Dear Taking Back Sunday, I’m soooo not ready for you to be “new again” as you sing about on the self-titled track to your fourth album. In fact, I wish you would just return to your former ways and be old again. Remember Tell All Your Friends and Where You…
Karen O’s charms are mysterious. The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s frontwoman can’t sing, for one. Truth be told, I’m not sure she would score well singing her own song, “Maps” on the pitch-sensing mic for Rock Band — at least not in expert mode. She’s regarded as a sex symbol, but she looks a lot like…
W Scottsdale’s Sunset Sessions Pool Party The only thing hotter than direct sunlight this Sunday was the poolside crowd at the W Scottsdale’s Sunset Sessions. There was no shortage of bronzed bodies in teenie bikinis and reality TV stars sipping assorted libations, but there was still plenty of room on…
Metalhead must be pissed. There’s another hair metal cover band in town and they have G-String, the group’s old guitarist who was the most charismatic member of the group. First, let me say I love Metalhead. I’ve spent many Sunday nights rocking out to their shows. Sadly, though, the new…
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…
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…
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 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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
, 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…
Girl Power: Females Flock to Cricket Wireless Pavilion for No Doubt and Paramore Right now my ears are ringing something fierce after enduring a non-stop auditory assault of thousands of tweens and teenyboppers girls screaming in absolute elation during No Doubt and Paramore’s show at Cricket Wireless Pavilion on Saturday…
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.”…
I really should have remembered to bring my earplugs with me last night. Right now my ears are ringing something fierce after enduring a non-stop auditory assault of thousands of tweens and teenyboppers girls screaming in absolute elation during No Doubt and Paramore’s show at Cricket Wireless Pavilion on Saturday…
The undead will be rising from the grave tomorrow evening and stumbling their way towards downtown Phoenix, looking satisfy their unending hunger for brains. Or at least that’s what the DJs and party monsters of Sadisco* told us will happen during the latest edition of their monthly freak fest tomorrow…
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…
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…
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…
