Lou Reed, best known as the enormously influential guitarist and vocalist for The Velvet Underground, passed away on Sunday at the age of 71.

It’s a shame that Reed’s name has faded to the background in discussions of the dark, artsy rock that came out of the mid-1960s. Jim Morrison is often seen as the poet of the day, but Reed brought a similar poetic sensibility to the New York-based Velvet Underground.

Reed never shied away from taboo topics, addressing them up front in his lyrics instead of shrouding them in poetry the way Morrison did.

When comparing the two lyricists’ writing styles, it has been said that where Morrison used a club to get his point across, Reed used a needle. Reed was also a genre-bending instrumentalist who went on from his early acclaim with the band to become a respected solo artist who gained a cult following.

Although Reed is not often listed among the other rock greats of the era, perhaps it is time rock fans of all ages take another look at Reed’s work. The incalculable impact he had on rock music as people of my generation know it deserves to be recognized in the wake of his passing.

R.I.P., Lou.

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

At the age of five, a little girl named Andrea Gibson noticed a callous forming on her writing hand. Excited, she ran home from school to find her mother. When she finally got home, she held her hand up and said, “My hand is changing shape to prove that I’m a writer.”

Years later, that prophetic little girl has become exactly that. Gibson is now a working writer who has toured the world for nearly a decade as a spoken word, or “slam” poet. When not on tour, she lives in Boulder, where she just recently finished her sixth full-length album, “Truce.”

(Photo Courtesy of Christen Greene)

In 2008, she won first place at the very first Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit. She has also placed in the top five of the World Poetry Slam in 2004 and 2007.

Slam poetry is a fairly new form of poetry. The first poetry slam—a competition of poets performing their work for an audience—was hosted in Chicago in 1986. From there, the format of the slam and the aesthetic that went with it spread across the globe.

Andrea Gibson first arrived in Boulder in 2000, right as slam poetry was starting to take hold in Denver. Gibson had studied creative writing in college, and kept up with the local poetry scene by attending open mic readings around Boulder. Her first time seeing a poetry slam, she said, was a totally new experience.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen a poem turn a room electric,” Gibson said. “I remember being covered in goose bumps. There was just something magical about the energy of the person performing and the connection between the audience and the performer.”

Almost instantly, Gibson was swept into the Denver spoken word community. There was only one minor hitch to her newfound infatuation with slam poetry: she has terrible stage fright.

“The idea of getting onstage as myself, speaking the things I feel most vulnerable about and looking people dead in the eye—it seemed so terrifying to me,” said Gibson.

Many of the things Gibson feels most vulnerable about are also the things she feels most passionate about. Gibson couples art with outspoken activism in her poems, using her works as a medium to enact social awareness and change. The themes of her work are widespread and cover everything from her experiences as a queer person to stories about the tragic experiences of war veterans to livid and sorrowful elegies for Trayvon Martin and other victims of racial violence. To Gibson, her activism is the true calling of her work.

“I’m hoping to make some little nugget of change in the world—to make it a little bit more gentle than it is right now,” said Gibson. “If I focus on what motivated me to write the poem, it makes it a lot easier to get out on stage and do my work in the world.”

Gibson’s vulnerable honesty has created a huge following for the performer: videos of her poems on YouTube have over a million combined views, and her Facebook artist page has over 35 thousand likes.  Yet, Gibson is still amazed at the impact her and her work have had on others.

Gibson said that, recently, a woman and her college-aged daughter had come to a show and stuck around after to shake hands. They told her that the daughter had started listening to Gibson’s poetry when she came out as a lesbian at the age of 10.

“That is so amazing, coming out at 10 years old,” said Gibson. “The idea of having this little, wonderful human listening to my work that long ago and the fact that she came out at that age partly because she was hearing people talk about it freely—that is really special.”

In celebration of the release of her new album “Truce”, Andrea Gibson will perform with Chris Pureka at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Boulder Theater. Tickets are still available.

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

Ever since Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” track went viral on YouTube, it seems like more and more major EDM artists are incorporating trap samples into their sets.

But what is trap music? The trap sound — that grimy, snappy 808 sound you hear at the drop of a hard EDM song — was first cultivated by Southern rappers in the early 2000s. Acts like Waka Flocka Flame, Gucci Mane and T.I. utilized those beats first while rhyming about the drug trade of the South. The word “trap” originally referred to that drug trade — if someone was “in the trap,” they were typically dealing or doing cocaine.

Within the last few years, EDM heavyweights like RL Grime, Flosstradamus and Diplo started meshing the trap beat with electro and dub sounds. Trap is now being called “the new dubstep,” though that title clearly hints that trap might be just another “brostep” fad.

In response to those critiques, the trap/EDM marriage seems to be sticking around. Not only does trap have the already-established longevity many fad genres do not, but many artists and producers from the hip hop world have embraced the trap and EDM crossover. Kanye West, for example, hand-picked Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like” to produce an official remix.

Now that trap has been adopted into the songs by Top 40 artists like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, I have a feeling this subgenre is not going to be one that fades away quickly. Because, hey — EDM producers must be doing something right if the big time record labels have taken note (so that the big wigs can steal it and ruin it for the rest of us).

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

When I first heard that Grizmatik, the up-and-coming team project of DJs GRiZ (Grant Kwiecinski) and Gramatik (Denis Jasarevic) would be playing the 1STBank Center for Halloween this year, my only reaction was:

“Meh.”

Don’t get me wrong — Grizmatik has been tearing up the EDM scene, playing sets at both Snowball Music Festival and Global Dance Festival this year alone. The duo’s first single, “Digital Liberation is Mad Freedom,” had one of the craziest drops I have ever heard in an EDM song.

But here’s the thing — that first single is one of only two the duo has ever released. Maybe it’s just me, but when I drop money on a big concert, I expect the headliner to have a little more than a two-song repertoire.

And that’s not my only bone to pick. Halloween is the day I reserve for all the terrifying, scary stuff I normally don’t get into the rest of the year. I can’t speak for 2011, but when Skrillex came through Broomfield in 2012 with Knife Party,  it was a case of sensory overload: pillars of flames, a haunted house façade flanked by graveyards, blinding lasers, massive screens projecting scenes from horror films and even a silhouette of a giant fanged mouth arching over the stage. That stage setup was made even more terrifyingly awesome by the roar of the crowd chanting along to “Internet Friends”: “You blocked me on Facebook… and now you’re going to die!”

Does Grizmatik really have what it takes to scare the crap out of 6,500 fans?

I suppose we’ll see. (Hey, I never said I wasn’t going to go.)

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

After an hour and a half-long wait because of rain and lightning, rising DJ stars Krewella took the stage to thunderous applause on Farrand Field Saturday night. The group, made up of Kris Trindl (“Rainman”) and sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf, was unswayed by the weather, leading students in a chant of “F— the rain!”

The group played an eclectic mix of EDM songs. Fans went wild when the first strains of Knife Party played over the loudspeakers, and Krewella’s remix of “Summit,” by Skrillex, was well-received. The highlight of the night came when, for its last song, the group played “Alive.” Everyone in the audience sang along to the lyrics, defying the weather that kept the air chilly into the night.

But there was disappointment for the many students who felt the concert never quite recovered from the weather break.

“The sound wasn’t loud enough,” said Anouk Guilmineau, a 21-year-old senior chemistry major. ”I’ve seen them before a few times, and the energy just wasn’t there. It was a free show, and it’s still Krewella, but it just wasn’t the same.”

“They were trying to throw out a good vibe,” said Jake Scannell, 21-year-old junior physics major. “It was fun, but it definitely could’ve been better.”

Despite the mixed reviews and troublesome weather, the crowd stayed strong through the end of the night, when the DJs led the CU fight song. Though some were soaked, students spilled out of Farrand Field with smiles on their faces.

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Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

Without the aid of a movie studio, Zach Braff, of “Scrubs” fame, has raised enough money to through a Kickstarter  campaign to fund his new movie, “Wish I Was Here.”

(Josh Shettler/CU Independent Graphic Illustration)

On his own Kickstarter page, Braff says he has been a backer to other projects on the site, and was inspired by writer Rob Thomas’s similarly successful campaign to produce a Veronica Mars movie. With the help of over 90,000 backers, Thomas raised $5.7 million for the movie.

Braff’s proposed budget of $2 million was met in only four days. Currently, the project’s funding is sitting at a comfortable $2.2 million.

According to Braff, the movie centers around 35-year-old Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor with his head in the clouds and a wife and two children to take care of. As budgets get tighter, Aidan — to be played by Braff — agrees to homeschool the two kids, which results in some unorthodox teaching that helps Aidan to learn more about himself. The script was written by Braff and his brother, Adam.

Though Braff admits he already had backers for the project, he explained in a video plea that he wanted to fund the movie himself in order to retain creative control. “We want to make this film the same way we made ‘Garden State,’ without a distributor or financier demanding we adapt it to fit their needs,” Braff writes.

However, many have come forward to criticize Braff and his use of Kickstarter. Richard Lawson, a writer for The Atlantic Wire, had been particularly outspoken about the “Veronica Mars” campaign, and did not look on Braff’s new project favorably. Lawson pointed out that, for Braff’s backers and fans, the new movie is a shot in the dark.

“There’s [this] unseemliness … of rich celebrities asking random people for thousands of dollars and offering them no accountability for money spent or share in the profits, before anything has really been seen,” Lawson writes. “But there’s also the sense that we as the audience are setting ourselves up for potential grand disappointment. What if it all goes wrong?”

Robert Kessler, of the Celebuzz, was quick to point out many of the differences between Braff’s project and the Veronica Mars movie. Veronica Mars was a cult-classic, now off the air for six years — no studio would have picked it up. “Wish I Was Here,” on the other hand, was about to be signed into a financing deal with a definite financial backer, but Braff pulled the plug.

“What he’s saying is that he wants to shoot a vanity project,” Kessler writes. “Braff wants you to produce his new movie, but you won’t see any part of the profits.”

Although the Kickstarter backers of “Wish I Was Here” may never turn a profit, Braff offers a wide range of incentives for people who wish to donate. A backer in the $30 bracket is invited to a live online screening of the film, as well as weekly playlists and Production Diary videos, all created by Braff. One $10,000 backer — who has already pledged — will become a credited cast member with a speaking line, plus tickets to the film’s premiere and after-party, art prints, a T-shirt and sneak peeks of the soundtrack and the script.

Despite criticism surrounding the Kickstarter campaign, Braff said in an interview with Screen Invasion that he does not think the backlash will not have a negative impact on the film.

“The people who aren’t a fan of mine think [the campaign] is crazy,” said Braff.  “But the second you insert, ‘what if it was your favorite person who is an entertainer,’ they start to go, ‘oh, well then maybe I would be into that.’ …You have to go out and be in front of everyone and then certain people will choose you. I never imagined that this many people would choose me in four days, but that’s how we were lucky.”

Contact CU Independent Senior Staff Writer Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

Black Sabbath released their new single, “God Is Dead?” on YouTube last Thursday. I didn’t realize — Ozzy is alive?

The nine-minute-long track features a lumbering guitar riff that causes a similar reaction to the news of the band’s reunion: when will it end?

Ozzy and his crew aren’t the first over-the-hill rockers to jump on the bandwagon. The Rolling Stones have been touring almost non-stop since the ’60s. Their newly-announced summer tour has been named the “50 & Counting” tour. Though, at least for Jagger and Richards, “69 and counting” might be a more appropriate title.

And what about Madonna? The 54-year-old ‘80s queen is still clinging desperately to the mainstream, as evidenced by her multiple references to the EDM-popularized drug, MDMA, in 2012. First, she released an album coyly titled “MDNA,” then, a few weeks later, made a controversial remark to Ultra Music Festival-goers: “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?”

Why do all these aging rock stars feel the need to keep performing years after the height of their success? It’s hard to hear Ozzy, 64, singing, “there is no tomorrow” without wondering just how many tomorrows he actually has left. “Like A Virgin” loses its effect when Madonna’s kids — the oldest already in her teens — sit  in the audience of her performance.

The fact is,  all over-the-hill performers have an expiration date. What matters most is the music’s content. The dark, scary metal of Black Sabbath’s beginnings sounds weird coming from Ozzy now. The blue-collar persona that the Rolling Stones put out in the 1960s and ‘70s feels cheapened once you read about Mick Jagger’s $13 million mansion.

By sticking to age-appropriate content, a few stars have managed to inch past the span of their heyday and keep performing. For instance, Bob Dylan, 72, has managed to keep his career both long and respectable. By nature of being a folk singer, Dylan has created a persona for himself that can only get better with age. The solemn morals of his earliest work, like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” sound more honest coming from an older, distinguished man than a young, hot-shot kid. Try applying that same better-with-age principle to Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”: suddenly, “death and hatred to mankind” sounds an awful lot like, “get off my lawn!”

If aging rock stars refuse to move from the limelight, what does that mean for artists of today? Do we, the Millennial Generation, really want to be doing the “Harlem Shake” in our mid-fifties? Will Skrillex’s infamous undercut look more distinguished with some salt-and-pepper flecks in it?

Here’s the deal, geriatric rockers: it’s time to turn the amps down, and the hearing aids up. Whether these reunion tours, desperate attempts to remain relevant, stem from financial need, narcissism or a failed grasping for the sexuality of your youth, it’s time to step aside and allow pop culture to move on.

And Ozzy, as for “God Is Dead?” now is probably not the best time to write yourself off from an afterlife.

Contact CU Independent Senior Staff Writer Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

If there is one thing Macklemore wanted the CU community to take from his show, it was that he loves Colorado. Macklemore, a.k.a. Ben Haggerty, spent time between songs laying on the Boulder love thick.  It was all this local love and Haggerty’s awesome stage presence that made the show seem like a much more personal affair than the sold-out Balch Fieldhouse show that it was.

All in all, Macklemore and his cohort, Ryan Lewis, played a fairly short show—only ten songs prior to the encore.  Yet, there were many gems in the short setlist. After playing “Same Love,” a number that left the crowd swaying and throwing up peace signs, Macklemore switched from this more tender moment back into full-on party mode.

“Everything up until this point has been a warm up,” Haggerty said.

Then, as the opening strains of “Can’t Hold Us” swept over the Fieldhouse, the crowd began clapping along in an absolute fervor. This excitement hung on until the end of the set three songs later.

To 21-year-old chemical and bio-engineering major Michael Nehls, the best song of the night was reserved for the encore.

“I’m a sucker for ‘And We Danced,’” Nehls said. “I really enjoyed it.”

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis waved their goodbyes at the tail end of “Wings,” only to be screamed back on stage by the insatiable audience who had just started to get into the groove.  As the duo hit the stage again, they did not disappoint. At the first sounds of the epic, Star-Wars-esque intro to “And We Danced,” the audience did exactly that. Pockets of the crowd even opened up to make way for dance battles between strangers.

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Unfortunately, the encore dropped into a steady decline at the end of “And We Danced.” The track was followed by “Irish Celebration,” which paled in comparison. After these two tracks, Haggerty talked to the crowd for the rest of his time on stage, leading them in a call-and-response chant of “You guys are f***ing awesome,” “We are f***ing awesome.” He then talked about his connections to Boulder and his first show in Boulder and ended the night with yet another chant, this time, “Goodnight.” (

Haggerty’s stage presence was especially important given a rather rocky start to the show for many patrons. As Macklemore’s set time drew closer, more and more fans lined up outside with their tickets. The Argus event staff turned many fans away for a variety of reasons: bags said to be too large, student ticket-holders without student IDs and those who behaved as if excessively drunk.

Allison Atkin, a 19-year-old integrative physiology and studio art double major, was trying to help a friend get into the concert who had been turned away for not having a student ID.

“[My friend] hasn’t registered yet, so she isn’t technically able to get in [to the concert] because of the student ID thing. We weren’t prepared for what we were faced with, getting in. If we had known while buying the tickets that we had to present our IDs and our information about being a student, we would have been more prepared.”

Though it might have taken Macklemore & Ryan Lewis a little while to warm up the crowd after being left in the cold by the event staff, the pair brought a much-needed dance party to Boulder. At the end of their encore, Haggerty called Colorado his “second home.” By the screams that erupted with their final goodbye, it is safe to say that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are welcome back any time.

Contact CU Independent Senior Staff Writer Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

Step out into Boulder on Saturday, April 20, and be prepared to face ganga enthusiasts, campus security guards checking student IDs and the possibility of counter-protesters. Here are some ways you can spend your 4/20 the way you want it: as just another Saturday.

Get out of Boulder
And Denver, too!  To really escape the 4/20 craze, try a day trip somewhere off the radar. Estes Park is only an hour and a half away and has a cute, little downtown area great for window-shopping. Luckily for you, April 20 falls right in the middle of Estes Park Restaurant Week, when many restaurants offer specially crafted three-course meals for $20.13 all night. So while you sit in the Aspen Lodge licking the remnants of Chicken Saltimbocca from your fingers, remember your Boulder friends eating a third munchies-induced helping of Deep Fried Pickle Spears from Geisty’s.

Wonderland Lake Park, located at 4201 North Broadway St., is a great place to spend 4/20 outdoors if you’re trying to avoid the possible haze over campus this Saturday. The park features a 1.5 mile loop trail surrounding Wonderland Lake and can provide a serene afternoon for non-marijuana smokers. (Nate Bruzdzinski/CU Independent)

Take a hike where 4/20 participants won’t go
Since CU will “close” Norlin Quad on Saturday, it is likely that people celebrating 4/20 will trek over to Chautauqua to become one with nature. If you want to steer clear of smoking hikers, check out some trails in North Boulder. The paths around Wonderland Lake are especially awesome as they draw few students and remain relatively flat for those simply looking to take a nice weekend stroll.

Play really challenging, reflex-reliant games
Remember the board game, Operation? Anyone who grew up in the ‘90s remembers how terrifying the sound of that buzzer was. Take advantage of your sober state and play some sweet games that would totally space our your stoner friends. Some other good options are Bop It! or QWOP.

Go to the bars
Though it may seem counter-intuitive to check out Boulder’s party scene the night of one of their biggest parties of the year, 4/20 is guaranteed to be an excellent night for drinking. There are only two ways the night could possibly go: either the stoners will stay home in a drug-and-food-induced sleep-coma, or you will be partying with some of the friendliest drinkers you have ever met. You might even be able to trick your 4/20-celebrating friends into thinking the 2 a.m. burritos were their idea.

Cook good food, for yourself or others
If you can’t make it out of Boulder on Saturday, try your hand at cooking something new. Not only do you get to revel in your lightning-fast reflexes that escape 4/20 participants, but you also skip the awkward window of time when all the food delivery services are at their busiest. Make it a gathering if you have other friends uninterested in celebrating 4/20.

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Senior Staff Writer Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.

It has been called “America’s Skinniest City,” “Most Educated Metro Area” and “Foodiest Town” in the past three years and “Tree City U.S.A.” for almost 30 years in a row.

The “People’s Republic of Boulder” is home to a unique array of Homo sapiens that includes granola hippies, health nuts and big brains (CU has cranked out 14 astronauts). Love them or hate them, Boulder contains a distinct breed commonly called the “Boulderite.”

The problem, however, is that once a normal human has spent too much time in Boulder, they become Boulderites themselves and the laughable trademarks of the breed become the background of everyday life. Whether you’re new to Boulder or fear that you might have been absorbed into the culture, here is a list of features that can help you spot a Boulderite.

Click to enlarge or print.

Someone walking around shoeless

In Colorado, not only it is entirely legal to forgo footwear in public places, but the Consumer Protection Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has left it up to individual restaurants to require shoes in their businesses.

According to the Society for Barefoot Living (it’s a real thing), going barefoot is good for you.

“[Being barefoot] is a spiritual experience in that you can commune with the earth and feel closer to nature,” testimony on the society’s website reads. “I feel more relaxed and happy when my feet are bare. I LOVE being a barefooted boy!”

Good for you, barefooted boy. Now go buy a Ped-Egg.

Sun’s out, guns out

Residents of Boulder love talking about the weather. This may seem boring or even socially inept to outsiders, but Boulder’s weather tends to be a pretty fascinating topic for discussion because, for example, the snow of a Tuesday can be melted by the 75 degree heat of Wednesday.

In Boulder, these bizarre weather patterns lead to a phenomenon known as “sun’s out, guns out,” especially popular among fraternity members and “bros” on campus. This phenomenon holds that, on any day with minimal cloud cover and temperatures reaching over 50 degrees (especially in the late winter/early spring months), public spaces become a sea of pasty, winter-weakened biceps, typically framed by neon tank tops.

“Is this fair trade or vegan, cage-free, organic?”

Boulder is notorious for its ever-burgeoning population of food activists. In many cases, an interest in food activism can be a noble pursuit, like in Boulder where it’s just another fad in the “go green” movement.

For several years, more and more vendors have given up on selling fair trade products after it was discovered that the Fairtrade Labeling Organization pays very little to their certified farmers. In fact, the Stanford Social Innovation Review found that the fair trade buying rate is so low that many fair trade farmers are choosing to break their contracts so they can earn an appropriate wage, which can often be two to three times the payment they would have received from fair trade buyers.

Boulder’s population of nutrition fanatics is not often without laughable ignorance, either. Next time you see someone drinking kombucha, just remember that the Mayo Clinic warns consumers should completely avoid the drink since there is no scientific evidence to support the tea’s health benefits. Even worse, the tea has been found to cause side effects ranging from toxic reactions and liver damage to death.

Someone complaining about Californians

Even though Boulder can still be considered a mecca for hippies that live by the laws of the “peace and love” generation, there will always be one group of people that true Boulderites will never welcome with open arms: Californians.

The top Urban Dictionary entry for “University of Colorado” includes the characteristic, “Too many Californians come here and think they own the place.” Apparently, Boulderites aren’t alone in their distaste for the “Best Coast:”  last year, a poll from the Public Policy Polling firm discovered that California was the most unpopular state in the country, with an unfavorable rating of 44 percent.

Contact CU Independent Senior Staff Writer Sarah Elsea at Sarah.elsea@colorado.edu.