It's a barn burner
Despite the heat, some musical musings for your pleasure

If this week’s column comes off as incongruous, scattered and non-linear, I’ll just blame it on the heat.  Seems as though that’s the go-to lament these days, and conformity is uniformity – or something like that. Below are a handful of stray musical observations that came and went over the last month or so:

• Rick Froberg dying sucks. On July 2, I was driving east when I was bombarded by friends that Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes/Obits front person Froberg died in the days prior. It’s a terrible, gutting feeling when an artist you don’t know personally – but one that has crafted art exceptionally personal to you – dies. I’ve been listening to his bands for more than 20 years. He created the vast majority, if not all, of the album art for the full-length records I associated with his singular voice and guitar work. Walking into a record store and seeing his album art excited me. Moved me. Those feelings were fiercely intensified once I heard the cacophony of recorded music therein. 

I vividly recall hearing the Obits’ debut, “I Blame You,” for the first time back in 2009. It stayed in heavy rotation for months, was eventually my Album of the Year, and if you stepped foot into the Olde Schoolhouse in the 18-month span after the album’s release, it’s highly likely you heard it there as well. Apparently, two weeks prior to his death, Froberg announced a new Hot Snakes record was near complete. Thanks to good, good friend TK, I’m now privy to and obsessing on his pre-Drive Like Jehu project Pitchfork. While I’m so thankful we all have a trove of his visual and recorded art to pore over, there’s still an oddly cavernous hollow. “Swami” John Reis, his longtime friend and collaborator in Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, put it more succinctly when he simply said of Froberg, “His art made life better.”

• Have you been to a show at The Hive yet this summer? Pretty certain I heard in passing that there have been 30-plus shows at The Hive (1150 Main Ave. Suite A – next door to Taco Libre) this summer alone. That’s beyond impressive. That’s downright staggering. Running the sonic gamut, there has literally been something for just about everyone. Indie, punk, folk-punk, art rock, psych rock, hip hop, hardcore, metal, thrash and all the various interconnected and interwoven subgenres imaginable have been represented at one time or another. Creative Director Alex Vick, along with the entire staff, have been putting in work to keep Durango’s only all-ages/clean & sober/safe space/skate venue fully operational. 

A few weeks ago, a friend informed me he’d be making the jaunt into town from the North County for a night of psych rock. Road (and general life) weary, I was dragging my feet/ass to make the show at all. I couldn’t be happier that I did. Kangaroo Court, The Crooked Rugs and Ora proceeded to play to a comfortably packed house, then burn said house down – metaphorically speaking. Check out www.thehivedgo.org for upcoming events. Oh, and even if you don’t make a show, support the hell out of ’em as an integral, viable not-for-profit institution that makes our town better. 

• Bad Weather California’s final full-length album is still the penultimate summertime record. This is just one person’s opinion, but back in 2012, the Grand Junction via Denver-based band Bad Weather California released what would become its final record, “Sunkissed.” Around the time of that release, the band opened for The Meat Puppets here in Durango at The Abbey Theatre (now, the Animas City Theatre). The album soundtracked much of that summer and sounds just as good today as it did then. Honestly, I just wanted to find a way to work that into the column because, hot damn, it is still such a great record.

Chris Adolf has been releasing tip-top music pretty darn consistently since then, most recently under the American Culture moniker. This past fall there was talk of a new record, and I have it on good authority that Wymond Miles (Sacred Bones Records, The Fresh & Onlys) is now a touring member. Which makes for pretty great rock and roll.

Speaking of which, can you name your favorite summer record? I’d sure like to know what that is. Send me your absolute favorite summer record today, in this very moment, to the email below. Along with questions, comments and gripes. Especially the gripes.

Jon E. Lynch is the program director at KDUR. Reach him at kdur_pd@fortlewis.edu