Summer of 2013 can more or less be summed up with three songs–Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness.” All three tunes are a little grim–“Blurred Lines” can be interpreted as glorifying rape, Icona Pop has no problem with trashing her car,…
Lil Wayne seems to be in no hurry to get back to the state that busted him in 2008 for drug violations, having postponed his Monday night charity concert at Celebrity Theatre. A representative at the Phoenix theater told us about an hour ago that, last she heard, “he was…
They may not be active anymore, but you can currently hear four Arizona bands from the ’80s in a film-worthy setting. Nicolas Cage and John Cusack’s new film The Frozen Ground is set in 1980s Alaska, and classic AZ groups including New Wave band The Jetzons and power poppers Blue Shoes…
One Direction: This Is Us made $18 million over the Labor Day weekend. That means the One Direction movie did better than the Katy Perry movie and significantly worse than the Justin Bieber movie, which–fanbase-wise–seems intuitively right to me. But it’s not a lot of money for a movie. It’s…
by Darryl Smyers 20 years ago, The Backstreet Boys were unleashed on an unsuspecting American public and the “boy band” phenomenon of the late ’90s was officially under way. Inspired partly by the great doo-wop groups of the ’50s and partly by the R&B of the ’90s, Nick Carter and…
In heavy metal, there’s nothing better than an extremely talented guitarist. When a musician truly knows how to work some magic with that instrument it demands to be revered and acknowledged. But there’s a trade-off for said talent: Creative people are often labeled as “weird” by their peers from a…
This week’s Lil Wayne show started out weird–in a smaller venue than you’d expect Lil Wayne to play, with less than a month’s notice, for the benefit of a charity–and it looks like it will finish weird, too: Monday night, with fans lined up outside Celebrity Theatre waiting for the…
Happy Labor Day! We like to spend our Labor Day checking out Lil Wayne charity shows. (Note: That’s not a picture of Lil Wayne.) We don’t know how you like to spend your Labor Day week, which is why we’ve included no fewer than five options for enjoying yourself. If…
Ever since the legendary Hollywood Alley closed earlier this month, the only thing that’s left of the renowned rock bar (other than many mementos of the place that were scooped up by regulars in the days following its shuttering) is memories. And plenty of ’em too, like 25 year’s worth…
Black SabbathUS Airways CenterAugust 30, 2013 (View the complete slideshow.)There were more devil horns on display at Black Sabbath’s concert Friday night than at an ASU football game. That’s not surprising, however, given the band’s affinity for dark lyrics, occult-like imagery and satanic references. What was surprising was the great…
Jamie Monistat VII is still in mourning over the recent loss of Hollywood Alley–so much so that the restaurateur and Blanche Davidian vocalist claims that he gets “bummed out at least 15 times an hour” about the closure of the Mesa bar earlier this month, as it was a favorite…
People from Phoenix treat the summer like the zombie apocalypse. I realize this every time I stare out of a car window at people groaning and lifelessly shuffling in the heat. I think about how I would never dare go out there, for fear of being infected…
An event called Boob-a-Palooza is bound to turn some heads, because who doesn’t love boobs? Now that I’ve got your attention, you can learn more about The Rhythm Room’s third annual Boob-a-Palooza, an event that’s part fundraiser, and part rockin’ swing dance show. Check out what Mona Watkins, the Rhythm…
Taking two years off from live shows is a pretty ballsy move, but local synth rockers Genre took the time off to reinvent themselves. The band shrunk from a four piece to two guys (Zac Markey, guitars/vocals and Corey Gomez, keyboards and vocals) and a keyboard. Both musicians agree that…
If Black Sabbath isn’t quite terrifying anymore, they’ve done a remarkably good job recovering from their lead singer appearing in a goofy MTV reality-sitcom for three years. You’ll be able to see just how well they’ve recovered Friday at US Airways Center. If that’s not your speed, we’ve got four…
Over nearly 30 years as a solo artist, Joe Satriani has fused rock with blues, funk and world music among other styles (remember his 2000 electronica-meets-rock release, Engines of Creation?), all in an effort to do something new with each successive album. Given the sort of influences he had growing…
Remember Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill? Yeah, so does Eminem. If you doubt it, take one listen to the absolutely inessential “Berzerk” single from the forthcoming Marshall Mathers LP II, where he makes the emphatic case that we ought to “take it back to straight hip-hop.” It’s not terrible advice,…
Miley Cyrus keeps breaking records. This week, her polarizing, bizarre, what-drugs-is-she-on? performance at the MTV Video Music Awards caused a Twitter avalanche, inspiring more than 300,000 Tweets per minute and upsetting the slightly classier Beyonce as the title holder of most Tweets in a minute in the process. As parents…
When you are a certified music junkie like I am, you tend to weave music in and out of life. It influences every area of your existence. Does that mean music is part of my parental philosophy? Of course. It’s one of my greatest tools. In fact, I find that…
Perhaps you’ve read the weirdly fawning praise of Bob Dylan’s tenth installment in his famed Bootleg Series, Another Self Portrait 1969-1971. (“One of the most important, coherent and fulfilling Bob Dylan albums ever released,” some buffoon for Rolling Stone just claimed!) Perhaps, while in your collecting-every-Dylan-record phase, you presumed that…
When I first heard “Blurred Lines,” I was driving in my car. I knew I’d heard it before, but I couldn’t place the song. So I Shazamed it. Still nothing. I didn’t recognize the title. About a half-an-hour later . . . Abracadabra! I remembered Marvin Gaye’s extended groove, “Got…
After a lengthy absence–33 years–Black Sabbath have returned with 13. And unbelievably, this is your grandmother’s Black Sabbath. Eschewing a turbulent history that left the band frequently in musical flux and misdirection –particularly those middle years–today’s Sabbath, complete again with the exception of drummer Bill Ward, comes to us straight…
