This summer, I took a trip of epic proportions, leaving the hot, sweltering desert for the cool, mosquito-filled vastness of Alaska and points north. I saw amazing sights — bears, whales, glaciers, rain forests, and rivers two miles wide — before school forced my return to this urban existence. All…
Well, this is a surprise: Lil Wayne, just three years removed from a career-making feature in Weezer’s “Can’t Stop Partying,” is playing Phoenix on September 2, just over two weeks from now. Tickets–$50 each, all proceeds benefiting the conveniently named Carter Fund–go on sale tomorrow morning at the Celebrity Theatre’s…
My mom warned me about rock ‘n’ roll. She said it was a bad influence and a crazy lifestyle. Overflowing with sex, drugs, partying, and lots of other things God didn’t dig. She said stay away at all costs. So I made a career out of it. No, really. Not…
I went to see some of my favorite local bands at Tempe’s most notoriously seedy dive bar, the Palo Verde. If you haven’t had the privilege of checking it out, you can find it located in the scenic industrial district of Tempe. Nestled between a milk-processing factory and an array…
As a kid, Christopher George Manak’s ambitions for adulthood didn’t involve growing up to be rich or famous. Instead, he wanted to be an inventor, like Thomas Edison. “My dream is always to discover things,” says the man who also goes by Peanut Butter Wolf. “I wanted to do something…
It’s hard to figure out exactly what to make of modern country’s flirtations with genres outside Nashville’s rustic confines. Taylor Swift’s Red incorporated an (ever-so-slight) dubstep wobble into her pop-country frame. The Zac Brown Band is covering Metallica in concert. Former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker gets as…
Charles Bradley, his voice dripping with raw emotion, sings as though his life depends on it. It’s a voice that, in essence, gave Bradley a new start in life at 61, when his debut album, No Time for Dreaming, at long last found its way into the world, via Daptone…
Last week, we spoke to FLAG’s Keith Morris about Greg Ginn’s Black Flag lawsuit. Black Flag released another new song Tuesday, “Wallow in Despair,” which sounds a bit better than the band’s other new material. Ultimately, we’re just thankful that it doesn’t feature five minutes of Ginn playing the theremin…
In today’s completely random lineup news, Less Than Jake and Anti-Flag are coming to Mesa’s Nile Theater on Tuesday, December 3, as part of the 2013 Fat Tour. These groups aren’t the most representative members of the Fat Wreck Chords roster, since Anti-Flag’s last Fat release was 2003’s The Terror…
Normally I don’t go out of my way to listen to music the moment it’s released, but I devour on-trend, manufactured pop like a snake devouring its prey. I digest over a period of days, listening to it over and over, and then something snaps inside me and the song…
As a general rule, I don’t like to be lectured by Lady Gaga. This is not to say that I haven’t earned a lecture, since she’s a rich and famous superstar who’s touched millions of kids who feel sad and alone and I’m a guy who listens to episodes of…
Earlier this week, Black Flag cofounder Greg Ginn filed suit against Henry Rollins and the members of FLAG for using the Black Flag trademark. It’s a sticky situation to say the least–you can sift through all the legalese on Punknews. I interviewed FLAG’s singer and fellow Black Flag alum Keith…
A few weeks ago, I wrote that there is no such thing as background music in my world. I’m constantly aware of what’s playing, for better or worse. When I posted the column on my Facebook page, I had two different people refer to the comment specifically. Knowing both of…
You’d never know Fayuca’s video for “Por Que Seguir” wasn’t produced on a big-budget national scale. The local Latin rock band’s clip, featuring dozens of extras and a perfectly rendered digital urban factory setting, is so impressive, it’s currently competing for a spot for heavy rotation on MTVu, in its…
The first time I visited Mesa-based Heavy Metal Television (www.heavymetaltelevision.com), this past spring, I was sure there had to be a catch. The more I watched, the more sure I was. It was too simple: A local website was serving a metal cocktail with current technology and a television format…
Forget Japan: Jann Klose is big in Indonesia. The songwriter and guitarist is something of a cult figure there, and he’s still not sure exactly how it happened. “It’s a really weird thing,” he says with a laugh while on the road in New Jersey. “People are still posting this…
The Monkees have survived so many backlashes and revivals that Micky Dolenz can answer most of your questions before you even consider asking them. Just say “TV show” or “actors” or “instruments,” by way of priming the pump, and he’ll generate an interview that touches on every important piece of…
This feels a little like Barnes and Noble offering combined subscriptions to Teen People and Adbusters because they’re both in the magazine section, but I guess I can’t fault the Phoenix Suns and US Airways Center for trying something new: The team is now offering a season ticket package that…
I’m feeling a little guilty about last week’s column, in which I took the crappy popular music of the ’80s to task (High School Music: A Reunion from Hell). Why? It was negative, and generally I like to promote good music instead of baggin’ on bad stuff. I’ve fed my…
Even more than 40 years later, no musical period is more influential to today’s rock ‘n’ roll than the ’60s and early ’70s. Young bands on modern Top 20 radio may not be able to cite a single artist from the 1960s, but it’s still there in their influences from…
Glasspopcorn’s latest video, “My Circle,” features him and his friends buying soda and eating tacos. They stomp on packets of hot sauces, shoot hoops, and ride bikes through Tempe. It’s filled with the inconvenient images he’s known for: He pets a lizard at one point; at another he raps in…
Musician/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has made a career out of taking chances. His first true band was the San Francisco-based punk outfit The Nuns. Then he joined up with cow-punks Rank & File before forming the country-oriented True Believers with his brothers, eventually hacking out a solo career. His music typically…
