Kinch is planning to play four new songs during their set at Friday’s release party for the latest Flying Blanket compilation CD.The band goes on early, just before 8 p.m., so arrive at Martini Ranch early if you want to hear the new stuff.”All four new songs are guitar songs,…

DMX is planning to make an appearance at a Glendale church this weekend. The rapper known as “Earl Simmons” by Sheriff Joe’s prison guards had previously said he’s planning to skip town as soon as he gets out of the joint, but apparently had a change of heart…

Phoenix pop-rock band Anarbor is part of mtvU’s weekly contest, The Freshmen, hoping their video for “The Brightest Green” wins a spot in the station’s rotation. Check out their video and the competition here.”The Brightest Green” is an undeniably great song, as you can hear above, so give the boys…

A concert by Tempe pop-rock band The Maine has been deemed a suitable prize for “America’s Greenest School.” IC Bus, the nation’s top school bus manufacturer, will pay the band to play a show at whatever school wins its second-annual contest.The school also gets a new hybrid school bus valued…

Z-Trip might not live in Arizona anymore — despite his inclusion on the Republic’s list of the Valley’s most intriguing people — but he’s still one of the best DJs in the world.I’m reminded of that fact by this remix of The Dead Weather’s “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” featuring…

Wonder what a local Poison tribute band would do on the set of a major motion picture?You may be unsurprised to learn they’d spend most of the time joking about using the star’s toilet. Unskinny Bop, a cover band that has won “Best of Phoenix” awards the last two years,…

Our Valley Fever blog told you about The Police Women of Maricopa County, the new TV program which, apparently, is mostly about spray-tanned chicks with guns getting holier-than-thou about motherhood. Since this is at least billed as entertainment — I’d say it’s more scary than entertaining though — I’m going…

First, let me start my saying that the Arizona Republic did an overall excellent job with its list of “The Valley’s 25 Most Intriguing People.” I was especially impressed with the inclusion of Joe Johnston, a Gilbert restaurateur who’s always working on something awesome, and Dear and the Headlights, which I…

Apple Inc. celebrated a huge milestone today as iTunes sold its 10 billionth song.10,000,000,000 songs.Let’s put that in perspective.That’s approximately 32.8 songs per American, since there are just over 300 million of us now. There are only about 6.8 billion humans on Earth, so we’ve downloaded about 1.4 songs each…

Fearless prediction: McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2010 will not be on par with MMMF 2009.The 2009 festival, which took place at Scottsdale’s WestWorld and featured The Flaming Lips and Matisyahu, impressed the hell out of me. In fact, we named it Best Music Festival in our annual “Best of Phoenix”…

Frankie Muniz, the former Malcolm in the Middle star who’s now playing drums for Phoenix band You Hang Up has granted an interview to Popeater where he discusses how he got together with You Hang Up. Unfortunately, Popeater asked stupid questions like “How does the L.A.-based star end up behind…

Carly Simon taught me not to be so vain, and not to assume this song — or three-day festival of local and international DIY indie/punk acts — was about me. However, I’m going to go ahead and assume that the “Cizmarch Madness” festival at YOBS has something to do with…

The radio station formerly known as “The Edge,” X103.9, will host the new singer of “Sublime” on Friday. Rome Ramirez, a chubby 21-year-old California kid who was in elementary school when Brad Nowell died of a heroin overdose, will perform with The Dirty Heads in an “intimate acoustic session” at…

Rihanna reportedly celebrated her 22nd birthday in metro Phoenix over the weekend, at a party put together by her rumored boyfriend, LA Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. TMZ says Rihanna got a lap dance from a midget porn star at the Scottsdale bash (video here), which also featured Sprinkles cupcakes and…

Paul McCartney will open his upcoming “Up And Coming” tour at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena. The former Beatle will play a show at the hockey arena on Sunday, March 28.The news, which was officially announced at a press conference this afternoon, was hinted at by Danny Zelisko at Saturday night’s Mariah…