Dan Calderon

Stories by Dan Calderon

Sympathetic Vibrations | Beautiful Stuff

Erik Branstetter has a remarkable reverence for the past. And at his Westport store, It’s a Beautiful Day, Branstetter has created a haven for preserving the spirit of all things 60s and 70s, right down to that sought-after analog sound. The majority of It’s a Beautiful Day is filled with typical head shop fare –…

Brandon Yangmi, from left, Addie Sartino, Pierce Turcotte, and Austin Fraser, members of The Greeting Committee, are the fresh faces on Kansas City's music scene. (Credit: The Greeting Committee)

Sympathetic Vibrations | Nice To Meet You

What were you doing when you were 16 years old? If you were like me, you were insecure, acne-ridden, and mostly consumed with keeping teachers and parents off your back long enough to make it to the weekend. You had no idea what you wanted to do with your life and you planned on kicking…

Sympathetic Vibrations | A Well-Oiled Machine

The music business has stood on rather volatile ground for the past two decades. Piracy — and a momentous shift in the way people consume music — shook the foundations of what had become something of a predictable business model. The major labels are still reeling from the blows, largely spending the last 15 years…

Sympathetic Vibrations | Album Review

Chvrches’ “Every Open Eye” Sophomore efforts from commercially successful indie bands tend to be bountiful fodder for music critics. Faced with typically unexpected success, young bands writing follow-up albums often cripple themselves with an all-to-common identity crisis: Keep with the formula that got us on the radio and will please the fan base that we…

Sympathetic Vibrations

I’ve been tasked by this venerable publication with writing about music every other week. And I will be using my precious few pixels here to keep you in the know about local and regional music, including reviews of shows, introductions to up-and-coming bands, and some interviews with the artists who are breathing new, much-needed life…

Flyover Innovation Inc.'s remote-replacing device, Blumoo, will soon be available nationally in retail stores. (Dan Calderon | Flatland)

Local startup heading to the big leagues of retail

Like so many great technological innovations, Jason Carman’s was born out of annoyance. “I have outdoor speakers at my place but they are controlled by a receiver in my basement,” Carman said. “So I’d be out by the barbecue and if I wanted to turn on some music, I’d have to walk inside, find the…