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Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend

Hey ya, the weekend is here. So get off the couch and get to some shows, Phoenix. Maybe these shows: Our Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend.

Mike Watt: Avant-Garde Rocker Stays Real Busy

Mike Watt answers the phone the same way he plays music and jumps into creative endeavors: without hesitation. "Watt!" he bellows, and within a moment he's off, sharing details of his creative process, and detailing his multitude of projects. See also: Bassist Mike Watt Reps Blue-Collar Ethos Se ... More >>

Two Great After Dinner Drinks: Stinger and Golden Cadillac

Ring the bell, it's time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady's, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. The other day, someone emailed me an excellent question. Namely: What ... More >>

Minibosses Gear Up for Their 250th Show

If you're a diehard fan of video games and you've never listened to The Minibosses, you should be ashamed of yourself. The local band by way of Massachusetts performs rock versions of classic Nintendo video game soundtracks. The Minibosses are scheduled to perform their 250th show at Yucca Tap Roo ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah...we get it Mondays suck (we've read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week.

Andrew Jackson Jihad to Tour With Against Me!; No, They Aren't Playing Here

See also: Against Me! Plays First Tempe Show Fronted by Laura Jean Grace See also: Andrew Jackson Jihad Headline Trunk Space Benefit Show There's no band making headlines quite like Against Me! these days. Ever since frontman Tom Gabel announced that he would begin living and performing as Laura ... More >>

Beer This Week: Tastings at Taste of Tops, Pairings at Monsterland, and More

Beer is a big deal in the Valley. From tastings and tappings to pairing dinners and more, there's a different beer event to attend pretty much every night. Every week, we curate upcoming brew-related goings-on and lay them out for you here. Your calendar will be as full of beer as your belly.

Curren$y Leads a Brigade of Stoned But Tough Rappers

An Interview with David Walker, Co-Founder of Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

​The man: David WalkerThe brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Co. The history: Walker is a British expatriate and the husband of Adam Firestone's sister. He brought an English twist to Firestone's beers, and the two founded Firestone Walker in 1996. We sat down with Walker during Arizona Beer Week. ... More >>

Timothy B. Schmit @ The Compound Grill

Erik "The Red" Denmark Chomps 29 Hot Dogs at the Nathan's Famous Qualifier in Tempe

Jonathan McNamaraThe aftermath of Saturday's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall.​Next time you prepare to chow down on a plump, all-beef hot dog, ask yourself this question: how many can you eat in ten minutes? Two? Four? If you think that kind of lazy eating is goi ... More >>

Album Stream: !!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It?

​Yeomen-like dance/funk impresarios !!! (Chk Chk Chk) are on the verge of releasing their 4th album this next Tuesday, but the good people at KCRW have readied Strange Weather, Isn't It? for a full album stream right this minute.It leaked on the internet in late June, givi ... More >>

Tittsworth, Pat Benatar Dance-offs, Gay Beast, and Other Cheap Thrills This Weekend

​In case you're not up on all the latest hip-hop news, Mr. Earl Simmons (a.k.a. DMX) got himself sprung from Sheriff Joe Arpaio's tender care earlier this week after spending four months incarcerated in the county hoosegow. "THE DOG IS OUT THE CAGE!!" exclaimed the hardcore rapper's Twitter on Wed ... More >>

Secret Cities, Secretions, Secret Parties, and Other July Fourth Weekend Thrills

Sac-Town punkers The SecretionsFirst Friday in Downtown Phoenix (Friday):Music editor Martin Cizmar has already filled you in about Shawn Anderson's killer show later tonight at tonight's edition of the monthly art walk, but that ain't the only gig going down. In addition to the rockers of the Mader ... More >>

Happy 4/20, Phoenicians; Apparently You Suck at Smoking Weed

www.salem-news.com​For the non-pot-smoking public, April 20 probably doesn't hold any significant meaning to you, but for stoners around the world it is a holiday that -- as a wise man told us yesterday -- "celebrates a tradition of community accomplished through the sharing of traditional home re ... 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 >>

In Seventh Loss in Past Nine Games, Phoenix Suns Wimp Out to Charlotte. Next Up: Mavs Thursday Night

The Bobcats' Stephen Jackson lit up the Suns last night.​Finally, it's official: The Suns suck. With that strong start, we wanted to believe. Oh, how we wanted to believe! But after heart-breaking back-to-back losses to Utah Monday night and Charlotte last night, we're giving u ... More >>

10 Things Under $10 New Year's Weekend

Table reservations at chic Scottsdale nightspots will be going for $200 a pop with bottles of bubbly starting at double that amount (or more). Tickets to any of the major block parties or other swanky shindigs will be at least $20 or more by the time you stumble to the door, not to mention however m ... More >>

Latest Allegations About Former Phoenix Suns Great (and Now Mayor of Sacramento) Kevin Johnson

We loved KJ, otherwise known as Kevin Johnson, first as one of the all-time great Phoenix Suns and, later, as the subject of an unseemly New Times cover story entitled "The Summer of '95." ​  In part, the story described how Johnson allegedly had engaged in sexual petting with a teenage ... More >>

An MCSO Officer Craves an Alleged Terrorist’s John Hancock, Plus Religious Insanity at Phoenix Symphony Hall

Dating Won't Break the Bank, Says Survey that Ranks Phoenix No. 4 in Cheapest Places to Date

www.adultfriendsbythehost10.com​Men throughout the Valley can take a collective sigh of relief; Phoenix offers some of the cheapest dates in the country.No gentlemen, that does not mean that the women are cheap, but rather the places you take them, as you try and woo them into submission, wo ... More >>

The Ugly Truth: Katherine Heigl Needs a New Role

Luci’s Healthy Marketplace, The Kitchen Market Café, and D’licious Dishes Save You from Slaving Over a Hot Stove

Prediction: Grant Woods Won't Ask Mayor K.J. About "Summer of '95"

We've always enjoyed a good relationship with former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, except when he got pissy with us for a long while over the infamous "hot dog vendor" spoof back in the day.   Woods is a savvy and funny guy, something in fairly short supply among the lega ... More >>

The Medic Droid’s Electro Power-Pop and Ambisextrous Antics are Driving Kids Wild Nationwide

Corn or flour? You choose the tortilla

Future Shock: Jay Reatard, Jordin Sparks, and more

Not With My Daughter?

If it quacks like a good boyfriend . . .

This Week - Who Cares at the Blunt Club

Hella

Have to kiss a lot of prog

Hippie-Hop

Mellow rap is a soulful groove

Hall of Famer

Legend, yes. But Clint Eastwood's not done yet

Postal Modernism

Pushing the envelope

This Secret's Out

Soulful rap artists make it hurt pretty

Pole Results

Olympic hopefuls aim high in Paradise Valley

Big Scam Theory

Downtown Phoenix has always had its high points, but the Civic Center boondoggle isn't one of them

Day of the Dreads

Good and bad hair days in Scottsdale

Nowhere Fast

Blackalicious takes its sweet time moving from underground to overground

Bohemian Rhapsody

Good ol'boys will be well-fed boys at California camp for the rich and the powerful

Route Rockin' Ghoulies

The road goads on forever with the Groovie Ghoulies' latest CD, Travels With My Amp

We Be Clubbin'

Young alternative rockers are spending more and more downtime playing golf. How the hell did that happen?

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Business Az Usual

A gruesome death has cost Arizona's multimillion-dollar teen rehabilitation industry a bundle. But it's not because the state is determined to stop the abuse.

Family Values

The Loud Family's Scott Miller battles the limitations of life in pop-cult hell

Flashes

On Lion Controversy

Politician who favors mountain-lion hunting gets Internet death threats; but did FBI arrest the wrong Web browser?

Night of the Unabunnie (and Other Dark Tales)

CAKE, AND KEVIN SALEMTHE ROCKIN' HORSE, SCOTTSDALE

A CRAMPED INTERIOR

THE CRAMPS' LUX PONTIFICATES ON ART, LIFE AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS