Studio C Time

I'll admit it. I've got a bit of a man crush on the Boulder radio station KBCO. Every since I've moved here, I've been pretty enamored with the music they play. One of my favorite things about it is their "Studio C", which is basically a small studio where artists come in and play a couple of songs, typically acoustic. Most of the higher quality live, acoustic performances you'll hear are from Studio C.

Every year the first Saturday in December they put a CD on sale that features some of the best tracks from the previous years Studio C. This year was volume 19. Its hard to understand just how big of a deal this day is in Boulder County, but people begin lining up hours before they go are released. They only cost $10 and the proceeds benefit local charities.

Last year, I was shocked at the line as we arrived in Boulder to pick up our CD. It had to be 1,000 people lined up, even a couple hours after the doors had opened. Despite temps in the 20s and heavy snow falling, the line wrapped all the way around the Ultimate Electronics building. We killed some time, let the line dissipate then snuck in around 11am and grabbed a CD.

They cut 30,000 copies of the CD and its sold out by noon every year. This year we headed to Westminster, thinking avoiding Boulder would be the best option. We arrived about 9 a.m., but the line was still huge. I'd guess about 750 people in front of us when we arrived, but after about 45 minutes to an hour we had our CDs.

So for now I'll enjoy the acoustic melodies of Volume 19 and dread standing in the cold next year for Volume 20.

And since I'm on the topic of music, I'll serve up some "Joel Recommended" music that are currently getting lots of play on my iPod...

1. Eddie Vedder - Hard Sun
This is from the Into the Wild soundtrack, and doesn't sound like anything Pearl Jam or solo Eddie Vedder to this point, but I like it. Nice to know Eddie still has some good left after several disappointing Pearl Jam albums.

2. Spoon - The Underdog
A very Bill Joel-esque sounding song, but has a good flow and a lot of instruments.

3. Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
Just a good rock song that won't stand the test of time as a classic, but its hard to not turn up right now.

4. Mushaboom - Feist
Sure her iPod selling "1234" is much more well known, but this song is a hidden gem from an older album.

5. Incubus - Dig
What? They can still make decent music? Pleasantly surprised at their latest album, Light Grendades, it reminds me why the Solarc crew saw this band numerous times in at least 3 different states.