Green music fest coping with growing pains By Whitney - October 1st, 2009
Green music fest coping with growing pains
Denver,
CO - Denver's Endotrend music festival narrowly escaped a devastating
blow after bureaucratic differences forced a last-minute venue change
for Saturday's event.
Dramatic changes have swept though the Endotrend festival
following the announcement on Wednesday that the festival would no
longer take place on the Auraria Campus downtown as scheduled. It has
since been relocated to 3 Kings Tavern, TS Board Shop, and The Oriental
Theater.
The split occurred after last-minute stipulations were added
by officials at the university that have not yet been made public.
According to festival co-founder of Endotrend and creator of the Jeremy
Gregory of the Bands for Lands organization, the decision to switch
venues was difficult but necessary.
"There were some financial things that caught us off guard
and would have broken us financially. We felt we had no choice but to
pull off campus to protect the mission of the event."
Gregory stated that these types of situations often occur in
the process of planning grassroots events like the Endotrend festival
that is billing itself as the nation's first altruistic and
philanthropic festival.
" I think that grassroots movements always have an uphill
battle to climb and unfortunately, we are not immune to that either,"
he said.
Since the announcement, the Endotrend organizers were forced
to scale back the original plans of the festival including several
sustainability and environmental accountability measures like using a
wind-powered campus like Auraria's to reduce the festival's
environmental impact.
" Our festival took a big hit. It was bigger than any one
person though. It was about the cause and this is really unfortunate.
Now we've had to take away many of our altruistic and philanthropic
components," Gregory said.
These were not the only losses however, as a handful of
local acts pulled themselves from the event following the relocation.
Despite the negative reaction on the part of these bands, a vast
majority of the line up remains the same including performances by
national acts like Edie Sedgwick. Nonetheless, the withdrawals struck a
personal chord with Gregory.
" It isn't about the bands, it's about the cause. Being a
musician myself, I believe that there has to be sacrifice otherwise the
music community and the activist community suffer. The bands that are
still playing are the bands that truly believe in the cause and are
bummed but playing despite the circumstance because they believe in the
cause," he said.
In the wake of such hardships, the Endotrend creators have
already set their sights on a more reliable location for next year's
festival in the University of Denver's campus. As soon as Saturday's
festival wraps, Gregory and company will begin planning and hopefully
submit proposals to the university in early November.
"We want to find a campus that is willing to welcome this
event into the community as a chance to do something really cool and
purposeful" Gregory stated.
Gregory said that DU is a good option because the university
is home to several very active student organizations as well as the
world renowned international studies program.
" It was a huge bummer about Auraria, but maybe it was a
blessing in disguise and was meant to be on the DU campus," said
Gregory.
First Meeting of the Year! By Whitney - September 10th, 2009
Hey Yo! KVDU is back and we're having our first meeting Monday September 14th at 6 pm in the Driscoll Underground (formerly the Commons).
Drop by if you are interested in having a show or just helping out with events and promotions. If you'd like a show, just fill out the form at the link below and bring it with you to Monday's meeting. Hope to see you all there!
- the KVDU crew
Tom Petty, DMB, The Roots to Hit Denver @ Mile High Music Festival! By Whitney - May 18th, 2008
Denver has long been a musical oasis for bands touring across the country withhundreds of bands passing through town each year. As such, it was only a matter of time before a giant music festival like this year’s Mile High Music Festival found its way to our beautiful city. Perhaps it was the success of last fall’s Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks that prompted promoters to get to work on another festival or maybe it was just the right time, either way, Mile High Music Festival promises to be the summer’s biggest musical menagerie to hit this great city.
The festival, sponsored by SanDisk and AEG Live, will invade Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on July 19 and 20. The lineup is a virtual who’s-who of music with styles ranging from hip hop to pseudo-country and jam bands. In addition to a slew of great music, the festival will also have an artists’ market provided by the ArtDistrict on Santa Fe Avenue to showcase the work of a host of Denver’s leading artists. The festivals food selections will also be a showcase of sorts highlighting many local restaurants. And, not to miss the social awareness aspect of such events, Conscious Alliance will be giving away limited edition posters for ten dollar or ten non-perishable food item donations with the proceeds benefiting the Food Bank of the Rockies.
All other aspects aside, the real reason to get off your couch and face July’s pounding sun is the music. Not only will Mile High Music Festival shed a light on the best local music Denver has to offer (home-town heroes like the Flobots, Rose Hill Drive, Meese, Born In The Flood, Railbenders and The Photo Atlas) it is bringing to town hordes of great national acts including the likes of John Mayer, The Black Crowes, Mike Gordon, O.A.R., Michael Franti & Spearhead, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Steve Winwood, Spoon, Jason Mraz, Flogging Molly, Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic, The Whigs, The Roots and Lupe Fiasco just to name a few. Although it might seem like a hodge-podge of acts, it provides a killer line-up with at least one act you will love while providing the opportunity to discover a ton of new acts, genres and styles too.
The one act that seems to be on everybody’s mind however, is the one and only Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Sure, people are jazzed to see the Dave Matthews Band, the other headliner, but the buzz surrounding Tom Petty is simply too loud to miss. When interviewing a few of the festival’s acts, each one seemed particularly excited to play with the legendary Petty. Julian Dorio of The Whigs confessed, “I’ve never seen Tom Petty and I can’t say that we’re really playing with him but I am really excited to check him out because obviously he’s really amazing.”
Local favorite The Railbenders’ frontman Jim Dalton expressed similar sentiments when I asked him which act at Mile High he way looking forward to the most, “I’d have to say Tom Petty because I’ve never seen Tom Petty live. I’ve always been a fan but never got to see him.”
All things Petty aside, the festival is going to be a great weekend for artists and fans alike to be dazzled. For musicians like Dorio, “Mile High Festival and shows like it are really exciting because they put you in front of a lot of people all at once.”
For the average concertgoer like myself, Mile High promises to be a great weekend of great art, good food and exceptional music. What more could you ask for in the middle of your summer fun? Plus, if the lineup is this good for the festival’s inaugural year, I can only imagine what phenomenal acts it will boast in the future.
Make sure to catch at least one day of shows or get crazy and tackle both days! Tickets are still available at www.milehighmusicfestival.com
And We'll All "Float" On By Eric - October 28th, 2007
 And the award for the most baffling homecoming float goes to... Student Media. Well, if such a distinction existed, maybe. I hope all of you were able to witness the greatness that was the Student Media float at the DU's homecoming parade. In this day and age, you can't really go wrong with pirate ships and go wrong we did not.
In other news, you may have noticed a few slight tweaks 'round these parts. The main page now shows what shows will play today. And show pages will show posts by the DJs involved as well as the top five songs for that particular show. (I'm noticing a disturbing Lynyrd Skynyrd trend...)
For you technophiles out there, we've also got an RSS feed here on the news page, so you can feel free and add it to your aggregator of choice. (I'm personally something of a Google whore, but you're welcome to use whatever you like.)
And more fun for everyone because you can now comment on your favorite DJ's posts.
A Series of Tubes Taking Shape By Eric - October 19th, 2007
 After the Great Server Catastrophe of Ought-Seven, the KVDU website is slowly but surely recovering and blooming into a whole new, beautiful being. (Like, your website would wanna date our website.) Things are still working themselves out, but all we ask of you is a little patience and you'll be in for a real treat.
New things abound, and none is a better example than this very news/reviews section. It will soon be populated with, in addition to site updates, music news and reviews penned by our very own KVDU DJs. We're also working out a partnership with DU student newspaper The Clarion for some additional content.
You may have also noticed the new request system, functioning weekly top artists chart, and a generally less-cluttered homepage.
Not good enough for you? Fear not, dear listener. We've got plans for features coming out the wazoo. Greater interaction with DJs? It's on its way. RSS feeds? Coming right up. Those awesome cupholder things? You've got it! Still not satisfied? Let me know. We'll work it out. Don't worry about it.
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Each week, a prominent local band is featured. The first hour, we let the bands show off what tunes have inspired and influenced them. The second hour, they play a live set and answer a few questions.
Eric
I develop the website here at KVDU. But also, I love the Denver music scene, and want to share a little bit of my favorite parts of it with you.
Whitney
I am a station manager here at KVDU along with Rachele Somma. I love local music and sharing it with people far and wide! Someday I hope to play the harmonica in a cheesy cover band that only does weddings.
KVDU LIVE's Tops
01 Vitamins
02 Paper Bird
03 Dualistics
04 Blue Million Miles
05 Widowers
06 Rob Roper
07 Hearts Of Palm
08 The Tanukis
09 The Knew
10 Rowboat
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