Despite the near-constant backbiting and backstabbing that seems to take place in the Valley’s music scene, it’s kinda cool that artists will band together to help out an old friend in their time of need. To wit: A slew of old-school DJs and music-scene veterans will gather on Sunday, December…
Somewhere in America, Jeff Miller’s ears are burning. The towering vocalist of defunct Bay Area hardcore act Bad Posture, which used to hang with the likes of Dead Kennedys and Flipper during punk’s early-’80s glory days, is getting dissed something fierce by local record store owner Michael Pawlicki. The 49-year-old…
It’s the holiday season, which means lights are everywhere: On your neighbor’s house, decorating the local bar, and on buildings of downtown Phoenix. During the buildup to Christmas, Jackalope Ranch will be running the numbers on some of the best and brightest light displays around the Valley. In any Valley…
To say that just a few celebrations will be taking place on New Year’s Eve is a huge understatement. Pretty much any and every drinking or dining establishment will be counting down the seconds until 2012 before popping corks at midnight.So the question is not if you’ll be celebrating on…
If you’re planning a major rager on New Year’s Eve, consider dialing things down a notch and holding back a bit of your energy, sanity, and cash. The Decentralized Dance Party is slated to take over Phoenix just four days later on Wednesday, January 4, and it’s an event you won’t…
The true test of any bar’s popularity isn’t if it’s crowded on Friday or Saturday (every place is like that), but rather if it’s just as busy on an off night like Sunday. Based upon the amount of people that crammed themselves inside SideBar during Retro Hi-Fi on Sunday, December…
Christmas comes a little early to Chow Bella this year — in the form of some darn good holiday storytelling. Today, Benjamin Leatherman sings a tune of Christmas past. As an audience of hundreds watched on in shock and amusement on a Christmas night many years ago, I was making…
If you ever took the time to plot out a flowchart depicting Phoenix’s vastly interconnected DJ/dance scene, its incredibly likely that the name Zach Sciacca, better known as Z-Trip, would be at its heart.Practically every turntablist, mixmaster, or knob-twister in the Valley has some sort of connection to Sciacca, either…
It’s the holiday season, which means lights are everywhere: On your neighbor’s house, decorating the local bar, and on buildings of downtown Phoenix. During the buildup to Christmas, Jackalope Ranch will be running the numbers on some of the best and brightest light displays around the Valley. Thousands upon thousands…
It’s the holiday season, which means lights are everywhere: On your neighbor’s house, decorating the local bar, and on buildings of downtown Phoenix. During the buildup to Christmas, Jackalope Ranch will be running the numbers on some of the best and brightest light displays around the Valley. Visiting the eclectic…
Everyone’s got one in their closet — hidden back behind that pair of jeans that will never fit again is the ugly holiday sweater or pullover that was either given to you by a doddering relative, picked up at a local thrift store on a lark, or purchased on Etsy…
Most Christmastime displays tend to be manic and frantic orgies of light that usually border on cacophony and involve homeowners trying to cram as many bulbs as possible. Not so with Holiday Mountain. The yearly display at the Val Vista Lakes housing community in Gilbert is more of a tranquil…
Here’s a Christmas story that’s bound to warm your heart: Local hip-hop cipher Benjamin Walker (better known by his stage name Mr. Puma MC) is at the tail end of a battle with cancer, partly due to the efforts of plenty of Valley DJs.The 39-year-old emcee, who’s been working the…
Thursday 15 Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) Bar Smith: Ladies Night with DJ Idenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ Danny Peru (old school, Latin, Top 40) Crescent Ballroom: Boomstick! with Balam Acab, Jared Alan, BC/AD, President Gator, Fast Eddie, & more (various) Dollhouse Cocktail Lounge:…
If all those maudlin and mawkish Christmas commercials on the boob tube are to be taken at face value, the holiday season is a time of peace, goodwill, and social harmony. The ugly truth, however, is that the “most wonderful time of the year” is anything but. It’s an effin’…
Pandrogynous industrial icon and Psychic TV frontma . . . uh, frontperson Genesis P-Orridge hasn’t had the warmest of receptions in the Valley. In 2007, the British-born transgender artist — who founded landmark act Throbbing Gristle and helped influence early industrial and other nascent EDM genres — was scheduled to…
Attention vinyl collectors, music geeks, and audiophiles of the Valley: One of your favorite record stores will finally be reborn on Friday. The Ghost of Eastside Records, the pop-up reincarnation of the now-defunct vinyl shop that was located at University Drive and Ash Avenue for more than 20 years, is…
It’s a bit of a bittersweet time for artist Jenny Fontana. The 27-year-old painter is excitedly putting the finishing touches on “Winter Carnival: Something Wicked This Way Comes,” which opens on Friday and will be the biggest show of her painting career thus far. Tempering this enthusiasm, however, is the…
The streets of Ahwatukee are an absolute treasure trove of illuminated and decorated houses during the holiday season, including the yearly display at the home of Frank and Dianne Polimene. In the shadows of the nearby South Mountain, the landmark red lights of the peak’s television towers shine in the darkness…
Geeks and fanatical collectors of designer vinyl figures have another reason to visit Second Friday in downtown Mesa tonight (or any other night), as the grand opening of Lulubell Toy Bodega takes place tonight.The designer toy boutique, which relocated from Tucson’s Fourth Avenue to Mesa’s Main Street last month, is the…
Renowned local punk promoter Will Anderson, who recently left the Valley and is the subject of this week’s music feature, has lost count of the number of shows he’s attended or promoted over the past 20 years. “I can’t remember what the exact total is, honestly,” Anderson says, laughing. “It…
It’s the holiday season, which means lights are everywhere: On your neighbor’s house, decorating the local bar, and on buildings of downtown Phoenix. During the buildup to Christmas, Jackalope Ranch will be running the numbers on some of the best and brightest light displays around the Valley. The Glendale residence…
