Welcome back! We hope you had a sufficient amount of ho-ho-hoing and present opening to last another twelve months. Just in case you haven't, here's a package of some of the stories and photos you may have missed during the holiday.
Hundreds of thousands turned out to celebrate the long-awaited debut of Valley Metro's light rail system on Saturday, December 27, 2008. The trains were packed and so were the various parties that occurred around the PHX...see more images
Read: Twentysomethings Are Out Protesting The Light Rail's Midnight Stop Time
Read: Roger Clyne Delivers Solid Show At Frustrating Light Rail Debut
So after a million different holiday functions (we come from a broken family - it tends to extend such celebrations), we needed something to break up the wholesome time. And with time running out for the long weekend, we decided to check out Jared Alan's new dance/dj night, Cheap Thrills, on Saturday, December 27th at Black Forest Mill...full story
Are you still standing? Hell! That must mean you haven't taken a trip on the Night Train, the ultimate pub crawl for the Phoenix Light Rail. We've spent the last month giving you one stop, one drink and one more reason to ride the light rail every day. Now that the trains are rolling, we're giving you one look back at all the stops right here...full story
Phoenix New Times Year in Photos
Catherine Bell at the Super Bowl? Check. Twilight Fans dressed as vampires? Gorgeous Models modeling low rider-inspired bikinis? Double Check. See the top shots from 2008 in this slide show while we get to work on 2009...see more shots
Not to toot our own horn, but we really scored by booking local indie rock sensations What Laura Says Thinks and Feels for our Summer of Sound series this year. The quintet had already created quite a stir at SxSW before annihilating the other amazing acts on the SoS pop bill with their immaculate, Beach Boys-ish harmonies, bluesy grit, and unabashed, multi-instrumentalist swap-outs and jams...full story
Concert of the Year Countdown: #5 Metallica
Unlike Niki, I'm not much of a metalhead, but this should was truly brilliant. In fact, I found myself listening to Death Magnetic for weeks afterwards, and was fond of saying things like "I feel like I just discovered this new band... Metallica! They're awesome, if you haven't heard them, check them out!"...full story
