The show must go on: Greeley Blues Jam organizers get creative to keep the music playing

By Dan England

Every night, Pam and Al Bricker “attend” a live concert. That gave them an idea.

Their love for live music inspired them to found the Greeley Blues Jam, and the festival grew into one of the best weekend blues concerts in the country, fitting right alongside the Greeley Stampede and the Arts Picnic as a summer staple. When they had to postpone the jam until next year because of the coronavirus, Pam asked the board that same day if she could still put on the concert by computer. 

“You gotta keep the music going,” Pam said. “I know that keeping your event top of mind is important.”

This year, that means virtually, and other Greeley music events are following suit, including Friday Fest and Ely Corliss’ May Play festival. But this Saturday evening, the Jam will continue with concerts from the Grace Kuch Band and longtime favorite Erica Brown with her new band, the Cast Iron Queens.

The Brickers will put on the show with the help of their son, Colin, who owns Mighty Fine Productions in Denver and makes most of his living doing the sound for live shows. He has since adjusted by hosting bands in isolated rooms in his studio and mixing and streaming the show live. The quality of the show, therefore, should be much higher than the shows you might be used to seeing in someone’s living room. 

The Blues Jam had a grant out from the Bohemian Foundation in Fort Collins and adjusted it to pay for the virtual festival, allowing them to pay the bands what they would have made from the show. Bohemian didn’t want to fund musicians from anywhere but Colorado, but she squeezed around that with Brown because Emily Nelson, the ensemble’s percussionist, is from Greeley.

Other longtime sponsors of the Jam donated their money from this year’s show to the cause, and the Blues Jam will ask for donations during the show. The show will also feature a video history of the blues jam and some other video tidbits. 

Colin did a virtual production for the Five Points Jazz Festival on May 16 that aired on Rocky Mountain PBS, and it was well received, and the Brickers have had many people say they plan to “attend” the Blues Jam as well, so it’s still possible that thousands will turn out. The Brickers also recently watched a virtual production of the New Orleans Jazz Festival during eight days,  just like the real festival. Dazzle, the famous Denver jazz club, does live streams of concerts as well Thursday-Sunday. 

“People are hungry for live, streaming music,” Pam said. “We watch it every night ourselves. It’s what keeps us going.”

Friday Fest, the live concert that attracted thousands and helped make Downtown Greeley fun and hip with its innovative Go Cup idea, will stream Ely Corliss’ virtual May Play this Friday. Corliss, the owner of the Moxi Theater, recorded some of the bands slated for the bill on his stage for the reworked online festival.

Friday Fest has already hosted other one other virtual interview and performance last week in Mirage Studios in Downtown Greeley. The Greeley Creative District and the Downtown Development Authority partnered to put on the production.

“We wanted to support our local artists who have lost all their summer gigs,” said Alison Hamling, who organizes fun events such as Friday Fest for the DDA.

They started on June 5 with Ben Pu, a longtime Greeley musician who survived the COVID Crash by putting on his own virtual concerts on Facebook.

Hamling expected to get maybe 10 viewers, and she and everyone else, even Pu, was “nervous as heck” during that first show. But nearly 100 viewed a flawless show, and since then, more than 3,500 have watched it. The May Play is pre-recorded by Corliss, but Hamling wants to put on more live performances all summer. Next week she will host Trashcat, and then she will sift through applications to flesh out the bill into the fall.

“We definitely most like live,” Hamling said. “We want engagement. We want to keep the name out there, and we want people to remember downtown is the center and hub of our industries, and we hope to do it all summer long until we can all be together on the street again.”

The one advantage to the virtual concerts, Al said, is that engagement, as people can comment on the feed as they watch. During a recent virtual Lyle Lovett show, Al saw comments from Australia and Europe. He and Pam look forward to engaging with commenters this Saturday during the Jam.

“The Jam is a local thing, but who knows?” Al said. “We expect to see people tuning in from all over.”

How to watch

• Greeley Blues Jam - Go to “GBJ Virtual Concert” on Facebook and also look for the “Greeley Blues Jam” page. The concert starts at 7 p.m. Saturday. It is free but there is a chance to donate. A link also exists on greeleybluesjam.org.

• Friday Fest - Go to “Downtown Greeley” or “Greeley Creative District” and look for the virtual Friday Fest link. The show starts at 7 p.m. Friday.