Thinking of moving to Colorado

armywalaby · #1 09-29-2011, 02:19 PM

My girlfriend visited Ft. Collins a few years ago and said the scene is much better there than it is here, plus it is only an hour away from Denver. It would also be nice to be around some like minded people instead of religious nuts. Anyone here from there or been there can speak about it to some extent?

Sherwood · #2 09-29-2011, 02:23 PM

I grew up in Colorado, and live there still.

Were I you, I'd look into Ft. Collins, Boulder, or Denver. Those are the college towns, and probably the towns with the best scene.

Colorado Springs is a great place, but if you're looking to get away from "religious nuts" I can assure you it's not the right place to look.

WilliamSandoval · #3 09-29-2011, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood

Colorado Springs is a great place, but if you're looking to get away from "religious nuts" I can assure you it's not the right place to look.

If you live in the Springs, you probably know about the preachers who stand on the street corners downtown

tangentmusic · #4 09-29-2011, 02:31 PM

If you move to Colorado, you'll soon become familiar with a plethora of "herbal medicine" dispenseries

Kwin Smith · #5 09-29-2011, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamSandoval

If you live in the Springs, you probably know about the preachers who stand on the street corners downtown

Isn't there a crazy huge mega church up north of downtown?

Ric5 · #6 09-29-2011, 02:40 PM

I love Colorado ... but the music scene sucks.

Punk Rock Jason · #7 09-29-2011, 02:52 PM

Is that Focus on the Family foundation (or whatever) based in Colorado Springs? You might need to be careful where you go in Colorado to find what you want.

Blueszilla · #8 09-29-2011, 03:24 PM

I have relatives there, have visited there many times. At no time, winter or summer, have I ever been accosted by any 'religious nuts', or ever felt an overbearing sense of moral pressure from anywhere or anyone. Yet over and over again I hear folks from all over saying how right wing overly religious it is there. IME, I have never seen or heard anything like that. For me it appears to be a clean, picturesque city with great weather, and cool restaurants/venues.

My son-in-law is a guitarist with a local band (originals), and grew up there. I haven't spent enough time there to know the local music scene, (I'm sure it ain't Austin or Nashville), but he seems to like it. Me too, I'd move there, if I wasn't so rooted to the spot here. Might do it anyway.

Just MHO, but you could do a lot worse than Colorado Springs.

WilliamSandoval · #9 09-29-2011, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwin Smith

Isn't there a crazy huge mega church up north of downtown?

New Life? I've been there once. My friend took me. There are like mini churches inside there from what I remember. A Korean church, Chinese, etc.

We get the occasional Westboro Babtist Church visit protesting Palmer High School's Gay-Straight Alliance.

WilliamSandoval · #10 09-29-2011, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punk Rock Jason

Is that Focus on the Family foundation (or whatever) based in Colorado Springs? You might need to be careful where you go in Colorado to find what you want.

Yes it is.

WilliamSandoval · #11 09-29-2011, 03:34 PM

I've lived in the Springs all my life, and I can tell you that the religious people aren't really a bother -and that's coming from an atheist. About once a year we get the J. W. people that go door to door. CS isn't THAT religious.

WJGreer · #12 09-29-2011, 03:34 PM

Assuming you are asking about the local music scene, not the overall vibe and lifestyle here (which we all love):

It's Colorado, and all kinds of people really want to be here, which means that there is a surprisingly deep and competent group of players in the community. That's the good news.

The bad news is that people don't really go out to see live local music here. National acts do fine - people love to plan to go see a show at Red Rocks, for example. There isn't a good scene of people out patronizing venues known for live local music without particular concern for who the band is, like you would find in Nashville or Austin. Plus, there's lots to do here, and we compete with all of it for people's time.

Local bands who reliably draw 50 to 75 people are in the top 5% here, I would say. By contrast, I see 40 people at the Elephant Room in Austin on any given Monday night with no headliner in there.

Edit: I'm primarily speaking to Denver and Boulder, although I suspect the Springs is more so.

tlaubs · #13 09-29-2011, 03:50 PM

I lived in Ft. Collins for about 8 years and loved it. The weather is great, tons of fun stuff to do if you enjoy the outdoors, and I was pretty happy with the music scene.

I often miss it at times, but after setteling down with a wife and baby, it was more important to live near family...

Kwin Smith · #14 09-29-2011, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamSandoval

Yes it is.

New Life. That sounds right. Sorry, didn't mean to quote you on the other reply.
Our van broke down pretty close to New Life on a family vacation one year. Just reminiscing...

armywalaby · #15 09-29-2011, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood

Colorado Springs is a great place, but if you're looking to get away from "religious nuts" I can assure you it's not the right place to look.

I guess it's not so much that they are religious nuts, I'm just tired of answering my door for whatever group that wants to tell me about their big dudes plan, or everywhere I go I'm hearing pray pray pray arrrr......not to mention the absence of most logical thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangentmusic

If you move to Colorado, you'll soon become familiar with a plethora of "herbal medicine" dispenseries

I can see the mountain air giving me a "headache".

Quote:

Originally Posted by WJGreer

It's Colorado, and all kinds of people really want to be here, which means that there is a surprisingly deep and competent group of players in the community. That's the good news.

The bad news is that people don't really go out to see live local music here. National acts do fine - people love to plan to go see a show at Red Rocks, for example. There isn't a good scene of people out patronizing venues known for live local music without particular concern for who the band is, like you would find in Nashville or Austin. Plus, there's lots to do here, and we compete with all of it for people's time.

That is quite unfortunate to hear. I figured with all the colleges some bars would book bands to have something different than other bars, IE karaoke guitar hero whatever else.

However, I come from a place where there isn't much else to do BUT drink or play music....or manufacture meth. The latter ain't my thing.

Pilgrim · #16 09-29-2011, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood

I grew up in Colorado, and live there still.

Were I you, I'd look into Ft. Collins, Boulder, or Denver. Those are the college towns, and probably the towns with the best scene.

Colorado Springs is a great place, but if you're looking to get away from "religious nuts" I can assure you it's not the right place to look.

I live in Fort Collins and I echo this - including the note about Colorado Springs. There are more right-wing/religious nuts there than anywhere else in the state. The job market is competitive but not really depressed - IF you have skills. This is a tech-oriented, degree-oriented place to job hunt.

There are plenty of places to play bar and small stage gigs, but don't count on making anything more than gas money (if that) doing it. There are a zillion bands (including mine) and they all do their best to stay busy. People here spend their time outdoors, biking, hiking or otherwise doing stuff that isn't video games.

fmoore200 · #17 09-29-2011, 07:30 PM

People here spend their time outdoors, biking, hiking or otherwise doing stuff that isn't video games.[/quote]

AWESOME. If I didn't hate cold weather and snow, that sounds like my Eden

Hactar · #18 09-29-2011, 08:31 PM

Colorado is pretty awesome (yeah, I live there).
Living in Boulder, I would have to say that I do not feel that there is a lot of "religious nuttery". However, Boulder has it's own special issues (the city forces business owners to remove graffiti images of Waldo from their buildings).

Music scene is cool, but as Pilgrim said, there are a *lot* of other small acts here and it might be somewhat saturated.

If you do move to CO though, you should probably have an interest in outdoor activities (biking, hiking, skiing, etc.)

Raven2k360 · #19 09-29-2011, 10:53 PM

The music scene here in Denver (at least where Rock/Metal is concerned) is actually pretty decent, and there are people working on getting it more recognition. I've been to a few shows where a major act headlined and a couple local bands were openers, and there's been some good stuff. As for FoCo - I have no personal experience, but I know a guy in a band up there and he was just telling me that compared to Denver, the music scene up there is kind of dead.

armywalaby · #20 09-30-2011, 11:42 AM

I suppose that is all ok though. I didn't want to start my own band as soon as I get in town, so that could be good for me as far as fill-in work or as a studio dude. I can get down on the outdoors as well...but I'd probably want to have some land wherever I go to, so I better start saving, eh? It's roughly $8k-10k for an acre here...what about CO?