The Nine Best Concerts in Denver This Week

This week brings an interesting array to Denver: Billy Idol is still kicking, for example, and songwriting genius Todd Snider’s around as well. There are a few more (you can see some highlights below), but let’s not bury the lede. Sleater-Kinney is back and its tour comes to the Ogden…

The Dangers of the Mirror People

[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an ’80s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last week’s thrilling episode!…

The Fourteen Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

This weekend brings plenty of good concerts to Colorado, including jam veteran moe., jazz mainstays Medeski, Martin & Wood and producer/DJ duo Nervo. The rest of our picks follow! See also: 50 Photos That Prove Red Rocks Is the Most Beautiful Venue on the Planet…

Lloyd Cole on the Value of Deadlines

While some of the more recent output from Lloyd Cole, known for his work in the ’80s with his group the Commotions, has been acoustically driven, he realized early on in the writing songs for his most recent effort, Standards, that he wanted to steer the album in more of…

Cursive’s Tim Kasher on What The Ugly Organ Means to Him Now

Cursive’s 2003 Album, The Ugly Organ, has been described as a masterpiece, a benchmark and a career jumping off point for an already highly touted band. The album contains elements of song-writing and musical mastery and sold over 170,00 copies. But it can also be viewed as merely one of…

Why Musicians Deserve to Get Paid

Editor’s Note: A few days ago, we published an article by a Minneapolis-based musician named Drew Ailes entitled Why Musicians Don’t Deserve to Get Paid. We hoped it would start some conversations, and it certainly has. You can read plenty of dissenting opinions in the comments section of that article…

The Caribou Ranch Memorabilia Auction Was Pretty Insane, As Auctions Go

Legendary Denver bluesman Otis Taylor, chilling in the hall outside the hectic Leslie Hindman auction room at the Denver Design Center late last month, scoffed when asked whether he was bidding on any of the nearly 500 pieces of memorabilia up for auction from the Caribou Ranch recording studio. “Everything…

How Denver Almost Lost One of Its Best Songwriters in Kat Ellinger

Kathyryn Ellinger wrote the Sleepers’ excellent new album, Drive, following the most harrowing decade of her life. On it, she appears to have reached the full potential of her considerable songwriting range. Ellinger, who goes by Kat, has played piano since she was a kid and has been a part…

Rufus Baxter at the Crossroads

[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an ’80s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last Week’s episode!!…

Rockabilly Model Linh England on Her New Pinup Charity

Linh England is currently in the running to win the Miss Viva Las Vegas Pin-Up Contest, part of a rockabilly celebration this April. Voting ended over the weekend, and now the Colorado native is waiting to hear the results. England has been involved in the local pinup-model world for the…

Vinyl Subscription Services Are the Laziest Thing Ever

flickr/Alexandre NormandDon’t make listening to music any harder than it already is.By Reed Fischer Love listening to music, but hate all the time and effort it takes to pick out something you like? Good news! There’s a burgeoning industry of vinyl subscription services, what they like to call “Netflix for…

Wilco, Darius Rucker, Zeds Dead Shows Announced

Wilco, who celebrated twenty years together last year, will headline Red Rocks on Tuesday, July 14. Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Steve Gunn opens. General admission and reserved tickets ($45.50-$65) go on sale on Friday, February 6 at 10 a.m. Darius Rucker, who slated to release his fourth studio album in March, brings…

The Eight Best Shows in Denver This Week

That was a pretty good sports game, everyone! There was football, sure, but also: dancing sharks! Eight-bit lions! Missy freaking Elliott! So that’s done. Now, to the business at hand: Denver concerts. There are plenty this week, including Wale tonight at the Gothic. The rest of our picks follow. See…

How Music Might Improve the Growth of Marijuana Plants

Elias Tempton, a grower for the Sicky Buds dispensary, also had a tiny grow operation for himself at home. He bought a radio and put it next to his plants, leaving it tuned to a classical music station twenty-four hours a day. “I noticed that there was a really distinct…