With his final works, the American Recordings series, Johnny Cash had some of his biggest commercial and critical success, setting the bar ridiculously high for departed country singers. On Waylon Forever, billed as the country outlaw’s final record, Jennings doesn’t come close to Cash, though the record has a few…
Mambo was all the rage in the 1950s, thanks to Cuban maestro Pérez Prado. And among the best artists of the era was Bronx-born Ernesto “Tito” Puente, a prolific musician, songwriter, and bandleader whose legacy resonates to this day. Though his best-known tunes are readily available in stores, his earlier…
Yet another band moniker for a solo performer, Castanets is the nom de musique of Raymond Raposa, a San Diego singer/songwriter with a playfully warped approach to American roots music. Not quite country, not quite folk, not quite blues or gospel, Castanets weaves aspects of each into a haunted, doom-laden,…
Sometimes the journey is better than the destination. Take Oasis’ musical career. As hungry upstarts trying to become rock stars with their first two albums, there was no more exciting band on the planet. With stardom achieved, has there been a more boring one? Here’s the proof: Spot someone all…
The term “hip hop supergroup” gets thrown around a lot, but Bay Area outfit The Mighty Underdogs can make a pretty good case. Composed of MCs Gift of Gab (from Blackalicious) and Lateef the Truthspeaker (of Latyrx), and backed by producer Headnodic (of Crown City Rockers), the group just released…
Hip-hop punk rockers Kottonmouth Kings, fresh from their performance at this year’s Edgefest, return to the Valley with a show that is sure to be a frightful event. The band’s new The Green Album will no doubt fill out the night’s set list of bizarre theatrics and stoner antics, a…
Long Beach’s Crystal Antlers have mastered the art of thrash, that combustible buildup of noise and melody that so many others have tried to harness, only to fail in a miserable pool of fuzzy annoyance. Blending messy, raspy vocals with pummeling drums, writhing riffs and strident organs, the band produces…
After two solo live albums, it’s easy to forget Jackson Browne’s versatility as a musician, which might be boiled down to one key characteristic: He’s a great listener. On his first new album in six years, Time the Conqueror, and on its tour, Browne features background vocalists Chavonne Morris and…
Mickey Avalon’s been through some shit, man. His mom had him selling weed for her when he was just a teenager. She fired him a little while later, though, when she discovered he was shooting up smack at the age of 16. And things got only stickier and trickier from…
The Faint’s dystopian paeans to dysfunctional, metaphorically “mechanized” relations unfold beneath gloomy analog burble and synthetic beats. It’s not exactly ironic, nor is it particularly poignant at this point, though it may not matter after a dozen years building a passionate following. While the band’s fifth studio LP, Fasciinatiion, returns…
A Vagabond Dreamer,
A Ryhmer and Singer of Songs.
A Revolutionary in Country Music
Beloved By The World
By Martin Cizmar
I do not generally drink in cemeteries. Yesterday, I made an exception.
By Martin Cizmar Just yesterday I was praising Coheed and Cambria, and today it was announced that they’ll be playing in town Sunday, along with local boys Stiletto Formal. Man, it seems like since they got signed it’s been forever between Stiletto Formal shows here in Phoenix, it’ll be good…
Saturday Night Live has some funny political parodies, but the revitalized sketch comedy show isn’t the only place to find some election-time chuckles. A Phoenix-based production company called Synthetic Human has gotten in on the action, with a political satire video titled “I’m Voting Republican.”
By Martin Cizmar Meatloaf’s concert at The Arizona State Fair, scheduled for Thursday, has been canceled due to illness. No make up date was announced. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. Earlier this week, Flo Rida’s show at The Venue of Scottsdale was quietly scrapped. No reason was…
Comfort For Change
Stories that didn’t hit the page…
(Self-released)
By Martin Cizmar
It’s not often a local band without a record deal delivers a product as polished as Comfort For Change’s Stories that didn’t hit the page…
By Lilia Menconi Check the slideshow, will ya? They say it’s a good thing to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. So we decided to push ourselves this past Friday, skip dinner to keep our bellies flat and amp up the glam factor with a…
As we pointed out in a previous blog, “Pop Goes Obama,” Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama can dance. In this clip of him on the Ellen show, Obama gets into the groove.
By Jonathan McNamara The Stiletto Formal at the Clubhouse Phoenix-based The Stiletto Formal played at a CD release party Friday, October 24 in support of their full-length debut Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta! at the Clubhouse in Tempe. It was, indeed, a fiesta. Read: this Up on the Sun The Stiletto…
By Sarah Ventre Truckers on Speed don’t mess around and you sure as hell wouldn’t want to mess around with them. When they throw a CD release party it’s one intense event. By the time the Truckers took the stage at Clubhouse Music, local bands Two Spot Gobi, Plowed Under,…
By Benjamin Leatherman The indie pop-rockers of Hooves perform at AZ Rocks the Hope. Better than: Hanging out at a McCain fundraiser. For some reason, I thought the AZ Rocks the Hope event on Saturday, October 25, in downtown Phoenix was going to be a gigantic rally for presidential front-runner…
David Lynch’s films have always garnered cult followings, but in the case of his 1984 screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, there’s more magic than murder in the air. There are psychic “witches,” futuristic water suits, giant sand worms, a coveted, mysterious spice, and Sting in a mankini. Fans of the sci-fi flick showed their spirit by dressing up as their favorite characters from the film at “The Spice Will Flow” Dune costume party at Green Restaurant in Tempe on Saturday, October 25.
By Yvonne Zusel
When you see an electric cello leaning against a chair during sound check at a rock show, you know you’re not in for…well, a typical rock show.
