Email Author Brendan Joel Kelley

Awards

• 2006 - Arizona Press Club Awards, published June 16, 2005

  "High Voltage"

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2002 Stories by Brendan Joel Kelley

• Bowling for Dollars

  published December 26, 2002

  No, sports fans, Santa won't grant your fondest wish and bring you an actual NFL-caliber team in place of the hapless Arizona Cardinals, whose... More >>

• Kickin' It

  published November 28, 2002

  Hip-hop thespians Wu-Tang Clan might want to put their litigation counsel on retainer; the real monks of Shaolin Temple, from whom Wu-Tang borrows... More >>

• America's Ogre of Train Bombing

  published November 14, 2002

  In a converted stand-alone garage in the backyard of a midtown Phoenix home, an artist saunters in to his 20-year retrospective exhibition. The... More >>

• Canadian Smoke

  published October 17, 2002

  Hot Hot Heat, a foppish quartet from the tiny island city of Victoria, British Columbia, finds itself riding the wave of rock 'n' roll resurgence... More >>

• One of a Kind

  published September 26, 2002

  As a rule in Arizona, club nights — those wittily monikered weekly or monthly dance events (or non-events) — have the staying power and... More >>

• Scratch Fever

  published September 12, 2002

  On March 7, 2001, Valley virtuosos DJ Radar and Raul Yanez pulled off one of Arizona's few great historical events in music history, the... More >>

• Standup Citizens

  published August 29, 2002

  The Valley is teeming with unsung comedic talent, like the huckster satirists who staked "Vote Mormon" signs next to Matt Salmon's gubernatorial... More >>

• Suburban Nightmare

  published August 15, 2002

  Hey, Mom and Dad, is your teenage son exhibiting any of the following behavioral symptoms: showing a sullen and angry demeanor, bottle-bleaching... More >>

• Evil Empire

  published July 18, 2002

  Ethan, Will and others who were there still talk about the scene that night. Two girls — a stripper and her friend — walked arm in arm... More >>

• Scaling Denali

  published June 6, 2002

  In the past year, many independent record labels have been battling a phenomenon we like to call "emo-profiling." This sinister cousin of racial... More >>

• Ugly Casanova

  published May 30, 2002

  Modest Mouse front man Isaac Brock has never been reticent about his psychoses. He'll freely talk of the demons in his head that speak to him, and... More >>

• A Def Ear

  published May 30, 2002

  Russel Simmons is hip-hop's O.G. mogul — he was running the game before P. Diddy and Master P were outta diapers. Twenty-five years ago,... More >>

• Rock en Español

  published May 30, 2002

  You would think that in a sprawling megatropolis like the Valley of the Sun, with its high concentration of Chicano residents, some elements of... More >>

• The Kids Are All Right

  published May 23, 2002

  It's about noon in Lawrence, Kansas, on a recent Monday — the day before the Get Up Kids release their first new album in three years, On... More >>

• Pedro the Lion

  published May 16, 2002

  David Bazan has always been a soul searcher. As the driving force behind Pedro the Lion, Bazan has made a career of examining the intricacies and... More >>

• Speed Freaks

  published May 16, 2002

  Phoenix has long held the title of "speed capital of the West," though not for reasons that make any of us proud. Thankfully, some people are... More >>

• Fellowship of the Ring

  published May 9, 2002

  is, at, More >>

• Triple Threat

  published May 2, 2002

  Spring is quickly melting into summer in the Valley, and armchair sports fans are settling in, sticking their sweaty thighs to leather La-Z-Boys... More >>

• Jersey Devils

  published April 4, 2002

  Just west of Manhattan, across the Hudson River, lies the burg of Jersey City, the second most populous township in New Jersey. It's a city... More >>

• Breakup Songs

  published February 28, 2002

  This story, like so many in the music press lately, begins in the unlikely creative haven of Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha is home to the incestuous... More >>

• Gone Hollywood

  published February 14, 2002

  The following is a sad story, in a sense. Not for its protagonist, former Valley resident and much-ballyhooed turntable artist DJ Z-Trip, because... More >>

• Now It's Overhead

  published January 24, 2002

  It all starts with the butterflies, those giddy whirlwinds in the stomach -- the antithesis of nausea combined with dopey smiles and too many... More >>

• Nathaniel Merriweather

  published January 17, 2002

  Last we heard from Nathaniel Merriweather, he and partner Chest Rockwell were handing out the syllabus for their Handsome Boy Modeling School back... More >>

• A Serious Ale-ment

  published January 17, 2002

  Screw the Duff -- when Groundskeeper Willie is lookin' to get his swerve on, he's likely to be sipping one of the arse-kickin' brews featured at... More >>

• Starting Point

  published January 10, 2002

  Five young men. One band, three years old, with two acclaimed EPs released. This is where it starts.At the end of 1999, Chris Simpson, Jeremy... More >>