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Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword‘s news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor’s degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master’s degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

michaelrobertscolo@gmail.com

Fifth Death on Colorado’s Most Dangerous Fourteener in 43 Days

By Michael Roberts

On Saturday, August 26, a thus-far-unidentified 21-year-old man died in a fall from Capitol Peak, a fourteener in the Elk Mountains near Aspen. The man is the fifth Capitol Peak death since July 15, a span of 43 days, or just over six weeks. And while the fourteeners in the Elk Mountains range are considered to be Colorado’s most dangerous, the number of fatalities on Capitol Peak during 2017 to date is unprecedented in recent memory. Capitol Peak registered four fatalities in the decade and a half prior to this year.

Susan Phelan: From Powerful Women of Wrestling to CO Radio/Music Badass

By Michael Roberts

One of the most acclaimed current series on Netflix is GLOW, a fictionalized look behind the scenes at Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, an 1980s-vintage made-for-television creation that became a cult favorite and not-so-guilty pleasure for a generation of viewers. But Susan Phelan doesn’t need to watch the show, because she lived it for real. Before becoming an on-air traffic reporter for a slew of high-profile Denver-Boulder radio stations, including KOA, KBCO, KBPI and The Fox, as well as a badass bassist for bands such as Ryan Chrys and The Rough Cuts, she appeared on Powerful Women of Wrestling, aka POWW, a GLOW spin-off of sorts that also spawned a syndicated TV program enjoying a second life on YouTube.

Denver Go Topless Day 2017 Dos and Don’ts (NSFW)

By Michael Roberts

Denver Go Topless Day 2017, a rally and parade along the 16th Street Mall, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 26. Details are below. Plenty of first-timers are expected to join the gathering, which celebrates equality and demonstrates against the idea that it’s okay for men to appear topless in public but either distasteful or (in some locations) illegal for women to do likewise. With that in mind, Mia Jean, a longtime DGTD organizer who served as our guide for last year’s edition, offers her thoughts on the get-together as a whole and what marchers should or shouldn’t do if they want to reflect the true spirit of an event that’s predicted to draw more than the 1,000 folks fellow planner Matt Wilson says participated in 2016.

WTF: Metro Denver Rents Are Going Down and Up at the Same Time

By Michael Roberts

A real estate pro recently argued that renting makes more sense than buying in Denver right now, particularly for newcomers to the area, because an increase in the number of available rental units is finally leading to better deals. But while August rents in many metro communities are actually down from last month, or rising at a more modest pace than during the craziest periods of the past few years, they’re still up in almost all parts of metro over this time last year for both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, sometimes by double-digit percentages.

Police Infiltrate Anti-Fascist Group: “A$$hole at the Protest Was a Cop”

By Michael Roberts

This week, attorney David Lane expects to file a motion to dismiss charges against members of the Colorado Springs Socialists, a student protest group, over a March demonstration in Colorado Springs on the grounds of “outrageous conduct” by local law enforcement. The reason? Lane argues that undercover officers were improperly embedded among the non-violent protesters, whose largest offense at the rally appears to have been jaywalking.

Marijuana Industry More Stable Than Journalism, Says Reporter Jumping Ship

By Michael Roberts

Veteran journalist Peter Marcus is leaving the ambitious ColoradoPolitics.com website he helped launch last November in favor of a communications director position with Terrapin Care Station, a marijuana dispensary chain that’s spreading beyond Colorado. And in explaining the factors that led to his decision, he makes an observation that speaks to the divergent trajectories of the two professions.

Caroline Boyle’s Guilty Plea Is Her Ticket to the Cancer Faker Hall of Fame

By Michael Roberts

Yesterday, August 22, a U.S. District Court judge sentenced Highlands Ranch resident Caroline Zarate Boyle after she pleaded guilty to ripping off her former employer, the U.S. Postal Service, by pretending to have cancer. This admission and the punishment she’ll receive as a result, outlined below, have earned her a place in the Colorado Cancer Faker Hall of Fame, which has inducted seven members in the past eight years.

Colorado 14ers: Tips for Staying Safe

By Michael Roberts

Colorado fourteeners are gorgeous, but they can also be deadly. Since caution is key when attempting to summit these magnificent peaks, we reached out to Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, who offers the following ten tips for challenging Colorado fourteeners safely.

Ed Perlmutter Challengers Dropping Like Flies — Except for Dan Baer

By Michael Roberts

On July 11, when Ed Perlmutter announced that he was dropping out of the 2018 Colorado governor’s race, he also said he wouldn’t run again for U.S. representative in the state’s 7th Congressional District in part because “there are a lot of good people in my race…. Sometimes you need to move on and somebody else needs to come in.” But yesterday, Perlmutter revealed that he’d changed his mind and will now seek reelection to Congress. This decision has caused three of those good people to step aside, including state senator Andy Kerr, who abandoned ship this morning, August 22. That leaves outsider candidate Dan Baer as the only 7th CD Democratic hopeful other than Perlmutter left standing, and his campaign’s comments about the latest developments are far from unequivocal.

Teachers Are Crowdsourcing Supplies Amid School Underfunding

By Michael Roberts

In Colorado, which has an extremely healthy economy but ranks 42nd in educational funding per pupil, teachers such as Stuart Sanks are increasingly turning to online crowdsourcing and benefit events to pay for school supplies or student extracurricular activities. And that’s not to mention how often they’re reaching into their own pockets to make sure the kids they teach are getting the scholastic opportunities they deserve, whether they’re part of a comparatively wealthy demographic or not.

Why Frustrated Denver House Hunters May Finally Be About to Get Lucky

By Michael Roberts

Denver’s housing market has been red hot for the past few years, with buyers of more modest means often finding themselves priced out of properties thanks to bidding wars that routinely generate over-list offers. But as indicated by the presence of a “Price Reduced” sign on a home in a sought-after part of Centennial, as seen in the photo above, this situation may finally be about to change.

Denver Councilman Albus Brooks: “I Got Hooked on Opioids”

By Michael Roberts

At an event last week, Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks revealed that he had battled through an addiction to opioids. But he declined an interview request from Westword to talk in more detail about this ordeal, which came about as a result of treatment for cancer, even though opioid deaths are on the rise in Denver and across the state.

Ed Perlmutter to Run for Congress Again a Month After Deciding Against It

By Michael Roberts

Just over a month after Ed Perlmutter dropped out of the 2018 race for Colorado governor and announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection to Congress in the state’s 7th Congressional District, he has changed his mind. Perlmutter has now declared that he will indeed make a bid to stay in Congress, contradicting earlier statements about making room for new blood.

Inside Latest Lawsuit Against DU Over Alleged Sex-Offense Expulsion

By Michael Roberts

A former first-year University of Denver student is suing over what his complaint describes as “false allegations of non-consensual sexual contact” with a fellow DU freshman that led to his expulsion. The suit is at least the second of its type filed against the university in the past two years, and the attorney handling both cases accuses the school of using a procedure that is patently unfair to those accused of such offenses and gives them little opportunity to defend themselves.

Solar Eclipse to Bring God’s Message About Aliens Via Boulder Sect

By Michael Roberts

During the solar eclipse today, August 21, The Society for the New Message from God, a sect based in Boulder, will be sharing what a representative describes as divine revelations that Jehovah Himself divulged to Marshall Vian Summers, His designated “messenger.” Attendees at one of the largest eclipse parties in Wyoming will be among the first to receive this wisdom, via handouts of books financed by that most heavenly of devices, a Kickstarter campaign.

The Fan’s D-Mac Unplugged: Big Al’s Pal on His Bumpy Denver Radio Rise

By Michael Roberts

Darren McKee, who’s better known to listeners of 104.3 The Fan as D-Mac, wasn’t exactly an overnight success. Today, Big Al and D-Mac, the afternoon-drive show he co-hosts with former Denver Broncos great Alfred Williams, is among the highest rated programs on any metro-area radio station, as it’s been for most of the pair’s nearly eight years together. But as McKee tells us in the following in-depth interview, his career path prior to combining forces with Williams was marked by as many downs as ups, and probably more.

Why a Jury Acquitted a Sex Offender of Killing His Baby

By Michael Roberts

In July 2015, Matthew Burry, a sex offender who spent more than a decade in prison, was arrested and charged with child abuse resulting in death after the passing of his four-and-a-half-month-old son, Dominic. But an Adams County jury has now found Burry not guilty of the crime after his legal team presented evidence that the child actually died as a result of meningitis that had afflicted him since birth.

Brian Pattison Guilty in Tattoo Party Murder/Arson That Closed Rosenberg’s

By Michael Roberts

Tattoo artist Brian Pattison has been found guilty of killing Shane Richardson last year, then starting a fire that closed Rosenberg’s Bagels & Deli, an iconic eatery located in the same structure, for months. Prosecutors say Pattison came to Denver from his home in Colorado Springs for a “tattoo party” at Richardson’s place that went terribly wrong, and surveillance footage from Rosenberg’s proved key in solving the case.

Meet Steve Barlock, Co-Chair for Trump in Denver Running for Governor

By Michael Roberts

Steve Barlock, an independent Denver-area real estate broker who co-chaired the 2016 Mile High City campaign for now-President Donald Trump, is running as a Republican for governor here in 2018. In the following in-depth interview, he goes into detail about his reasons for seeking the office, shares his frustrations with entrenched powers on both sides of the political spectrum, and touts himself as a candidate of the people dedicated to being to Colorado what Trump is to the United States as a whole.

Meet the Man Behind Denver Go Topless Day (NSFW)

By Michael Roberts

Denver Go Topless Day 2016 drew by far the largest crowd in the event’s history to a rally and march on the 16th Street Mall to celebrate equality and demonstrate against the idea that it’s okay for men to appear topless in public but either distasteful or (in some locations) illegal for women to do likewise. But while females participants tend to get the most attention, the main organizer for the gathering, whose 2017 version will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 26, is a man, Matt Wilson. But if that conjures fears of male-dominated exploitation, don’t worry: Nothing could be further from the truth.

16th Street Mall Attack: Donald Lucero Allegedly Punched Man for Laughing

By Michael Roberts

Donald Lucero has been arrested for a series of assaults Tuesday, August 15, on the 16th Street Mall, including the alleged punching of a man for laughing. It’s the highest-profile crime on the Mall since last year, when multiple fights and random attacks were caught on video. Authorities responded by instituting a new safety plan that appears to have lessened but not eliminated violence in the iconic shopping area.