5 Best Concerts In and Around Phoenix This Week

My Favorite 15 (Songs of All Time): AZ Record Label Edition – Monday, August 10 – Crescent Ballroom This cool concept night at Crescent Ballroom brings together five representatives from local record labels and asks them to curate a playlist of their 15 favorite songs. On the bill will be…

Wynonna Judd Doesn’t Need to Be Miss America Anymore

To say Wynonna Judd is a positive person these days is an understatement. We caught up with her as she was putting the finishing touches on her 8th solo recording in Los Angeles about a week ago. The platinum (many times over) selling singer, who just turned 51 on May…

8 Best Places to Get Used Music Gear in Phoenix

Used music gear is always a crap shoot. Buyer beware and such, sometimes you get a real find, something you’ll play or use forever and sometimes you get something less valuable than what you pay for it. There are reputable shops around town to purchase used gear as well as…

Dissecting Sleater-Kinney’s Role in the Riot Grrrl Movement

Veterans of the Riot Grrrl scene know that sustained success is not always easily defined or found. Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney knows a thing or two about the peaks and valleys of achievement. Tucker, who plays a fantastic rhythm guitar and sings with a powerful yet lovely voice, was one…

I Survived ZZ Top at Talking Stick Resort

Sadly, I didn’t get my wish. I really wanted to see someone push their friend (or maybe date) into the pool at Talking Stick Resort on Sunday night while ZZ Top was playing and it didn’t happen. The other thing that didn’t happen was a good concert. At best, the…

Vegan Nachos with Rat Fist – March 10, 2015

A dinner date with Los Angeles/Philadelpia based Rat Fist is a special time. There are no bones about it, both literally and figuratively, as bandleader, guitar player/shouter, and all around nice guy Randy Randall (also of Sub Pop recording artists No Age) is vegan, so we decided on dining at…

Guide for the Over-40 Set to Viva PHX

Viva PHX is back and you’re a year older, 40-somethings. Bolder? Maybe. Clever, definitely, and probably more inclined to party downtown than last year. In fact, it’s obvious the over-40 set is taking back the night, since so many of you are out and about on a regular basis, running…

10 Sleeper Bands to Catch at Viva PHX

Viva PHX 2015 offers festival goers 90 bands at 20 different venues for an incredibly reasonable $24 ticket price. For you mathematicians, it works out to an average of 4.5 performers per venue and if you were to catch say, five of them during the course of your night, that’s…

Unruh Talks Reunion Show, Release of Box Set

Sweating to the oldies will have a new connotation after Saturday, February 21, at Club Red. Local heroes, Unruh, are reuniting for their first show in 15 years and celebrating the release of their box set, Tomb, with a giant show featuring some of the best bands in the current…

John Coltrane’s Landmark Album Giant Steps Turns 55

View image | gettyimages.com For many music fans, jazz can be a riddle wrapped in a mystery. While we may enjoy it, we would never attempt to explain it. In fact, jazz may be the most “alternative” music there is, because most of our brains just don’t work the way…