Email Author Michael Roberts

Awards

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

  "The Rocky Mountain News is Going Down"

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2001 Stories by Michael Roberts

• Talking Points

  published September 27, 2001

  Fortunately for Coloradans, the biggest local story on September 11 and the days immediately thereafter wasn't collapsing buildings or appalling... More >>

• Stop Imagining

  published September 27, 2001

  On September 19, the Rocky Mountain News published a letter from Francois Bellouin of Boulder that began as follows: "Yesterday I was... More >>

• As the Smoke Clears

  published September 20, 2001

  On September 13, two major stories took place in Denver: Governor Bill Owens announced the grades earned by public schools across the state... More >>

• System of a Down

  published September 20, 2001

  The hard-rock cycle seems to be spinning again. For the past couple of years, the genre has hawked up one minor variation on Limp Bizkit after... More >>

• The Media Eye

  published September 13, 2001

  Although I am a professional consumer of media (meaning that I get paid to monitor the press in all of its many facets), I am not all that... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published September 13, 2001

  Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, the most recent album by PJ Harvey, received the usual critical hosannas, and it's in... More >>

• Two-Way Player

  published September 6, 2001

  The transition from jock to jock talker isn't always easy, especially when the subject is football. On-the-field talent, and the fame that comes... More >>

• Aaliyah

  published September 6, 2001

  Writing reviews of recordings by freshly dead artists is a tricky business that frequently results in overrating, a critical embarrassment that... More >>

• No Scoop for You

  published August 30, 2001

  When the business wings of the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post were fused earlier this year via a joint operating agreement,... More >>

• Another Piece of the Rock

  published August 30, 2001

  There have been rock-and-roll record geeks for as long as there's been rock and roll -- but it took the music industry a while to catch on. Back... More >>

• Taking on the Empire

  published August 23, 2001

  Like most people in the live-music trade, Doug Kauffman, Jesse Morreale and Chris Swank, the three partners behind the promotion firm Nobody in... More >>

• Tha Liks

  published August 23, 2001

  Although its members insist otherwise, my guess is that Tha Alkaholiks changed their name to Tha Liks mainly to ensure that their new disc,... More >>

• As the Web Turns

  published August 16, 2001

  For a talk-show host working at a station with ratings more anemic than one of Dracula's victims, KNUS's Jimmy Lakey has plenty of... More >>

• One Size Fits All

  published August 16, 2001

  If anyone should understand the pitfalls of being labeled, it's DJ and producer Roni Size. Back in 1997, upon the release of his innovative... More >>

• Rammstein

  published August 16, 2001

  In one of those ironies with which popular culture brims, Marilyn Manson was tarred with the stain of the Columbine shootings even though the... More >>

• YOUtv and You

  published August 9, 2001

  At twenty minutes past noon on the last day of July, a man wearing a "Licensed to Speed" T-shirt backed into the Grand Dining Hall (read: food... More >>

• Press for Success

  published August 2, 2001

  For the truest of Christian believers, Good Friday is among the most sacred dates on the calendar. In America, though, very few receive time off... More >>

• Arling.Cameron.Swarte

  published August 2, 2001

  Once upon a time, back in the dark ages (before advertising tie-ins were cool), performers who sold their music for use in peddling products were... More >>

• Bleep That

  published July 26, 2001

  At first glance, the $7,000 fine the Federal Communications Commission levied on May 31 against Colorado Springs-based KKMG, known as Magic FM,... More >>

• Fearless Mosley

  published July 26, 2001

  "It's hard to write mysteries," author Walter Mosley notes, "because you have to worry about plot so much. In that way, it's much harder than any... More >>

• Oklahoma!: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

  published July 26, 2001

  The passage of years tends to color perceptions of music conceived for the stage, no matter how good it is. Take Oklahoma!, which has been... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published July 19, 2001

  Back when grunge was the flavor of the week, its spiritual cousin, garage rock, seemed ready to bust into the mainstream. But after Kurt Cobain... More >>

• Micromars

  published July 19, 2001

  In the early days of electronic instruments, the use of such noisemakers virtually guaranteed that the resulting music, good or bad, would have a... More >>

• A Vicious Cycle

  published July 12, 2001

  Dan Leventhal has always considered himself a safe motorcycle rider. He makes it a point to obey all posted traffic laws and doesn't take... More >>

• Watching the Sunset

  published July 12, 2001

  Media coverage of the most recent Colorado legislative session concentrated on a handful of grabby issues: the failed attempt to pass a growth... More >>