So, how bummed were you when last week’s Belle & Sebastian concert got moved the outdoor from Civic Space Park to the indoor, seated Orpheum Theatre setup due to rain? Well, chin up, kids. We knew it wouldn’t be long before Stateside Presents’ Charlie Levy announced another Civic Space show,…
Valley of the Sun residents curious about how magnets work but unwilling to ask a scientist for an explanation will have to wait a little longer to satiate their curiousity — or at least go down to Tucson Thursday to find out. Insane Clown Posse has canceled their Mesa Amphiteatre…
Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. He shares stories of great music and wacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always zany music biz. I’m closing in on a half century of existence — an existence immersed in the…
Now’s the chance to use that old-fashioned monogrammed hanky that’s burning a hole in your dresser drawer or just grab a cheap box of tissues – – whatever suits you best for sopping up tears mixed of both laughter and desolation – – and spend the evening with Puddles Pity…
Popular conjecture claims that Black Joe Lewis started playing guitar simply to annoy his redneck co-worker at an Austin, Texas pawnshop. That’s partially true — he did purchase his first guitar there and played it in his down time — but Lewis, seeing his friends in bands, had elected to…
You have to earn a Weezer fan’s trust before he shows you his playlists. First, he’ll make sure you aren’t just parroting somebody else’s post-Pinkerton decline narrative. He’ll want to be sure you don’t believe bassist Matt Sharp secretly wrote both of the band’s two classic albums. He’ll need to…
By Lina Lecaro After fierce blowback from a disgruntled community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender folk, and more, Facebook has eased enforcement of its “real name” policy. Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said in a Facebook post that the whole situation took the company by surprise. Some individual decided…
Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. He shares stories of great music and wacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always zany music biz. What can I tell you? I’m middle-aged. Forty-nine to be exact. I stopped my wild…
Sure, music is the highest form of art, but it rarely gets as abstract and conceptual as Black MIDI, a genre of electronic music that’s pretty hard to dance to. But be warned: Black MIDI might give you nightmares, or, if you’re epileptic, a seizure. Dealing with literally millions of…
Should someone undertake a study of musical groups and the manner in which most dissolve, it is unlikely that many end amicably. Typically, internal friction, ego, death, or addiction causes band breakups. Anberlin has decided to take a different path despite differences making the band’s existence somewhat tenuous. “The decision…
Update 2:Good news for tonight. From Luckyman Concerts’ Facebook page: “Tentatively to play, The Maine Taking Back Sunday Luscious Jackson Descendents (Official) & The Replacements” Update: According to a press release from Luckyman Concerts, which organized Summer Ends Music Festival, the city of Tempe shut down the festival at 2:30…
In spring of last year, Stephen Rose shot an email to Jen Long and Matt Flag about an idea he had. Each of the three headed independent labels that release cassette tapes: Rose had SEXBEAT, Long ran Kissability and had a hand in Transgressive Records alongside Rose, and Flag oversaw…
Numerous significant events occurred in 1974: President Richard Nixon imposed the 55 mile per hour speed limit. The Six Million Dollar Man debuted on TV. The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst, and Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth as the all-time home run hitter. It also marked the first (and…
By definition, an “album leaf” is a musical piece written in dedication to a friend or admirer to be inserted in their album or autograph book. Whether it was intentional or not, Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf has inserted his own leaves into his latest project. The Album Leaf…
Sure, you know about Record Store Day, but some people don’t have $15 to drop on a 7″ single and maybe some people are just a little bit nostalgic for lo-fi. If that sounds like you, then get ready for Cassette Store Day, coming to you worldwide this Saturday September…
If you tune into KDKB right now — 93.3 on your FM dial — you’ll hear something a bit different from the classic/hard rock station’s usual offerings of Ozzy, Metallica, Judas Priest, or AC/DC. At this exact moment, the local radio institution is broadcasting nothing but wall-to-wall Richard Cheese, including…
For as long as the folk songs of hillbillies and Appalachian wailers have been called “country songs,” the genre has been the province of those tip-toeing between grace and damnation — Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, the Louvin Brothers, and others for whom the pursuit of holiness often…
Dancing, as famed poet Robert Frost once wrote, is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire. In other words, when some couples take to the dance floor at your average club night, it’s not only from a desire to show off some sweet steps and fancy moves. More carnal intentions…
So few concerts come through downtown Phoenix’s majestic Orpheum Theatre that when one cancels, it’s always a shame. Unfortunately, that’s the case for October 5 Neon Trees show. The Provo, Utah, mega-poppers announced that they had to cancel several upcoming tour dates due to health reasons. Here’s the statement: “Neon…
The artist formerly known as John Cougar announced dates for his latest tour yesterday, and John Mellencamp will stop in Phoenix at Comerica Theatre on July 29. The tour is in support of his upcoming album Plain Spoken, which will be released September 23. The album is the Rock and…
She might share the title with Iggy Azalea, but Ariana Grande’s “Problem” is almost undoubtedly the song of the summer. The Florida prep school grad’s collaboration with Iggy has been on every club’s playlist since it dropped earlier this year, and unlike seemingly every other tour featuring artists that are…
Has it really been 20 years since the Breeders pushed aside grunge with Last Splash, powered by the fuzz-fueled late-summer charmer “Cannonball”? Actually, it’s 21 years now, as the band spent most of the anniversary year on tour playing the album in its entirety. With all that behind them, the…
