MODERN ROCK: 1. LES PAYNE PRODUCT This high-concept dynamic duo--born of a much reviled alt-rock quartet called Crime Dog--occupies a musical space all its own: You could call it minimalist garage funk-pop. Behind their sense of the absurd and fashion unpredictability, though, guitarist James Karnes and drummer Chris Pomerenke are...
thursday may 13 Athens, Georgia-based instrumental-surf-rockabilly-pop-punk blend The Woggles, touring in support of their Telstar Records CD Wailin' With the Woggles, hit the Valley on Thursday, May 13, at Mustang Sally's, 1212 East Apache in Tempe. Doors open at 9 p.m.; the 21-and-over show starts at 10. Erector Set, and...
Milking MLK Day Sometimes, but not often, it's possible to believe that Phoenix really is a major American city with character and class. The Flash was reminded of that while sitting in the audience last Friday night at the city's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. For 12 years, the...
"Woo-hoo, the Cards are in the playoffs, Jack," yelped the red-nosed gent whose thick, round head sported a white hardhat with a snake glued to its top. He wore an Arizona Cardinals jersey with the number 16 pulled tightly over a belly that looked like it was stuffed with a...
thursday april 22 Standup guy Joe Rogan, best known as the gadget master on TV's NewsRadio, takes the stage at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 22; 8 and 10 p.m. Friday, April 23; 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday, April 24; and 8 p.m. Sunday, April 25, at the Tempe Improv Comedy...
thursday april 29 Seventeen of the Valley's top harp-blowers--Bill Tarsha, Dave Trippy, Roy Pinn, The Root Doctor, Mississippi Catfish, Bill Frain, Gypsy, Mark "Moose" Mallet, Dave Tank Taylor, George Pappas, Diana Lee, Big Nick, Dwight Miles, Harmonica Mark, Sarge Lintecum, Larry Dee and venue honcho Bob Corritore--take the stage for...
Officer Scott Masino began CPR even though he knew his friend was dead. Masino tried in vain to push breath into the chest of fellow cop Marc Atkinson, to get his heart to beat after it had been stopped by the gunshots. Atkinson was killed in an ambush on March...
As a kid, I went through a very brief infatuation with the clarinet after watching The Benny Goodman Story on TV with my dad. All these years later, it's as clear to me as the horn-rims on Steve Allen's ugly mug that this film was a ludicrously romanticized bio-pic typical...
Ronald Roe is a wife-swapper. The 31-year-old psychiatric case worker for a Valley hospital enjoys, on frequent occasion, watching his wife copulate with other men. And Ronald's wife, a software engineer, fondly encourages him to have sex with other men's wives, usually while she's in the same room, having sex...
thursday april 1 According to Joe Louis' autobiography, the title confab of Black Theatre Troupe's new production, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, really happened. Ed Schmidt's play, directed by Douglas Alan-Mann, tells the story of a 1947 conference called by Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey in which he asks other...
Diary of a Mad House How did you guys get a hold of my real "secret diary" of the impeachment proceedings (Flashes, January 28)? Questioningly, Jon Kyl United States Senator Thanks for your recent satire of Jon Kyl's "impeachment diary." I wish you would expose it for what it is,...
The marquee is lighted and the front door is open, but the lobby of the Valley Art Theatre is empty. Outside, Mill Avenue is alive with the modest bustle of a Thursday evening in downtown Tempe. College kids, yuppies, panhandlers and cops are about their business. But with the possible...
It was one night in Arizona's rave scene. One night of glow sticks, blow pops and pacifiers. Of whispered lies, sabotage and cops with shotguns. One night of cuddle puddles and the best dance music on the planet. Of stink bombs, broken windows and gambles gone bad. One night of...
thursday march 11 For the second year in a row, the Phoenix Art and Antique Show offers a staggering array of bric-a-brac, objets, macguffins and other assorted knickknacks from 43 galleries around the U.S. and Europe, which are exhibited and sold for the benefit of Phoenix Art Museum. The goodies...
Jewel Spirit (Atlantic Records) Jewel Kilcher may have made a mint by marketing guilelessness, but she's a bit savvier than she lets on. Consider that her latest single, the characteristically preachy "Hands," instructs listeners that "only kindness matters." Of course, a pesky music fan wouldn't be out of line to...
Elvis Costello once sang about a fictional couple who had "songs for every occasion." You could make the case that Jamal Ruhe has bands for every occasion, or at the very least, bands for every type of song he wants to play. Ruhe, guitarist for the late, lamented Tempe band...
The Crime of Punishment Two years ago, while a visiting third-year law student at Arizona State University, I had the pleasure of meeting, and briefly working with, Dale Baich. Barry Graham's column "Near-Death Experience" (October 29) did an excellent job of portraying Baich. How Baich can do the work he...
The City of Tempe is about to serve notice on the "crusties," or homeless youths, who flock to Mill Avenue for the winter: "Watch your butts. Literally." The Tempe City Council, in conjunction with the business district's management company, Downtown Tempe Community Inc., is preparing to pass a municipal "sidewalk...
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,...
It's early morning at the "Jungle in the Desert," the Combat Railfans' annual New Year's bash, which unfolds along the track southwest of Phoenix. Bacardi Carty, a founder of the fanatical Phoenix-based group, opens a beer for breakfast, the start of a routine day in camp for a Combat Railfan...
Not long ago, Pete Forbes was talking to a Nashville rep for Risk Records. The label rep had called Forbes after hearing the Phoenix singer-songwriter's thoughtful, well-crafted debut CD, The Gulf Between, which was released earlier this year. "This record is great. I love this record," the rep said. "Oh,...
Not long after the death of former Gin Blossoms founder Doug Hopkins five years ago, his family began the task of assembling his musical legacy. With the help of one of Hopkins' closest friends, Robert Shipp, the process of tracking down and cataloguing more than a decade's worth of material...
