What the hell is pop/punk, anyway? Wasn’t punk originally a coup d’état against bloated pop stars? Well, if there is such a thing as pop/punk, The Dollyrots are it. Think the soda-pop effervescence of Belinda Carlisle’s Go-Go’s surgically sutured to Nirvana’s jagged harmonics. The L.A. trio’s single “Because I’m Awesome”…

Tiki bars are so damn pleasant, what with all the tropical accouterments and umbrella drinks. Shayna’s is taking tiki back to its hoodoo roots with the Thursday-night weekly Haunted Tiki with DJ Horsepussy. The equine-punani man spins a spooky surf/garage/rockabilly/punk/rock mélange. Thursdays, 2007…

We’ll occasionally tune in to CBS’ Ghost Whisperer to check out Jennifer Love Hewitt’s boo . . . er, sparkling acting abilities, and to NBC’s Medium because, well, Patricia Arquette actually has acting abilities. Then there’s the dearly departed’s main man — James Van Praagh, whose work as a medium…

The street-art creations of California’s Style Renegades — comprised of Randy B. and Lady Orchid — ain’t your granny’s black-velvet Elvis. The artists/models/photographers/musicians perform original tunes and display their edgy, “neo-klassical” mixed-media works. Chicks with guns is a recurring theme. Sat., Sept. 1, 6-10 p.m…

You might need to down a few brews after reading this, but the Milwaukee Brewers are battling the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central. The world ends either way, right? The rejuvenated Brew Crew, which starts a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks, is led by budding…

At 19, most of us are zapping the last of our zits and flicking the lint from our pocket change so we can swing the two-tacos-for-99-cents deal at Jack-in-the-Box. Then again, most us aren’t 19-year-old Hilary Duff, the TV/movie/pop/video game/clothing-line/fragrance star. Duff, best known as the awkward teen Lizzie McGuire…

For such an anti-literate place, Phoenix sure boasts a wealth of internationally renowned authors — none more so than Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon who writes vampire tales for teenage girls. You’ll have to fend off the rabid horde with garlic and holy water when Meyer signs her new vamp romance,…

It’s time again for the Elvis faithful to grovel at the Graceland gates. Locally, our commemoration of the King’s 1977 demise is more subdued — if you can call the Elvis Memorial Sunset Dog Walk subdued. Those who dress like Presley win prizes, and their furry pals get treats –…

Cinderella. Great White. Winger. Dokken. Skid Row. Didn’t we stake these bleached-blond bobbleheads in the heart 20 years ago? Well, rock’s generational tendency to recycle itself has reopened the hair-band crypt, and, though most of these girlie-men Nosferati aren’t worth mentioning, Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille is a special case. First…

So you’re in your parents’ garage searching for your beloved high school bong — which you claimed was for a chemistry project — and you come across a box full of home-movie reels filled with mortifying images of your bare baby butt and that high-and-tight your dad made you get…

If the ladies of the WNBA’s New York Liberty were on The Apprentice, The Donald would nix the lot of ’em. At presstime, the Liberty were still in the hunt for a playoff spot, but sporting a non-sparkling sub-.500 record. They take on our Phoenix Mercury, who haven’t been rattling…

No matter that comedian Louis C.K. has an Emmy on his mantel or that Comedy Central ranked him as one of the “100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.” Unless he discovers a cure for cancer, Pootie Tang will be his legacy. The Chris Rock pal wrote and directed the 2001…

Every Phoenician knows the one overriding rule for beating the summer heat: Stay out of the damn sun. You can do just that while checking out blooming flora, crepuscular fauna, and other treasures lurking in the gloaming murk during the Summer Flashlight Tour. Thursdays, Saturdays, 7 p.m. Starts: June 2…

Here’s a short list of things that tourists think of when they think of Phoenix: Saguaros. Coyotes with neckerchiefs. Scottsdale resorts. Golf. We don’t have the data to support this, but we figure that the latter — and by extension, the tourism derived from it — ranks a close second…

Neil Simon. Big, splashy touring musical. “Hey, big spender” — va voom, va voom — “spennnnnd a little time with me.” This does not sound artistically promising. However, if you spend your time and money on such big-buck bangs, you’ll dig the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity, which stars Paige…

Shiver we timbers? We think not. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ lumber — formerly wee twigs — has finally started to smoke, and we don’t expect that a bunch of third-rate Johnny Depps like the Pittsburgh Pirates will have much to say about dousin’ the flame. As if, ye lowly sea dogs…

Consider some of the movies that were released in 1977: Star Wars. Close Encounters. Saturday Night Fever. All had their day in the sun (the first in the blinding light of Tatooine’s twin suns). One film that didn’t see the light of day that year was Charles Burnett’s Killer of…

Axis/Radius is not for everyone, including us unapologetic fashion victims. But when you’re in the mood to get dressed up and stylishly messed up, try the club’s weekly Saturday Night Strip, which features dancing to DJs MCB and Swerv on the venue’s liquid-nitrogen-cooled floor. Oooh. Aaah…

If you were a white guy of a certain age and sexual inclination in 1977, chances are astronomically good that you had the following posters hanging on your wall: Led Zeppelin, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Stevie Nicks. The first two are obvious choices. Stevie was not. The spun-glass songbird was considered…

1975. David Carradine has just laid down his nunchucks as Kwai Chang “Grass-hoppa” Kane in Kung Fu. Sylvester Stallone is an unknown pug whose mug will soon be known all over the globe. B-movie producer Roger Corman is at the peak of his power. Together, this unlikely triad will create…

Today’s indie music is so high school. You’re in or out based on the whim of those taste police called rock critics. Take The Offspring, the much-excoriated band that was long ago exiled to the loser den behind the Ag building. Jesus, we’d take the sublimely ridiculous “Pretty Fly (for…

Someone famously noted that the young Michael Stipe’s voice was R.E.M.’s lead instrument, and so it is with Theo Kogan of Theo and the Skyscrapers. When we slide in So Many Ways to Die, the NYC trio’s slammin’ debut, we hear in Kogan’s dispassionate snarl echoes of one of rock’s…