Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers Compound Grill Saturday, March 10 Many are those who believe jazz is boring, a style of music favorable to older generations and featuring only stodgy musicians playing the same tired standards in uninspired fashion. To some degree, these beliefs do have merit. Then there’s Bill Frisell…
See also: Wanda Jackson on Jack White’s SNL Performance, Amy Winehouse, and Some Guy Named Elvis Wanda Jackson Compound Grill Friday, March 9, 2012 Wanda Jackson may be 74 years old, but one would hardly know it listening to her belt out classics from her long and storied career Friday…
Save some chain grease for that ‘stache. Come Saturday all one needs for the Tempe Bicycle Action Group’s fourth annual Moustache Ride is, well, a little under-the-nose fringe. Beginning at the Tempe Beach Park entrance, this bike/bar crawl celebrates all upper lip furbearing cyclists, including such notables as Thomas Stevens,…
The grueling schedule of this shortened NBA season is clearly wearing down some aging legs, so the All-Star break’s rest days (perennial selection Steve Nash excluded), couldn’t have come at a better time for the Phoenix Suns. The team hopes to turn things around and gain some momentum during the…
Just because a band is from the South and rocks, that doesn’t make it a “Southern rock” band. This is a misnomer the Drive-By Truckers have been trying to shed practically since forming 16 years ago. Founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley do admit a fondness for their home-state…
It used to be that fixed gear bikes were exclusive to velodrome racing or specialized street training. But these days the two-wheelers are all the rage, with a fervent fan-base in the college set, who aren’t opposed to having their legs do double duty as engine and brakes. Tempe-based fixie…
Hockey is a streaky sport. The Coyotes can attest to that, playing poorly early before rebounding thanks in large part to practically unbeatable goalie Mike Smith, who recently won NHL Star of the Week honors. Playing even better now, Smith recently held opponents scoreless for a stretch of 171 minutes…
In the unlikely event that Al Stewart can’t make his scheduled March 2 concert, Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar could definitely fill in. Maybe he’s Stewart’s illegitimate love child, because, seriously, what are the odds two unrelated people could have that high, nasally vocal timbre? Either way, check out Destroyer’s “Painter…
Even in the warm(er) desert climate, it’s still a little early for cherry blossoms to appear on trees. But this weekend’s Arizona Matsuri 2012 will feature plenty of colorful delights. The Japanese festival commemorates the centennial of the gifting of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the U.S. and features…
Glen Campbell Comerica Theatre Saturday, February 18 Going in, there was a fear that Glen Campbell’s Goodbye Tour concert would devolve into little more than a nostalgia act. That Campbell, struggling with the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, would duly try his best to work through carefully guarded and pre-arranged…
Salt is traditionally used to preserve food items. But photographer Claire A. Warden uses salt to crystallize plants — her manipulation of botanical preservation — photographs them, and, utilizing a 19th century development process that involves brushing platinum and palladium onto photo paper, generates her images. The result is plants…
Arizona has plenty to celebrate: the Centennial, great weather, stunning landscapes, and, beginning Saturday, beer. The 12th Annual Arizona Strong Beer Festival kicks off Arizona Beer Week on from 1 to 5 p.m. February 18 at Steele Indian School Park, 200 East Indian School Road. Style guidelines dictate that strong…
When The Darkness entered the spotlight in 2003, the parenthetical question was: “Are these guys for real?” Glam rock long had given up for dead. So, did these guys really and truly love all things ’70s and ’80s rock, or were the spandex unitards, feather boas, long hair, lavish stage…
He stomps. He hollers. He yodels and howls. Scott H. Biram also plays guitar, shakes tambourines and basically, utilizing various effects, makes more of a racket on stage then one man should be allowed the pleasure. But it is a pleasure for Biram, whose music has been featured on FX’s…
Comedian and actor Tim Meadows always plays it cool. The all-time second longest running Saturday Night Live cast member (1991-2000) glides through skits, gags, improv, and stand-up with a delivery that’s slicker than a polar bear on ice. But those observing Meadows in films such as Mean Girls (school principal),…
Glass bongs don’t classify as sculptures, but after seeing “A Glass Perspective,” presented by Art Glass Phoenix and held in conjunction with Arizona SciTech festival, visitors might be left feeling a little lightheaded by the display of glass sculptures created by eight Valley-based artists. While most of these artists are…
It’s ironic that Be the Void, the new album by Dr. Dog, begins with a song lamenting being “Lonesome.” Ironic considering the band’s steady rise: A couple of well-received albums on indie label Park the Van attracted fans and wooed critics throughout the 2000s, leading the band to a contract…
Dengue Fever Crescent Ballroom Thursday, January 26 The setting was the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, but given the atmosphere and exotic sounds emanating from the stage, it may as well have been Cambodia circa mid-1970s. Eyes closed, it hardly mattered, Dengue Fever was in its element, and that element joined…
With song titles such as “Kodiak,” “Hunter,” “Wolves,” and “Between the Glacier and the Sea,” Turbid North’s connection to Alaska remains strong, even if the band currently resides in Texas. The “mountain metal” band started in North Pole, Alaska (yes, a Christmas theme is prominent), and quickly rose to the…
Imagine wild organ swirls, rolling surf licks and jazzy party horns coupled with angular and decidedly eastern melodies, plus a sultry singer who shifts between English and her native Cambodian dialect. That’s just a fraction of what shapes Dengue Fever’s original sound. The band discovered its calling in Cambodia’s 1960s…
Go to an online search engine and enter Toasters. The first thing that comes up is “Toasters. Lowest prices on all home appliances.” Oh, well. Search a little harder, and The Toasters, America’s first ska band (though their leader is of English descent) finally appears halfway down the page, even…
Pat Travers can kick ass in more ways than one. First, the Canadian guitarist is a black belt in Isshin Ryu Karate. And though he won’t demonstrate martial arts moves on stage, Travers’ hard-hitting music is still a kick in the face. Travers’ work is heavy in sound and thick…
