The Refreshments are Playing SXSW (But Don’t Get Too Excited)

The Refreshments are playing South By Southwest.   No, not those Refreshments. The famous Tempe act from the 90’s is still very much broken up. Not that you’d know it from a hilarious listing on a SXSW site which names a band called the Refreshments from Tempe, Arizona. The site shows the cover…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our March 3 Issue

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. Why did Kanye West’s new video get temporarily pulled from YouTube? What is Yoko One going to…

Big Brain Awards are Back: $1,000 to an Up-and-Coming Performer

Phoenix New Times annual Big Brains contest is back.The contest is designed to reward and nurture up-and-coming talent in the Valley by giving ground-floor movers and/or shakers a grand.Straight cash, homie.There are categories for design/fashion, visual art, performing art, film/video, culinary art and a wild card so if you know…

Cricket Pavilion is Now Desert Sky Pavilion Again (For Now)

The 20-year-old outdoor amphitheater on the west side of Phoenix which switched its name from Desert Sky Pavilion to Cricket Wireless Pavilion a few years ago is now back to square one.This is no victory over corporate America. The low-cost cell provider’s naming rights recently expired and concert promoter Live Nation, which…

Long Wong’s Makes World’s Largest Flier for Anniversary Shows

Long Wong’s Firehouse in Tempe has made the world’s largest flier for their one-year anniversary show.The shows will be March 18 and 19 at the bar and venue on Apache Boulevard. Underground Cities, Future Loves Past, Kirkwood Dellinger and The Pubes headline the big bills.The flier, meanwhile is a 24…

Linkin Park Melted Faces in Phoenix

delivered a killer performance at the US Airways Center last night.Linkin Park fans couldn’t seem to get enough of the local show, which was part of the A Thousand Suns World Tour. They also tweeted about openers Circa Survive and Paper Tongues quite a bit as well.Read on to see…

Streetlight Manifesto Impressed Mesa’s Ska Scene

Check out what fans had to say about the show as they sounded off on Twitter.@codieearly: Streetlight Manifesto has such a crazy crowd right now.@lolmel: Streetlight Manifesto kicked major ass, btw. I love ska concerts so much. #ska #ska #ska…

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes

There’s still the trademark Lykke Li pain and anguish felt in certain songs — “Love Out Of Lust” and “Sadness Is A Blessing,” to name a few — yet songs like “I Follow Rivers” and “Get Some” show a darker, more stark path for Lykke Li’s music. It’s that tenuous…

Village Voice Media and Frank 151 Throwing Huge SxSW Party

Wu-Tang Clan, Fishbone and Yelawolf will headline the annual Village Voice SXSW party, this year produced in tandem with with Frank 151.If that’s not enough to grab your attention, it’s worth mentioning that Erykah Badu will DJ the party on Thursday, March 17 at the Austin Music Hall.The event runs…

Linkin Park, “The Catalyst” (Kannamix ‘Bday’ Remix)

Song: Linkin Park, “The Catalyst” (Kannamix ‘Bday’ Remix)Context: Linkin Park comes to US Airways Center tonight. Should be an interesting show given their new sound which some fans might not totally appreciate. While they still sound a little too much like the old Linkin Park for my taste, this remix…

Locals ROAR do Daytrotter Session

Daytrotter, the taste-making blog featuring performances by up-and-coming acts, is offering a leg up to another Phoenix act.ROAR, the new project by Asleep in the Sea singer Owen Evans, did four tracks for the site, scoring one of their signature portraits and a pleasantly verbose write-up largely concerned with the…

The Rogue Holds Special Benefit Show Tonight

Looking for something to spice up an otherwise boring Monday? The folks down at The Rogue Bar in Scottsdale will be throwing a special shindig both today and tonight that will raise money for one of their own and feature an impressive array of local musical talent. The raucous rockers…

Canibus, “Patriots” (Feat. Free & Pras)

Song: Canibus, “Patriots” (Feat. Free & Pras)Context: Queens-bred rapper Canibus will be at Tempe’s Club Red tomorrow night. He’s an interesting dude — a guy who joined the military after scoring a gold record and who is probably best known for his feuds with other rappers — but it’s hard for anyone…

Phoenix Symphony Tapped to Back Cover Singer

San Francisco’s symphony famously backed Metallica for a two-disc epic called S&M, redefining how many people look at metal in the process. The Phoenix Symphony will back Canadian Christian singer Jim Witter, who has made his living doing knockoffs of popular tours like the Elton John/Billy Joel piano duel in…

Sharon Osbourne Admits to Taking Lying Too Far

Ozzy was to drunk to board the plane that was going to take him to Japan for a tour, so Sharon took one for the team and lied to get concert promoters to pipe down.”Everybody felt really bad. They excused him,” Sharon said.This incident occurred when Ozzy’s drug and alcohol…