Email Author Michael Roberts

Awards

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

  "The Rocky Mountain News is Going Down"

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2004 Stories by Michael Roberts

• Doc Martin

  published November 25, 2004

  Doc Martin has been in the public eye since the mid-'80s -- long enough to see the footwear his name recalls go in and out of style half a dozen... More >>

• The Message

  published November 18, 2004

  The capture of Ricky Eugene Bailey just before midnight on Friday, November 5, was good news for the Denver Police Department. After all,... More >>

• Fabolous

  published November 18, 2004

  There's nothing wrong with being a singles act, but that doesn't stop performers like Fabolous from trying to show they can do more than make... More >>

• Michael Jackson

  published November 18, 2004

  The power of association cannot be denied. Whether Mikey likes it or not (and I can guarantee that he does not), the prevalence of tabloid... More >>

• New Ancient Astronauts

  published November 18, 2004

  Given the difficulty of making disparate musical elements cohere, it's no wonder that most bands stick to a single style. Indeed, acts that can... More >>

• Isis

  published November 18, 2004

  Every type of music has its share of inaccurate stereotypes, but few styles are more plagued by misconceptions than hard rock. Those who aren't... More >>

• The Message

  published November 11, 2004

  Around 5 a.m. the morning after another wacky election, 9News's Gary Shapiro expressed delight at being rid of political ads for the... More >>

• Merritt Plan

  published November 11, 2004

  In conversation, singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt, whose innumerable musical projects include the Magnetic Fields, takes deliberation to... More >>

• The Donnas

  published November 11, 2004

  In the wake of 2002's Spend the Night, the biggest-selling platter of their career, the Donnas have discovered maturity the way some... More >>

• Tiësto

  published November 11, 2004

  Beware the prestige project, a creative endeavor in which entertainment values come freighted with Artistic Importance. Such is the lineage of... More >>

• Elea Plotkin

  published November 11, 2004

  Talk about a left turn. On Little Rockets, her previous disc (released in 2001), pianist Elea Plotkin sang and performed rock songs... More >>

• Blake Shelton

  published November 11, 2004

  These are challenging times for a country performer hoping to find mainstream success without losing his soul. Consider Blake Shelton, a promising... More >>

• The ShapeShifters

  published November 11, 2004

  Because Los Angeles is a music-industry center, a lot of artists from the area devote themselves to conformity -- yet for some strange,... More >>

• The Message

  published November 4, 2004

  Government is often derided as being slow and ineffective -- but the local office of the Federal Communications Commission is anything but. Just... More >>

• Duran Duran

  published November 4, 2004

  Although Duran Duran holds a noteworthy place in pop history because of the way it encapsulated the appeal of early MTV, it's important to... More >>

• Tom Waits

  published November 4, 2004

  Tom Waits evolved from the engaging but seemingly predictable barroom growler of 1973's Closing Time to the artistic bomb thrower of 1983's... More >>

• Yo, Flaco!

  published November 4, 2004

  Since the invention of recording technology, party bands have struggled to translate the good times they generate live into a product fans can get... More >>

• Toby Keith

  published November 4, 2004

  Those of you who hate Big Toby's right-wing orthodoxy are making a mistake if you reject his music, too. Sure, he's got a reactionary streak an... More >>

• The Message

  published October 28, 2004

  The Rocky Mountain News's October 16 endorsement of George W. Bush was hardly a shock, since the paper's editorials tend to tilt... More >>

• Various Artists

  published October 28, 2004

  In the age of Interpol, a comprehensive overview of the rock made between new wave and grunge is as timely as can be. Although Left of the... More >>

• Federation

  published October 28, 2004

  If the name of the label releasing Federation's debut rings a bell for Denverites, it should. The moniker was chosen by Big Jon Platt, a... More >>

• Sug'z

  published October 28, 2004

  These days, the term "hip-hop" is used much more frequently than "rap," and that's appropriate. Old-schoolers may wish otherwise, but in 2004, the... More >>

• Sander Kleinenberg

  published October 28, 2004

  Vinyl has booked some of the planet's best-known spinners of late, but few are more noteworthy than Sander Kleinenberg. Over the past several... More >>

• Thee Shams

  published October 28, 2004

  Fat Possum Records, based in Oxford, Mississippi, originally devoted itself to the marketing of blues at its roughest -- music much truer to the... More >>

• The Message

  published October 21, 2004

  Members of the freakin' media are supposed to accurately convey what's going on in the world, but, as usual, they've got it all wrong. Although... More >>