Last night, my wife and I drove into Denver to join a few thousand other lucky souls at the sold-out Temple Buell Theater for a historic recording of the etown radio show. etown’s website describes what they’re all about:

Etown is an exciting weekly radio broadcast heard from coast to coast on NPR, public and commercial stations. Every etown show is taped in front of a live audience and features performances from many of today’s top musical artists as well as conversations and information about the world around us. At Etown, we build community through music.

They usually record the show in the small Boulder Theatre but moved to Denver this week to participate in the DNC. The musicians in attendance for last night’s show included Irma Thomas, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and James Taylor. This was my first etown show and I’ve gotta say: I loved every minute.

The best half-hour was the interview with the weekly “e-chievement award” recipient. The host, Nick Forester, presented the award to Bobby Kennedy, Jr. This guy looks exactly like his late father, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been so flat-out floored listening to someone talk. Named one of Time’s “Heroes for the Planet” a few years back, Bobby told us about the environment and his super-active role in protecting it. From Riverkeepers to the Arctic, from the farce that is “clean coal” to Iceland’s already-complete 3 year transformation to energy independence.

Sidebar: This last piece is fascinating. Iceland has taken every fossil fuel-burning car off the road, shut down all their coal and nuke plants, and are now so energy rich, they’re the third wealthiest nation on Earth. And they did it in just 3 years. Kennedy also told us Denmark, the UK and Brazil have signed on to make their own transformations as well.

We were awed. And we also had no idea this guy is a master falconer.

As for the music, Irma sang “Time is on my side” — a song she recorded well before the Stones. Ani told us about the church she’s renovating in downtown Buffalo and sang a few tunes, including “Evolving.” Tom Morello had only his acoustic guitar (and no other Rage Against the Machine bandmates) and sang a few songs. I never knew he went to Harvard. Crosby and Nash were, err, dare I say… boring. And James Taylor, who everyone wanted to see the most, wrapped up the taping. He did only two songs by himself — tunes from his upcoming “Covers” record to be released later this fall — then “When I’m Gone” with Crosby & Nash before inviting everyone back out for the grand finale: “This Land Is My Land.” Show started at 9 and wrapped up at midnight. I’m tired. Etown has a Flickr account, but there aren’t many photos there from last night. The show is set to be broadcast on the radio “sometime in October.”

Oh, on Larimer Street walking to dinner a few hours before the show, we bumped into a few hundred people, a dozen Secret Service SUVs and one rather well-known politician: Hillary Clinton. She was coming out dinner herself and raced off to the Pepsi Center for her “no way, no how” speech.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 1 pm and is filed under denver, music, people, politics.