Wendy Kale tribute to feature Rose Hill Drive, members of Big Head Todd, Samples

Wendy Kale

The prolific life of Colorado Daily music writer and longtime habitue of the ever-growing Boulder music scene Wendy Kale, who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 58 earlier this month, will be celebrated and remembered Wednesday at the Fox Theatre from 1 to 3 p.m.

This free event open to the public will be bringing together a veritable and venerable laundry list of some of the most eminent members of the local music scene who will be speaking about Kale. Some will also be performing songs throughout an afternoon that promises to be as vivacious as the life it is honoring.

The tribute will begin with a short introduction and a rendition of "I Remember" by Mark Kranjcec, Jeff Brinkman of the Jeff Brinkman Band and Mark Diamond (well known as "the busiest musician in Boulder").

Other musicians in attendance will include: Rebecca Folsom and Liza Oxnard, Denver's Something Underground, Trace Bundy (aka "The Acoustic Ninja"), Rose Hill Drive, Brian Nevin from Big Head Todd, the Samples' Al Laughlin along with his new project HWY 50, Jock Bartley of 1970's hitmakers Firefall, eTown co-founder Helen Forster, Hazel Miller and Chris Daniels.

A short video with KBCO's Peter Rodman will close out the performance section of the tribute, opening up to those in the audience who would like to speak, keeping the event as community-oriented as was Kale herself.

"Music was her passion," said Teresa Taylor, recently retired from booking music and running Lafayette's Nissi's which she founded in 2005, who booked the showcase. "Wendy had a lot of good insights and ideas. She was just a wealth of information and was like a consultant for me when I was putting together Nissi's."

Taylor suggested that the Fox Theater is a perfect place to house such a tribute, as "anyone who ever wanted to find Wendy could always just go to the Fox and see her there. She was probably there every night at one point or another. It's appropriate that the tribute is taking place there."

In talking about the various bands and personages who are contributing to the tribute, Taylor -- who had been good friends with Kale for nearly 30 years and also shares personal bonds with many of the musicians involved -- said that, "I put out the feelers to people who Wendy had a large impact on. She wouldn't just write about someone to write about them. She heard something in their music. Enough to write about them and do whatever she could to help them get out there more."