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Parker: Grammy nominations have local rock band buying suits

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 9, 2006 at midnight

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When is a flight delay a good thing? When you're up for a Grammy Award nomination at the same time your flight is supposed to be taking off.

"We knew we'd be in the air on the flight from London when the news was released," said Joe King, guitarist for The Fray, the Denver rock band that snagged two Grammy Award nominations Thursday.

So they faced the prospect of a nine- hour flight not knowing whether they'd been nominated.

But the flight ran just a few minutes late, with "that narrow window where you could illegally have your cell phone on," King told Rocky rock writer Mark Brown. Band mate Isaac Slade was in the back of the plane while King, Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki were up front.

"Isaac flipped his phone back on and got an e-mail and a quick call to Jason Lenner (the band's manager) who gave him the news.

"Isaac comes up right before we're taking off, pulls us together and he's kind of serious," King said.

"We didn't get any nominations," Slade solemnly told the group. "We didn't get in."

"And I completely believed him," King said. "Isaac's not really much of a jokester. My heart sank. I was totally discouraged."

The three sat in stunned silence. Slade let the silence sink in before grinning and saying: "Dude, just kidding - we got two nominations."

"We got up and hugged," King said. "And I hit him." By this time, however, the flight attendants were running out of patience. "They were mad at us because we're in the aisle dancing around and hugging," King said.

The band will be home next week after wrapping up a few more shows.

"We're just kinda taking it in," King said. "Two Grammy nominations. We're going to the Grammys. It's a dream. We get to buy suits. I've never bought a suit."

HOTEL HAPS: Coni Thornburg, six-year general manager of the Hotel Teatro, has resigned to take over as GM at The Lodge at Pebble Beach in Pebble Beach, Calif.

One day after Thornburg let her e-mail list know of her pending departure, Teatro owners Michael Brenneman and Jeff Selby announced the sale of the property at 14th and Arapahoe to Los Angeles- based DiNapoli Capital Partners.

Thornburg, who was part of the management team at the Little Nell in Aspen prior to joining the Teatro, was a real asset to Denver's hotel scene. She hosted and contributed to countless charity events, and helped institute Teatro's practice of putting up out-of-town cancer patients for free.

Meanwhile, cross town, as workers are hammering out construction details on the new Ritz-Carlton Denver, expected to open next summer in the old Embassy Suites space at 1881 Curtis St., owner Charlie Biederman and partners are busy building an in-house management team.

Former TV journalist and PR pro Audrey Strong has joined the project as public relations director.

Strong's 18 years in the TV and PR biz includes stints at JohnstonWells Public Relations, KDVR-Channel 31 and KWGN-Channel 2 in Denver, as well as work as a writer/producer at CBS and FOX in Chicago.

Her husband, Richard Strong, is an executive at Denver Radio Company (Martini on the Rockies 101.5-FM and Sassy 107.1-FM.

B-DAY BABE: Lori Midson, the red-headed restaurant writer for Colorado Avid Golfer and freelancer for various mags, hits the Big 4-0 on Sunday. She's celebrating her "birthday week" out and about with friends and family at some of her favorite eateries.

EAVESDROPPING on a woman talking about going to the Dec. 3 Broncos game: "I thought club level meant enclosed. No, it just means a higher cold."