TJF tour dates in March

March 12 & 13 = The Independent, San Francisco
March 14 = The Music Box, Los Angeles
March 17 = Bluebird Theater, Denver
March 19 = Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis
March 20 = Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI
March 22 = The Bluebird, Bloomington, IN
March 23 = 20th Century Theatre, Cincinnati
March 24 = Masquerade, Atlanta
March 25 = Orange Peel, Asheville, NC
March 26 = 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
March 28 = Terminal 5, New York
March 29 = Union Transfer, Philadelphia
March 30 = Paradise Rock Club, Boston
March 31 = Cabaret Mile-end, Montreal

I am going to have to keep 3/24 open. Tickets are only $16, too.

Dang! The Masquerade is still going?!?

It's rumored to be condemned about twice a year. Never happens. It's even nastier than it used to be. Of course, I've only been to Heaven and the "Music Park" for shows in the past 20 years–I haven't set foot in Hell or Purgatory...I have to assume they're as decrepit as the rest of the joint.

Jay Bakker (son of Jim & Tammy Faye) used to hold church services at The Masquerade. He's since moved to Brooklyn:

[motherjones.com]

Hipster.

Why are there so many music clubs named Bluebird? There used to be one in St. Louis, too, but it changed its name to the Firebird.

Beats me, but the Bluebird Theatre in Denver is pretty decent. It's in an old movie theatre, as so many of Denver's best music venues are. (The Gothic Theatre is excellent, but it seems to book almost nothing but crap nowadays, for some reason.

There's a club in Colorado Springs that occupies an old movie theatre. When it first opened as a music venue, it was managed by a guy who (a) worked for a Denver promoter, and (b) is a CS native. So he had the connections, and he knew his market. He booked a lot of fantastic shows there in the '90s, including Motörhead, Fugazi, Morrissey, Cheap Trick, Dream Theater, The Refreshments, L7, Drain STH, The Donnas, and the list just goes on and on.

The promotion company was bought out by a rival, and that was that. The venue still is in business, but its current owners almost never book any cool rock acts. (In fact, the hall's bookings have been so conservative that I was rather shocked to find out that the owners are not AARP members.) The spill I've gotten is that they refuse to work with promoters; they'd rather work directly with the acts, and pass the savings on to the patrons. Good luck with that.

Until last week, I had expected to be down south on business during February and March. So I was expecting to TJF's Denver show ... although the Atlanta gig was a distinct likelihood for me.

Well, my plans have changed. I won't have to miss TJF in Denver, and I won't have to give up my Radiohead ticket either. Better still, I won't have to give up my radio gig.

Anyone on this board seen Dengue Fever? That band is coming to Colorado too, in March.