Email Author Michael Roberts

Awards

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

  "The Rocky Mountain News is Going Down"

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1999 Stories by Michael Roberts

• A Whiter Shade of Pale

  published April 29, 1999

  If the mythology surrounding it is to be believed, the 1954 discovery of Elvis Presley turned as much on race as on talent. The story goes... More >>

• Still Burning

  published April 22, 1999

  In conversation, bluesman R.L. Burnside exudes satisfaction. He doesn't have an unkind word for anyone, and his comments glow with a sort of... More >>

• Playlist

  published April 22, 1999

  Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton Trio II (Asylum) When Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt recorded the... More >>

• Feedback

  published April 22, 1999

  Despite author Thomas Wolfe's definitive warning, lots of people regularly try to go home again, only to find that the old place is no longer what... More >>

• Playlist

  published April 15, 1999

  Schrasj F (Ojet) the buddyrevelles September, November (Motorcoat) Kitty Craft Beats and Breaks From... More >>

• Feedback

  published April 15, 1999

  Colorado has never provided fertile ground for independent labels: With only a few exceptions (most notably, Boulder-based W.A.R.?), most area... More >>

• The ABBA Experiment

  published April 15, 1999

  April 7, 1999: Prologue to the experiment: ABBA, a Swedish quartet starring Agnetha "Anna" Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Bjsrn Ulvaeus... More >>

• Spread the Jam

  published April 8, 1999

  Medeski, Martin and Wood may record for Blue Note, the most venerable of jazz labels, but the trio's music is practically impossible to describe... More >>

• Feedback

  published April 8, 1999

  Trends come and trends go--which means, no doubt, that the current swing revival is likely to become the dead-and-forgotten swing revival before... More >>

• Feedback

  published April 1, 1999

  Some critics feel that open-mindedness is a waste of time. For instance, an ex-colleague at a Westword sister paper once pitched music editors... More >>

• Playlist

  published April 1, 1999

  TLC FanMail (La Face) Production is often used as a coat of paint that's slapped on to disguise the inferiority of the song... More >>

• Seasoned Performers

  published April 1, 1999

  Although Sandi Denton, known to members of the hip-hop nation as Pepa, sees no reason why she shouldn't continue to prosper in the rap game for... More >>

• How the Wolf Is Surviving

  published March 25, 1999

  Over the past ten years or so, Los Lobos has probably been referred to in print as the best band in America more frequently than any other, but... More >>

• At the Crossroads

  published March 25, 1999

  Ginger Baker is wrapped mighty tight. He's in the midst of a conversation from his sprawling property near Parker, where he's lived for just over... More >>

• Feedback

  published March 25, 1999

  Man...or Astroman?, the last attraction I saw at the 1999 edition of Austin's South by Southwest, the country's largest music conference, seemed... More >>

• Playlist

  published March 18, 1999

  MTV Celebrity Deathmatch: Round 1 MTV Celebrity Deathmatch: Round 2 (Sony Music Entertainment) Anyone who believes that MTV's... More >>

• Feedback

  published March 18, 1999

  The preface to this week's column was necessitated by a recent letter e-mailed to me not once, but several times by pissed-off reader John La... More >>

• Jazz for the Ages

  published March 18, 1999

  According to most music historians, saxophonist Sonny Rollins made his first trip to a studio on January 20, 1949, in support of vocalist Babs... More >>

• Feedback

  published March 11, 1999

  For many longtime staffers at the Swallow Hill Music Association, what's perhaps most unexpected about the organization's twentieth anniversary,... More >>

• Taylor Made

  published March 11, 1999

  How is Sally Taylor unlike most local musicians? Counting the ways would require a mainframe computer the size of the Astrodome--but here's a... More >>

• In His Life

  published March 4, 1999

  George Martin has never been a technophobe--far from it. During his more than forty years as a producer--most notably with the Beatles--he eagerly... More >>

• Feedback

  published March 4, 1999

  While awaiting the start of the Lauryn Hill appearance at the Mammoth Events Center on February 27, I couldn't help but imagine her backstage... More >>

• Playlist

  published March 4, 1999

  Various Artists Porn to Rock (Callner Music) Sex-O-Rama 2 Classic Adult Film Music (Oglio) Savvy music fans... More >>

• Disco Redux

  published February 25, 1999

  Time may have healed most of the wounds opened by the backlash against disco, but not all of them. Although the frequently bashed genre is... More >>

• Feedback

  published February 25, 1999

  I review the songs. The local songs, that is. There's nothing particularly novel about Keg O' Dynamite, by Chicago Skinny; the CD employs... More >>