Before Ryan Adams was winning (and breaking) hearts with albums like Heartbreaker and last year’s strong Ashes & Fire, he was a member of the seminal alt-country act Whiskeytown. Whiskeytown had a good six-year run and helped define the genre’s sound and influenced a number of bands. “A lot of…
See also: Six Against Me! Songs We Can’t Wait to Hear Tom Gabel Sing as a Woman In an election year, it’s normal for the national conversation to get heated. “War on Women,” “War on Marriage,” “War on Healthcare” — you get the idea. Last week, Tom Gabel of Against…
Ana Tijoux Puente Arizona Headquarters Sunday, May 13, 2012 While most of us celebrated Mother’s Day with flowers, cards, and family dinners, Latina rapper Ana Tijoux spent the afternoon receiving a crash course in Arizona’s twisted political landscape and Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s regime. Her “Arizona-fication,” as it were. The French-born…
A couple of Saturdays ago at the Carolina Rebellion music festival, Korn surprised an already-frenzied crowd when they brought out Brian “Head” Welch to perform “Blind,” the first single from the band’s ’94 self-titled debut. The performance was the first time in seven years that Head — at the festival…
In the early 2000s, Sean Paul’s dutty rock dominated the airwaves and party playlists all over the world. Sean Paul is making somewhat of a comeback with a new album that nobody knew was released this year. We’ll see if the tracks on Tomahawk Technique are good enough to still…
George Sarah The Lost Leaf Friday, May 11, 2012 As I nuzzled my way through the standing crowd of George Sarah’s performance last night at the Lost Leaf, it dawned on me that I haven’t been to the downtown hideaway in quite some time. It’s still crowded as always on…
Turns out local concert promoter Jeremiah Gratza has more on his plate than just putting on shows, passing out flyers, helping run Crescent Ballroom, and hanging out at hip dance nights. The 29-year-old, who’s a promoter with Stateside Presents, occasionally has performed as DJ President Gator over the past four…
See also: Five Bands/Arists Your Mom Really Doesn’t Want You Listening To All right, suckers — this is it. Mother’s Day is Sunday, and there you are, short on cash, unable to buy flowers, unable to take her out to dinner, utterly and completely unprepared to show fitting tribute to…
Mr. ORNGMr. ORNG is the official Phoenix Suns Fan Ambassador — and an avid Suns fan. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Ha-ha — no key, keyless start. But to your point, 98.3 FM or 101.1 FM The…
Drake’s Club Paradise Tour featuring Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, French Montana, Waka Flocka Flame, J. Cole, and Drake Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion Thursday, May 10 See also: Drake’s Take Care Is a Conflicted, Compelling Statement Check out the complete Drake Club Paradise Tour slideshow There was a moment Thursday night…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. Los Angeles-based rockers Ozomatli reminded me of a cold hard fact at last month’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival; if you’re a Latino, particularly a Chicano like myself, you have an…
See also: Up on the Sun: The Podcast, featuring Mitch Freedoms Soul Jam Selections Welcome to another episode of Up on the Sun’s weekly podcast. This week we’re joined by Tucson MC/tattooist/director Isaiah Toothtaker. We’ve featured a couple of videos from his upcoming EP with incarcerated rapper Max B (formerly…
See also: Musical Instrument Museum Debuts “I Am AZ Music” Exhibit See also: Alice Cooper: No More Mr. Bad Guy When Alice Cooper, Phoenix’s resident lord of the underworld/radio personality/Christian activist, pops up in the Tim Burton new flick, Dark Shadows, what he’s wearing should look mighty familiar. The duds,…
We reviewed Roger Waters’ show last time he was in town, and he blew us away. As Perez Hilton would say, that concert was “amaze-balls.” Waters has been on tour for over a year and a half, and the man knows what he’s doing. He also knows people won’t hesitate…
Curious what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend. Saturday, May 12: Right to Marry to Stage Benefit Show @ Trunk Space It’s…
I’m glad I grew up in the ’90s. I had strong, independent, beautiful women as musical role models, and they ruled the airwaves. The Spice Girls preached girl power, Lilith Fair paraded feminine gusto across the country, and No Doubt , fronted by Gwen Stefani, assured us that being treated…
On Wednesday, President Obama affirmed his support of same-sex marriage in the United States, a position that’s evolved over the past couple of years. He’s still making plenty of room for the states rights discussion, but still, Barry’s support is a big effin’ deal. “It is important for me to…
Captain Squeegee frontman Danny Torgersen is a bona fide quote machine. The singer and trumpeter is known for his unconventional views. Just take his vocal contribution to a song that asserts 9/11 was an inside job (in dubstep!) or simply supporting underdog Ron Paul for president. Those views might be…
Greg Lake says he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to listen to music. He’s too busy playing it, as he’s done since the 1960s, doing time as a member of King Crimson, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, The Gods, Asia, and Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band, effectively establishing himself as…
Mother’s Day is all about celebrating moms, motherhood, and maternal bonds (to quote Wikipedia), but why do we stop there? What about celebrating all women? That’s what the National Day Labor Organizing Network and human rights movement Puente Arizona is planning to do on Sunday, May 13, with the event…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up on the Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What is Devo doing with instrument-maker Corey Busboom’s creations in their new video? Why are we…
If you’re bored and have access to the Interwebs, go to Amazon and type “string tribute to” in the search field and prepare to be blown away. Did you know there’s a string version of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” (because the original is too threatening)? How about Tool? How about…
