Wu-Tang Clan Light Up, Diss SB 1070 at Celebrity Theatre

Method Man made a lot of Arizonans happy last night at the Wu-Tang Clan concert at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix. Not only did he smoke a blunt on-stage, he also dissed SB 1070, calling it whack and inviting local politicians to suck his dick. He wasn’t the only one smoking…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our 12/9 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.What are the keys to deciphering any music critic’s list of the top 10 albums of the…

Aretha Franklin Fighting Pancreatic Cancer

Aretha Franklin’s family has confirmed that the singer has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to Billboard.After being ordered by doctors to cancel six months of appearances and going through a very successful recovery from an unknown surgery last Thursday, we can only hope she’ll beat this cancer.The soul and…

Flier of the Week: Shotfest 4 at Yucca Tap Room

Usually when you pay money to go see a show, you want the bands you’re seeing to perform their best–you know, not mess up, sing in key, play the right chords.That’s a little hard after you’ve taken 10 shots.Shotfest 4: The Quest for Peace might be one of the only…

Richard Vission @ Pussycat Lounge

If making pimp remixes of pop artists were a martial art, Richard Vission would easily be a ninth-degree black belt. The Grammy-nominated maestro of house music has unleashed his magic on some of best and the brightest in the biz, including Lady Gaga (“Bad Romance”), Black Eyed Peas (“Meet Me…

Pinetop Perkins @ The Rhythm Room

Funny how things work out. When a violent dustup with a choirgirl in Arkansas ended Joseph Williams Perkins’ budding career as a guitarist, it started him down his path as a pianist. Better known as “Pinetop” Perkins, Joseph holds the distinction of being one of the oldest Delta blues performers…

Curren$y @ The Clubhouse

Smell that? It might be the scent of your roommate’s fifth bong rip today. However, it could also be the Smoker’s Club tour bus nearing the Arizona state line. As if you didn’t already know that rap music and pot go together like alcohol and Taco Bell, Curren$y has made…

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers @ US Airways Center

Over the past decade, the model for the live music business has been turned upside down. Back in the day, a band would go on tour to increase the sales of its record. Now, bands often sell their records in an attempt to support their tour. Roger Clyne and the…

NeedToBreathe @ Marquee Theatre

Usually, band’s origin stories are pretty similar to one another. You know the drill: The members, outcasts at school, rebelled against their parents and wound up in a forceful, angst-y band. That’s not really how things worked for the members of NeedToBreathe. The stripped down Southern-sounding quintet hailing from Seneca,…

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

THURSDAY 9 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old-school R&B) Bar Smith: Bass Lettuce & Techno with DJ Josh Letsis, & DJ OG (deep bass) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Nino (hip-hop, Top 40) BS West: Intravenous Thursdays (goth, industrial, electronic, ’80s) Club Trinity: DJ Knick Knack, DJ Unkown, DJ…

December to Remember @ Marquee Theatre

As most people get all warm and fuzzy during the holiday season, others flip their shit. There are just so many times when the stress of shopping for stupid gifts and coordinating stupid family schedules is just too much to handle. That’s when banging your head and screaming it off…

Sun City Girls: Funeral Mariachi

Artist: Sun City Girls Title: Funeral Mariachi Release date: October 26 Label: Abduction Sun City Girls’ last-ever record — they’ve made dozens since forming in Phoenix way back in the early days of West Coast punk — comes off as a more somber affair. And some of it is downright…

Club Candids at Coach House

Christmas is a big thing at the Coach House. The folks at this Scottsdale mainstay do it up right by decorating the renowned dive bar with more than 10,000 twinkling glow lights and more wrapping paper and bows than one can imagine. It’s definitely a sight to be seen, which is…

T.I. – How Life Changed

Song: T.I., “How Life Changed” Context: Everyone’s apparently too busy wetting themselves over the new Kanye West record that they’re not thinking much about the fact that T.I. just dropped a new album, No Mercy, yesterday. It’s excellent. This track, “How Life Changed,” stands up to anything on My Beautiful…

What’s the Point of Year-End Top 10 Lists Anyway?

Compiling year-end lists is an art form. Lucky for everyone, our own Michael Lopez understands that art very well. So does Consequence of Sound. The Associated Press, on the other hand… not so much, which is why the Houston Press, among others, famously and understandably shit all over AP’s 2009…

10 Steps to Becoming the Next Indie Buzz Band

So, it’s Saturday night and you are playing another show in front of an empty dive bar. You can’t figure out why your Linkin Park tribute band hasn’t become more successful. You’ve spent hours working on your bands MySpace page, you’ve worked hard to get your original stuff played on…

Heather Mills Claims She Arranged Beatles Deal With iTunes

Heather Mills may be the one to thank for getting the Beatles’ music catalog up on iTunes, according to Consequence of Sound.Mills, Paul McCartney’s ex-wife, claims she talked to Steve Jobs and organized the deal to finally get the digital Beatles albums onto iTunes.Also, she said she won’t be going…