Recent Articles from Mike Cote
Top Company 2011: FirstBank Holding Co.
FirstBank President and CEO John Ikard got his start at the Colorado-based bank as a trainee 30 years ago. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn’t – that’s how FirstBank operates. Nearly all of the company’s 2,000 employees and 300 officers started as trainees, says Ikard, who joined the bank as a teller after graduating from college. “We […]
Blues babe delivers ‘80s style pop
OLGA Whatever You Want (219 Records) Olga Munding brands herself as a “blues babe” and has the track record to back that up, having spent much of the past decade working to raise awareness of pioneering blueswoman Jesse Mae Hemphill. So the big, full-bodied pop of Whatever You Want is definitely a departure and a […]
Cote’s Colorado: AEG launches ticketing service in Denver
If you really want to alienate your customers, try selling them a service as “a convenience” that saves you money and takes dollars out of their pockets instead. That was the rub when Ticketmaster began enabling customers to print tickets at home. For an extra $2.50, you could use your own printer, ink and paper – […]
Getting it right with “Nothing Is Wrong”
DAWES Nothing is Wrong (ATO)L.A’s Dawes has picked up considerable buzz since the band’s 2009 debut, North Hills, getting tapped by Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne to serve as a backing band and earning the stripes that make them legitimate folk rock successors to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and worthy contemporaries to more eclectic […]
Cote’s Colorado: No place like home, but how about those Red Sox?
Hey, fellow LEX travelers. What did you think of Boston? Are you going to miss the feel of moisture beading on your skin? How many miles will you have to trek along Cherry Creek to work off those Dunkin’ Donuts? How did it feel to visit the home of the team that pummeled our […]
Mike Zito’s blues come tough
MIKE ZITO Greyhound (Electo Groove) Mike Zito knows how to tell tough tales. On Greyhound, the singer and guitarist inhabits that place where blues and rock drive tales of hard-won wisdom and a life lived out on hardscrabble roads. His raspy voice has a bit of that lived-in roughness that recalls Steve Earle and […]
Keb’ Mo’ gets in a mellow groove for “The Reflection”
KEB’ MO’ The Reflection (Yolabelle International) Keb’Mo’s first album in five years is marked departure from the blues-based sound that first won him fame, when his records included some stripped down solo guitar and vocal tracks, such as covers of Robert Johnson songs or his own hypnotic “Was I Wrong” from his debut disc. On […]
Taking Mount Bierstadt again
Life is full of second chances. This one is for two guys who signed up to climb a mountain last summer – then drove right past it in the dark of the early morning and kept going and going and going …. ColoradoBiz Managing Editor Mike Taylor and I did indeed eventually scale Mount Bierstadt […]
Cote’s Colorado: Insurance for the future—a kid with a great job
The U.S. economy eked out a mere 18,000 new jobs in June. Employment in the private sector stayed about the same while government cut 39,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported. In that environment, with unemployment at 9.2 percent, my youngest son snagged a great job, beginning work almost immediately after graduation (he got married and […]
Deer Tick heads to Colorado for shows this weekend
DEER TICK The Black Dirt Sessions (Partisan) Rhode Island rockers Deer Tick — a moniker the band’s lead singer and guitarist says comes from finding one of those suckers implanted on his scalp one day — are purveyors of booze-soaked Americana-laced rock ‘n’ roll. Their band’s third album, The Black Dirt Sessions, released last year, […]
The other Elvis plays host to Bruce, Bono and the Edge
ELVIS COSTELLO Spectacle: Elvis Costello with …. Season 2 (MVD Visual) Thank god for shingles. If David Letterman hadn’t gotten sick a few years back, Elvis Costello might never have tried his hand at being a talk show host. His successful stint inspired him and Elton John, now his executive producer, to create this amazing […]
Cote’s Colorado: Cricket makes its Muve to music
When Austin-based rockers White Denim came to Denver in June to perform a late-night set at the Larimer Lounge, they had a chance to warm up at a corporate event that likely paid them better than the club show. And the new service they were promoting should help them get paid for their music in […]