Shopdibs.com hosted its launch party and trunk show at El Charrito Bar Downtown Denver. Toward the back of the restaurant, four boutiques set up their popular handmade items from local artists. Denver Independent Boutiques is a collaboration of handmade stores in Denver featuring local artists with a flare of various styles.

Meghan Throckmorton (owner of Rakun) and Ellis Ann (owner of Thread Community) started this network of boutiques in November so shoppers can have a map of these unique stores and an easy way to find local shops. “This site is a great way for shoppers to know what they’re getting into and find the right stores for their style and price,” said Meghan.                                                    

“DIBS is a great tool for designers to find an appropriate market for their work.” Wherever artists are looking to sell their work, DIBS has a variety of shops with different styles and personalities. Artists don’t have to look too far to find a retail store to hold their creations.

At this launch party and trunk show, I met an artist named Raphael Kroshay, the owner and artist of Newdiggs Crochet Fashion here in Denver. He creates custom crochet items like backpacks, hats, scarves, and he even rocked pants that he crocheted himself. Raphael has been crocheting for 21 years, “It’s not just a hobby, it’s a career,” he said, “It’s doing what you love. Every project is a new personality.”

DIBS is also a great resource for the boutiques; the collaboration is really helpful for promotion purposes and to get ideas on retail best practices from other similar stores. “This event has been amazing,” said Ellis Ann, “It’s nice to know that all local stores are working together instead of against each other.”

“It’s also important to support local businesses and local artists,” said Meghan, “if you support local, more money is going back into the local economy.”

Thanks DIBS for giving me the opportunity to attend this launch party and trunk show! I will definitely be wearing the handmade skirt I purchased… As a matter of fact, I’m actually wearing it right now.

Check out the www.shopdibs.com for a complete list of participating Denver boutiques.

                          

Jason Greenhalgh (Q-Project) and Paul Smith (Spinback) first met in 1987 in Oxford, England. They were brought together through a mutual love of hip-hop and school girls. Greenhalgh was the first into the studio, with “Freestyle Fanatic” launching his career in 1991. However it was the establishment of the Legend imprint and specifically Greenhalgh’s “Champion Sound”, which really took their profile above and beyond the slew of anonymous white labels that were dominating the music at the time.

In 1994, the pair started recording together under the name Funky Technicians, with “Got to Believe”. The duo continue releasing tracks on Legend and others labels for another three years until the end of 1997, when Greenhalgh and Smith established the CIA label and changed their name to Total Science. The pair started a revival of old-school sounds/arrangements and dominated Drum n Bass throughout the late 90s and early 2000s with releases on well-known labels such as 31 Records, True Playaz,
Reinforced and Soul:r.

In 2003, they toured the US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Brazil and then focused CIA on showcasing then-up-and-coming artists Beta 2, Zero Tolerance, Friction, Mathematics and Baron. With a new found musical focus, Total Science upped the output quality and re-launched their dormant hip-hop/soul imprint – Skin Deep. Not caring for binding oneself to one particular musical form, they released tracks on Creative Source, Defunked and Metalheadz while pushing a string of lucrative 12″s on their own labels: Advanced & C.I.A, of which ‘No 1.Sound’ on C.I.A and ‘Defcon 69′ on Metalheadz achieved anthem status.

From there, C.I.A and Advanced witnessed the release of an array of tracks from talented producers such as Juju’s ‘Mojohand/Nomad’, Calibre & Zero Tolerance’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ and State of Mind’s ‘State of Mind Experience:Chapter ½. Meanwhile Q-Project’s ‘Ask Not’ and Total Science’s ‘Greatest Thing’ blew up on the UK dance charts. Later in 2005, Q-Project signed several tunes to Creative Source, Liquid V and Bingo. Q-project also was signed to world-renown label, Hospital Records. The buzz surrounding Total Science once again put them in serious demand from promoters worldwide, obtaining them a long list of gigs all over England and Europe, New Zealand and the U.S. ’Mars Needs Total Science’, the much anticipated third album, was released mid 2006 and saw instant success with album single ‘Never Had a Dream’ reaching Number 1 in the UK Dance charts. Additionally,

Q-Project finished his critically acclaimed debut solo LP “Renaissance Man” which was released on Hospital Records in late autumn of that year. Fast forward to today and Total Science is still receiving major airplay and top reviews from music industry and fans alike. I cannot wait for this show!

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/totalscience
Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/total-science
Mixcloud http://www.mixcloud.com/TotalScience
Myspace http://www.myspace.com/totalscience

Recon DnB is a Denver-based collective of DJs/producers well-known for their passion for forward-thinking music. For close to a decade, Recon has had their collective fingers on the pulse of Drum n’ Bass. Whether Recon is playing a show or bringing out international talent, the fans know they are getting the best that the world of Drum n’ Bass has to offer. You can find Recon members playing a variety of venues all over Denver but one mainstay of the Recon family is Here Comes the Bass Thursdays at Sutra. They play every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month, it’s a free show, and it is ALWAYS a good time.

                          

Square

Unseen Denver supports Arts Street with Uni, Square & bunny M

This night will be a unique opportunity, as our guests will partake in the street art experience as these three artists make a rare, above-ground appearance for the purpose of bringing attention to a very important cause.  The purpose of this event is to bring the growing street art discipline to people in Denver, who may not have as much exposure to the style as they would if they lived in cities like San Francisco or New York City. We would like to leverage these artists’ collective talent to raise money for Arts Street; a Metro Denver nonprofit that, for the last 11 years, has been developing and implementing highly diversified career-based, educational programs that incorporate real-world learning, artistic expression and creative thinking.

The scale of the outdoor mural will be significant. Denver’s bunny M will install a large scale poster, in sections, that she has prepared beforehand. This event will mark the installation of one of Denver’s largest wheat paste mural projects.

There will be entertainment, beer and other refreshments. Donations are encouraged. We will be raffling off one original piece from each of the night’s featured artists. All proceeds will benefit Arts Street. This event will take place starting at 6:00pm at Uncubed | 2762 Walnut St. Denver CO 80205.

3 artists activate Uncubed

Uni
Uni, who is the creator of Uni Studios, has always been interested in art, which he attributes to a visual arts background.  Uni’s father is a realist bronze sculptor and abstract painter who encouraged visual art. His style is unique and many of the subjects of Uni’s studio work are authors including Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Kerouac.

Square
Square has been a working Denver artist for a number of years and his paintings have been on display in galleries and on First Fridays. Square’s street art style is a break from much of the work you may have seen in galleries on Santa Fe. He is inspired by the city and inspired by the freedom and creative expression he feels as a result of the anonymity of the streets.

bunny M
bunny M is one of Denver’s most prolific street artists. Her dreamy, free-flowing style is unique among street artists. bunny M is a Denver native and her work can be found both here and scattered around the streets and boroughs of New York City. “There are many beautiful walls here,” bunny speaks of Denver,  “many alleyways full of character; I always have the sentiment of sharing something that is very close to my heart with a place that has afforded me so many wonderful experiences throughout my life thus far.”

bunny M

Teaching Denver’s children their value through Arts Education

Arts Street
Arts Street is an 11 year-old non-profit youth program in Denver that creates opportunities for the young people of Colorado. The opportunities provided are designed to foster the inspiration and education of these youth to become tomorrow’s professionals and support the workforce needs. This is achieved by developing and implementing highly diversified career-based, educational programs that incorporate real-world learning, artistic expression and creative thinking.

Uncubed
Uncubed is Denver’s Tech/Creative Co-Working Hub with 6000sq ft of space for coworking, meet-ups, small training events and conferences.

Please RSVP on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155882781168062

                          

A native of Colorado, Square was born in Boulder and grew up in the ‘burbs just north of Denver. As the years passed, he found that his innate creativity was outgrowing the confines of a quiet, suburban life, so Square moved to Denver, where he could truly explore his previously stifled creative side. After college, he tried to fit his artwork into the gallery scene, but never felt happy with what he was doing – producing work that he thought galleries wanted to see and pieces that would sell in those spaces.

“All this led to was disappointment and frustration for me because I never finished a piece that felt real or true to who I was. The talent and the ability to paint was never an issue for me, but it was the ability to express what was inside that caused the most problems because I was consciously or unconsciously being influenced by what other people thought and by what I figured galleries wanted.”

All of that changed when Square took on his moniker and started painting at a street level. For the first time, he felt free to completely express himself however he felt. The anonymity that the city streets and alleys gave him made him unafraid to paint in a way that actually satisfied his creative needs. As he describes it,

“There is also something very liberating about putting the time and effort into making a piece and then giving it away to the street where it could be torn down or painted over within a day or it could stay up for a year but no matter what it will eventually be destroyed.”

The phrase “giving it away to the street” really struck a chord with me. Yeah, it’s schmaltzy, but I like the idea of street art being a gift to everyone and no one. Square needs to express himself, so the creation of his street art is his way of fulfilling his needs. By putting art in the street, one can only hope someone sees it before it’s taken down, but there are no guarantees. Once it’s on the street, the city decides the fate of a street artist’s work.

Square finds cities, in general, to be inspiring. Of course, living in Denver has its unique ups and downs. Denver is relatively young in its existence as a big city, a characteristic that can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, artists like Square can create street art that has a relatively good chance of standing out, in addition to being some of the first artists in Denver to help change perceptions of street art. On the other hand, the community at large has yet to develop a real understanding of street art as something different from the gang tags that share the same alleyways. “The city in general has adopted a universal stance that if something is on a wall and not inside a gallery then it’s not art,” says Square. “The desire to change what everyone in this city thinks about [art] is something that inspires me in a huge way along with the basic desire for revenge against those who think they can dictate what is and isn’t art.”

Because of Denver’s burgeoning street art culture, not every street is a “safe zone.” Different streets and alleys in Denver give different types of inspiration and some are simply forbidden fruit. “I always have to make sure that it is not on an area that has spots that have been painted over by the city several times. I’ve found what I thought were perfect spots before and put a piece up and the next day it was torn down. This has proven to be the biggest challenge with doing street art.”

Yes, the idea of street art is that it’s temporary and that it could be taken down at any time, but you have to remember that these artists aren’t mass producing some print. These are one of a kind pieces that are being pasted up on a wall for your viewing pleasure. Once they’re gone, they’re gone and there’s no getting that exact piece back again. This is why street artists spend as much time as they do scouting alleyways and streets for the perfect “gallery.”

Square says his two favorite streets are Colfax and Broadway. However, must love Broadway from afar and admire it for its potential since most of the pieces that are posted on Broadway get painted over or torn down. Colfax has been much more accepting of street art, so it has become a kind of walking museum where you might find a beautiful mural right around the next corner. However, Square does have a bone to pick with one area in particular, and I have to agree with him. “The Santa Fe Arts District tries to pretend that it is a place for street art but hardly any of the galleries are really interested in that and if they don’t approve then your painting will be eradicated.”

While street art is typically a “lone wolf” type of gig, there is one artist in particular that Square pairs with some frequency. Several of his striking pieces (including a few amazing commissioned murals) have been done with another rising Denver street artist, bunny M. “I met bunny M about 10 years ago and we’ve been contributing to one another’s lives as artists ever since. I believe our styles are different enough that we can collaborate on something and not have any kind of competition, but our styles work together in a way that allows for a harmony and sense of unity that would not be present if it were just two artists working together on a mural and completely doing their own thing.”

When you see their work together, there’s no denying that the two artists’ styles are very different. But somehow, they work together in a way that creates a piece of art that is obviously one concept executed by two very different artists which is no easy feat.

As for what he ultimately wants to achieve with his art, Square says that right now he just needs to paint, and street art lets him do it in a way that’s much more prolific than a gallery artist could ever achieve. Also, as a street artist he’s not bound by gallery politics when he wants his work to be seen. And he does.
“Seen by people who love it and people who hate it and those who are indifferent because I think the more that street art is seen in this city the more people will understand what is possible.”

So is there a “hands across America” type of idealistic wish that Square has for street art in Denver?

“I would love for there to come a point when those who are in charge no longer think that a dumpster or a wall or an electrical box looks better with a bunch of white or beige or grey blobs painted on it then it would with any kind of art.” -Square

                          

When I was assigned to cover a poet I feared the worst. Poetry and I have never been the finest of bedfellows. A standard education in iambic pentameter and reading less-than-relevant works that are hundreds or thousands of years old with the idea that since they are old, they are unarguably the best of their kind. Even though common sense deems these works unreadable by most, and logic would place them at a foundational level. Everything beyond the “old masters” should be better, no?

The way we were taught, few people like poetry. Words from dead white guys speaking to a generation of people we can no longer fathom. Perhaps we would learn to appreciate it more if the poetry had anything to do with us at all?

Sure, the classics are all about the human condition and the unchanging desires of the spirit of man. Is there a poet who could relate to today’s common man? A down to earth individual who can write a few words without loosing most of us, who can deliver it in a manner where we don’t want to punch him in the face?

Furthermore, who am I to be writing anything about this person? Who is any writer to take to the pen and write about another author? A digital search of Charly Fasano brings me to articles from periodicals far more credible than I, each written by someone who wanted to take on the abstract art of writing about writers, and what that writer has written. Even after reading a half dozen stories I have no idea what to make of Charly. Instead I gain more insight about the author of the article; their preferences and biases and history with words. I suppose therein lies the assignment, to make something of Charly Fasano for the reader.

Charly shows up orders a beer from the too-familiar bartender (who is Charly’s twin) and gives me a copy of Next Analog Broadcast. The cover is a deep blue marked by prints of television antennae. The idea is an image of a television screen that has gone static, but the image is actually done with a newsprint roller off a paper production line.

I ask Charly to describe the book before I even bother opening it. He says “It’s a two-shit read, really.” I suppose it all depends on what was for dinner last night.

Bouncing between Denver and Chicago and other metro areas most of his life, Charly has made a simple little life for him here in Denver. He keeps odd jobs, he works with artists to promote both their work and his own. We talk about street-art for a while. The discussion travels the country to artists we’ve both seen, stinks they’ve raised, jobs they’ve snagged from their art. The transition from illegal to legitimate.

It’s clear he loves not only just this city but the idea of cities. Their establishment, their growth. Where people come from and what they chose to do with their time. Those who publish poetry, play music, or beg for change. He understands them and sees them in a way few understand, which is what makes Next Analog Broadcast unique.

The volume is slim, the words inside are easy. That’s what he wants – accessibility. After all, how can one expect their work to be appreciated by so many people if it is shrouded too heavily? If you’re looking for the subtext, read it aloud. Even call Charly on the phone and have him read it to you. It is there, in the blend of words and sounds. If you were to visit Charly’s website, you’d hear more words than you’d read. Dozens of recordings fill the pages so you can hear the language being broken down, used for another purpose. If you want the subtext, you’ll have to listen because it is impossible for it to lay flat to the page.

Topics range from a series of observations at a bar or a concert. There are lyrics speaking to the redundancy of the human spirit, the fading glimmer of the misguided soul. Songs of love, lust. Everything in between them. Charly’s work is so easily accessed not just from the composition, but the content as well. If you don’t find yourself being discussed in one of his poems, then you will find your friend hidden between the pages. He paints landscapes of city from one coast to the other only to discover they are more or less the same when viewed from the street. From the homeless to the narcissistic joggers to the women actively striving to be something they are not.

And it ties. The theme, the title poem: Next Analog Broadcast – stating simply “The signal ends/the story continues.” A subtle reminder that every day is a new generation of technology, a disconnect, a disassociation. A reminder that we can put as many digital barriers between us and what matters but everything which makes us human will remain analog. The rhythm of the heartbeat, the physics of the breath, the organic structure to your history, your story. Try as they might, lyrical understanding and poetic prose is something lost on the digital interface.

Forever we will have the next big thing, the digital readout and the higher frequency signal. Forever still the only way we will never understand these interfaces is through the analog machine we are all burdened with.

Is Charly the mild-mannered, modern poet destined to bring poetry back to everyone? Maybe not. Then again, I’m but a writer writing about the writer. Charly didn’t write this for me. He wrote it for you.

You can hear more of Charly’s recordings (for free) on the Fast Geek Press Bandcamp page.

                          

Every community has a wealth of young creatives who need little more then faith, encouragement and the proper tools. Arts Street is a local nonprofit organization who brings these things and more to children and young adults who may not have the financial or social support that their talents need in order to grow.

This Saturday Arts Street will bring youthe Cinebites Film Festival. Cinebites will feature a collection of of short films entered by filmmakers from around the country, and curated by the Arts Street Alumni Association. You will see a series of 15 minute films that range from comedy to documentaries and avant-garde to animation. Proceeds from the event will be used to create a creative and culturally competent workforce by assisting inner city youth.

After the films, one of my very favorite local songwriters, Ian Cooke, will wrap things up. Not bad for a couple of sawbucks and a good cause.

CINEBITES will be this Saturday, August 6 at the Starz Film Center on the Auraria Campus. Tickets are $10, or $7 with a student ID. You can purchase tickets by contacting alumni@arts-street.org or available for purchase at the door.

Stars Film Center
900 Auraria Parkway
Denver, CO 80204

RSVP to Cinebites on Facebook

Click here for a map provided on Yelp.com

                          

Most of the memory on my camera is taken up with photos I’ve snapped here and there of random posters, painting and other street media. I love walking around a corner and stumbling upon a newly spray painted stencil on the sidewalk or a poster glued to the side of a power box. While I’ve never spent a ton of time in the big coastal cities of LA or NYC, where the street art scene is really fantastic, I’m still impressed with the amount of diversity beginning to emerge within the Denver street art community.

With all my love of street art and the creativity it puts out in the community, I still had one horrible little stereotype. I’m ashamed to admit it, because I didn’t realize it existed until very recently. You see, I still imagined street artists as this rough and tumble ragtag group of guys that were just out to circumvent the law by posting art in illegal places around the city. I know, it’s awful that I had such a one dimensional view of street artists, but all of that changed when I opened up my inbox this morning and read an email from bunny M.

If you haven’t heard of bunny M, then perhaps you’ve seen her work plastered on walls around Denver’s various neighborhoods. She also did a mural in the Berkeley neighborhood on the side of a building on Tennyson. Her work is fluid and natural. The lines on the illustrations in her art seem to grow organically around the paper creating a beauty you wouldn’t expect to see on the alleyway wall of a building in Cap Hill.

When Unseen Denver presented me with the opportunity to ask bunny M a few questions, I was completely thrilled to get the chance. So, I sent her an email with a bunch of questions. The response I got from her completely changed the way I picture street artists, because it was not at all what I expected. It was thoughtful, positive and very uplifting and I feel very fortunate to have been able to talk to her about her art and what inspires her here in Denver as well as her other favorite stomping ground: New York City.

M grew up in Denver and has roots here, but she says it wasn’t until she visited NYC in her youth that she realized how much possibility the world held. New York City put a wanderlust in her and ever since then, she’s travelled extensively, but has always returned to either Denver or New York. About NYC, she explains, “…it has some mythical magical powers in my mind, and I can’t help but be drawn back to that place often.”

When it comes to Denver’s burgeoning street art community, bunny is excited by the possibilities of a city that’s still sort of finding its niche when it comes to street art. Her reasons for displaying her art here in Denver are highly sentimental and closely connected to the fact that this is where she grew up.

“Denver to me is a perfect place for some of my pieces right now,” she says.  “There are many beautiful walls here, many alleyways full of character; I always have the sentiment of sharing something that is very close to my heart with a place that has afforded me so many wonderful experiences throughout my life thus far.”

Like many artists, whether their canvas is stretched across a frame or spanned across a barren wall, bunny M finds her inspiration from nature. When I asked her who some of her influences are, she gave most of the credit to nature saying she enjoyed studying the lines and patterns on plants at close range. It makes sense then that one of the places in Denver where she finds the most inspiration is at the Botanic Gardens. “I adore it there and have spent more afternoons than I can remember drawing and thinking there,” M exclaims. “I remember working on a drawing before I moved to NYC, coming back 6 months later, and finding the pen I lost that day right before my move stuck in the cracks of one of my favorite benches there!”

While she may find some of her organic inspiration in the flora and fauna found in Denver, it seems as though she recharges her creative batteries in New York City. “That city has some energy in it that is akin to a star being born, in that all the elements are unstable, changing, influencing one another, and forming something completely new and awe inspiring because of it. Maybe I’m romanticizing [it], but in NYC the work on the streets in general looks less like propaganda to me and more like something released helplessly, and hopelessly, from the unconscious (and I like that).”

While bunny M may be a prolific artist on the streets of Denver and NYC, there are other up and coming artists in Denver. One in particular, Square, is an artist that she has worked with in the past and says she would enjoy working with him again saying, “He is one of the most talented painters I have ever known.” As far as other artists she would love to work with on Denver’s streets, the anonymous artist that does wheat pastes of polar bears and panthers out of multicolored triangles has piqued her interest.

When it comes to the street art scene in Denver, I agree with bunny when she says, “Denver is ready for the challenge of it, I feel.  There are many people living here right now that appreciate the fun in finding something unusual where there used to be nothing out of the ordinary, the breaking away from the sterility and uniformity of an artless city (or at least one where much of the truly modern and new art was kept out of public sight).”

I have to say, to hear an artist encapsulate the way I feel about the Denver street art scene is a pretty wonderful thing. It excites me to think that there are many young artists out there similar to M (perhaps not in style, but in sentiment) who are excited to take Denver and turn it into a city where the alleyways and building walls are a playground for art to inspire and delight the masses and not just the select few who buy a ticket to an art museum.

                          

If Crash 45 had been here in 1947, Jack Kerouac would have come here too…

Or at least that’s the speculative clause accompanying the 97% life-size stencil-rendering of Jack Kerouac in Denver’s newest gallery on the north side of the tracks.

The truth is: the jury is still out on the validity of this statement as 321 E. 45th Ave has played host to weary travelers and beat souls since it’s erection in 1934. The watering hole, now known as Crash 45, was once fondly referred to as “The White owl” and before that, “the Portulaca Café.” Even the savviest Denver native may catch himself wondering why these names sound so foreign, but don’t get yourself down, man, it’s not your fault! This gem is subterranean for a reason.

Assuming our readers don’t wander the streets of Denver sporting blindfolds, you have all noticed the recent explosion in the number of MMJ dispensaries scattered about town. Such cancerous growth is the product of an illicit substance’s journey from the black market into the welcoming arms of capitalism and the trend is not unique to pot. The era known as prohibition (the period in which production, distribution, and sales of alcoholic beverages was criminal in America) was the social ‘wet blanket’ weighing down on an upbeat generation from the years 1920 to 1933. Like our current booming bud business, the instant the 18th Amendment was repealed, breweries, liquor stores, and bars started sprouting up everywhere like weeds from cracked sidewalks and it seemed the new cash-cow was producing some high proof milk for even inexperienced entrepreneurs.

The 21st Amendment inspired a Slavic immigrant to take a small plot of land, dangerously close to Globeville, and use it to launch a business that had become quite redundant nationwide in a single year. The result was a quintessential, North-Denver, blonde-brick bar; an iconic look for the neighborhood around it, but ultimately unremarkable in the eyes of most of our town’s bar-goers. The original owner may have embarked on his enterprise under the notion that it was certain to succeed, but perhaps a more suitable guarantee might suppose that the venture was certain not to fail. Indeed, the Portulaca Café neither succeeded nor failed, it simply existed. The newcomers, though few their numbers may have been, all left as regulars and a balance was achieved between the establishment’s financial needs and the average local’s penchant for a stiff drink after a long day of hauling crates in a blazing warehouse…

Which brings us around to that clause again: could it be? Did Kerouac, all 5’8” of him, drink at the same hole-in-the-wall that now proudly displays a spray-enamel likeness of the author a mere 2” shy of the real thing?

“No,” says local artist, Uni, the vandal responsible for “bringing Jack back to Denver” with his graffiti project Jack was Here; “To the best of my knowledge, Jack never graced this building with his presence. I did consider claiming otherwise just to help validate this venue for my show, but as a street artist, I try to retain as much credibility as possible. My project is a celebration of Denver’s history and the role it played in the development of the Beat Generation, so I must be responsible and present only factual-evidence (of which there is none in this case). I know that I don’t keep an accurate record of every bar I’ve ever walked into and I doubt Jack did either – if it’s out there I’ll find it – so it’s not impossible that he drank here but it’s unlikely in my opinion.”

Uni, the creator of Uni Studios, has had a lifelong interest in art which he credits to his father, a realist bronze-sculptor and an abstract painter. Despite his claim to have “always known he’d end up in the arts,” Uni’s DPS transcript shows an utter lack of art classes, a gap in his education which surprises most who have seen his work.

“Well, there are a couple of reasons for that but foremost is probably that I was terrified I’d fail an art class should I have registered for one. I’ve always heard that the people who teach that particular subject are the most bitter of any course outside of English. I didn’t want to be the recipient of someone’s misplaced frustration, so I made music my creative outlet in school. It wasn’t until I took a year of Environmental Design at Montana State University that I received my only formal training in the arts and trust me, I absorbed as much as I could. Just the vocabulary alone was worth the financial debt I now carry.”

Perhaps more interesting than the loans he signed is how Uni plans to pay them off: he wants to sell art which he feels is a privilege earned through his “benevolent affinity for charitable installations.” If you’re deemed trustworthy, he’ll show you the long list of addresses, intersections, and landmarks he keeps in his blackbook, each identifying the exact location of a piece he has “donated” to the public. If ever misplaced, Uni’s Moleskine would lead the rando-lucky-enough-to-come-across-it all over Denver’s map. Although the treasure could be anything, chances are it’s a small portrait of Jack Kerouac, stoically waiting for our scavenger and all passerby to find; put there simply to remind. As it is, the artist and his book are inseparable, so the next best option for those interested would be to visit his blog which catalogues the various locations Jack visited in Denver and, whenever possible, what the “King of the Beats” had to say about the digs. Unlike the majority of tumblr accounts, it is clear that this blog was built on extensive research and Uni’s obsession is as palpable and addictive as the novel he’s been paying illegal-homage to since February.

This Saturday, Crash 45 is offering an exclusive look into Uni’s process. For the first time ever, he is inviting the general public to watch him paint, live. There is a strict policy on photographs and some topics may be too taboo to discuss, but he is eager to answer questions and talk about art. In addition to his Kerouac campaign, the 22 year old Denver native has been working on a series he calls “The Smoking Section” which features counter-culture writers as they indulge their nicotine habits, but this only accounts for a couple of the pieces adorning the gallery’s walls that still hang from the establishment’s inaugural show two weeks ago. Besides authors, Uni has been known to stencil musicians, friends, and family members.

“Although I’ve been painting longer than I’ve been reading, I’d say I’m still in the preliminary stages of my development as an artist. I have big plans and most of them don’t include me cutting stencils of celebrities forever. I started by introducing an x-Acto blade to my own sketches but soon realized I had plenty of room for improvement in my drawings, so I took to stylizing existing photos in order to teach myself anatomy and composition. That method has paid off drastically. My goal is to eventually work totally-void of visual references and I’m prepared to do the necessary work to get there, but I’m in no rush. Until then, I’m cutting a new stencil for Saturday’s show that I consider a radical departure from my previous work.”

If words like “radical departure” spark your interest, Uni recommends you take the “scenic route” to Crash 45 this Saturday night. He directs patrons to the Delgany St. exit off of Park Ave (first right after the Coors Field parking lot) which will take you past the Denargo Produce Market (3325 Denargo: the white warehouse on the left side of the street about 3 blocks down) where Jack Kerouac worked on two separate occasions in 1947 and 1949. Look for the faded, hand-painted signs near the roofline that read “Produce” and “Warehouse.” Somewhere much closer to the ground on the same façade, you will find one of Uni’s stencils which are rapidly becoming iconic of Denver’s street art.

Provided you don’t get lost between Denargo and 45th, you’ll be looking for a blonde-brick bar with blood-red doors that offer just a taste of the visual experience that greets visitors upon entry. Besides the art on the walls, you can expect friendly patrons and staff as well as reasonably-priced drinks and food so good you’ll find yourself begging the owner to expand his business hours so you can get your fix more frequently. Doors open at 3; kitchen gets hot around 4:30; and the paint starts flying around 7. There is no cover, however management asks patrons under the age of 21 to bring a “really convincing fake” if they plan on sticking around for long.

Crash 45
321 E 45th Ave, Denver, CO 80216
(303) 955-2835

Click here for a map provided on Yelp.com

                          

‘Talent recognizes talent…before too long’ Dunn explained to me when we were talking about the artists he had given pieces to, his M.O at the beginning was waiting for hours either before or after shows piece in hand with no intention of going home empty-handed…at least in the figurative sense, that is to say he wouldn’t leave until he was able to hand off his pieces to the artists. Dan’s first experiment with the idea really caught my attention, because I subscribe to the idea that hip-hop is kept alive by a select few individuals my favorite of which is a south Philly rapper named Vinnie Paz, the articulate, and explosive front man for the group ‘Jedi Mind Tricks’ so when Dan told me that Vinnie was his first test subject I almost didn’t believe him. Dan stood with the doorman while Black Pegasus brought the portrait back to Vinnie, minutes later Vinnie came out and brought Dan backstage to discuss the ‘artists curse.’ From there ‘they (the portraits) became my backstage passes.’ Dan estimates that he has given somewhere over 200 portraits to artists, some being repeats when they come back into town, but the list of names and stories is astonishing; Slick Rick, Gift of Gab, Black Thought and so many others.

This period brought about the pivotal point in his career, when Dan painted a monochromatic portrait of Biggie Smalls on a stop sign that had been shot by his roommates with three different caliber sizes. ‘The biggie piece was more a turning point, the piece cut me when I was painting it, it was the first time I tried to put a message within the sign, stop the violence…almost, at least trying to take something you see every day and twist the connotation.’

Today Dan is a green artist, getting his signs legitimately from different municipalities; he is very involved with the local scene and art shows in the area. His shirts sell at local shops like Community Service and TS board shop and the portraits continue to get cranked out on Street Signs. He has a family, and is content with being planted in Denver ‘I think Denver will always be home, but I’d like to push my horizons.’ For today Dan paints and carries himself with a humble air, he knows this may not last forever, but for today he is a major player in Denver ‘I could quit tomorrow and feel like I was successful because I gave back to the hip-hop culture, giving them something unique that they appreciate or find meaning in.’

You can see dans work on display at the Quick Response art show until July 30^th.

Quick Response is at The MacSpa
1738 Wynkoop Street, Suite 103, Denver.

                          

Even with the quality of music and the ridiculous talent that we have to produce and DJ, some people think that there isn’t anywhere else that the music can go. Even English Dubstep pioneer Rusko admits that the sound has gone too far. Maybe it’s too noisy for noisy sake? Who knows…? I’ve heard complaints about “Heavy Metal Drum n Bass” and I can see where they’re coming from. For those of us who grew into artists like Klute, Photek, Makoto or LTJ Bukem, we know that the bass doesn’t need to be drive-your-head-into-the-pavement aggressive. We like the soul and the jazz. While the aggressive bass is where the party’s at, we still want those rolling bass lines, warm atmospherics and that smooth, kick-back rhythm that puts the groove in your shoulders and the bounce in your booty. If you know what I’m talking about then you probably already know about REDUXN.

The REDUXN resident DJs are natives of Colorado Drum n Bass scene.

• Shoebox is the owner and founder of Plush Recordings and DnBradio.com.
• Elwood was resident DJ with the Jungle Bums night at B Side Lounge in Boulder.
• Sideffect runs the local blog and podcast TheWarAgainstThePublic.com, which airs on UK station Dirtlabaudio.com every Wednesday night 7-9pm MST.

“We started REDUXN because there is so much great music coming out that DJ’s don’t really get to play, music that’s really smooth and simple, but not a lot of places to hear it.” says Sideffect. “REDUXN’s all about liquid soul and smooth bass at around 170bpm”.

REDUXN promo mix by Sideffect

Club 2200 (formerly The Loft) opened its doors with a host of off the hook local electronic music. This month they are proud to introduce REDUXN, a minimal drum n bass night Friday May 13th. The new nightclub is premiering a new DJ night with a less-is-more mentality. Resident DJ’s Sideffect (Mike Flynn), Elwood (Neal Sherwood) and Shoebox (Mike Ramirez) take a new approach to electronic music clubs by showcasing the smoother, simpler, and minimal side of bass-driven music.

REDUXN promo mix by Elwood

If you’re looking for a redux’d sound and subwoofers, then check out REDUXN at 2200 on Fri May 13th, 9pm-close. Headlining on Fri May 13th is Sub.Mission and ReconDnB resident Budros, who also airs the TimeServed radio broadcast on DnBradio.com every Thursday night 6-8pm MST.

Club 2200
821 22nd Street
Denver, CO

corner of 22nd and Champa, (near lightrail)
NO COVER

Friday, May 13 at 9:00pm – May 14 at 2:00am

DJs:
Budros
Shoebox
Elwood
Sideffect

REDUXN – Less is more at 2200