Home
State of Mind / State of Music
Check out some of the best concert photos from the past two months in Mousike’s famous photo section…
State of Mind / State of Music
To submit your concert photos, please e-mail hi-res images to photos@mousikemagazine.com
Focus On
Every issue of Mousike has a glossy spread dedicated to a visual artist. In Issue 12, the photos of Darren Mahuron of Summit Style Studios out of Fort Collins were showcased…
Panic to play Denver for New Years
For the 2nd time in 3 years, Widespread Panic is returning to the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO for a two-night New Years Eve celebration December 30 & 31. Both nights will include special guest G. Love and Special Sauce as the opening act.
The 2008 New Years shows included a few special guests from YMSB and with confirmed Denver area New Year’s Eve shows from Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Melvin Seals (JGB), who knows what special guests might be invited to sit in.
Pre-sale tickets will be available for purchase starting tomorrow @ 10am MDT leading up to the regular public on-sale this Saturday at 12pm MDT at www.tickethorse.com.
Telluride Blues and Brews wrap-up
Ah, the Blues and Brews Festival, a weekend long party in Telluride’s Town Park that signifies the end of the summer festival season. As always, Blues and Brews was a blast and for 2010, an unlikely candidate earned the MVP… the weather; as there was a rare 3 days of complete sunshine and perfect temperatures that enveloped Telluride allowing for the Blues and Brews festivarians to enjoy a phenomenal weekend of music and beer in a dry Town Park.
This year’s musical lineup included B.B. King, Galactic, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Jimmy Vaughan and George Thorogood. As with every Blues and Brews, Saturday is the Grand Tasting so hundreds of beers from 50 microbreweries were flowing at an alarmingly drunkening pace for 3 fun-filled hours.
While there will be a complete wrap-up of this year’s festivities in the next print edition of Mousike (due out in early October), we present to you a best of Blues and Brews list for your online perusing. So without further ado, it’s time to hand out the weekend’s awards…
Best in show goes to Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience. Armed with an accordion and a killer voice, Grammy Award winner Simien threw an hour long party in Town Park. Complete with a Mardi Gras style parade, clowns on stilts and kids tossing beads to the audience, this set was the essence of a Blues and Brews experience. The Zydeco Experience definitely showcases why Blues and Brews bears a remarkable resemblance to something that might happen in Simien’s home state of Louisiana.
The coolest look award goes to Carlton Armstrong, bassist for the Ronnie Baker Brooks Band. He’s got a stone cold intensity and pearcing stare to go along with a wide stance and a sly dance. And to top it all off , Armstrong keeps the butt of a cigar dangling from his mouth – often times giving it a cool flick and bringing it inside his mouth. Don’t take my word for it, check out some of his youtube videos.
One of my favorite comments from a musician this weekend was when JJ Grey noticed that “Everyone’s a character in Telluride.” It’s so true, Blues and Brews festivarians have a special wackiness that seems to exceed that of other festivals. Thanks for noticing JJ.
Most emotional moment – Dana Fuchs, best-known for her role as Sadie in Across the Universe, brought powerful vocals and a dynamic (read sexy) stage presence to Town Park on Friday afternoon. During the set, Dana dedicated her original tune Songbird to her older sister… “This was our dream, we were supposed to do this together,” she remarked as she told the story of here older sister’s untimely passing before all of Dana’s current success. As the crowd of 5,000 plus chanted the the chorus back to her, she “felt her sister’s presence in these beautiful mountains” and uncontrollably burst into tears. I’m no weeper, but you’d have to be pretty cold to not have felt a something during that moment.
Most interesting beer – During the Grand Tasting, there’s a variety of “different” styles and I happened upon a chili beer at one point. While it still tasted like beer, it was spicy and literally tasted like a chili pepper. I’m glad I tried it, but I’ll definitely be sticking to the old regulars like ales and lagers in the future.
There’s probably no entry for the oldest average age of musicians during one day of a festival in the Guiness Book of Records but if there was, I would think that Sunday’s lineup would be a shoe-in for it. The lineup featured T-Model Ford (in his 90’s), B.B. King (who celebrated number 85 over the weekend) and Allen Toussaint (in his 70’s).
Best t-shirt – It’s very difficult to pick this at a festivals because everyone pulls out their number 1 through 3 tees, but I really liked the production company’s tees. Their slogan is – For those about to rock, we produce you.
The Celebrity Look-alike award winner is Jon Diamond, the guitarist in the Dana Fuchs Band who bares a remarkable resemblance to Stanford from the Sex in the City series.
As far as the food goes, the banana egg rolls were awesome and well deserved of a best of award. I had never heard of the dish before, but took the chance on something new and was pleasantly surprised. A banana egg roll is a lightly fried banana smothered in powdered sugar and drizzled with a chocolate sauce. A close second would be the dumplings from Boulder where you can’t go wrong with either the veggie or chicken ones.
Festival Pick of the Week: Telluride Blues and Brews
With most of the state already into the off-season, Telluride likes to host one last party every summer. After Bluegrass, Jazz, Phish and the countless other festivals, it is many local’s opinions that they also save the best for last with Blues and Brews.
“Blues & Brews is definitely my favorite (festival), it’s got a great feel to it,” said Scott Jones, a longtime local and manager of Telluride’s only oxygen bar, The Bubble Lounge. On a sidenote, the bar has a great hangover special that includes oxygen and a Bloody Mary.
This year’s Blues and Brews lineup includes Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Galactic, JJ Grey and Mofro, George Thorogood, Ronnie Baker Brooks and a slew of other top names in the business. B.B. King will close down the festival on the main stage Sunday night. It was King who once remarked to the Blues and Brews crowd, “Out of the 90 different countries I’ve been to, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than what you have here.”
Now, as you may remember reading in the pages of Mousike (Issue 10, pages 17-18), we have recommended that you to make it to Telluride once this summer for a festival. And this is the weekend to do it… not only is there a great lineup, but the foliage is changing to yellow and the weather websites are calling for sunny and 70 all weekend long. I was knocking on wood profusely as I wrote that, as we all know that the weather in the rockies can be pretty temperamental and that the Meteorologist have been known to get it wrong once in awhile.
But that being said, Blues and Brews is not only about the music and the hopefully nice weather. The vibe of Blues and Brews is one of the best of any festival I’ve ever been to. While everyone’s partying and rocking out, the crowd must be professional festivarians (or in perfect form by the end of the summer) because somehow everything stays in control and never turns into a total shit show. Try and figure that one out!
So come on down and bring your dancing shoes because this is one festival that everyone shakes their bones.
About Blues and Brews:
- 3 day festival in Telluride’s Town Park This Friday through Sunday!
- Night time “Juke Joint” shows at Telluride’s clubs at night. The Juke Joints make a walk down Colorado Ave feel like a walk down Beale Street in Memphis.
- Beer tasting with over 50 microbreweries inside the festival grounds on Saturday afternoon
VIP passes are sold out, but there are still 3 day and single day passes available at the Blues and Brews website
Festival Pick of the Week: Telluride Blues and Brews
With most of the state already into the off-season, Telluride likes to host one last party every summer. After Bluegrass, Jazz, Phish and the countless other festivals, it is many local’s opinions that they also save the best for last with Blues and Brews.
“Blues & Brews is definitely my favorite (festival), it’s got a great feel to it,” said Scott Jones, a longtime local and manager of Telluride’s only oxygen bar, The Bubble Lounge. On a sidenote, the bar has a great hangover special that includes oxygen and a Bloody Mary.
This year’s Blues and Brews lineup includes Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Galactic, JJ Grey and Mofro, George Thorogood, Ronnie Baker Brooks and a slew of other top names in the business. B.B. King will close down the festival on the main stage Sunday night. It was King who once remarked to the Blues and Brews crowd, “Out of the 90 different countries I’ve been to, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than what you have here.”
Now, as you may remember reading in the pages of Mousike (Issue 10, pages 17-18), we have recommended that you to make it to Telluride once this summer for a festival. And this is the weekend to do it… not only is there a great lineup, but the foliage is changing to yellow and the weather websites are calling for sunny and 70 all weekend long. I was knocking on wood profusely as I wrote that, as we all know that the weather in the rockies can be pretty temperamental and that the Meteorologist have been known to get it wrong once in awhile.
But that being said, Blues and Brews is not only about the music and the hopefully nice weather. The vibe of Blues and Brews is one of the best of any festival I’ve ever been to. While everyone’s partying and rocking out, the crowd must be professional festivarians (or in perfect form by the end of the summer) because somehow everything stays in control and never turns into a total shit show. Try and figure that one out!
So come on down and bring your dancing shoes because this is one festival that everyone shakes their bones.
About Blues and Brews:
- 3 day festival in Telluride’s Town Park This Friday through Sunday!
- Night time “Juke Joint” shows at Telluride’s clubs at night. The Juke Joints make a walk down Colorado Ave feel like a walk down Beale Street in Memphis.
- Beer tasting with over 50 microbreweries inside the festival grounds on Saturday afternoon
VIP passes are sold out, but there are still 3 day and single day passes available at the Blues and Brews website
Cultivation: The Seeds of Colorado Music
Fried Grease
Dillon, Colorado
There is a time and a place for almost any song or genre of music. Nowhere is that more applicable than when you hear Fried Grease. They bring together many different influences and styles. Even in the music industry’s genre name game the guys say, “We would like to think that our original music is a blend of many different styles, as we all bring many different influences to the table. It’s a bit old school rock and roll with funk and progressive tendencies. I guess we’ll leave it up to the powers that be to decide where we fit in.” So it’s up to you to decide what you hear.
I personally hear jazz, I hear funk, and I hear horns- so I ultimately hear FUN! Saxophone driven with sexy melodies, funky undertones and a solid rock foundation, Fried Grease will surely get you up and moving. As Fried Grease, the band is relatively new to the Colorado music scene. But don’t let that prejudice you or make you think that these artists have little experience. Dave Laub (Saxophone), Matthew Cheek (Lead Guitar), Matthew Bauerle (Lead Singer/Rhythm Guitar), Jim Koenig (Bass Guitar), Christopher Zaragoza (Percussion), Bryan Farmer (Drum Kit) come together from multiple former bands such as Flux 5 and Summit based Big Richard. These men have the cheek to rock your night away and I’m not just talking about their guitarist. Fried Grease is heading into the studio in the next couple months with an array of original music to record. The band also says that once those songs are completed they will be available at no cost to everyone. I’m always up for free music!
For now new fans are going to have to settle for getting their Fried fix at their local shows. Starting Friday August 6th Fried Grease will be playing Avon’s “see-and-be-seen” Friday Afternoon Club at the Avondale Restaurant. Go to friedgreaselive.com to see a list of all current and local shows.
Laughing Bones
The Vail Valley, Colorado
If you spend any amount of time in Eagle County Colorado, you will probably hear the name Laughing Bones once, or twice. The group which is a solid quartet with a rotation of drummers that have inconsistently consistently backed up the band never fails to draw a robust audience. Playing since 2002, the Laughing Bones have garnered themselves a consistent draw and a decent fan base everywhere they go. Put together an Alabama boy on the banjo (Patrick Padgett), a front man and rhythm guitarist with Johnny Cash like vocals (Dave Perron), the silent but deadly lead guitarist (Bob Masters), and the good time bassist who plays funk on the side (Dave Donahue), and you have the Laughing Bones. Perron says about their music, “Ours is a mishmash of American Roots, Progressive Bluegrass, Outlaw, Southern, and Jam-rock. If we were on SIRIUS Radio we’d probably be played on Jam-on or Outlaw Country.”
In the 8 years the Bones have been together they have never gone long between consistent weekly gigs. The most rocking of these is when I became first acquainted with the Bones in the summer of 2007 at a local bar called Woody’s. On any given Thursday night in the small town Edwards, Colorado, the Laughing Bones never failed to pack out the small bar. Nestled in the lobby of a hotel, Woody’s and the Thursday night show became so popular that it began to draw complaints from customers who had the unfortunate task of residing in the rooms over and near the Pub.
Not to be perturbed, Laughing Bones have soldiered on, booking weekly gigs around Eagle County as well as the local festival scene and bringing that rowdy good time crowd with them wherever they go.The Bones have secured a spot on Realm Fest’s Camp out for a Cause stage for the past 2 years and are looking forward to a spot at YarmonyGrass Fest at Rancho del Rio this August. Look for Laughing Bones at the Bearfish Saloon in West Vail the next time you travel through the Colorado High Country. It’s a guaranteed good time!
Michael Garfield
Boulder, Colorado
I looked Michael Garfield up a few months ago and after listening to a few snippets of his music I was curious to learn more about his art. Esoteric and intricate, I found myself struggling to describe his sound and style. So this time around I am changing my column format and letting the artist describe the art himself.
Jenna Stecker: How would you describe your music?
Michael Garfield: There are two very different directions that my music takes, based on where I happen to be playing. One is a very intricate acoustic singer-songwriter set, highly intellectual and emotionally evocative at the same time, and rooted in complex fingerstyle techniques and vocal prowess. The other is an improvised instrumental live electronica set, where I use live looping to turn the acoustic guitar into an electronic music control interface.
JS: As a solo singer/songwriter what are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?
MG: Older songs were mostly about troubled communication, longing, and the moment before the love is actually consummated. Newer songs are about recognizing the divinity in even the most suffering moments of human existence, in finding the deeper patterns that connect us, in celebrating a lucid experience of embodied spirituality that sees through above/below, inner/outer, self/other, work/play distinctions. The goal is liberating, perspective shifting, challenging music.
JS: Do you cover any songs?
MG: Very few. Joseph Arthur, Peter Gabriel, Yeasayer, Fiona Apple, and a few others have worked their way into my sets over the years, but for the most part I’d rather just steer around that one because I feel like what I have to say deserves the limited stage time I am able to secure for myself and thus it’s only worth it to cover someone else’s piece if I can say something new with it.
JS: What can someone expect when they come to one of your shows?
MG: To have their heart broken in the most surprisingly pleasurable fashion, by their own inspired mind. To be puzzled and embarrassed and absorbed by the raw display and the vulnerability and the technique all living in one place. To be drawn onward and outward to broader horizons – and, fundamentally, challenged to give the music the attention it demands. I’m pretty fucking intense, I’ve learned. Sometimes it’s the most moving thing they’ve ever seen, and sometimes they want to turn me off and play the jukebox so they can stop thinking and dance.
If you are interested in some surprisingly pleasurable heartbreak from Michael Garfield he will be most notably rocking out in the Entheon Village at this year’s Burning Man. If you are not planning to Burn this year you can find him online at michaelgarfield.blogspot.com
THE CONGRESS
Denver, Colorado
I finally had a Friday night off last month and my girlfriend wanted to go see a band that was playing in Edwards. I agreed; eager to have a night out with the girls. I wasn’t expecting to find my next Cultivation band. Standing on the side of the room I anticipated the first few chords and then got distracted by a woman who was so drunk already she fell back onto some guitar cases. When no one moved right away to help her up, guitarist and singer Jonathan Meadows stepped out from behind his mike and extended his hand to help the woman up. “That’s nice,” I thought as the woman stood up and immediately pitched forward and fell on her head. I thought the entire night might be upstaged by this woman but the music from The Congress is hard to let fall by the wayside.
Jonathan Meadows (guitar/lead vocals), Scott Lane (guitar), Dwight Thompson (upright and electric bass/ backup vocals), and Damon Scott (drums/percussion) create a blended sound rooted in Americana Rock. Watching them live they certainly have a Jam oriented feel. However the songs off of their first self titled album have a distinct singer songwriter’s touch. When you listen to the album you can picture the songwriter sitting with their acoustic guitar and notepad; cup of coffee and cigarettes not far from reach. This isn’t saying you can’t dance to the music. Before the end of the first set, the drunk woman aside with ice on her head, half of the bar was up on their feet dancing away.
For a band formed less than a year ago, members of The Congress have wasted no time recording and distributing their first album and setting up a couple tours. “We just got done with our first tour in the southeast last month, and we are about to leave for our first west coast tour in July. Really looking forward to that and heading back to the Southeast for our second run in September and October. And we are of course highly anticipating playing mountain towns in Colorado this winter!” says guitarist Lane. Mountain folks really like to get down!”
As he’s talking to a magazine based in the mountains all I can think is, “Know your audience, right?” The Congress knows what they are doing. At press time the band is touring through the West Coast, but look for them back in Colorado in the middle of August. To purchase a copy of The Congress’ debut album or to find a tour date near you go to thecongressmusic.com.
IIf you would like to see a band featured in Cultivation please feel free to email jenna@mousikemagazine.com
Dyrty Byrds
In the widely diverse Colorado music scene, there are many types and styles of music and ban
ds. There is a new band on the scene made up of a bunch of Colorado music veterans who are set on bringing the rock and roll back, the Dyrty Byrds.
The Dyrty Byrds join the forces of Tori Pater (guitar/piano/vocals), Eric Martinez (guitar/vocals), Mike “Spanky” McCluer (bass) and Mike Goletz (drums) with Outformation guitarist Sam Holt.
Guitarist Eric Martinez states that the Dyrty Byrds formation was a seemingly natural progression of events. “Sam was coming out to Denver fairly often, and he would call up Tori and have him set up some shows, and I would play bass and just do it acoustic. Then we decided to get Mikey involved and do it as a full band with drums.”
Holt, a co-founder the Atlanta based and recently disbanded Outformation, relocated to Colorado in early 2010 and has instantly become a big factor on the local music scene. Upon his arriving in Denver, Martinez decided to move back to guitar and the band enlisted Spanky McCluer on bass, a move that solidified the current Dyrty Byrds lineup.
Holt seems to be very comfortable in the role of being “one of the guys” instead of “the guy” in this band. Martinez claims that the collective experience in this band is one of its greatest assets.
“One of the great things about this band is that we have all have had experience in leading other bands, and we all know when to take the lead and when to hold back. None of us always has to be the leader. I think Sam has embraced that.”
The Dyrty Byrds released a self-titled EP in June 2010. The 6 song EP demonstrates the 3 main songwriters varying writing styles while somehow maintaining a strong cohesion between the songs. And that is where this band differs from many of the “jam” bands on the scene…it all starts with the songs. From the Stones-ish grit of the Martinez penned “Blackstone”, to the even grittier sound of Pater’s “Ten-Four” to the spot on country rave up of Holt’s “The Moral Decline”, these songs all stand equally. Martinez credits that to years of playing together before this band was even a thought, “Tori and I have been playing together for years, and really we have been playing with Sam for years now also, and we all just kind of dig the same stuff. You take a bunch of guys coming from the same influences who are going for the same thing and it will have its own unique sound.”
The band decided to give the EP away for free as opposed to selling it, as Martinez states, “to get it out to as many people as we can.”
You can download the EP for free at the band’s site on reverbnation.com/dyrtybyrds.
The band clearly wears its southern roots on its sleeve. Pater and Holt both were raised in the southeast, and McCluer hails from Texas. Martinez is originally from Maryland but has played with the Athens, GA based Bloodkin for half a decade now. The guitar interplay between Holt and Martinez has become a signature of this band.
Martinez adds “we are all straight up rock and roll guys, and that is a big reason as to why we are doing the Dyrty Byrds, to bring that rock element to the scene here, a 3 guitar southern rock outfit.”
Martinez speaks very fondly of the Colorado music scene. “There is a strong jam band scene here, and Tori and I have worked in that genre for a long time. We have a small pocket of fans already and they are incredibly supportive of this band.”
The Dyrty Byrds have hit the Denver and mountain concert venues hard in 2010, and hope to take to the road later this year to do some dates in the southeast. Upcoming shows include an opening slot for Tea Leaf Green at the Bluebird Theater in Denver on October 16.
Correction to Three20South schedule
In the recent issue of Mousike, the Three20South advertisement incorrectly stated that the Yamn show on 9/18 was a free show. While that show has a cover, the Dead Winter Carpenters show on 9/25 is free! Check out the entire Three20South calendar below….
8/26 Fast Food Junkies 8/27 Harmonious Junk 8/28 Jerry Joesph & Wally Ingram 9/1 Greensky Bluegrass 9/4 The LBC & ScarTissue 9/9 Sol Driven Train 9/11 The Deedles 9/18 YAMN 9/25 Dead Winter Carpenters 10/12 Tea Leaf Green 10/29 Particle 11/20 Zach Deputy
Blast from the Past: Scrapple
Periodically, we will post articles from before Mousike had a fancy website. Way back to the summer of 2009…
The Dharma Pig Lives
By Michael Gerity
It’s no secret that Colorado Mountain Ski towns have lost a little something over the last thirty years. Sure they have expanded and grown into giant winter theme parks, but just ask a local that has been there for more than twenty years, and you might uncover some- of the something that has been stripped away by this modern day gold mining.
More often than not money is to blame, ultimately moving into each and every one of these high country towns (now chic villages), transforming or changing something that was perfectly good and memorable, to those that lived there the previous years.
From the old school rudimentary t-bar lifts to high-speed chairs and comfy gondolas. From the mom and pop- bed and breakfast to corporate hotels, rows of condos and gaudy, sparsely used second and third homes. Gone is the old time grocery store. And gone is the dingy saloon where the dust held a unique story. Time moves on and the town ‘improves.” While many of the improvements are worthy and necessary, the others are continuously questioned as they slowly start to tear at the fabric that holds in the warmth.
Still many of us live in and around these mountain towns, trying to carve out our own classic ski bum dream. For many of these dreamers, there is still something to be said for the different breed that resides in the high country and for what little quirky ‘ski town’ mentality remains.
Edward Abbey, a known frequenter to the western mountain ski town once wrote about Telluride that the attraction wasn’t just about the skiing, but a deeper quality of the town like ‘it’s rundown, raunchy, redneck, backwoods backwardness’. He had foreseen early that, ‘The quality is one you cannot keep in a classy modern ski resort, no matter how much money is spent for preservation, no matter how many town ordinances are passed…”
Yet all too often, we still find ourselves longing for this ‘lost’ quality, reveling in a time that is considered by many- to be ‘back in the day’. Regardless the changes that sweep in around us, there still remains a lingering hope, to return to that quality, even when we know- we can’t go back.
But what if we could?
Set in the off-ski season and summer of 1978, Scrapple takes place in the fictitious lazy ski town of Ajax, Colorado. Written and Directed by first timer Christopher Hanson, this throwback ski bum movie follows the ways of loveable goofball Al Dean (played by Chris’s brother Geoffrey, who wrote the screenplay as well), a small time pot dealer trying to make a score in hopes to buy a house for him and his disabled brother who sits in a VA hospital. The ‘score’ comes in the way of ‘Nepalese Temple Balls’ from meditating monks high in the Himalayas.
The movie also follows Tom Sullivan or ‘Easy’(Buck Simmonds), a drifter who has returned to Ajax. Tom has yet to recover from the death of his girlfriend in a skiing accident and he reacts his way throughout the script, coping with reoccurring dreams and the possibility of a new relationship with a good friend of his dead girlfriend, Beth (Ryan Massey).
And then of course there is Scrapple the pig, who was won in a pig chase and is being raised for the summer by Australian bartender (Bunzy Bunworth) for a roast in the fall. The action takes a turn when Scrapple feasts on Al Dean’s temple balls, forcing him into an alliance with a cocaine pushing real estate agent (L. Kent Brown) who is under surveillance by an under cover federal agent Cy Sloan (George Plamondon, also credited with writing of script).
Now Chris and Geoffrey Hanson to my knowledge are not time travelers. Yet their 1998 period piece Scrapple will forever rest in the age- where the classic ski town died. Not only does their film’s story line live in a time vault, but the actual movie release date also stands in a somewhat ‘end of an era’ time.
When Scrapple was released on videocassette ten years ago in Sept of 1999, it marked the close of a decade that had seen a variety of independent films, many like Scrapple that were shot on 16 or 35mm film. The years that followed would see a giant push into an even more digitalize age, leaving behind these ‘old school’ classics. And so the movie Scrapple, shot in 1998 to look like 1978- took on an added sense of nostalgia, and the early seeds of a cult classic were set in motion.
Yet the journey to film begins much earlier, when these two young brothers decided that someday it would be cool to live out a dream of theirs and make a movie. As kids they acted out and filmed Saturday night live type skits. In college it progressed to filming minimally plotted ‘hokey’ stories with guys hanging out in the front yard on a Saturday drinking beer and playing whiffle ball.
Still the brothers continued to hold on to the dream of making a film. During the ’93 Telluride Film Fest while searching for the answers on how to make that dream a reality, the brothers got some poignant advice from a college friend of Geoff’s, a young film producer named Matt Blumberg who simply told them to “do it while you’re dumb enough to do it.”
It was at some point after that, they decided- ‘we’ve got to just do this or shut up’.
So in December of 1995, Geoff left Telluride for Lander, Wyoming where Chris was living and working at the time. The idea was to allocate two months time to the writing of a screenplay; the original idea being a story entitled Who sent you? But after two days of brainstorming, it was clear they didn’t see eye to eye on the story and it was then that Geoff told Chris about a short story he had read by a friend back in Telluride.
Sean McNamara had already written and published The Story of Spam about ski bums raising a pig in the ‘80’s. Sean’s story had been somewhat influenced by a 1935 John Steinbeck novel called Tortilla Flat, which was later turned into a 1942 movie starring Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr. The story focuses on a few Northern California post WWII bums, who inherit a house and enjoy life and wine, denouncing society through riotous acts. Sean loosely borrowed some of the plot and easily adapted it to some quirky misfits in a Colorado ski town.
Geoff thought it might make a good movie, so he pitched it to Chris. After Chris had read it and agreed it would make a good starting point for a screenplay, Geoff contacted Sean and asked for his blessing to begin writing. And so the screenplay began.
The early and mid-nineties were a flourishing time for the independent film, and the Hanson brothers were very much caught up in the wave of directorial debuts like El Mariachi by Robert Rodriguez and Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino in 1992, Clerks by Kevin Smith in ‘94 and The Brothers McMullen by Edward Burns in ‘95.
The Hanson’s were heavily influenced by not only the Telluride Film Festival and many of the early screenings they were privy to, but also the people in the film business that were living there at the time.
“We were just innocent and dumb and just went for it. And I think we were really lucky- because we surrounded ourselves with really good people”, Chris added.
They took a screenwriting class from local Telluride screenwriter Jeff Price, who’s writing credits include Who framed Roger Rabbit?, Shrek the Third and Doc Hollywood among others. And also went back to him after the script was finished for some help with script doctoring. They also give enormous credit to Beth and George Gage, a local filmmaking couple who were very instrumental in providing the needed encouragement for them- to go and make the film.
When asked about influences along the way they both quickly cite Easy Rider, and the lesser-known 1975 Rancho Deluxe starring Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston, as something that had the vibe they were trying to aspire towards. That vibe that they were trying to capture was enhanced tremendously by the cinematography work of Robert Smith.
Although Chris admits that the film being shot on 35mm was both a ‘blessing and a curse’ he relents to the fact that, “Now you don’t make movies on film any more. But we always intended to make a film to show on the big screen”, he said.
“…We wanted it to look like a time capsule—–and I think Robert did that.”
Chris also mentions how Joseph Campbell’s- Power of Myth interviews with Bill Moyers were very influential on their thought process at the time. “I think when we went into writing Scrapple- we wanted to bring back the dysfunctional hero…it was going to be about these misfits in the mountains of Colorado.”
Still at this point the project could have fallen apart, but the two committed themselves to the new storyline and by January of ’06 they had finished the script and immediately went to Sundance Film Fest.
The adaptation and modification of the The Story of Spam was the first real step in the making of the film. Yet it is more in the re-writing and script doctoring stage where the transition from Spam to Scrapple becomes apparent.
“So at the time it was just about these guys raising a pig in the mountains and that was enough. Yeah, we got this pig movie! But little did we know…”
The little did we know that Geoff refers to, is the fact that soon after they had finished their own script, two other pig movies happened to be released in 1996.
“So then Babe came out and it was an absolute sensation. It was a huge movie and all of a sudden our screenplay wasn’t enough. The pig was not enough. It needed to be more about the people who owned the pig. We needed a dramatic element more than the pig”
An interesting thing about the movie is that as a classic Ski bum film, it has very little skiing scenes in it. Yet it does have a well-crafted plot of characters and it follows them through the off-season from April to October.
“To us that was what had never been explored”, Geoff said.
“You know there is an old saying in ski towns- that you come for the winter, but you stay for the summer. And we knew that to be true.”
“…And we wanted to make a film that nailed the ski town experience. Everybody knows what’s going on once those lifts are running, but for us it was more interesting to take a look at a period- that nobody had ever done.”
In having the plot unfold over the summer the Hanson brothers were able to introduce another passion of theirs into the story line- Baseball. In adding to the retrospect of the summer of ’78, the brothers chose the epic battle that ensued that summer between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Due to licensing agreements they were forced to change the names of the players and the teams to the Wool Sox and the Grizzly Bears. Yet still, a devout baseball fan that remembers that season can easily pick up some of the similarities. And if you listen closely to the play-by-play announcer, you might even notice Jim Nance as the voice of Chris Whitaker.
“There was another thing we were trying to get across with Baseball. There is this thing going on between Tom and Al that the audience is privy to, but Al clearly has no idea why Tom is sort of holding a grudge against him,” elaborated Geoff.
“It’s kind of an interesting way in which men communicate, when there is all this really heavy stuff that really kind of needs to be discussed, but they can’t talk about it. So they just talk ball.”
Another major contributing factor to the film is the wonderful soundtrack scored by Taj Mahal. If ever a soundtrack flowed with the cinematography and feel of a movie- Scrapple does. There are numerous tracks that Taj recorded with his Phantom Blues Band, along with a variety of picks and timeless pieces from the likes of Sam Bush, JJ Cale, Jorma Kaukonen, Toots Hibbert, The Radiators, John Prine, Professor Longhair, Bob Weir, Widespread Panic, John Martyn and Jonathan Edwards. Even local Colorado singer/songwriter Liza Oxnard is credited with two composisitions that Ryan Massey (Beth) sings while the multitalented Buck Simmonds (Tom) provides the guitar.
In 1991Geoff Hanson was working for the now defunct, Telluride Times Journal and did some DJ work at a local radio station. He had already interviewed Taj Mahal before meeting him at the 1991 Mid-Summer Music Festival.
“I can’t say how much I knew about Taj before I called him to interview him, but once I discovered Taj Mahal, I couldn’t believe how deep the well was. The guy just blew me away.”
From that conversation with Taj at the Festival to becoming friendly with Carey Williams, Taj’s road manager at the time- Geoff was hooked. Over the next couple years he began booking some shows and the relationship naturally flourished. Both Geoff and Chris mention an early key image before writing the script of a pig and a motorcycle with a sidecar driving to Taj Mahal’s ‘Further on down the road’.
“You know we were two kids with video cameras pretty early on…kids making films with our friends and there is an early film of me driving through Colorado in 1988 and Taj Mahal is on the cassette tape. And I’m like driving along with my video camera to ‘Further on down the road’…That’s a thing were you go…Oh my god this should be a scene from a movie”, Chris relives the tale.
“Then it’s like collaboration. That’s what is so great about film. All these things come at you from different angles. And so the story of Spam comes up and you say… Wait here is the vehicle…I think in the original story it was a pickup truck, but then suddenly you find a motorcycle with a sidecar and you’re like wow! How visual is that.
We were like we got a motorcycle with a sidecar- let’s put the pig in the sidecar. Yeah, that’s poster!!! But again we were just young and stupid.”
So when they finished the script at the end of January ’96, they brought it to Salt Lake City where Taj had a gig. They met with Taj and Carey and pitched this early premise. Taj liked the idea and gave a verbal commitment that he would score the movie.
“Now we have a script in our hand and Taj Mahal is doing the music, so that was enough to say…..this is the real deal”, Geoff eluded to their excitement at the time.
Scrapple was released more than ten years ago, and yet it still is relatively untapped. You might ask twenty-five people if they have seen it, and only two will respond with a yes. But for the two people you do meet, that have seen this flick, there is a special glow from them and an unexplainable bond. As the piece becomes more cemented in time, a growing group of people is bringing out the cult classic aspect, especially the freaks with that special Colorado vibe.
Geoff gets excited to tell me that there are a couple of really cool stories during the making of the film that led them to believe they were really tapping into something.
“So when we went to shoot the pig roast, it was October and for the script it’s October of 1978. We were looking for extras for the movie, but we didn’t really get as many extras as we wanted, because there was an actual pig roast in Illium that day. So we literally sent the second unit film crew to capture some of the real pig roast. And the scene with pig on the fire, that’s a real pig roast”, he said.
“…And it was things like that, that said to us that we are tapping into something, to a vibration that is really happening here.”
Another story took place when the picture was already filmed and in the editing room. One day the sound editor brought in an April ’78 High Times Magazine and there was an article about…you guessed it- Nepalese Temple balls.
“At some point you just say we’ve got to ride that. We have mined a vein of something that is real.”
To witness that a following is alive and well and growing ten years later, is to hear what musician Keller Williams has recently done. While working at a radio station in Wilmington, NC Geoff gave a copy of the movie to Keller. Keller frequently played the soundtrack and talked about the movie on his radio show Keller’s Cellar. So it was pleasing to hear that Keller was a fan.
But then Geoff got a copy of a completed song Nepalese Temple Balls from Keller’s management along with writing credit- since the Keller lyrics are taken directly from the movie.
“I was pretty blown away by that. I had never heard of that, I mean I’ve heard of sampling where people use parts of songs, but I’ve never heard anybody take the exact words from a movie and turn it into a song. If I was sitting in a chair, I would have fallen out of it- I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”
Although Scrapple is light hearted and comical, there is a heavy underlying theme. The struggle Tom has with the loss of a loved one is a very real emotion for those in Ski towns.
“Another powerful thing about Scrapple is that we wanted to tap into…that the ski town life is all fun and games until someone just ups and dies. I knew that extinctively but had never really experienced it until after the film,” Geoff adds.
When the Hanson’s were at the Sundance Film Festival to premier the movie they had a friend die in an avalanche.
“The longer you live in those towns, the longer- people who live close to the edge, well sometimes they fall over.”
So maybe that real underlying seriousness along with the struggle and the hope that unfolds throughout the movie is just the right combination to capture the audience. Either way ten years later Scrapple is still going strong and only gaining popularity.
“We feel so lucky that 10-15 years later, we made a film that really hit home with people. To have someone come to you and say your film is my favorite film. As first time film makers…”, Chris acknowledges. “While there are so many people that have never heard of it, it’s also people’s favorite movie. And that means a great deal to Chris and myself”, Geoff added.
The moderate success of the film was parlayed into another Hanson brother’s film about the band Widespread Panic, entitled The Earth Will Swallow You and released in 2002. Although Scrapple has never been mainstream you get the feeling that the brothers are quite content with their accomplishment.
“What we did get out of the experience is the satisfaction of having made something that is meaningful to people. I got an e-mail from someone once; he said they were really having a tough time in life. And the movie, the whole dream your life- live your dreams aspect of it, really was important to them in a dark time. And that’s just really meaningful to us that we were able to make a piece that has some sort of endearing value to some people”, Geoff elaborated.
“We get that it’s not this huge thing, but it’s meaningful to a lot of people. And it was extremely meaningful, obviously to us; I mean it was the culmination of a life long dream of my brothers and mine- to make a movie together. And when we say dream your life-live your dream, that is what Scrapple represents for my brother and I.”
I took on writing this piece because I am one of those people who say, this is one of my favorite movies. I’m drawn to it for many different reasons. The soundtrack ranks as one of my all time favorites and makes me smile each and every time I listen to it. I’m drawn to the Colorado Ski town aspect because I live not far outside a Colorado ski town. In 1978 I was nine years old and a devout Yankees fan (Geoff was also nine in ’78 and a Red Sox fan), so the baseball also draws me in.
But probably most of all I’m drawn by the spirit of the piece, the dream your life live your dream is such an inspirational, uplifting sentiment that is hard to ignore. I’d like to believe that each and every day I am living my own contemporary Colorado mountain dream. And it might just be that like many people, I just like to revisit the times of old, those easier times where the Abbey described ‘quality’ seemed more present.
It’s a little strange how we all continue to move forward into the future, but we still cling to so many things from the past. I do hope in doing this article that maybe a few more people will experience this film for the first time and it will bring them to a time that is past. I realize that we cannot go back in time, but it will never stop us from thinking we can. Edward Abbey may be long gone from Telluride, but his words still ring true. Life is in many ways a circle of experience with our history sometimes in the forefront of the present. With that in mind I think it’s fitting for the director to have the last word.
“It’s wild now because I live in Telluride again and people talk about the early/mid-nineties like it’s ‘back in the day’, sort of like we talked about the seventies in the early nineties.”
Recent Comments