Music

J.D. Salinger, the famed Catcher in the Rye author, passed away just over a month ago. Lucky timing: A documentary about him by writer/director Shane Salerno has already been in the works for five years. Rumors were circulating, but it’s finally confirmed that Jesse Malin has been asked to write…

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…

The album is chock full of Gorillaz charm — an often unclassifiable sound mashed full of different styles and plenty of guest spots including Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Kano, Gruff Rhys, Mos Def and, of course, The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music…

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…

What to do when you’re sick of staying up late and waking up early as a news anchor, but don’t want to give up the opportunity to spotlight the Valley? Why not jump on the social media bandwagon and start your own show? Former FOX 10 and ABC 15 anchor…

The BBC is going through a huge financial overhaul and will be redirecting tens of millions of pounds to produce better-quality programming. One of the changes involves shutting down BBC 6 Music, and according to Twenty Four Bit, people, including David Bowie, are pretty upset.Bowie released a public statement about…

For years, people have been speculating about Carly Simon’s 1973 number one hit “You’re So Vain.” No one could figure out exactly who was the megalomaniac that Simon was referring to, and she remained tight-lipped about it all these years.Until now.Simon recently released a greatest-hits album with a new version…

Artist: Joanna NewsomTitle: Have One on MeRelease date: February 23Label: Drag CityWelcome to March. Tons of records are coming out this month that I plan to listen to: Liars, Ruby Suns, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Ted Leo, Drive-By Truckers, Dillinger Escape Plan, Dum Dum Girls, She & Him, and the…

Some artists still have an infinite supply of unreleased material, no matter how long it’s been since they passed from this earthly plane.Slowly and painfully, these songs are compiled onto “new” albums and released like some kind of slowly-metabolizing prescription painkiller. You know you need more than one, and once…

While bands like The Necronauts and Whiskey Six were out gigging this weekend, Source Victoria spent their time in the studio. Josh Montgomery from Scottsdale pop rock band The Summer Set, on the other hand, spent some time in front of a web cam, doing his first question-and-answer session. Montgomery…

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,…

It seems that Apple has decided that certain “sexy” apps, are just a little too risqué for their customers. One of the biggest problems is the “Wobble” application, which adds a wobble motion to photographs. Apple is apparently worried that people will be use it on pictures of boobies… Thus…

Artist: Freeway & Jake OneTitle: The Stimulus PackageRelease date: February 16Label: RhymesayersMy editor, Martin Cizmar, loves hip-hop almost as much as he hates house shows. He loves N.W.A. and Jay-Z, and he knows I don’t have much use for the genre, which is why he asked to me give a…

[jump] So why isn’t Phoenix more renowned as a DJ town then? It’s a situation of how leisurely our lifestyle is in general here, leading to the fact that people don’t care as much about their entertainment. You have to be way more on top of your game to get…

So in case you hadn’t heard, one of Jack White’s many endeavors is something called the “pop-up shop.” This is when he takes his Third Man Records store on the road, and “pops up” a temporary shop in a city other than its native Nashville.Apparently, Jack has leaked the news…

[jump] Tom Petty returns to Arizona for this first time since an August 2008 show out in Glendale. More info on the upcoming tour, including the track “Good Enough” from Petty’s forthcoming album Mojo can be found at TomPetty.com.Other live show announcements (not nearly as big as Tom Petty, but…

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…