Phoenix Music Blog

​Phoenix still can't seem to wrangle a Wilco show (the band played Tucson in June) but we're getting the next best thing at the end of December as singer Jeff Tweedy plays a solo show at the gorgeous Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, December 27.

Tickets for the show will be $30 on go sale Wednesday November 25 at 10 a.m. through the Phoenix Convention Center box office (100 N. 3rd St., 602-262-7272) or Ticketmaster. Check out Stateside Presents for more info.

See that kid Maxwell has in a reverse headlock? That could be you tonight at Jugheads.

​ We've got one late-breaking show announcement for you Friday afternoon: Nathen Maxwell & The original Bunny Gang, a side project featuring Flogging Molly bassist Nathen Maxwell, will play Jugheads tonight.

Apparently this is all going down because of a canceled date in Albuquerque. The band plays the much-bigger Orpheum in Flagstaff tomorrow, so take advantage of seeing what should be a pretty intimate and enjoyable show here.

Joan Marcus

No need to pay too much attention to the mist, the boat, or the candles: She'll sing about them in a few minutes.

​Is the Phantom of the Opera a ghost with supernatural powers, or is he just your typical freaky, deformed cellar-dweller who skulks around the opera house playing scary, steampunky tricks to manipulate the management into doing his bidding? That's just one of the details I shouldn't reveal to anyone who's never seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical spectacular. And I assume there still are such people, because I was one of them until the other night, dutifully staying away from something that I assumed had little to offer real, genuine, snotty theatergoers like me.

So I have nothing to compare this current tour to: no Michael Crawford or Sarah Brightman, no London, no Broadway. It's still produced by Cameron Mackintosh, features the late Maria Björnson's marvelous original designs for the set and costumes, and is directed by Hal Prince.

By koka_sexton on flickr Creative Commons.

This list is for wimps. We can do better than that!

​Today is one of those days where I look at my giant stack of blogging options and I get a little sad.

You see, I've only got three blog slots per week to fit everything in and sometimes I fail to get it all in. I know, I know, it's tough to believe Arty Girl could fail at anything isn't it? It's true, I tell you. No, really, it is! The only thing I can do is repeatedly applaud myself for being humble enough to admit it. Because, otherwise, I would seem really arrogant.

Anyway, every time a blog opportunity is missed because I didn't have the space at the right time, a little pain fills my heart, it does.

Well, not today, dammit. I'm already on a roll with the list-making thing, so that's what I'm going to do now.

The following (in no particular order) outlines all the arty stuff you can do over the weekend.

​Concert announcements are starting to filter in for The Rogue, the Scottsdale night spot that formerly hosted the beloved hipster dance night Shake! (for about a half decade, if you can believe it) but is now moving in to live-action rock shows.

NME: Lady Gaga to perform for the Queen in London
Idolator: Shocking News: Lil Wayne's 'Rebirth' Pushed Back...Again
Spin: Early Lady Gaga: New Clip from 2005!
Idolator: One Dead In Miley Cyrus Tour Bus Crash
Pitchfork: Listen: The Big Pink Cover Beyoncé
Rolling Stone: Green Day Record "21 Guns" With "American Idiot" Musical Cast
So Much Silence: Nick Andre + E Da Boss: Demonstration mixtape

Quick recap of some news we broke in this week's New Times music newsletter (sign up here): The Cover Up is playing its last show tonight.

​Get ready for one of the biggest local shows in December, filled with 12 bands on two stages--and when you go, you'll be helping out kids in need over the holidays.

The 5th Annual Rock for Tots event goes down Saturday, December 12 at Olive Branch in Tempe. The event benefits The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation (www.toysfortots.org), which gives disadvantaged children new toys for Christmas.

The Rock for Tots show is packed with local groups such as Mike Mercier, Violet Wild, Shawn Johnson and the Foundation and Strange Young Things. Admission is only a $10 donation, or an unwrapped toy. The event is for ages 21 and older and starts at 7 p.m.

Last night, hundreds of teenage girls, moms with wistful romantic longings and a handful of dudes (most of whom were clearly dragged there by little sisters or girlfriends) gathered in Surprise for the Twifans.com and CullenBoysAnonymous "New Moon Rising Over Arizona" party and midnight premiere of the next film in the Twilight saga.

Psych!! They're just cutouts. But we still wouldn't mind taking them home...

​ ​The courtyard of UltraStar Cinemas was jammed with craft booths and Twilight merchandise -- and a red carpet heralding the arrival of the night's celebrity guest. About an hour into the party, we missed a call from a friend. "I'm sure you didn't answer because you couldn't hear the phone ring over zillions of little girls screaming 'Edward, Edward'," he quipped into the voicemail. Well, he was half right.

We promise this one's the real thing.

​ ​They were actually screaming Kiowa (KAI-uh-wuh), for Kiowa Gordon, the 19-year-old Cave Creek resident who plays wolf pack member Embry Call in New Moon. Gordon arrived early in the day for brunch and meet-and-greets with a few select fans, and "re-arrived" in a white limo to walk the red carpet a little before 8 p.m.  

MC Hammer before Twitter.

​There's probably no human being I've ever held in higher regard than MC Hammer. Truly. Over the span of my 29 years, I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone I idolized quite like Hammer circa summer 1990 something my mom confirmed earlier this year upon discovering some old VHS tapes of me "wearing [my] Vanilla Ice pants" and trying desperately to mimic Hammer's dance moves.

So, it would have been impossible for me to miss the chance to talk to the dancer/rapper known pre-fame as Stanley Burrell before his show at Celebrity Theatre on Friday, even though I struggled to think of sensible questions to ask a man known pretty much exclusively as the author of a much-parodied 20-year-old pop-rap anthem.

Well, it turns out post-millennial Hammer wants to talk about shit like Twitter. Tragically, he's a social media guru now. Awful, I know.