During a crowded punk rock show last spring, deep inside the 15th Street Tavern, a bassist for Hemi Cuda shot a sudden I-can't-hear-myself glare toward the sound guy. The sound guy, in turn, leaned over to the toe-tapping, head-bobbing man standing next to him, Denver police officer Steve Gonzales. What happened next could be considered a peace offering in the long-troubled history of punker-copper relations: After receiving his directions, Gonzales scurried up on stage, studied the knobs on the bass amplifier, pinched the volume knob, and turned it up. "He's a really cool guy," says Tavern manager Scott Campbell of his blues-playing crowd-control cop. "All the Tavern employees dig him." As do bass players and patrons.