Southern California

Twist Caramel's Donna Croyle and Julie Schobert: Caramelpalooza 2013

As the chefs competing in Smeeks and Chow Bella's fourth annual Caramelpalooza -- coming 7 p.m. Friday, April 5, at UNION -- get out the candy thermometers, we've got our pens ready to introduce you to the faces behind the caramel. Just over a year ago, Donna Croyle and Julie Schobert, two moms who ... More >>

Larry Ortega, What Are You Listening To?

Larry Ortega Ortega is the owner of Obliq Art, which is participating in Arizona Center's Art Detour Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? It would not be the radio -- in ... More >>

Jeremy Wiseman Pickets Mesa Police on Street Corner, Uses Loaded Gun to Hold Up His Sign

Here's your lesson of the day, folks: if you're going out to picket your local police department on a street corner, consider using something other than a loaded shotgun as a signpost.We give that seemingly appropriate advice only because Mesa police say that's what 37-year-old Jeremy Wiseman did ye ... More >>

Audio Released of Cops Arresting Mesa Man Who Used a Loaded Shotgun to Protest Police

Mesa police have released an audio recording from yesterday's arrest of 37-year-old Jeremy Wiseman, who decided to picket the Mesa Police Department with a shotgun at 3 a.m.Really, the audio sounds like the situation just as police described it, except for the exclusion of the officer's sigh of reli ... More >>

Phoenix Cold Snap Is Over, But What Are the Repercussions for Local Farmers and the Restaurants Who Buy From Them?

The 5 to 6-day cold snap that pushed Phoenix temperatures lower than those in Chicago and Boston is over, and today, it's positively balmy outside. This morning's low was a toasty 40 degrees in town. For most of us, handling the arctic weather required little more than piling on a few extra layers o ... More >>

Battling YouTube for Money and Creative Control

Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund Chat About the Film Version of On the Road

Top Five Must-See Shows This Weekend

Curious about what's going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions where to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don't fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend.

Limbeck Takes Its Act Back on the Highway

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 >>

Eastside Records Returns to Tempe...Again

If you were saddened by the closure of the original Eastside Records in Tempe two years ago -- as well as the shuttering of its pop-up reincarnation earlier this year -- dry those tears, grab some extra cash, and get ready for a vinyl spending spree. The venerated record emporium is returning to Te ... More >>

Two Ex-Cons Fight for Stakes in a Gold-for-Cash Business

Scottsdale Mayor Voted to Give Taxpayer Coin to His Campaign Consultant, Jason Rose, for Polo Tournament Run by... Jason Rose

See also: Is the Bloom Off the (Jason) Rose?The Scottsdale Polo Championships will be back this fall, thanks to the Scottsdale City Council unanimously approving the use of taxpayer money to fund almost half of the event's budget.Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane -- who uses Valley P.R. hotshot Jason Rose's ... More >>

We Challenged Five Metro Phoenix Bartenders to Make a Drink Called "The Haboob": Here's What They Poured

See also: Laurie Notaro's Recipe for Haboob Brownies If New Orleans can have The Hurricane (a cocktail typically mixed with rum and fruit juice or grenadine), we figure it's high time someone invented The Haboob. And so for the past few weeks, we've scoured the streets of Phoenix in search of barte ... More >>

Marilyn Monroe's Pallbearer Allan Abbott to Tell All in Pardon My Hearse

Footage of Monroe's funeral on YouTube: Abbott says he's the left-front pallbearer as the coffin's being taken from the Westwood chapel Regular readers of this blog know that the 50th anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe is not normally something I would write about or comment on, but it's no ... More >>

SB 1070 Quiz: "Spot the Immigrant," Courtesy of Congressman Luis Gutierrez

Let's all play Sand Land's new favorite game... Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez is freaking cool. A passionate pro-immigrant advocate and enemy of nativist goobers everywhere, the guy also has a sense of humor, as evidenced by his appearance on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this ... More >>

Larry Dever Is a Real Arizona Sheriff

Arizona Diamondbacks Continue Season-Opening Run, Down San Diego Padres in 11 Innings

The Arizona Diamondbacks have now won all four of the team's first games, with the latest victory coming after 11 innings last night against the San Diego Padres in southern California.The game winning play -- a Chris Young two-run home run in the top of the 11th off former D'Backs pitcher Micah Owi ... More >>

How the Valley's Legendary Restaurants Keep Up With the Times

St Ranger to Release Life Coach LP on Tuesday

​ I wasn't being hyperbolic when I called St Ranger the most promising young band in Phoenix in my list of personal favorite records from last year. The indie pop band's newest five-track LP, Life Coach, proves my point, brimming with harmonious group vocals, jangly guitar interplay, and chill ... More >>

Cycle: Meet Chad Beyer, the Valley's Top Pro Cyclist

​Like many other Valley of the Sun residents, Chad Beyer arrived into town as a grade-schooler from the mid-west. Little did he know at the time that he would leave town en route to becoming the most successful professional road cyclist that Phoenix has ever seen.Beyer may not carry the same name ... More >>

Snapshots of a City, and New-Found Love for a Hometown

Numero Group to Reissue George Bowman and Memphis Soul Single

Phoenix music historian Johnny "D" Dixon has a way with words. He recently updated his Mostly Vinyl Facebook page (the official site of his Sunday evening anything-goes program on KWSS 106.7) with a cryptic message: "What can I say.....I can't believe this has been sittin' in the can for 40 years ... More >>

X's Exene Cervenka's Advice to Female Musicians: "Don't Get Married"

​ X set itself apart from its first-generation punk contemporaries with Exene Cervenka and John Doe's dueling vocals and a serious dose of roots and rockabilly in its sound. X has a difficult and fascinating history. Cervenka and Doe started the band as a couple, got married, divorced, wrote ... More >>

Dozens of Teenage Boy Scout Explorers Have Been Sexually Abused by Cops; Should Scouts Share the Blame?

Just How Far Can the Paranormal Activity Franchise Go with "Found" Footage?

H2O's Adam Blake on Promoting a Positive Lifestyle, Post-9/11 New York City, and Appropriate Times to Hardcore Dance

​Within These Walls has a pretty impressive line-up of hardcore acts. H2O is headlining and making their first Arizona appearance since playing with Bane three years ago. We spoke to bassist Adam Blake, who insists that Arizona has not intentionally been skipped. The band likes to play in as ... More >>

Mental Illness Hasn't Stopped Chris Shelton from Becoming a World-Class Boxing Historian

Face to Face at Nile Theater, 7/1/11

Melissa Fossum​ Face to Face Nile TheaterFriday, July 1 The '90s were a good time for punk rock. Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph, Lookout, and Nitro were powerhouses of the upbeat catchy punk that dominated Warped Tour's glory days. While many of the bands that defined the genre have faded away after y ... More >>

John McCain Doubles Down on Racist Scapegoating of Latino Migrants

CNNMcCain, digging the hole deeper after his racist comments over the weekend When white nationalist websites and racist minutemen with erstwhile ties to child killers are championing your cause, you know you've made a serious error. Particularly when you're a failed presidential candidate still des ... More >>

The Love Me Nots' Nicole Laurenne on New Album, New/Old Drummer and Beating Breast Cancer

Jason GarciaThe Love Me Nots​If you're looking for an example of the old platitude that "attitude is everything," you could do a lot worse than Love Me Nots vocalist/organist Nicole Laurenne. Less than a year removed from a breast cancer scare that forced the band into a five-month hiatus, Laurenn ... More >>

Antique Scream Is an Ex-Valley Band Finding Success in Seattle

STEAK 'N' IDENTITY

YOUTH MUST BE SERVED