For the week of October 23 - 29, 2002

Deluxe luck gets local band national attention

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By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Owning the Ketchum and Hailey Java coffee shops is not all Todd Rippo is about. Indeed, he said, "Java is how I make my living. Music is my art."

His band, Deluxe 71, will be playing at Whiskey Jacques’ Friday evening along with several other bands. The party is to celebrate the 50^th birthday of Deluxe 71’s bassist Doug Garing. Garing also plays with the Fabulous Toastpoints, and the Dana Ray Band, both of whom will also be playing that night. The Bobos will add their brand of rock to the line up as well. Rippo is especially pleased right now since one of the band’s singles has made it onto the soundtrack of "Storm," Warren Miller’s 53^rd ski movie. The soundtrack also features music by Zebrahead, the Dave Matthews Band, The Baldwin Brothers, Ani DiFranco, Gomez, Rusted Root, Nickel Creek and Grand Theft Audio. Deluxe 71’s song "Radiate" accompanies a heli-skiing sequence shot in Valdez, Alaska.

Todd Rippo struts his stuff at the Roxie in Los Angeles. He and his band Deluxe 71 are playing Friday at Whiskey Jacques’ in Ketchum. Courtesy photo

Another band with roots in the area, Reckless Kelly, now based in Austin, Texas, also has a song in the film. "Snowfall" plays during another scene called "Bottomless Powder and a Factory for Olympians" shot in Steamboat, Colo.

"Storm" premieres at the Sun Valley Opera House, Oct. 30. For anyone unfamiliar with Miller’s action packed films, the music is vital as it accentuates the action.

So, how did Warren Miller, who used to bum around Bald Mountain, get a hold of a Wood River Valley musician’s work? Well, Miller’s editor is Kim Schneider, also a Wood River Valley-ite. While Rippo and his band—James Fisher, Pat Hickey and Garing—were "laying down some basic cuts" at Mountain Beach, an editing facility in Ketchum. Schneider overheard them. It’s his studio after all.

He asked to hear the song when it had been finished. Enter Ned Evett, a music producer in Boise, who was in the original California based Deluxe 71. He helped produce a demo of the song to send record labels and to Schneider, who was able to edit footage from "Storm" to it.

Then it was in the hands of other powers that be, test audiences, production types and Miller, himself. "It had to go through many hoops, very political," Rippo said. Finally in September a representative of the production company contacted Rippo and said he was sending along contracts, the song was in.

"It’s a huge trophy to make money off something you adore," Rippo said. "You get to go to your own premiere."

Rippo has owned Java for 10 years, and with his wife, Lisa, he oversees every aspect of the business, from day to day management to decoration and the addition of flown-in-fresh H & H Bagels from Manhattan.

But music has always been his first love. He left town several years ago and delved in the music industry in Los Angles. Despite some interest from industry types, he eventually returned to the valley, where he re-established Deluxe 71 with the current band members and built his own studio. The home studio is called Pet Heavy Studio, since the Rippos have four cats and two dogs, "not to mention any neighbor dog who happened to spend the night there."

Thought Deluxe 71 performs locally only a few times a year, it’s a special chance to see this emerging band, live, this weekend.

"We throw ourselves onstage and say, ‘Check it out. Listen to some art.’"

 

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