DUS x KGNU Metro - June 2024

[00:00:00] KGNU FM 88.5 Boulder KGNU 1390 Denver. Stay tuned for Metro. Support comes from Tangerine restaurants with locations in North Boulder, Old Town Lafayette and downtown Longmont providing traditional morning fare and lunch with Mediterranean and Tex-Mex twists as well

[00:00:16] as espresso coffee drinks. More information and menus can be found at TangerineEats.com. Spring cleaning time is here and KGNU is now accepting donations of LPs, CDs, stereo gear and other gently used media for our annual record and CD sale, better known as the Yard Bazaar,

[00:00:33] in Denver, Saturday, August 31st and in Boulder, Saturday, September 7th. Clear up some space and give those overlooked musical gems a new home in support of independent community radio. Drop off donations at either our Boulder or Denver studios or arrange a pickup by contacting

[00:00:47] Dave at KGNU.org or calling 303-825-5468. Hello KGNU listeners and welcome to Expanding the Narrative on Metro, a show by Denver Urban Spectrum that amplifies the voices and stories of the community. I'm your host, Brittany Winkfield. June is Black Music Month and we're

[00:01:19] shining the spotlight on the incomparable Yolanda Adams. You know her as the queen of urban gospel but Yolanda Adams is so much more than a singer. She's a savvy business woman, a passionate philanthropist and a powerful voice for inspiration. Today we're

[00:01:34] expanding the narrative on her journey from gospel superstar to launching her own jewelry line and now a luxury watch brand for women. She's making an impact beyond the music. That I get to wake up every morning and encourage people and inspire them to be their

[00:01:57] best selves. I'm not here to judge you. I'm not here to tell you what you're doing wrong. That's God's job. And if we would concentrate more on loving people, I'll say that again. If we would concentrate more on loving people, the love that you have

[00:02:18] in your heart and the God in you will connect with the God in somebody else. And so I have lived my life enjoying absolutely enjoying every concert, every tour, every album, every hair change. I was blessed to live in a family and live

[00:02:42] in a household where we heard everything from Bach to Beethoven. Bluegrass, the blues. If we were cleaning up, if BB King wasn't on you were not doing your job. But I thank God for that because I never had a reason to look down on anybody

[00:03:03] because they didn't sing what I sang or did what I did and I understand that music is the it's the gateway to the soul. We need everybody's music. I am so proud of all of my honorees.

[00:03:15] Yes, I am really, really thankful that the music has blessed you. It has caused you to think higher and it's caused you to think deeper. So that's what I'm going to do for the next 50 years of

[00:03:31] my life. I'm going to do the same thing. I honor you. I love you guys. Here to tell us about the June issue is managing editor Ruby Jones. Hello, hello, I'm Ruby Jones. As the season heats up, Denver Urban Spectrum is enjoying the sounds of summer while celebrating

[00:03:51] a special month of acknowledgement for the Black men and women whose influence and impact on the music industry deserve recognition. June is Black Music Appreciation Month and this month's issue puts several artists in the spotlight while highlighting various genres.

[00:04:06] Back in 1979, President Jimmy Carter deemed the month of June National Black Music Month to celebrate the musical influences that are an important part of the Black community's cultural heritage. The recognition wasn't made official until the United States Congress passed a resolution

[00:04:21] recognizing the holiday in the year 2000. Today, Black Music Appreciation Month brings awareness to the talented artists whose contributions to folk, gospel, R&B, hip hop, soul and blues have jazzed up our lives. And that's not all. The month also brings

[00:04:37] awareness to the impact and influence Black musicians have had on genres like country, classical and more. From instrumentals to vocals and production, the Black influence in music is undeniable. This month we've published two articles that discuss genres not typically

[00:04:54] thought to include many Black artists. Writer Kristen Aldridge highlighted the Black influence in alternative rock while showcasing a local alt rock artist Elijah Youngblood who performs under the stage name Tribe. In another article written by Wayne Trujillo and myself, the

[00:05:10] complex history of country music is discussed with Beyoncé's latest Cowboy Carter at the center of the discussion. This is a great article with information about Black influences throughout history so be sure to read it at denverurbanspectrum.com. The cover story for

[00:05:26] June features iconic gospel artist Yolanda Adams as she announces the launch of a new line of ladies luxury watches in partnership with Denver-based Banneker Watch and Clock Company. The article written by longtime contributor Tanya Ishikawa celebrates Lady

[00:05:42] Banneker and it's truly a pleasure to read. Following the music theme, Denver Urban Spectrum is gearing up for a fantastic celebration on October 19th to celebrate the publication's 37-year anniversary, thank publisher Rosalind B. Harris for years of dedication and creating

[00:05:59] a legacy of real reporting, and to launch the Ruth Boyd Elder Abuse Foundation, the next exciting chapter in Harris' story. The Denver's Voice celebration is a community event and all are welcome to join in the fun. I sat down with Denver's Voice headlining performer,

[00:06:15] R&B and soul singer and songwriter Sutch and discussed her journey in the music industry. You can read all about the soulful artist and listen to my complete interview with her on Spectrum Talk with Ruby. Each month from now to October you'll learn more about the

[00:06:29] artists who will be performing at Denver's Voice. In addition to getting to know more about Sutch, the June issue features profiles for Tony Exum Jr and Gregory Goodloe, two instrumentalists who are ready to party on October 19th. Denver is home to plenty of music festivals throughout

[00:06:46] the summer months and one of the biggest and most meaningful festivals will take place on June 15th and 16th to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday. Norman Harris, the founder of the Juneteenth Music Festival, discusses this year's event featuring national recording artist Bow Wow

[00:07:02] and gives readers a glimpse into the story behind Spangling Brewery and Five Points. There's no doubt that the June issue of Denver Urban Spectrum is a must read with articles about outdoor activities, mental health, education and history to set the stage for the summer months

[00:07:17] ahead. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more. Did you know that Juneteenth is the oldest known holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.? Five Points has always been the heart of Denver's Juneteenth celebrations and Norman Harris is known around the city for the

[00:07:34] rejuvenation of the Juneteenth Music Festival as its executive director. He is a community leader and owner of Spangling Brewery. We caught up with Norm to talk about this year's festivities. In terms of Juneteenth, I get really excited about

[00:07:52] just the energy of bringing so many people to Five Points and so many of our folks who maybe haven't been down here in you know just about a year actually coming back and

[00:08:06] it's such an incredible experience when you watch it come together in terms of you know there'll be the morning and we close down the streets and there's like this quietness and then you

[00:08:24] see all the contractors show up and the tents pop up and the stages and the fences and then you know the parade coming into on the street it just it's a sense it's something that never

[00:08:39] gets old and there's just tremendous amount of work and effort and that our staff and everyone involved puts into getting to that moment and it just it never tires and so you know I

[00:08:58] we try to treat it like it's like our first time running it and you'll give it that level of care and concern and so while it you know the program kind of stays the same in terms of

[00:09:11] like the timing and the stages and whatnot the amount of work is always it's always a little bit more it feels like what it was the year before. In terms of the Dream Big Awards

[00:09:24] um one is going to be Dr. Ryan Ross is one uh another is uh Allie Duncan she's the owner of Urban Sanctuary yes one we're really excited about uh the other is Bianca Emerson she's the president of the Colorado Black Women for Political Action and the other

[00:09:50] Darryl Watson he is the um our city council district nine and then Justin Gilmore of Gilmore Construction. Oh you know what's new this year um I got one for you it will come out um

[00:10:06] we're uh um before Bow Wow um goes on stage we're going to be presenting a lifetime achievement award to Chauncey Billups who will be an Admin. So that is something new that's happening this year yes that is well deserved and Chauncey is just such a pillar

[00:10:29] in the community so that's exciting yeah we're uh I got to speak with him on Friday and just to know that he's you know taking some time on Father's Day to come down to five

[00:10:42] points it's an honor for us and I think you know him being named to the uh Basketball Hall of Fame just is an incredible um an incredible lifetime achievement and so we we are certainly trying

[00:10:56] to honor him as best we can absolutely. What up it's the boy man Bowieze check it out man June 16th man we going big for Juneteenth all right Juneteenth Festival 2024 man starting the boy Bowieze listen there but you know I'm not coming to plant around we're gonna do

[00:11:12] all the hits we ain't gonna do no skips no misses all right that's how we come and get your tickets man free for everybody all ages we're gonna represent for the city we're gonna represent five people they're gonna have a great time you understand me Bowieze

[00:11:25] Denver I'm on my way the dog like that. I'm here today with R&B and soul vocalist and songwriter Such who will be headlining at Denver Urban Spectrum's anniversary event

[00:11:38] on October 19th thank you so much Such for joining me today. Thank you for having me I am so thrilled I think the magical thing about performing is that it's literally co-creation between myself

[00:11:53] and the audience so even if I'm performing this the same show 10 nights in a row every night is going to be different because the audience needs different things and we're creating this

[00:12:03] space right so I think I also adapt to like what is the vibe of the audience you know what I mean and we sort of it's definitely not just like oh I'm singing to you it's definitely interactive

[00:12:15] I always get nervous before I perform but there's freedom in being able to just be in the moment and just I can't go back and recreate the moment and that's the freedom of

[00:12:29] performing whereas in the studio you feel like you can and so to be able to and also the crowd feeds me so the synergy the energy they're giving me it literally powers and fuels me too

[00:12:41] at the same time and so much of my songs are birthed piano vocal and then I get my band together and they come and they do you know they put their thing on it and so before a lot

[00:12:53] of times before I even record a song I'll perform it and through the performance I'm actually sort of working through the kinks of the song I'll try it I'll try stuff out on audiences all the time

[00:13:06] and be like I got amazing let me you know what I mean just to see and then from that it's weird I know because a lot of times it's the reverse but sometimes I'll just try new things because things are birthed very organically and with live instrumentation

[00:13:20] and so even the songs that were completely in the studio and 100% electronic when it comes to me performing live I always have a live version of songs and so yeah I guess

[00:13:33] so I sort of do both yeah but I want to stay true to who I am because I want the audience to know who I am as an artist and not just somebody who's shifting now artists will change

[00:13:45] and shift and try new things but if I'm not there organically I don't really want to do that I performed in Bogota in Colombia and I thought that was going to be tough because I don't speak

[00:13:57] Spanish and I talk a lot but it was one of my best shows just because and I know this is cheesy but music really is a universal language like it really really is and so many people

[00:14:12] came up to me afterwards and were like oh my gosh we loved it and you would think that language would have been a barrier and it wasn't and it was yeah I think about it till this day and

[00:14:24] I'm like oh that was such a good show right they just feel everybody we just felt like it was great it was great so I think that there's I don't know what the word that I

[00:14:35] can say for in other countries but there is an openness to a new experience that exists where I feel like sometimes here people can be like yeah let me impress me you know what I mean

[00:14:48] and they're just like no we're just this is amazing it's music and we're here for it I think I'm really open to the growth that like I've experienced and understanding that there may be differences in my sound and things that have changed over the past four

[00:15:03] years right like the last time I released an album was 2019 it's a very different world than the world that we're in today and as I work on new music I think I'm I'm so intimately

[00:15:15] aware that I've changed in so many ways and I want that to be a reflection in my music that's my biggest goal to like really to do that and I think all of us as humans we've

[00:15:29] been given we've been given away because we're communal beings for us to give back right to culture to community to the world to humanity and I just I want to do my part like an artist's

[00:15:46] job I think is to be a reflection of the times to you know write things that you guys can resonate with that you guys can feel that you are like yo that is my story right like

[00:16:00] that is the thing and I don't take that responsibility lightly and it's just it's just my way of giving back and I want to do that I want to do it justice that's my biggest

[00:16:11] that's my biggest goal I think that's my why because I want to hold space for you I want you to be able to be like this is a safe space I feel seen I feel heard I feel valued that's

[00:16:22] the power of music and I think that is what I've done throughout my whole life as a nurse you hold space for folks as a real estate agent you hold space for people oh and when I grow up

[00:16:33] I want to be a matchmaker that's also holding space for folks so um you could just do it in your shows you could just like matchmake people I know oh my goodness one of the best things

[00:16:45] that like has happened at my shows a few times are people proposing to other yes which is like first off that is like the hugest gift and compliment like literally you chose my show to

[00:16:58] propose you know to the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with how amazing but there's something really just yeah lovely and special about it so I feel like my purpose is to hold space and music is my avenue music is black history

[00:17:19] music is salvation music in biblical texts gave voice to the sentiments of enslaved Africans who were searching for freedom how can somebody have ownership of your body yet you're still able to find ways to create a part of my ancestry is that we will not be defined by

[00:17:46] the pain but we would transform it into something new something beautiful transform time survival is magic when you think about the chitlin circuit it speaks to the alchemic power of those giants in history performers would travel a circuit of black clubs they provided commercial

[00:18:20] and cultural acceptance for entertainers who weren't allowed to play on white stages from those spaces came some of the greatest talent that transformed the way we look at music the influence that rock and roll had all started from a black woman sister rosetta tharp

[00:18:54] what she was doing way back in the 40s and 50s is still revolutionary harlem cultural festival was the greatest music festival you've never heard of here was a moment where there was a

[00:19:24] gathering of black bodies but it was for the sake of love and community you know solidarity is a spirit of the african-american experience that will never leave the music silvesta was the first openly gay business he didn't care if something was masculine or feminine

[00:20:09] he enjoyed playing with the spectrum which was part of his art and his performance pop was birthed in the bronx which has always been a large community of latinx people the latinx figures we wouldn't have the full spectrum of hip-hop culture

[00:21:05] music is a creative sense of salvation and fashion is as well we're not only celebrating the past we're celebrating the best of who we are we're celebrating the best of what's happening now we understand that we're still connected to these moments that these are not just

[00:21:37] isolated incidents these moments are still connected like a thread when we create when we break rules for making black history celebrating 20 years that is a big deal oh thank you very much britney i i appreciate that yeah you know they say time flies it really does

[00:22:18] yeah it really does but yeah it is a it is a pretty cool mouse now we're we're proud of it for sure yeah all together just a real quick backdrop i've been in the watch business for

[00:22:30] 26 years now watching clock my first watch company was marquee watch which i featured athletes signatures and likeness in the dial of the watch in fact sorrell davis all the fame running back for the denver brownfield is my cousin so the very first watch i ever did

[00:22:50] with his signature watch and we didn't go to market with his wife but his wife helped me to close the deal with kurt warner who was a quarterback for st louis rams at the time after

[00:23:02] he won the super bowl so that's how we got going that way and then of course bannacher came but to back into your question it was maybe a couple of years after i founded vision bannacher

[00:23:15] watchman car company and it just hit me one day and so it's been about 17 18 years ago just i said you know one of these days i want to do an exclusive line for for women uh where it'll

[00:23:29] be you know all designs for them and uh make it a lifestyle brand where there'll be ancillary products you know like sunglasses and and uh and belts and and purses and luggage

[00:23:44] uh in the whole ball of wax i had uh i spoken with several several celebrities about it down through through the years and they were a lot of them were very interested

[00:23:55] and you know and i never really made a move on it you know the timing wasn't always right every time so it never happened because i was obviously continuing to work on benjamin bannacher with the

[00:24:04] watchman the clock side so uh with miss adams it was incredible because about oh seven eight maybe nine years ago i think now it's been a while where the uh the coo and vice president

[00:24:17] of my company who was in chicago all of our jember is our headquarters but all of our fulfillment all our watches and all that and marketing and all that is done out of chicago

[00:24:27] one day he called me and said he said man you know he said we keep getting these uh instagram posts from your line to adam's you know talking about our watches and how much he

[00:24:37] likes them and and uh you know the packaging and just attention to detail you know and a lot of times you know on social media a lot of people have celebrity handles you know so

[00:24:49] once we were able to have to change it was her and uh we uh you know we thanked her for everything and then we also sent her some extra watches and and like that to her to her manager

[00:25:02] at the time and you know she continued to post and continued to really talk about us and then and then we started noticing everywhere you would see her as she would have on a bannaker

[00:25:14] watch i mean it was like unbelievable so a couple of years ago and the last three or four years she was she would buy like 25 watches for the holiday and hand them out you know to her family

[00:25:25] so i told dave two years ago i said you know what i said i said your line to adam is going to be lady bannaker that's just going to be lady bannaker he was like really you

[00:25:34] think so yeah i said i know so so so when the timing was right um i approached her through michael cahier the comedian he was a very close friend of mine and a very close friend of hers

[00:25:47] over 20 years he and i have been friends i told him what we'd like to do and he told her about it and she uh she said yes yes yes she was absolutely on board with it and once we

[00:25:58] connected it was like we've been knowing each other forever you know she is absolutely the perfect person for lady bannaker and we're expecting some really great things and he's got a lot of great ideas of course he's international uh internationally renowned so

[00:26:13] we're excited about where we think this is going to go we actually our website is is l a d y b a n n e k e r dot com and we're actually launching uh this friday

[00:26:36] we're doing a soft launch with uh our first watch which is the inaugural collection and uh it is uh it's a pink band and it has the african ebony wood in it and then you also get a black

[00:26:52] strap as well so you get an alternative strap to be able to use with this particular watch and then uh we're going to have a few other uh products that's on there but ultimately

[00:27:04] we're going to keep adding uh products on there we're working on doing a purse line which we're hoping will be out in august um and uh you know we're going to get into again

[00:27:15] and to uh reading glasses and sunglasses and writing pens and all that so between now and the end of the year uh around the holiday we're going to be adding several several other

[00:27:28] products that we are are putting together now but uh right off the bat uh she wanted to be able to make this watch available uh because right now it is the only uh african american or or otherwise any other nationality watch and clock company owned by a female

[00:27:51] a female line eventually we'll be we'll be doing the uh it's very exciting because you know there's so many woods uh that are out there of britney that uh some of those woods change colors when you when once you get them together even before you stain them

[00:28:09] so you know i one of my visions that had always been you know uh you know uh women are so great with interior decorating and their their visions of what they what they

[00:28:21] want their offices and their homes to look like and to be able to have it styled with a lady bannacher clock that may have that same color scheme i think it's going to be really

[00:28:33] exciting so uh you know yolanda will be doing some of these designs to get the last say so on everything obviously and uh i'm a designer as well i design all of our products with

[00:28:48] bannacher and i actually designed uh this one as well and so um i'll be coming with some concepts and ideas but uh ultimately you know it's uh coming from a female perspective uh she'll

[00:29:04] she'll definitely be stepping in and and making tweaks and and the whole ball of wax so that's going to be fun and interesting to see how the product line uh you know actually uh

[00:29:16] you know comes together the denver urban spectrum is more than a newspaper it's a community institution we invite you to join us as we honor the legacy of this influential publication and the community it serves please visit denverurbanspectrum.com for more information

[00:29:34] and subscribe to our newsletter be sure to check out upcoming events on denverurbanspectrum.com and add yours for free i'm britney winkfield thanks for listening until next time stream this episode on kgnu.org and denverurbanspectrum.com podcast