By Daniel Hopkins Welcome to Ask a Failed Musician, in which I will help struggling musicians make sense of their careers and even offer some advice. Whether or not it will work, who knows? It obviously didn’t work for me. But then again, I was on Kimmel once, so there’s…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
I’m going defer to my esteemed colleague down the hall, Mr. Stephen Lemons, on this one: “Remember the ’90s under Clinton? Eight years of peace and prosperity. And all the Rs had to kvetch about was Monica Lewinsky.” Lemons goes on to describe “Bubba” as a “rockstar,” an apt metaphor…
Soul legends Ike & Tina Turner were renowned for their personal lives as much as their music career. In songs like “Should’a Treated Me Right” and “A Fool in Love,” you can’t help but cheer Tina on. In spite of the couple’s strife, they were responsible for some great songwriting…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
After the first Presidential debate this last Wednesday, much ado was made about Mitt Romney’s gleeful pledge to stuff and baste Big Bird by cutting federal funding to PBS and other pinko commie media outlets. Phoenix folk-punk heroes Andrew Jackson Jihad are clearly fans of the monstrous alphabet-loving avian–they have…
What is Puscifer? (Besides being the International Multi-Media Project I’ve been developing since 1995?) Good question. We usually respond with the very dismissive and obviously evasive answer: “What is Puscifer is what Puscifer is.” A less evasive version of the answer is that it is an “uncertain creative space where…
It’s a fact of life that everyone has a pratfall or accident now and again. Just ask Greg “SensOne” Voeller, who pulled a gaffe not once, but twice, during his DJ sets. Besides embarrassing the crap outta the local selector, it caused a few of his cohorts to give him…
Here’s some bummer news for fans of folksy Americana and country tinged indie rock: The Railroad Revival Tour, scheduled Thursday, October 25, in downtown Tempe and featuring performances by John C. Reilly, Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, and Jamey Johnson, has been cancelled. According to the official site, complications “would…
Not all signs of the record biz’s struggle for life are depressing. Thanks to EMI’s $1.9 billion merger with Universal Music Group, a few things will get shaken up, including a chance the wretched informercial sludge Now That’s What I Call Music! series will be put six feet under…
James Mabry Mabry is a comic with Duck in Cover Comedy. Learn more about the troupe here, and watch him perform Saturday, October 13 at the Speakeasy Comedy Lounge in Scottsdale at 10 p.m. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play…
So, last night’s debate was weird and surprisingly civil. Republican candidate Mitt Romney was crowned the unofficial “winner” by even the “left wing media,” in spite of constantly cutting Jim Lehrer off and threatening to destroy Big Bird’s livelihood (there’s already a Fired Big Bird Twitter account). My recent vegetarian…
Local punk vets The Father Figures have been pretty busy lately. The band is headed to the studio next week to record a full length album that will tentatively be released in mid-November. The trio has a couple of big shows to look forward to, sharing the stage with PiL…
So, the drummer of a massively successful, NPR-adored indie-folk band quits said band, buys a van, loads it with psychedelic drugs, and drives down the West Coast to Los Angeles, where he cranks out a record that’s equal parts Waylon Jennings honky-tonk and Richard Brautigan “mayonnaise,” with songs about driving…
Speaking with Robyn Hitchcock in 1996, the conversation quickly diverged from music to the difficulties of growing tomatoes at high elevation. It was not his issue, but mine, as he lives in England, where growing tomatoes is much easier, and I was in Colorado. Still, that conversation made it clear…
People always told 66-year-old soul songstress Bettye LaVette she should write a book. Fifty years in show business should make for more than a few good tales, right? “I’d say, ‘Yeah, well, I’m sure I won’t be famous enough to sell a book before I die,'” LaVette says, her brassy…
With their Countdown to Extinction 25th Anniversary Tour kicking off in early November, Megadeth will be lighting up the Marquee Theatre on Saturday, December 8. God and Dave Mustaine only know how the mayhem will play out in the concrete jungle of the most-definitely-going-to-be cramped venue — especially given Mustaine’s…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
I missed Sound Wave, so my Saturday was not spent doing ecstasy in a drained swimming pool. Sad face. I also missed Justin Bieber’s concert, which totally blows because he threw up, guys! He threw up on stage in front of hundreds of people and now millions of people will…
The news waits for no one — at least that’s what we read somewhere — so it’s perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of…
Last night, Manuel Camacho took a big step towards local DJ stardom. And it only took 15 minutes to do so. The 24-year-old, who performs as Maneone, bested four other mixmasters (including Convince, Mattafact, and Looney) to reign supreme during a Red Bull Thre3style University DJ battle held on Thursday…
