The California Honeydrops to Headline ‘Hops Drops’ Music and Beer Festival on June 25, 2022, in Evergreen, Colorado

Hops Drops, previously known as Evergreen Music Festival, is proud to announce The California Honeydrops will be the headlining at this year's festival on Saturday, June 25, 2022, in Evergreen, Colorado. The one-day festival will showcase The California Honeydrops and a dozen regional acts, offering an eclectic mix of live blues, funk, indie, and rock while highlighting some of Colorado’s best brewing companies. Hops Drops offers a full-day outdoor experience filled with live music, unlimited brewery tastings, yoga, various food and retail vendors, and kid-friendly activities.

Led by dynamic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski and drawing on diverse musical influences from Bay Area R&B, funk, Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second-line, The California Honeydrops bring vibrant energy and infectious dance-party vibes to their shows.

“After headlining the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater last week, we couldn’t be more excited to come back to the great state of Colorado and headline ‘Hops Drops’ music and beer festival in the beautiful city of Evergreen,” said Wierzynski. “The California Honeydrops performance style can only be described as getting the party started. We want crowd involvement - to make people become a part of the whole thing by dancing along, singing, picking the songs, and generally coming out of their shells. We can’t wait to bring this energy to ‘Hops Drops’ festival-goers,” Wierzynski added.

Supporting music artists include Heavy Diamond Ring, Rapidgrass, LVDY, The Wrecklunds, Justus and the Limits, Extra Gold, Jesh Yancey and the High Hopes, Drew Dvorchak and Friends, and YepOK. The craft brewery lineup includes Evergreen Brewery, El Rancho Brewery, Lariat Lodge Brewery, Green Mountain Brewery, CODA Brewing CO., Cellar West Artisan Ales, Over Yonder Brewing, Cabin Creek Brewing, Our Mutual Friend Brewing, Crooked Stave, and more.

Evergreen Music Festival celebrated its first year in 1966. The festival initially started with an intent to bring classical music to the mountains and has since been looked at as the beloved 4th of July fireworks celebration at Evergreen Lake. Thirty-two years later, the festival's leadership team has passed the reins to Evergreen hometown heroes and long-standing local business owners Logan & Riley Boone, owners and operators of Boone Mountain Sports + Evergreen Brewery. Alongside the Boone family, local business owners Marcus Durante (Founder of Kree8), Bobby Everett (Co-Owner of Evergreen Brewery), and Colin Kerr (Owner of The Wildflower Cafe) have joined forces with the festival to better encapsulate the refreshed, modernized potential for Evergreen to be looked at as a go-to spot on the Colorado music and entertainment scene. In addition to elevating Evergreen’s mountain entertainment, Hops Drop continues to support and give back to the local community and has committed to donating 10% of ticket sales to Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen.

General Admission + Beer Tasting tickets are now on sale for $55 at www.hopsdropsevergreen.com. To stay up-to-date on all future Hops Drops announcements, please follow Hops Drops on Instagram @HopsDrops_Evergreen.

All ticket options include:

General Admission: Starting at $30

Entry into the festival

GA + Beer Fest Admission: Starting at $55

Entry into the festival

Souvenir tasting glass

Unlimited tasting from 12-4 pm

VIP Bergen Peak Club: Starting at $150

Entry into the festival + Beer Fest

Premier viewing of main stage

Designated area with private bar

Private bathrooms

Free food & beverages

A photo booth and gifts from our partners

About Hops Drops:

Hops Drops is an all-day Music Festival that will feature nationally and locally celebrated musical acts alongside a beer festival showcasing a variety of Colorado’s premier craft breweries. There will be specialty food vendors, activities for the kiddos, and much more. Rooted in Evergreen’s long history of supporting the arts, Hops Drops (Evergreen Music Festival) is a non-profit organization. Ten percent of the proceeds will benefit Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen. For more information, please visit https://hopsdropsevergreen.com.

Vortex Bringing Unique Festival Experience To Denver August 5-7

Meow Wolf is partnering with Live Nation to bring its renowned outdoor festival experience, Vortex, to a secret location in the heart of Denver. Taking place over three days on August 5th, August 6th, and August 7th, festival-goers can expect two stages of multi-genre entertainment in a lively outdoor setting featuring food and drink trucks, experiential art, offbeat performers, wild costumes, and more fantastical Meow Wolf revelry. Please note: this event is not taking place at Convergence Station and the location will be announced at a later date.

Headliners include Toro y Moi, Duke Dumont, Pabllo Vittar, Channel Tres, 100 gecs, Bladee, Dixon, Sad Night Dynamite, Bob Moses, Boy Harsher, Neil Frances, and Maya Jane Coles. See the full lineup below.

“Vortex is back! Presenting this experience in Denver is near and dear to my heart, and we’re beyond thrilled that we can now safely gather and play together,” said Marsi Gray, Senior Creative Producer at Meow Wolf. “Our experiences outside of the exhibitions are a vibrant way to showcase local artists and offer the community deeper levels of connection. We can't wait to bring beautifully curated music and art together with friends to create magic.”

Vortex is dedicated to making a positive impact through hiring locally, supporting sustainability initiatives, and uplifting marginalized groups. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 AM at vortex.meowwolf.com and are available as single-day tickets starting at $69 or three-day passes starting at $189. On Friday, doors will open at 4:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday, doors will open at 1:00 PM.

“We are excited to partner with the amazing team at Meow Wolf to continue to push the limits of the live music experience here in Denver,” said Eric Pirritt, President of Live Nation Colorado. “Vortex is going to be a completely unique experience that brings the best of Meow Wolf to life with an incredible lineup of artists performing throughout the weekend.”

HOPS & DROPS Lineup Announcement!!!!

Lineup has been announced and we see a couple of our favorites on this list. If you haven’t purchased your tickets here are some amazing options to consider.

General Admission + Beer Tasting tickets are now on sale for $55 at www.hopsdropsevergreen.com. To stay up-to-date on all future Hops Drops announcements, please follow Hops Drops on Instagram @HopsDrops_Evergreen.

All ticket options include:

  • General Admission: Starting at $30

    • Entry into the festival

  • GA + BeerBeer Fest Admission: Starting at $55

    • Entry into the festival

    • Souvenir tasting glass

    • Unlimited tasting from 12-4 pm

  • VIP Bergen Peak Club: Starting at $150

    • Entry into the festival + Beer Fest

    • Premier viewing of main stage

    • Designated area with private bar

    • Private bathrooms

    • Free food & beverages

    • A photo booth and gifts from our partners

Youth on Record joins Two Parts to lead Underground Music Showcase

Under a new joint venture agreement, Youth on Record, a Denver-based nonprofit, has joined Two Parts, a Denver-based entertainment company, to lead the Underground Music Showcase (UMS), the largest, multi-day music festival in Denver. As co-owners, Two Parts and Youth on Record will focus the UMS on Artistic Excellence, Community Impact, and Economic Sustainability, with a commitment to advancing opportunities for historically marginalized artists.

Two Parts Founder Casey Berry and Youth on Record Executive Director Jami Duffy will serve as co-managers of UMS LLC, a new Colorado limited liability company. Berry and Duffy will share oversight of the festival's vision, values, programming, operations, and finances.

"By partnering with an organization with such deep roots and the full faith of the community, we gain the firepower to mobilize the community in new ways," says Berry, who led Two Parts' purchase of the festival from the Denver Post Community Foundation in 2018. "There's so much Two Parts and Youth on Record can do to build on each partner's existing programming and relationships to support artists and build the next generation of performers to carry the torch."

Duffy sees the Two Parts/Youth on Record partnership as a model for how nonprofits and music festivals can co-create just and sustainable sources of support while driving impact.

“Everyone keeps talking about new ways of doing things, post-COVID. For Youth on Record, co-owning and co-leading the UMS is a new approach to fulfilling our mission, earning revenue, and reaching more artists and community members," says Duffy. "The work of the UMS is aligned with our mission, making it not only a smart investment, but one that can have a big impact."

Duffy and Berry are betting on a bold idea that music festivals with a mission will have more staying-power – and ultimately generate more revenue. They hope foundations, philanthropists, Colorado Creative Industries, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities Districts (SCFD), and government agencies will take note of this community-centered approach.

New mission-driven elements include increases in payments to performing artists (starting at $200 per artist and $400 per band) and deeper diversity among performers, sober bars and other resources for artists who struggle with substance misuse, opportunities to support young and emerging creatives, and an Impact Show focused on providing mental health support resources to attendees. Impact Days, a two-day professional development opportunity for UMS performers, will be hosted and produced by Youth on Record. Future plans include a deeper focus on accessibility, internship and workforce pipelines, and outreach to introduce more Denver residents to the UMS.

"Music festivals have the unique power to bring huge groups of people together. Nothing else does this: not concerts, not art exhibitions, not conferences, not plays," says Michael Bracy, a Youth on Record advisor and national music policy expert. "The UMS is an incredible opportunity to reach, activate, connect with, and serve a large number of people, which is central to Youth on Record's strategy for innovation and change."

This year's UMS will take place from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, drawing more than 10,000 music fans to Broadway/Baker neighborhoods. With performances by hundreds of bands composed of more than 600 artists, the festival will be true to its roots while integrating new energy and new community programs, says Berry.

"Attendees can expect the same spirit of discovery, community, creativity, and fun that has defined the UMS for two decades," he says. "The mile-long strip of South Broadway will once again transform into a bustling community gathering space for artists, creators, musicians, and fans who can look forward to everything they love about the UMS – and more."

The Two Parts/Youth on Record partnership began to take shape last August. Spurred by a $1M grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in June 2021, Duffy approached Berry to propose that Youth on Record come in as an owner of the UMS; the nonprofit served as the festival's charitable beneficiary for many years.

"We had the idea that if you center impact and introduce philanthropy to a music festival, you can create something really powerful," says Duffy, who brought the idea of buying into the UMS to the Youth on Record board soon after meeting Berry. "The pandemic made it clear that bold moves are necessary to drive change in our world. Youth on Record has always had a spirit of innovation and taking risks, so we were up for the challenge.”

Unlike most traditional music festivals, which measure success by financial performance alone (which struggle to make it, and often don't), the UMS will measure along a triple-impact bottom line of Artistic Excellence, Community Impact, and Economic Sustainability. Duffy and Berry intend to raise $200,000 from donations, foundation grants, and other philanthropic sources to cover increases in programming expenses not covered by ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, merchandise, and concessions.

“Youth on Record staff, board members, and volunteers used to sling beer at the festival; now the organization is a co-owner, which gives us a real seat at the table,” says Duffy, noting that the venture was unanimously approved by Youth on Record's Board of Directors. “It’s a risk, like any business opportunity. But it’s one worth taking.”

“With our powers combined, Two Parts and Youth on Record are excited to push the festival into new, interesting, and community-focused directions,” says Berry. “UMS has always been Denver’s festival, and we can’t wait to continue building it for our city.”

The UMS was founded by Denver Post journalists John Moore and Ricardo Baca in 2001.

Tickets to the UMS are on sale now. A portion of all sales will benefit Youth on Record.

For more information, visit Youth on Record's website.

Do you remember these classic music-themed video games?

Most genres collide with music. Fact is, without music, television shows would be missing something, and action movies wouldn’t feel the same. It applies to the gaming genre too, with music playing an integral role in the overall gaming experience. We have even been exposed to a selection of music-themed video games over the years, too, with some titles bearing the name of world-famous stars and others featuring music from much-loved rock bands. 

For fans of music, these types of releases can be appealing. Some titles are memorable for all the right reasons, while others really failed to deliver, appearing to be nothing more than a money-making exercise from the music star and developer in question. In the past, there have been some absolute shockers. It’s even common to see various bands and famous music featured in modern-day games, too, with smash-hit 70s movie Grease being turned into an online slot game. Likewise, we’ve seen bands have their music featured in specific titles and a selection of games being solely dedicated to a pop star. Even Katy Perry celebrated 25 years of Pokémon with a collaborative track, highlighting once again just how common it is for these two different genres to come together. 

Today, though, we’re focussing on video games that have featured various bands and musicians. Some titles have gone down as memorable classics, while others are most definitely worth forgetting about. With that in mind, below is a look at some music-themed video games.

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

Somewhat ironically, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker featured the legendary pop star as he took out suited thugs and rescued kidnapped children. Featuring the odd cameo appearance from Jackson’s beloved chimp called Bubbles, it was a fun arcade-style product which did reasonably well when it released in 1990. Jacko played his part in the creation of the title too, eventually leading him to get involved in other games such as Space Channel 5 and Michael Jackson: The Experience. 

Crue Ball 

Featuring Motley Crue in what is a pinball video game, Crue Ball was a well-received title at the time of its release in 1992. A standard pinball game except with classic tracks from the band such as “Dr Feelgood” and “Live Wire”, Motley Crue fans might remember this one. 

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Released in 1985, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was initially launched on computers in Britain and offered fans with a truly hilarious gaming experience. The aim of the game was to boost your sex, war, love and religious attributes, in a hugely odd title featuring the English synth-pop band from Liverpool. You would have to solve murders, complete various mini-games, and a whole host of other challenges on Liverpool’s streets. 

Journey: Escape

To accompany the release of their new album with the same name in 1981, Journey teamed up with developers Data Age to create a game that was available to play on the Atari 2600 console in 1982. Playing the role of a manager, players had to escort band members away from a crowded post-gig area and avoid hordes of groupies and sly photographers. Can you get to the Journey Escape Vehicle in time for the next show?

Revolution X 

Ever wanted to save Aerosmith from a New Order Nation regime and their evil leader, Helga? Didn’t think so, but that’s exactly what Revolution X has to offer in what is a really bizarre game to tuck into. It’s even odder when you discover that your weapon doesn’t fire bullets, instead taking down enemies with ammunition made up of compact discs. Saving youth culture never felt so strange. 

Los Mocochetes Announce Their Debut 5 Song EP Much gusto on October 23rd

Los Mocochetes (Photo Credit: Anthony Maes)

One of our favorite musical acts are gearing up for their debut EP and we couldn’t be more excited. We named these guys our Band of The Year in 2018 and they haven’t disappointed us yet.

Los Mocochetes Announce debut 5 Song EP, Mucho Gusto, releasing on all platforms October 23rd, with an album release show at Raices Brewing Company.

“This record represents our blood sweat and tears. It's been over 5 years in the making. We feel so incredibly humbled by the support of the city, our community, and, of course, our fans.”

-Jozer Guerrero, Lead Vocalist 

Denver’s own Chicanx Funk Band, Los Mocochetes, have announced their debut EP, Mucho Gusto, releasing on all streaming platforms on October 23rd, 2021 and with an album release party at the Latin-owned Raices Brewing Company that evening.

Mucho Gusto will include crowd favorites like “Si Se Puede,” a call to action to the community to use their collective and individual voices against injustices; the newly released “Tacos,” exposing America’s love for Mexican food, but not it’s people; “43” (“Cuarenta y Tres”) urging the return of the 43 missing students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Iguala, Guerrero MX; “Rocks,” which could have been penned in the summer of 2020, but was years before - inspired by blatant injustices surrounding the murder of multiple Black citizens and the protests that followed fueled by police brutality; and crowd favorite, “Que Viva Revolucion,” the tune that not only gets the crowd up to dance, but ready to take to the streets with call and response built in.

“This debut EP captures the essence of what Mocochetes brings to the conversation. With the true mestizo/x blend of culture, style and influence, we are ready to give the world a glimpse into where we came from, and also, what's possible. With deep connections to our ancestors, we are able to look forward to envision a world that is good for our children and grandchildren to come. Aho, Mitakuye Oyasin, Ometeotl."

 -Joshua Randy Abeyta, Guitar/Trumpet/Percussion/Vocals

The EP captures the work and dedication from Los Mocochetes, who have been performing these songs to sold out crowds around Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming over the past six years, garnering them a strong and dedicated following, with accolades including Best Latin Band and Best Funk Band from Denver Westword, to being named a recurrent Local 303 band on Colorado Public Radio’s Indie 102.3, and an honorable mention from NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest. The band has caught the hearts and ears of many in the Denver music scene, including Shawn King of DeVotchKa, and beyond - including Chicana activist, Dolores Huerta. 


“It’s been a privilege to work with such talented people on this project. Everyone from Shawn King, our producer, to Craig Schumacher, our sound engineer at Wavelab Studios in Tucson, AZ, but also folks like activist Dolores Huerta and Raul Pacheco from Ozomatli. We feel the support of our community and we feel this is the perfect time to release these works.”             

-Jozer Guerrero, Lead Vocalist 

Los Mocochetes creates protest music you can dance to - and much of their catalogue is filled with catchy tunes that get stuck in your head, and get you off your seat and on to the dance floor. The EP release show will prove no less, taking place at Raices Brewing Company, a long time supporter and partner for Los Mocochetes. Only 100 pre-sale tickets will be sold for the event on the evening of Saturday, October 23rd, from 5pm - 10pm.

“This whole process and journey has been super amazing and I am blessed to have been a part of this entire project… Thank you to everyone involved. We are excited to bless your ears and bring you this new EP that you can dance to. This one is for Our community, Our Ancestors and you. Blessings, Ashe.”

-Eli Montoya, Bass Guitar

Los Mocochetes are a Chicanx Funk band from Denver, CO. This colorful cast of characters fuses thoughtfully brazen, socio/politically charged song lyrics, groovilicious melodies and high-energy stage antics to create an immersive experience unlike anything you've ever seen before. Much like a machete, which can be used either as a tool to build or a weapon to kill, they have chosen to use their music to inspire and encourage positive social change, and they have a ton of fun along the way! Music is medicine, laughter is medicine, community is medicine. Los Mocochetes are the recipients of multiple awards including Westword's Best Latin Band, Best Funk Band, and standout submissions of NPR's Tiny Desk Contest.