Yesterday, news of American Idol winner Jordin Sparks’ throat injury was all over the Internet, along with speculation that the 18 year-old Phoenix resident might never sing again. Initially, media were unable to reach Sparks, her family, or her management for comment, prompting fears that the injury was serious and possibly “career-threatening.”
Many people in P-town are transplants who’ve made the trek from elsewhere to try and build a better life here in the Valley of the Sun. Some people, like John W. Edwards, bring their booming indie businesses with them. This week, we’d like to give a Local Label Spotlight shout-out to Edwards’ Renaissance Records.
By Sarah Ventre Every third Friday of the month, Mesa-based Hollywood Alley turns their space into a place where art and music can come together with good food and cheap beer. Less upscale and underage than First Fridays downtown, Theonix Arts Showcase doesn’t follow the formula of taking an art…
Fans of industrial music – a.k.a. “rivetheads” – know that the best industrial events in the Valley are thrown by the local collective known as Sadisco*. Every month, Sadisco* throws a themed party at Homme Lounge, wherein the collective’s “house” DJs break out some wicked wax mashups. The event on Saturday, April 19 was dubbed the “Sadisco* Goes to Leary’s * Town: The S*uicide Cool-A©is Test!” on the flier, and the décor at Homme was fitting. The entrance was decked out in bamboo and fake foliage to resemble Jonestown, Guyana, where the mass suicides of Jim Jones’ cult took place on November 18, 1978. Inside, there were a couple life-size skeletons, centerpiece dishes filled with a hodge podge of bizarre items like rubber chickens and baby doll heads, and more stroboscopic effects than a vintage Pink Floyd show.
By Jonathan McNamara Have the promise of Venezuelan Dominican beats from this week’s Noise Boy caught your interest? Take a listen and a lesson from the Noise Boy himself in our latest downloadable music experience: . Keep on rockin’…
One sign of summer coming to the Valley (besides the ungodly, ever-present heat, of course) is the announcement of a wide variety of concerts. This week, a slew of shows spanning several genres were announced. Whatever your musical tastes, the city’s got your ticket.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has inspired many things, but until recently, his impact on the local music scene seemed minimal. But now, at least two Valley bands are using the sheriff as a gimmick for their music — one has adopted and adapted his name, and another is using his image in violent effigy.
By: Megan Irwin MGMT Better than: Staying home and moping about Cat Power’s cancelled performance. I’ll be honest. I only went to the MGMT show last night because Cat Power didn’t wind up playing her show and because it was free. But I’m really glad I did. These guys are…
By: Megan Irwin Get well soon Chan! (photo by Steve Gullick) This space should be filled with a review of what I’m sure would have been one of the best shows to hit the Marquee Theater this year: Cat Power was set to perform with her new band the Dirty…
So Sunday is April 20, better known as “4-20,” an unofficial holiday for pot smokers everywhere. Of course Phoenix — a city in a state that sits between Mexico and California — will host its share of celebrations and shows. Even if you don’t smoke pot, there’s plenty of mellow music and groovin’ goodness to go around. Here are just a handful of the goings-on around town on April 20:
THURSDAY 17 Axis/Radius: DJ Sander Kleinenberg (various) Bar Smith: High School Happy Hour with DJs Mara, & Brazilia (’80s retro, old school) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Club Forbidden: Lips Thursdays with DJ Domenica, DJ Hill, & DJ MJ (various) Club Red: The Blunt Club with…
In comic books, one of the coolest things that can happen is when two great superheroes — like, say, Superman and the Flash or Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk — join forces for a one-off adventure that, if executed properly, will be remembered by fanboys for years to come. Marvel…
I’ve witnessed many things at the Willow House on Van Buren, but I’d never seen a drummer nearly kick his kit across the room. That is, until a recent Sunday night, when I saw culture rockers My Feral Kin jam in the front room of the central Phoenix coffee shop…
Phoenix punk band Glass Heroes has been around for more than 17 years. They performed with Nirvana at the long-lost (but not forgotten) Sun Club, and have played with and become friends with a host of other famous folks, including the Sex Pistols, the MC5, the UK Subs, and Motörhead…
These days, there’s nothing trendier in rock than a green tour. Even if you’re not environmentally friendly on the road, you’re at least joining the fight to build awareness of global warming. To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, let’s take a look back at an early era in the…
Didja know that eardrum obliteration and neighborhood aggravation aren’t the only uses for pulsating bass-heavy music? Try ratcheting the Best of Bass Syndicate up to 11 while aiming your stereo’s speakers at the floor to simulate a minor earthquake, or blast “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side…
If, by magic, American Idol actually conceived a competition between this generation’s greatest professional female vocalists (not the semi-pro pop tarts the show usually offers), it’s hard to imagine who’d top Chan Marshall. The Cat Power singer proved an inspired interpreter on 2000’s The Covers Record, and again on her…
Both Pelican and Thrice are stretching the boundaries of their sounds and others’ expectations. Pelican’s City of Echoes soft-pedals their usual throb, taking their complex art-metal instrumentals in a melodic direction. The tracks are still dense but don’t unwind as far, getting through each thematic movement with heretofore unseen concision…
An underground extreme-metal institution, Today Is the Day makes some of the most compellingly ugly music you could ever hope to hear. While pushing shock buttons is nothing new, bandleader Steve Austin has kept TITD at the cutting edge for almost 20 years, with a sound so harsh that bands…
This Nashville duo plays fuzzed-out garage blues that sounds like Tom Waits sitting in with the Black Keys. It’s grimy, primal stuff led by frontman John Wesley Myers’ growl. They formed as a trio in 2004, but when guitarist Mark Holder left in 2006 after their debut EP, You Damn…
Like a sepia-toned photo of days gone by, Watson embodies a sound Nashville disowned years ago for rhinestones and snakeskin. His deep baritone is dark as pumpernickel, smooth as steel, and haunted as that house in Amityville. His music harks back to the dusty honky-tonks and electrified swing of Bakersfield…
Music artist and part-time Phoenix resident Bizzy Bone saw substantial success in the ‘90s as a member of Cleveland rap/R&B group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony — they pioneered a combination fast-paced rap/jazz scat vocal harmony, won a Grammy in 1997 for their song “Tha Crossroads” (an homage to late NWA co-founder Eazy-E), and sold more than 21 million records. Bone Thugs’ 1995 album E 1999 Eternal is considered by many to be the Midwest rap group’s finest hour.
