Scott Bomar of The Bo-Keys on The Memphis Sound

It’s been a good year for Memphis instrumental soul. Not only did original groover Booker T. release a great album (The Road From Memphis), but The Bo-Keys, featuring Stax, Hi Records, and American Studios pros Floyd Newman, Floyd Newman, Archie “Hubby” Turner, Archie “Hubby” Turner, a cast of younger Memphis…

St. Vincent at Crescent Ballroom, 10/20/11

St. Vincent Crescent Ballroom Thursday, October 20 On the lightrail ride home, the words of a friend: “Do you think she was wearing that ring to ward off potential stalkers or is there something she isn’t telling us?” Sounds like a funny question, but it isn’t all that unreasonable. St…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our October 20 Issue

This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What ten songs did we pick to soundtrack the Occupy protests? What legendary country stars are…

World Class Thugs @ The Lost Leaf

It’s hard not to wonder where super-villains like The Joker and The Penguin picked up their henchmen thugs. They never seemed that good at what they did, always standing around and second-guessing their evil-genius bosses. To make matters worse, they didn’t even seem to be that tough; Batman and Robin…

Collie Buddz @ Clubhouse Music Venue

As we gear up for another election season, it’s easy to start thinking about all the things America gets wrong. But even though our politics may be screwed up, our music often gets it right. Jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop. They were born here, and if you really want…

Jon Rauhouse @ Crescent Ballroom

There’s no other way to put it: Jon Rauhouse is a badass. When the dude shows up to play on your record or add a little of his pedal steel to your live show, it is going to sound good. Really good. There’s a reason why Los Angeles-based music blog…

Landmine Marathon Featured on Brooklyn Vegan

Tipped off from a friend over at Waved Rumor, we were alerted today that prominent music blog Brooklyn Vegan featured Phoenix’s own Landmine Marathon as part of the blog’s CMJ coverage. Well, kinda. Landmine didn’t play as part of the official CMJ Music Marathon, but that didn’t stop Brooklyn Vegan…

Digital Summer Drummer Ben Anderson Plays Contra on Drums

Local success story Digital Summer has a lot of fans around the Valley and nationwide after touring with hard rock draws like Sevendust, Saliva, and Drowning Pool. I’m not one of those fans; the band plays the kind of crunchy, nu-metal drives me up a wall. But like I said,…

Maria Taylor Playing for Free at Crescent Ballroom Tonight

Okay, so Crescent Ballroom has been open two full weeks, which is long enough for us to review five shows there, eat one of Chris Bianco’s burritos, and listen as all the “cool kids” started calling the place “Crescent.”Stateside and Crescent owner Charlie Levy has enjoyed the past two weeks,…

Felice Brothers’ Christmas on Celebration, Florida

Released back in May, Celebration, Florida, by New York band The Felice Brothers, is a confusing record. Take the first track, “Fire at the Pageant,” with its chorus of screaming children, stomping cadence, and menacing, howling vocals. It’s the sound of Americana set loose in the record store overnight, munching…

Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson Headed to Heard Museum

Two of classic country’s baddest bad-boys, Merle “Hag” Haggard and Kris “That Dude From the First Blade Movie” Kristofferson, are headed to Phoenix this week, and they are not performing at a typically “country” place like Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar & Grill. No, the digs will be classier,…

More Oral History of Phoenix Skate Punk

Over the past couple weeks I interviewed key members of the early ’80s Phoenix skate punk scene. The results, printed in this week’s issue, coincide with this weekend’s JFA 30th Anniversary show at Hollywood Alley. Everyone I spoke to was funny, insightful, and a genuine lifer; people doing it because…

Wilco Is Coming to Tempe in January! Hooray!

In one of my favorite pieces he wrote at New Times, former music editor Martin Cizmar argued that Wilco, one of my favorite bands, was, for all intents and purposes, no different than Dave Matthew Band, a group I don’t like. (Anymore, at least. I was a pretty big fan…

Lindsey Buckingham at Celebrity Theatre, 10/12/11

Linsdey Buckingham Celebrity Theatre Wednesday, October 12 “The small machine.” That’s how Lindsey Buckingham described his solo work, comparing it to the “big machine” that is Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham was about halfway through a kind of extended monologue about the differences between his massive, stadium-touring collaboration with Stevie Nicks, Mick…