Hogjaw singer and guitarist JonBoat Jones

Better than: Watching Deliverance with a drunk uncle.

First, let me just say that my friends Bones and Chazz – longtime cohorts for my “Niki at Nite” column – were super-stoked to see Jackyl. They’re both big fans of raucous, rowdy metal, and Jackyl is one of a handful of bands they can agree upon. Bones is an ‘80s metal chick with an affinity for Poison, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, and a bunch of other pretty boy bands that manly men cannot, in good conscience, admit to liking. Her husband Chazz is a self-professed “redneck” who loves beer, boats, and big boobs. He wouldn’t be caught dead with a can of hairspray and a pair of leather pants. But a metal band like Jackyl, where none of the members wear makeup and the singer dances around with a chainsaw – now that’s something guys can get into with no shame.

As for me, I was interested in seeing Jackyl, but I was really excited about the three local acts that were scheduled to open for them: Hogjaw, Jack Ripper, and Big Cock.

Big Cock is comprised of members of local “tribute/cover” band Metalhead, who pay homage to hair metal by dressing up in wigs and playing songs by the likes of Motley Crue and Skid Row. Big Cock is supposed to be their “original” music project.

Unfortunately, Big Cock canceled. I made a note of such, and Bones later added to my notes:
“BIG COCK CANCELED…RAN OUT OF VIAGRA.”

So Hogjaw took the stage first. “We’re just some fucking rednecks from the woods,” singer and guitarist JonBoat Jones told the audience.

This might be our most exciting Future Shock yet, as several big-name shows and rare concert opportunities came down the wire. Rather than sit and gush about how awesome it is that Phoenix is one of only 17 cities on Tina Turner’s tour, or that Tom Waits is playing two nights here, let’s just get on with the roll call of radness.

Tom Waits
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 17 and 18, 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre
$90 (www.livenation.com)
Tickets go on-sale Friday, May 16, at noon

The gravelly-voiced, avant garde king of indescribable booze-jazz/art rock/blues-folk/dissident cabaret is making his first appearance in the Valley in 30 years. Waits’ song characters -- whether it’s a hooker in Minneapolis sending a postcard or a lonely kid sitting in Napoleone's Pizza House afterhours -- have endured with as much emblematic clarity for his fans as any major movie or television characters. Waits’ body of bluesy, piano-driven work stands alone as that of an artist’s artist, and he’s managed to maintain his integrity in an age where licensing deals have become one of the most lucrative avenues a musician can take. Adamantly opposed to having his music used in advertisements, Waits has filed lawsuits (and won) against companies like Frito Lay, Audi, and Levis, for using his music (or something too similar to it) in their commercials.

Random band fact: Artists who have recorded covers of Tom Waits’ songs include Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (“Heartattack and Vine”), The Eagles (“Ol’ 55”), and Rod Stewart (“Downtown Train”). Waits was also the voice of “Tommy the Cat” on the Primus song of the same name, from its Sailing the Seas of Cheese album.

Below: Tom Waits’ bizarre press conference announcing his tour -- currently the #1 featured video on YouTube:

------

Tina Turner
Friday, October 24, 8 p.m.
Jobing.com Arena
$54.30-$150 (www.ticketmaster.com)
Tickets go on-sale Monday, May 12, at 10 a.m.

To quote Shania Twain (since nobody does these days), “If you’ve never seen Tina Turner live, you must see Tina Turner live.” And since we’ve seen Tina Turner live (twice), we’ll second that. The 68-year-old phemon dances around the stage with energy of women half her age, and puts on a multi-media show that includes vintage footage, pyrotechnics, giant digital effects screens, moving stage parts, backup dancers, multiple costume changes, and a “career retrospective” set that ensures everyone in the audience gets to hear their favorite Tina Turner song, from whatever-era, including the Ike & Tina days.

Random band fact: Tina Turner has sold more concert tickets than any other solo artist.

Below: Beyonce’s performance with Tina Turner at the 2008 Grammy Awards, which Turner said inspired her to tour again:

------

Coldplay
Saturday, July 12
Jobing.com Arena
$49.50-$97.50 (www.livenation.com)
Tickets go on-sale Saturday, May 17, at noon

Chris Martin and company return to the road in support of their latest album, Viva La Vida, their follow-up to the #1, 10x platinum album X&Y. Critics are already commenting on the album’s “harder edge,” but concertgoers can still expect to hear Coldplay’s earlier, mellow tunes, along with faves like “Speed of Sound” and “Talk.”

Random band fact: Tim Rice-Oxley of the band Keane was offered the keyboard position when Coldplay first formed, but refused because of his commitment to Keane.

Below: A candid clip of Coldplay talking about the new single “Violet Hill” on World Premier Radio1:

Digital Summer's numerous sticker advertisements have nothing on the sheer number of multimedia pieces we've put together to supplement Benjamin Leatherman's cover story on the Valley-based band. If you haven't seen the two (count 'em) slide shows we've already posted, you can see them in our Valley Fever post: Digital Sumer Slide Shows.

Need more Digital Summer? Take a listen to their song Rescue Me as introduced by Benjamin Leatherman in this Up on the Sun podcast.

Scrubs actor and Garden State director and star Zach Braff is making a music video for singer-songwriter Jay Clifford, and he wants footage of you and your friends to be included.

If you visit www.jaycliffordmusicvideo.com, you can view a video message from Braff, where he discusses his vision for the video, and you can also listen to Clifford’s new single, “Know When to Walk Away” (the song for which Braff’s making a video).

Jay Clifford

“So many people ask me how to get started in film making, and they want to make videos,” Braff says in the video message. “And I just thought it’d be a really cool idea for all those people out there who like to make movies to make a music video together -- like a global crew of people, making one music video.”

Unless you’re a well-schooled jazz or R&B fan, Marcus Miller is probably the best bass player you’ve never heard of. The Grammy Award-winning Miller has played bass for Miles Davis, David Sanborn, and Luther Vandross, and also played bass and bass clarinet in a band called Legends, with Eric Clapton. He’s got his own signature bass (the Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass, available in 4- and 5-string versions) and is also one of the most in-demand R&B producers in the world, having co-produced/arranged most of Vandross’ albums from 1981 onward, as well as records by Al Jarreau, and The Crusaders.

As an artist leading his own band, Miller’s musical prowess is even more compelling than the incomparable session work he’s done for more than 30 years. In addition to mastering the bass guitar, Miller is also a proficient keyboardist, saxophonist, clarinetist, and singer, and artists from Corrine Bailey Rae and Keb “Mo” to Me’Shell NdegeOcello and Macy Gray have clamored to collaborate with him.

When Grant McLennan, co-founder of The Go-Betweens, died of a heart attack two years ago today at the age of 48, it brought the curtain down on one of Australia's finest ever bands. Now, fellow Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster pays touching tribute to his late songwriting partner on his new solo album, “The Evangelist,” as well as bringing to light McLennan's final compositions.

By turns elegiac and celebratory, “The Evangelist” is the finest of Forster's five solo efforts, the first four of which were released while The Go-Betweens were on hiatus during the 1990s. On it, he plays with bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson, both of whom had joined The Go-Betweens when Forster and McLennan reconvened the band for the new century.

The sound of the new disc is definitely of a piece with the three post-reunion GB discs, yet missing an obvious presence. This is acknowledged in the simple and moving song “Demon Days” as Forster sings “But something's not right, something's gone wrong.” It's all the more poignant when you read in the liner notes that the line was penned by McLennan.

On “It Ain't Easy,” another of three co-written tunes, Forster and company settle into McLennan's brisk pop groove while the singer honors his friend with lines such as “it was melody he loved most of all” and “we'll not see his kind again anymore.”

Just as a fine funeral service offers both fond memories of the deceased and hope for the future of the living, “The Evangelist” succeeds in being both Forster's homage to his fallen friend and his first musical steps forward without him. It's in stores now on Yep Roc Records.

Almost seven years after the release of Mesa-based Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American album, it might be easy for some people to forget the magnitude of that record -- especially since JEW's post-Bleed American albums, Futures (2004) and this year's Chase the Light, haven't even come close to matching the commercial success of Bleed American. Some might even wonder if Jimmy Eat World, the Valley's largest breakout band since the Gin Blossoms, will be resigned to the same sort of national collective remembrance that befell the Blossoms -- if it's not something from the '90s like "Hey Jealousy," "Found Out About You," or "Follow You Down," they don't want to hear it. Do people in Virginia even know that the Gin Blossoms released an album (Major Lodge Victory) in 2006? It’s really good. It’s just not on the radio like all their stuff from 1992’s New Miserable Experience still is.

The Jimmy Eat World songs that have been sung across the nation (and will hopefully still be turning up on radio stations five years from now) are “Bleed American,” “A Praise Chorus,” “The Middle,” and “Sweetness.” And they are all on Bleed American. Released in July of 2001 (and re-named Jimmy Eat World after September 11), this album is actually packed with familiar melodic pop rock songs, whether they were singles or not (“If You Don’t, Don’t,” and “The Authority Song” are still sing-along staples of the band’s live shows). Frankly, the whole album is both a miracle and a masterpiece, having been self-funded after Capitol Records (for whom JEW had already recorded two albums) dropped the group. DreamWorks Records (now dissolved, with roster artists absorbed into Geffen and Interscope) picked the band up, and Bleed American became JEW’s biggest-selling album ever, spawning a top five Billboard single with “The Middle” and selling around 1.5 million copies.

And it’s well worth revisiting. Now with its original title back, Bleed American has been re-released in a deluxe package with three bonus tracks (including “The Most Beautiful Things” from the Good to Go EP) and a second disc crammed with 18 tracks of b-sides and rarities. But unlike many b-sides and rarities collections, this one’s palatable – included are two versions of “The Middle” (one live and one an early demo for the German-issue single), a live version of “Bleed American,” the band’s recording of “If You Don’t, Don’t” from an XFM session, and a previously unreleased live version of “Sweetness.” The limited-edition “Last Christmas”/”Firestarter” single made the compilation, too, along with two tracks from the Believe In What You Want DVD. (“My Sundown,” and “Hear You Me”).

Bleed American is still an awesome album, and old fans and newbies alike can dig into disc two. This already has my nomination for best “deluxe edition reissue of the year.” Now where’s the New Miserable Experience reissue?

The Wiley family's produced its share of local music talent. Sisters Marta and Cristiana were the cornerstone of estro-art rockers W.O.M.B., and now their brother, Sammy Wiley, has released his first CD as "The Wiley One."

We reviewed his latest album -- a feelgood mashup of folk, reggae, and hip-hop called No7 Kid -- when it was first released in November, but now he's added a tenth track, "Gotta Lotta Love," and Sundawg Records will re-release the album on May 7.

To celebrate the CD's second coming, The Wiley One will have an official release party at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale on Thursday, May 8. Special guests include Identity Crisis, MC Criterion, A Life of Science, Marta Wiley, Ashley Norton, and DJ Kensho. The show is 18-and-older, starts at 8 p.m., and costs $8. The first 70 people in the door receive special swag from Sundawg Records.

Better than: Watching Vern Troyer piss himself on The Surreal Life.

When I heard there was a KISS tribute band comprised of “little people,” I knew I couldn’t miss this show. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I’ll admit I was curious. Whenever a band has a gimmick that’s as awesome as being “Minikiss,” I immediately question their musical validity. I wanted to see if these little dudes could actually play their parts, as opposed to just looking like them.

Click to see a few more images from Minikiss at Dos Gringos

Dos Gringos was packed when I arrived at the venue, and a throng of hundreds already had a collective buzz on while local band The Chris Parker Project rocked the stage in luchador masks and sombreros. The highlight of their set was most definitely a cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” complete with a horn section. It was a great primer for Minikiss.

Minikiss was supposed to take the stage at 11 p.m., but didn’t actually do so until midnight. When they came out, the crowd went nuts. All four of them had their costumes and makeup down pat, and mini Ace was even rocking the silver platform boots. The wigs they were wearing (with the exception of wig-less mini Peter Criss) were all really ratty, which added to the charm for me. When mini Gene Simmons started spewing blood out of his mouth, the combination of fake gore and his matted, natty wig reminded me of one of the demon-creatures from the Evil Dead movies.

This week was a like a rock-revival for concert announcements -- acts that haven’t toured in forever are loading up the buses and making their way into the Valley. But as you’ll see, some newer, underground acts will be breaking in the stages here as well.

Stone Temple Pilots
With Frank Black
Tuesday, July 29, 8 p.m.
Dodge Theatre
$40.50-$59.50 (tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 10)
www.livenation.com

Stone Temple Pilots, one of the great grunge-era bands, has reunited for the first time in almost eight years. Singer Scott Weiland left his supergroup, Velvet Revolver, to reform his more successful band (depending on whom you ask, Weiland was either asked to leave by the other Velvet Revolver members because of struggles with subtance abuse, or Weiland left of his own volition because of “creative differences”). Either way, look for STP to blast out several songs from its impressive catalogue.

Random band fact: STP reunited after Weiland’s wife, Mary Forsberg, called the DeLeo brothers (Dean DeLeo and Robert DeLeo, guitar and bass, respectively) and invited them to play at a private beach party.

Below: The video for STP’s 1992 breakout single, “Sex Type Thing”:

------

Singer
With Frog Eyes
Monday, June 9, 8:30 p.m.
Modified Arts
$8 (www.modified.org)

This Chicago four-piece plays progressive psychedelic music, laden with feedback, enchanting harmonies, and droning jazz. They’re touring in support of their new record, The UNHISTORIES, out now on Drag City.

Random band fact: Singer guitarist Todd Rittmann and drummer Adam Vida were also in the band U.S. Maple.

Below: An artsy photo of Singer, since they’re so “indie” they don’t have any videos on YouTube yet:

"Avril Lavigne's Cricket Wireless Pavilion show tomorrow has been cancelled due to laryngitis. Refunds are available at point-of-purchase."

This is the second show Lavigne has canceled on her current tour. She canceled a show in San Diego on Wednesday night.

Local indie rock band Source Victoria is offering its CD, the fast escape for free download on its Web site, www.sourcevictoria.net. The album, hailed as "a beautiful narcotic" by Phoenix New Times music writer Serene Dominic in his recent feature on the band, was produced by Chris Testa (Jimmy Eat World, Dixie Chicks) and has garnered accolades from such local superstars as Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World.

the fast escape will be available for free download until midnight PST on Friday, May 2. The band's offering the album to promote its upcoming show at Hollywood Alley in Mesa on May 3. The bill also includes Monstresors; Sleepwalk, A Robot; and Mike Jarmuz.

You want real “alternative” music? How about a CD titled Stories Told: Harmonized Peyote Songs? That’s the title of the new collection of authentic Native American folk songs from Grammy award-winner Verdell Primeaux with Terry Hanks. It’s one of several releases of indigenous music, folk dance, and pow-wow songs from Canyon Records, a local label that’s the focus of this week’s Local Label Spotlight.

Canyon Records (Phoenix)
Founded in 1951

Roster includes:

Verdell Primeaux
Warscout
R. Carlos Nakai
Blackfire
Judy Trejo

R. Carlos Nakai

Why they’re hot:

The label’s records have garnered a total of 22 Grammy nominations over the years, winning for Best Native American Album in 2002 (Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike’s Bless the People).

The label’s won the only two gold records the RIAA has ever awarded for Native American albums, for R. Carlos Nakai’s Canyon Trilogy and Earth Spirit albums.

The label’s roster represents a diverse and wide breadth of Native American Nations, from all over North America.

Where to find them online:

www.canyonrecords.com

The local garage rock babes of Bella have decided to reunite for one show, on Thursday, May 1, at The Rogue.

For those not familiar with Bella (not to be confused with the Canadian band of the same name), the trio was one of the most celebrated indie rock acts in the city. From their inception in 2002 until they decided to split in 2005 (singer/guitarist Natalie Espinosa already had another band, Huskies, up and running), Bella built a solid fan base around its high-energy live shows and had garnered interest from some indie labels. Alas, the band’s last album, Hope and Wait (recorded at Flying Blanket Studios by Bob Hoag), was never released. Bella played their last show at the 2005 New Times New Music Showcase, and writer Brendan Joel Kelley lamented the loss of such a great local band.

Two-thirds of Bella -- bassist Kristi Wimmer and drummer Jency Johnson-Rogers -- are still in Phoenix, but Espinosa moved to Brooklyn. The three have remained on good terms, allowing for Bella’s first show since their 2005 Showcase gig. Old fans and newbies alike should not miss this show!

Bella performs on Thursday, May 1, at The Rogue Bar. Show time is 9:30 p.m., and admission costs $3.