The Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Rapper Logic headlines Red Rocks tonight with Joey Bada$$ and Big Lenbo opening while Trombone Shorty is at the venue on Wednesday. Also this week, Ed Sheeran is a the Pepsi Center, St Paul & the Broken Bones has a two-night stand at Chautauqua Auditorium and Denver Botanic Gardens features two jazz legends, Herbie Hancock tonight and Chick Corea tomorrow night.

How Strange Americans Coped With a Recording Studio Fire

It’s hard to imagine a time when the musicians in Strange Americans didn’t feel like they were a part of the Denver music scene. “I think we were so new that we hadn’t been in the scene for awhile,” Guitarist/vocalist Matt Hoffman says. “Now we know a lot of people , but at the time we were disconnected.”

Colorado Composer Returns Triumphantly From Mongolia

Back in June, Denver-based composer/percussionist Thomas Blomster excitedly told Westword about his upcoming trip to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where a piece of his would be performed by the Morin Khuur Ensemble, a traditional Mongolian folk orchestra that is part of the Mongolian Philharmonic.

The Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

Velorama Colorado, a celebration of bands and bicycles, is happening in the RiNo District this weekend and spotlights live music by Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Old 97’s, the Jayhawks and more, while Rancid and Dropkick Murphys co-headline the Sculpture Park tonight with the Selecter and Kevin Seconds opening.

Taylor Swift: David Mueller “Grabbed My Bare Ass…This Is Not Alleged”

Taylor Swift took the stand this morning to testify during the fourth day of the Mueller v. Swift et. al lawsuit over an alleged groping incident at a June 2, 2013 meet-and-greet at the Pepsi Center. The pop star was firm and funny, as she accused former KYGO morning show DJ David Mueller of groping her bare butt, an assertion that led to his termination. The word “ass” was uttered over forty times within the hour Swift testified.

Green Day Keeps Singing for the Angry Eleven-Year-Old Inside Us All

Loyal fans know that when Green Day comes to town, Billie Joe Armstrong will invite some eleven-year-old kid up to play his guitar every goddamn time. He’s been doing it since the punk outfit started packing arenas in 1994. And we’ve not grown tired of it, anymore than we’ve grown tired of the classic power-chord driven songs.

Seven Tips For Enjoying Velorama, Even If You Can’t Figure Out What It Is

The new Velorama Festival is like a craft cocktail, pairing seemingly-disparate but intriguing components. In this case, those ingredients are a music festival, a professional-level bike race, and a flea market. The race c
omponent began today in Colorado Springs, but the festival itself will descend on RiNo Friday the 11. Here are six tips on how to navigate (and what to head to at) this weekend at Velorama:

Five Outtakes From the First Day of Testimony at the Taylor Swift Trial

Mueller v. Swift et. al, the largest celebrity trial Denver has seen since Michael Jackson’s plagiarism case in 1994, began its first day of testimony after a protracted jury selection. In case you missed it, the trial centers around former 98.5 KYGO DJ David Mueller (known on-air on his morning show as “Jackson”) allegedly groping Taylor Swift’s butt while posing for a photo before her 2013 Red concert at the Pepsi Center. Mueller sued Swift, her mother Andrea Swift, and Swift’s radio coordinator Frank Bell for around three million dollars in damages after he was fired from his job shortly after the incident, and Swift countersued for $1.

Reggae-Punk Band the Plates Keep It Simple

When drummer Jeep MacNichol moved to Denver in 2012, he had two CDs in his car: Minor Threat by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat and The Best of I-Roy by ’70s dancehall artist I-Roy. These two seemingly incompatible sounds provided the inspiration for what would become his next project, The Plates.