Anyone can sense the coming of an M. Night Shyamalan twist from a mile away. Oh, that strict, strange, old-timey cult is actually living on a compound in modern times? I couldn’t tell from the painfully obvious hints you dropped a quarter of the way into the film. For mystery…
Putting a song over 10 minutes long on your debut full-length is masturbatory. Putting three songs that nearly hit the 10-minute mark on the record? That simply doesn’t work, because listeners don’t need much excuse to roll their eyes and shrug as they head off in more fashionable direction. (See:…
It’s the family pool party, and you’re drunk. Then, your uncle strips down to his tighty-whities, and quickly you’re both uncomfortable and drunk. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” you think. Soon, you’re in the pool in your underwear too, managing to humiliate every teenager within a ten block…
Welcome to Radio Roundup, a new series in which we’ll occasionally check in with the ever-shifting world of the Phoenix radio (FM, AM, Internet). Read on for June’s news regarding changes at My Phoenix Music 1039 (goodbye, Dave Pratt; hello, Monti Carlo), Magic City Radio on Power 98.3, and why…
Editor’s note: Occasionally, Up on the Sun contributor Christina Caldwell chimes in on local music, tackling topics like “how to get press” and asking questions like “What makes the ideal music venue?” This week, she addresses a topic we’ve looked at before — the concept of local clubs doing month-long…
Jonathan Cisneros knew Snail Quail was going to trail into the bizarre, and at first, he wasn’t going to drag a backing band into it. Band breakups are hard, but you don’t have to deal with that if you have a bunch of lovable weirdoes backing you up, as the…
During your teenage years, everything is so lame. You can’t drink. You’re under constant parental supervision. Your acne flares up at the thought of talking to the opposite sex. You have nothing to do on the weekends but troll the mall. You’ve seen every single movie the theater has to…
In this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times, we profiled 10 new(ish) bands we expect to dominate Phoenix iPods and boomboxes this long, hot summer. We’ll be focusing more deeply on those artists over the next couple of days on Up on the Sun. See the entire list: 10 Phoenix…
The performers of Cirque du Soleil aren’t shy. In fact, with their gravity-defying stunts, the costume-clad actors aim to make you trip balls while they maintain extraordinary poise. Basically, Cirque brings together the bendiest, stretchiest, most extreme performers around, but with their new show, Kooza, the troupe veers onto a…
In an age when Henry Rollins does Acura commercials, what does “selling out” even mean any more? Tempe “futurepop” band Super Stereo knows a thing or two about product placement: Their ditties have been featured on The Real L Word, TNT’s Rizzoli and Isles, and E!’s Keeping Up with the…
I can’t even start writing this blog without thinking about what an utter hypocrite I am. When I was 12, I obsessed with the Backstreet Boys. I may or may not have wished my Nick Carter poster a good night as I went to sleep. I felt like their music…
Living so close to Mexico, it’s easy to see the Latino influence on day-to-day life here in Arizona — from street names to fashion. And although a few certain contentious state laws enacted might have you believe that that influence goes unappreciated, even downright unaccepted. Sometimes that positive influence needs…
When Ari Leopold moved to the Valley last year, he stumbled upon a burgeoning indie rock scene that couldn’t be ignored. Well, difficult for him to ignore, anyway. The Tempe rock scene he fell in love with isn’t exactly popular if you’re thinking mainstream success. You don’t see parents from…
In a culture where female nudity is revered as art and male nudity is a punch line, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that dudes can be super sexy, too. Still, women snag up almost all of the opportunities to wear very little in public. Up until this…
Hey, nerds! Don’t worry. We’re not going to break your glasses this time. We just want to tell you something. You probably already know Phoenix Comicon is going down next week at Phoenix Convention Center. You probably have your costume already planned out, and you’re in luck: So do some…
Congrats, grad! Not to sound bitter, but back in my day, we had a big, fancy speaker come into town for our college graduation, but we’d gladly give up that memory it meant we wouldn’t be waiting tables the following year. It was a dark time. It was 2009. We…
They told you it couldn’t be done. Back in the ’90s, when your hair was spiky and your clothing preferences included all-too baggy shirts and pants hanging off your butt (preferably simultaneously) they said you’d never make a living skating So you might as well devote to your life to…
Captain Squeegee frontman Danny Torgersen is a bona fide quote machine. The singer and trumpeter is known for his unconventional views. Just take his vocal contribution to a song that asserts 9/11 was an inside job (in dubstep!) or simply supporting underdog Ron Paul for president. Those views might be…
No boys allowed. That’s the mantra of every girl fort ever built. Vigilant in the fight against cooties, girls deem boys simultaneously smelly and stinky, but above all, annoying. My, how times change. Puberty hits, and bam! Boy-craziness begins. “No boys allowed” turns into “Will there be boys there?” Best…
Countless rock docs and tell-alls have confirmed it: Lead singers/songwriters are dictators. Call it an ego thing, but there’s no denying that those dudes know what they want, and if that doesn’t jibe with a band’s established democracy, well . . . tough. Don’t agree with the lead singer? You’ll…
Anything you can do I can do better. Of course, that isn’t the case if you can actually do it better. Just to be clear, this list isn’t about girl power. No doubt, there are dudes who rock harder than some girls and girls who rock harder than some dudes…
It’s safe to say there has been some fairly disheartening news about our state in the past few years. For all the racial and political tension we’ve seen, there still are certain kinds of people who remain optimistic about our future. The artistic community, for one, thinks there’s room to…
