First Blood

Nothing says vampire like blood, so celebrate the release of the sure-to-be megahit Twilight — a teen-angst melodrama about vampires in high school — by giving up some of your precious bodily fluid for a good cause. The Cinebarre Theater, 10001 Grant Street in Thornton, is sponsoring a blood drive…

Rocky Opera

Bust out the gold lamé hot pants and French maid outfits, because The Rocky Horror Picture Show Experience is alive and well in Denver at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe Street. Come down and thrill to the ultra-campy cult favorite, indulge in its elaborate audience-participation rituals and dance the Time…

Gardell of Eden

In the eyes of comedian Billy Gardell, life isn’t that complex, and there’s plenty of joy to be found in simple pleasures like drinking, bad food and giving people you love a hard time. His material mines a down-to-earth, common-sense vein of comedy based on his blue-collar Pittsburgh roots. From…

Apollo Sunshine

Diverse, surprising albums and an explosive, engaging live show are the hallmarks of Apollo Sunshine, a trio of friends — Sam Cohen, Jesse Gallagher and Jeremy Black — who met at the Berklee College of Music the better part of a decade ago. The group has drawn comparisons to artists…

Denver’s Matt Morris makes a name for himself on Justin Timberlake’s label

Singer-songwriter Matt Morris got his start as a Mouseketeer alongside Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. After spending his early teen years apprenticed to the Mouse, he returned to his native Denver to attend John F. Kennedy High School. These days, he’s an accomplished singer-songwriter who’s co-written tunes with Aguilera and…

Commander Tom at the Church

If you want to relive the days when you wore oversized pants and candy necklaces, waved glow sticks in everyone’s face and popped pills like tomorrow would never come, you could do a lot worse than heading down to the Church this Thursday, November 20, to catch Commander Tom. The…

Chinese Democracy reviewed by Chuck Klosterman

Hot on the heels of the news that Chinese Democracy has been leaked (see the blog directly below this one) comes what I assume is the first review of the years-in-the-making album from noted rock scribe Chuck Klosterman. The review is full of his usual overblown, overwritten hyperbole, but that…

Album Covers: The WTF Edition

Would you buy this record? I know we’re not supposed to judge a book (or album, in this case) by its cover, but, sweet lord, what the fuck is up with that? Just stumbled across this god-forsaken artifact and it was just one of fifteen creepy album covers collected for…

Red Rocks Riot, 1971

Jethro Tull’s 1971 show at Red Rocks was almost the last rock show ever held at the venue In 1971 at early rock show at Red Rocks featuring Jethro Tull, unruly fans turned the venue into a war zone. It started when fans who couldn’t get get tickets for the…

Rearview: The Week in Review (11/8/08-11/14/08)

If his music is half as good as his acting, expect his album to be punishingly bad Here’s a round up of all the great content you might have missed this week on Backbeat Online while you were busy digging through your old CDs for Bruce Willis’s album from the…

Sports Authority

In a sports-mad city like Denver, it’s easy to make friends — and enemies — at any sports bar: Just sit down and make a statement about the best, worst or most ridiculous coach, player or call to the guy next to you, and you’re off. Now Denver sports fans…

Crystal Method at Beta

When the Crystal Method (slated to perform at Beta on Thursday, November 13) debuted, it was hard to imagine the outfit would still be going strong more than ten years later. Serving as America’s answer to English acts like the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, the group — Las Vegas…

Rearview: The Week in Review (11/1/08-11/7/08)

Rick Astley will never give this award up Here’s a handy guide to all the great content you might have missed this week while you were busy voting on Rick Astley as best act ever in the MTV Europe Music Awards. Thanks to your tireless efforts, the EMAs were successfully…

Bluebeard Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin is best known for his “Tramp” films, but the little-known Monsieur Verdoux is something entirely different for the gifted comedian. Although it’s gone on to become a beloved cult classic (many consider it to be his finest work), at the time of the film’s release, in 1947, Chaplin’s…

Mirror, Mirror

See revered hip-hop icons in a unique light at Reflections: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together, a show that pairs photographs of the musicians by so-cial documentarian Rachel Crick with paintings based on her work by the Signtologist, an artist who paints on recycled street signs. Crick’s portraits are…

James Zabiela at Beta

One of the first things mentioned in James Zabiela’s official bio is his love of all things sci-fi, and boy, does it ever show in his music. Robotic gurgles, deliciously damaged synthesizer tones and freak-out soundscapes decorate and drive his meticulously compiled progressive/tech mixes and his own productions. He’s remixed…

Rearview: The Week in Review (10/25/08-10/31/08)

Prepare yourself for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Rock Band Here’s a user-friendly guide to all the great content you may have missed this week while you were busy practicing singing along to all your favorite Beatles’ tunes in anticipation of the just-announced Beatles version of the popular Rock Band…

Road to Nowhere

It will be a very “Psycho Killer” Halloween when the Motet plays the Talking Heads. Just don’t expect anyone to show up in one of David Byrne’s big suits — the dress-up here is purely musical. “The first year it was the Beatles,” recalls Dave Watts, the band’s founder. “And…

Green Fairy Tales

Join the green fairy for a special Halloween buzz at Holographic Universe 9, an all-night dance party at the Royal Peacock Absinthe Lounge, 5290 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder. From 11 p.m. until 5 a.m., a host of DJs headlined by Buddhabomb will help you get down to a variety of…

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The immense popularity of villain Freddy Krueger and the flood of ever-sillier sequels have obscured the fact that the original Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the scariest and best horror movies ever made. Besides its status as one of the most successful and iconic horror films of the…

Equulei at Herb’s

Over the past ten years, Equulei has quietly produced some of the most consistently challenging and innovative electronic music to ever come out of Denver. Through its Nobot label, Equulei (due at Herb’s with Les Freres Courvoisier and Mike Robot on Sunday, November 2) has issued records of its own,…