5 Best Things to Do in Phoenix This Weekend

Etsy Craft Night Music, snacks, kaleidoscopes. . . it’s not your preschooler’s Monday morning lesson plan, it’s Etsy Craft Night at TechShop, 249 East Chicago Street in Chandler. Friday night, amateur and expert crafters alike are welcome to come build cool things out of paper. Sculptures, mosaics and the Everest…

Mystic Braves Are Okay Being Called the “Mexican Beatles”

You can take one look at California band Mystic Braves and see the 1960s oozing from its members — from their shaggy bangs to their fashion sensibilities, which include everything from colorful striped pants to swirly paisley and floral-print shirts. The look is surely what helped inspire their landlord to…

6 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week

Here are our concert picks for this week. Check out our comprehensive concert calendar for more options. Roar – Crescent Ballroom – Monday, August 24 Changes are incoming for the band New Times awarded Best Local Band in our 2013 Best of Phoenix issue. Longtime bass player Aaron Burke is leaving…

7 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

“Border of Dreams” The image evokes triumph, frustration, and heartache with a black-and-white capture of a man, arms outstretched in a Christ-like way toward a barren background. Towering near him made of slanting barbed wire, the U.S.-Mexico border fence. The photographer behind the shot? Award-winning photojournalist Nick Oza. “Border of…

Screaming Females Is Done With Taylor Swift Covers

Together for a decade, with six albums and a whole lotta touring under their belt, New Jersey band Screaming Females aren’t losing any steam. In fact, they don’t seem to stop evolving into a stronger, more abominable force. Featuring Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals, King Mike on bass, and…

5 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

“Bummer Summer” There are countless movies, songs, and poems about the romanticism of summer — the warm sun, the peaceful beach, the budding romance. But, honestly, sometimes the summer can suck. Artist and graphic designer Lauren Bailey has put her minimalistic spin on this darker side of summer in “Bummer…

3 Cool Things to Do This Week in Metro Phoenix

Bar Flies If you spend time in downtown Phoenix even just occasionally and haven’t heard of Bar Flies, we suggest you take a second to reevaluate your life choices and then pay attention. Bar Flies is New Times’ monthly reading series where you’ll hear stories about everything from a lesbian’s…

Cheap Trick Checks All The Boxes at Talking Stick Resort

While we sometimes have to wait longingly for bands we love to visit for a live performance, the perpetually touring rock icons Cheap Trick seem to hit the Phoenix area on the annual. It’s always interesting to see where they land. A few years ago, it was a makeshift room…

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Ready for More Phoenix Pie

It has been less than a year since the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion obliterated the Crescent Ballroom with their raucous road show, blasting an eager crowd with its high-energy hybrid of punk-ass blues, noise, soul, garage, and straight ahead punch-you-in-the-face rock ’n’ roll. If you were there, you’ll be back…

New Rhythm Room Mural Features Blues Greats in Action

Just days since the world suffered the tremendous loss of music icon B.B. King, the Rhythm Room’s recent addition of a mural featuring the blues great, along with six other legends of the genre, feels especially poignant and significant. The venue has been a go-to spot for live roots and…

Andrew W.K., Unwritten Law – Viva PHX – 3/14/15

With so many good bands taking the stages at nearly 20 venues throughout downtown at Saturday night’s Viva PHX event, I thought I’d have a hard time staying in one place for the whole night, ogling texts and Facebook posts about what I was missing elsewhere. However, once I got…

Scott H. Biram’s Tunes Will Kick Your Ass

Mr. Scott H. Biram is nothing short of a total and complete badass mofo. First of all, he is thee one man in his namesake one-man band, and his many quality releases over the past 14 years have proved he doesn’t need anyone else to help him get the job…

Gilbert Band Lydia Returns for Pressroom Concert

Vocalist and guitarist Leighton Antelman’s musical career started early, when he and some friends from Gilbert’s Greenfield Junior High School got together and formed a band called Rolo 15. That band went through some changes, and ultimately it was Antelman and guitarist Steve McGraw who stayed together to create music,…

Psychedelic Furs – Talking Stick – 11/8/14

Saturday night’s Psychedelic Furs and Lemonheads show at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale could have done without one thing — chairs. I’m sure that opinion wasn’t shared by everyone, as plenty of butts seemed to keep those bad boys warm all night long, and when my party stood at times…

Is There Anything Better Than a Sad Clown Singing Pop Songs?

Now’s the chance to use that old-fashioned monogrammed hanky that’s burning a hole in your dresser drawer or just grab a cheap box of tissues – – whatever suits you best for sopping up tears mixed of both laughter and desolation – – and spend the evening with Puddles Pity…

The New Pornographers Are Masters of Joyous Indie-Pop

It hardly seems that 14 years have passed since Canada’s New Pornographers dropped their debut full-length, Mass Romantic, upon a whole lot of virgin ears. To say that the indie power-pop band’s initial offering was well-received is an understatement. Critics went cuckoo for it, and the recording found its way…

Kim Shattuck on How Getting Fired by the Pixies Named Her Album

The Muffs (Kim Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald) have been writing and performing spirited, clever and fierce pop-punk tunes since they formed in the very early 1990s. Their first full-length release in 10 years, Whoop Dee Doo, hit the streets this week and both fans and critics are eating…