If you’re looking for a place to get your swerve on this weekend, we advise you to seek out the Golden Buddha. No, we’re not dispatching you on some spiritual journey to seek out enlightenment a la Siddhartha, but instead are urging you to head for the Chinese Cultural Center…
Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling a little over-Boomered lately? Maybe it’s that Billy Joel concert I saw last night, or maybe it’s the “review” I just read in that other paper, written by someone who’s probably a little too young to be a Boomer, but sure…
The Academy Is… and This Providence did a stellar version of Jimmy Eat World’s “A Sunday.” You can watch the YouTube video here: The pop-rock acts stopped by the NK2 studio in Seattle last week when they decided to cover the popular track from Mesa’s Jimmy Eat World’s 1999 “Clarity”…
In 1994, when Billy Joel and Elton John first took the stage together in Philadelphia, it was quite a novelty. Two piano-playing singer-songwriters — who’ve each sold more than 100 million records on their own — together in concert! Wowza!Five tours and 15 years later, the newness is gone. Last…
Authority Zero will hit the road with punk-rockers Pennywise and Pepper for a Jagermeister tour kicking off in May. Before the band joins their friends on tour, the AZ punk-rock act will perform at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre Friday, April 3 for a headlining show. The show will start at 8…
Tempe’s countrified punk-rockers Truckers on Speed have two big performances in Mesa this weekend. The guys will share a stage with Tempe rock guys Dead Hot Workshop and Los Guys at Mesa’s Goathead Saloon (1423 S. Country Club Drive) on Friday and will take part in the AZ Bike Week…
Fleet Foxes? Check. TV on the Radio? Check. Parisian rockers Phoenix join the ranks as the next hip, trendy band to grace SNL’s music stage this season. Their next album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, isn’t due out until May 26th, but the band still managed to swing a spot on the…
As music editor Martin Cizmar mentioned in his post earlier today, the slate of concerts scheduled to go down from tonight until Sunday kinda pales in comparison to the overwhelming assortment of superstars who’ll be in town next weekend. But while this weekend’s line-up of major music and comedy events…
There’s not a ton of live music in town this weekend — especially compared to next weekend’s musical bonanza of Country Thunder/Tempe Music Fest/Springsteen/Bonnie Prince Billy/Calexico/Leonard Cohen — so this week’s flier is for a dance night. Not just any Dance night though, as Benjamin Leatherman wrote in this week’s…
Scene from the green room of Scottsdale’s Martini Ranch: A burly security guard approaches Phoenix rockers Vayden, who are hanging out before their headlining Friday-night set at the club. “I heard you guys are all the rage,” the guard says. “Ah, man,” Vayden singer Curtis Casey sighs, tucking one of…
It’s opening night of the 2009 Billy Joel/Elton John “Face to Face” tour. Five minutes before showtime, Billy Joel stands behind the curtains, nervously looking at his Rolex, when Elton John scurries up beside him. Billy [under his breath]: Ah, the bitch is back . . . Elton: William. Billy:…
Metal, like any popular genre of music, is one that spreads itself over many different styles. Everyone and their mother is fully aware of the hair-metal craze that swept across the Sunset Strip in the early 1980s, sparked by Quiet Riot’s breakthrough success. Bands like Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth…
In some ways, Arizona’s first “official unofficial” showcase at South by Southwest last week wasn’t a big deal. Other cities, states, and countries have been showing off at the massive music festival in Austin, Texas, for years. Hell, Canada’s barbecue was so hopping I couldn’t get in even though I…
THURSDAY 26 Axis/Radius: Dirtbitch Fashion Show with DJ Emile (various) Bomberos: DJ Rani “g,” dk.strickler, & guests (house, global soul) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Scandalous Thursday with DJ Juan Rocha (house, electronica) Club Red: The Blunt Club with DJ Shortkut, Tricky T, Pickster Uno, DJ Element, & Emerg…
On a small corner stage at Chopper John’s, Marco Polo’s getting ready to perform with his Mexican psychobilly trio, Curse of the Pink Hearse. Most of the patrons at this biker bar on east Indian School Road in Phoenix are white, blue collar 30-somethings kicking off a late-winter weekend with…
Grindcore, for the uninitiated, is the extreme genre of metal that prizes blast beats (i.e., drumming that mimics both the speed of a machine gun and the impact of percussion grenades); ultra-heavy, lightning-fast guitars that aim to disembowel you with every riff; and scary, demonic slaughterhouse growls. Basically, the kind…
Given the liquid gyrations of their anime styling and the general sexual repression of their Japanese homeland, it just makes sense that a group of Japanese dudes would start a “Japanese action comic punk band” called Peelander-Z. But we hear you say, “Didn’t Peelander-Z form in New York City?” Before…
It sounds strange to say, but the idea of a white dude from the Midwest starting a hip-hop label doesn’t even seem that unique anymore. Ever since Atmosphere turned Rhymesayers Entertainment into an emo-rap empire and Insane Clown Posse built Psychopathic Records into a marketing juggernaut that Gene Simmons would…
Rockabilly is a genre known as much for its flamboyant, ’50s-rooted imagery as it is for its music, so the juxtaposition of rockabilly music and an old-fashioned burlesque show seems like such a natural fit that the only surprise is that nobody thought of it sooner. Big John Bates and…
Being adopted by and revered in a city where you’ve lived for the greater part of a decade isn’t impressive. When that city happens to be New Orleans and you are a white soul, blues, and R&B singer from San Francisco, the feat becomes legendary. Such is life for Eric…
It’s downright scary how much music Jarom Wilcken is planning to unleash at his spooky-sounding nighttime affair Danse Macabre. As his alter ego DJ Vivo Muerto, the 30-year-old owner of anti-fashion label Helter Skelter Clothing will serve up a fiendish orgy of music that includes a slew of goth, industrial,…
Festival season is officially upon us — with Country Thunder and Tempe Music Festival next weekend, and McDowell Mountain Music Fest later in April — and we’ve got one more to add to your calender. Clean Slate Celebration in Glendale April 11 is a benefit for Murray Grey Foundation, which…
