Bridget Pleines, who wrote earlier this year on the Canopy Club, in Illinois, has now moved west and has a new "home venue", Boulder, Colorado's Boulder Theater. Some may also know it as the home of the environmentally friendly weekly music showcase, e-town.

As always, we're looking for you to write about your favorite venue. Send ideas to venue@jambands.com.

The Boulder Theater
by: Bridget Pleines
email: bpleines@hotmail.com

As I took my first step into the Boulder Theater after a trying move to Boulder, CO, I knew that this would be a place I would frequent in the months to come. The Boulder Theater seems to have a feeling to it that comforts one such as a home can only do, quietly inviting you to come back again and again. And that's exactly what I did, planted my roots and prepared for a long stay.

The Boulder Theater has not only played host, but also has been called home by the likes of Phish, moe., Leftover Salmon, Widespread Panic, Karl Denson, Bela Fleck and many more. Due to the size of the venue, it is able to accommodate bands of this size. The room seems to go on forever with ceilings that reach to the skies and sound that seems to cradle your weary body as you are urged by the songs to dance and sway. But, the room is small enough that it still has that intimate feeling between you and the artist. The theater definitely has a historic feeling to it, as they have tried to restore much of the original artwork and architecture that has been there since its inception in 1906.

The Boulder Theater originally opened as Curran Opera House by a wealthy sign owner, James Curran. The Curran Opera house featured opera, musical productions, and silent movies. When you are in the Boulder Theater, you can almost feel the ghosts of past events held in this amazingly historic room. In 1927, the introduction of the talkie (movie) put an end to all live performances and made way for the wave of the future, movie theaters. During the depression the theater kept alive and helped the community by hosting "Country Store Nights" where lucky winners got to take home sacks of groceries to their families. The fate of the theater did not end there, but no one would have ever imagined that the theater would return to its roots in the near future.

The opening night of the newly renovated theater (as it stands today) was on January 9, 1936. The theater was expanded and redecorated in the art deco style popular at the time and the theater was then renamed, The Boulder Theater. In 1981, the theater was once again renovated, this time into a state-of-the art concert hall. But, the rigid movie house seating restricted the diversity of the acts and the theater was forced to close. The community was in an uproar and fought for years to have it reopened. Finally in 1988 it was transformed into a multi-use hall, dance floor and all. The theater was now ready to become an innovator and avid supporter of the rising jam-band scene.

As a "new" club with a new name, the theater now needed a new idea. The Boulder Theater decided to become home to the now famous e-town live. E-town is a nationally syndicated live radio broadcast featuring different shows at the Boulder Theater. The e-town show usually features 2 musical guests who perform their own sets, and then collaborate on the shows finale, often with the house band. The artists are also grilled about topics such as; life on the road, upcoming plans, past endeavors, and just about anything you could think of to ask. The result is that the listening audience gets to experience a live variety show much like that of the olden-golden days of radio. E-town has featured the likes of Rickie Lee Jones, Taj Mahal, Joan Baez, Ben Harper and even Bob Weir.

There are many things that make The Boulder Theater a great place to see any band, but specifically a jam band. First and foremost is their kindness to tapers. Their policy is if a band is OK with taping, tapers can feel free to tape, giving them room to record music history. Another jam-band friendly aspect of The Boulder is the spacious dance floor. Whether you want to silently sway or if you want to jump and spin, there is room for you on the Boulder dance floor. But, not only does the audience have room to dance and move, but with the accommodating large stage, the band has room to get "crazy."

Since The Boulder Theaters recent reincarnation, they have played host to some of today's most exciting jam artists from every realm of jam. From the bluegrass pickings of Leftover Salmon, Bela Fleck, and Tony Furtado to the Hip-Hop sounds of Method Man and Redman If you like jazz, you would have enjoyed John Scofield, Charlie Hunter, Jazz Mandolin Project, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, or Bill Frisell. For all you Phish fans, The Boulder Theater has been a part of their history since the beginning; from providing them a new stage to experiment to the recent debut of "Bittersweet Motel." For all you music lovers who love to discover new sounds, The Boulder Theater is also a launching pad for unknown bands such as moe., String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic, and Karl Denson. The Boulder heater has been there to watch these now notorious bands bloom, and often provides one of the first opportunities for a band to play a real theater.

Whether you like bluegrass, jazz, funk, or just anything live, The Boulder Theater should be your new musical home. Whether your there once or 1000 times, there is always something new and exciting going on. Your ears and your eyes will thank you.