PDP is not the newest designer drug or texting acronym. No, it’s the hip way to name-drop Poi Dog Pondering, the cross-cultural band that flirted briefly with mainstream success in the 1990s and has managed to stick around without it. Why? Because there are never enough party bands on tour…
Eric Bibb and Habib Koité @ Musical Instrument Museum|2/11/13The distance between Memphis, Tennessee, and Bamako, Mali, West Africa, is geographically large, but last night that distance in musical terms was no more than the three feet separating Eric Bibb and Habib Koité on the Musical Instrument Museum stage…
From music to cars, clothing to sporting events, the world is be compartmentalized and reduced into specific niches–and finding the right niche is crucial in making most any event or concept work well. That said, CitySolve Urban Race planners are calling for all sneaker-wearing pop culture guru public transportation-riding adventure…
Blues Control duo guitarist Russ Waterhouse and pianist Lea Cho travel the spaceways of indie rock on an undulating platform of psychedelia, electronic, jazz, prog, and new age conventions. The combined result is music that flows from blissful quiet to hypnotically droning to feedback-drenched loud, with any number of random…
Think one-man band: cymbals on the elbows, drum on the back, horns under the arms, and tambourines on the knees creating a cacophony of sound designed to annoy passersby. Now, try to envision That 1 Guy, a.k.a. Mike Silverman, as he takes the one-man band concept to a whole new…
Was Tito Puente the first Latin funk pioneer? The bandleader behind many driving albums blending Latin traditions with swinging jazz would have been hard-pressed to say yes — funk wasn’t yet invented. But by the 1970s, there were no doubt about the groundbreaking intentions of the Fania Allstars. Move forward…
It may be hard to believe, but one of the world’s best vintage auto museums is not in Phoenix, but in Fairbanks, Alaska. With more than 100 cars dating back to the 1890s, including some original prototypes, steam-powered cars, and a Ford Model -T that converts into a snow cat,…
Who can truly be satisfied only watching the trailer of a film before it’s released. For true film buffs this only adds to the longing and desire to get to the multiplex on release day (with tickets purchased in advance, of course). But why wait? Instead, get the jump on…
Jimmy Webb @ Musical Instrument Museum|2/1/13It’s always interesting hearing an alternate version of a popular song. That’s one of the appeals of live music. But that version is especially worthwhile when it’s the original version by the original artist. Such is the case at a Jimmy Webb concert. A prolific…
Editor’s Note: As of 12:50 p.m. on Thursday, January 31, reservations for StoryCorps are full. StoryCorps members are still taking calls and placing those interested in participating on waiting lists in case of cancellations. Those wanting to get inside the vintage Airstream trailer soon to be parked in front of…
It’s hard to shy away from a good fight, and none fight better than brothers. So what will we get when brothers Jim and John Harbaugh square off against each other in Super Bowl XLVII at the New Orleans Superdome? Chances are they’ll let their respective teams — Jim’s San…
Listening to the North Mississippi Allstars’ debut album, Shake Hands with Shorty, in 2000 was like getting hit in the face with a giant blues paddle. I mean, where did that sound suddenly come from? The music was loud, aggressive, and up front, and the raw edge made it hard…
By the time he gets to Phoenix, Jimmy Webb expects to be over the flu that’s been dogging him recently. The consummate songwriter of such iconic hits as “MacArthur Park,” Up, Up and Away,” “Galveston,” Wichita Lineman,” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” is excited to bring his…
It’s hard to know where to start with The Residents. The band’s press release claims that they neither exist nor play any instruments, and yet they have released more than 60 albums, a smattering of videos, DVDs, and short films, and produced a handful of theater productions as well. It’s…
Editor’s note: Amazing Arizona Comic Con has announced that because of an illness, Stan Lee will not be appearing. Remember when comic books cost a dime and you would rush the newsstand every Friday after school for some weekend reading? Batman, Superman and Spider-Man were the big ones, but there…
William Shatner’s clearly The Transformed Man, as his 1967 record asserts. His meteoric rise began with Star Trek, reassuring everyone that space was “the final frontier” before boldly overacting in every episode of the show’s three-year run. The criticism and laughter he garnered have never stopped him from doing things…
Punk rockers don’t die, they just go acoustic. While that’s not exactly a great T-shirt slogan (and certainly would elicit some scowls from old-school punkers still plying their trade), it is something of a recent trend within the bluegrass realm, with bands like Split Lip Rayfield, Yonder Mountain String Band,…
Our friend’s young son asked if he could help blow up the balloons at the fourth annual Cave Creek Balloon Festival at Rancho Mañana Golf Club’s driving range. Well, we explained, it takes a lot of hot air to get the giant, colorful balloons – one of which is a…
Mergence is one of those Phoenix bands that garners incredible local hype for its talents while simultaneously admitting that such popularity would be considerably less likely in New York or Los Angeles. While the plaudits of the critics generally are a bit over the top, the band really does have…
Singer-songwriter and folk troubadour Greg Brown is more than just another guy with a guitar and resonant voice. Brown’s ability to forge a musical style that melds Appalachia, folk, and blues with lyrics that capture the spirit of the land and the people who live and work on it has…
On “Just Another Rider,” from 2011’s Low Country Blues, Gregg Allman’s first non-compilation album since 1997, raw emotions well up on this heavy Southern-blues tune as he sings, “Just another rider on that train to nowhere.” And nowhere was where the Allman Brothers Band namesake was headed had it not…
Home is where you hang your hat, but if artist Troy Moody gets hold of it, it might become encased in glass. “Home” is the name of Moody’s current exhibition at Practical Art, wrapping up the idea that every home carries the “intangible heirlooms of family mythology and cultural narrative.”…
