Email Author Michael Roberts

Awards

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published December 11, 2008

  "The Rocky Mountain News is Going Down"

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1998 Stories by Michael Roberts

• Feedback

  published July 23, 1998

  Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the opening act at the Van Halen show on July 16 at Fiddler's Green, set the tenor for the evening early on. A student at... More >>

• Playlist

  published July 23, 1998

  Beastie Boys Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol) The key development in the life of this great American band came in 1989, when... More >>

• Feedback

  published July 16, 1998

  Area musicians understand all too well that getting publicity in this burg ain't easy. What with the daily newspapers and the majority of the... More >>

• Kids Do the Darnedest Things

  published July 16, 1998

  The next time you read an interview in which the mother, father, brother, sister or child of a star claims that reflected fame didn't help him or... More >>

• Feedback

  published July 9, 1998

  "There's no place to play" is among the most common laments offered by local musicians who specialize in originals, and while this is something of... More >>

• Playlist

  published July 9, 1998

  Rancid Life Won't Wait (Epitaph) Back in 1978, when this band was called the Clash and this album was named Give 'em Enough... More >>

• The Buck Stops Here

  published July 9, 1998

  Since the release of 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi, three-quarters of R.E.M., the band more responsible than any other for bringing the... More >>

• Feedback

  published July 2, 1998

  Local reviews only. When guitarist Neil Haverstick gets philosophical about alternative musical scales, as he did not too long ago in these... More >>

• Getting Better With Age

  published July 2, 1998

  The history of jazz is the history of reputations. Musicians who impressed critics during their primes--like John Coltrane--tend to be held in... More >>

• Playlist

  published July 2, 1998

  Gang Starr Moment of Truth (Noo Trybe Records) For the past several years, a considerable number of citizens from the hip-hop... More >>

• Ani DiFranco, Musician

  published June 18, 1998

  Ani DiFranco is a singer, a songwriter and a producer, but you'd hardly know it from most of the articles that get written about her. "Music?" she... More >>

• Playlist

  published June 18, 1998

  Garbage Version 2.0 (Almo Sounds) Given how many copies of Garbage's first disc flew off the shelves, you know that critics are... More >>

• Feedback

  published June 18, 1998

  Sometimes hard rock is in vogue, sometimes it's not--but thus far, neither the music industry nor the fickle public has been able to kill it... More >>

• Burning Bush

  published June 11, 1998

  With his neatly trimmed beard and shoulder-length, semi-feathered hair, mandolinist Sam Bush looks more like a lost Doobie Brother than a musical... More >>

• Playlist

  published June 11, 1998

  The Smashing Pumpkins Adore (Virgin) This is the best Pumpkins album to date by a very great distance, in large part because it... More >>

• Feedback

  published June 11, 1998

  When the first shots in the Denver promoter wars were fired earlier this year, most observers figured that the primary combatants would be... More >>

• The Final Frontier

  published June 4, 1998

  Myshel Prasad wants to be understood, but not too easily. After a lengthy interview about The Vortex Flower, a new CD by her band, Space Team... More >>

• Playlist

  published June 4, 1998

  Tricky Angels With Dirty Faces (Island) Here's a lesson in artistic credibility. Ever since the release of 1995's Maxinquaye,... More >>

• Feedback

  published June 4, 1998

  In the December 11, 1997, edition of this column, those of you who've mastered the art of reading may have stumbled upon an item concerning... More >>

• Playlist

  published May 28, 1998

  Propellerheads Desksanddrumsandrockandroll (DreamWorks/'Heads Spin) Alex Gifford and Will White, a once-underground U.K. pair... More >>

• Shell Game

  published May 28, 1998

  Jeff Parker, guitarist for Tortoise and Isotope 217, has never much liked conforming to expectations. "I went to school in Boston, at the... More >>

• Feedback

  published May 28, 1998

  Just in case you're curious, the music press often strikes me as an elitist institution, too. Not that I think critics should use popularity to... More >>

• Feedback

  published May 21, 1998

  In this space last week, Pat Martin Bradley, executive director of the Association For Independent Music, said the new-age genre is among the... More >>

• Frankly Speaking

  published May 21, 1998

  "And now, the end is near/And so I face the final curtain..." These lines--the first two from "My Way," co-written by, of all people, Paul... More >>

• Playlist

  published May 21, 1998

  DJ Cam The Beat Assassinated (Globetrotter/Sony Music International) Throughout last year's Mad Blunted Jazz, DJ Cam conjured up... More >>