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Last night I attended a “surprise” performance by Kimya Dawson (of Moldy Peaches fame) at the Breakdown Book Collective in Denver.

Her Toxic Map, an acoustic punk/metal band from Seattle was also supposed to play, but apparently their ride broke down in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

There were a few equipment problems which prevented Kimya from using a mic, but as this was an intimate venue in which the fans simply sat on the floor around Kimya and her guitar, it proved to be a non-issue. The performance was excellent considering the almost impromptu nature of the event. At one point in the set, a neighbor decided to practice on his drums. While it threw miss Dawson momentarily, she just rolled with the punches and matched the rhythm of the would-be spoiler–and the crowd seemed to appreciate it. I was surprised to see children there given the nature of some of Kimya Dawson’s lyrics. But as it turned out, they were the life of the party and even sung backup on a couple of occasions.

As I have been doing a poor job of money management lately, I am at the moment completely broke. Before I left for the show, I scrounged all the quarters I could find in order to have enough for parking (if I couldn’t find a free spot) and the $5 donation at the door. After the show, I really wanted to buy her latest CD (due out October 5th on k records) but I was unsure if I had enough to purchase it. I handed Kimya all the quarters I had in my pocket and told her that it was all the money I had in the world until pay day. Sensing my desire to own her latest album and my dire financial situation, she told me the $10 price was negotiable. Kimya counted the nearly unwieldy handful of coins and, as it turns out, I gave her $10.50. She graciously returned the two surplus quarters. Excited that I had enough money for both the Kimya Dawson album and a can of Coke, I proceeded on my way home.

Whilst flipping through the Denver AM radio dial looking for Radio 1190, I stumbled across a new station on 1150 AM (KNRC) calling itself Indie 50.

Actually, the station itself is not so new… for the past two years it had been a local talk radio station but high employee costs and less than expected revenue caused the station to go off the air. The whole sordid story can be found in this Denver Post story. What the linked article does not mention is that on Friday, July 30th KNRC came back on the air with a new “Indie Music” format. While I am sorry for all the people who lost their jobs at KNRC Talk Radio, I for one am thrilled to have KNRC Indie 50 on my radio dial.

For a little backround on NRC Broadcasting, Inc., the company that owns Indie 50, I refer you to the websites of some of the other stations it owns: 105.5 Jack FM whose motto is “playing what we want” and AM 1510 KCUV an “Americana Music” (alternative country, progressive rock, folk, blues, bluegrass, gospel…) station that came about due to the frustration with the homogenized and cookie-cutter formats on FM radio–a refuge for the disenfranchised listener of commercial radio.

I have high hopes for KNRC Indie 50. It’s format is a little more accessible to the “mainstream” listener than Radio 1190’s and it is a nice change of pace. Having abandoned radio several years ago I am being drawn back by stations like Radio 1190 (1190 AM Denver/Boulder) and Indie 50 (1150 AM Englewood/Denver).

It seems like it’s been a blue moon since I’ve written here…

In the past month I’ve seen the lights of Las Vegas, the nights (and days… and nights) of Denver, and the heights of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Let’s talk about birthday cake. I think this is an idea whose time has passed. Let us usher in the age of birthday pie. For far too long we have endured the sheet cake as the treat of birthdays. Sheet cake tastes like it sounds: like sheet.

Apple pie a la mode beats any “birthday cake” hands down.

Long live the birthday pie!