Albuquerque

Jessica Florez, Former Phoenix City Councilwoman, Dies in Scottsdale Over the Weekend

One month shy of her 40th birthday, former Phoenix City Councilwoman Jessica Florez died in Scottsdale on June 1. Although she reportedly died in her sleep, her cause of death has not been disclosed. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office says the death investigation remains open, and can n ... More >>

Border Officers Find Smuggler With 40 Pounds of Pot -- Flying Over Arizona

Usually, Customs and Border Protection officers are catching ever-creative drug smugglers as they attempt to get their product through a port at the border.This time, though, the Office of Air and Marine -- part of Customs and Border Protection -- caught the stash in the air, as a pilot took his sma ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Cubans and Idiots

Elias Bermudez's New Gig Charging Immigrants for Help on Deferred Action Documents Busted by New Mexico A.G.

Remember Elias Bermudez? He one of the stranger critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio who practically disappeared a few years ago after being ordered by a county judge to stop charging immigrants for his legal advice, since he's not a lawyer.Well, he's popped up again -- the New Mexico Attorney General's Of ... More >>

Johnny Tapia, Tortured Professional Boxer Beloved To Many, Died This Weekend

It was October 1989 when we went to the Arizona State Fair for a boxing card that included our friend Michael Carbajal, then an up-and-comer straight from the Olympic Games in South Korea one year earlier. On the undercard was a 22-year-old from Albuquerque who weighed in at 115 pounds, about ten ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Lowrider Culture and Scratch Tickets

Bryce "Decade" Holt on Rave Culture, PLUR, Moombahton, District 8 Warehouse, and More

​It seems like teenagers are getting a lot smarter much earlier in life. Take Bryce "Decade" Holt, who's only a mere 17 years old and already is on track to becoming a seasoned DJ/producer. Boot up the dude's Soundcloud page and hear mix after mix of quality work by the teenybopper, who's often fo ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Arizona's Insanity

Destroyer Announces Phoenix Date This Summer

​Up on the Sun favorite Dan Bejar and his band Destroyer released their newest album Kaputt more than a year ago. We liked it then, we liked it at the end of the year, we like it now still. It's a charming ode to the smooth sounds of late-'70s/early-'80s yacht rock, cannily balancing the line betw ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Uninhibited Women

Coming Soon: Fuzzy's Taco Shop

​We can't help but wonder how long this one is going to last.  It looks like Texas-based Fuzzy's Taco Shop is the next to take a stab at the restaurant black hole at 414 S. Mill Ave.  Over the last several years, ever since The Spaghetti Company bailed on the space, it s ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Mythical Aztec Origins and Ash Wednesday

Goldenboy's Shon Sullivan on Bisbee, Johnny Marr and South by Southwest

​Shon Sullivan has collaborated with Elliott Smith, Johnny Marr, The Eels, The Watson Twins, and Neil Finn over the years. Sullivan started playing solo acoustic music between Elliott Smith and Eels tours and dubbed his band Goldenboy after a nickname Smith gave him.Three albums later, Goldenboy i ... More >>

Handsome Family at Rhythm Room Last Night

​Handsome FamilyRhythm RoomSunday, January 30th, 2011"We stopped for coffee, in the redwood forest," Handsome Family guitarist/vocalist Brett Sparks sang, opening Sunday night's cozy show at the Rhythm Room. The lyrics, written by his wife and Handsome Family bassist/banjo-playing vocalist Rennie, ... More >>

Enchantment: Songs About New Mexico (1976)

Enchantment: Songs About New Mexico​Welcome to Obscuro, a weekly feature where Up on the Sun dives deep into the world of vinyl oddities: private press jobs, major label cast-offs, and general thrift shop clutter that's thus far escaped anyone's attention. These LPs have been hiding out, collectin ... More >>

BrokeNCYDE's SeVen Sounds Off On New Album, Haters, and Why They Don't Need Street Cred

BrokeNCYDE: Your least favorite band since 2008.​In barely more than two years, Albuquerque "crunkcore" pioneers BrokeNCYDE have become one of the most hated bands in the world.Look up one of their videos on YouTube, and you're guaranteed to find a raging debate in the comments section between Bro ... More >>

Oud There

Iraqi-American artist merges ancient with future

Landmine Marathon Debuts New Video for "Shadows Fed to Tyrants"

​How do you make a metalhead swoon? Play him the new video for "Shadows Fed to Tyrants" by Phoenix grindcore band Landmine Marathon. If you read my feature on the band last year, you probably didn't have to read between too many lines to figure out that I have a huge crush on lead screamer Grace P ... More >>

Against Me! Announces Tracklist, Release Date for White Crosses... Wait A Minute, Didn't I Already Hear That Record?

​I was excited to see an e-mail about the new Against Me! record, due June 8 on Sire. As the band's publicist says, the record from one of the best live bands I've seen in the past year was produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, etc., etc.) so it should be pretty awesome.Then I remembe ... More >>

Job for a Cowboy Tour Dates and Landmine Marathon Album Stream

Job For A Cowboy​Wanna hear some free local metal? MetalSucks is hosting an exclusive stream of Landmine Marathon's new album, Sovereign Descent, which hit stores on Tuesday, March 16.In other Phoenix-area metal news, Glendale's Job for a Cowboy have announced a spring headlining tour that kicks o ... More >>

Top Chefs: Phoenix Culinary Students Compete for Regional Title

Claire Lawton Culinary students Abel Ley, David Cooper and Justin Cooper critique the ingredients they prepared during a practice skills relay. ​There's no secret ingredient here; just nine culinary student teams competing for The America Culinary Federation's Western Regional title. On Sat ... More >>

Locally Made: Bill Hutchison Solves the New Mexico Pepper Debate

​The secret to Bill Hutchison's Kissed With Fire Salsa starts in New Mexico, where the official state bird is the roadrunner and the official state question is "red or green"?   The question refers to the New Mexico Chile, a pepper with a long and somewhat heated history in the state. I ... More >>

Restaurant Roll Call for 2009

Nine 05 brought Asian noodles and more to downtown Phoenix in 2009.​Bittersweet seems to be the best way to sum up the Valley restaurant scene for 2009 -- sweet that more than 100 restaurants opened in the midst of a very rough recession, but bitter that more than twice as many places shut t ... More >>

Check Out the Schedule For Tomorrow's Shizzfest 2

Peachcake is scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. on Saturday inside the Trunk Space.​ It's probably not the wisest move in the world to publically disagree with one's supervisor (hence that old chestnut, "Don't cross the boss"), but, hey, sometimes you gotta live dangerously. By now you've proba ... More >>

Phoenix Fringe Festival: VIXIN

Have Guitar, Will Travel

Valley singer/songwriter takes his really good show on the road

The Mexican rags on identity theft

Not With My Daughter?

If it quacks like a good boyfriend . . .

It's Plain the Terrain Mainly Pertains to Spain

Ain't No Sunshine

"What's Wrong With America" indie comedy reveals what's wrong with indie comedies

Slam Bang

Video artists of resistance

Atmosphere

Little light passes through

Kink Friday

Whip it good at The Sets

Screenplay Zero

Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley struggle through floundering frights

See Change

The butoh dance form comes to the Valley

The Shins

Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop)

The Handsome Family

Singing Bones (Carrot Top)

Brown and Red

These days, his signature guit-steel playing leaves listeners slack-jawed. But it took Junior Brown a long time to get to center stage.

Shin Music

Indie quartet emerges from a decade of obscurity to find itself the great pop hope

Best Mexican Takeout

Albuquerque Tortilla Company

4-H Member

Ray Rivera's rules for standup comedy: Handicapped, Hispanic, Homosexual, Humorist

Word Up

Wasteland Circus

Fruit of the Line

Second Helpings

Hot Air, Cold Facts

Government by Litigation

Increasingly, public officials ignore laws they're paid to uphold. Citizens and interest groups regularly drag these same bureaucrats into court, trying to ensure that the laws of the land are enforced. But now even the courts, once bastions of authority,

Time to Burn

Is the Lone Fire a preview of California-style infernos to come?

THE GULL OF HIS DREAMSWHEN AN ARTIST INCORPORATED A CARCASS INTO A SCULPTURE, THE FEDS THREATENED TO TURN HIM INTO A JAILBIRD

EASTSIDE STORY: THE DRAGS COME WEST

ARIZONA'S SHOOTING STAR

RYNELDI BECENTI IS A HERO TO THE NAVAJO NATION-----AND THE BEST BASKETBALL PLAYER AT ASU