Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Anthrax Gets Classic Rock with Anthems

You can't go wrong with a healthy dose of Anthrax in the morning. At least, that's what I thought as I listened to their new EP Anthems, released on Tuesday, March 19. Add that to the fact that these thrash metal legends are coming through town this Sunday on the Metal Alliance tour --alongside Ex ... More >>

Yasiin Bey AKA Mos Def, Celebrity Theatre, 3/21/13

Mos Def/Yasiin Bey @ Celebrity Theatre|3/21/13It's clear that Yasiin Bey A.K.A. Mos Def is one of the most likeable guys in hip-hop history. The 39-year-old rapper is most known for his critically acclaimed album Black on Both Sides, as well as his work with fellow New York emcee Talib Kweli, as the ... More >>

Property Wars' Doug Hopkins, What Are You Listening To?

Doug Hopkins Hopkins is the star of the Discovery Channel show, Property Wars. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Definitely Howard Stern. If I am not listening to Stern, I'm usually listening to KTAR or s ... More >>

Seven Nights of DJs, EDM, and Dancing

Roots Drummer Questlove's Instagram Feed Is the Internet's Best

Yasiin Bey/Mos Def @ Celebrity Theatre

Flyleaf @ The Marquee

Masta Killa @ Yucca Tap Room

Title Roll

Strong Showing

Song Stress

Black Flag is Coming to Tempe

Yep, you read that headline correctly. Punk stalwarts Black Flag are making their way to Club Red on Thursday, July 11. It isn't the full lineup, though, and some fans may be disappointed by the lack of Keith Morris, Dez Cadena, Robo, and/or Henry Rollins. Greg Ginn, the band's only continuous membe ... More >>

Questlove of The Roots Is So Much Better at Instagram Than You

Of all the stupid things we do with our phones, Instagram might be the worst. Not only has the app falsely convinced us all we're professional photographers, but it's done something even worse: It's encouraged our worst vainglorious tendencies. No one is Amaro-toning his or her real life. There are ... More >>

10 Best Country Bars in Metro Phoenix

Practically every Western film one can think of has at least one saloon scene, a place where the sound of honky tonk piano creates the mood, where the town folk mix with the cowboys and ranchers, the gamblers and outlaws rub shoulders with the Marshall and his deputies, and the mustachioed bartende ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Week

It's Monday, and that means that the rotting corpse of the weekend has been trampled on and desecrated by another dadgum work week. But never fear -- the resistance is growing. You can recreate the carefree feelings of the weekend every night this week by attending our Top Five Must-See Shows This W ... More >>

Ron Hoon of Fox 10, What Are You Listening To?

Hoon is an anchor of FOX 10 Arizona Morning. He'll be serving as emcee for the 2013 Phoenix Heart Walk on Saturday, March 23 at 8 a.m. at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza in Phoenix. Hoon was game to play a round of "What Are You Listening To?" with Up on the Sun.

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing and EDM

Shadowplay's Policy of Truth @ Rips

Yonder Mountain String Band: Bluegrass for People That Don't Like Bluegrass

"I don't feel at all that we have made it in the bluegrass world. We exist on the fringe at best," Yonder Mountain String Band bassist Ben Kaufmann lamented back in 2003. "The bluegrass music we are writing is different than the other bluegrass music that is out there. I think it is going to take pe ... More >>

SxSW: Should You Stay or Should You Go?

Did you read Monday's Onion story "SxSW as Cool and as Real as It Gets, Reports Marketing Associate?" Once again, the satirical site takes aim and takes down its target. South by Southwest mania is upon us, and chances are your social-media channels are already being inundated with dispatches from ... More >>

Heavy Metal is Taking Over Your Churches and Schools

Chances are if you're a weekly reader Metal Mondays here at Up on the Sun, you don't think of metalheads as thickheaded, grotesque, and crude Neanderthals. You know metal fans can be smart, erudite, and witty. Still, among the pop masses, there's a prevailing attitude that metal listeners are capita ... More >>

Green Day Never Sold Out; You Just Got Old and Complacent

Editor's Note: It's not every day that a band capable of filling arenas headlines a gig at the (comparatively) intimate Marquee Theatre. But that's exactly what's going down tonight, when the Bieber-bashing, ¡Uno-¡Dos!-¡Tre! -releasing Green Day heads to Tempe for a sold-out show. Critical consen ... More >>

Matt & Kim, Marquee Theatre, 3/9/13

Matt & Kim @ Marquee Theatre|3/9/13I woke up Saturday eager to see Matt and Kim. My boyfriend suggested passing some time by catching a move. Hell, why not? So, off to Oz the Great and Powerful -- fucking worst movie I have ever put money toward. Oh, wait, my boyfriend paid. Whoops! Regardless, I wa ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend

We're just a little bit biased about the best way to spend your weekend here in Phoenix. New Times' Carnaval Electrico with Cold War Kids, Mergence, Hanni El Khatib, and more, is clearly awesome, but get this: There's other cool things going on around town. No joke. Rampage Fest at the Sail Inn is k ... More >>

Seven Nights of DJs, Dancing, and EDM

Christian Jacobs of Yo Gabba Gabba! Doesn't Talk Down to Kids

Cold War Kids Headline New Times' Carnaval Electrico at Crescent Ballroom

Whirr, Trunk Space, 3/6/13

Whirr @ Trunk Space | 3/6/13I don't want to be a shallow critic, but there's no denying the Whirr's firm place in the shoegaze section of the record store. They are knee-deep in the genre tropes: the excessive delay and reverb, the lead guitar doing some twinkly thing while the rhythm section hammer ... More >>

Foam If You Want To

Yo Gabba Gabba! Is Proof That Kids Like Awesome Music

Can you imagine how you would have turned out if The Flaming Lips -- the same Christmas on Mars/crazy/insane Flaming Lips you're thinking of -- had appeared on Sesame Street? It's a question we'll soon be able to answer. The Lips have appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba!, arguably the hippest children's sh ... More >>

Logan "Element" Howard on Whether or Not He's Retiring from the Turntables

http://www.voiceplaces.com/yucca-tap-room-phoenix-2567505-l/

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

Alkaline Trio's Good Mourning: 10 Years Later, It's a Gothy Pop Punk Classic

It's not uncommon for fans to have a soft spot for the first album they hear from a beloved artist. It might not be the band's defining work, but it was your entry point, your gateway. I'll always carry a torch for Alkaline Trio's fourth album, Good Mourning, and in this case, it's a significant alb ... More >>

Paramore's "Now" Shows Off New Direction for Band

Paramore doesn't need the Farro brothers to go on. So long, founding brothers Josh and Zac. Frontwoman Hayley Williams is soldiering on, bad haircuts and all. It looks like the band's big move into maturity might just abandon the sparkly pop that made the band famous. Who cares it was the pop-fuele ... More >>

Why Music Fans Should Be Watching RuPaul's Drag Race

Call it the chief paradox of modern pop culture: Most reality television shows blow, but we keep watching, because in a weird way they're as compelling as they are mindlessly entertaining: The exploits of Honey Boo Boo's family may be exploitative, but dammit if they don't love each other. The Karda ... More >>

No One Trusts the Tastes of Teenage Girls But Should: Why Justin Bieber Is the Next Beatles

By Brittany Spanos At what point did teen girls suddenly just become wrong? "Serious" music fans seem to have universally accepted a critique of quality that befalls any artist who willingly sells to the rabid teen girl market and stigmatized the fans who dare to sometimes be male or at least above ... More >>

Best Arizona-Related Segment From the Colbert Report?

Last week, we sifted through the archives of the Colbert Report, and found some of the best Arizona-based clips in the show's history.As was the case with the Colbert Report's comedy-news counterpart, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, there were plenty of segements to choose from.See also:-Arizona's ... More >>

Arizona's Top 10 Appearances on the Colbert Report

The joke's on Arizona so much that we had to separate the state's best appearances on Comedy Central "news" shows into two lists.Last week, we brought you some of the best Arizona-themed segments from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Now, we've gone through the Colbert Report's archives, to bring yo ... More >>

In Defense of New Girl (Hear Us Out . . .)

Dammit, Jim, Doctor Bones Is a Rock Band, Not a Pop Group

Limón Fresh

The Best and Worst Beatles Conspiracies (NSFW)

Conspiracy theories are my comfort food. After all, all a conspiracy is "the action of plotting or conspiring," and not just about tin-foil hats and Reptillians. When Reagan's cronies illegally sold weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Scandal, that was a conspiracy. When the CIA sold crack to kids in ... More >>

How Can My Band Shake the "Christian Rock" Tag?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Best Arizona-Related Segment From the Daily Show with Jon Stewart?

Last week, we put together our picks for the top 10 Arizona appearances on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.We had plenty of material to choose from for the top-10 list, including multiple segments about SB 1070, the crazy bills from the Legislature -- the "meth lab of democracy" -- and even that tim ... More >>

Arizona's Top 10 Appearances on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

In case you haven't noticed, the state of Arizona gets a hell of a lot of play on Comedy Central's "news" programs.Really, there's plenty of material for the writers to work with, and it seems like it's hard to go a month without seeing Arizona being the butt of either Jon Stewart's or Stephen Colbe ... More >>

Every Time I Die @ Nile Theater

When John McClane Lost His Family, the Movies Lost Much of John McClane

Warped Tour's 2013 Line Up Has Been Posted-- And It's Just "Okay"

The Warped Tour lineup was released yesterday afternoon, and while we were (foolishly) hoping that Kevin Lyman would have a change of heart and model the long-running festival after something like Punk Rock Bowling or The Fest, the lineup, unsurprisingly, still caters to Hot Topic tweens. There ar ... More >>

Earth Play

17 Don't-Miss Events During Arizona Beer Week, Feb. 16-23

With more than 100 tastings, tappings and opportunities to tipple taking place throughout Arizona Beer Week, one must schedule his time wisely for maximum drinking. These are the events you'll find us at -- and the beers we'll be drinking there. See also: - Chow Bella Rides with Mother Road Brew ... More >>