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. What are our five favorite Jonathan Richman songs? Does heavy metal make you more sane? Follow…
To paraphrase the common axiom: In show business, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. Phoenix-based hip-hop crew Weird Is the New Cool counts Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, radio DJs Johnjay and Rich, and MTV favorite Gym Class Heroes among its admirers, achieving recognition for its…
You probably knew a kid like Randy Randall in high school — a skateboarder and crate-digger with his own sense of fashion, generally seen plugged into a Walkman. (These were pre-iPod days.) One day, a girl at school asked him what he was jamming out to, and Rogers answered, “Scratch…
To clear her mind after a lengthy stretch of touring, songwriter Erika Wennerstrom hit the road again, this time alone, finding both solace and inspiration in the wide-open spaces of West Texas rangeland. What came from Wennerstrom’s peaceful isolation is the Heartless Bastards’ fourth and best album, Arrow, a stout…
Twitter has proven to be a fascinating look into the head-spaces of many of our favorite celebrities and musicians. While plenty of rappers have taken to the micro-blogging site, few have managed to be as consistently entertaining and ridiculous (and occasionally controversial) as Curtis Jackson, better known by his moniker…
I’ll readily admit to being a Neil Young fan boy, and I’m crazy excited for his reunion with Crazy Horse and the band’s upcoming album of “old-timey Americana standards” despite the fact that I know full well I’ll probably listen to it a few times and toss it in the…
Future Loves Past released a new single yesterday and it’s gorgeous. “Seekers” came out just in time for the summer, and its effervescent percussion and melodic vocals are a pleasant reminder that pool season is just around the corner. But the meaning of the song isn’t as carefree as the…
Born Loser and The Hangers Onput together a Pixies set after a fan said BLATHO reminded him of The Pixies. Initially, some band members thought it was a bad idea thanks to odd timing, but it turned out well. “[We decided] we’ll just do whatever ‘Where is my Mind?’ is…
Eric Clapton is one of those “guitar gods” who gets all the respect afforded by classic rock radio and guitar player magazines, but not much from rock critics in general. Maybe it was the adult contemporary sounds of the ’80s and ’90s, but it’s hard to imagine some young punk…
See also: Andrew Jackson Jihad’s Sean Bonnette on Knife Man and Gawker In 2004, George “Dubya” Bush was president, we confirmed that there was water on Mars, the last Oldsmobile rolled off the production line, and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918…
See also: FoxVag III: Promoters Assures It Ain’t Another Breast-Fest I was out of town, but I’m willing to bet that Fox Vag Fest III, the three-day, two-venue dominating festival of female-fronted punk, rock, and indie acts was pretty crazy. In his feature about the festival, Serene Dominic jokingly compared…
If you’re down to get your pop rock kicks in an estrogen ocean of little girls, the upcoming One Direction concert at Comerica Theatre is the place to be. I could have sworn the boy band era was over, especially once Heart2Heart really put that formerly winning success formula to…
It seems like teenagers are getting a lot smarter much earlier in life. Take Bryce “Decade” Holt, who’s only a mere 17 years old and already is on track to becoming a seasoned DJ/producer. Boot up the dude’s Soundcloud page and hear mix after mix of quality work by the…
Covering The Beatles is tough. Not only to you have to contend with tackling some of the greatest songs in the pop catalog, but you also have to deal with the fact that nearly every Beatles song has been covered to death. It helps to have effortless charm on your…
It’s hard for me to find things that I don’t like about Phoenix rockers Snow Songs. Starting with singer Yolanda Bejarano’s lovely vox to the band’s bright arrangements and pop consciousness, there’s so much to fall in love with here. One of my favorite things about them is that they…
Johnjay Van EsVan Es is the host of the Johnjay and Rich radio show heard on 104.7 KISS-FM here in Phoenix. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play? 104.7 KISS-FM. No other station is programmed on my radio dial –…
See Also: Clubhouse Music Venue Closes Down See Also: Last Night’s Town Hall Meeting on Clubhouse Music Venue Shooting Filled With Anger, Accusations, and RhetoricThere’s currently an online petition going that hopes to motivate Tempe city officials to reopen the Clubhouse Music Venue, which closed its doors last week. So far,…
See also: KUKQ Returns to Phoenix (via the Internet) The new online station bearing the call letters of bygone Phoenix radio station KUKQ has launched, streaming online at kukq.com. As we reported last week, the site’s connection to the original radio station isn’t literal — though Facebook comments about the…
After three years, a music feature, and a bunch of gorgeous music videos, Boys & Frogs has decided to call it quits. But it’s not so much an ending as beginning, according to songwriter Michael Alexander. “I just think it was time for me, personally, to move on. I’ve been…
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, where we revisit the overplayed, over (and under)rated, and the one-hit and multi-hit wonders of yesteryear. Today’s tidbit of information that will make you feel old: Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” is 15-years-old. Even if the title doesn’t ring a bell, its chorus is probably still rattling…
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. What were the worst moments of SXSW? How does local band The Madera Strand Sound Covering…
Although it’s admittedly kinda fun putting Lilith Fair and FoxVag Fest in the same sentence, the two music expos couldn’t be more dissimilar once you remove the female-heavy rosters. Lilith Fair was started in 1997 by Canadian adult-alternative chanteuse Sarah McLachlan as a response to the commercial radio dial —…
