The Aggrolites Make ‘Em Sing And Skank At The Clubhouse

In it’s pure, island-bred, form reggae tends to make pretty poor sing-along music for white people. Sure, “Buffalo Soldier” seems like a good sing-a-long, given it’s perfect pace and easily learnable lyrics, but when push comes to shove, in trying to mimic Bob Marley’s accent the average white suburbanite ends up creating a…

Youth Brigade at Yucca Tap Room: Full of Moshy Goodness

Punk is one subculture that will never die, no matter how old the guys who started it get get, and how ridiculous those progenitors look in their old time outfits. In fact, it grows a little all the time. Throw five guys in their 50’s (preferably covered in tattoos, maybe…

Jeromeatherapy: 12 Local Bands, One Silly Name

This Saturday marks the return of what has to be Jerome, Arizona’s biggest music festival: Jeromeatherapy. The one day music festival features 12 local bands — headed by What Laura Says, Black Carl and Dry River Yacht Club — all playing in an old gold mine. Jeromeatherapy celebrates what makes…

The Offspring at The Marquee Theatre: That ’90s Show

The mid-’90s were in full swing on Monday night when power-punk phenoms The Offspring took to the stage at the standing-room-only Marquee Theatre. And, yes, they played all the hits — from “Keep ‘Em Separated,” to “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).”  The crowd ranged from punks passed their prime…

2009 MTV Movie Awards: Quite Enjoyable, Actually

The blogosphere is abuzz from last night’s MTV Movie Awards, and it’s not because MTV viewers are all huge Twilight fans (I’ll let you guess that particular demographic). True, the vampire movie based off of Stephanie Meyer’s novels absolutely slayed the competition — which shouldn’t come as a surprise since…

Lucinda Williams, Nathan’s Hot Dogs and Myst Over the Weekend

Lucinda Williams Plays the Non-Hits at Mesa Arts Center It takes some chutzpah to read your lyrics off a music stand. When you’ve been dubbed “America’s Greatest Songwriter” by Time magazine (a publication that’s not known for its music criticism, but nonetheless notable in any grand pronouncement) you get such…

Lucinda Williams Plays the Non-Hits at Mesa Arts Center

It takes some chutzpah to read your lyrics off a music stand. When you’ve been dubbed “America’s Greatest Songwriter” by Time magazine (a publication that’s not known for its music criticism, but nonetheless notable in any grand pronouncement) you get such latitude without question though, as country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams showed…

Creamy Radio Presents Benefit Concert Sunday at Sail Inn

This Sunday, at Tempe’s newly reopened Sail Inn, Valley internet radio stalwart Creamy Radio is sponsoring a benefit concert for their friends over at Ear Candy Charity. On the bill are The Noodles, Matthew Reveles, Dry River Yacht Club, Black Carl, Harlem Shakes and BVR. The show is a mere…

The Rosewood Thieves Shake Up The Lost Leaf

Imagine, if you will, stepping into a friend’s house… Except it’s filled with people you don’t know (yet), and this friend built a bar around his kitchen, and set up track lighting and a half-dozen hightop tables in the dining room. That place would be Downtown Phoenix’s The Lost Leaf,…

Black Moth Super Rainbow at Rhythm Room Saturday

Western PA indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow will the Rhythm Room Sunday night — and I promise my late mention of this show has nothing to do with my feelings about Pittsburghers.BMSR’s hazy and experimental indie rock is often farcical (just look at the band roster for their stage…

Detroit Cobras at The Rhythm Room: Nix Don’t Dance No Mo

, and more like a few minutes of sustained cheering, chanting, whistling, screaming, catcalls, and clapping actually summoned throaty singer Rachel Nagy from the parking lot to belt out “Weak Spot.”Either way, The Cobras, who we hyped a lot last week, were fantastic, and it was our pleasure to get…

Half The Format Still Pretty “fun.” At The Clubhouse

It’s the one moment where nearly every eye in the sold-out and gooey-hot Clubhouse was turned toward the stage. No chatting, no sipping, no texting, just singing, clapping, and screaming as “fun.” the Brooklyn-based project of former Format frontman Nate Ruess, played his old band’s biggest hit, “The First Single.”…

Taylor Swift Sweet as Sugar at Glendale Show

Country star Taylor Swift has to be the coolest 19-year-old who admittedly didn’t have any friends in junior high. Now, she has famous friends like Garth Brooks and Miley Cyrus define the word “fearless” — also the title of her latest album — in a pre-show video. She rocks the…

Star Swim Returns This Saturday: Win Tickets!

Last summer, one of the coolest (and indeed, hottest) places to be seen was at the Hotel San Carlos for the weekly Star Swim pool party. An absolute throng of hundreds of hepcats and kittens crowded the tiny swimming area at the vintage auberge in downtown Phoenix for several weekends…

Freebird & Monkey Sex: A Night With Flight of the Conchords

Though music and comedy may seem suitable bedfellows, the marriage of the two is often a mangled mess of bad puns and crappy guitar playing. One concept is, more often than not, more polished than the other — the comedian sucks at playing guitar or the musician tells super lame…

Kings of Leon Cocky and Sloppy at Mesa Ampitheatre

If the George W. Bush presidency taught us anything, its that uppity rednecks are bad for America. Not that I want to compare last night’s Kings of Leon concert at Mesa Amphitheatre to the national nightmare that was Dubya’s reign — exactly. But the cockiness of these two Southern-bred powers…