Update: This post has been edited to fix an error regarding the venue Lil Wayne is scheduled to perform at next week. Perma-stoned New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne has been hip-hop’s eccentric golden boy for five years now. On the heels of his magnificent breakthrough album Tha Carter II, Wayne…
Oh, dear god. What have I done?Last week I wrote about my discovery of 37-year-old Chandler “scene” creep Bryan Lightningrod. I mean, “97-year-old vampire from Cairo” Bryan Lightningrod. Whatever. Same difference. The point is, he solicits fan photos, regardless of their nature, and posts them to his Facebook, MySpace, Twitter,…
Want to see indie rockers The Globes, El Ten Eleven, and Sister Crayon for free on Tuesday, August 23, at The Rhythm Room? Up on the Sun has two tickets to give away to one lucky reader. Read on to hear a tune from each band, and details on how…
River Jones Jones is the owner of local record label River Jones Music. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Growing up, I listened to KDKB, KUPD, KEDJ, and KUKQ. Now, I am always streaming music 24/7. But,…
The 2010 biopic Serge Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, about the legendary French singer and general scoundrel, is coming to downtown hot-spot FilmBar next month.Though the film won’t premier at the theater until the “last week in September” according to FilmBar’s Facebook, the staff is counting down the time until the…
It looks like College Dropouts is ready to hit the books — er, bottle — again, just in time for the new ASU semester. The bar, tucked away on College Avenue near Sun Devil Stadium, closed in April when the owner was unable to reach a lease agreement with the building’s…
As an avid fan of Fall Out Boy (read: an avid fan of Patrick Stump, Joe Trohman, Andy Hurley and 5 percent of Pete Wentz), I am pretty damn stoked to watch Stump perform his solo act at the Martini Ranch later this month.
What if Sheryl Crow had been your elementary school music teacher? How cool would it have been if Bun B was your professor in a class about religion and hip-hop? How strange would your learning experience have been if Peaches had been your drama instructor? Those artists actually held those…
Seems like that licensing deal is working out well for Phoenix-based hip-hoppers The New F-o’s. The group’s song “Good and the Bad” will be featured on tonight’s episode of the FX sitcom Wilfred. In case you haven’t got hip to it, the show features Elijah Wood and Jason Gann in…
Phoenix band KONGOS may be no-frills when it comes to their rock performances, but the indie rock group with African influence created a dang sexy spectacle with their newest video for their current single, “I’m Only Joking”.The clip looks like it could be sandwiched between Ke$ha and Nelly Furtado on…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What rock star is being “memorialized” at Memorium in Bar Smith? Why is Bryan Lightningrod the…
Check out this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times for a feature on a guy many call one of the most talented young musicians in the Valley, indie singer/songwriter/violinist Tobie Milford. Milford performs with band The Whisperlights, but when he takes the stage at Scottsdale’s The Rogue Bar this Saturday,…
When Jeff Rosenstock’s band The Arrogant Sons of Bitches broke up in 2004, he decided to record a bunch of weird songs alone on his computer and just give them away for free on the Internet. He called this project Bomb the Music Industry. “When I realized I could record…
We don’t like change. We don’t like evolution, slow growth, or new surprises. Once we’ve figured something out, it’s easier if it just stays as it was when we got to know it, thank you very much. And we’re skeptical when those whom we’ve gotten to know as actors start…
Since fist-pumping his way from his hometown of Miami to making Scottsdale his new scene of choice, Michael James has certainly been a busy dude. He regularly spreads his time between hitting the clubs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and right here in the Valley, moving between Old Town’s Axis/Radius…
Over the course of its 10-year run as a downtown music venue, Modified Arts has seen its share of emo concerts, indie rock get-downs, and hard-rock shows. In 2009, the venue’s focus shifted from “big indie rock shows” to being a full-time visual art gallery. The change promised that the…
Music experts have long debated who exactly spawned that loud, angry beast that is heavy metal, but most everyone agrees that Led Zeppelin are the genre’s absentee forefathers. Yeah, go ahead and scrunch your nose, but it’s true in a way: Led Zeppelin, along with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple,…
Sir Sean Connery’s classic “We named the dog Indiana” line from 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is one of the best in film history. It would seem Colorado-via-Phoenix songwriter Brent Cowles, who goes by You Me and Apollo when performing his freaky folk rock, took Indy’s dad’s lesson…
You’ve got to wonder about a band that’s opened for both Gil Scott-Heron and Joan Jett. Phoenix-based Hot Birds and The Chili Sauce has done just that, managing to move the crowds of both the proto-rap pioneer and the hard rocker. Credit the band’s power to woo disparate audiences to…
It seemed to happen when no one was looking, but all of a sudden, Australia has turned into a hotbed of electronic music. Credit Cut Copy’s brilliant 2004 album, Bright Like Neon Love, for luring the eyes and hears of music fans Down Under. The attention hasn’t hurt Sydney electronic…
Ever since George Clinton promised, “Free your ass and your mind will follow,” funk bands have aimed to find the perfect cerebral groove. Orgone, a nine-piece Los Angeles-based Afrobeat/funk/soul ensemble keeps the axiom in mind, searching for the midpoint between booty-shaking and chin-stroking. The group has been playing together for…
THURSDAY 18 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage, & DJ Android (Top 40, dance) Afterlife: Thumpin Thurzdays (various) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Splash Thursday (reggae, dancehall, Top 40, house) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ JS3 (various) Chilly Bombers: DJ Medik (Top 40, rock, old school) Cream Stereo…
