​Metal legends Metallica recently announced the two-day Orion Music and More Festival, where the band will headline each night by playing a different classic album, Ride the Lightning and The Black Album, in their entirety. There's a super-long video on the festival site featuring an interview with the band, conducted by a dandy British man, who totally refers to the members as "chaps." In it, the band say they hand-picked the festival's 22 confirmed acts, with more to come, and that some cool non-music offerings like film screenings and surfing activities will soon be announced.

Yet the festival, running from June 23 and 24 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, features some exceptionally un-metal acts like UK pop-punks Arctic Monkeys and Cali dreamboats Best Coast. In the promo video, Metallica drummer and expert pontificator Lars Ulrich said the band aimed to provide the wide diversity of acts seen at most major festivals. "There's only two kinds of music: Great music and less-great music," he breathlessly opined. But which one of these metal legends is secretly jamming Titus Andronicus? Through painstaking research and elaborate data-mining techniques, I have come to some conclusions.

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http://osptempe.com/

​As reported by our sister blog Jackalope Ranch, Tempe's Open Source Project is scheduled to close at the end of the month, making it another entry is a sad string of venues closures.

But the doors won't be shut before local prog-rockers The Oxford Coma have their way with the place.

"We know the guys who own it, and we wanted to give them a big hoorah before they close down," says guitarist Billy Tegethoff.

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Benjamin Walker (a.k.a. Mr. Puma MC)

​Here's a Christmas story that's bound to warm your heart: Local hip-hop cipher Benjamin Walker (better known by his stage name Mr. Puma MC) is at the tail end of a battle with cancer, partly due to the efforts of plenty of Valley DJs.

The 39-year-old emcee, who's been working the mic since the glory days of the Bombshelter DJs in the '90s, is currently "around 95 percent recovered" from his battle with retroperitoneal seminoma.

Walker's fight against the rare form of cancer, which caused a softball-sized tumor to grow on his aorta, has undoubtedly been aided via fundraisers that have been held in his honor by old school DJs and scene veterans like Pete "Supermix" Salaz, Senbad, and DJentrification.

And now local legend Z-Trip is even lending a hand to help out Walker, as he'll headline the "Merry X-Ray" benefit on December 25 at the Crescent Ballroom.

"It's a pretty large cross-section of guys that I've known throughout the years that have reached out and given their support," Walker says. "It's a little overwhelming, I'm still in recovery from cancer and it's been rather difficult."

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Stefan Pruett of Peachcake

​ For as much awareness that has been brought upon HIV in recent years, it's still called an "unhuggable" disease because of the stigmas and misconceptions surrounding it -- though, no, hugging someone with AIDS will not cause you to catch it yourself (duh).

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DJ Fashen (a.k.a. Daniel Kutz)

​Two prodigal sons from the Scottsdale nightclub scene are making a eagerly-awaited homecoming to their former stomping grounds tomorrow night just in time for Thanksgiving.More >>

Anamieke Quinn and her band Treasurefruit play Localpalooza at The Sail Inn

Even if you dont' know exactly what Amnesty International does, chances are you jive with the organization's mission. Tempe and Arizona State University Amnesty International chapters are hoping to gain a little more exposure in the community when they host Localpalooza for Human Rights this Saturday, November 19 at The Sail Inn in Tempe.

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​Stinkweeds dude and bassist-about-town Dario Miranda already illustrated the difficulties surrounding those foolish enough to accept Stateside Presents' invitation to DJ our 15 Favorite Songs tonight at Crescent Ballroom, so I hope you don't mind if I skip the bitching about how hard it is it pick and simply use this moment to invite you out.

On the New Times front, you've got Jessica Hill (who doubles as a weekend jock over at X103.9) and myself, plus Lindsay Cates, Miranda, and Stinkweeds owner/Local First point-person Kimber Lanning (who occasionally plays rock 'n' roll around town, too).

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Melissa Fossum

The Whisperlights

​Going back to school can really suck, so to ease the pain if you're an Arizona State University student, Taylor Place in downtown Phoenix is throwing a big ol' shindig to get the 1,000 students moving in acquainted with the downtown area. School starts Thursday, August 18, but today, August 15, students can get to know downtown a little better by checking out the more than 40 booths of vendors, local artists and volunteer groups showing off their services. The best part? Local community members are welcome, too.

There will also be performances by local bands Super Stereo and The Whisperlights. The groups may be fun and catchy to listen to, but according to Taylor Place community coordinator Shannon Conley, there's a deeper meaning to why they were chosen to showcase to students.
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Hey now, you're an All-Star

​Major League Baseball announced the official All-Star Week musical performance roster on Wednesday, and it reads like the back of a Now That's What I Call Music compilation mix.

But thank god, we love Jordin Sparks and Michelle Branch. It would've totally sucked if MLB had a relevant indie surf pop ensemble rocking the Midsummer Classic. It's not like any baseball fans are into that noise anyhow.

Check out of some of the gnarly acts playing All-Star Week after the jump, yo.

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