A Trekkie from Compton. An Iraqi war veteran who majored in physics. An intellectual alt-rapper who idolizes Canibus but beat down his former manager over money. Without a doubt, Greydon Square is as contradictory and complex a figure as you’ll find making music in Phoenix. Not that most people know…
PrehabOne is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough)Self-ReleasedIf Prehab’s One is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough) sounds a little too polished to be a debut, there’s good reason. The guys spent five years as The Bedspins in the mid-90s, racking up 500 shows and serving as songwriters…
Fresh off a multi-city tour that took them to both coasts and lots of places in between, as well as a stint at last week’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival, local indie rockers What Laura Says Thinks and Feels are bringing their act to the newly-opened Phoenix Civic Space Park in…
Remember drawing crayon superheroes on long strips of butcher paper, or doodling X-Men in your spiral bound notebook? Even non-geek kids do that. But sending intern applications to Marvel with hand drawn images of Iron Man, Rogue and She-Hulk crawling around the envelope? Oh, yeah, that was all us. So…
Think she’s got one more week left in her?So before we review last night’s episode, can we please discuss the guest judges or the celebrity mentors or whatever they’re calling them this season? They started out making sense, with Randy Travis and Smokey Robinson. But for the past couple of…
We usually like the Sun Sessions to be (a) filmed at our office (b) not released several days after the band being covered has played. But we made an exception for Kinch’s cover of Britney Spears “Toxic,” which we filmed Saturday at McDowell Mountain Music Festival. Frontman Andrew Junker did…
Former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, who moved to Phoenix after his conversion to Christianity, is going back on the road in support of his debut album, Save Me From Myself. The heavily-tattooed former member of one of nu-metal’s biggest bands released his new record, which clawed it’s way to…
Good causes always hold a special place in our hearts. That’s why we figured we’d check out the third annual Band Wagon Benefit Show on Saturday, April 25th at Modified Arts.The roster was packed with bands Courtney Marie Andrews, Underscore Orkestra, Dry River Yacht Club, Gospel Claws, In Symmetry, Sister…
The lineup for the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival has been announced and it is teeming with top-notch talent. The Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band round out the top slots of Outside Lands Lollapalooza this year’s edition of the ACL, adding Kings of Leon, Theivery Corporation…
While I usually write about music for Under the Sun, I wouldn’t be doing my part if I didn’t mention Chippendales.The long-running male revue will return to the Celebrity Theatre Saturday, May 2 for some strip show fun. Chippendales (named the “Best Male Strip Show in Last Vegas” by the…
Loads of people were biding a fond farewell to Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe this past Saturday night at its sixth anniversary party. As I reported last week, the affair was ostensibly the music venue’s last hurrah before closing for good due to its co-owners Devin Schulte and…
Before the Unwigged & Unplugged show even started last night, the official Spinal Tap moment had already happened. When the announcer came onstage at Dodge Theatre to do the customary plugging of upcoming shows, he looked over the half-full house and noted that the guys backstage had asked him if…
Did you know that Third Eye Blind is still around? Yeah, me either, but the “Semi-Charmed Life” guys (they were crystal meth before crystal meth was cool!) are still a band and still touring, apparently at venues as large as the Marquee. Go figure. What other bands you used to…
Bob Dylan, ever the people’s musician, has announced he will take on a summer tour of America’s prestigious minor league baseball stadiums to Glendale’s brand new Camelback Ranch Ballpark on August 11. He has also employed the services of über-American musicians John Cougar Mellenamp and Willie Nelson. At this point…
The Flaming Lips Dazzle at McDowell Mountain Music Festival Major labels get a lot of flack. Whether it’s because they supposedly put out nothing but overly-commercialized crap, or because they’re suing computer-using kids in a vain effort to salvage their busted business model, it’s rare to hear anyone say anything nice…
Major labels get a lot of flack. Whether it’s because they supposedly put out nothing but overly-commercialized crap, or because they’re suing computer-using kids in a vain effort to salvage their busted business model, it’s rare to hear anyone say anything nice about the Big Four. That’s why Flaming Lips…
So between New Times and my “day job” I get to go to more shows and festivals than anyone ever should. After a while you notice that most share a lot more in common than you might think after you look past line-ups. Sitting in the VIP area at MMMF…
The sun has set at McDowell Mountain Music Festival and the crazies have run to the parking lot to retrieve their pink robot costumes for the big Flaming Lips closer. As for the rest of us, we’ve run out to get our jackets as it’s about as cold a night…
Hula-hooping hippie chicks. Deadhead flags. Dudes twirling Devil Sticks. Naked babies running around in circles near their napping parents. A full-on tie-dye revival. Yes, we’re living it up at McDowell Mountain Music Fest, an event we were seduced in to attending by the promise of a show by the decidedly…
Last nigt more than 700 Wolverine fans descended on Harkins Theater at Tempe Marketplace with folding chairs, portable DVD players and coolers full of caffeine-based sustenance to wait it out for tickets to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine premiere on Monday, April 27. As advertised on their web site since earlier…
So you didn’t get your tickets to the world premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, huh? Good news, bub: You can get in line with everyone else at Harkins Theater at Tempe Marketplace right now and hope you’re one of the first 500 to get tickets when they hand them out…
Uncertainty is sometimes the only certainty in life. That’s ultimately the best way to describe the current situation at Last Exit Bar & Grill, as the Tempe live music venue may or may not be closing come tomorrow night. It’s a surprising about-face from what I reported two weeks ago…
