The Hives @ Marquee Theatre|10/9/12Eleven miles from the US Airways Center, at The Marquee Theatre, an important question was pondered tonight. “Do any of you like The Black Keys?” asked Hives lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist. Every band that took the stage before the Swedish garage rock band got to…
Keller Williams will be hitting The Marquee Theatre on Friday January 18th, pushing his latest release Pick, where he teamed up with The Travelin’ McCourys to deliver his unique brand of bluegrass/folk/jazz. When we last caught Williams, at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, he blew us away. We’re looking forward…
By Daniel Hopkins Welcome to Ask a Failed Musician, in which I will help struggling musicians make sense of their careers and even offer some advice. Whether or not it will work, who knows? It obviously didn’t work for me. But then again, I was on Kimmel once, so there’s…
Grimes @ Crescent Ballroom| 10/8/12What a difference six months makes. The last time Canadian synth-pop visionary Grimes visited Phoenix, her set was riddled with painful sound problems and an unruly crowd. Rumor had it Grimes herself separated the bathroom fight that resulted in a swarm of cops in the parking…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
It’s been a long road for Gossip Girl, from the teenage backstabbing and juicy gossip in the first seasons to the characters heading off to college, flirting with the rich and powerful, and being at the root of public scandals. The show’s sixth and final season premiered last night, and…
Apache Lake Music Festival has grown leaps and bounds since its launch in 2010. The festival now spans three days and features nearly twice as many bands as last year’s installment, Arizona’s beloved local music fest has continued to expand in size and scope in no time at all. See…
I’m going defer to my esteemed colleague down the hall, Mr. Stephen Lemons, on this one: “Remember the ’90s under Clinton? Eight years of peace and prosperity. And all the Rs had to kvetch about was Monica Lewinsky.” Lemons goes on to describe “Bubba” as a “rockstar,” an apt metaphor…
Soul legends Ike & Tina Turner were renowned for their personal lives as much as their music career. In songs like “Should’a Treated Me Right” and “A Fool in Love,” you can’t help but cheer Tina on. In spite of the couple’s strife, they were responsible for some great songwriting…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
After the first Presidential debate this last Wednesday, much ado was made about Mitt Romney’s gleeful pledge to stuff and baste Big Bird by cutting federal funding to PBS and other pinko commie media outlets. Phoenix folk-punk heroes Andrew Jackson Jihad are clearly fans of the monstrous alphabet-loving avian–they have…
If there’s one month that you can count on to be on metal’s side, it’s October. We’re allowed to adorn our residences with skulls, fake blood, and motion-sensor demons without being judged. Hell, we are also allowed to indulge in an array of freaky, horrific activities, orchestrated by record companies…
We’ve spent the last year in the laboratory putting Phoenix under the microscope to reveal hundreds of specimens of the best culture, outdoor adventures, shopping, dining, and nightlife the city has to offer. And we’re finally ready to publish our results. Nerd alert! Now presenting Scientific Phoenix. Phoenix has its…
Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it. Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…
What is Puscifer? (Besides being the International Multi-Media Project I’ve been developing since 1995?) Good question. We usually respond with the very dismissive and obviously evasive answer: “What is Puscifer is what Puscifer is.” A less evasive version of the answer is that it is an “uncertain creative space where…
Zero Zero Album Release Party @ Rogue Bar | 10/5/12As you might notice by the timing of this posting, I come from that age-old school of being fashionably late. (I try to limit these things to social gatherings, dinner dates and house parties, but every so often the habit bleeds…
Hood Internet @ Bar Smith| 10/5/12Generally speaking, the later someone stays out, the more fun they have soaking up the local nightlife. This isn’t always the case, though — if you stay out all night and pass out on a stranger’s floor, you probably aren’t having the best of times…
It’s a fact of life that everyone has a pratfall or accident now and again. Just ask Greg “SensOne” Voeller, who pulled a gaffe not once, but twice, during his DJ sets. Besides embarrassing the crap outta the local selector, it caused a few of his cohorts to give him…
Here’s some bummer news for fans of folksy Americana and country tinged indie rock: The Railroad Revival Tour, scheduled Thursday, October 25, in downtown Tempe and featuring performances by John C. Reilly, Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, and Jamey Johnson, has been cancelled. According to the official site, complications “would…
If you were saddened by the closure of the original Eastside Records in Tempe two years ago — as well as the shuttering of its pop-up reincarnation earlier this year — dry those tears, grab some extra cash, and get ready for a vinyl spending spree. The venerated record emporium…
If you’re a diehard fan of video games and you’ve never listened to The Minibosses, you should be ashamed of yourself. The local band by way of Massachusetts performs rock versions of classic Nintendo video game soundtracks. The Minibosses are scheduled to perform their 250th show at Yucca Tap Room…
Robyn Hitchcock @ Musical Instrument Museum| 10/4/12The Musical Instrument Museum theater was a lonely place this evening, with a scant 50 music insiders in attendance to hear one of England’s great musical treasures, Robyn Hitchcock. Insiders, I say, because it takes a certain kind of music fan, one that appreciates…
