House Show at The Menagerie

On Thursday our community of thirteen friends put on a house show in our basement, The Menagerie. Without knowing it, we created a new music venue in Denver! We had 30-35 people show up and a packed basement!  We plan on having a show every other week. A bunch of friends and I are joining together to create a distinct community of artists (all mediums) in Denver and that's why I started this blog.  If you would like to join us, mesh communities, or play music at the next show, drop me a line (or some interwebmail at arafax1@msn.com).  Five bands/artists played a set and here's some photos of 'em all:

déCollage

déCollage, my band, played a set with half of our members. The amazing Ryan Schlitman held down the fort with guitar, voice, and drumpad/sampler, while the mighty Andrew Horwath played percrussion and a trashcan drumkit. I dabbled in guitar, accordion, and sampling. We had a blast! We performed "Impossible Soul" by Sufjan Stevens, and a bunch of originals. You can add us on Facebook and download free songs here.

Photography of déCollage by Austin Jenness.

Give Them Stories

Without any planning, all five members of Give Them Stories happened to show up. We were honored to house their first show. This rarely happens, but their music sent chills of bliss down my spine on two tunes. You can download songs for free on their Facebook and befriend them!! Give Them Stories is an innovative/prog/experimental band with three singers that tend to break out in glowing harmonies (Kelly Mader, Judon Montoya, and Ryan Sims). Their drummer and bassist keep everyone grounded with their groove and passion (Jeff Young and Ryan "Animal" Bannigan)

Give Them Stories Photography by Reed Fuchs

Cody Coffey

My really good friend, Cody Coffey, played a set of songs accompanied by Ryan Bannigan on drums. Cody has inspired me a lot and has one of the best voices of anyone I know; oozing in rich resonance. He is an amazing lyricist; he sometimes considers himself more of a poet than a musician...and he is a truly brilliant songwriter with a knack for writing catchy songs that still contain dense substance. You can listen to his songs on his facebook, my favorite right now is "God In A Woman". 

<

  Photography by Reed Fuchs

Ben Fisher

My friend Ben Fisher played a few of his songs on an electric guitar. He has an impressive vibrato,  a warm, sweet voice, and a killer falsetto.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled, you will be hearing much much more from these artists!

We will have a Facebook page for the Menagerie in the next couple of days!

Thanks to everyone who came and made this happen, let me know if you would like to come next time!

~Reed Fuchs

The Cozy Bean/A Nomadic Coffee Shop

My roommate, Stiles, sells coffee out of an old Volkswagen bus named The Cozy Bean. He sells at farmers markets, festivals, weddings, funerals (maybe not), and business offices. I rode in The Cozy Bean and helped Stiles with his route on Thursday, which was not unlike a “take your kid to work day”. I did some photography for him and drank a delectable Caramel Macchiato. We met many interesting people including these nice ladies:

Today The Cozy Bean made an appearance in the Olde Golden Christmas Parade. I, along with two of my roommates, Ryan and Teddy, helped hand out brochures and candy canes to parade goers. We happened to be right behind the Ronald McDonald van complete with Ronald himself (Although I’m pretty sure Ronald’s actually a girl)!

Check out the maniacs in this family>>

On top of being insanely amazing at making gourmet coffee, Stiles makes dream catchers (that actually work) for the Cozy Bean so that she can sleep a little cozier at night.

You can pick up some coffee from The Cozy Bean by following him on Twitter and Facebook. If you have an event or somewhere you would like to see The Cozy bean, call Stiles at 972-824-8225 or email him at stiles@cozybean.com.