Here’s a band that’s a cluster of contradictions. It’s called Bowling for Soup, but the members are admittedly terrible bowlers and not big fans of soup. It’s a punk band, but it was nominated for the “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group” Grammy in 2003. It’s made up…
Cutthroat Logic is “representin’ Phoenix to tha fullest.” The band’s song “Phire City” may be the best hip-hop shout-out ever to our desert metropolis, with flows like “I’m from where it’s hotter than fuck/And all they bump on the radio is the most commercial rap/Eminem, Puff, or P-Diddy/Whatever the fuck,…
12/30- 2/12 Paul and Corrie just got married. She’s beautiful, and he’s a hotshot lawyer who just won his first case, a whopping 6-cent settlement. But their life as newlyweds quickly digresses into one long, hilarious argument in Neil Simon’s classic comedy Barefoot in the Park, opening Thursday, December 30,…
1/3 – 1/28 Our couch-potato habits are so ingrained that it takes a drill sergeant to get us into shape. Too bad we recoil at the thought of a military haircut. Ladies, on the other hand, can sign up for the Phoenix Adventure Women’s Boot Camp and still keep their…
SAT 1/1 The year 2005 is only mere hours away, so you’d better get cracking on some resolutions quick, lest your better half will think you’re slacking in self-improvement skills. They already guilted you into snuffing out the cigarettes, so consider whipping your fat ass into shape. Plus, you’ve somehow…
12/24-12/25 Can’t afford a plane ticket to go home for the holidays? Don’t end up alone in your crummy apartment with a lukewarm TV dinner when you can surround yourself with a flock of female impersonators at Pookie’s Cafe, 4540 North Seventh Street, where drag queens perform their usual Vegas-style…
What is “Sussudio”? Is it: (a) the title of a Phil Collins song; (b) the title of an Ol’ Dirty Bastard song; (c) the title of a philosophical pop culture performance-art exhibition; or (d) all of the above? The correct answer is (d). Collins first used the word in his…
Texas’ state motto is “Don’t mess with Texas.” Texas psychobilly rocker Jim Heath (a.k.a. the Reverend Horton Heat) has his own take on it: “Don’t mess with a man’s hat.” At a show in Indianapolis in 1999, a frisky female fan grabbed the hat off Heath’s head and promptly received…
SAT 12/18 Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” discussed how to prevent the children of poor people in Ireland from becoming a burden to their parents. One of Swift’s solutions was to eat the children, as they represented a renewable food resource. Modest Proposal magazine — named after Swift’s…
Gaynel Hodge didn’t pick a fight with Dick Dale. He just showed up at Dale’s December 8 performance at the Rhythm Room, got a picture with the man who’d recorded his song “Jessie Pearl” — twice — and thanked him for the $7.75 royalty check Dale sent him (the first…
There may be a lot of bitchy backbiting in the music business at large, but on a local level, great P-town bands understand the spirit of the season. Local rockers Goodbye Tomorrow are the epitome of “good sports” — when the musicians parted ways with bassist David Roat, they posted…
When talking to people from the other side of the country, there are usually three local bands you can name that they’ve heard of: the Gin Blossoms, Jimmy Eat World, and the Phunk Junkeez. And while the Junkeez have yet to tap the mainstream success that GB and JEW experienced,…
THU 12/16 Snow? Tony “Scarface” Montaña would bury his face in it, but we’re not talking about blow. Sonik magazine’s “Snow” party on Thursday, December 16, at Devil’s Martini, 4175 North Goldwater Boulevard in Scottsdale, boasts two tons of real snow — the natural, non-homicidal-episode-inducing kind. The party includes six…
Coming up with an original band name is hard without a thesaurus and some psychedelic drugs. So when we heard that Asylum Street Spankers were coming to the Valley, we couldn’t resist asking about the band’s moniker. The story goes something like this: Ten years ago, the band played some…
Here’s an interesting story, as told by D.O.A. front man Joey Keithley in his autobiography, I, Shithead: A Life in Punk: Back in 1987, the band was opening for David Lee Roth (yes, really). After D.O.A. almost got booed off the stage, Roth’s road manager kicked the entire band out…
SAT 12/11 Look, there! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a boat covered in Christmas lights! Make that 40 boats, as a twinkling fleet of yachts, sailboats, motorboats, and even kayaks cruises down Tempe Town Lake, at Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway, on Saturday, December 11, for the…
SAT 12/11 Normally we wouldn’t recommend walking the streets of Cave Creek after dark, given the number of bikers — inebriated or otherwise — who frequent the hamlet’s roadhouses and saloons. But we’ll make an exception on Saturday, December 11, for the second annual Cave Creek Luminaria Run. More than…
‘Twas 16 nights before Christmas, and all through Glendale Arena, little punk rockers were throwing bottles of Aquafina. Stage divers were hung from the rafters by their hair, in hopes that someone would get them the fuck down from there. The stage was warmed up by Story of the Year,…
When local blues outfit Sistah Blue took second place at the International Blues Talent Competition in 1996, the band was just a year old. Over the past nine years, it’s built up a fan base by playing all over the Valley, opening for such acts as John Lee Hooker and…
David Allan Coe’s been looking like a redneck version of George Clinton lately, sporting a multicolored dreadlock beard, big sunglasses, and more tattoos than Skin and Ink. But the only thing funky going on behind the Confederate flag guitar is the booze-and-broads smell of a hard-livin’ country legend. The 65-year-old…
Wed 12/8 There comes a time in every rocker’s life when he grows weary of performing that signature hit, night after night. Even the metalheads of KISS are bound to stop wanting to rock ‘n’ roll all night (and party every day). Not Dick Dale. “The King of Surf Guitar,”…
12/3-12/5 Since ASU’s put the clamp-down on fraternity partying, Sun Devil brothers must find other outlets to express themselves. For example, the ninth annual Pharaoh Step Classic Stepshow, which takes place on Saturday, December 4, at the South Mountain High School Amphitheatre, 5401 South Seventh Street. Witness the Mu Eta…
