Downtown Lowdown

Lawn Chair Kings, Erik Nordstrom and writing

They’ve been a band for over 20 years. They’ve played hundreds of shows regionally and banged out half a dozen albums, the majority of those songs of the alternative country and cow-punk var...

DATE: Sep 20, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Where the Dead and Steely Dan meet

Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead are top bands of the rock canon. Two bands in who in their day crafted sounds that drifted well beyond the “rock” world, sounds that still get plenty of airp...

DATE: Sep 14, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Ragged Oak to play iAM MUSIC

Joshua Mendrala is a storyteller. His method of storytelling is through writing, something he’s wanted to do since he was a kid. After banging out poems, short stories and books, he wanted ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Townies bringing punk to Anarchy

Trinidad’s Townies are a punk rock band with one eye on the past and another on the future. This is music for those aging skateboarders who discovered classic punk rock via the “Repo Man” so...

DATE: Aug 31, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Nashville Songs & Stories: Songwriters take the stage

Songwriting is hard. Songwriting can also be profitable. However, not everyone who sits down to write a song is good at it, and even if you are good at it, that doesn’t mean you are going to...

DATE: Aug 24, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Sometimes you just need to go home

Josiah Payne gets homesick. The Pagosa Springs-raised mandolin player set his musical sights for something bigger over a dozen years ago, and the Pacific Northwest was his destination. But s...

DATE: Aug 18, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

California Celts to play at Ska

Chris Poland has long and strong ties to Durango. He’s been playing in the area since the 1990s with his band Warsaw Poland Brothers, one of the many ska bands that started rolling through D...

DATE: Aug 10, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Forest Thump duo bonds over love of music

The sky’s the limit with electronic music. With no walls to fit between, no box to confine yourself in and no rules to adhere to, you can do whatever you want. Throw down a techno beat and a...

DATE: Aug 3, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Cha Cha Cha! Latin Jazz Night for Music in the Mountains

Musicians can’t live on classical alone. Sometimes they need to dig into other genres, or at least one that is “close” to classical. Like jazz. Two different styles of music, but also two th...

DATE: Jul 27, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Hymn for Her returns to Dolores

Hymn for Her is a full-blown family affair. What began as the duo of Wayne Waxing and Lucy Tight some 20 years ago in Philadelphia, playing garage rock and roots-punk via Waxing on drums wh...

DATE: Jul 20, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

After Midnight Jazz Band plays Buckley Park

Swing band music will always be cool. An inability to see its coolness is, well, not very cool. In this writer’s opinion, it’s still one of the hippest things around, a style of music that l...

DATE: Jul 13, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Elder Grown hosts ‘summer camp’

Local band Elder Grown is hosting a slumber party. Billed as “Elder Grown’s Summer Camp,” it’s a camping event without any of the summer camp high jinks you may remember from the 1979 classi...

DATE: Jul 6, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Hundreds attend Candlelight vigil for Cortez police Sgt. Michael Moran

Skyhawks score 41 points off turnovers Monday at Whalen Gymnasium

Snowstorm moves through the areaThe season’s first big snowstorm causes problems for drivers and makes for a winter wonderland

The season’s first big snowstorm causes problems for drivers and makes for a winter wonderland

Photos: Singing with SantaSanta Claus makes his first appearance in Durango

Santa Claus makes his first appearance in Durango

Snow descends on DurangoForecasters say storm could dump 6 inches in Durango area

A fall storm that moved into Southwest Colorado Friday morning was expected to dump 6 inches of snow in the Durango area – more than weather forecasters had initially predicted.Snow started falling about 9:15 a.m. Friday and intensified shortly before 11:30 a.m., blanketing parks, vehicles and the hilltops overlooking the city. Roads became slick about 2:30 p.m. As of 4 p.m., the Durango Police Department had responded to six crashes, in addition to a few stranded motorists.U.S. Highway 160 at County Road 44 near Mancos Hill was closed from around 4 p.m. to just after 6 p.m. because a vehicle carrying an “oversized load” had spun out and blocked both the eastbound and westbound lanes, according to Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes.“Right now our officers are able to keep up with the crashes that are coming in,” said Cmdr. Nick Stasi, with the Durango Police Department. “As always with winter weather, we remind drivers to slow down and give extra space for the cars in front.”Snow started accumulating very fast as the day went on, making it “challenging for plow operators to keep up,” according to CDOT.

Southwest Colorado’s five major mountain passes were icy and snowpacked Friday afternoon. But all five remained open as of 4:15 p.m.The Pacific storm favored the southern and central Colorado mountains, said Dave Byers, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.“Durango looks like a 70% chance of getting 6 inches or more of snow by the end of tonight (Friday),” Byers said.He expected a half inch to three-quarters of an inch of moisture from the storm, which is up from the one-tenth to two-tenths of an inch that was predicted earlier this week. Meanwhile, the mountains could receive 1 to 2 feet of snow from the storm, he said.“In the last few days, it has really picked up,” Byers said. “The southern mountains are catching the brunt of it.”The snowy weather didn’t stop Liz Ferrill and her family from stopping by Cream Bean Berry for a Unicorn Sundae. “We thought it might be a festive way to celebrate,” said Ferrill, who was visiting from Snowmass, where the first snow occurred in September.For others, the snow provided the impetus they needed to swap out tires or purchase new snow tires. Andre Payne, a sales person at J/P Tire in Durango, said the phone began ringing shortly after 9 a.m. with people wanting to switch to snow tires.“We’ve been pretty busy,” he said.

It is not unusual for drivers to wait until they see the first snow and then want to swap out tires. The tire shop began advising customers to switch to snow tires about three weeks ago. Some people take the advice, other choose to wait.“We can always tell people what to do, but if you're not ready for it then you have to suffer the consequences of waiting two hours or maybe getting in an accident,” Payne said.Byers said Friday’s storm was the result of a southwest flow pulling moisture from Southern California, Arizona and the Gulf of California.As the moisture-laden atmosphere hits the San Juan Mountains, it wrings out the moisture, he said.Temperatures are expected to cool off as the storm makes its way out of the region this weekend. The highs this weekend will be in the upper 30s, and the lows could dip into the single digits, he said.“There’s still a northerly flow that is pulling cold air down out of Canada,” he said.Byers characterized Friday’s storm as a “shoulder storm” between summer and winter, but he said it is a sure sign that a regular track is settling in for Southwest Colorado.“We’re expecting regular storms … from now on, more into that winter pattern,” Byers said.Residents can expect mostly clear conditions through Wednesday, with clouds moving in the following day ahead of another storm that looks “very similar” to Friday’s storm, Byers said.shane@durangoherald.com; mhollinshead@durangoherald.com

Forecasters say storm could dump 6 inches in Durango area

PHOTOS: Turkey Trot returns to DurangoNearly 600 competitors ran before they gobbled down their Thanksgiving feasts on Thursday

Nearly 600 competitors ran before they gobbled down their Thanksgiving feasts on Thursday

PHOTOS: Durango faces Lutheran in 3A state football quarterfinalsDemons fall to Lions, 39-30, on Saturday

Demons fall to Lions, 39-30, on Saturday

PHOTOS: Fort Lewis basketball teams host doubleheaderThe men’s team beat Western New Mexico 87-68, while the women’s team fell in the final minutes to Northern New Mexico, 67-62

The men’s team beat Western New Mexico 87-68, while the women’s team fell in the final minutes to Northern New Mexico, 67-62

Photos: Durango High School football faces Mead in 3A state playoffsThe Demons won Saturday’s playoff game, 31-27

The Demons won Saturday’s playoff game, 31-27

Photos: Veterans Day Parade

Honoring Veterans on Veterans Day