Innovators Peak
Month
When compared to cities like Austin or Nashville, Denver isn’t nationally recognized for its music scene. The biggest acts in pop, folk, and EDM usually play in our Texas sister city before heading off to play sold out shows in LA, but that doesn’t mean Denver is devoid of talented musicians. The truth is, the mile high city boasts a flourishing local music scene emerging with a loud crescendo.
Here, six Denver bands explain what it means to be a musician in this burgeoning western city. From dreamy electronica to soul-lifting folk, I’ve chosen my favorite songs for blasting on your stereo, adding to your road trip playlist, and listening to live this summer.
This ethereal song has dreamy beats and ghostlike vocals that induce a deep sense of contemplation. Play it while you’re cruising along an endless mountain road—the fluid instrumentals make it a good fit for being in motion.
Summer is in full swing, so why not dive in on some exciting social networking events? Whether it is an outdoor or indoor gathering, keep it cool, make some new friends and check out these Denver networking occasions going on in this lovely month of July.
On July 8, this event will allow those to form new relationships and perhaps to renew old ones! All you should bring are your best business-savvy socializing skills. // 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., $5, Chinook Tavern, 6389 South Fiddlers Green Circle, Denver.
This is an event that meets every second Wednesday of the month.
Whether you’re a cat person, a dog person, or a goldfish person, we can all agree: pets make everything better. Most commonly hailed as our feel-good fuzzy friend, dogs have been shown to measurably improve moods, productivity, and the overall culture everywhere they go. Universities already invite dogs to campus to help ease the stress of exams, and now many workplaces have jumped on the pet-friendly bandwagon for the benefit of their employees, patrons, and pooches.
As a part of our Take Your Dog To Work Day #DenverDogs festivities, we discovered some workplaces in the Denver area that are extending canine hospitality daily in some innovative and inviting ways!
Some of us live for the weekend. We thrive on the two days off (three if you count Friday, and we know you do) to recharge our batteries before we succumb to the weekdays we dread so much. Those of us who focus our energy on the weekend need to know what’s ahead so we can get appropriately excited. And there’s only one way to accomplish that:
To read the Denver Lowdown.
That’s right, folks! It’s another sweet and savory edition of the Lowdown, where we sum up the best weekend goings on. We’ve only got the best of the best events to share with you, thanks to EveryBlock.
So let’s get to it.
No, they didn’t just not come up with a name; the name of the event is Untitled, with a capital U. Only at the Denver Museum of Art, Untitled is a mixed media late night program where you can get your offbeat creative fix and network with other art lovers and professionals.Also, there’s a cash bar (thank god!), snacks, and probably a few little unexpected perks. Get inspired this Friday night and every Friday night through October. (photo) // 6 p.m., Members free, everyone else regular museum admission, Denver Art Museum, 100 14th Ave. Pkw.
Oh, it’s a good time to be in Denver right now if you’re an entrepreneur. A study released this week by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation named the Denver metro region the fifth highest for startup activity in the country, up three places from last year. This year, Denver bumped San Francisco, New York (Suck it, NYC!), and San Antonio.
I think this calls for a little celebration, no?
“I love the entrepreneurial atmosphere throughout Denver. You really can’t go to a restaurant or coffee house without hearing conversations about people’s startups or projects,” Blue Sky Creative Media’s founder Chuck Tyler. The innovative scene in Denver is flourishing and Tyler is capturing it with his own creativity.
“Entrepreneurial energy is simply creativity mixed with motivation. Those are the kinds of people I like to hang out with, because I’m one of them.”
Erik Mitisek tells me he’s almost lost his voice. Understandable, due to his last few weeks, a tour de force for the CEO of the Colorado Technology Association, who is also serving as the champion of this 20,000 sq. ft. entrepreneurial campus known as The Commons on Champa. Behind Mitisek in the foyer of the Commons is a wall adorned with all the names of the Denver-based for-profits, nonprofits and municipal partners that collaborated in bringing this project to fruition.
“Came on like thunder, that ancient hammer. Came on like thunder poundin’ on our souls.”
That’s one of the many messages through song and dance relayed by Nick Slie and his colleagues in “Cry You One”, presented by Mondo Bizzarro and Artspot Productions. The performance, which took place in Maltby Lakes, is part of New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas, presented by XFINITY, running through June 27.
Along with Slie, Zohar Israel, Hannah Pepper-Cunningham, Jon Greene, Lisa Moraschi Shattuck, and Rebecca Mwase each took on characters to individually portray the struggles of life in their homeland of Southeast Louisiana, particularly surrounding the oil spills that have plagued the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico in recent years.
Fans crowded along the wall in a single-file line inside of the Hall of Fame Rotunda to meet the country vocalists The Oak Ridge Boys before their autograph signing on Friday, June 12.
The Oak Ridge Boys meets fans in the Hall of Fame Rotunda on Friday, June 12, 2015.
The “Elvira” singers and Class of 2015 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees arrived promptly on time, entering the Rotunda one by one with somber faces walking directly to the late country singer Jim Ed Brown’s tribute organized by the museum.
“What time did the man go to the dentist? At tooth hurt-y.”
“How do you make a Kleenex dance? Put a little boogie in it.”
“I had a dream last night that I was a muffler. I woke up exhausted.”
Oh, yes. Get ready to tolerate some serious dad jokes. Get stoked for outdoor activities, action movies, baseball, beer tastings, fancy dinners, fishing, and probably a round or two of golf. Because it’s Father’s Day Weekend!
Show your dad a lot of love and appreciation by taking him all around the city for all of his favorite activities. Need some help? Why don’t you just scroll down a little bit and get a few ideas. You’re welcome.
And get him a tie. Or be original for once in your life and don’t.
Dads love to run around with their kids throwing things at each other. So why not a Frisbee? This Friday, join friends and family at Wash Park for some friendly Ultimate Frisbee. Since this is a friendly game, as many people on your team have to touch the disk in order to score. Yes, even Mom. Yes, even your little brother (though he can’t seem to catch anything other than a cold). And yes, especially Dad. (photo) // 6 p.m., Free, Wash Park, west of Franklin and Kentucky.
The dog days of summer are here, and what better way to celebrate than by bringing your canine friend along to your all-time favorite place: the office?
Even if your place of employment isn’t your fave, it will be Rufus’. Trust us. National Take Your Dog To Work Day is coming up next week, and Innovators Peak is psyched for all of the Denver pooches, hounds and what have you to come around and shed all over your cubicle floor.
All next week, we’ll be heading our #DenverDogs contest. Simply snap a photo your furry friend and submit it to our Facebook or Twitter pages using #DenverDogs. Innovators Peak will pick a winner to receive a cool canine-friendly prize, for you and your puppy pal to share!
The contest will run up until #TakeYourDogToWorkDay on June 26, after which we’ll select our first-place furball. So, make sure to give Fluffy a bath, break out the portable doggy bowls, and probably give your boss a heads up about your newest office associate. Questions? Give us a paw @InnovatorsPeak or Facebook.com/InnovatorsPeak
By Chloe Wilkins
Brenda Meeking from Goodletssville, TN meets Charley Pride.
Charley Pride, 77, signed autographs and took photos with fans at an autograph-signing event in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Rotunda 10 a.m. on Friday, June 12.
“He is a legend and is true to the songs. Everyone forgets about the old ones, but they are from when it all began,” said MaryAnn Wells, a longtime fan.
The Grand Ole Opry Country Star’s music career began in 1965, releasing “The Snakes Crawl” in 1966. A true innovator, Pride released his song without publicity because his record company feared that country fans would reject a black artist. Pride’s skin tone in a white male-dominated industry didn’t stop him from achieving any success.
Every third weekend in June, something inspiring happens at Civic Center Park: Denver PrideFest. To say that this event is a big party would be a drastic understatement. To neglect or even simply gloss over the economic and social benefits of this mega-collaboration on community and individual levels would be an injustice.
Last’s year’s PrideFest was a record breaker. The festival drew in a massive attendance of 365,000 people over two days, making it the third largest free festival in North America. The Coors Light PrideFest Parade was the largest on record with 145 entries and 140,000 spectators. A study by the GLBT Center of Colorado (the organizer of the event) found that PrideFest has an impact of $25 million on Denver’s economy annually based on spending at the festival as well as dollars generated for businesses in the surrounding community. Needless to say, the Center’s largest fundraiser has a profound effect on local Denver businesses and community.
Take any predetermined notion you may have about your prototypical cartoonist and throw them aside. The New Yorker’s Roz Chast breaks the mold as an industry leader, utilizing unique, original design that speaks to universal truths.
On Saturday, June 13, Chast spoke at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven’s Yale Art Gallery. Chast’s lecture,“Cartoons as Family Memoir,” featured a discussion about her methods creating past New Yorker pieces along with her latest work, the powerful graphic memoir Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (Bloomsbury). The auditorium was at full capacity, leaving hundreds of fans waiting outside for a seat to open up.
Chast earned major accolades last year for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Depicting the final 10 years of her parents’ lives and caring for them as an only child, the memoir is equal parts comedy and tragedy, invoking the realities of mortality and issuing a unique lens through which to view personal trauma.
Chast’s parents were former educators, whose Jewish/Christian background stimulated their prudent, disciplined lifestyle. Her honest exposure and depiction of her family resonates strongly, and earned the memoir a spot on the New York Times’ 2014 Top Ten Best Books of the Year list, as well as winning the 2014 Kirkus Prize for literary excellence.
Lesley Fram, Angaleena Presley, Braelynn, Kelsea Ballerini, Danielle Bradbery, Cam and the CMT crew backstage before the CMT Next Women in Country event.
“Today, we possibly won’t address and fix the gender gap, but we will hear women who step up to those challenges,” CMT Senior Vice President Leslie Fram announced onstage from the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theater.
At CMT’s Next Women of Country, a panel devoted to exposing diverse voices in popular country music, Fram candidly interviewed RaeLynn, Angaleena Presley, The Voice’s Danielle Bradbery, Kelsea Ballerini.
The audience roared in applause as Fram introduced each panelist onstage.
RaeLynn, who performed at the CMT Awards Wednesday night in downtown Nashville, took the first seat and admitted she was nervous at the CMT awards, but was glad she made it through it. She seemed relaxed onstage sitting between Fram and Presley.
After greeting herself and entertaining the audience with her bubbly personality, Raelynn entertained the audience with her new song, “For a Boy.”
Lesley Fram announces the panel of CMT’s Next Women of Country.
Way back in December, we had the supreme pleasure of becoming acquainted with the founders of RunSafe, the accidental startup. For Violet and Sharif Alexandre, safety is more than just a problem to be solved for the community—it’s personal.
After experiencing a traumatizing event while out running, Violet and Sharif knew it was time to change the face of safety for runners. With RunSafe, the Alexandres offer standard fitness tracking features such as pace, time, calories, etc. but largely emphasize its safety features that revolve around the big three components of prevention, action, and response. See more about that HERE.
What comes to mind when you think of country music?
I’ll rattle off a few things that come to mine: trucker hats, sleeveless flannels, romantic relationships with your tractor, a fat lip full of Skoal, grizzly middle aged white dudes with two first names and southern accents, gun-loving radical conservatives still wearing cowboy hats even though they’re a long way from the rodeo or the wild west, a good ol’ boy drinking a damn cold American Budweiser in his American-made truck. Wagon wheels. Hootie. Yee-haw.
Now everybody relax—I’m not trying to offend. The sad truth, however, is that these are the tropes and cliches that pop into the minds of a good amount of the music-loving population. The reality is, they’re wrong.
Are you hungry for the weekend? Has your work week seemingly dragged on and on and on? Are you so incredibly wiped out that all you want to do is crash on the couch and let someone else decide what you’re up to this weekend?
Then I’ve got some good news. That’s right, The Denver Lowdown is here to plan your much-needed weekend for you!
So sit back, relax, and let’s see what’s going down on the Lowdown:
If you got some energy to burn Friday night, you best check out the Colorado Gypsy Jazz Festival. Two nights of all out, soul twisting, body morphing Gypsy Jazz from top artists from all over the world! No, Gypsy jazz is not some ethnic stereotype plus a trumpet. Gypsy jazz is a style of jazz music that’s super super fun. This event will feature the Rhythm Future Quartet, Harmonious Wail, and the Aaron Walker Trio. (photo) // 6:00pm, $35 advanced, $45 at the door, Holiday Event Center, 2644 W 32nd Ave
Comcast’s Vice President of Accessibility Tom Wlodkowski was born blind, but that hasn’t stopped him from peering into the future. Tom is a dreamer, an innovator, and he’s never let his perceived disabilities prevent him from contemplating the “big ideas”.
For years he has dreamt of a “talking” set top box to make controlling TV easier for the blind and visually-impaired. When Tom joined Comcast in 2012, he put his team to work on creating a prototype. Now it’s time for Tom’s dream to come to life.
Remember Comcast’s Talking Guide Super Bowl commercial this year with the young, visually-impaired girl who created her own version of the American classic The Wizard of Oz? She inserted herself into the film as Dorothy and made it her own. This is Tom’s idea come to life—a man with a plan.
You can meet Tom and hear more about his incredible vision for a “talking” set top box at The Commons on Champa on Thursday, June 11th at 4:30 p.m. He has developed a detailed presentation on Comcast’s talking guide and the future of television. TV is incredibly universal tool for breaking through barriers and Tom believes access should be universal, too.
Tom Wlodkowski is empowering people through technology. He’s an innovator with a dream—to better enable the blind and visually-impaired to more easily control their TV-watching experience. Come meet the mastermind behind Comcast’s new talking guide at The Commons on Champa in Denver this Thursday, June 11 and witness the future of television.
“The Future of the News Business,” a three-man panel of journalists at Boulder Startup Week, begins with a literal thud.
One panelist, Boulder Daily Camera editor Matt Sebastian, tumbles out of his faulty chair, causing the 20-30 onlookers to halfway leave their seats to help. The other two panelists, Steve Outing, an adjunct professor at University of Colorado Boulder and “media futurist,” along with Ben Markus, a general assignment reporter for Colorado Public Radio, help him up. After the dust settles, the moderator begins: “What is the state of the news business?”
The answers also came out with a thud — a figurative one.
Thinking about business school? We talked to some business students at the prestigious Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver to see why they decided to take time out of their busy lives to further their professional education. What are these upcoming leaders planning to give back to the community when they graduate? Read and learn more about the future of Colorado from the students of today.
I joined the executive MBA program because I was looking for something different, a career change. I was working as a consultant in education and I just got burnt out on education. But after working in the program for a while, I realized how many connections I had and decided it would be silly to walk away. I want to work on the tech side. I worked for 10 years with tech startups.
I think what I am missing from my career fulfillment is the hard sciences, math and the analytical side of things, so that’s why I am drawn to tech. I’d like to work on technology solutions for schools. Right now I am looking for developers to work with on business plan. Its nice to reconnect with some of the connections I had from many years ago.
Part of the Executive MBA is a social capital project that we do to get involved in the community. We started a non-profit which brings safety awareness to kids and emphasizes the importance of helmets. In the spring, we visited 6 schools and donated helmets.
When I graduate I plan on staying in Douglas County, I have 4 kids and the youngest just went to kindergarten so it was a good time to go to school.
Good morning everyone, and welcome to a brand new weekend in a brand new month, which means it’s time for a brand new Denver Lowdown. Who’s excited? I’m excited. Are you excited? Well you better be.
Let’s check out what’s going down at the Lowdown.
It’s a little cliché to run straight for happy hour once your workweek ends, so why not relax on a Friday? When’s the last time you did some Tai Chi? Doesn’t matter, because Auraria Campus Tajiquan will work on the first Chen style form, spine and hip alignment, as well as drill movement while rooted. Don’t know what any of that means? That’s OK: This course is for all skill levels.
Whether it’s Tai Chi or Chai Tea, kick your shoes off this Friday and relaaaaaaax. (photo) // 5 p.m., Free, Confucius Institute, 1030 St. Francis Way.
The Imaginarium, a Denver Public Schools Innovation Lab, announced last week their plans to give away up to $20,000 to four ideas that work to solve a problem in the education system through technology.
This DPS Innovation Lab is where “ideas take flight” and all kinds of people work to “stimulate and support innovation across Denver to transform learning an education platforms” according to the press release for the event.
The Design for Equity Challenge will be doing just that. Beginning June 10th at 6:30pm the fun and entertaining night will begin as the idea-makers (literally anyone with an idea) pitch their solutions. People will be connecting and progress will be made—but it’s not all business. There’s going to be food, music, and, of course, games.
Who else better to be in charge of gaming than our friend Brian Corrigan? Not only has Corrigan been helping to spread the world about the event, but OhHeckYeah is going to be making an appearance at the Design for Equity Challenge as well.
Comcast has shared some exciting news for Coloradans recently—they’re adding us to the list of states offering residential 2-Gigabit service (starting this summer).
2 Gigabits per second (Gpbs) is ridiculously fast. Gigabit connection delivers 1,000 megabits of information per second (mpbs). In comparison to the average global connection in Q1 of 2014, which was 3.9mpbs, gigabit connectivity is 50-100 times faster than what the average American enjoys today. And now this is coming right to our homes.
“We have been building fiber into our network over the past decade which provides an extremely flexible architecture that can be scaled to offer multi-gigabit speeds to more homes,” said Cindy Parsons, Vice President of Public Relations for Comcast. “Not everyone will need 2 gig speeds, but our belief is to make technology available for the most advanced digital homes of the future.”
Not only does this development in our technological infrastructure play an extremely important role in building a foundation for the hyper-fast internet of the future, but it can vastly improve the ways in which we interact on the internet today.
Think of all of the things it will allow you to do:
Whether it’s Netflix, YouTube or all of your favorite sites for “alone time” (whatever you do in your free time is your business), just know that with 2gpbs residential service, you’ll be saying goodbye to those pesky buffering screens we all hate and get your browsing/viewing on much more efficiently.
