Category: Boulder

The sons of a Swiss father and an Ecuadorian mother, Hermanos Gutiérrez have only been playing together for a few years, but music has always been a point of connection for them. “I started playing guitar because of my brother,” Alejandro says. “He was always playing, and I loved the sound of it. Then he went to Ecuador for a year, and as an expression of missing him, I started playing the guitar as well. I learned by trying to imitate other songs, but soon realized that I didn’t like playing covers. I wanted to play my own music.”

In the mid 2010s Alejandro moved to Zurich, not too far from the small village where his brother lived. One night he invited Estevan over and told him to bring his guitar. Together, they worked out a few melodies that quickly turned into fully realized songs. They didn’t intend to start a band together, but soon decided to record an album. They booked time in a studio and soon emerged with their full-length debut, 8 Años, named for the age difference between them. Their only ambition was to make a keepsake for themselves and their families: “We love collecting old vinyl, so we thought we should make our own,” says Alejandro. “But it was also a moment for us to reconnect. Music helped us to be together in the same moment and create something new. So let’s just do a record for us.”

Being No One, Going Nowhere. The title of STRFKR’s fourth album may seem bleak at first. But hold it in your head a minute, feel its weight, and you may recognize the phrase for what it is: a goal. In the era of the personal brand — amid the FOMO Age — it’s increasingly hard to shed a stifling sense of self, or to just be in the moment that you’re in. Well, consider this an invitation to get blissfully insignificant. That’s what STRFKR founder Joshua Hodges aimed to do when he exiled himself to the desert to create this record, but he returned with his most significant work yet: a set of darkly glistening dance songs rife with sticky beats, earworming hooks, philosophical heft, and bittersweet beauty.

The album opens on “Tape Machine,” and the difference is readily apparent. On 2013’s Miracle Mile, STRFKR refined a full-band sound, but this doubles down on and completely reimagines the project’s electronic and pop roots. The initial synths could fuel a rave, and the ensuing groove could score a Drive sequel, but the song is richer still, with cosmic effects flying overhead and a psych-folk earthiness below. It isn’t that the band sat this LP out — drummer (etc.) Keil Corcoran penned the thick astral disco of “In the End,” and he and bassist (etc.) Shawn Glassford both pitch in throughout. But Being No One, Going Nowhere was born in Joshua Tree after Hodges packed up his Los Angeles apartment and moved to that tiny Mojave outpost under the great big sky. “It came together for me in the desert,” he says. “Out there, it’s easy to feel small and slow.”

When Hodges started STRFKR in 2007, it was designed to be success-proof. The name was both unfit for radio and a jab at fame-chasers. But the project was also meant to be bright, playful and brimming with energy. He stumbled upon a winning juxtaposition that’s a STRFKR staple to this day: dark (or heavy) lyrics set to happy music. Hodges credits that to Elliott Smith’s influence, although Being No One, Going Nowhere has closer sonic kin in Italo-disco, kosmische musik and Tony Hoffer’s work with Phoenix, Beck and M83. English thinker/writer Alan Watts, a scholar of Eastern philosophy, was another muse for Hodges — his voice appears on nearly every STRFKR release, including this one. That’s him on “interspace,” talking about sloughing off preconceived identity to find one’s place in the universe, which is the story of Hodges’ eventual career: stop trying — no, start not trying — and succeed.

This album’s name actually paraphrases the title of a book by Ayya Khema, a Buddhist nun, but the concept came to Hodges in a less chaste setting. “I had an experience at a BDSM club that was really freeing,” he says. “I realized that the appeal is letting go of your mind and stress. You can be super present with the pain, and then the pain isn’t even pain. It’s a gateway to freedom.” In a way, each song on Being No One, Going Nowhere seeks that end. There’s the reality-refracting fantasy of “Never Ever,” the hard truths about addiction’s ravages on “Tape Machine,” a death-defying coming of age tale on “Open Your Eyes,” and references to Hermann Hesse’s 1919 novel of self-realization, Demian, on “When I’m With You.” If the words don’t set you free, the music — exuberant, enveloping, incredibly catchy — should do so handily.

None of which is to imply that STRFKR is drifting along aimlessly. To the contrary, Hodges crafted this album’s dance bent with the stage in mind. The live setup these days includes a custom-made LED wall and a homemade light show that syncs with the rhythm of the songs (also, the occasional crowd-surfing astronaut and band-in-drag). Plus, he camped out at the house of producer Jeffrey Brodsky (Yacht, RAC) for a week and a half, working all hours to ensure Being No One, Going Nowhere sounds as crisply booming over PAs as it does in headphones. Even if Hodges is too busy pushing the future of indie dance-pop forward to possibly attain his goal of unplugging, his aspiration is everything: “Existing is it. This moment is enough.”

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

“Spring Showers, Art Flowers” showcased at R Gallery & Wine Bar with the latest BAA Spring Member Show from April 11 – May 14. The change of seasons in Boulder ushers in the blossoming of nature as the plants around us wake up from the snow. Discover the spring collection and meet the artists during the Opening Night Reception April 11 from 7:30pm – 8:30pm. Both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks may be purchased at R Gallery’s bar. 

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

Wild Heart Dance and the Nomad Playhouse present The Ocean Inside a tempestuous and powerful love affair with the soul and its landscape. Choreographed to the symphony Oceans by Ezio Bosso, it is a big, confounding, and complex journey through and within the five major oceans of the earth. Each ocean reveals its unique tenor and texture and with each passage, the dancers cross their outer and inner landscapes. The Ocean Inside is a daunting and exciting pilgrimage to discover and reveal one’s soul to self and to the world.

 Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance.  The dancers’ varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance.  For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.

The Nomad Playhouse is a beloved venue where artists and audiences have come together to explore ideas through art for over 65 years. They are committed to revitalizing the Nomad’s legacy of community engagement by providing high-caliber performances and cultural offerings.

April 7, 8 at 7pm & April 9 at 4pm 

April 14, 15 at 7pm & April 16 at 4pm

The Nomad Playhouse 1410 Quince Ave| Boulder, Colorado 80304

Nomadplayhouse.org/ 303-443-7510 

Tickets:

$40 General Admission

$30 Artist, Senior & Student

If you can’t join us in person: purchase a Livestream ticket for $40 or

donate a ticket to someone in need for $40

$10 off with Early Bird code “oceans” through March 26

Spring officially arrives in Downtown Boulder when the beautiful, colorful Tulip Fairy, along with pint-sized fairies and elves, parade around the Pearl Street Mall “waking up the tulips.” This much beloved springtime tradition features live performances, special activities for children and more than 15,000 tulips that adorn the world renowned Pearl Street Mall. Event rain date is Sunday, April 30, 2023.

“Spring Showers, Art Flowers” showcased at R Gallery & Wine Bar with the latest BAA Spring Member Show from April 11 – May 14. The change of seasons in Boulder ushers in the blossoming of nature as the plants around us wake up from the snow. Discover the spring collection and meet the artists during the Opening Night Reception April 11 from 7:30pm – 8:30pm. Both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks may be purchased at R Gallery’s bar. 

Built to Spill is Doug Martsch, Melanie Radford, and Teresa Esguerra.

The world premiere of a new opera for families by Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes. This local story about the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado is brought to life by cinematic shadow puppetry, a string quartet, and a cast of three singers. The plot follows a wolf cub named Sky as he learns to make friends and be himself.

The opera lasts 35 minutes and is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Following the performance, we will hold a 30 minute puppet making workshop.

Saturday June 3rd at 6pm Broomfield Auditorium. 

Sunday June 4th 1pm and 3pm Dairy Arts Center 

Tickets: $30 adults, $25 kids and seniors

Dairy Arts Center Tickets: 

https://thedairy.org/event/colorado-sky-puppet-opera-festival/2023-06-04/

Broomfield Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/colorado-sky

The world premiere of a new opera for families by Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes. This local story about the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado is brought to life by cinematic shadow puppetry, a string quartet, and a cast of three singers. The plot follows a wolf cub named Sky as he learns to make friends and be himself.

The opera lasts 35 minutes and is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Following the performance, we will hold a 30 minute puppet making workshop.

Saturday June 3rd at 6pm Broomfield Auditorium. 

Sunday June 4th 1pm and 3pm Dairy Arts Center 

Tickets: $30 adults, $25 kids and seniors

Dairy Arts Center Tickets: 

https://thedairy.org/event/colorado-sky-puppet-opera-festival/2023-06-04/

Broomfield Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/colorado-sky

The world premiere of a new opera for families by Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes. This local story about the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado is brought to life by cinematic shadow puppetry, a string quartet, and a cast of three singers. The plot follows a wolf cub named Sky as he learns to make friends and be himself.

The opera lasts 35 minutes and is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Following the performance, we will hold a 30 minute puppet making workshop.

Saturday June 3rd at 6pm Broomfield Auditorium. 

Sunday June 4th 1pm and 3pm Dairy Arts Center 

Tickets: $30 adults, $25 kids and seniors

Dairy Arts Center Tickets: 

https://thedairy.org/event/colorado-sky-puppet-opera-festival/2023-06-04/

Broomfield Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/colorado-sky

Most other musicians, when they’ve been working for over half a century, are resting on their laurels, basking in the warm glow of their heritage, accepting the odd Lifetime Achievement Award, playing the odd Greatest Hits tour and concentrating on shifting their back catalogue. But Sparks are not most other musicians. They are utterly unique.

With the release of their 26th album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26th Ron and Russell Mael continue on that unique and uncompromising path. And, in a move that is as unexpected as it is unsurprising, the new bold, genre defying, modern masterpiece will be released by Island Records, the label that released their astonishing breakthrough record Kimono My House in 1974.

To coincide with the album release Sparks will take to the road for a world tour that will include 2 sold out headline shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall and, in America, the soon-to-be-announced largest headline show of the band’s career.

Levels of interest in the work of Sparks are at heights unsurpassed in their 50 year career, with the ultimate cult band now centre stage in the full beam of the spotlight.

Most people, with even a passing acquaintance with Sparks, will know the basics by now. How Californian brothers Ron and Russell Mael, both students at UCLA, began making music together in the late Sixties, originally under the name Halfnelson. How their Top Of The Pops debut with “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us” stunned a generation and nearly scored them a UK No.1. How their career moved through many phases, including (but not limited to) art rock, glam, big band swing, electro-disco, new wave and synthpop, taking in collaborations with Todd Rundgren, Les Rita Mitsouko, Tony Visconti, Franz Ferdinand and Giorgio Moroder.

How keyboardist and songwriter Ron’s intricate staccato arrangements combine with the acrobatic vocals in which Russell delivers his brother’s always-on-point lyrics. How Ron’s stillness and stern, intimidating visage contrasts onstage with Russell’s hyperactivity. How their popularity has spiked unpredictably in different territories at different times: Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan, and their homeland the United States. And how the influence of “the greatest band you’ve never heard of”, or “your favourite band’s favourite band”, has been recognised by successive generations of artists from Joy Division to Duran Duran to Depeche Mode to Bjork to Beck to The Darkness and beyond. Their influence on music cannot be overstated – as super-producer Jack Antonoff recently declared “all pop music is re-arranged Sparks”.

Now into their sixth decade of making music, Sparks have never been more relevant.

Once more Top 10 regulars, with studio albums Hippopotamus (2017) and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020) both reaching No.7 in the UK and receiving global acclaim, the lauded career-spanning documentary film The Sparks Brothers, directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver) and released in 2021, brought an awareness of Sparks to parts they previously hadn’t reached.

Sparks’ 2021 film musical Annette, directed by Leos Carax and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, which almost swept the board in France at that year’s César and Lumières Awards with eight wins and seven nominations across the two ceremonies, including the César for Best Original Music, and also fared well elsewhere, with a Golden Globes nomination for Cotillard, and ‘So May We Start’ shortlisted for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Focus Features have recently announced the studio is developing X-Crucior a musical epic written by Ron and Russell.