By Benjamin Leatherman Don’t know about y’all, but I really dig it when bands whip out a cover or two during their live gigs. Whether it’s a song the band normally apes (like the Dead Kennedy’s parodies of “Viva Las Vegas” or “Rawhide”), or it’s just a rare, one-time-only kinda…
By Benjamin Leatherman Teenybopper pop-rock faves the Jonas Brothers are scheduled to perform tonight at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion. There’s a pretty substantial slate of live music going down this weekend at venues throughout the PHX. Nearly every major genre is represented, from rock and hip-hop to jazz and Latin…
We were surfing through DJ Tranzit’s impressive-looking MySpace page (www.myspace.com/tranzit) the other day, and besides being amused by the house music maestro’s catchphrases (“Some people call it a dance floor. I call it my office”), we peeped a pretty lengthy list of the clubs and gigs where he’s plied his…
We were surfing through DJ Tranzit’s impressive-looking MySpace page the other day, and besides being amused by the house music maestro’s catchphrases (“Some people call it a dance floor. I call it my office”), we peeped a pretty lengthy list of the clubs and gigs where he’s plied his turntable…
By Benjamin Leatherman Here’s a list of what’s been selling at Circles Records & Tapes (800 North Central Avenue in Phoenix) for the Week of June 30 to June 6: 1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (Cash Money) 2. Plies, Definition of Real (Atlantic) 3. The-Dream, Love Hate (Def Jam)…
By Benjamin Leatherman Folksy indie quirksters Polka Dot Dot are scheduled to visit the Trunk Space. Normally we’d be putting this up tomorrow, but since it’ll be a holiday (and in all likelihood y’all will be out feting freedom, fireworks, and frankfurters for three days straight) we thought we’d give…
There’s an infamous video on YouTube of iconic Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook “DJing” at Serbia’s EXIT festival in 2006. And by “DJing” we mean twisting knobs on an equalizer like a coked-up hamster while the Tom Neville track “Just Fuck” plays. This revealing vid (and similar…
It may come as a shock, but Arizona has something of a vibrant ska scene. Granted, it’s not as expansive or off-the-chain as our state’s hip-hop or rock communities, but we can think of almost a dozen different ska bands that have been unleashing Rude Boy and 2-Tone beats around…
With House M.D., American Idol, and Dancing With the Stars on hiatus until the fall, your Tuesday nights have pretty much been free . . . and filled with boredom. But instead of suffering through reruns and insipid summertime programming, sweeten things up with a heavy dose of hip-hop and…
By Benjamin Leatherman I really wanted to go see Tom Waits a couple weeks ago. Sorta badly actually. So much so that I had the following debate with myself over whether or not to attack Ticketmaster’s Web site and drop a c-note to get my hands on some ducats for…
By Benjamin Leatherman Rockzone Records, 1721 East Warner Road in Tempe, isn’t your typical music store. It’s more of a haven for vinyl junkies like our music columnist Steve Jansen, who prefer their sounds to flow from an old-school needle and groove instead of some new-fangled iPod or CD player…
By Benjamin Leatherman Last one out, turn off the light-up dance floor. For Phoenix’s nightlife scene, the bad news just keeps on coming. First, there was the announcement that downtown Phoenix indie rock haven OnePlace was closing up shop at the end of July because of financial woes. Then, as…
There are a few things you won’t see at a Heaven & Hell Wrestling event: blockbuster pyrotechnics, thousands of fans, and such superstars as John Cena and Randy Orton. What you will witness at the backyard-wrestling group’s extreme extravaganzas is plenty of skull-crunching action, weapons such as garbage cans and…
While most of the Valley’s various symphony orchestras have gone on hiatus for the summer, the monthly Downtown Chamber Series manages to roll on and represent the local classical music scene despite the heat. The latest edition of the series is presented at the Phoenix Art Museum and features the…
What is with local DJs blowing this burg after getting some renown? DJs Dirty Dave and Denny Le Nimh (of Hot Pink! fame) both did it, as did Z-Trip and Markus Schulz before them. The latest big fish to ditch our small pond is house mixmaster Joe DiPadova, who used…
By Benjamin Leatherman If there’s one thing that YouTube is no short supply of, it’s homemade music videos. I’ve personally lost count of the times my eyes have been assaulted by streaming clips of goofy teenage girls lip-synching to rock and pop music, relentlessly random slideshows of weird images set…
By Benjamin Leatherman Here’s a rundown of the top 10 best-sellers at Stinkweeds Record Exchange, 12 West Camelback Road, for the week of June 16 to 22. 1. Fleet Foxes, Self-titled (Sub Pop) 2. Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop) 3. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (ATO) 4. The…
By Benjamin Leatherman Can you conjure up something better than these examples? Local hard rock fivesome Digital Summer has itself a pretty crazy-ass, dedicated fanbase. For proof, look no further than last month’s cover story I wrote on DS. In the piece I described how Digital Summer’s ferverent fans and…
Back in 2004, DJ guru Rod Carrillo was all over the Valley’s airwaves and club scene, broadcasting his style of trance and progressive house on Energy Radio 92.7/101.1 FM and spinning at joints like Sky Lounge. These days, Carrillo is busy with getting tracks on the Billboard dance chart (his…
It’s kinda ironic that SoCal’s Mad Caddies entitled their latest album Keep It Going, since the ska-punk sextet is doing just that. Ironic not in a cheeky, Flight of the Conchords way, but rather because the Caddies are still rolling with the whole ska-punk thing when Reel Big Fish, The…
The members of JerkRag are having something of a shitty night. It’s an unseasonably rain-drenched evening in May, and the setup for their third-ever gig has been marred by endless difficulties, including missing equipment and soundboard snafus. They’ve spent weeks practicing in anticipation of rocking the rafters of Tempe nightclub…
By Benjamin Leatherman The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, site of rock ‘n’ roll history. Long before either the U.S. Airways Center or Dodge Theatre were even a twinkle in some architect’s eye, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum was the premier concert venue in the PHX. Besides its status as the…
