Editor: Robin Edwards is a frequent Westword contributor who has played in several Denver bands. Her solo project is called Lisa Prank. Sometimes I wonder what it was like before bands had Internet presences. Did creepy dudes just send their vaguely threatening messages to female musicians through the mail with…
We’ve had some good times, Chris Carrabba. It wasn’t pretty, but I fell pretty hard for Dashboard Confessional. But that was a long time ago. This is where I say I’ve had enough, Chris. It’s over. I hoped it wouldn’t be. But after that show last night at the Bluebird,…
This week’s cover story, “Rocks and Roll,” is about four concertgoers who were injured by falling rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in September 2011. They’re now suing the city of Denver, which owns Red Rocks. They allege that the city was lax in its efforts to prevent such an incident…
Andrea Petrucelli is standing on the street in Austin during SXSW, handing out cards printed with directions for downloading a song by the Denver band You, Me and Apollo. She is committed to her task, yelling to the hordes of music fans walking by that the song is a must-have…
The original spirit of punk rock lives on in Denver’s vibrant DIY music scene, where shows are open to all comers and the surroundings are as likely to include books as they are beer. We talked to a handful of fans about the scene and about the stories behind their…
Four people who were injured by falling rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in September 2011 are suing the City of Denver, which owns Red Rocks. In all, seven people were hit by rocks during the encore of a Sound Tribe Sector 9 show, but only four have filed lawsuits. They…
Over the last six months, Cervantes’ has been at work on a new patio and outdoor stage by the Other Side portion of the venue. Woodworker Tommy Lyle of Wood of a Kind built the outdoor stage, seating and bar using wood from trees that fell during the floods last…
The Westword Music Showcase is less than two months away. On June 21, 130-ish Colorado bands and artists of every possible variety will play assorted venues around the Golden Triangle, and an outdoor stage on Acoma Street and 12th Avenue will host Diplo, 2 Chainz and more. We’ll announce the…
It’s been a hell of a long time since Beck played these parts. Now touring in support of his new album, Morning Phase, which he’s called a companion piece to 2002’s Sea Change, Beck headlines Red Rocks on Friday, August 15. General admission and reserved tickets ($49.95-$57.50) go on sale…
There are many kinds of charmers in Denver this week: Holly Golightly brings her impressive catalog and excellent humor to the hi-dive, and later in the week cock-rocking joker/not joker Steel Panther plays the Ogden. The rest of our picks follow…
Kaskade is embarking on a small-venue tour, which is quite the change for the Grammy nominated EDM producer. Ask any DJ and producer who was spinning/attending shows in the ’90s, or even into the early 2000s, and the general consensus would be that it’s a great lifestyle, but not one…
Robert Castro has spent over a decade running music blogs, so that’s about a lifetime in Internet years. He ran A Walking Disaster for a while, but school and work forced him to give it up around 2009. On a 2011 trip to SXSW, he got into a conversation with…
FaceMan, helmed by the uni-monikered frontman Steve, is just as interested in performance art as it is acoustic guitars. Case in point: the elaborate shark-shaped stage the band set up at Lost Lake last year, which added a theatrical dimension to the band’s music (it also picked up an award…
It was kind of cold and crappy this week, but that was just a way to enhance your appreciation for this weekend, which is supposed to be the kind of beautiful where cartoon birds appear from trees. Ride your bike to one of these shows:…
Eastern Europe has a long tradition of communal music. It’s about the culture, history, experience bringing people together in a moment through music. By contrast, much of American music is about the spectacle. It’s Gene Simmons with his tongue out next to a a jet of flames. A Gogol Bordello…
The jazz program at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music is about to get a lot more competitive. Officials from the school’s jazz studies and commercial music departments announced this week that Grammy-nominated jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Steve Wiest will join DU’s faculty this fall as an…
NORAD Dance Bar, which grew to become a fixture in the underground electronic-music community over the past two years, is closing at the end of May. The building that houses the club is coming under new ownership, and NORAD doesn’t figure into the new owner’s plans. The displacement will have…
The 20th annual Westword Music Showcase is less than two months away. This year’s installment will be on June 21. It’s the day Denver music goes on vacation to the Golden Triangle, and I can go from watching a rapper to watching a punk band to watching a band with…
For now, the story of Planet Bluegrass is about the floods and the devastation they brought to towns like Lyons. The storied venue sits nestled in the canyon, no small part of its appeal being that it does not have proximity to natural beauty so much as it is actually…
Boulder-based Immersive Studios has an impressive resume. Its owners, Steve Vidaic and Mike Yach, are both Grammy Award-winning producers. Vidaic is a musician himself, at one time touring with the Motet and now playing as a solo act. Immersive has some of the best recording equipment in the area. They…
Planning a music festival in Fort Collins has to be a miserably difficult task. Outside of the concerts that Colorado State University books, only one venue, the Aggie Theatre, hosts larger national acts with any kind of regularity. Add in Avogadro’s Number and Hodi’s Half-Note, bars with the capacity of…
It is a strange sight to see Bun B step through the curtain at the Marquis Theater. He is the prime mover of Texas — or maybe even all Southern — hip-hop, on a short list of the most respected MCs still working, and a leader in his city. And…
