Don’t you just love watching children cry when they didn’t get absolutely everything they wanted for Christmas? If there’s one kernel of knowledge worth taking away from this painfully gluttonous holiday season, it’s that you can’t please everyone. For some reason, the people behind the weekly Embargo Wednesday refuse to…
If the term “butt-shake” isn’t part of your musical vernacular, you had better get hip ASAP and have a listen to Phoenix’s own Acapulco-Five-O. Inspired by ’50s and ’60s spy music, go-go, Latin exotica, and, of course, butt-shake, Acapulco-Five-O was designed to infect the masses with the rockin’ pneumonia and…
If the term “butt-shake” isn’t part of your musical vernacular, you’d better get hip ASAP and have a listen to Phoenix’s own Acapulco-Five-O. Inspired by ’50s and ’60s spy music, go-go, Latin exotica, and, of course, butt-shake, Acapulco-Five-O was designed to infect the masses with the rockin’ pneumonia and the…
With a name like Alfred Darlington, it’s not terribly surprising that the IDM and electronica producer behind Los Angeles’ one-man band Daedelus looks like a cross between a 19th-century fop and a new-millennial Beck. Though Daedelus may be rep’n the West Coast, his clever sampling techniques and precocious beat creations…
James Mulhern, guitarist/vocalist of local indie band What Laura Says Thinks and Feels, speaks of his first concert experience with pride. It was a Bon Jovi show, Mulhern was in the ninth row, and it was “pretty badass.” The rest of the band has no qualms about listing the “skin…
Remember when nu metal first blew up? All of a sudden, every high school burnout, slacker, and social pariah started sporting dreadlock pigtails, spooky contact lenses, and DIY accessories stolen from the local hardware store. All the kids who used to sit alone at lunch began to recognize this commonality…
Why is it that the heaviest bands often have the goofiest names? There’s a definite trend within the grindcore, hardcore, and death-metal scenes demanding cheesy names, outrageous costumes, cartoonish stage antics, and song after song about nonserious subjects such as drinking (or abstinence, for the straight-edgers). Bands like Arsonists Get…
Why is it that the heaviest bands often have the goofiest names? There’s a definite trend within the grindcore, hardcore, and death-metal scenes demanding cheesy names, outrageous costumes, cartoonish stage antics, and song after song about nonserious subjects such as drinking or abstinence for the straight-edgers. Bands like Arsonists Get…
If there’s one product the U.S. imports from Europe in larger quantities than luxury automobiles, it’s electronic dance music. In the last decade, EDM has virtually conquered the club scenes on both continents with related genres such as techno, house, trance, industrial, drum ‘n’ bass, hardcore, electro, electronica… the list…
Want to become part of the highest echelon of hipster culture? Then you’ve got to take something considered “uncool” and make it trendy. Just look at recent successes such as the mullet and the fanny pack, which have helped pave the way for various new “so lame it’s cool” trends…
It’s not terribly surprising that 95 percent of the Phoenix hipster population wants to move to Portland. In the great Oregon city, you can still smoke inside the bars, plus it’s chock-full of mom-and-pop businesses, good-looking twentysomethings, and a music scene crazy enough to spawn a traveling Gypsy-marching-band-sideshow-circus-extravaganza like the…
If First Friday is Phoenix’s art/fashion/music love child, then SMoCA Nights is the older brother who aced law school at Harvard and married a B-list celebrity. While Birkenstocks and dreadlocks define the dress code on Roosevelt, the Scottsdale art scene is strictly dress to impress. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary…
Okay, so Phoenix isn’t a cultural mecca. Big whoopin’ deal, ’cause we got pop culture, baby, and one of our societal claims to fame — skateboarding — permeates everything from music and fashion to film and art. Watch these elements coalesce during the opening of the “DECK” invitational skateboard exhibition…
Redneck, white, and blue? AZ’s largest GLBT fest is not for you. Redneck freaks will no doubt be in a lather about all o’ “them gays” congregatin’ yonder in downtown Phoenix for this year’s free Rainbows Festival, but let’s hope more open-minded folks decide to drop by, ´cause it’s always…
Longtime neighborhood-bar patrons can finally rejoice, because the new downtown gem known as the Ruby Room has expanded its calendar of pleasurable events to include local art, awesome DJs, and talented bands seven nights a week. The good people who brought you the Emerald Lounge have created dive-bar magic once…
Whatever happened to partyin’ ’til you puke on a Monday night? Well, BYO barf bag, ’cause the partying’s back with the return of We Are Elektric!, an 18-and-over eve of live music and raunchy dancing to DJ spins. Crystal Castles headlines with a DJ set following its recent Marquee Theatre…
Does anyone know how to say “sexy dance orgy” in Italian? Because that’s the most accurate term for what’ll happen when internationally known DJ Benny Benassi drops by Myst. Benassi has earned critical acclaim from some of the most famous DJs in the world for his innovative blend of dirty…
The thing about our beloved Scottsdale socialites is that they’d all rather be in Vegas. In fact, with enough booze, drugs, and scantily clad women, many of them actually believe they are. This weekend will be no exception, as Sin City nightlife guru extraordinaire DJ Shift hits the decks at…
Are there any Gin Blossoms fans in the house? Of course there are, seeing as how Phoenix is the last city in the world to have a thriving ´90s alternative-Americana scene in the new millennium. The sound that put Tempe on the map lives on in Gin Blossoms-turned-Roger Clyne and…
What happens when a group of twisted, renegade artist types decide to transform their performance space into a vaudevillian cabaret? Sheer madness, apparently, ´cause that’s what the brilliantly warped minds at Soul Invictus are calling their new Sheer Madness Cabaret. The run opens with a benefit for Artists’ Theatre Project…
Surely you clubgoers must be tired of hearing the same mindless Top 40 hits that stink up the airwaves every day. At this point, no amount of booze can make you wanna shake it to “Party Like a Rock Star” (just givin’ you the benefit of the doubt here). So…
Contrary to prevailing opinion, being a full-time socialite is hard work. The trick? Make it look as effortless as the Hiltons, Lohans, and Tara Reids of the world. One of the most demanding obligations of the professional socialite is to look flawless — we’re talkin’ paparazzi-ready — all the time…
