"Heeey maaan, you got a cigarette for me?" The question comes from a tall, skinny, glassy-eyed kid in a Megadeth T-shirt, and it's directed at my friend Chazz, who could easily be his father. Chazz asks the kid if he's gonna buy him a beer. "Yeeah, maaan, I'll buy ya...
When Ryan McKay was in his early teens, he took his girlfriend to check out some regional band that had achieved a certain local-hero status back in his home state of Illinois, and afterward, they all went back to party in the band's hotel room. Which was great until the...
The Black Parade had all the makings of a total drag. A concept album devoted to death? Yeah, those are always fun. But New Jersey rock darlings My Chemical Romance stared death in the face and decided to send out for Liza Minnelli, who sounds right at home on an...
Other than a few years of classical piano as a preteen, I never learned to play music. My parents wouldn't buy me a guitar or a drum kit, I never got to sing in front of an audience (thankfully, since I can't sing), and I never had a rock band...
Alice Cooper was looking to shake things up a bit at this year's Christmas Pudding concert. So he put in a call to the three surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band, the guys who backed him on such classics as "I'm Eighteen," "Be My Lover," "School's Out," and...
Imitation is most definitely the sincerest form of flattery. For a perfect example, look no further than local ska group The 2 Tone Lizard Kings. The eight-member outfit, which has been a regular at joints like Alice Cooper'stown, covers a slew of ska classics in its raucous repertoire, including throwbacks...
The Rolling Stones and Alice Cooper? Can a classic rock bill even get any better than that? The Stones, of course, are still amazing live, still able to invest a song they've done no fewer than a billion times — from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" to "Jumpin' Jack Flash"...
Although Army of Anyone features half of Stone Temple Pilots as well as former Filter lead singer Richard Patrick, the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts. None of the tracks on the group's debut smolders quite like Filter's mid-'90s breakthrough, "Hey Man, Nice Shot," nor does any...
Hey, dude. So here's my mix tape that's been 12 months in the making. Sorry it's taken a while, but reality often moves at the same molten pace as a couple of the bands culled here. While the new folksters get accolades for their freaky psychedelic tendencies, there're plenty of...
While purists continue splitting hairs over "true" heavy-metal style, Danava combs the genre into a weave of fantastic art-rock wizardry that leaves the shtick straight by the wayside. For its full-length debut, Kemado Records' dark horse moves between kohl-cloaked glam and by-the-misty-bog Zeppelin hallucination fantasies; gargantuan stoner rhythms and high...
It's been a while since White Pony established the Deftones as nü-metal's answer to Radiohead, embracing moody, operatic grandeur without abandoning the muscle or the shriek. But after retreating a bit from the edge on the more conventionally heavy Deftones, they're back to exploring their artsier side with a vengeance...
Green Day is coming, and we ain't talking about the punk band, brah. Nope, it's the annual alcoholic extravaganva known as St. Patrick's Day, where liquor and leprechauns collide in one clamorous Celtic craic. Everyone can have a wee bit of Irish in them, especially after pounding a few pints...
Who needs TV when I've got T. Rex?" Not local glam/'70s rock throwback band Crash Street Kids, who sing the legendary line from the David Bowie-penned "All the Young Dudes" with a sincerity that saves them from the "poseur" label. On a recent Friday night, I'm watching CSK play, along...
Desiree and Mindy Duponte are teenaged sisters, attractive blond girls who each stand around five feet tall and have unusually tiny hands. When they tell people they're musicians, they usually get a reaction along the lines of, "Oh, you guys play in a band? That's so cute. " When I...
No doubt about it, The HorrorPops are headed for Hades. Not because the fearsome foursome of Holland-born hipster hellcats committed any mass murders (that we know of), but simply because we're certain they've somehow sold their souls to Satan. How else would you explain the devilish fervor in which punky...
Art Detour is an annual event sponsored by artlink inc. The following venues are not all "official" participants in the event, so they may not be included in artlink's promotional materials. The purpose of this guide is to list as many of the art, music, shopping and dining opportunities downtown...
Independence Day is here again. Turns out we've been free for almost 230 years, which is a pretty kick-ass record when you think about it. So what is it that makes America . . . you know . . . America? Well, the best way to solve that mystery is...
Juicy chunks of fresh lobster, lightly bound together with mayonnaise and served on buttered, toasted bread. Spicy, bubbling étouffe laid out over a bed of steaming white rice. Succulent Chinese dumplings stuffed with garlicky pork, floating in a rich vegetable broth. Fucking Delicious. That's according to Derek Fudesco, anyway --...
Listen up, P-Town peeps. When it comes to holidays, Halloween is the shizzle. What other day on the calendar allows you to transform yourself into a pimp, priest, or politician without getting glares from onlookers? Back during your juvie delinquent days, you spent most of the year agonizing over which...
March 5 will find most of the world gearing up for the 78th Academy Awards, but here in Phoenix, everyone with more than one use for a safety pin will still be coming down from the AZ Ska Punk festivities the night before. These two gala events would appear to...
The warm glow of candlelight suffuses the Wrigley Mansion's grand living room, as George Gershwin's ghost tickles the ivories of an ancient Steinway, belting out the dulcet tones of "Rhapsody in Blue." Seems Gershwin was a guest of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. back in the day, and recorded...
It's a Monday evening in early May, business as usual at The Rogue, a dive bar on Scottsdale Road, not far from the Tempe border. The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" is on the stereo, and the daytime bartender serves cheap beers to the early regulars. As if on cue,...
