Phoenix Music Blog

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Bishop Allen bolstered Modified's mid-week lineup leading up to the annual, and, very sadly, final Modifest. The Brooklyn-via-Cambridge crew took to the drooping stage, and set up to the barking of exuberant fans, like eager puppies begging for a treat. And the band delivered, but not in the sweet, twee package fans of their albums might expect.

The candy-apple red drum kit, glittery bass body and xylophone added to the band's whimsy pop airs. "Cue The Elephants" kicked in sans buildup, a straight shot of energy cloaked in Blondie's more rocksteady tendencies. Bishop Allen played out the tension, release and mania of each following song astute precision, each note well-rehearsed and strategically placed. The ruckus, wild rumpus with which the audience responded was entirely opposite, but perfectly expected. 

Front man Justin Rice razzled and dazzled, punctuating lyrics by alternating dance moves from a solid roster of jazz hands, the running man and The Charleston (sometimes melding two together). "Empire City" got rowdy, with Bishop Allen striking down any ideas that their live presence would ooze a twee cuteness. This was not going to be nonchalant.

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ASU's student radio station The Blaze 1330 AM is currently in the midst of their annual Campus Crawl, the station's fall concert series. The first featured local act, Kirkwood Dellinger, took to the stage north of ASU's Memorial Union around lunch time Monday.

Despite midday temperatures creeping to 90, a fiesty sound system and famished college kids scarfing cheap grub, Kirkwood Dellinger plowed through a six-song set. Ringleader Elmo Kirkwood mused that the fuzzed-out speakers made him sound like Kanye West. Set highlights included a classic, not classy, rendition of Jeremih's "Birthday Sex," as well as the KD original "The Attic."

Victor Palagano

Matt and Kim. See more shots in our slide show.

​Third Thursday in Scottsdale proved a massive mish-mash of ages, scenes and reasons for attendance. Matt and Kim played a free gig for FM 103.9's free concert series, Sean Kingston was at Venue of Scottsdale, plus, there was that whole art walk thing.

The Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim took the stage at Craftsman Court around 9 p.m., and spewed rays of sunshine so genuine that it wouldn't be surprising to find them as hosts of a t.v. show aimed at kiddos. Both brought with them beaming smiles and MC moves, perfectly suited to the sugary pop and big hip-hop beats the group sample and bang out.

"Let's all take a big, collective sigh of relief 'cause the balloon boy is OK," Matt joked. He then proclaimed his love for feeling as though he'd traveled back into summertime, after being in New York, and kicked into "It's a Fact (Printed Stained)."

Fans repeatedly bashed through the metal barriers separating the stage from the crowd and literally had the stage hands pushing the gate-like units back at the mass of people. Kim shot over to the microphone to thank the muscley preservers: "You guys holding the barricade, are allowing us to have a fucking great time."

Exposing some freak punk roots, Matt and Kim then flew into the alleged fastest song they've ever written and doubled the time. The instrumental assault sounded like Minor Threat layered with the soundtrack to Mario in his Nintendo World on speed.

"I wanna see you get wild," Matt said, peppering "Silver Tiles," the first Matt and Kim song ever written, and "5K" with can-can kicks and rather impressive arabesques. Kim borrowed a few choice rock drummer moves (see: holding one stick in the air epically, crossing sticks, flexing biceps, etc.). She sang backups on "Lessons Learned," the song featured in the video for which they recently won a moon man. Matt referred to the event, the winning that is, as "Something weird that happened," adding that it was their first MTV VMA and it was awarded for the first time they were naked in Times Square.

After the crowd served up some serious "da da dada da da's" for the song, Kim, now armed with her own mic, exclaimed: "You guys are so fucking awesome." Matt remarked that although his counterpart has the body of a 15-year-old boy, she has the mouth of a 60-year-old sailor. 

I've got to hand it to Scottsdale Public Art. Recently, they've been cleverly using every square inch of uninhabited space in Scottsdale for temporary public art installations created by local Valley creatives. That includes a series of installations SPA has labeled "Bell'e Art" mounted in the monastically quiet passageway slicing through the Scottsdale Mall Bell Tower, right next to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. "Bell'e Art" (get it?) is jointly underwritten by Scottsdale Public Art with the generous support of Clarence and Lona Furuya.

Kathleen Vanesian

"Bubble Fountain" in action

Would I travel clear across town solely to experience the "Bubble Fountain," the current Bell Tower installation devised by artists Melissa McGurgan and Marco Rosichelli and billed as "a collaborative interactive multisensory" experience? Not unless I was five years old or under and could nag my mom into schlepping me from one end of the Valley to the other.

While some of us race to the SSRIs for serenity, others of us have decided that taking up a craft for comfort and creative expression is the way to go. Actually, some of us, like me, for instance, do both for balance.

Blame it on either early 60's back-to-nature hippie culture or maybe Martha Stewart's elegant entertaining excess of the 80's (even I succumbed to the lure of her cheese-piped endive appetizers). Or perhaps it's the primordial human need to make beautiful and/or useful things that's the root cause. Who knows exactly how the current Do-It-Yourself craft movement caught fire. "Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design," an in-depth documentary film about the meteoric rise in popularity of handmade arts and crafts, especially those with a punk aesthetic, explores the ethos that has led to the fascination with all things fun, funky and homemade.

Kathleen Vanesian

Madonna a la Mode: Artist/filmmaker Faythe Levine, director of "Handmade Nation."

Directed and produced by artist Faythe Levine, the indie film was screened on Saturday at Modified Arts in downtown Phoenix (there will be a Sunday screening at 2 p.m.). It drew quite a crowd, including Phoenix's own syndicated Crafty Chica herself, Kathy Cano-Murillo, who was conducting a taped interview with the filmmaker when I walked in. Changing Hands Bookstore, Frances Boutique, Roosevelt Row, Local First, F.A.R. Future Arts Research at ASU, Local First AZ, MADE art boutique and Modified Arts partnered to bring the film, which has been screened in major cities around the world, to Phoenix.

I won't even pretend to understand exactly what artist Karolina Sussland is doing in "Goodness...in Progress," a one-day-only showing of Sussland's latest artistic foray mounted on Saturday at Figarelli Galleries Back Room in Scottsdale's Cattletrack artists' compound. In fact, I am so mathematically challenged that I usually start drooling and break out in hives just looking at numbers and equations. But somehow, Sussland's work in progress -- more performance art than object -- has managed to express my deepest inner feelings about math: it's ridiculously and unfathomably complex, but the numbers are really pretty to look at and if your data doesn't fit into the equation, throw it out.

In "Goodness...," Sussland filled the walls of a small room (which ended up being a confessional for both artist and viewers, who spilled their guts about their mathematical ignorance and/or confessed to their torrid love affair with numbers) with notes and calculations she made in her quest to quantify goodness. The way she explains it, "Goodness..." started out as a series of drawings and paintings that were supposed to analyze the specific consequences of certain actions, one of which was buying a candy bar. She was then going to measure the specific degree of goodness contained in that action.

Kathleen Vanesian

Detail from Karolina Sussland's one-day-only installation, "Goodness in Progress"

In researching her chosen candy bar, she veered off course to explore the not-so-good fact that the wrapper of the candy bar was made of polypropylene, the same plastic used in illegal "string" breast implants in both the US and Europe. Suddenly, her search for a goodness formula morphed not just into a stream of consciousness, but into a raging river of info that exploded in all sorts of directions, some of which produced dead ends in the goodness department. Being ever so scientific and mathematically precise, Sussland grouped her results, which take the form of notes, drawings, paintings, photos, diagrams, maps and equations, into a "wall of information," a "wall of limbo" and a "wall of failure."

She's even produced a goofy, but impressive, diagram of her investigational activities, which include forays into odd subjects like Arabian oil sand deposits, zeolites, breast implants and Bertrand Russell. Finally, she figured out that 1 + 1 = 2 might work as the basis for her goodness formula. However, it becomes complicated by the definitions assigned to 1 and 2. Conclusion: goodness is complicated, though it's fun to try to quantify it scientifically and mess with other people's heads in the process.

"Goodness...in Progress" was presented by Ted Decker Catalyst Fund . Decker is one of the few brave souls underwriting various aspects of work by local Phoenix artists and he's managed to cherry pick from our current local crop. Instead of being tied to any one location, Decker is taking a rave-like approach and bouncing from space to space for each one of his presentations, which gives art lovers someplace new and different to experience with each show.

Jonathan McNamara

See more shots in our Arizona Porn Star Ball slide show.

We gotta admit it: the 1st Annual Arizona Porn Star Ball wore us out.

The feral festivities started at 9 p.m. and lasted well beyond last call. The list of special guests was longer than John Holmes' tool, and included adult film stars Pharyn Sparxxx, Mya Lee, Taryn Thomas, Priya Rai, and Sophia Rossi; hip-hop artists Justus, Pokafase, Baby Bash, and Too Short; and members of the Arizona Cardinals.

The scene was low-key at 9 p.m., with only about 20 or so patrons in the massive show club. Babylon is true to its name: a gigantic, smiling gargoyle greets guests at the front door. Inside, the décor is like that of a classy bordello: red and black zebra-striped carpet, black leather chairs, crystal and glass bead curtains, faux silver chandeliers, flashing green lights, and mirrors. Like most strip clubs, Babylon was thick with the smell of perfume and cheap body spray, but it's also the cleanest strip club we've ever been in (and we've been in many).

Music selections were limited to hip-hop and R&B. Dancers got on stage and ground their goodies around for spectators to the tunes of Chingy, OutKast, Jay-Z, 2 Live Crew, and Kanye West. (The one exception of the evening was a dancer who performed to Slipknot's "Psychosocial." We tipped her just for bringing some metal into the hip-hop-heavy club.

So many of the businesses along Marshall Way -- until recently the heart of Scottsdale's arts district -- are shuttered, with "Space Available" signs in windows seeming to outnumber still going concerns. Still, it was well worth the trip for last night's weekly art walk.

Old standbys still are drawing in some art lovers, like Art One Gallery, Craig Foote's ongoing labor of love specializing in work by students from Arizona universities and community colleges, as well as emerging and local artists. Art One fills an important, nay critical, niche for young student artists who usually have only a snowball's chance in hell of being shown by your typical mainstream gallery. I have my eye on one of Foote's artists, Ryan Pfeiffer, right now, whose quirky, enigmatic drawing/paintings have caught my eye, so I'll be going back to study them in more depth.

Another long-timer, Bentley Gallery did seem to be hoppin' and boppin' with people lured inside by its Keith Haring show. Haring's work, which was once cool in the 80s, really feels very dated now. That's the problem with too many exhibitions Bentley has mounted recently-- they seem to concentrate on old, now staid stuff that seems recycled, petrified in art history or certified over-the-couch decorative, rather than offering anything explosively different.

Crowds were down at Lisa Sette Gallery, which was showing "don't follow me, i am lost too," Enrique Chagoya's latest mixed media pieces, in the front room and a video installation entitled "Teleprompter" by Eduardo Gil in the back room.

Courtesy Lisa Sette Gallery

Detail, "Illegal Immigrant's Guide to Political Theory" by Enrique Chagoya

Born and raised in Mexico City, but now living in California, Chagoya always manages to deftly mix images plucked from historic and current art, culture and events to make his wry points about foibles, perceptions and idiosyncrasies plaguing American life. In Illegal Alien's Guide to Political Theory, one of Chagoya's classic pre-Columbian-style codices on amate (mulberry bark) paper, he seems to have taken on our perverse fixation with illegal immigration in a way in which Sheriff Joe Arpaio would thoroughly disapprove.

Gil's "Teleprompter" video really struck a deep personal chord in me, as it reminded me of my own mother's serious hearing problems, which force her to lip-read. Introduced to the work of this Venezuelan artist by Phoenix-based curator Beverly Adams, Sette is showing Gil's 52-minute video, which features a deaf man watching footage of people being interviewed at a Washington D.C. political rally in 2004, as if he were reading from a teleprompter.

The net effect is painful to watch, as the deaf man catches only snatches of what is being said, giving entirely new meaning to the old cliché about words falling on deaf ears, as well as to the whole idea of reportage and editing from a particular perspective.

On a lighter note, Cervini Haas Gallery has moved from Marshall Way into smaller quarters on Fifth Avenue. Be assured that its physical downsizing has in no way affected the gallery's good taste, which is on full display in "Palimpset," an exhibition of delicate fiber wall sculptures by Marian Bijlenga, who hails from the Netherlands. Bijlenga's gorgeous and intricate work is crafted from hundreds of component parts made of fabric and dyed horsehair, most of which are individually connected by singular pieces of thread that, when lit, dramatically pop the work three-dimensionally.

Courtesy Cervini Haas Gallery

"Sampler Dots" by Marian Bijlenga, fabric, horsehair and thread

These intriguing works evoke any number of associations, including teeming cellular landscapes and other moving and breathing organic structures that seem to crawl frenetically over the gallery's pristine white walls.

See more shots in our Fight Club *Sadisco slide show

On Saturday, January 17, the twisted minds behind the monthly *Sadisco events hosted their annual "Fight Club" themed *Sadisco at J-Heads. The scene was post-industrial-apocalyptic, as revelers meandered around the perimeter of the venue among precarious chain link fences, newspaper trash, and spray-painted signs that said things like "I am Jack's inner homosexuality." (For those culturally-deprived few who haven't read Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club novel or seen the movie, that's a play on the line "I am Jack's medulla oblongata.")

*Sadisco's usual thrall of noise/EDM/industrial DJs and acts provided support for headliner  Terrorfakt, a New York group that put on a very loud show with lots of pants-shaking bass vibrations and power tools.

Continue reading " Fight Club *Sadisco, Blow By"...

Tags: *Sadisco, Dani Danger, Fight Club, industrial, J-Heads, Terrorfakt

By Benjamin Leatherman

The indie pop-rockers of Hooves perform at AZ Rocks the Hope.

Better than: Hanging out at a McCain fundraiser.

For some reason, I thought the AZ Rocks the Hope event on Saturday, October 25, in downtown Phoenix was going to be a gigantic rally for presidential front-runner Barack Obama. I envisioned hundreds of Obama converts packing downtown art space Canvas@1011 and cheering en masse as dozens of local bands and DJs gave stirring testimonials between their sets about how the Illinois senator was the savior of our nation.

So did that actually happen? Did my prediction prove accurate?

By Martin Cizmar

It’s nearing 3 p.m. Monday and I’m still recovering from an amazing weekend in Rocky Point, where web editor Jonathan McNamara a few friends and I traveled to see Roger Clyne and the Peacemaker’s Circus Mexicus extravaganza.

See more photos in our Roger Clyne and the Peacemaker's at Circus Mexicus slideshow.

I’ll be writing a lot more about the weekend later, but we wanted to give you some photos from a weekend of sunshine, surf and music.

By Jonathan McNamara

Last Wednesday, Music Editor Martin Cizmar gave mention of Futurekind's CD release party held at Last Exit this past Friday. Always on the look out for a new source of sonic sensation, I took his advice and checked them out for myself.

Now you can too even if you didn't make it to the set on Friday night:

By Martin Cizmar

So I don’t normally write about shows I don’t see, but I’ve been hearing enough complaints about tonight’s Mars Volta show that I had to throw up a post, if only to give disappointed Phoenicians a place to leave comments bitching about Cedric Bixler Zavala.

Turns out the band played four or five songs over the course of about an hour then took off, reports our Assistant art director Jasmine Hobeheidar, who attended the show with her boyfriend. “Oh my God, everyone was so pissed off,” she says. “Everyone was looking at each other like ‘what?’”

By Steve Jansen

I’ve had a private relationship with Sigur Rós for years now.

You see, the mood-driven Icelandic post-rock foursome is one of those groups that I can only listen to alone, usually when I’m torn up about something. The band’s sweeping instrumentals, charged by the eerie falsetto of lead singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, is the perfect music to get over a breakup to.

So it was with some reservation that I went down to a sold out Marquee Theatre in Tempe and checked out the band, which has been selling out venues all over the U.S. during its current world tour. Why the hesitation? Because I had some doubts that I would be able to enjoy the band’s personal melodramatic songs while surrounded by a flock of foolios.

By Martin Cizmar

It hasn’t quite been 11 months since Vampire Weekend released their first single, “Mansard Roof.” In that time, they’ve gone from the buzziest band since Arcade Fire, to a cultural touchstone for New Yorker types, to last night’s show at the Marquee, where a dad in jean shorts lifted his towheaded son on to his shoulders for a better view during “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.”

That’s right: scenester darlings to glorified Wiggles in less than a year.

By Martin Cizmar and Benjamin Leatherman
Photos by Luke Holwerda

Beck Hansen, live in Phoenix. See more shots in our Beck and MGMT slideshow.

Music Editor Martin Cizmar and Clubs Editor Benjamin Leatherman both attended Beck’s show at the Dodge Theatre Monday night. Here’s their review, point/counterpoint style:

Martin Cizmar: I was just as excited to see MGMT as Beck, but when I arrived at 8 p.m. the guys were almost done with their set. What I did see was pretty lame. Two dudes singing over a backing track while occasionally striking a few buttons on a synthesizer? Not my idea of a good show.

The indie-synth-dance-rock duo known as MGMT.

Benjamin Leatherman: Which makes me glad that I didn’t show up to the Dodge until around 8:30 p.m. after MGMT was off the stage. I feel rather underwhelmed when it comes to the duo of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. Rolling Stone may have dubbed them as “artists to watch” in 2008 (and fellated the duo’s latest disc Oracular Spectacular), but there are far better indie-synth-dance-rock bands out there, like Freezepop and the local keyboard wunderkinds of Peachcake.

Martin: Why did Beck open with “Loser?” Personally, I could do without hearing the song – which charted when I was in seventh grade – ever again, but if he had to play it, why didn’t he just work it in to the middle of the set? Beck didn’t seem that excited about the song, which he played almost exactly like the original, and the crowd didn’t go wild over it. It set the tone, but not in the right way.

Benjamin: My section of the audience seemed to be fired up for it (including a foursome of beer-chugging, high-fiving bros seated in front of me). Personally, I happen to dig it when musicians and bands open with their big hits first, like Beck did with “Loser” followed by “Girl.” It allows them to energize the crowd before getting to the lesser-played songs. It also satisfies the chunk of the audience who came out just for the big singles, like the aforementioned frat posse.

By Martin Cizmar

The Hives and Eagles of Death Metal have a lot in common. Both play stripped-down, three-chord garage rock. Both bands playfully taunt audiences, boasting about their own talent and virility. Both bands have been around about a decade, finding modest success a few years back with minor hits and advertisement exposure. On paper, Friday’s Marquee concert should have been a showcase of two seasoned indie acts who survived the decline of the garage rock rival – thriving, post-buzz.

See more shots from the show in our Hives slideshow.

As it turns out, The Hives still put on one of the best shows you’ll ever see. Eagles of Death Metal do not.

By Jonathan McNamara

Shiny Toy Guns keyboardist Jeremy Dawson fiddles with a bit of plastic as he graciously subjects himself to a few questions courtesy of New Times. The band just finished their initial sound check and though they won’t hit the stage for a few hours, roadies and Martini Ranch staff are scurrying about in preparation. Hopefully it will go better than last night’s tour opener in Vegas.

See more shots from the concert in our Shiny Toy Guns slideshow.

“The first show was last night and half the gear went down. We literally had to walk off,” says Shiny Toy Guns’ Jeremy Dawson. “And it’s Vegas so nobody cared, but we walked off that stage and we just like ‘oh god.’”

Dawson depicts it as a hectic first night thanks to the equipment trouble, starting a brand new tour and the addition of new Shiny Toy Guns vocalist and bass player Sisily Treasure, but try to convince any of the audience members at Martini Ranch that the band was feeling stressed and you’d be making a hard sell. Shiny Toy Guns rocked the hell right out of their second gig leaving the audience chanting “STG” and several fans singing their favorite tracks right over Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia” as they wandered out into the Scottsdale streets.

By Jonathan McNamara

Better than: any of the other shows I’ve witnessed at Tempe Marketplace

See more shots in our Ataris slideshow.

When New Times covered Carolina Liar in July, the crowd at Tempe Marketplace was less than half of what it was for The Ataris last night. Sure, Carolina liar was competing with the release of The Dark Knight but I’m guessing there’s another reason these dudes pulled the sea of fans they did. They’re us.

Maybe it’s their flannel shirts or the fact that physically they look more like the kind of dudes interested in playing Mario Kart and munching on burgers than the ultra-skinny, girl jean-clad rock stars that seem to dominate the charts, but the Ataris seem to be a bunch of average Joes that just want to rock.

Just how down to Earth are the Ataris? Shortly before the encore, Singer Kristopher Roe told the crowd “We’re going to act like this is the last song, but we’ve got three more after this, ok?”

By Joseph Golfen

It’s not often that you get to see a great band from their humble beginnings. But anyone who was at the Modified Arts on Sunday got that chance as local band Miniature Tigers took to the stage, sending wonderful indie rock echoing through the walls of the tiny theater and out into the hot city streets.

Sunday’s show was originally intended to kick off the band’s first national tour, which had been pushed back until October, but that didn’t stop the band from kicking out the great new songs off their new album Tell It to the Volcano, which will be released on Tuesday.

Lead singer and guitarist Charlie Brand says he’s very excited about the album and the upcoming tour, which will find Miniature Tigers playing their way up the East coast and eventually landing at the highly coveted College Media Journal music festival in New York City. Brand admits he doesn’t know what to expect from life on the road, having only played in Phoenix and Los Angeles, but he’s looking forward to finding out.

“I don’t really know what it’s going to be like or how people are going to react,” says the friendly, soft-spoken Brand. “But I’m really looking forward to going and just playing music every night, because that’s exactly what I want to be doing.”

By Martin Cizmar

Common is about as close to imageless as you can get in the rap game. He’s got the pretty boy thing going, but he’s not LL Cool J or Nelly. He’s known for smart rhymes, but he’s not Talib Kweli. He’s got live instrumentation, but it’s not his defining characteristic, like, say, The Roots. He’s a fashionable guy – appearing in a Gap ad campaign – but he’s no Diddy.

As the Chicago rapper hopped on stage at the Marquee last night, opening with “Announcement” from his upcoming Universal Mind Control album, it was clear that his ability to defy definition serves him well live. Backed by a Soulquarian-style six-piece band, Common played a brisk set pulling songs from across his 16-year career.

By Sarah Ventre

The Yucca Tap Room is one of those celebrated landmarks left standing in Tempe, made famous by the bands that grew up there. Last Saturday night, local music fans were treated to a bit of nostalgia when Art Edwards, bassist of the Refreshments, made his first appearance on the Yucca stage in over twelve years.

It’s been a while since those Refreshments days, but Art “Buddy” Edwards has kept busy in multiple mediums. In addition to the release of a solo album, he’s written two novels: “Stuck Outside of Phoenix” and “Ghost Notes” which center around a Tempe bassist named Hote. I guess you write what you know.

The night dripped with nostalgia. Edwards covered local legends including Dead Hot Workshop, Gloritone, and the Meat Puppets, with guitarist/vocalist Jim Gerke, and later joined by drummer Curtis Grippe. Between songs, Edwards reminisced about his Yucca Tap Room memories, while the crowd smiled and nodded in approval and acknowledgement of their shared experiences.

By Benjamin Leatherman

The power was off, but the party was on at the Trunk Space.

Better than: Watching Colorstore in the middle of a hurricane.

“Holy shit! What the hell is going on outside!?!”

This profanity-laced exclamation was uttered by yours truly at around 10 p.m. last night as I was sitting at my computer in my apartment in downtown Phoenix. I was attempting to get some work done before bed, including putting together this weekend’s concert calendar; while suddenly all hell seemingly started breaking loose outside.

Although the darkened and cloudy sky had been roiling with thunder and lighting during my drive home from dinner an hour before, it just seemed like the makings of typical monsoon-season storm and nothing like the tempest-like squall that Mother Nature unleashed less than an hour later. Far from it.

I knew something was up when the deafening roar of gale-force winds (reportedly measuring near 100 m.p.h.) buffeted against the windows of my apartment, ripping down fences, tossing around garbage cans, and breaking the large acacia tree in my neighbor’s yard next in two.

A torrential downpour followed and the power in my apartment blacked out (and didn’t return until just a few hours ago). Since I wasn’t gonna be getting any work done and didn’t want to sit around in the dark, I hopped in my car and cruised over to the Trunk Space to see if the power was still on there.

By Niki D’Andrea

Better than: Eye spasms at a titty bar.

The Metal Masters Tour rolled through the Valley last night, with a bill that boasted four titans of heavy metal: Testament, Motörhead, Heaven & Hell, and Judas Priest. Unfortunately, Testament hit the stage at 5:30 and I was stuck in traffic on the I-10 W until about 6. When I arrived at the venue, Motörhead had just started playing.

By Benjamin Leatherman

The crowd of Hollywood Alley fans who gathered for the show. See more shots in our slideshow.

I know I’m probably going to take some shit for saying this, but Hollywood Alley in Mesa is probably the closest thing to a CBGB’s that Phoenix will ever experience.

I make this declaration not because to long-running rock club/dive bar is more than a little dirty or rough around the edges, but because of the sheer number of bands who’ve played there over the past two decades. I was struck by this thought as I attended one of the venue’s “20 Years of Rock” shindig on Saturday evening. In my apartment’s bathroom, I’ve got a shower curtain from CBGB’s that I bought when I visited the (sadly) now-defunct landmark NYC club in 2005. If you’re familiar with the curtain, you know it’s covered with more than a hundred different legendary rock and punk bands who’ve performed at CBGB’s during its heyday – including the Ramones, Killdozer, Blondie, and Television, just to name a few.

I was reminded of said curtain when I was looking at the various walls of Hollywood Alley, which are covered with countless stickers of local and touring bands who’ve passed through the joint since it opened in the summer of 1988. They serve almost as a badass monument to the club’s longevity, as have the “20 Years of Rock” parties that have been going on during the month of August.

Better Than: Any other act that has played the Super Bowl in this millennium.

See more photos from Tom Petty's concert at Jobing.com Arena in our slideshow.

The arena concert is often an impersonal experience. Paying top dollar for a seat with a brilliant view of a jumbotron hardly makes any sense at all. In Tom Petty’s case, the separation of the arena rock show coupled with his decision to play the Super Bowl this year (Do you really want to follow in the footsteps of Aerosmith, Janett Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Mr. Petty?) and an increase in ticket prices is leaving even his diehard fans a little disenchanted.

By Niki D'Andrea

We were supposed to have a big slide show of Stone Temple Pilots' performance, but our photographer, Luke Holwerda, was one of several professional photogs booted from the venue seconds into STP's set. According to Luke, a man (presumably STP's manager) yelled "Don't crowd Scott!" at them, pushed them back, and then announced "You're all out! You're done!" After the song, STP singer Scott Weiland encouraged everyone in the crowd to push forward, prodding "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon," and then berating venue security: "You're going to stop them from enjoying a rock show?" Hundreds of audience members got up in Weiland's face throughout the show, taking pictures with their cell phones.

You can view the Stone Temple Pilot photos we were able to take here.

Now, on with the show.

Better than: A blowtorch enema.

Stone Temple Pilots on stage at Dodge Theatre

The show was supposed to start at 8 p.m. I arrived at 7:40, and was surprised to see a band on stage. I caught half of their last song. Me and the six people sitting around me all agreed they sounded "pretty good." I later learned the band was called The Color Turning.

I was eager to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, having been a fan of their gritty, dark rock since I first heard "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll" in 2002. I was curious as to how they'd set the tone for Stone Temple Pilots.

Almost every song began with feedback, but the three-piece band from Los Angeles was rock solid, nailing a 40-minute set that included BRMC tunes like "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll" (the set closer), "Weapon of Choice," and "Ain't No Easy Way Out." The last song deviated from the band's usual burly, bottom-heavy sound, with the band switching electric axes for acoustics, fervent harmonica, and a honky tonk guitar solo.

As far as setting the tone, BRMC went nuts with the stroboscopic effects (I thought my eyeballs were going to gyrate out of their sockets), but the band's occasional indulgence in extended, dark psych jams didn't exactly pump the audience up for the "big rock show."

And yes, I expected a big show rock show. I saw Stone Temple Pilots perform at the Arizona State Fair in 2000, back in Veterans Memorial Coliseum's "big crack in the ceiling" days. The band sounded great in spite of the venue's structural damage, and I remember I left that show thinking Scott Weiland was the consummate front man.

Then I saw Velvet Revolver at Cricket Wireless Pavilion last year. I wrote a rather scathing review, and readers who attended that show (and other VR shows throughout the country) largely agreed with my negative assessments.

I was honestly hoping he'd surprise me this time, that he'd prance on stage with his usual gyrating swagger and messianic posing and sound as smooth as ever. But before Weiland -- wearing black emo jeans, a white shirt with a tie, and a safari hat -- could sing a note, he already had me confused.

By Jonathan McNamara

Six rows away from me, wearing a ring master's coat and miming his way across the stage, Eddie Izzard looked up "Phoenix" on Wikipedia using his Iphone.

"It's got a picture of you looking hot," he said.

A similar heat related joke told to any Phoenix resident would come off as trite, but somehow Izzard's impish grin and predilection to inserting F-bombs in his charming British way makes even a joke about how hot it is in Phoenix seem new again. Fried egg, anyone?

Izzard exposed the audience to his rambling, comedic style for nearly two hours sometimes forgoing speaking entirely to get jokes across with exaggerated body movement and sound effects produced using only a microphone.

The one coherent message Izzard through into his rant-filled routine was also the most succinct thing he said all night:

"You've got an election this year. Don't fuck it up. Vote for Barack Obama; then you'll be able to travel the world and not pretend you're Canadian."

But Lewis Black this was not and while Izzard did inject a few political musings into his act, the majority consisted of jazz chickens, the existence (or lack thereof) of God, mime routines, dinosaurs, boats and of course Charles Darwin's famous book "Monkey Monkey Monkey Monkey Monkey Monkey You".

And it is from this obscure assortment of topics from the night's show that we present to you the top 10 things Eddie Izzard said last night that make even less sense taken out of context. Truth the be told, they didn't make that much more sense last night, but they did have the Orpheum's audience in stitches.

10. "You can't mime a religion"

9. "No one does air oboe, do they?"

8. Speaking about dinosaurs: "We're pretty sure 'Ah, fuck it' was the last thing they said."

7. "One thing was big before language and that was Scrabble. No one lost!"

6. "I'm not actually a transvestite, it was a tax thing that I did."

By Niki D'Andrea

The New Times Summer of Sound experimental show took place Friday, July 18, at Papillons Too (formerly Cell Block) in Mesa. It was a night of community, costumes, feedback, homemade instruments, and epic jams, courtesy of headliners Estradasphere Trio and four of our best local bands. Without any further ado, let's wax premature nostalgic: