Thursday 29 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Dulce Thursdays with DJ Deuce, & DJ JayOne (hip-hop) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Freshmaker,…
Rock ‘n’ roll, to paraphrase punk icon Poison Ivy, is for misfits. A refuge for outsiders, oddballs, or anyone else even a little bit strange. The description is apt for the recently closed Hollywood Alley and much of its patronage. Over its 25-year lifespan, the Mesa rock joint and restaurant,…
Kevin McDonald has a face and voice that are practically built for comedy. The Canadian funny man is gifted with a unique and rubber-faced countenance that he’s adroitly twisted into wild, unusual, and comical expressions aplenty. Paired with McDonald’s often shrill and manic-sounding vocal talents, he’s always brought a sorta…
Think you’re down with hip-hop culture? Okay, son, then which of its four elements — be it rapping, b-boying, graf artistry, and turntablism — is the most vital part of its mix? According to veteran local selector DJ Akshen, it’s the latter, since the beats dropped from the decks help…
Think you’re down with hip-hop culture? Okay, son, then which of its four elements — be it rapping, b-boying, graf artistry, and turntablism — is the most vital part of its mix? According to veteran local selector DJ Akshen, it’s the latter, since the beats dropped from the decks help…
Thursday 22 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Dulce Thursdays with DJ Deuce, & DJ JayOne (hip-hop) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Freshmaker,…
We don’t know how up y’all are on lowbrow culture, but professional wrestling sort of a big deal in Phoenix. Locals can’t seem to get enough of this rope opera, which explains why there are at least three different indie federations operating in town and the glitzy grapplers of World…
The college crowd is typically flush with cash at the start of the school year, often because of overly generous parents or one of those soon-to-be-regretted student loans. But trust us, the money doesn’t last. Your bank account may seem loaded in late August, but things will get scarce by…
If you haven’t stopped by chic, LGBT-centric hangout Amsterdam for some late night weekend dance session, tomorrow evening will be your last chance to do so. As in ever. The downtown Phoenix dance parlor, which has been around since the late ’90s, will close after one final party on Saturday…
Hope you had a blast over summer, college cats, since it’s back to the old grind mere days from now. Bitch and moan all you want, but classes at the various campuses of Arizona State University and other nearby colleges will resume over the next week, which means your life…
Thursday 15 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Dulce Thursdays with DJ Deuce, & DJ JayOne (hip-hop) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Freshmaker,…
Touring can be a hellish experience for performers. There’s the nonstop travel, fitful sleeping on trains and planes, and night after night (after night) of gigs. Just ask DJ Soulman, a veteran road warrior who’s spent decades touring with local rap-rock act Phunk Junkeez and as a globetrotting selector. He’s…
Although the scribes at DJ Mag won’t be releasing the results of their annual (and oft-debated) Top 100 poll for another couple of months, we’re willing to wager there’s one name that’s guaranteed to be close the top of the list: Hardwell. Bet on it…
Believe it or not, but we’re only a month away from the start of Halloween season. That’s because the fright-dispensing folks at a few local haunted attractions begin slinging scares come mid-September, they’re already busy readying their ghouls and goblins in anticipation. North Phoenix’s 13th Floor Haunted House and Surprise’s…
The task of reading George Orwell’s famous dystopian tome Animal Farm is something practically everyone experienced in high school. We had to do it, and — in all likelihood — so did you. And probably because it’s something that’s typically digested during one’s formative years, the satirical yet frightening sociopolitical…
Thursday 8 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Dulce Thursdays with DJ Deuce, & DJ JayOne (hip-hop) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Freshmaker,…
Although the scribes at DJ Mag won’t be releasing the results of their annual (and oft-debated) Top 100 poll for another couple of months, we’re willing to wager there’s one name that’s guaranteed to be close the top of the list: Hardwell. Bet on it. Life’s been most prosperous for…
Pool parties are largely a pursuit of the daytime, right? Yeah, to a certain degree, but that doesn’t mean that summertime swim scene — especially in and around Scottsdale — ceases once the oppressive sun sinks below the horizon. To the contrary, things seem to get a bit livelier when…
Joystick Jedi and old-school gamers of Arizona, rejoice: ZapCon, the classic arcade and pinball convention, will return to downtown Phoenix for a second round next year. Better start practicing your moves…
After 25 years of slinging drinks, trashy fun, and rock ‘n’ fucking roll, the party is finally over at Hollywood Alley in Mesa. All the beer and booze has been exhausted, the last song has echoed through its cavernous sticker-covered interior, and the last pizza has been served. We dropped…
The website for Hollywood Alley contains a fairly lengthy rundown of some of the vast array of renowned musicians and bands that have performed at the Mesa rock dive over its 25-year history, and it’s both enormous and impressive. Said list includes name both iconic and influential, ranging from such…
It looks like the folks behind downtown Phoenix’s Rusty Spoke Bicycle Collective have packed up their pedals and headed to a new place to park their rides. The nonprofit and volunteer-run bike co-operative — which serves as a DIY repair spot, grassroots cycling resource, and community event space — spent…
