Arts news: Railbenders christen newest Soiled Dove; arts economy booming in Springs; Bright Eyes at Red Rocks

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has named Jill Desmond to lead the organization as it prepares to transition into its new home in North Boulder.

“Desmond is a seasoned arts professional with more than 20 years of experience working with artists, developing exhibitions and most recently leading public program development,” the museum said in a statement. 

In her role as new artistic director, Desmond will play a pivotal role in shaping BMoCA’s curations, programming and artistic vision.

Her first day on the job was Monday. 

Most recently, Desmond served as senior director of programs for Breck Create in Breckenridge, where she oversaw the planning and implementation of the Breckenridge International Festival of Arts. 

Originally from Cork, Ireland, Desmond studied fashion design early in her career and holds both a bachelor’s degree in art history and a master’s degree in art history and museum studies from the University of Denver. 

“BMoCA is an institution I have long admired for its support of artists and community,” she said. “I look forward to working with this dynamic team to expand upon this important legacy in developing the museum’s programmatic vision for the future.” 

BMoCA is presently located at 1750 13th St. in downtown Boulder. It will break ground on a new, 100,000-square-foot mixed-use campus in 2027 at the intersection of Violet Avenue and Broadway in North Boulder.

Railbenders christen Chopper’s

The bar will always be Chopper’s, but a new era began May 9 when Frank Schultz soft-launched his new Soiled Dove venue with a packed, invited audience that was treated to a set by Denver’s hard-rocking country-cool favorites The Railbenders.

The new stage just built for the popular sports hangout will be known as “The Soiled Dove at Chopper’s,” Schultz said, and after the lower bowl of tables were moved away, the place holds about 400 for music. 

For the record books, the first song on the first night of the new Soiled Dove: “What You Get.” (Well, make that headliner song.) The first song was by opening singer songwriter Chris Stake.

Throughout the set, the band projected Clint Eastwood’s “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” on the wall-sized back wall. It was epic.

Booker Chris Reidy said future concerts are booked, but they are not yet announced or on sale.

Arts economy booming in Springs  

Denver has long had advocacy organizations who mastered the art of quantifying the economic power of the arts on the region’s economy. Now, Colorado Springs does, too. The Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPR), has released a first-of-its-kind study that found cultural attractions in the Pikes Peak region collectively generated more than 1 million attendees in 2025, including an estimated 394,914 tourists and approximately 234,579 local hotel room nights. It found that 64% of all Pikes Peak region visitors engaged in local entertainment offerings — 10% above the national average. 

“Just 11 of the largest cultural attractions in the region are filling hotel rooms equivalent to 38 Pikes Peak International Hill Climbs,” said Angela Seals, the cultural office’s executive director.  

Candy Brown goes to Washington

The Library of Congress has just named 25 recordings as “audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.” The list includes Taylor Swift’s transformative pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s standout “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” and The Go-Go’s debut album “Beauty and the Beat.” 

The list also included the original cast recording of the 1975 Broadway hit “Chicago” *(which has been going strong as a revival since 1996). And that means Denver actor and teacher Candy Brown’s voice will be forever immortalized in the halls of Washington, because she was a member of that original Broadway cast 51 years ago. (She played June.)  

The chosen works were declared to be “defining sounds of history and culture” and will be added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Others include Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” Kaye Ballard’s “In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon),” and Pérez Prado’s “Mambo No. 5.”

Bright Eyes at Red Rocks 

Bright Eyes’ presidential rant 

The eyes of the music world were trained on Red Rocks for Bright Eyes’ historic May 6 concert celebrating the 21st anniversary of the Nebraska band’s seminal simultaneous release of the albums “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.”

But Mother Nature made them wait six days after a freak late-May blizzard forced a postponement to May 12, which of course offered up a quintessentially perfect early spring Colorado night. 

Hundreds reportedly traveled to Colorado for the concert because the band is performing this show only three times on three iconic venues. Next up is the Hollywood Bowl on May 23 and Forest Hills Stadium (New York) on June 6.

Bright Eyes’ presidential rant 

The eyes of the music world were trained on Red Rocks for Bright Eyes’ historic May 6 concert celebrating the 21st anniversary of the Nebraska band’s seminal simultaneous release of the albums “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.”

But Mother Nature made them wait six days after a freak late-May blizzard forced a postponement to May 12, which of course offered up a quintessentially perfect early spring Colorado night. 

Hundreds reportedly traveled to Colorado for the concert because the band is performing this show only three times on three iconic venues. Next up is the Hollywood Bowl on May 23 and Forest Hills Stadium (New York) on June 6.

All talk of snow turned into talk of Oberst’s criticism of Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policies. Oberst mostly stuck to singing as blunt words against the president were projected onto the screens. The messages labeled Trump’s administration as “cruel,” calling both for the abolition of ICE and for all of its members to be arrested and prosecuted. He urged fans to form a “collective resistance” against the administration’s policies, drawing cheers from the sold-out crowd.  

Briefly …

Jessi Whitten, longtime director of audience development for the Leavitt Pavilion concert series, is moving back home to public radio as the new program manager of Indie 102.3 FM. Whitten has been involved with the station since its earliest days, playing a key role during the station’s transition from “OpenAir” to “Indie 102.3” as part of a 2019 rebrand. She is well-known as a voracious proponent for the local music community. “After a rigorous national recruitment, it is clear that Jessi has the mix of passion, skills, experience and strategic mindset to help the team and the organization move Indie forward,” Colorado Public RadioSenior Vice President of Content and Planning Sean Nethery said in a statement. 

We still don’t exactly know why Jen Orf disappeared as production manager of the Aurora Fox in January, but she has emerged triumphant as the new production manager of Boulder’s Local Theater Company. Orf, who has been largely responsible for whatever stability the Fox has enjoyed over the past decade. will oversee the production of Local’s world premieres, the cm[any’s new play initiative, its cornerstone new play development program, Local Lab … 

Langhorne Slim worked overtime for his sold-out May 2 show at the Bluebird Theater. As some rockers are wont to occasionally do, Slim moved the party into an afterparty across the street at the Goosetown Tavern. 

John Moore is the Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist. Email him at [email protected].