There’s no reason to fear 50 Cent, right? That’s what I tell myself while heading towards Manhattan’s Flatiron District for a one-on-one interview with the much-shot gangster emcee. The guy has no beef with me, and besides, he hangs out with people like Dustin Hoffman and Justin Timberlake, perhaps the two-unscariest guys in the universe.
So why — as I wait to be buzzed in behind G-Unit Clothing headquarters’ wall of bulletproof glass — am I shaking?
One of Jim Louvau’s favorite talking points when making a case for his new band The Attitude is the void to be filled because there are no more new rock stars. And he’s right. If you want cocksure swagger and violence, rappers have that segment fully under control. And as…
Juliette Lewis, the actress with the off-kilter gaze probably best known for her role as Mallory in Natural Born Killers, experienced a full-blown musical conversion a few years ago and formed a band called the Licks to record some Stooges-style rock. Lewis took some time while doing laundry to talk…
Blues Traveler frontman John Popper made headlines last March when the 40-year-old vocalist and harmonica player demonstrated that mouth harps aren’t the only weapons he likes to wield. After popping Popper’s SUV for going 111 miles per hour and collaring the bluesman for carrying a small amount of marijuana, Washington…
Whatever animates Riverboat Gamblers lead singer Mike Wiebe, the audience is giving him a wide berth lest it prove contagious. Dragging the mic cord like a lifeline, Wiebe climbs on tables, mounts structural supports, and hangs from exposed pipes — within the first 15 minutes of the show. Behind him,…
Halls of fame are all well and good, but face it: they never ever get it right. There’s always about twelve dozen perfectly great artists that get completely overlooked, or worse, ignored in favor of total mediocrity, and who gets to argue about it? No one, because halls of fame are HALLS OF FAME. Immortal—unassailable—in the postmodern deterioration of all that is good, holy, reliable, and worth clinging to for dear life, halls of fame comfortably bludgeon the gullible masses into seeing The Canon and/or give something for tourists to do when they go to Cleveland. Wouldn’t we be better off just admitting that Cleveland just can’t be gussied up?
You won’t need to crack open any Shasta when reading this week’s edition of Future Shock, since the latest crop of “just announced” concerts heading to the Valley is already packed with plenty of pop. From squeaky clean bubblegum starlets to cutie-pie pop-punkers, we’re gonna be giving you some sugar, baby (as well as upcoming shows by some punk rock legends and a noted jazz superstar).
On a late summer afternoon, harmonious duo Rachel Cox and Patrick Sullivan of Oakley Hall are stationed just outside the subway entrance on the southwest corner of New York City’s Union Square. They are busking. As in, both are singing high and hard, without amplification, and Patrick is playing guitar…
The three most sentimental places in the world are cemeteries, airports, and tattoo parlors. Because the first two are verboten, thanks to the church and Homeland Security, Jake La Botz has been making good on the remaining option with his second annual Tattoos Across America tour. If you’ve ever wondered…
“Nobody wants to hear perfection, because nobody’s perfect,” Brandi Carlile declares over the phone as she lies on her lawn in Ravensdale, Washington — just outside the Starbucks capital. “It’s something I’ve learned playing live shows, too. People want you to fuck up.” The country-fried singer-songwriter, who’s as obsessed with…
MySpace is a baffling labyrinth. It’ll consume your whole day if you let it, and you’ll usually come away depressed by what you hear and see. But click the right link, and you can be neck-deep in a wondrous new world before you realize what’s happened. Or, in this case,…
If you tuned into MTV’s Video Music Awards this year, you may have noticed one big thing: they sucked. Between Britney Spears’ underwhelming performance (note to Brit: your career is over; you might as well pose for Playboy while your body is still somewhat nubile), Kanye West’s temper tantrum about not winning, and Kid Rock kicking Tommy Lee’s ass, the VMA’s were nothing but a sub-par Circus of the Stars, minus the cheesy ’80s leotards.
James Hunter may be one of the best kept secrets of the music world. In fact, Van Morrison called him “the best voice and best-kept secret in British R&B and soul.”
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I just finished reading issue number one of Z-Gun, a new print zine put out by Scott Soriano and Ryan Wells. It’s 40 pages long with feature length articles and interviews on Pink Reason, San Francisco art punk 1977-1982ish, Black Humor, and Not Not Fun Records, among other things, and they review a boatload of good and bad underground rock records with honesty and humor. If you want the dirt on good rock music in 2007, read this zine. Heaven knows that 99.9% of the zines ever released in the history of the earth suck horribly, yet this one, this one does not.
Charlie Levy of Stateside Presents ain’t gonna dig this edition of Future Shock, and neither will Jeremiah Gratza of President Gator, nor the folks behind Select Shows, or Live Nation. That’s because this week’s lineup of “just announced” concerts coming to the Valley is extremely heavy on shows being promoted by their biggest competitor, Lucky Man.
Here’s part two of New Times’ August 15th interview with Sacred Reich/Human Condition guitarist Wiley Arnett.
Albert Lineses III is a student of Socrates and Sun Tzu. He’s also a Catholic-turned-Buddhist turntablist and hip-hop and party rock DJ from the south side of Phoenix. Like his penchant for stalwart theories of philosophy and spirituality, his spin-side manner leans toward the wise and the elevated. “I have…
Miranda Lambert has sung about dousing exes in kerosene for their no-good ways, and on her sophomore effort, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the country star takes aim at a few more men who have done her wrong. All twang and laughs, she recently spent some time talking about why you don’t mess…
Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse released one of their most brutal records to date in last year’s Kill (Metal Blade), an album full of songs with tasty titles like “Necrosadistic Warning” and “Submerged in Boiling Flesh.” The latter describes a dish fit only for stomachs of steel (or Jeffrey Dahmer):…
In an monster-length interview that took place (on August 15th) shortly before the D-Low memorial concert, former Sacred Reich guitarist Wiley Arnett spoke at length with New Times correspondent (and avowed Sacred Reich fan) Saby Reyes-Kulkarni about the band’s heyday, as well as his new band, The Human Condition. Part one of the complete transcript follows:
Guitarist Sean Bonnette is playing his acoustic ax like a troubadour on crank. The 21-year-old scruffy-haired musician is a supernova of manic energy, ripping vicious riffs onstage at the Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix as the frontman for folk-punk trio Andrew Jackson Jihad. His right hand is a furious blur…
This year’s “D-Low Memorial Show,” with Sacred Reich, Car Bomb, Soulfly, and The Cavalera Conspiracy, certainly boasts one of the most exciting lineups in the history of the event. With brothers (and former Sepultura cornerstones) Max and Igor Cavalera in the lineup, The Cavalera Conspiracy’s live debut gives the show…
