Email Author Michael Roberts

Awards

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

  "The Rocky Mountain News is Going Down"

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2006 Stories by Michael Roberts

• Pearls and Brass

  published November 23, 2006

  The stoner-rock movement should be deader than Felix Pappalardi by now. After all, the music was pretty dopey when it was new (back during the... More >>

• Wax on Radio

  published November 23, 2006

  New buzz bands tend to sound a helluva lot like the buzz bands that immediately preceded them -- most of which have already lost their buzz or... More >>

• Tape Heads

  published November 16, 2006

  Despite enormous technological advances, most TV-news operations continue to use videotape, a medium that predates the Internet age by decades.... More >>

• Henry Butler

  published November 16, 2006

  Acclaimed keyboardist Henry Butler had a great house in New Orleans. Located in the Gentilly neighborhood, it was big -- 4,100 square feet -- with... More >>

• John Legend

  published November 16, 2006

  Some of soul's finest performers specialize in cutting loose; their vocals roar with authority. But just as many of the genre's talents focus on... More >>

• Hot IQs

  published November 16, 2006

  By naming themselves Hot IQs, singer/ guitarist Eli Mishkin, bassist/vocalist Bryan Feuchtinger and drummer Elaine Acosta invite analyses of looks... More >>

• Cute Is What We Aim For

  published November 16, 2006

  When the punk genre was young and pissy, no self-respecting group would have chosen the moniker Cute Is What We Aim For. Disgusted Is What We Aim... More >>

• Ray LaMontagne

  published November 16, 2006

  Till the Sun Turns Black, Ray LaMontagne's latest, doesn't voyage into new musical territory. The songs draw from traditional sources such... More >>

• HDNet Gains

  published November 9, 2006

  When HDNet, a high-definition network largely based in Denver, announced that it would be teaming with former CBS anchor Dan Rather,... More >>

• Hell to the Chief

  published November 9, 2006

  During concerts staged shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, folk icon Joan Baez regularly launched into anti-war rhetoric, to the profound... More >>

• Phish

  published November 9, 2006

  Phish lovers and Phish haters will react differently to Colorado '88 (available at More >>

• Astrophagus

  published November 9, 2006

  Astrophagus regularly employs two distinct styles. On some songs, the performers come across as rockers with a pronounced gloomy streak; on... More >>

• John Ralston

  published November 9, 2006

  Longtime Denver Broncos fans know John Ralston as the team's head coach during the early '70s, when the squad was inching toward respectability.... More >>

• The Decemberists

  published November 9, 2006

  When Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy spoke to Westword in 2004, he made it clear that mass popularity wasn't his raison d'être. "I'd... More >>

• Go Green

  published November 2, 2006

  "It's not like we're trying to create a television show every night," comedian Tom Green says about Tom Green Live, the Internet... More >>

• Sov Story

  published November 2, 2006

  "Minger," an insult defined in one online dictionary as "a physically undesirable, smelly or ugly person," is only one of many English slang terms... More >>

• Isis

  published November 2, 2006

  The thinking-man's-metal tag that hangs on Isis seems bad for business, but guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner and his comrades don't appear to mind.... More >>

• Six Months to Live

  published November 2, 2006

  Cleverness can turn unctuous at any given moment, which makes Greg "Soapy Argyle" Hill's decision to build a band on that quality seem dangerous,... More >>

• Brandtson

  published November 2, 2006

  Swapping out even one musician can significantly alter the approach of an entire band, as the Brandtson story demonstrates. These Clevelanders,... More >>

• Deicide

  published November 2, 2006

  There's a simple reason why Deicide is appearing at Hubba's rather than the Mercury Cafe. Back in 1996, these extreme-metal vets refused to play a... More >>

• Blogs 2.0

  published October 26, 2006

  The debate over whether blogs qualify as journalism isn't terribly useful. After all, a lot of the stuff on TV newscasts isn't journalism, either,... More >>

• The Other Eagles

  published October 26, 2006

  Eagles of Death Metal lead singer Jesse Hughes is sitting in an L.A.-area dentist's office, waiting "to get my head worked on." But there's more... More >>

• My Chemical Romance

  published October 26, 2006

  Gerard Way offers his critics plenty to ridicule on the latest Romance CD, including unbridled theatricality, more classic-rock nods than even... More >>

• Black Pegasus

  published October 26, 2006

  On 2005's Knuckle Up, Robert "Black Pegasus" Houston included "Club Killah," a song that bitch-slapped DJs for turning a deaf ear to his... More >>

• Ecstatic Sunshine

  published October 26, 2006

  If musicians are creative and talented enough, they don't need much in the way of equipment to make interesting sounds. A couple of guitars will... More >>