About the worst thing that can occur when a band leader decides to undertake a solo tour is unthinkingly defaulting into the dreaded singer-songwriter mode. Let’s see: acoustic guitar, stool, and microphone. In a word: boring. Sure, there are a few examples of doing it right. Think Eddie Vedder with…
It was a night of porn like no other. Before relocating to Arizona I did a night shift at KUNC, a public radio station in Fairbanks, Alaska. Broadcasts occasionally adopted a theme and one show was devoted to ’70s soundtracks. My friend Nathan, who has the most eclectic taste in…
Former Arizona State star and Phoenix Mercury rookie Simon Dymond makes her home court debut Saturday, May 26, battling the Los Angeles Sparks. Hopefully it will be enough to overshadow the loss of three-time WNBA All-Star forward Penny Taylor, who suffered a season-ending knee injury this spring. Taylor, however, remains…
When it comes to George Clinton and Funkadelic, or Parliament or Parliament Funkadelic or the P-Funk All-Stars — or whatever his backing ensemble might be called — you’re either all in or you’re in for a long evening. Given Clinton’s propensity for playing three- to four-hour concerts, this brand of…
Dead Winter Carpenters are another group of virtuoso musicians toiling in bluegrass obscurity. But it shouldn’t–and won’t always–be that way? Though it would be easy to write this band off as another Yonder Mountain String Band or Trampled by Turtles knock-off giving a punk spin to tradgrass as this Northern…
A former colleague of mine has a sandwich on his wall with a bite taken out of it. To the casual onlooker, it’s weird. For him, it’s the ultimate piece of music memorabilia. Better than an autograph, splintered guitar neck or piece of concert-worn clothing, this collectible is laced with…
See also: Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce on New Record Sweet Heart Sweet Light Jason Pierce is lead singer, guitarist, songwriter, and mastermind behind the psychedelic wall of sound and texture that is Spiritualized. Pierce, who also goes by the moniker J. Spaceman, is something of a troubled soul in the classic…
Puerto Rican culture, including dance exhibitions and lessons, live salsa music by Orquesta Tabaco y Ron and Chino Espinoza y su Duenos de Son, and the boxing challenge corner — featuring a meet and greet with several Puerto Rican boxers — will be on display Sunday when the sixth annual…
Suckers is one of those Brooklyn bands that claims an isolated sound yet, in reality, sounds a lot like other Brooklyn bands (e.g., MGMT, CocoRosie) that make similar claims. Says vocalist Austin Fisher: “Even if we think we’re doing a song that sounds like another song, we turn away from…
Jason Pierce doesn’t really remember where he was while piecing together his band’s newest psychedelic wonder, Sweet Heart Sweet Light. The Spiritualized leader knows the album took three years in three different cities to complete; it’s just that the medication he was ingesting for liver disease left him in an…
Roger Waters Performs The Wall US Airways Center Tuesday, May 15 The spectacle that is Roger Waters’ The Wall tour deserves more than a cursorily run-through. The concert is as much theater and cutting-edge theatrics as it is a musical production, and each aspect deserves — requires — equal respect,…
Hop on that Midnight Train to Georgia, or at least Chandler and the Arizona Railway Museum, for National Train Day 2012, Saturday, May 12. It seems a little suspect, but National Train Day was started by Amtrak in 2008 to celebrate the history and future of train travel. The event…
This isn’t rocket science. Taking a nighttime run is much more bearable (come summer, anyway) than sunlit jogging. But we’d argue that it makes for more fun, too. You can wear that electric cowboy outfit normally reserved for Halloween and people will cheer rather than laugh. Or you can simply…
“Fuck It, You Win” has to be one of the greatest, most hate-filled song titles ever penned to an ex who’s taken things too far. Add stinging guitars, ripped-from-the-gut vocals, and a driving, in-the-gutter beat (and captivatingly dark video imagery), and it’s not just a catchy title but a fucking…
It’s really quite elementary. There are those who adore the original Sherlock Holmes, that brainy crime solver of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, and those who prefer the witty and verbose Robert Downey Jr. version from the movies. Then there’s Sherlock, the popular BBC series entering its second season, shown…
Rosie Thomas is an upbeat, cheery gal who walks “with a skip in her step,” though one would be hard-pressed to believe it given the often sullen and dark mood found on her albums. Some of that gloom could have come from her living in the rainy Northwest or a…
The world record for the longest continuous wheelie (riding on one wheel of a bicycle) is slightly more than eight miles, and held by a South Yorkshire, England, youth. While there is no documented Arizona wheelie record, maybe one will be recorded at the second annual SanTan Wheelie Jam Super…
There was a time when Lucinda Williams wasn’t a famous country rock star. True. Back in 1998, just a few weeks before her Grammy-winning Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was released, I found Williams sitting alone in a Boulder, Colorado, bar next door to the venue where she had…
Martinis & Masterpieces dubs itself the valley’s premier after-work cocktail party, and from the looks of things, that could be true. It will be the place to network and hobnob with area artists, business professionals and community leaders, while bidding on artwork created and donated by said artists to benefit…
What does it take to become a legend? In Ralph Stanley’s case, it’s being instrumental in the development of the modern bluegrass sound. Stanley, 85, got his first banjo about 70 years ago. Attempting to learn the popular clawhammer style, he instead created his now signature “Stanley Style” instead. With…
There was a time when Lucinda Williams wasn’t a famous country rock star. True. Back in 1998, just a few weeks before her Grammy-winning Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was released, I found Williams sitting alone in a Boulder, Colorado, bar next door to the venue where she had…
On Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales, Pixar’s short companion to Cars, Mater battles all kinds of crazy characters in a monster truck rally. And, in real life, it’s sort of like that too. Take, for instance, the NAPA Auto Parts Monster Truck Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. The high-octane event…
