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…
Steve Miller is one of the best songwriters ever. For my money, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. His show last night at the pool at Talking Stick Casino and Resort was way more entertaining than I thought it would be, and that is not to say I was…
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…
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…
Rocky Horror at the Firehouse. The name of the event says a lot, when you think about it. Is it a bunch of firemen (and women) putting on the infamous play that later became a celluloid cult classic? No, and apologies to all the ladies swooning at the thought of…
To say the evening was fun is an understatement. Sleater-Kinney played to a sizable crowd at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe Wednesday night who represented one of the most enjoyable gatherings of humans I have seen in a while. There was a true sense of excitement and anticipation in the…
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…
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…
Built to Spill is a perplexing band. They can lull an audience into a happy trance as well as any band I’ve ever seen. They are great. Yes. There is no denying their talent and their fingers are definitely nimble, but watching them two days in a row sort of…
There was a point during last night’s Ariana Grande concert at Talking Stick Resort Arena where the video on the screen behind the tiny pop star scrolled some campy, sci-fi-esque nonsense (with an accompanying voice over which was probably necessary due to about 10 percent of the audience not being…
There is little Zia Records hasn’t done to support the music scene in the Valley of the Sun. From consistently releasing music compilations, as well as providing an outlet for local musicians to sell their records, tapes, and cds, to offering the latest music on multiple formats for appreciative fans…
Though it’s premature to call Gus Campbell a guitar god, he is a true talent. One could use adjectives like “wunderkind” or clichés like “He’s an old soul,” but the truth of the matter is the kid can flat-out shred for any age. At 16, Campbell has a maturity and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Dear Readers, When I initially pitched the idea of doing a list of 10 local records I found to be hugely influential, I had no idea where the road would lead or what I would find when I traveled it. The journey has been enlightening, fairly difficult, and, more than…
There was never any question about what Jon Yousko was singing in a Junior Achievement song. Yousko’s perfectly enunciated lyrics weaved intoxicating tales over his bandmates’ equally concussive riffage, and it was good. Goddamn, it was good. From the opening riff of “Dr. Cutthroat’s Revenge,” which kicks off the stellar…
Awe is a powerful word. Upon first listen, 1986’s Age of Quarrel by the Cro-Mags was (and still is) capable of rendering mere mortals to a state of awe. For fans of the band and the genre it helped create, awe is both a fitting and fascinating term, especially for…
Consider this question: Are you an Earwig? Let the idea roll around on your brain for a minute. Longtime Phoenicians know the bug well, even if they haven’t seen one for a while. Are you a human equivalent? Are you even a 10th earwig? More than likely, this is an…
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…
Jodie Foster’s Army (JFA) recorded Valley of the Yakes and broke the mold for anyone else coming after them. Truly. Valley of the Yakes easily could be the most influential record on this list except for one thing: Nobody else could have recorded it. There was no other band on…
