We liked the Scottsdale club life so much last week that we thought we might hit up a new hot spot, the Cherry Lounge & Pit in Tempe, on Friday, January 26. Mill Avenue was lively and teeming with drunkards when we trekked our way to the popular drinking destination…
It’s a chilly Saturday night downtown, and I’ve just met up with my friend Toxic JuJu to take in “The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra Performs the Music of Led Zeppelin” concert at Dodge Theatre. I didn’t know what to wear for this — do I throw on some jeans and a…
Joe Ely was born along the Rock Island line in Amarillo, three blocks from Route 66. At age 6, he witnessed Jerry Lee Lewis pounding a piano on the back of a flatbed truck. In his early twenties, he picked up a hitchhiking Townes Van Zandt, the now-mythical Texas folk…
In an interview with Celebritycafe.com, John Paul Jones said that someone asked him if he didn’t think The Sporting Life had a Led Zeppelin influence. He replied, “Don’t you think Led Zeppelin has a John Paul Jones influence? I was a quarter of that band.” Indeed, Jones never seems to…
When Taylor Swift first hit Nashville, she faced competition from many aspiring female country stars with beautiful faces and large voices. She had bigger ideas. “I had to figure out a way to stand out and be different. For me, that came through songwriting,” she says. As writer of 11…
For all intents and purposes, Mark Linkous is Sparklehorse. And yet, despite a welcome move to a western North Carolina mountaintop and noteworthy assists from Tom Waits, Danger Mouse, and The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd, his latest release, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (full of…
G. Love and his Philly compadres Special Sauce may be one of the most unique musical acts to come to the fore of the indie scene in the last two decades. Marrying Beastie Boys-inspired funk and hip-hop with swampwater blues, some traditional lo-fi indie-rock riffs, and laid-back surf pop à…
Though no one’s sure of the exact date, sometime in 1974, in the cold, cold town of Buffalo, New York, a young jazz combo by the name of Spyro Gyra hit the stage. Since then, the group has performed all over the world (seriously — places like Andorra and Jakarta)…
While promoters may have dubbed the tour featuring Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, and John Hiatt “The Four Horsemen Tour,” a better name might have been “Three Texans and a Midwesterner.” Or perhaps “The Founding Fathers Tour,” as these four singer-songwriters should be considered among the founding fathersof the…
Dubbed a “post-punk laptop MC,” Brooklyn musician MC Lars has almost initiated a new form of music with his fast-talking, rap-ish songs about pop culture. With his compositions of electronic beats and blips, as well as actual instrumentals, MC Lars spews through ironic songs such as “Hot Topic Is Not…
The Shins have gone heavy on atmosphere, light on the rocking on Wincing the Night Away, which only makes it that much more effective on those rare occasions in which they do kick it in — more than two minutes into the opening track, for example, where chugging guitars take…
Norah Jones may have begun her career as the leader of the new-jazz movement, but subsequent releases have proven the chanteuse equally — if not more — in tune with ’70s singer-songwriter fare, ’60s R&B, and contemporary Americana. Her latest, Not Too Late, finds these influences converging to produce an…
Oi! If you’re a hepcat scooter kid looking for somewhere to take your Vespa, head for the George & Dragon English Restaurant and Pub, 4240 North Central Avenue, on Wednesday, February 7, when local DJ impresario William Fucking Reed debuts his newest dance night, Style Council. Every hump day, Reed…
Thursday 1 Blue Note: DJs Soloman, & Fred J, & guests (lounge, hip-hop) Bobby C’s: Willie B (old school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cat Eye: Punk Rock Thursdays (rock, punk) Cherry Lounge: DJs Tranzl8tr, & Earth (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop) Club Central: DJ Luis (salsa, merengue) Club Vibe:…
1. The Shins, Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) 2. Stone Sour, Come What(ever) May (Roadrunner Records) 3. Eminem Presents, The Re-Up (Shady Records) 4. Saliva, Blood Stained Love Story (Island) 5. Primus, They Can’t All Be Zingers (Interscope) 6. Killswitch Engage, As Daylight Dies (Roadrunner Records) 7. Bullet for…
For professional observers like myself, nothing quite beats witnessing a good brawl. That’s why I’m issuing a call for y’all to encourage my ornithological cohort, Stephen Lemons of Feathered Bastard fame and infamy, to join in the festivities tonight at the party for AZPunk.com’s 5th birthday at BANNED in Tempe…
Joey Kamka Drummer Joey Kamka from local metal purveyors Autumn’s End was hit on his motorcycle on Saturday, January 27 by a drunk driver, according to reports I’m getting. This is what the band is reporting: On January 27, 2007 at 3:00am Autumn’s End’s drummer, Joe Kamka was hit by…
I just received news that Feedback Video Magazine, which I wrote about here last year, is having to end its run on KAZ-TV (channel 13 on Cox Cable or channel 27 in the atmosphere). Apparently the guys at 3B studios lost some sponsors at the last minute and the contract…
The legendary Chico Chism I received news this morning from my music editor, Niki D’Andrea, that legendary blues drummer Chico Chism passed away yesterday. You can read Niki’s farewell column here, a sweet tribute to one of Phoenix’s true musical institutions. This is what she sent about his passing… “I’m…
The Brothers Calabrese I’ve followed the horror-punk trio Calabrese for quite a while now (as you can see here in a June 2004 column I wrote), and I’m always pretty stoked when they drop a new record. The three brothers, Jimmy, Bobby, and Davey (that’s in order of their ages)…
As you may have read, I’ve been harassing the guys in Attack of the Giant Squid to let me hear their long-in-development-but-nearly-finished album. Last night they finally came through, treating me to a listen-through at guitarist Tony Patino’s house. You’ll have to wait for the 2/8 edition of my column…
