Bill Campana, What Are You Listening To?

Bill Campana The Valley poet has participated in poetry slams both locally and nationally and can be found at various events around the state. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? It’s hard to say. I change the…

Pure Saturdays Moves to Disco This Weekend

After a short absence from the nightlife scene, Pure Saturdays has found a new home in Old Town Scottsdale. The hip-hop weekly, which was temporarily homeless as promoters hunted for a new venue, is taking up residence at Disco starting this weekend. Power 98.3 personalities will be in the house for…

The Olivia Tremor Control, “California Demise” (Parts 1&2)

Song: The Olivia Tremor Control, “California Demise” Context: Most shows only get one shout-out in Today’s Soundtrack. I could have done Elephant 6 bands all week in anticipation of tonight’s show at The Duce. The Olivia Tremor Control – California Demise by The Tambourine…

Adam Levine, Cee Lo to Judge on NBC’s ‘The Voice’

Mark Burnett has yet another reality show in the works. The upcoming singing competition called The Voice is coming to NBC. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Cee Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley and independent fame will be the judges, according to Entertainment Weekly.Christina Aguilera has also been negotiating with…

Tempe Post-Punkers Vegetable Are Budding at a Breakneck Pace

Tempe art-punks Vegetable sprouted much more quickly than most bands. Whereas plenty of their peers’ projects take years to develop, Vegetable’s backstory comprises a flurried few months, culminating in a debut single, a regional tour, and the honor of closing out the now-defunct Eastside Records in the time it would…

The Refreshments are Playing SXSW (But Don’t Get Too Excited)

The Refreshments are playing South By Southwest.   No, not those Refreshments. The famous Tempe act from the 90’s is still very much broken up. Not that you’d know it from a hilarious listing on a SXSW site which names a band called the Refreshments from Tempe, Arizona. The site shows the cover…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our March 3 Issue

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. Why did Kanye West’s new video get temporarily pulled from YouTube? What is Yoko One going to…

Big Brain Awards are Back: $1,000 to an Up-and-Coming Performer

Phoenix New Times annual Big Brains contest is back.The contest is designed to reward and nurture up-and-coming talent in the Valley by giving ground-floor movers and/or shakers a grand.Straight cash, homie.There are categories for design/fashion, visual art, performing art, film/video, culinary art and a wild card so if you know…

Cricket Pavilion is Now Desert Sky Pavilion Again (For Now)

The 20-year-old outdoor amphitheater on the west side of Phoenix which switched its name from Desert Sky Pavilion to Cricket Wireless Pavilion a few years ago is now back to square one.This is no victory over corporate America. The low-cost cell provider’s naming rights recently expired and concert promoter Live Nation, which…

Long Wong’s Makes World’s Largest Flier for Anniversary Shows

Long Wong’s Firehouse in Tempe has made the world’s largest flier for their one-year anniversary show.The shows will be March 18 and 19 at the bar and venue on Apache Boulevard. Underground Cities, Future Loves Past, Kirkwood Dellinger and The Pubes headline the big bills.The flier, meanwhile is a 24…

Linkin Park Melted Faces in Phoenix

delivered a killer performance at the US Airways Center last night.Linkin Park fans couldn’t seem to get enough of the local show, which was part of the A Thousand Suns World Tour. They also tweeted about openers Circa Survive and Paper Tongues quite a bit as well.Read on to see…

Streetlight Manifesto Impressed Mesa’s Ska Scene

Check out what fans had to say about the show as they sounded off on Twitter.@codieearly: Streetlight Manifesto has such a crazy crowd right now.@lolmel: Streetlight Manifesto kicked major ass, btw. I love ska concerts so much. #ska #ska #ska…

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes

There’s still the trademark Lykke Li pain and anguish felt in certain songs — “Love Out Of Lust” and “Sadness Is A Blessing,” to name a few — yet songs like “I Follow Rivers” and “Get Some” show a darker, more stark path for Lykke Li’s music. It’s that tenuous…

Village Voice Media and Frank 151 Throwing Huge SxSW Party

Wu-Tang Clan, Fishbone and Yelawolf will headline the annual Village Voice SXSW party, this year produced in tandem with with Frank 151.If that’s not enough to grab your attention, it’s worth mentioning that Erykah Badu will DJ the party on Thursday, March 17 at the Austin Music Hall.The event runs…