If you happen to see any driverless cars rolling by with people dancing on the hood, don’t be too alarmed. It’s just a few fools doing their best imitation of “ghost riding,” the act of automotive jackassery invented by Oakland hip-hop star Mistah F.A.B. Introduced to the world by the rapper’s…
Whether you like it or not, winter visitors are on their way to the Valley en masse, if they haven’t touched down already. Some we can tolerate, others we despise. A good example of the former is German rockabilly foursome The Booze Bombs. Consisting of a quartet of bombastic Berliners,…
Song: Kinch, “Tight Me Lightly” (DJ DLG Remix) Context: DJ DLG remixes “Tie Me Lightly” from Kinch, who I featured in this week’s print edition. The band concludes their month-long residency with a live performance on KWSS’s morning show tomorrow and a gig at Rogue Bar Saturday night. You’re going…
Us Weekly published a picture of Elton John and his family on their cover, and America wasn’t having any of it, according to Spinner.Some states have been shielding the cover of that issue similarly to what is done with pornographic magazines as a result of a slew of customer complaints…
Ozzy Osbourne and Slash Comerica Theatre January 26th, 2011 Have you ever wondered what happened to the people who appeared in the ’80s rock documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot? Well, from the looks of it they were all standing in a line that stretched around the Comerica Theatre last night…
L.A. based noise-punk band No Age had the year in 2010. They had some nice tours and their third album, Everything in Between, wound up on plenty of year-end lists. The duo started 2011 even better, appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman, where they performed their single “Fever…
Dick Dale — guitar legend and father of surf rock — has inspired and influenced at least three generations of musicians with his raw, attitude-driven, fuzz-swelled tone. Of course, his style was shaped by time spent on sun-soaked California beaches, but the uniquely overpowering sounds that pour out of the…
The Handsome Family are nothing if not persistent. There are not many bands that have gone through as much weird stuff, yet made so many awesome albums with so many weird albums covers. This is even more impressive considering that The Handsome Family is, literally, a family — a married…
Feeling good must make Keller Williams feel good. There’s never a dull moment in the guy’s catalog, which now includes merry versions of Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle.” Williams aims to entertain as well as enlighten audiences with Appalachia renditions of these tunes…
If you adore ska’s third wave, then you should give thanks to Tazy Philips. It was the Southern California disc jockey and his influential radio show, The Ska Parade, that helped the launch the careers of some of the biggest tastemakers from the genre’s massive mid-’90s revival. He was the…
If the name Yann Tiersen rings a bell, it’s probably because his music was used on the incredibly adorable soundtrack for the 2001 film Amelie, which showcased his whimsical use of instrumentation and romanticism. How does an avant-garde composer with a love of post-punk follow that up? In the 10…
It’s only a few blocks to the beach, but no one wants to go. It’s just after noon and the guys in Kinch emerge from the cramped aisles of an indie record shop thirsty for more beer. They started drinking an hour ago, washing down a cheese pie at the…
At the end of 2007, Against Me!’s album New Wave was one of the most acclaimed albums of the year: number one on Spin’s list, number five on Blender’s, nine in Rolling Stone, 21 in the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll. This year, the band’s newest album, White Crosses,…
Despite what national news or teen dramas might suggest, Los Angeles and Phoenix aren’t so different. Sure, L.A. has an ocean, but it also has massive shopping centers, myriad freeways, and 80-degree Januarys. So with two Los Angeles bands — Abe Vigoda and No Age — venturing onto Phoenix’s turf…
Johnny Cash is one of those musicians who is so well known that everyone can recognize a few of his songs. His signature heavy, straight-shootin’ guitar, often marked by a plink-plink-a-dink pattern, is coupled with that always-distinguishable, gravel road of a voice that comes from way down deep. His iconic…
The opening track of Lesson Number One, the debut album from non-ironically named Phoenix trio The Father Figures, announces to listeners that this band has no intention to “re-create the scene.” That’s a relief to those who’ve followed the exploits of the band’s members for the better part of two…
Sir Smeezy (a.k.a. DJ Smite) estimates that his ginormous music collection includes more than 8,000 different 45s. And if he has his way, the 32-year-old will spin each and every one of ’em during his new biweekly event The Hot Plate. On first and third Tuesday of every month, Smeezy…
THURSDAY 27 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old-school R&B) Airia Nightclub: Ladies Night with DJ Circle, & D-JR (hip-hop, Top 40, remixes, house, electro) AZ88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Short Notice with DJ Smite, Monsoon Sound, Johnny D., One Peso, J-Cut, Djentrification, DJ Melo, DJ Mantis…
With Kings Of Leon and Kanye West as headliners, I understand that some may choose to read that headline with a different meaning.However, what I mean to say is that festival passes are very, very close to selling out for the 2011 edition of Coachella. UPDATE: Coachella 2011 is officially…
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. When will “The Morning Mayor” Dave Pratt be back on the air? What happens when you…
They might be loathe to admit it, but members of the Valley’s hipster DJ community owe a debt of gratitude to William Fucking Reed. His highly popular weekly indie dance party Shake! (which rocked The Rogue for five years straight from 2004 to 2009) also proved to be highly influential…
Some bad news out of Australia last night (or this morning or whenever)…While he was playing his final song of the night, Jimmy Buffett fell off of the front edge of the stage, TMZ reports.The 64-year old singer/partier was apparently blinded by a flash of lights while performing his last…
