I feel like I’ve traveled through a time warp back to the year 2000. Everything old school has become new again with the Valley’s nightlife scene this week, as venues and clubs that had their heyday a decade ago have been reincarnated and reborn. The Nile Basement has become the…
Upon hearing Henry Rollins perform one of his profanity-laden, loudmouthed spoken-word tirades on cassette, my then-middle-aged father adroitly summed up the former Black Flag frontman’s blustering travelogues in one sentence: “He’s just like Charles Kuralt, only with a dirty mouth.” And that’s pretty much the case. (Well, aside from the…
It’s not uncommon for formerly wicked musicians to foreswear their evil ways and turn to the Heavenly Father for inspiration. Dylan did it, as did MC Hammer, former Korn member Brian “Head” Welch, and the late New York Dolls bassist Arthur Kane. So does the fact that the Asylum Street…
The club gods haven’t been too kind to either DJ Joshie or Benni Beatnik over the past two years. A couple of summers ago, their popular weekly dance affair, Electrostatic, was 86’d at Glam after the club’s property owners decided to shut down the hipster bar. Then, the situation repeated…
Erin Peters spent many an unforgettable evening at the old Nile Basement back in the day. Ask her about some of her favorite shows she witnessed at the bygone Mesa live music spot, and the 29-year-old concert promoter rattles off names like Rise Against and Tsunami Bomb. “I saw so…
Long Wong’s at the Firehouse owner Avi Sadote seemed a bit frazzled during last night’s grand opening. It’s to be expected, since was bouncing betwixt greeting patrons, confabbing with his bar staff, making cell phone calls, and working in the kitchen. Providing a contrast to his harried state was the…
In the Zone is out of luck. And out of business. The North Phoenix sports bar, located adjacent to Metrocenter Mall, was shut down at the end of January by its property owner, PDG America Shopping Centers, evidently due to non-payment of rent. (Landlords are kinda funny that way, expecting…
Amar’e Stoudemire won’t be wearing a Phoenix Suns uniform for very much longer, if the current maelstrom of trade rumors proves to be true. With a little more than 24 hours to go until the NBA trading deadline, Big STAT could become a member of the Miami Heat by this time…
When word broke a few weeks back of the impending return of Long Wong’s to Tempe, I’m sure Valley music lovers had visions of the Gin Blossoms or Dead Hot Workshop headlining its grand opening. Sorry to disappoint, but Robin Wilson and the boys won’t be playing at tonight’s unveiling…
By all accounts, the soft opening of the Underground this past weekend was a big success. According to Erin Peters of the Mantooth Group, more than 160 people turned out on Friday to witness the debut of the downtown Mesa music venue, relive its days as the Nile Basement, and watch onetime…
Chris Jericho is one prolific mofo. Besides his day job as a dastardly villain for World Wrestling Entertainment (on its weekly Smackdown TV show), the 40-year-old Canuck is a published author, indie film actor, and one of the many talking heads featured on such VH-1 programs as 100 Most Shocking…
There are a few speaker cables needing to be hung, and someone’s gotta make some minor adjustments to the soundboard. But other than that, The Underground is just about ready to go. The downtown Mesa music venue, which is located in the space formerly occupied by the Nile Basement, is…
It’s been almost two years since I profiled Digital Summer, and I’m still getting shit for it to this day. More times than I can count, certain local musicians or hip-hop artists have told me they think the West Valley hard rock band “really sucks” and asked why this publication…
Life’s been pretty sweet for DJ Tranzit lately, and here’s why: The 29-year-old’s collaborative EP with DJ Dooz (Nothing but a Dancer) recently dropped on German EDM label 12.inch.recordings, his release party at the Crown Room last week was attended by more than a hundred, and he’s been booked as…
San Francisco mixmaster extraordinaire Lorin Ashton, a.k.a. Bassnectar, has spent the past decade in the Bay Area’s underground scene amassing a legion of fans who dig his exotic sonic concoctions, which blend thickly warbling bass lines, spastic techno glitchery, and throbbing breakbeats with generous dollops of funk, hip-hop, and freestyle…
Turning 34 years old isn’t exactly a red-letter date in life. It’s just another step away from the blissful ebullience of your twenties and two years removed from getting booted out of the coveted 18-to-35 demographic.Although most folks would probably avoid celebrating said occasion, local turntablist Tricky T has booked…
In fact, this lack of space has been the Yucca only major shortcoming as far as I’m concerned. But as of right now, said situation has been remedied. Last week, owner Rodney Hu quietly unveiled the bar’s much-vaunted adjacent lounge — essentially doubling the establishment’s size – after four months of…
Did you miss out on the last First Friday? Don’t be ashamed if you did, since January’s edition of the monthly art walk extravaganza fell on New Years Day, which meant a lot of folks stayed at home dealing with a hangover rather than perusing pulchritudinous paintings and photographs. As…
Is cowboy-chic fever gripping Old Town Scottsdale’s nightlife? One might think so, given the impending arrival of Shotgun Betty’s Rock & Roll Saloon later this month. The Western-esque club, located in the Stetson Drive space that used to house Drinx, is scheduled to open on February 26, mere weeks after…
Aron Mezo has quite the yen for off-the-hook theme parties. It seems the proprietor of after-hours Scottsdale nightspot Afterlife is putting on some sort of stylish shtick-filled soiree every weekend, and they’re almost guaranteed to pack in the peeps. For instance, a couple of weeks back he threw a massive Jersey…
Tom Reardon is been a guitar-beating, band-organizing, lyric-spitting juggernaut who’s been a major figure in Phoenix’s rock scene for more than 15 years. In addition to his lengthy involvement with on-again/off-again noise-rock act Hillbilly Devilspeak and the defunct joke-punk band Pinky Tuscadero’s White Knuckle AssFuck, the bespectacled 40-year-old has also…
Is electro waning in popularity in the Valley? One might think so, given the fact that some of the more popular electro nights, such as Gosh Damn and Party Foul, have blinked out of existence over the past six months. But that hasn’t stopped the promoters of this weekend’s ElectroSelf…
