On the rooftop of an apartment building, I find the congregation of Deer Tick super fans. Or at least, “Deer Tick super fans” is what they call themselves. My three friends — Rachel, Mikal, and Aryn — have been talking about the concert we’re seeing tonight, headlined by Deer Tick,…
With a stage set like a mythical rendition of childhood in the ’50s and ’60s, which included a giant TV center stage and radio studio lights on either side, Elvis Costello spent a full two hours presenting an autobiographical, retrospective performance piece with music rather than anything like a conventional…
The good people at the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley and the Longmont Humane Society host a whole bunch of animals that are available for adoption. Some of them bear a slight, and we stress “slight,” resemblance to some of our favorite people with animal tendencies: rock stars…
About halfway through A$AP Rocky’s set, which was 7 percent music and 93 percent high-as-hell ramblings delivered from his permanent seat atop a suitcase, I realized I had made a huge mistake. It was April 20, 2014, more commonly known as “4/20, bro!!” here in Denver, and I was standing…
“I want everything to be a little more laid-back,” says Neil Michael Hagerty, singer/guitarist with the Howling Hex. It’s a sunny April day in Colorado, and, tall and lean, he’s sporting a pastel tank top; his long brown hair is touched with gray at the sideburns. His drummer, Eric Van…
When you have a phone interview with a band on tour, there are about fifty different ways that the conversation can derail. Typically, your interview subject is tired or hung over and has about twenty minutes of quiet in a packed day that has now been sacrificed to talk to…
Dead & Company are returning to Colorado this summer with a special performance at Folsom Field in Boulder, but any time is ripe for fans of the Grateful Dead to eat up the band’s music and history. To answer that call is Buzz Poole’s examination of the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. …
While 4:20 p.m. has long been an ideal time to smoke a blunt, April 20 in Colorado has become an unabashed holiday for tokers as well as a hot spot for pot-centric musical acts who conveniently choose to play the state around this time of year. Sure, there are a…
Elvis Costello brings his solo to the Paramount Theatre tonight while Generation Axe (featuring guitarists Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi) is at the same venue on Wednesday. Also this week there’s Iron Maiden at the Pepsi Center, Ellie Goulding at 1STBANK Center, two nights…
Many Denverites take off for the mountains as soon as the workweek ends, hitting the slopes non-stop until trudging back home on Sunday afternoons. Yet sometimes even the most dedicated snow junkie wants a change of pace — an activity other than hurtling downhill — and Colorado’s mountain towns offer…
Cindy Cervantes, aka Bgirl Emerge, remembers what it used to feel like to participate in breakdancing battles as a woman. Throughout the 2000s, Cervantes would show up to events around Denver where “it was like one B-girl to sixty B-boys,” she says. “So there’s a lot of expectation on you…
Father John Misty headlines the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Saturday and Sunday while Peter Murphy brings Stripped acoustic tour to the Gothic Theatre on Sunday and Anders Osborne is at the Boulder Theater tonight. See the full list of our picks below. FRIDAY, APRIL 8 Peter Yarrow & Noel Paul…
When Banned In DC was first published in 1988, it was one of the very few tomes to thoroughly document the world of hardcore punk. It was certainly the first to provide a true snapshot of a time in America’s capital when youth culture and a vibrant underground music had…
For the last decade, the Seattle-based innovative pianist and composer Wayne Horvitz had been looking for an excuse to combine two of his groups: the Gravitas Quartet, a chamber ensemble, and Sweeter Than the Day, which has the same lineup as his previous project Zony Mash but in an acoustic…
Over the course of her career, Mile High City entertainer Lannie Garrett has worn many (flamboyant) hats. In this week’s Westword, we profile the beloved Denver chanteuse before her induction to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on April 16. Here is a photo gallery of Garrett’s looks and costumes across…
The origins of the tale of Sweeney Todd can be traced back all the way to the 1840s. It was then that the character first made an appearance in the serial short story The String of Pearls. After going through several different amalgamations, the murderous barber finally reached wide acclaim in…
It was an incredible all-ages scene: Teens, middle-schoolers, even babies being held by excited parents were lined up outside Seattle venue Chop Suey last week by 4:30 p.m. for the Tacocat album release party. Tacocat decided to put on two shows that day: a 21 and up concert in the…
Denver Botanic Gardens announced its 2016 Summer Concert Series, including Ziggy Marley, Marc Cohn, Jose Gonzalez, Martin Sexton, Chris Isaak, UB40, George Benson and more. Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday, April 19 while pre-sale tickets Denver Botanic Gardens members run from Monday, April 11 through Monday,…
This past week, I visited Nashville and had the pleasure — the pure pleasure — of seeing Loretta Lynn perform live on the Grand Ol’ Opry. As I listened to her still-vibrant voice deliver “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and songs from her fine new album, Full Circle, I marveled anew at…
Playing modern blues is a delicate balance between playing original and inventive music while paying homage to the genre’s storied past. What separates the greats from the rest is not so much the structure and composition of the music, but more the attitude and spirit exuded while playing it. Tuesday…
Over the years, Denver has birthed more than its fair share of DIY labels, including Local Anesthetic Records, Gift Records, Soda Jerk, Suburban Home, Relapse, Best Friends Records, Long Spoon and Elephant 6, which have proven to be important locally and beyond. More recently, Sailor Records, Black Box Tapes, Heart in Box,…
On April 16, singer Lannie Garrett will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and the festivities will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Garrett will perform songs with her band in tribute to pioneers of twentieth-century music from Colorado,…
