Readers' Choice: Nita's Hideaway
Readers' Choice for Best Venue for Local Acts: Nita's Hideaway
Readers' Choice: Nita's Hideaway
Readers' Choice for Best Venue for Local Acts: Nita's Hideaway
With nothing on the menu aside from bottled water and soda and nothing surrounding the downtown performance space, there is little to distract from the work of those on stage. Aside from that, Modified is staffed by genial indie-rock volunteers, instead of a phalanx of surly pituitary freaks who man the doors at most Valley venues. Modified doubles as an art gallery, as well; the paintings and sculptures prove far more classy accouterments (if not nearly as raunchy) than the empty condom machines one normally finds in the typical rock club.
A purist's haven, it's no wonder, then, that Modified's acquired a national reputation since opening just 18 months ago.
Readers' Choice: Modified
That's why Big Blue Couch's science-fiction band bio, which claims the group was cryogenically frozen in 1969 and exhumed last year, seems to ring true. Axman Chris Doyle harks back to the days when rock stars didn't play their guitars so much as wrestle them to wring every last screech or sigh. In a local music scene when the best guitarists seem to be roots-based traditionalists, Doyle's white-rock influences range from the fabled (Live at Leeds-era Townshend, Mick Ronson) to the forgotten (spacey Robin Trower, Fred "Sonic" Smith) to the far-fetched (Bruce Cockburn on acoustic numbers).
Propelled by an ace rhythm section and an energetic front man, Doyle takes extended instrumental flights of fancy that continue to make other local guitarists put down their beers and sweat bullets. Despite frequent gigs, the bulk of the band's dates have been thankless opening-slot gigs or last-minute replacement shows. Those who've ventured out early have witnessed a combo capable of being as arty as King Crimson and as belligerent as the Stooges, largely because of Doyle's extended vocabulary of sounds and showmanship. With Big Blue Couch's much-delayed debut CD finally mixed and ready for public consumption, this talent won't remain in the shadows of the local music scene for much longer.
Although Simmons' fretwork is front and center as part of his regular alterna-pop troupe, the Royal Normans, his most impressive playing has come during the loose-knit sets from roots-rock collective Los Guys. Simmons manages titanic blues runs, subtle country picking and fierce freeform jamming, all delivered with an "aw shucks" attitude -- one of those rare guitar slingers definitely not from the face-grimacing-smugly-smirking school of hard licks.
But if you spy the real Carvin in the flesh, there isn't that much of a difference between the way he looks today and his appearance in the old 1990 8x10. Which makes us suspect some kind of Faustian bargain going on -- perhaps something to do with eternal youth and recycled Hendrix riffs.
We just don't get it. It can't be because of healthy living -- Jones sings in smoky clubs several nights a week. And if we read The Picture of Dorian Gray correctly, shouldn't his club ad be rapidly aging like bad cheese right about now?
Thank goodness for guys like Jamal Ruhe, Nita's trusty sound man in its early incarnation and back again this year. Since we've conducted actual conversations with him, we know his woofers are working fine. Ruhe knows every inch of this room intimately, he's played there a kazillion times and retains uncanny information about every band that's done likewise. Performing is nerve-racking enough without having to worry about having an adversary behind the mixing board. Jamal is your friend, not your funeral director.
In addition to an encyclopedic stock of CDs, Virgin boasts a book section worthy of the music/pop culture collection of any chain. Another plus? The rows of boxed sets running the gamut from Sammy Davis Jr. to Ted Nugent, as well as hundreds of just-released current and vintage VHS and DVD movies and video games.
Admittedly, a trip to Virgin means schlepping through the mall, and it's hardly the cheapest disc depot in town, either. Still, where else can you find spankin' new titles like the Kinks import reissue of We Are the Village Green Preservation Society, the Mary Martin version of The Sound of Music or anything by Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys -- all under one roof?
Readers' Choice: Best Buy
The store's topnotch selection doesn't end with mammoth-size retrospectives, but extends equally to its single CD offerings as well. Having difficulty finding that out-of-print Tapper Zukie long-player, the Japanese version of your favorite Genesis opus or even a much-hyped "live import"? Look no further than this north Phoenix disc-o-theque. What about obscurities and curios from the likes of Sloan, the Real Kids or Porter Wagoner? Never heard of the Shoes? Well, you can get to know them intimately since CDGB's stocks seemingly every offering from this obscure Illinois power-pop quartet -- both new and used!
As an added bonus, the store boasts sections neatly divided into a number of well-defined categories and subcategories (Americana, Rockabilly, Punk, Surf, Guitar Greats, etc.) and a staff well-versed in the needs of those seeking the hard-to-find. If it's new, used, old, fresh, in- or out-of-print and digital, then C-D-G-B are the only letters you need to know.
If ever a trapsman truly merited an unobstructed view from the stands, it's Pollen's Bob Hoag, who plays with more force and funny bone than Jerry Lewis and his progeny forced to share the same stool. Even before Pollen began opening up big-time rock shows, Hoag bashed his skins as if 60,000 were ogling him anyway, a happy affliction he still carries over to scaled-down local club appearances.
If his hilarious self-mocking song intros weren't enough to command attention, there's always Fmeat, Pollen's offensive primal punk side project, in which Hoag gets to step off the riser and exercise all his Lead Singer Disease symptoms in one glorious epileptic fit.
Readers' Choice for Best Place to Buy Used CDs: Zia Record Exchange
Readers' Choice for Best Vinyl Record Store: Zia Record Exchange
Estrella Mountain Ranch
11800 South Golf Club Drive
602-468-0800
Estrella Mountain Ranch
11800 South Golf Club Drive
602-468-0800