Blaine Long: Honey In My Coffee

Title: Honey In My CoffeeBasics: Back to country this week — thankfully it’s not countrified rock about a fictional outlaw.There is, however, a song about a dog on Blaine Long’s record, but we’ll get to that later. Allow Blaine’s bio, compliments of blainelong.com, to help set the mood for the…

Taio Cruz and Kesha Love “Dirty Picture”s

Does anyone else find the new Taio Cruz single with Kesha to be a little creepy? It’s called “Dirty Picture,” and you can probably guess from the title the track is about Cruz getting his lover(s) to send me dirty pictures for his enjoyment. It wouldn’t as be as disturbing…

Flier of the Week: The Beatles (Sort of) at The Rogue Bar

Don’t freak out when you see this flier: sadly, The Beatles are not magically reforming to perform at Scottsdale’s The Rogue Bar this weekend. What is exciting, though, is that every single band on the bill for the Saturday, November 6 show is playing all-Beatles music throughout the night. Think…

Joanna Newsom @ Orpheum Theatre

Granola-rific folk siren Joanna Newsom is one of indie music’s few commercially successful singer-harpists. “Few” in this case being interchangeable with “otherwise nonexistent.” The California-bred performer fell in love with the instrument at age 4 and never looked back. (Okay, yes, she briefly dated an oboe in high school and…

A Perfect Circle @ Marquee Theatre

A Perfect Circle doesn’t have a new record to support, but that hasn’t stopped the supergroup (featuring Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Billy Howerdel) from selling out all 15 of its dates in a five-city, West Coast tour. Sure, the venues are on the small side, but it’s still…

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s @ Rhythm Room

The decision regarding how to present songs in recorded form can be a tricky one for some bands. That’s especially true for acts like Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, a Indiana chamber-pop band that can’t even decide what to put on its records. Margot and Co. had a…

Elton John and Leon Russell @ US Airways Center

Elton John has been a superstar for decades. His latest collaborator, Leon Russell, on the other hand, has been something of an obscurity for most of his 40-something-year career, which started as a session musician and featured one semi-hit album, 1972’s Carney, and a few other charting records before his…

Delorean @ Rhythm Room

Spanish electronic rockers Delorean have to be feeling pretty good about their name right now. With the recent re-release of Robert Zemeckis’ brilliant Back to the Future trilogy, the public’s odd fascination with the car that made time travel possible — and possibly fueled by the pure Colombian cocaine smuggled…

Club Candids: Seven Sexy Sins Bash at Afterlife

There was plenty of after-hours activity taking place across the Valley over Halloween weekend, including plenty of freaky late-night fetes and fiestas that went down past the midnight hour. Over at Afterlife in Scottsdale, costumed craziness was ensuing during the club’s Seven Sexy Sins Bash.Over the course of the evening (and…

Kanye West Responsible for “Worst Part” of Bush Presidency

In a recently taped interview with Matt Lauer, George W. Bush claimed that Kanye West’s candid outburst on the September 2, 2005 Concert for Hurricane Relief telethon — “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” — was the “worst moment” of his presidency. The worst. Bush has a new book, Decision…

What’s Selling: Zia Records Chandler

Tennessee pop rockers Kings of Leon were what people wanted most this week at Zia Records Chandler.Indie hipsters Steel Train’s self-titled album from earlier this year was a hot item. The album Lil Wayne wrote from prison was in pretty high demand as well. The latest release from the hardcore…

Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ an Inspiring New Single

Thank gosh Katy Perry chose to release something meaningful for her third single, not just a song about Daisy Dukes or losing your virginity. No, her current single, “Firework,” is a very inspirational track that her fans really need to hear. It’s a song all about believing in yourself and…

Nowhere Man And A Whiskey Girl: Children of Fortune

Title: Children of FortuneBasics: More shitty pop punk? No. Some countrified rock about fictional outlaws? No sir. Then what, pray tell, exactly is Nowhere Man And A Whiskey Girl? Just some super mellow, twangy folk music. Derrick and Amy Ross comprise the duo — she sings and plays piano while…

Flier of the Week: The Creepy Crawl Ball at The Underground

Get in the Halloween spirit by taking a gander at this flier for The Creepy Crawl Ball this Sunday, October 31 at The Underground at in Mesa.The poster depicts a giant Frankenstein trying to capture a very scared woman, giving viewers a spooky taste of what to expect at the…

Gov’t Mule @ Marquee Theatre

It’s always been easy to mistake Gov’t Mule for a travel-size version of the Allman Brothers Band. Formed in 1994 by ABB regulars Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, Gov’t Mule featured some of the same personnel as its larger, more famous cousin and hails from the same Southern blues-rock sound…

Lady Antebellum @ Comerica Theatre

Kid Rock described Lady Antebellum as a “hillbilly Fleetwood Mac, except I suspect they don’t do drugs or sleep with each other.” Hmm? Like a lot of today’s country stars, Lady Antebellum traffics in heartache. But aside from the lyrics, there is little to suggest the band is hurting in…

Lynyrd Skynyrd @ Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Lynyrd Skynyrd has endured a lot in their nearly 45 years of existence — withstanding allegations of racism over “Sweet Home Alabama,” the 1977 plane crash that claimed the life of three band members (including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant), their song “Free Bird” becoming a ubiquitous gag during encores…

The Harmony Tour @ Marquee Theatre

Remember MySpace? It was this ugly website where kids went to reveal too much about themselves, sometimes in musical form, occasionally in a way that sprouted into a career. Harmony Tour co-headliners The Maine and Never Shout Never — the former Tempe-based, the latter the professional handle of 20-year-old Missouri…

Jimmy Eat World @ Marquee Theatre

When a band has a quick and steep rise to success — and doesn’t come from a town with much indie cred (read: New York or L.A.) — it appears to easily let go of its hometown as an important aspect of its identity. Phoenix is lucky that Jimmy Eat…

Club Candids: Black Eyed Saint’s Evil Ball at Boston’s

Apparently Boston’s in Tempe isn’t just for gourmet pizza anymore. Black Eyed Saint clothing took over the sports bar/pizzeria Friday night for its Evil Ball/fashion show/hot rod and bike show and New Times was there to chew bubblegum and kick ass. Feast your eyes on our slideshow…

What’s Selling: Eastside Records

A 10″ record of “Coming to the Mountain” by Bruce Haack topped the chart at Eastside Records this week.Music lovers were also really into buying albums that mention rabbits. TunaBunny’s self-titled album slipped into the mix, and No Bunny’s “First Blood” LP did as well.The unique audio graphic novel by…