Flier of the Week: DeVotchKa

Do you like Arcade Fire? How about Gogol Bordello? Sure you do! So why not check out DeVotchKa’s show at The Clubhouse tonight?Cuz here’s the thing: As The Village Voice has pointed out, DeVotchKa was those bands before those bands were those bands. It sounds ridiculous to say an act…

Owning the Old Mill sound

I haven’t been overly enamored of local alt-country bands. The New Westerns had a nice sound, but spotty vocals, and suffer from occasional self-indulgence. Instant Hobo won points for being hobo-themed, but didn’t take the motif far enough, and their record seemed a little sloppy. As a long-time alt-country fan,…

You Asked For It: 80*D

I’ve been pretty hard on Mesa bands in general and Mesa punk bands in particular here in our weekly You Asked For It local CD review column. It’s not that I have anything against Mesa (I live there) or punk bands (I was a big fan of them in my…

Erick Purkhiser, a.k.a. Lux Interior of The Cramps, Dies

Erick Purkhiser, better known as Lux Interior of The Cramps died today according to his publicist. (We originally go the story from The Daily Swarm who said he passed over the weekend). We won’t even try to compete with The Swarm’s post, which is chock-full of YouTubey goodness, but this…

Cherry 7UP with Antioxidants Reviewed

It seems like every product on the market nowadays has to make a nod toward either being “green” or being healthy, so it is that we get the new Cherry 7Up with antioxidants. Now, if you live in Arizona you probably don’t suffer from a shortage of vitamin E, the…

Franz Ferdinand Coming to Marquee on April 18

Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria who’s assassination touched of World War I in 1914, is coming to the Marquee Theatre on April 18. Tickets are $26 in advance, $30 the day of the show. Openers not yet announced…

Jimmy Buffett Coming to Phoenix on May 14

Jimmy Buffett is coming to Cricket Wireless Pavilion on May 14 as part of the inimitably named “Summerzcool Tour.” Tickets go on sale next Monday at livenation.com. Expect lots of hats like those pictured above…

Prince Launches New Site To Pimp 3 Records Due in 2009

From our sister paper in the Twin Cities comes news that Prince is launching a new web site to… well, that’s not exactly clear, but it will definitely promote and possibly distribute Prince’s three albums due this year. The best part of this blog post? The category: The Purple One…

Flight of the Conchords Coming To Dodge Theatre May 19

One last big concert announcement for the week: Flight of the Conchords will be at Dodge Theatre on May 19. The joke folk duo from New Zealand’s new season on HBO just started, so expect a few new songs from that. Tickets are  $38.50 and availible through www.livenation.com…

Coachella Lineup Officially Announced

Coachella’s 2009 official lineup is officially out — as of 3:15 this morning, says Michael Lopez. Here it is: Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, The Knux, Fleet Foxes, Lupe Fiasco (that’s, in order, five of my 10 favorite records of 2008) plus The Black Keys, Late of the Pier, The Yeah…

Coachella Promoter to Fans: Chill Out

A couple of weeks ago, we brought you an unofficial list of acts supposedly slated for Coachella. Still no word from the promoters on who is and isn’t coming, which has stirred some angst amongst concertgoers. Now, he’s speaking up, according to our OC Weekly music blog, and he urges…

Flier of the Week: Gospel Claws (And Magic Bullets)

This week’s Flier of the Week was chosen not because of the art work (which is pretty cool, but not amazing) or the headliner, Magic Bullets, (who are pretty cool, but not amazing) but because it’s the best I can come up with to pimp the new Gospel Claws EP…

Lil Wayne Very Late, Very Predictable at US Airways Center

Things I witnessed while waiting nearly two hours for Lil Wayne to perform at US Airways Center on Wednesday night: An impromptu routine by all of opener T-Pain’s assortment of dancers, including two midgets, a fire-eating contortionist, two dudes with their faces painted like Juggalos and two of (what appeared…

Talking (to) Trash

As a Cleveland Browns fan, I’ve spent lots of time trash-talking Steelers faithful. When your team’s 2-17 against their team, you feel justified in bad-mouthing them. Cardinals fans are, mostly, peaceful people, unaccustomed to the level of hostility they’ll encounter in any run-in with members of the yellow-and black brigade…