While U2 without the hubris sounds like not only a bad idea, but a self-canceling one, The Devlins — preceding bands like Travis and Coldplay — have been exploring that gas planet for nearly a decade. And as it turns out, there’s life there after all, particularly in love songs…
Backstage at some nameless arena, the freakishly masked thrash-metal terrorists of Slipknot conduct their traditional pre-concert confab: “We really rocked the hizzle last night,” says frontman Corey Taylor (a.k.a. No. 8). “Although y’all are bummed that the crowds aren’t what they used to be, the single Duality from our newest…
Dateline Duluth, Minnesota — On Tuesday, a Minnesota district court judge threw out a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by 37-year-old Duluth native Brian Swerzyk against the indie rock trio Low and its label, Sub Pop Records. Swerzyk had claimed breach of contract and severe emotional distress after purchasing the band’s 2005…
T.S. Eliot dubbed April “the cruelest month,” but even The Waste Land neglected to point out that National Humor and National Anxiety Month share the same calendar page. As do National Welding Month, International Guitar Month, and Uh-Huh Month, which might quicken the failing hearts of John Cougar Mellencamp devotees…
It’s the second Friday night in a row I’ve been hanging out in Heather Rae Johnson’s living room, listening to Johnson and her husband, Shannon Marino, roll through the repertoire of honky-tonk and hillbilly country tracks they play as Heather Rae and Her Moonshine Boys, peppered liberally with covers of…
Ed Dominguez, 38, painter, Phoenix booster, refugee from architecture and from San Juan, Puerto Rico, his birthplace. His large-format paintings of nuns have made brides of Christ hotter than ever, and his newest series is designed to do the same for our downtown skyscrapers. Jump high or stay home: San…
“He’s the exact same guy after 25 years,” I exclaim to my old college buddy, Aaron, who’s in town visiting, as well as to my 74-year-old stepdad, Nick. “What’d you expect?” says Nick, as we all crowd around my television and watch a DVD of my old band, Roach Motel…
Note to young hipsters who want to claim famed underground filmmaker George Kuchar as their own: You’re 40 years too late. Although Kuchar is hotter than ever with disaffected young film fans, his oeuvre of oddball movies actually belongs to your parents — assuming your parents are the sort of…
Earlier this month, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association commandeered the National Press Club for a “media briefing.” Reporters from publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal showed up en masse. The news of the day on March 11 was the filing of a mammoth lawsuit…
I consider myself an environmentalist. And I’ve long been a strong supporter of Native American rights. But in recent days I have become outraged over the astounding hypocrisy of both groups in their opposition to a proposal that would allow for a relatively small expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl. The…
Looking at him, you’d never know. The cocaine, the heroin, the meth, the whiskey. The days on end with no sleep, just one big roll after another, from one bar to the next with the pager going off at all hours and the hours themselves without meaning — time flies…
THU 31 Who knew it would take 25 self-proclaimed “idiots” to end an 86-year-old curse? Or that it would take almost eight years to get the Boston Red Sox to visit Bank One Ballpark? Anchored by former Arizona Diamondback and 2001 World Series co-MVP Curt Schilling, the world champs make…
Does the world really need a new film from Woody Allen every single year? Yes, he is one of America’s great auteurs. Yes, he’s responsible for some very fine movies, many of them comedies (Annie Hall), several of them tragedies (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Another Woman), and some hovering in that…
Thursday 31 Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with AKA (gothic, industrial) Axis/Radius: DJ MCB (hip-hop, dance) Big Fish Pub: Reggae Thursdays with Selector J-Cut & DJ Blackstar (reggae, dance hall) Dos Gringos –…
1. Prefuse 73, Surrounded by Silence (Warp Records) 2. The Evens, The Evens (Dischord) 3. Pigeon John, Sings the Blues (Red Urban Records) 4. Queens of the Stone Age, Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope) 5. Adolescents, Complete Demos 1980-1986 (Frontier Records) 6. Sole, Live From Rome (Anticon) 7. Enon, Lost Marbles…
For the better part of the ’70s, TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo (“TP” for tout puissant, or “all powerful”) served as the house band for the tiny African nation of Benin, acting both as self-contained funk band and session musicians for homeless vocalists. The group’s stateside profile is slight — an oversight…
Sure, they’ve become an arena band, at least in their native U.K., but Welsh trio Stereophonics have needed a serious kick in the ass for a while now. It’s been extremely frustrating to watch the promise of their vibrant 1997 debut album, Word Gets Around, steadily dissipate via a string…
The greatest cult bands of recent decades — The Pogues, The Replacements, The Pixies — have been musical universes unto themselves. By that standard, Leatherface fits right in, even if the British band’s fan base is closer in size to a cult-of-a-cult. Sprouting around 1990 from melodic hardcore, Dickensian-named bandleader…
Killswitch Engage’s music pulls no punches. It’s fast, heavy and doesn’t let up. Yet somehow this Massachusetts band was tapped to headline the Taste of Chaos tour with My Chemical Romance and The Used, two hardcore punk-rock bands that share Killswitch’s tendency to have fun on stage. Case in point:…
“Atmosphere finally made a good record . . . yeah, right, that shit almost sounds convincing,” Minneapolis-based MC Slug, head of the Rhymesayers collective and label, raps on “Trying to Find a Balance,” off Atmosphere’s 2003 Seven’s Travels LP. Actually Atmosphere’s put out a shitload of good records, the most…
Dale Chihuly: Before Dale Chihuly became the godfather of art glass, he worked as a commercial fisherman to earn money for grad school. He brings this memory of the world beneath the waves to the glass works on exhibit at Phoenix’s premier contemporary art gallery. Eight undulating pieces that look…
I’ve written many thousands of words about my most beloved gadget, the GameBoy. And, of course, the GameBoy Advance. Tiny machines that let me play video games on the go. I could play golf while standing in line at the supermarket, play Tetris at the bank, and Zelda on the…
