Robin signs off and Lake Street dives in

by Chris Aaland

In no small way, Robin Williams shaped my life. During Christmas break of my sophomore year in college (1987) I saw “Good Morning Vietnam.” A few weeks later, I showed up to a KDUR DJ meeting. And I’ve been on the air in one way, shape or form ever since.

His portrayal of Adrian Cronauer – a real-life, U.S. Air Force disk jockey in Vietnam – no doubt inspired thousands of young men and women in the late ‘80s to sign up as college DJs. For Williams, it meant his first major film award, a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.” There would be many more awards and nominations, including an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actor” in 1997’s “Good Will Hunting.”

Williams was an actor and comic of rare versatility. He made us laugh, cry and think. His best characters – Sean Maguire (“Good Will Hunting”), the homeless Parry (“The Fisher King”), English teacher John Keating (“Dead Poets Society”) and the bastard son of a feminist mother T.S. Garp (“The World According to Garp”) – became alive with the flaws that make us all special. He even milked genius from otherwise forgettable roles in stinkers like “Cadillac Man” and “Club Paradise.”

But the genius couldn’t escape his own demons. Williams committed suicide on Monday, losing a battle he waged for years with alcoholism and depression. He captured the sadness of the muse to create art, but couldn’t escape its deadly clutches.

Thanks for making our world a better place. I’ll think of you next time I cue up “Five O’clock World” or “California Sun” – tunes from the “Good Morning Vietnam” soundtrack that I used to spin in the spring of ’88.

KSUT Public Radio presents Lake Street Dive on Saturday night on the Smiley Building lawn (gates at 6 p.m., music at 7). LSD is one of America’s hottest musical acts, thanks in no small part to recent appearances on Letterman, Conan and the Colbert Report. They’ve appeared at local festivals like Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass and Telluride Bluegrass, converting thousands with their unusual blend of pop, jazz and R&B. As an added bonus, rootsy, Bay Area quintet The Brothers Comatose opens. Their mix of Americana, folk and bluegrass is something akin to what locals have seen in acts like Reeltime Travelers and the Porter Draw. The sale of refreshments will also benefit KSUT, including BREW beers, Guy Drew wines, Peach Street Distillers cocktails and Rick’s Chicks food.

Prior to the show from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, The Brothers Comatose will play a special pre-concert VIP party at the Rochester Hotel’s Secret Garden. For $25, pre-partiers will receive complimentary appetizers from El Moro Tavern and beverages from BREW, Guy Drew and Peach Street, plus the intimate, acoustic performance from the aforementioned Brothers.

The Church by Candlelight hosts a fundraiser concert for KDUR featuring virtuosic guitarist Pat Corn at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Corn’s solo concerts are up-close and personal experiences that showcase his guitar work in the finger-style acoustic and jazz arrangements, along with great musical stories and lots of homespun humor. As an educator, Corn has hosted workshops and performed at the annual four-day Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention held in Nashville each July. Local singer/songwriter Thom Chacon opens.

Get the Led out Afrobeat-style in Dolores on Friday and Aztec on Saturday nights when AfroZep plays the Dolores River Brewery and Crash Music at the historic Aztec Theatre, respectively. The name pretty well sums them up: Led Zeppelin covered with traditional African instrumentations and world music rhythms. That means “Immigrant Song,” “Fool in the Rain,” “When the Levee Breaks” and even “Bron Y Aur Stomp” reaching further back in the African-American musical tradition than the blues, which is what we most frequently associate Page and Plant with. Rather, it goes back centuries to pre-blues times.

Moe’s madness includes Salsa Night tonight (Thurs., Aug. 14), Funked-Up Fridays with the jammy sounds of Sky Pilot from 7-10 p.m. and live dancing to DJ Squooze from 8 ‘til close Saturday.

Elsewhere: the Pete Giuliani Band is part of James Ranch’s Burger and a Band series from 5-8 p.m. tonight, while Kirk James does solo blues at the Sporting News Grill in Holiday Inn at 6 p.m. tonight and at Serious Texas BBQ at 6 p.m. Saturday.

In beer news, New Belgium is now canning its 1554 Black Lager for the first time in more than 500 years. Actually, that’s a bit misleading: Colorado brewing doesn’t date back to the 1500s, unless you believe the swill that Thibodeau and those Scottish “Brew Dog” geeks tried to replicate in their Durango episode was an actual Anasazi recipe.

This week’s Top Shelf list is dedicated to the late, great Robin Williams. Here are some of my favorite quotes from characters he brought to life:

- “I will grieve alone for the rest of my life, but right now I want to be around people who loved her.” From “The World According to Garp,” 1982.

- “You are in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history.” From “Good Morning Vietnam,” 1987.

- “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” From “Dead Poets Society,” 1989.

- “You know what you are? You’re an ass-half. Takes two of you to make an ass-whole.” From “Cadillac Man,” 1990.

- “There’s three things in this world that you need: Respect for all kinds of life, a nice bowel movement on a regular basis, and a navy blazer.” From “The Fisher King,” 1991.

- “That fez and vest combo is much too third century.” From “Aladdin,” 1992.

- “I hope you’re up for a little competition. She’s got a power tool in the bedroom, dear. It’s her own personal jackhammer. She could break sidewalks with that thing. She uses it and the lights dim, it’s like a prison movie. Amazed she hasn’t chipped her teeth.” From “Mrs. Doubtfire,” 1993.

- “What happened to you, the Clampetts have a yard sale?” From “Jumanji,” 1995.

- “If we bury you ass up, I have got a place to park my bike.” From “Patch Adams,” 1998.

- “People call those imperfections, but no, that’s the good stuff.” From “Good Will Hunting,” 1999.

Smile, though your heart is aching? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.