The good news: Slash’s photo appeared on the August 9 cover of Rolling Stone just as his current band, Velvet Revolver, was releasing a new CD, Libertad. The bad news: The image pictured him with Guns N’ Roses, whose most famous album, Appetite for Destruction, hit stores twenty years ago…
Swirl all the swagger of gritty garage rock with the sparkle of Motown’s legendary girl bands, and you still wouldn’t get the pumped-up, full-throttle sound of the Gore Gore Girls — not without those guitars. The opening chords of those black-and-white Gretsch hollow-bodies lets you know that this is rock…
Although hefty art-rock outfit Qui (pronounced ‘kwee’) has been around since 2000, the Los Angelenos got a turbo-boost late last year when the legendary David Yow joined them for a few songs. After a few one-off gigs, Yow began to contribute ideas to founding duo Paul Christensen and Matt Cronk,…
Big Business isn’t exactly the Black Keys — or the White Stripes. Sure, the band has a similar drummer/guitar configuration, but it wisely stays away from the bluesy escapades of those acts. Instead, the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Seattle-based sludge-metal duo takes the simplicity of a two-piece to extremes, with Coady Willis (formerly…
On his website, Heaven and Hell bassist Geezer Butler teases the group’s tour with Alice Cooper and Queensrÿche by noting that “it’s time to get the hair dye out” — and in a sprawling Backbeat Online Q&A (http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat), he makes it clear that this comment was meant literally. Indeed, he’s…
Guitarist Charlie Hunter may be something of a jazz popularizer, but his creative restlessness makes his music interesting as well as accessible, as is clear from a pair of recent recordings. By far the most straightforward is Mistico, a Fantasy Records release credited to the Charlie Hunter Trio that manages…
They Might Be Giants ranks high with the kiddie set, thanks to numerous cartoon soundtracks and videos, but youngsters will not be in attendance in Boulder this Thursday. Instead, those prone to recording songs onto answering machines or wearing oversized fezzes will be lining up in droves to see TMBG’s…
In the liner notes of Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags’ Legionnaire’s Disease, there’s a quote attributed to Charlie Parker: “Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” Listening to Barr sing about watching his life from…
Pi fight! Bill Ward, proprietor of Slim 7 (1443 Larimer Street), has had so much success with that sliver of a sliver of a downstairs bar that last September, he began putting together another underground project for Larimer Square, this one including a 2,100-square-foot club and a 3,800-square-foot place called…
I’ve heard one former press secretary at another agency say they’d rather die than have this job,” says Dana Perino, the new White House press secretary. “And I know there’s not a lot of people lining up to take the position, because they see what it’s like on TV every…
In space, no one can hear you scream, Jumpin Jesus, this is one of the greatest games ever! But that doesnt mean you wont try during Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Hard-core gamers know Metroids star, bounty-hunter babe Samus Aran, has been kicking ass since 1986 — back when Lara Croft…
How I Learned to Drive. “Look at me,” Uncle Peck pleads to his young niece, the narrator-protagonist of How I Learned to Drive. “Listen to me.” And that’s just what she does. Deeply and over a period of years, she ponders her relationship with the uncle who first molested her…
Saturday Night Fever: 30th Anniversary Special Collectors Edition (Paramount) For all its camp-classic status as the ultimate disco-fever dream, John Badhams movie truly is remarkable — a foul-mouthed, mean-streets masterpiece that just happens to feature a Bee Gees score that spreads like melted cheese thirty years later. And, of course,…
This is how utterly shitfaced our bartender is: He’s considerably more drunk than I am, and I’m in 1:30-a.m., slumped-over-the-bar, double-fisting-PBRs kind of shape. But I’m happy, and so is he. I can tell from the way he grins and laughs every time he over-pours one of Darren’s whiskey and…
There are a few things that I know for sure, and one is that I’m not hip. When I was younger, I thought I was, and/or tried to be, but now I know for sure that I’m not hip, that I’ve never been hip, and that no amount of trying…
Fronting the now-defunct Ultra Boyz, Milton Melvin Croissant III was a frenetically intense, commanding performer. He brought a dark and mysterious charisma to an outfit that was so often like an amped-up hardcore band from some distant future. With his solo project, he comes off more like Cat Stevens if…
Given the advances in digital studio equipment, cutting an album in analog can be both more difficult and more expensive than using readily available modern gear. Ben Harper, though, wanted the old-school experience, so he and his band laid down Lifeline fast and dirty using a sixteen-track console. The results…
Angels of Light, We Are Him (Young God). Michael Gira’s path from the Swans to Angels of Light is similar to Nick Cave’s journey, but Gira’s focus is on intricacies. The devil is in those details — or, in this case, hiding in the organ, disguised by hymns and parables…
Dear Readers: A couple of weeks ago, I asked half-breeds to write in with nicknames that describe their mixed Mexican heritage. Many, muchos responses continue to trickle in; gracias for the submissions. The following is a handy glossary that ustedes wrote, with the occasional Mexican commentary — enjoy! If you’re…
Mark Brasuell is using his solo, Magellan, at Edge Gallery (3658 Navajo Street, 303-477-7173), as a celebration of his twenty years of exhibition history in Denver; the title refers to a spiritual journey. He began his career in Denver in 1987 after moving from Texas and enrolling in graduate school…
In the food world, a war has long been waged over what, exactly, it is that cooks and chefs produce. In the galleys and the prep kitchens, on the hot lines and in the bars after work, there have been discussions, arguments, names called, the occasional punch thrown; outside this…
Imagine it’s the year 2020, and the city of Denver is beginning to rebuild from a cataclysm that all but leveled it. Eight years earlier, as the story goes, one woman emerged from the wreckage and guided twenty survivors to the abandoned Denver Art Museum, where they settled, living on…
