Email Author Dave Herrera

2004 Stories by Dave Herrera

• The Beatdown

  published August 19, 2004

  In last week's Beatdown, I insisted that hip-hop was not responsible for the latest melees in Mootown. Never let it be said that I'm not willing... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published August 12, 2004

  How many times do I have to say it? Hip-hop doesn't kill people. People kill people. Unless you've been sequestered in a shack in the middle... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published August 5, 2004

  Ketchup and mustard. Guns N' Roses. Sifl & Olly. Ham and burger. Some things were meant to be together. Then again, some pairs that seem... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published July 29, 2004

  Kid Rock is a tool. But like a broken watch that's right twice a day, every now and then he displays the wisdom of King Solomon. In one... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published July 22, 2004

  After months of stumping up and down the Front Range, it's finally over. The fine folks of Mootown got out and rocked the vote -- and despite some... More >>

• Scorpions

  published July 22, 2004

  Most metal aficionados would agree that the Scorpions ceased to be relevant after the release of At First Sting in 1984. Each subsequent... More >>

• Metallica

  published July 22, 2004

  Metallica's latest mostly live disc, Some Kind of Monster, an eight-song EP which coincides with a just-released documentary by the same... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published July 15, 2004

  Whitney Houston is a mess these days, a crack-addled, emaciated shell of her former self. The last time I caught her on TV, she was wading... More >>

• Dead Poetic

  published July 8, 2004

  It's no secret: Every Hot Topic sapling from Mootown to Motown knows emo's been dead for years. What once was deemed so profound and, er, poetic... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published July 8, 2004

  Like the pre-Melo Nuggets, the Colorado Rockies are having a tough time putting asses in the seats these days. I mean, you can't give those... More >>

• Blues Traveler

  published July 1, 2004

  You can plan it on your calendar. It happens every year at this time. It's become as routine as Big Head Todd's New Year's Eve concert. As the sky... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published July 1, 2004

  It's Saturday night, and the tenth annual Westword Music Showcase has just come to a close. I'm sitting on a ledge at Ninth Avenue and Lincoln... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published June 24, 2004

  This time last year, on Westword Music Showcase weekend, I took the reins from Laura Bond and doled out my first Beatdown. And, my, how... More >>

• Rubberneckin'

  published June 24, 2004

  According to the calendar, New Year's Eve is still six months away. But you'd never know it from the faces at Herman's Hideaway on this steamy... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published June 17, 2004

  Last Thursday night, I watched, speechless, as Jesus got clobbered by a burly, long-haired Demon from Mobile, Alabama. I couldn't... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published June 10, 2004

  It's a story as old as dirt and every bit as gritty: Rock band forms, shows promise, toils for years and years, fails to grab the brass ring and... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published June 10, 2004

  Three weeks ago, I opined in this space on the American Music Auditions that had taken place at Avalon May 12-16. I received quite a few... More >>

• Club Scout

  published June 3, 2004

  A friend of mine refers to all electronic music as "techno." Doesn't matter what style of electronic music -- drum-and-bass, jungle, house,... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published June 3, 2004

  For hipper-than-thou subversive types who extol Tenacious D's lampooning of the time-tested power ballad, metal's appeal lies in its irony.... More >>

• Club Scout

  published May 27, 2004

  In electronic circles, Ali Shirazina, aka Dubfire (far right), and Sharam Tayebi are household names. These D.C.-based producers, known... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published May 27, 2004

  Listen up, all you would-be rap moguls: College is for suckers. Want to be a baller like Roc-A-Fella's Damon Dash? Want to build an... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published May 20, 2004

  Bob Dylan should be pissed. Forty years after he launched his iconic career, people still can't get his name right. For example,... More >>

• Club Scout

  published May 13, 2004

  Born in Southern Italy and raised in London, Ontario, DJ John Acquaviva is seen as a trailblazer not only by other DJs, but by software... More >>

• The Beatdown

  published May 13, 2004

  Jeff Suthers is checking his trunks for chunks. Seriously -- listening to him talk, it sounds like my man needs to change his drawers.... More >>

• Bums Rushed

  published May 13, 2004

  Ah, dawg, we can't leave yet," says DJ Chonz, nodding toward the front door. "The cops have this place surrounded. There's something going down."... More >>