Phil Spector

The ten best concerts of the week

BOB SEGER @ PEPSI CENTER | TUES, 4/2/13 While Bob Seger might be immortalized by his long-running Chevy ads that featuring "Like a Rock" and the scene in Risky Business where Tom Cruise sings along to "Old Time Rock and Roll," there's a lot more to the guy than that. He's carved out a spot in the ro ... More >>

Playing cover songs is a sign of creative fatigue

There's nothing wrong with cover songs. In fact, before Sam Cooke and the Beatles shifted the established paradigms, singer and songwriter were two entirely separate professions. And there's also nothing wrong with a musician recording a cover album in the twilight of their career (Johnny Cash's Ame ... More >>

Brian Jonestown Massacre's Anton Newcombe on Beck, living in Germany and Bright Channel

The Brian Jonestown Massacre (due tonight at the Bluebird Theater) has been through ups and downs since 1990. But through it all, singer and primary songwriter Anton Newcombe, has steered the band through releasing more great albums per decade than most bands have across entire career. For the unini ... More >>

Weekend's best live music bets: Sleigh Bells, Cults, Heartless Bastards and more

TGIF! You've worked hard all week, now it's time to coast into weekend. Plenty of great music on tap to help you unwind -- or get wound-up, as the case may be. Tonight at the Ogden, Sleigh Bells assaults the senses, Mojo Nixon kicks off a two-night stand at the Lion's Lair, JJ Grey and Mofro get the ... More >>

Cults

Thursday, April 12, Bluebird Theater, 888-929-7849; Friday, April 13, Fox Theatre, 303-443-3399.

Five infamous monuments named after musicians of questionable moral character

Kurt Cobain​How do you honor a musician when awards and certifications aren't enough? By naming something in his honor, of course -- be it a bridge, a street, an asteroid or even a whole day after the guy. But in naming something after a musician, it's easy to forget that while in some cases t ... More >>

Mark Bliesener, who gave the Dead Kennedys their name, on how he coined the moniker

​Behold, Untold Stories, another new periodic feature on Backbeat. As you've probably deduced from the name of this feature, Untold Stories will feature first-hand accounts of momentous occasions involving local folks that have never really been highlighted -- thus the Untold part of that equa ... More >>

The Shrapnelles

Thursday, April 7, Rhinoceropolis, 303-641-9809.

Mile Highlights: Shows announced/on sale this week, local radio playlists and top local sellers

​ Here's what's good in the Mile High City this week. On the concert front: Peter Gabriel and Widespread Panic are coming to Red Rocks in June, while Sade is due at the Pepsi Center in August. Meanwhile on local radio, My Body Sings Electric, Pacific Pride, the Sunshine House and String Chees ... More >>

Dum Dum Girls

Monday, February 21, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

No Joy's Jasmine White-Gluz: "Shoegaze is basically porn for guitar fans"

J. Hoberman's top ten of 2010...and beyond

Toro Y Moi

Saturday, November 20, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

Top Ten musical jailbirds: In honor of Lil Wayne and T.I. and their respective prison stints

​Earlier this morning, Lil Wayne was released from New York's Rikers Island after serving eight months of a one-year sentence for criminal possession of a weapon. Fellow Southern rapper T.I., meanwhile, went back to jail on Monday after a federal judge in Atlanta revoked his probation follow ... More >>

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Pocahaunted and her approach to songwriting.

David BlackBethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno are Best Coast​ In recent years, with bands ransacking the '60s, '70s and '80s for musical ideas and sounds, it's becoming increasingly easy to dismiss many musicians as being little more than throwbacks mimicking their artistic ancestors. But some ... More >>

Best Coast

Wednesday, November 3, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

Al Pacino to play Phil Spector: Don't leave out these potential scenes!

​It was only a matter of time before a film was made about Phil Spector. His life has been bonkers enough to at least warrant a made-for-TV movie. It turns out, this might just end up being the case. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that David Mamet has been tapped to write the f ... More >>

Tennis, Friday, September 10, at the Larimer Lounge

Top 10 Summer Jams for 2010

Kiernan Maletsky​The cover's off the grill, the windows are down and sweet freedom is on the horizon. Ahh, summer is coming. And while it's still early, there have already been more than enough entrants in the summer jam sweepstakes to make a short list. A few ground rules: 1. Must have been ... More >>

Girls

Wednesday, February 10, Bluebird Theater, 303-377-1666.

Phil Spector defense doesn't save convicted murderer Timothy Boham

A semi-chaste spot of former gay-porn actor Timothy Boham. As expected, former gay-porn star Timothy Boham's claim that that a Colorado businessman he was accused of murdering had actually killed himself -- a dubious defense made famous by Wall of Sound innovator Phil Spector -- didn't manage to sw ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, June 9 edition

Photo by Lori MidsonDo the martinis at Vesta Dipping Grill come with fuses? May we see some I.D.? Today in Cafe Society: • Vesta Dipping Grill gets happy with its Colorado cocktails. • Feast tonight at Feast on the Fax. • Zanzibar Billiards gets ready to break on Larimer. • A sign of the t ... More >>

Former gay-porn star-turned-accused murderer Timothy Boham tries the Phil Spector defense

Timothy Boham during his gay-porn days. Timothy Boham, the former gay-porn star currently on trial for the 2006 murder of a Denver businessman, took the stand in his own defense yesterday. This move is often a sign of desperation -- and his testimony reflected the quality, too. He'd previously conf ... More >>

Glasvegas

Thursday, April 9, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

Spiritualized

Mamma Mia!

But your movie's kinda drab. Mamma Mia! drains the fun out of ABBA.

The Explorers Club

Let these popsters be your guide to the ’60s SoCal sound.

Over the Weekend...Dugout Canoe, Milton Melvin Croissant III, Fissure Mystic, Slight Harp and the Vivian Girls @ Rhinoceropolis

The Pipettes

Monday, November 5, Walnut Room, 303-292-1700.

Last Night: Minus the Bear, the Helio Sequence and Grand Archives @ The Gothic Theatre

The Atlantic Divide

Ten bands that weren't singing Yankee Doodle Dandy in '06.

Rockumentary

Music biopics Hollywood won't make.

Parenthetical Girls

Friday, November 24, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

Starsailor

Thursday, September 21, Bluebird Theater, 303-322-2308.

The Hidden Cameras

Awoo (Arts & Crafts)

Supply and Demand

Flying beneath the radar, Supply Boy delivers.

Leon Russell

Wednesday, May 31, Bluebird Theater, 303-322-2308.

The Raveonettes

Pretty in Black (Columbia)

The Birthday Girl

You Are the Birthday Girl (Shelter Thee Records)

Starsailor

Silence Is Easy (Capitol)

The Message

The Voice

Hit Pick

Space Team Electra

Another Piece of the Rock

Nuggets II strikes gold by mining new territory.

X Marks the Spot

Former SST producer Spot brings underground Celtic sounds into the light.

Matthew Sweet

Matthew Sweet
In Reverse
(Volcano Records)

More Songs of the Century

Part two of a pre-millennial trek through a hundred years of pop music.

Songs of the Century

Part one of a pre-millennial salute to the music that made America sing.

Squeezing a Lennon

A new boxed set tries to wring every last drop from the music of the late moptop.

YULE'S GOLD

THE GOOD, THE BAND AND THE UGLY CHRISTMAS ALBUMS FOR 1994.

GRAND OLD PUNKERS

JOHNNY RAMONE TAKES A SWING AT BILL CLINTON, BOB DYLAN AND CHANGE OF ANY KIND.