But that old dog has got some new tricks, too. Simon is hitting the road to support his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What. And believe me, it sure is beautiful.Joining Paul Simon with shows of their own are Sting, Family Force 5, and BLESSTHEFALL.The rest of this week’s just…
Songs about weed belong to no specific genre, but the lines separating punk, hippie, dub, and surf rock — all toke-friendly genres — has never been blurrier. You can credit Sublime for making the cross-pollination mainstream, and also Slightly Stoopid, which was discovered by Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell in 1996…
Like a deranged used car salesman in an ill-fitting suit, Del the Funky Homosapien is setting ticket prices so low on his tour that he’s practically giving them away! Actually, he is giving tickets away. The rapper, best known for his work with trip-hop’s Gorillaz and hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics, has…
Consider this: Just as you were shaking your Labor Day weekend hangover, Hank Williams III was busy releasing not one but four new albums and kicking off a 24-date tour. The outlandish four-album release explores the third-generation Williams’ esoteric musical interests. A double album, Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town, expands…
Forever, the new album from Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White, may be credited to Corea, Clarke, and White, but most fans can read between the lines: It’s a Return to Forever album in all but name (and that title sure is cheeky). Touring in support of the two-disc…
DJ Jonny Rogers has one of those rags-to-riches stories you see in movies, except it actually happened. As a doe-eyed intern at WOXY in Cincinnati, Jonny Rogers learned the tables intimately and finally made his way to the Valley to host some of the area’s hottest DJ nights. As a…
Contrary to common belief, pop starlet Ke$ha isn’t worthless. However oversexed or perceivably vacuous the 24-year-old might be, her electro-rap debauchery is one of the more redeemable sounds on commercial radio. Let’s face it: The predominating trend in pop music these days is a lack of mirth and imagination. Most…
In your face, every other city! It’s no secret that music-loving Phoenicians sometimes get the shaft by bands that skip the Valley to play in Tucson, our neighbor to the south. (It always feels like salt in the wound, no?) But no other city can boast this one: Bon Iver…
When bands choose an opening act to warm up their minions, they’re thinking only about getting some rookies onstage to basically test the electricity in the building while they quietly snort blow backstage. But if they aren’t thinking at all, they pick an opening act like BroLoaf, the “Michael Jordan…
Nightclub crowds are boisterous bunches. With all that drinking, flirting, and dancing to do, who has time to focus on a live performance? Despite the many distractions, when local hip-hop/pop duo The New F-O’s take the stage, all eyes are on them. MCs Lifted and Pancho command the crowd with…
Thursday 15 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage (Top 40) Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) AZ 88: Josh One (various) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ Mendez (hip-hop, dance, Top 40) Bobby Q’s: DJ Deuce (hip-hop) BS West: Intravenous Thursdays (goth, industrial, electronic, ’80s) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ JS3 (various) Carly’s Bistro:…
Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, where Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please email…
Old Town Scottsdale girls were dressed to impress at High Society Friday, a weekly upscale party at Jackrabbit Lounge. Guests danced all night to the hip-hop beats dropped by DJ Robby Rob and DJ Kaydee. Check out the fun in this week’s Club Candids slideshow…
Gleeks will rejoice on Tuesday, September 20 as Finn, Rachel, and the gang return for the third season of Glee. After two years of hype, I decided to check the show out for myself. I couldn’t get past the first season. The show could be decent if it wasn’t for…
Power Hour. It’s a time-honored tradition that 20-year-old kids across the country look forward to with eagerness as they push the limits of blood-alcohol levels. In Tempe and Phoenix, most people target Mill Avenue as their destination for drunken debauchery, but when Tucson-based pianist/vocalist Steff Koeppen comes to town Saturday…
Hanson Marquee Theatre Tuesday, September 13 Hanson is way past “MMMBop.” The band of brothers has come a long way since their 1997 debut album Middle of Nowhere. The Hanson boys are all grown up, and their material has matured as both they and their fans did. Attendance was lacking,…
Foster the People The Venue Scottsdale Tuesday, September 13 Foster the People is the kind of band you hope to see when you shell out money for a concert. It’s just that seeing was the difficult part. The dance pop trio and creators behind the song of the summer, “Pumped…
If you honestly love music, you’ve got rules about it. Here are a few my mine. 1. Non-jazz artists and bands may feature no more than two saxophone solos during the duration of their career. 2. Bass guitars should be strung with two to four strings, but any more is…
The Rhythm Room opened in 1991, and this week the juke joint celebrates 20 years of operation by bringing in both the blues artists that have defined the place as well the local indie music that promoters like Psyko Steve bring to the room…
Look, I’ve had my differences with Weezer. The band has done some things in the past decade that I have a hard time forgiving. But Hurley, the band’s last record, wasn’t that bad, and I was into seeing them at the State Fair — because what is the State Fair…
“Vinyl isn’t dead…But something is rotten in Phoenix.” That’s the tagline for The Big Something, the first feature for Phoenix-based Running Wild Films. The film is a whodunit revolving around the murder of a record store owner, and was shot on location at Phoenix’s Tracks in Wax record store. Director…
NOTE: This article has been modified since its original publication to correct mistakes regarding samples and clarify the title of the post. I had never met a rapper who claims to like Adele, the Black Keys, and dubstep. That is, until I spoke to local hip-hop artist Jaron Ikner,…
