What started as a 1 page black and white rag evolved into a full color magazine that could contend as the best of them when it came to journalism. Behind it was Editor In Chief Rod Brown who not only did the magazine, he played in his band and worked a full time job.

TCM to me was a guide on which local acts to either check out personally, and/or when I booked Pinke’s, whether I should either offer them a gig or find a way to not include them. If they were acting lazy towards Rod, they weren’t going to promote their shows. If they respected Rod, I would try to find a way to get them in the fold. There wasn’t a better man than Rod Brown, and I’d also like to credit Boyd and Brent Fox for their efforts on how they made this zine the beast it became. Many people in the circuit lent to the cause including the seriously unsung jobs of proof reading, sales that folks like Stacy Sherwood would undertake. Then there would be musicians in the circuit who doubled as interviewers getting to talk to their heroes. Then the CD reviews is there folks like Louie The Monk and Maris The Great would lurk and judge. Maris’s CD review of Switchpin convinced me to contact him to check out the new stage at Pinke’s and when we met, we never looked back.

There were also Throat Culture Babes, which gave reactions from all sides. The way I see it, there’s nothing wrong with a beautiful woman. Here we discuss our experiences with the magazine, and how we met Rod amongst others.

Click here to enter Throat Culture

"So, how was MASH?"

In the late 90's, the internet was still in it's infancy/toddler years with many having to use their landline to connect. But one man named Guy Kendall, a metal fan with a family decided to launch a group e-list that would consist of fans, musicians, media writers, promoters, and so many others inbetween.

The group slowly grew starting in early 1998, with Euphony Music News arranging a meeting of people from the e-list at a fan's home in Lakewood, with photos of certain persons featured in that respective magazine. I was there, and loved the passion everyone had. Many shows were promoted, many subjects/topics/etc. had various opinions. But on April 20th, 1999- this elist was a vehicle for Keith Spargo to relay news of a real crisis.

Click here to enter Colorado Metal E-List

Promoters/Venue Owners/Booking Agents/Managers/Record Stores/Music Stores: "For the love of money, or lack thereof"

For people like Wayne Quigley of Big Q Productions, Rainie Kelso of Froggy Entertainment- they loved music and it showed. Venue owners like Mike Bruno and David Talarico had a diffrent narrative. I was a booking agent at Pinke’s, and Bill Terrell booked the gamut for The Blitz Room/Whiskey Bill’s and his Infexious Recordz Showcases at the Bluebird Theater. NIPP(Nobody In Particular Presents) had folks like Peter Ore and Russ Austin gave local bands opportunities, the veteran Barb Dye was respected by all for good reasons. Then there were music shops like Rupp’s Drums, Music Go Round, Guitar Center and Drum City Guitarland where you could see people in the circuit but their job was a part of it. Then there’s record stores like Twist and Shout and Recycle CD’s who’d co-sign local bands.

Someone wanted me dead. Literally over this part of the circuit. In this end of the archive, I share what happened over Steven Adler’s touring act.

These folks played on the weekends playing what other people wanted to hear, but bands like Wish Doctor and Tick 60 had their own songs they sprinkled in while acts like Russia and Itis attracted the ladies, and a high performance fee playing “Footloose”. I caught Matt Wheatley on a monday at Iliff Park and thought I’d say hello, but the last thing he wanted to talk about was his job. That taught me something. But ask Mat Bolten, if you wanted to open for Wish Doctor or stand in singing a song during his sets, there wasn’t a nicer guy than him because it was one less thing he had to do.

The guitarist for Russia nailed “Flight Of The Bumblebee” one night at Pinke’s. I worshipped him ever since. These are their stories.

This archive pays tribute to the ones who got behind the board, mixing for bands they might not like but doing it anyway. But their narrative is one of the most intresting, and thanks to Brother Rob Bangert and Dan Byars- I got an opportunity to learn how to mix monitors and over time, I spent almost every weekend at Pinke’s doing it off the clock because it was so much fun. But doing sound for friends was a double edged sword, and I’ll have tales of that. BTW, the two toughest bands I did monitors for weren’t nationals. It was Rogue and Silencer- close friends.

But tough and difficult are two separate things. The honor of most difficult belongs to the parents/families of a band consisting to tweens out of respect to them being so young, I don’t want to embarrass them. But the adults? They had chlorine in their gene pool and I pray that ignorance skipped a generation.

And this is where I want to pay tribute to the greatest soundman ever, Jeff Johnson from The Cricket.

Buckle up, this will be a fun adventure.

Coming January 2026

Coming January 2026