10 Network Shows That Might Not Suck This Fall

Let’s face it. The fall TV season, especially for network television, has lost a lot of its luster over the last decade. With all of the other options for awesome things to watch on cable channels, Netflix, Hulu, and every other Tom, Dick, and Harry Internet site getting ready to…

Bands That Replaced Irreplaceable Members (And Those That Shouldn’t Have)

Cable television is confounding, for sure, and the inevitable question often arises: “All these channels and nothing to watch? What the ______?” Recently, I was having one of these moments until I stumbled across an interview/live performance show on the Audience Network called Guitar Center Sessions. This one caught my…

10 Classic Punk Records That Actually Kind of Suck

I put on The Ramones’ classic 1977 record Rocket To Russia recently in an attempt to join all of my Facebook friends in their collective sadness at the recent death of Tommy (Erdyli) Ramone. I used to love this record, but now, even though I wanted to feel some sense…

10 Movies to Watch This Summer Featuring SNL Cast Members

Right about now is a great time to saddle up the couch, turn the fan on, and watch some movies. As comedy fans, we remember often being sad about summer because, at one point, Saturday Night Live was actually funny on a consistent basis. When SNL would stop airing new…

Sage Francis @ Crescent Ballroom

What do you say about a performer like Sage Francis? He plays with words? He slays them? He engages his audience using a medium that rarely witnesses such a truly spectacular mastery of the vernacular? His repertoire of rhetoric is frenetic, authentic, and polemic while being transcendent, resplendent, and a…

Sage Francis Literally Smacks the Words Out of His Head

On June 20, Sage Francis graces Central Phoenix with his uniquely eloquent version of hip-hop. The Providence, Rhode Island, native has a delivery and style that is not for everyone, mind you, but it is certainly compelling enough to make any fan of a cleverly turned phrase sit up and…

Goodbye, True Blood. You Sucked

True Blood, HBO’s supernatural orgy of ridiculousness, ends its seven-season run this summer. It’s a sad day for fans, of course, but we’d like to think that somewhere supporters of Charlaine Harris (who penned The Southern Vampire Mysteries, or The Sookie Stackhouse Novel, which the show’s based on), are feeling…

Why Johny Barbata Chose to Drum for CSN&Y Instead of the Eagles

For fans of The Turtles, CSN&Y, and Jefferson Airplane/Starship, as well as patrons of Milano’s Music in Mesa, June 7 promises to be, at very least, an opportunity to meet an interesting member of rock ‘n’ roll’s expansive past. Johny Barbata, who played drums for all of the previously mentioned…

Floor @ Yucca Tap Room

For Floor, Florida’s coolest export since medium-pulp orange juice, the opportunity to be both influential and derivative is a badge of honor the band should wear with pride. The sludgy stoner rock trio has existed for the better part of 22 years now, even though it took years-long hiatuses and…

Black Flag – Pub Rock Live – 5/17/2014

There are reviews you wish would just write themselves. Peek behind the curtain, if you will, and see my struggle. I really wanted to write an über-positive review of the Black Flag show at Pub Rock on Saturday, May 17. I wanted to write that the punk rock fury I…

Eels – Crescent Ballroom – 5/14/2014

Once upon a time, it was a motherfucker. The crowd sat in utter silence, except when prompted to clap or laugh, depending on what the magic man did. And, for all intents and purposes, he was magical. E., the man, the myth, the legend. Mark Oliver Everett (“E” to his…

Holly Golightly @ Rips

If there is any such thing as garage rock royalty, Holly Golightly certainly must be a member. Lo-fi before there was such a thing, and cool from the get-go, Ms. Golightly visits Phoenix for the very first time with her backing band, The Brokeoffs (which is really just one guy,…

10 TV Shows That Should Be Canceled

We should probably just go right ahead and put it out there. We like TV. We like TV a lot, perhaps a little too much at times. But lately, it is getting harder and harder to find a show we want to continue watching after one season. Some of you…

Off! – Crescent Ballroom – 4/22/2014

Holy punk rock, Batman! So, like many of you — some who have earned it, some who have not — I am not easily impressed these days. Whether you call it “jaded” or “been there, done that,” it really doesn’t matter, as long as you call it like you see…

Four and 20 (or so) Questions with Hot Rock Supa Joint

Valley stoner rap guru Hot Rock Supa Joint took some time out of his busy day to answer some pressing questions in honor of 4/20, which apparently is some sort of weed holiday. You really have to spend some time in HotR ock’s presence to get a true feel for…