The theme of the night at Arizona Roadhouse was “In Love with Debbie Gibson.” In set-list currency, that translated into each of the night’s four acts scraping together one cover song by the ’80s teen sensation. Near the end of the set by power-pop up-and-comers Crashbar, lead singer Adrian Smith…
When I was 11 years old, my older brother gave me a tape that changed everything I thought I knew about music. The tape was called King of Rock, and it was the second album by the rap group Run-D.M.C. I thought I was pretty hip for an 11-year-old, but…
Geoff Brown is a junior-high science teacher. He’s also a dedicated Christian. He has short, dark hair and is dressed conservatively in slacks and a green short-sleeve shirt. Though he’s only 30, he somehow seems much older. It’s not that he’s aged badly, really, but just that he speaks with…
There’s a famous old skit on Saturday Night Live in which a series of cheesy spokespeople vied with each other to prove that their brand of jam was the best, simply because it had the most vile name. The perverse gist of the mock commercial was that only a wonderful…
Tempe street artist, avid cyclist and self-made celebrity Frankie Martinez, known to most as Elvis, died October 8 after one of his lungs collapsed. This came as little surprise to any of the thousands who recognized him or the few who actually knew him, because Elvis always looked pitifully sick,…
Wailing Souls founder Winston “Pipe” Matthews has been working on his car. It’s a chore he knows plenty about: During the early ’70s, when Bob Marley and other reggae stars were earning international recognition, Matthews usually had his head under a hood. “There was so much struggle within the music…
Reubens Accomplice “Borders” b/w “O’ the Night” (Jerk Records) The four young men who comprise Reubens Accomplice have, over the course of time, developed into high-caliber pop musicians with an immense talent for precocious, intricately constructed pop songs seething with charm and innocence. A glance at the sleeve of this…
Flat Duo Jets Lucky Eye (Outpost Recordings) The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Flat Duo Jets have been bringing their stripped-down brand of southern roots music on the road for nearly 15 years. The duo of guitarist/vocalist Dexter Romweber and drummer Crow has earned a reputation as an intense and exciting…
Maybe it was some need to exorcise the past that sent Roger Clyne and P.H. Naffah hiking through the desert this summer. Clyne, the singer and primary songwriter of The Refreshments, and Naffah, the band’s drummer, had just decided to pull the plug on the group that had brought them…
In the booklet for his 1985 career anthology, Biograph, Bob Dylan mused on the differences between his rapturously received 1974 “comeback” tour and the contentious series of shows he had given eight years earlier. On the surface, much was similar about these two tours. In both cases, Dylan was backed…
Old habits certainly die hard. Blake Schwarzenbach knows this well. Nearly two years ago he brought his band, the seminal San Francisco punk-pop outfit Jawbreaker, to an end after fronting the band for the better part of a decade. Jawbreaker had been, and continues to be, one of the most…
Anyone shocked by the rampant intrusiveness and utter lack of accountability of Ken Starr and his posse probably has never had a run-in with Arizona’s liquor board. For years now, this group of self-styled morality czars has indiscriminately dropped its wrecking ball of disfavor on any club that chose to…
In the state of Washington, 764-HERO is an instantly recognized alphanumeric code, and for good reason. The superlative phone number is omnipresent along the state’s highways; operators are standing by on the other end of the digits should you happen upon one of society’s terror-mongers, the carpool-lane violator. In another,…
O’Shea Jackson, known to friends and enemies alike as Ice Cube, has a daughter, a son and a stepson whose ages range from 4 to 11. But despite their tender years, he sees no reason they shouldn’t be able to enjoy the furious wit and wisdom he puts on his…
PJ Harvey Is This Desire? (Island Records) Because PJ Harvey’s music changes so drastically from one album to the next, it’s inevitable that with every new release you find yourself missing something from the previous CD (though I could have lived without the indulgence of 4-Track Demos). When she and…
Not too long ago, one of Jack Logan’s friends paid him a strange compliment. In assessing the 39-year-old Georgia singer-songwriter’s sophomore CD–the endearingly ragged 1996 Restless release Mood Elevator–Logan’s pal said he liked the album because he could tell that Logan was reading his words off a lyric sheet as…
Mike Coatney is smiling, but it’s a smile that betrays frustration. He’s temporarily fulfilling the drum-kit duties for local rock quartet Haggis while the band’s usual timekeeper, Scott McDonald, plans for his October wedding. It is only Coatney’s second rehearsal with Haggis, and in two days he has to play…
In times of desperation, people always look for a savior. That tends to explain the music press’ recent compulsion to ordain so-called electronica the next big thing. It’s a bit reminiscent of the old notion that in a world of blind folks, the one-eyed person is regarded as a visionary…
Phunk Junkeez Fear of a Wack Planet (Trauma Records) There’s an adage that’s oft repeated among those who grow up in addiction-infested societies–“once a junkie, always a junkie.” It’s a saying that can also be applied to the question of Fear of a Wack Planet’s success. The Phunk Junkeez have…
All afternoon Bill Blake catalogued his depression. The money was gone. The beer almost. Rent long past due. Worse, beating-off had lost all charm in time with the porn. And the porn was just some semi-glamorous soul-killing connection to a world that was offered up through a peep-hole known as…
“The shocking thing about Oklahoma [is] it was the only thing I was allowed to play when I was little,” Tori Amos says from Omaha, Nebraska. She’s at a stop in her tour supporting her latest musical exploration into the human psyche, From the Choirgirl Hotel, and the prairie city…
Before the interview is to begin with Knack front man Doug Fieger, the man would first like to ask his own question. “I was wondering, why do you want to do an interview with me?” he says, his voice full of anger and confusion. Because, I tell him, I love…
