Most Popular
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CU Hires Three Pulitzer Winners
Some of newspapering's best and brightest are trading journalism for academia — including three Pulitzer winners hired at CU.
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Shakeup in Denver Radio
Denver radio's getting a shakeup, with more alterations on the horizon. But do any of the switches qualify as improvements?
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Sazza
If you must go for gourmet pizza, go to Sazza.
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Crepes ’n Crepes
French food is no flash in the pan.
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Arapahoe County DA Charges Death-Penalty Fees to the State
How does DA Carol Chambers beat the high cost of a death-penalty prosecution? By billing the prison system.
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A Cold Case Frozen in Time (10)
Until this cold case heats up, Sharon Skiba is lost in limbo.
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Con Artist Gives Funny Cause for Pregnant Pause (7)
Would you pay $20 to get a scam artist off your front porch?
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Big Trouble (8)
Gary Haney was living the high life until meth took him down.
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To the Max (5)
A publicity-hungry student shows how easy it is to become a media darling -- with a little help from CU.
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Hope for the Colorado Rockies Springs Eternal (5)
A What's So Funny special report from spring training in Tucson.
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Bad Luck City Haunts Denver
These folks like their Americana dark.
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Cue the Cricket
One of Denver’s most storied stages may soon be silenced.
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Tia Fuller Has Sax Appeal
Find out how this Aurora native wailed her way into Beyonce’s band.
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SXSW 2008 Preview
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Boulder Gets a New Elixir
The Purple Martini’s owner opens a club in the People’s Republic.
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Midget Mayhem
02:46PM 03/14/08 -
Ask a Bartender: Most Authentic Irish Pub?
02:42PM 03/14/08 -
SXSW: Denver Represents
10:29AM 03/14/08 -
Vintage Q&A With Lil Jon
08:40AM 03/14/08 -
Look of the Day - Matt and Jamie
12:24PM 03/14/08 -
Converse Celebrates 100 Years
04:45PM 03/13/08 -
Wayne’s World
05:00PM 03/14/08 -
The Straight-Talk Express Goes to Utah. And Europe.
05:26PM 03/13/08
What we are writing about
- affordable housing
- Amy Ryan
- Colorado Rockies
- Color as Field
- Corridor 44
- David McSwane
- Democratic National...
- Denver Post
- Dinger
- Gates Rubber Company
- Glenn Morris
- Guitar Hero
- Hillary Clinton
- Ian Kleinman
- John Hickenlooper
- Justin Jahn
- Knocked Up
- Mezcal
- molecular gastronomy
- No Country for Old Men
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Rocky Mountain News
- Samantha Morton
- Sea Wolf
- Stapleton
- Steve Horner
- There Will Be Blood
- Tom Waits
- Vinyl
- Wii
Recent Articles By Michael Roberts
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If It's War Max Karson Wants...
A controversial column by firebrand student Max Karson sparks bureaucratic wrangling and political infighting at CU-Boulder.
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Say Hi to Something New
Eric Elbogen sets the record straight.
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DeVotchKa
A Mad & Faithful Telling
Anti- -
Hot Chip
Made in the Dark
Astralwerks -
Glorytellers
Saturday, March 15, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.
National Features
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Phoenix New Times
Canine Crusaders
That drug-sniffing dog up ahead? He may not be your best friend.
By Ray Stern -
Broward-Palm Beach New Times
The Muscle Men
Thanks to a string of Florida "anti-aging clinics," baseball's steroid scandal isn't limited to superstars.
By Michael J. Mooney -
Miami New Times
Picked On
Farm workers earn nada in America's green-bean capital.
By Janine Zeitlin -
Village Voice
"Why I'm No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal"
An election-season essay from one of America's greatest playwrights.
By David Mamet
The Black Swans
Wednesday, March 19, Old Curtis Street Bar, 303-292-2083.
By Michael Roberts
Published: March 13, 2008
Perhaps Columbus, Ohio's Jerry DeCicca is a happy fellow in his everyday life — the sort of guy given to skipping and random outbursts of whistling. But as the leader of the Black Swans, who share this bill with Roger Green and Ego vs Id, he's capable of inspiring cheer-up messages from suicidal depressives. On Change!, released in late 2007 on the La Société Expéditionnaire imprint, DeCicca, ably assisted by a sensitive crew that includes gifted violinist/viola player Noel Sayre, sings in an existentially fatigued tone over sonic backdrops that find the majesty in gloom — and the words follow suit. Take "Hope Island," during which DeCicca announces that he's "stranded/On Hope Island/All alone." Sure, the relentlessly downcast nature of his worldview can seem smothering at times — particularly at moments when the listener isn't fondling razor blades. Yet there's a purity and sincerity to DeCicca's vision that gives the Black Swans a dark beauty.
