Taylor Swift

Boulder non-profit is changing the lives of Ugandan women one bead at a time

"I was so excited! I just got out of Spanish class and ran down the hallway to meet her. It's like meeting a rock star," says Stella Brown, an eighth-grader at Boulder's Horizon's K-8 School. Brown was racing down the hall to meet Teddy Namuyiga -- not Taylor Swift. Namuyiga is one of two Ugandan ... More >>

Is it time to quit dismissing the taste of teenage girls and start appreciating Justin Bieber?

By Brittany Spanos At what point did teen girls suddenly just become wrong? "Serious" music fans seem to have universally accepted a critique of quality that befalls any artist who willingly sells to the rabid teen girl market and stigmatized the fans who dare to sometimes be male or at least above ... More >>

Ten songs Rockies first baseman Todd Helton could use for his walk-on music this season

Pitchers and catchers reported this week. You know what that means, right? Yeah, probably nothing. We're not going to get our hopes up here. I mean, aside from our new skipper, Walt Weiss, a beloved former Rockies shortstop, there's really no reason to believe this season will be any less agonizing ... More >>

The ten hottest musical pairings

For centuries, men have known that the real power of music lies in its ability to get you laid. From "panty-dropper" mixtapes that your parents made back in the day, to John Cusack standing outside the window with Peter Gabriel on the boombox, to that little boy banging on the drums in Love Actually ... More >>

The five best shows in Denver this week

Welcome back to the work week. How was the weekend? A bunch of great shows, eh? Icelantic's Winter on the Rocks with Macklemore, Eli Goulding at the Ogden Theatre, Brother Ali and Danny Brown at Cervantes' and Hot Water Music at Summit Music Hall. What did you catch? Bunch more shows this week, incl ... More >>

Year in Review: The 2012 Hall of Shame

See also: 20 Dumbest Denver Criminals of 2012

Fifteen weirdest mug shots of 2012

Today, we begin our six-part roundup of 2012's most memorable mug shots, culled from our crime coverage throughout the year. And given what's happened in these parts over the past almost-twelve months, it's only appropriate that we're starting out with the weirdest images -- frequently with weird al ... More >>

The city will renew food-bank inspections in 2013

Tyler Ward has been on both sides of the major-label machine

New shows: Sigur Ros, Carrie Underwood, Bloc Party, Big Head Todd, Divine Fits and more

It's not Christmas yet, but you'd certainly be excused for thinking otherwise, what with the radio already playing round-the-clock holiday tunes and the new shows we've been gifted with. Looks like somebody's been on their best behavior (god knows, it wasn't us). Whatever the case, we're now being r ... More >>

New shows: Disco Biscuits, Passion Pit at 1STBANK, the Walkmen at the Ogden Theatre

As reported yesterday, the Disco Biscuits are playing three shows in Colorado after the first of the year at the Boulder Theater, Ogden Theatre and 1STBANK Center. And while that's arguably the biggest concert announcement of the week, it's not the only one. After cancelling its co-headlining date w ... More >>

George Boedecker, Crocs co-founder, pleads not guilty in "batsh*t crazy" Taylor Swift DUI

Last month, Crocs co-founder George Boedecker was busted for DUI despite -- or perhaps because of -- his alleged claim that a "batshit crazy" Taylor Swift had actually been behind the wheel. No telling if he'll repeat this assertion if the case goes to trial -- but for now, he's entered a not-guilt ... More >>

Photos: Top 25 mug shots of August 2012

Better late than never. Our roundup of this past month's most memorable mug shots includes two Denver Broncos, a CEO, a high school grad turned media star and all manner of people accused or convicted of crimes ranging from the strange to the heinous. Check out the entire collection below, and chec ... More >>

Video: Tim Tebow wins Best Moment ESPY for Broncos-Steelers TD, inspires love/hate

Last night's ESPY awards were a reminder to Broncos fans about the bizarre nature of the Tim Tebow era. He appeared multiple times in the friggin' intro (including a brief Tebowing montage), was the first athlete on the stage (for a gag with host Rob Riggle), returned to be the initial athlete prese ... More >>

Five reasons why you should buy your coffee at Starbucks

Starbucks' outspoken support of same-sex marriage prompted the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to create an international campaign to "Dump Starbucks," an attempt to persuade people to stop buying coffee from Starbucks because, according to itsDump Starbucks website, "it has taken a corpora ... More >>

Chartbreaker: Taylor Swift and The Hunger Games top Adele and One Direction this week

Lots of noise on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the past two weeks, and it hasn't been from Adele...for once. Last week, newcomers One Direction made history as the first British import with a number-one album debut -- neither the Spice Girls nor the Beatles had albums ever debut at number one in ... More >>

A Christian-rock farewell tribute to Tebow

Oh, Tim Tebow, how we are going to miss him. It's hard to believe it's been only a little over two years since he began turning professional football into a platform for religious expression. Now that Tebowmania is officially coming to an end in Denver, we thought it would be fitting to honor the ma ... More >>

Tim Tebow's fate to be determined on 3-16? Ask Peyton Manning

It's 3-16 -- digits more closely linked to Tim Tebow than No. 15. Back in the day, he daubed them into his eye black as a salute to the Bible verse John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But Tebo ... More >>

Videos: Make Kony Famous group, fans want Tim Tebow to denounce Joseph Kony

Right now, Tim Tebow is watching the Denver Broncos' attempt to sign Peyton Manning -- a deal that would supplant him as the team's starting quarterback. But many YouTube watchers want him to watch something else -- videos exhorting him to help make murderous Ugandan strongman Joseph Kony famous. An ... More >>

Tim Tebow trade rumors: Legit or wishful thinking by Tebow bashers?

'Tis the season for trade rumors, so it's no surprise that Tim Tebow's name has surfaced in respect to potential deals. After all, anything related to the Chosen One is news right now, including his reported dinner date with Taylor Swift earlier this week. Is there anything to such gossip? Doubt it, ... More >>

Black Keys: "Rock & Roll is dying because of Nickelback"

Despite the pointed assertion of Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney that rock music is dying because of Nickelback, the genre still appears to be selling quite well. Granted, not quite as well as hip-hop or pop, but it's still kicking. In a recent Rolling Stone cover story, Carney is quoted as sayin ... More >>

Scissor Sisters share a "Shady Love" with Azealia Banks, plus a breakdown of the charts

The Scissor Sisters have two incarnations: campy, carefree guitar-driven band, as was the case for early cuts like "Take Your Mama" and "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," and a new, more hedonistic synth band with one ear to the dance floor and another in the bedroom. The latter vibe dominated the band's ... More >>

Nicole Scherzinger's debut album delayed again, plus a breakdown of this week's charts

Despite being a judge on the American version of X Factor, Nicole Scherzinger has had a rough go in the music industry ever since leaving the Pussycat Dolls. This week, word came down that the release date for her debut album Killer Love, originally slated for November 15, has been pushed back to so ... More >>

Shel moves forward after parting ways with Republic Nashville with new five-songEP

​Paging Alexandra Patsavas: Have you met Shel (due at the Bluebird tonight with Elephant Revival) yet? If not, you should definitely make their acquaintance. The music these lovely ladies make genuinely sounds like it was painstakingly crafted in a lab specifically to be played in an episode o ... More >>

Rap round-up: Stream new music from A.Fox, Pries, Dyalekt and Rockie

A. Fox​The rappers have been off to the races lately. Whether working on full-length albums, collaborative projects or performing at top speed, local hip-hop cats have been putting in work. We've compiled the latest heaters from A. Fox, who goes right in with his Boy Davey-produced certified c ... More >>

Comedy Central's Comedy Awards: Due recognition or sideshow?

​Comedy Central announced an awards show devoted to comedy today. It will be called The Comedy Awards and will air simultaneously on Comedy Central, VH1, Spike, TV Land and Nick at Night on March 26. On one hand, comedy does tend to get boned in the other major awards, particularly the Oscars ... More >>

Taylor Swift & Kenny Chesney music scared a bear?: Guess it wasn't a country bear (VIDEOS)

He woulda stayed.​Music supposedly has the power to soothe a savage beast -- but it can also annoy the hell out of one. That's the lesson recently learned by personnel at Boulder Community Hospital. When they found a bear hibernating under a building on hospital property, they managed to driv ... More >>

How poop is smarter than Jesus: Google Reading Level ranks 100 random things

​​ Google introduced a new way of filtering search results last week: By reading level. You type something in and it tells you how many results fall into one of levels. Fair enough: if you're writing a research paper on sexual health or something, and thoughtful information would normal ... More >>

Susan Boyle vs. Ke$ha: Pick your champion

We'll take Ms. Dollar Sign, thank you.​With two weeks left in the year, Billboard has posted it's 2010 year-end charts. The top single of 2010? Ke$ha's "Tik Tok." Wouldn't necessarily have been our guess, but fair enough -- seems like one of a handful of 2010's defining singles. The album ra ... More >>

10 Christmas songs we never want to hear again

​Dear stores, we get it: It's Christmas time. It only comes but once a year -- yadda, yadda, yadda. That's great and all, but being bombarded by Christmas music while searching for the perfect gifts is driving us nuts -- it's like being a mouse in an endless maze with no buttons to push. And, ... More >>

How the Grammy Sausage is Made

​The Grammy nominations are out. You're welcome to see the list, but we don't recommend reading much into it. The major awards are all more or less their respective industries sitting in a circle for a giant back-rub chain, but none is less indicative of what is actually happening than the Gr ... More >>

Susan Boyle is an unkillable sales machine

Susan Boyle's number two is a very special gift.​It's officially the Holiday season, which is why Poptimystic is finally ready to address the Christmas albums on the charts. Even though they've been there for at least three weeks. Two of Billboard's top ten albums are seasonal, and Billboard, ... More >>

Scott McInnis: Top five apologies he can borrow

Scott McInnis​Scott McInnis still doesn't quite get how he went from a governor's office shoo-in to a political pariah. He's back in the spotlight, engaging in an act of premature rehabilitation in the Denver Post, vowing to clear the air over this silly plagiarism scandal that derailed his ca ... More >>

Rihanna is a Singles Lady if there ever was one

​Last week in Poptimystic, we talked about Taylor Swift and her unparalleled ability to sell albums in the current music industry wasteland. But the album is not what it once was, and the ability to sell singles may actually be a better litmus test of an artist's influence. It remains the un ... More >>

Aloe Blacc, Harry Nilsson, Kid Cudi fill our playlists this week

​As people who think about, talk about, listen to and make music, the most common question we encounter is, "What are you listening to right now?" Whether you're looking for recommendations, trying to get a feel for our individual sensibilities, or are just curious, we've compiled a list of al ... More >>

Elton John & Leon Russell, Lil Wayne, Bob Dylan, Women top sellers at local stores

​Elton John and Leon Russell's The Union , released October 19 on Decca, took the top spot at Albums on the Hill and came in second at Twist & Shout for the week ending October 31. Lil Wayne's latest effort, I Am Not a Human Being, continues to stay on top at Independent Records, while Hed P.E ... More >>

Part two: Z Cuisine's Charles MacDonald destroys Oreos

Lori Midson​ Charles MacDonald Z Cuisine 2239 West 30th Avenue 303-477-1111 www.zcuisine.com Don't miss part one of Lori Midson's interview with Charles MacDonald, the chef de cuisine of Z Cuisine. Rules of conduct in your kitchen: Less grammar, more hammer. I say that a lot in the kitchen, ... More >>

Five artists begging to be riffed on by the new Beavis and Butthead

​We're sure you've heard by now that Beavis & Butthead, the staple of '90s-era MTV, is returning in a new series to help break up the monotony of the reality-show based programming choices on the network. While MTV hasn't yet officially confirmed what the NY Post reported two months ago, they ... More >>

Eminem's Emwow and five other (potentially) record-selling spoofs

The genius of Vince Offer's sales-pitch send-up of Eminem's Recovery -- and of most parodies, really -- is that it forces the record into a ridiculous context (a thing to "put on your hose," among other uses). And though the video may or may not actually help Marshall Mathers' sales figures, it d ... More >>

The 10 Most Hated People in Hip-Hop

Guru (left) and heartless greed monger Solar (right). Photo by Barbara Mürdter​ There is no fence-riding in hip-hop. It is the most competitive genre of music, partly because of the way it formed and partly because it remains the newest major movement. So there is no shortage of hatred going ... More >>

Top 10 weirdest musical duets

A couple of nights ago, we had the absolute pleasure of seeing William Shatner and Lin Yu Chun do a rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on Lopez Tonight that made our hearts cream with loving ecstasy. We have no clue what to actually think of Lin Yu Chin (other than that the internet seems t ... More >>

Tyler Ward and friends take on "Airplanes" by B.o.B.

Tyler Ward: Shameless coattail rider or shrewd, talented musician fueled by ennui with a plethora of equally talented friends, a readily available recording facility and ample time on his hands? You make the call. Personally, although we're leaning more toward the latter -- given the other video ... More >>

And now, presenting thirty craptastic minutes with thirty different iPhone band apps

​ Sometimes we have to wonder if folks that program for Apple's App Store are hell-bent on wasting people's time. We spent an evening with as many artist-specific iPhone apps we could get our hands on and found a few amazing things, a few interesting things and a plethora of pure and total cr ... More >>

Shel inks a deal with Republic Nashville

Scott Borchetta. Name ring a bell? Not really? How about this: Remember the record exec who came to Taylor Swift's defense a few weeks ago when the whole world was up in arms over her supposed catastrophically pitch-friendly performance at the Grammys? That guy? Yeah, that's Scott Borchetta. He's th ... More >>

Lilly Scott joins Haeley Vaughn as Colorado's great American Idol hopes

Based on the edition of American Idol focusing on Denver auditions, we declared Fort Collins' Haeley Vaughn to be Colorado's great American Idol hope. (Of course, Bikini Boy Ty Hemmerling made a different kind of impression.) But last night's episode marking the beginning of Hollywood Week (and the ... More >>

Google is shutting down blogs, trying to kill Twitter.

Do no evil my ass. Last night and into today, many people using a Blogger account to host a music blog logged on to find this. The news is making its way across the web now, but DJ/record producer Tommie Sunshine tweeted about it way early. The error message of doom.​ Presumably, people got ... More >>

Poptimystic: 3OH!3 and Vampire Weekend

Welcome to Poptimystic, our latest feature where we lead you on a leisurely stroll through the world where pop music actually means popular. This week, hometown goofboys 3OH!3 make a return to the top of the Hot 100, and early returns have Vampire Weekend besting all comers. Huh? ​ The 3OH!3 ... More >>

Twitterpated: the scene shares its mind 140 characters at a time

​The Twittervese has become one of the most entertaining and insightful places to catch a glimpse inside the lives of some of the most outspoken members of our community -- 140 characters at a time, of course. We never ceased to be entertained by the tweets of various members of our scene and susp ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of November 23, 2009

​As music critics -- and people who generally think about, talk about, listen to and make music -- the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to right now?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation. For t ... More >>

Beyond Playlist: The Offspring and More