on June 9, with entertainment lasting until 9 p.m. Along with music, there will be food served at noon by Holly High School students. Holly Commercial Club will serve an evening meal of barbecued beef sandwiches.
The festival will end on June 10 with gospel and bluegrass singing at 10 a.m., followed by a church service and lunch.
"It is the only free bluegrass festival in Colorado. People come from all over the place to visit with neighbors and friends. This is growing every year and we want it to grow more and more," Creech said.
"This is something we want Holly to be known for other than a tornado," she added.
For more information contact the Holly Bluegrass Festival Committee at P.O. Box 462, Holly, CO 81047 or by calling 719-537-6482 or 719-734-5243.
Grass It Up, "Going to Colorado"
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BY LESLIE BREFELD
summit daily news
August 3, 2006
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KEYSTONE - There aren't many pure bluegrass festivals left. And Keystone's Bluegrass and Beer Festival is following the trend.
David Jeffrey of Grass It Up, who plays at 1 p.m. on Sunday, said his band is stuck in the middle between traditional and new grass - and described its music as "almost punk bluegrass."
Grass It Up pleases crowds with bluegrass renditions of songs from Cake, Jimi Hendrix, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Pearl Jam and Willie Nelson among others.
The addition of rock and punk stylings comes from the band members' own personal influences.
Jeffrey said of the trio that bass player Jon Bross grew up playing in funk bands while guitar and banjo player Shannon Carr was versed in blues and rock 'n' roll.
The Hickory Project, which kicks off the music at the festival Saturday, also attributes its crossover from pure traditional bluegrass to new grass to the musical influences of its members. Vocalist and fiddle player for the band, Sue Cunningham, described her background as influenced by jazz and swing.
"I love listening to music from the '30s and '40s and '50s," she said.
Mandolin player of The Hickory Project, Anthony Hannigan, brings in the rock band sound, while guitar player Danny Shipe plays for another band that only plays Grateful Dead tunes in the style of bluegrass.
"We bend it (bluegrass) and twist it into something more contemporary," Cunningham said.
The new grass evolution of bluegrass has been going on since the '70s and the likes of the New Grass Revival. The standard instrument lineup of upright bass, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and guitar now is seeing drums, more percussion and even electricity added.
One of the organizers of the event, Mike O'Brien, said the Keystone Bluegrass and Beer Festival tends to attract people who are curious about bluegrass or are newly exposed to the genre.
"We try to make it musically accessible to the average person that may not be entirely immersed in traditional bluegrass," he said.
Josh Blanchard with the Keystone Neighbourhood Company said this is Keystone's most popular festival. Reasons for this probably include the presence of a beer-tasting with 33 breweries and Keystone restaurants catering their menus to the Appalachia theme, but there is also the enduring appeal of bluegrass.
"I don't worry about trends doing away with the profession," Jeffrey of Grass It Up said. "Bluegrass has been around for decades and decades. There's a following for the music.
"It traces so far back in time, it's easy for everyone to relate to and catch on to. You know when you're listening to bluegrass," Jeffrey continued. "Different bands have different sounds, but you still know it's bluegrass.
Trout Fishing in America plays at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday during the Keystone Bluegrass and Beer Festival.
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"What I really like about it, is that you can be old and blind and people will still love what you do when you play bluegrass. You don't have to maintain a rock-star, pretty-boy image all your life."
With two stages for live music, festival-goers can take their pick of bluegrass Saturday and Sunday in Keystone.
Music Schedule
All shows are free
Saturday
- 1-2:15 p.m. - The Hickory Project at the Events Plaza Stage
- 2-3:15 p.m. Ð Marty Jones at the River Run Stage
- 2-5 p.m. - Phil Jensen - in the Beer Garden
- 2:45-4 p.m. - Shanti Groove at the Events Plaza Stage
- 3:45-5 p.m. - Marty Jones, Halden
Wofford and the Hi-Beams at the River Run Stage
- 4:30-6 p.m. - Trout Fishing in America at the Events Plaza Stage
Sunday
- 1-2:15 p.m. - Grass It Up at the Events Plaza Stage
- 2-3:15 p.m. - WhiteWater Ramble at the River Run Stage
- 2-5 p.m. - The Ackermans in the Beer Garden
- 2:45-4 p.m. - Great American at the Events Plaza Stage
- 3:45-5 p.m. - Palmer Divide at the River Run Stage
- 4:30-6 p.m. - WhiteWater Ramble at the Events Plaza Stage
Web extra
Check out an MP3 from Grass It Up with this story at www.summitdaily.com.
Beer tasting
- What: More than 30 participating breweries from in state and also California, Wyoming, Oregon and Arizona
- When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday
- How much: $25 for a festival mug
- More information: www.keystoneneighbourhood.com/bluegrass
Participating breweries:
Arctic Craft Brewery
Blicks Brewery
Boulder Beer Company
Bristol Brewery
Dillon Dam Brewery
Estes Park Brewery
Grand Teton Brewing Company
Great Northern Tavern
Left Hand Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing Company
Oskar Blues Brewery
Phanton Canyon
Brewing Company
Redstone Meadery
Steamworks Brewing Company
Tommy Knocker Brewery
Wynkoop Brewing Company
Backcountry Brewery
Blue Moon
Breckenridge Brewery
Deschutes Brewery
Durango Brewing Company
Flying Dog Brewery
Great Divide Brewing Company
Hops Grill and Brewery
Mogollon Brewery Company
Odell Brewing Company
Palisade Brewery
Pugs Ryan Brewery
Ska Brewing Company
Stone Brewery
Trinidad Brewing Company
CAJUN COOKIN' COMES TO MANITOU SPRINGS
A Touch Of Lousiana Comes To Colorado.
by Scott Harrison
2/25/2006
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The 12th annual Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo cook-off heated up in Manitou Springs Saturday with some stiff competition.
Two Hurricane Katrina evacuees were among the nineteen participants competing for trophies and the top prize of $100.000
It still sounds funny to say "gumbo" and "Manitou Springs" in the same sentence.
It's definitely not where you'd expect to find Cajun food, but the event has become a growing tradition and if you can beat the New Orleans competitors, you know your gumbo is good!
Erick waugh is the defending gumbo champion in the amateur division.
In the professional division, it's Manitou's own Stagecoach Inn.
To repeat as champs, they'll have to beat two authentic Cajun cooks who are hurricane Katrina evacuees.
The New Orleans entries raises the stakes, but doesn't change the nature of the competition.
In somewhat of a surprise, neither of the New Orleans cooks won!
The Stagecoach Inn is best professional for the second straight year.
The new amateur champion is Jon Bross of Colorado Springs.The "people's choice" winner is Martin Feezor. |
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Georgetown festival honors Colorado's first mammal
By Stephen Knapp
11/15/2006
Despite the bustle and smiling faces, there’s no question that nearly everyone strolling Georgetown’s main drag on Nov. 11 was, at heart, terribly sheepish.
Bighorn sheepish, actually, which makes perfect sense because Saturday was the historic burg’s first-ever Bighorn Sheep Festival — a wild and wooly good time arranged by the fair citizens of Georgetown and the Colorado Division of Wildlife to offer an overdue salute to the state’s foremost fauna and Clear Creek County’s nimblest ruminant.
Granted, Georgetown is conspicuously bighorn-happy every day, but last weekend Colorado’s historic Silver Queen went completely, delightfully, over the top. From 10 a.m. until long past dark, a steady stream of visitors enjoyed a lively herd of fun sights, sounds and activities intended to increase their appreciation of the state’s sure-footed icon and provide the town’s merchants with a little custom during the dry weeks between summer’s green plenty and winter’s flocking snowbirds.
"It’s great timing," said Georgetown’s mayor, Bob Smith. "We’re always looking for ways to bring people up here, and there’s always a lull between summer and ski season. Our merchants are solidly behind this, and folks in Georgetown worked with DOW to get banners made and arrange the activities."
Wildlife biologist Kathi Green was one of many DOW personnel busily cruising 6th Street, offering help and direction to the herd of volunteers from around the state helping to keep the event on its feet. According to Green, the festival’s timing was no accident.
"This is the start of the bighorn breeding season, and from now until late January is the best time to see them engage in mating rituals like cracking horns," she said. "The festival not only helps Georgetown, it gives us a chance to focus attention on Colorado’s official mammal."
If things out at the viewing station got off to a slow start, Strousse Park downtown was jumping by 11 o’clock. Following a brief Veterans Day ceremony and a few thoughtful words of welcome by Mayor Smith, local bluegrass trio Grass It Up lit into a traditional set of Smoky Mountain favorites that soon had every cloven hoof stomping.
"We call ourselves Grass It Up because we take stuff like Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and Jimi Hendrix and give it a bluegrass sound," explained bass player Jon Bross, thumping away on an electric stand-up. "But our roots are traditional." After a busy summer playing fairs and festivals from Creede to the Kansas state line, Grass It Up was waiting for Colorado’s ski towns to kick into high gear when they got a call from DOW. "We were really happy to get the job, but pretty surprised," Bross said. "The festival season’s been over for a while now." |
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March 16 -22, 2006
by Josh Johnson
Get up on it with Grass It Up.
What do gumbo, bluegrass and Wisconsin have in common? Jon Bross.
The North Country native and bassist for local pickers Grass It Up recently took first place in the amateur division of the Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo Cook-Off in Manitou Springs, even beating out a couple of Katrina evacuees.
If it all seems an unlikely combination, you should hear his band's music.
While living in Milwaukee, Bross was known as Papa Rocks, of a 10-piece funk and disco band. After relocating to Colorado Springs, he met guitarist/mandolin player Dave Jeffrey and guitarist/banjo player Shannon Carr, two "true-blood, front-porch Alabamans," as Bross describes them.
"It was a fusion dichotomy right away, of my northern style versus [Dave's] Southern style," Bross explains. "And it was funk meets bluegrass, and that's what we're still playing. We're writing songs and covering songs that aren't traditional bluegrass style, and making them bluegrass."
Before Grass It Up, which formed last year, The Gourds' bluegrass cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" turned newgrass heads. Grass It Up expands that recipe with songs like Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" and KC & The Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight."
"We are a string band, but we have a driving rhythm in everything we play. Any song that has a good rhythm to it will adapt pretty well to bluegrass. And then, maintaining that rhythm without a percussion session is always the challenge, no matter what we do," he says.
While this spicy stew of styles is likely to give bluegrass traditionalists heartburn, Bross says the band has had a warm reception in Colorado, even earning an opening slot for The Oak Ridge Boys.
"We haven't seen any opposition because we do our traditional stuff pretty well. And then they get a laugh when we pull out Jimi Hendrix or something."
Grass It Up
Front Range Barbeque, 2330 W. Colorado Ave.
Wednesday, March 22, 7 p.m.
Free; call 632-2596 for more information.
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