Michael Darpino

Michael splits his free time between defending the little guy and championing the underdog. He has been haunting the concert halls, dive bars, and greasy spoons of DC for the last 16 years. His interests include live rock music, researching obscure military/political conflicts, and good hamburgers. He is a friendly grump, has wisdom beyond his years, and is on a life-long quest to attain music nirvana. Follow him on Twitter if you dare!

Michael Darpino's Top Five Articles

Posts by Michael Darpino:

• The Ten Best Concerts In And Around DC For 2011
• We Love Music: The Foo Fighters @ Verizon Center, 11/11/11
• Hot Ticket: The Foo Fighters @ Verizon Center, TONIGHT!
• The Winning Ticket: DCWeek Opening Night Party
• Hot Ticket: Brandt Brauer Frick @ Red Palace, TONIGHT!!!
• We Love Music: Drop The Lime @ U Street Music Hall, 10/20/11
• Q&A: Dan Haggis of The Wombats
• Hot Ticket: Drop The Lime @ U Street Music Hall – TONIGHT!!!
• Hot Ticket: Jammin Java 10th Anniversary Bash!
• Q&A with Debbi Peterson of The Bangles
• We Love Music: The Horrors @ Black Cat, 9/30
• We Love Music: Peter Hook presents “Closer” @ 9:30 Club, 9/21/11
• We Love Music: Clutch @ Red Palace, 9/18/11
• We Love Music: Atari Teenage Riot @ 9:30 Club, 9/17/11
• Clutch the band introduces Clutch the beer
• Hot Ticket: Atari Teenage Riot @ 9:30 Club, 9/17/11
• The Winning Ticket: Gomez
• The Winning Ticket: Rx Bandits
• Hot Ticket: Dinosaur Jr. w/ OFF! @ 9:30 Club, 6/25/11
• The Winning Ticket: Grupo Fantasma
• The Winning Ticket (Extra): The Coathangers
• We Love Music: Earth @ Ottobar, 6/17/11
• Hot Ticket: Weekend Edition
• The Winning Ticket: Michael Franti & Spearhead
• Hot Ticket: Weekend Edition
• The Winning Ticket: Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub
• The Winning Ticket: Sondre Lerche
• The Winning Ticket: Alexander and Fam
• We Love Music: Arctic Monkeys @ 9:30 Club, 5/17/11
• Hot Ticket: Modern Man @ Black Cat, 5/20/11
• The Winning Ticket: Sound Bites
• The Winning Ticket: Infield Fest @ The Preakness
• Hot Ticket: J Roddy Walston & The Business @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 5/12/11
• The Winning Ticket: The Twilight Singers
• Hot Ticket: Sweetlife Festival @ Merriweather Post Pavilion, 5/1/11
• The Winning Ticket: Balkan Beat Box
• The Winning Ticket: Scala & Kolancy Brothers
• We Love Music: Spectrum @ SONAR, 4/14/11
• Hot Ticket: Spectrum @ SONAR (Baltimore), 4/14/11
• The Winning Ticket: Mogwai
• We Love Music: Wire @ Black Cat, 4/7/11
• We Love Music: The Black Angels @ 9:30 Club, 4/3/11
• Hot Ticket: Wire @ Black Cat, 4/7/11
• The Winning Ticket: The Dirty Heads
• We Love Music: Sara Bareilles @ Rams Head Live!, 4/3/11
• We Love Music: Cut Copy @ 9:30 Club, 3/29/11
• We Love Music: Ultra Music Festival 2011 @ Bicentennial Park (Miami), 3/25 – 3/27
• The Winning Ticket: Kylie Minogue
• Q&A with Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low
• Q&A with Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost!
• The Winning Ticket: M3 Rock Festival
• We Love Music: The Ex @ Black Cat, 3/12/11
• The Winning Ticket: Sweetlife Festival 2011
• We Love Music: Meek Is Murder @ Firehouse Grill (Fairfax), 3/11/11
• We Love Music: Abigail Williams/Melechesh/Rotting Christ @ Jaxx Nightclub, 03/09/11
• We Love Music: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark @ 9:30 Club, 3/10/11
• Q&A with Andy Moor of The Ex
• Q&A with Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
• The Winning Ticket: Loretta Lynn
• Hot Ticket: Rotting Christ/Melechesh/Hate/Lecherous Nocturne/Abigail Williams @ Jaxx, 3/9/11
• We Love Music: Smith Westerns @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 3/4/11
• The Winning Ticket: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
• The Winning Ticket (Extra): Middle Brother/Dawes/Deer Tick
• Galactic Happy Hour @ 9:30 Club
• We Love Music: Weedeater @ SONAR (Baltimore), 2/23/11
• The Winning Ticket: Wanda Jackson
• We Love Music: Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds @ Comet Ping Pong, 2/18/11
• Hot Ticket: Weedeater @ SONAR, TONIGHT!
• Hot Ticket: Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds @ Comet Ping-Pong, 2/18/11
• The Winning Ticket (Extra): Fences
• We Love Spoken Word: Rollins @ 50 @ Grosvenor Auditorium, 2/13/11
• The Winning Ticket: Drive-By Truckers
• We Love Music: Braids / Baths @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 2/11/11
• We Love Music: Gang of Four @ 9:30 Club, 2/9/11
• Hot Ticket: Baths @ Rock & Roll Hotel, TONIGHT!
• CANCELED: Linkin Park @ Verizon Center, Tonight!
• Q&A with Henry Rollins
• The Winning Ticket: Slightly Stoopid
• U Street Music Hall’s (Twitter) Manifesto
• The Winning Ticket (Extra): Gang of Four
• Hot Ticket: Chromeo @ 9:30 Club, 2/6/11
• We Love Music: The Radio Dept. @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 2/1/11
• We Love Music: Office Of Future Plans @ The Wind-Up Space, 1/28/11
• The Winning Ticket: Chromeo
• Hot Ticket: The Radio Dept. @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 2/1/11
• Hot Ticket: Office of Future Plans @ The Wind-Up Space, TONIGHT!
• We Love Music: Little Dragon @ Black Cat, 1/22/11
• The Winning Ticket: Lissie
• We Love Music: The Magician @ U Street Music Hall, 1/19/11
• The Winning Ticket: Dr. Dog
• The Magician Shares His Secrets
• The Winning Ticket: The B-52’s
• A Message From Janet Jackson
• Hot Ticket: The Pietasters @ 9:30 Club 1/8/11
• The Winning Ticket: Virginia Coalition
• The Winning Ticket: The Pietasters
• Best of: We Love Music
• Hot Ticket: Clutch @ The National – TONIGHT!
• Favorite Albums Of 2010
• The Ten Best Concerts In And Around DC For 2010
• The Winning Ticket: Gogol Bordello w/ Trouble Funk on NYE
• The Winning Ticket: The Roots
• We Love Music: The Sword @ 9:30 Club 12/6/10
• The Winning Ticket: George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic
• We Love Music: Peter Hook presents “Unknown Pleasures” @ 9:30 Club 12/1/10
• Hot Ticket: The Sword @ 9:30 Club – TONIGHT!
• The Winning Ticket: The Walkmen
• We Love Music: Kaskade @ Fur Nightclub 11/27/10
• Hot Ticket: Kaskade @ Fur Nightclub 11/27/10
• We Love Music: Richie Hawtin vs. Paul Oakenfold
• The Winning Ticket: Peter Hook presents “Unknown Pleasures”
• We Love Music: Cannibal Corpse @ Rock & Roll Hotel 11/21/10
• Hot Ticket: Richie Hawtin @ U Street Music Hall – TONIGHT
• Q&A with Paul Oakenfold
• We Love Music: Simian Mobile Disco @ U Street Music Hall 11/17/10
• Hot Ticket: Simian Mobile Disco @ U Street Music Hall – TONIGHT
• The Winning Ticket: Paul Oakenfold
• Still Cyco After All These Years
• We Love Music: Suicidal Tendencies @ 9:30 Club 11/12/10
• We Love Music: Jonsi @ 9:30 Club 11/8/10 & 11/9/10
• The Winning Ticket: Medeski Martin & Wood
• Hot Ticket: The Beatdown – Indie Life Edition @ U Street Music Hall 11/7/10
• We Love Music: Interpol @ DAR Constitution Hall 11/3/10
• We Love Music: MoogFest 2010 (Night Three)
• We Love Music: MoogFest 2010 (Night Two)
• We Love Music: MoogFest 2010 (Night One)
• The Winning Ticket: Black Mountain w/ The Black Angels
• We Love Music: Robert Randolph and The Family Band @ 9:30 Club 10/29/10
• Hot Ticket: Robert Randolph and the Family Band @ 9:30 Club 10/29 & 10/30
• We Love Music: Underworld @ 9:30 Club 10/25/10
• The Winning Ticket: Zane Lamprey’s “Sing The Booze Tour”
• Getaways: MoogFest 2010, Asheville North Carolina
• We Love Music: Helmet @ SONAR 10/22/10
• We Love Music: Gary Numan @ Black Cat 10/20/10
• The Winning Ticket: Robert Randolph
• We Love Music: Agnostic Front @ DC9 10/14/10
• We Love Music: Delphic @ Liberation Dance Party @ DC9 10/8/10
• We Love Music: Gorillaz @ Susquehanna Bank Center (NJ) 10/10/10 & Patriot Center (VA) 10/11/10
• The Winning Ticket: Underworld
• We Love Music: Serena-Maneesh & Woven Hand @ DC9 10/7/10
• We Love Music: Slayer w/ Megadeth @ 1st Mariner Arena
• We Love Music: The xx / Warpaint / Zola Jesus @ 9:30 Club 10/5/10
• The Winning Ticket: Built To Spill
• We Love Music: SWANS @ Black Cat 9/29/10
• We Love Music: Film School @ DC9 9/28/10
• We Love Music: James @ 9:30 Club 9/27/10
• We Love Music: Atari Teenage Riot @ Sonar 9/24/10
• The Winning Ticket: Rogue Wave & Midlake
• Hot Ticket: Swans @ Black Cat 9/29/10
• We Love Music: Caribou w/ Emeralds @ Black Cat 9/23/10
• We Love Music: Virgin Mobile FreeFest 2010 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion 9/25/10
• Hot Ticket: Film School @ DC9 9/28/10
• The Winning Ticket: James
• Hot Ticket: Virgin Mobile FreeFest 9/25/10
• We Love Music: Music Marathon Overload! @ 2010 Sonic Circuits Festival
• We Love Music: No Age w/ Holy Fuck @ Black Cat 9/17/10
• 2010 Sonic Circuits Festival Of Experimental Music & Beyond
• The Winning Ticket: Billy Bragg
• We Love Music: The Charlatans UK @ Black Cat 9/9/10
• UNDERWORLD
• We Love Music: All Tomorrow’s Parties NY 2010 (Day Three)
• Hot Ticket: The Charlatans UK – TONIGHT
• We Love Music: All Tomorrow’s Parties NY 2010 (Day Two)
• The Winning Ticket: Surfer Blood
• We Love Music: All Tomorrow’s Parties NY 2010 (Day One)
• Kele Concert Canceled!
• The Winning Ticket: Marina and the Diamonds
• We Love Music: Amphetamine Reptile Records 25th Anniversary Bash
• The Winning Ticket: Kele
• Reunited: Government Issue
• The Winning Ticket (Ska Day Bonus): The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• The Winning Ticket: The English Beat & Bad Manners
• We Love Music: Dragonette @ Rock & Roll Hotel 8/15/10
• We Love Music: Public Enemy @ 9:30 Club 8/14/10
• Hot Ticket: Dragonette @ Rock & Roll Hotel 8/15/10
• The Winning Ticket: The Saw Doctors
• We Love Music: Unsane & Keehaul @ Ottobar 8/7/10
• We Love Music: Boris & Russian Circles @ 9:30 Club 8/3/10
• Nature’s Fury: Braddock Road Edition
• We Love Music: Robyn & Kelis @ 9:30 Club 8/2/10
• The Winning Ticket: Galactic
• Hot Ticket: Boris w/ Russian Circles @ 9:30 Club TONIGHT
• We Love Music: Deadmau5 @ 9:30 Club 7/28 & 7/29
• The Winning Ticket: Deadmau5
• We Love Music: HEALTH @ Rock & Roll Hotel 7/24/10
• We Love Music: Star Wars In Concert @ Verizon Center 7/17/10
• Hot Ticket: HEALTH @ RNR Hotel 7/24/10
• An Interview with David Iskra, Star Wars: In Concert Exhibit Curator
• The Winning Ticket: Seu Jorge and Almaz
• We Love Music: The Dead Weather @ 9:30 Club 7/13/10
• We Love Music: The Smashing Pumpkins @ Ram’s Head Live 7/12/10
• The Winning Ticket: Chromeo
• We Love Music: Faith No More @ Mann Music Center 7/3/10
• The Winning Ticket: The Dead Weather
• The Winning Ticket: She & Him
• We Love Music: Wavves & Cloud Nothings @ RNR Hotel 6/25/10
• Support Underground Music In DC
• We Love Music: Silversun Pickups @ DAR Constitution Hall 6/23/10
• We Love Music: Goldfrapp @ 9:30 Club 6/21/10
• The Winning Ticket: Delta Spirit
• We Love Music: The Golden Filter @ DC9 6/19/10
• We Love Music: Isis & The Melvins @ 9:30 Club 6/16/10
• Hot Ticket: The Golden Filter @ DC9 6/18/10
• The Winning Ticket: Bettye LaVette
• Upcoming: Revolution @ FUR 6/17/10
• We Love Music: This Will Destroy You @ DC9 6/10/10
• Hot Ticket: This Will Destroy You @ DC9 6/10/10
• We Love Music & Comedy: Conan O’Brien – The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour
• The Winning Ticket: Blitzen Trapper
• We Love Music: The National @ DAR Constitution Hall 6/6/10
• We Love Music: Fear Factory & Prong @ Jaxx 6/3/10
• We Love Music: Mono @ 9:30 Club 6/2/10
• We Love Music: The 9:30 Club 30th Anniversary Concert
• Hot Ticket: Holy Fuck @ Rock N Roll Hotel 5/31/10
• We Love The 9:30 Club
• Hot Ticket: The Besnard Lakes @ The Black Cat 5/27/10
• We Love Music: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra @ The Black Cat 5/19/10
• We Love Music: Spectrum @ Velvet Lounge 5/13/10
• We Love Music: Public Image Ltd. @ 9:30 Club 5/12/10
• We Love Music: Buzzcocks @ The Black Cat 5/11/10
• Hot Ticket: Spectrum @ Velvet Lounge – TONIGHT!
• We Love Music: Echo & The Bunnymen @ The Black Cat 4/30/10
• We Love Music: The Rock Bottom Remainders @ 9:30 Club 4/21/10
• We Love Music: Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2010
• Hot Ticket: The Mary Onettes @ DC9 4/20/10
• We Love Music: Red Sparowes (+) @ Rock and Roll Hotel 4/11/10
• We Love Music: The Wedding Present @ The Black Cat 4/9/10
• We Love Music: Serena Maneesh @ DC9 4/7/10
• Hot Ticket: Red Sparowes @ RNR Hotel 4/11/10
• We Love Music: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ 9:30 Club 4/5/10
• We Love Music: Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine @ Ottobar 3/28 & The Black Cat 3/30
• Requiem for a Video Store*
• New Venue: U Street Music Hall
• We Love Music: Muse @ The Patriot Center 3/1/10
• We Love Music: Editors @ 9:30 Club 2/21/10
• We Love Music: Tortoise @ The Black Cat 2/16/10
• We Love Music: The Cribs @ 9:30 Club 1/19/10*
• We Love Music: Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody @ DC9 1/6/10
• The Five Best Concerts In And Around DC For 2009
• Why I Love DC: Michael
• We Love Food: The Burger Joint
• We Love Music: Arctic Monkeys @ 9:30 Club 12/8/09*
• Your Own Special Jawbox Performance