Subject: Tempe

• The Black Keys Release Free Live EP

  My chief complaint about the Black Keys is that they don't release something new every single day of the week, or go on month-long tours of my immediate neighborhood. Thankfully, the Keys released a complimentary four-song live EP earlier this week via their Myspace page, free of charge. A small taste but a taste nonetheless. On this tic-tac of a release is "No Trust," from their sophomore album, Thickfreakness, a pair from Rubber Factory, "Girl Is On My Mind," and "10am Automatic," and

  May 25, 2007

• Last Night: Album Leaf at Detroit Bar

  Review by Reza Allah-Bakhshi Album Leaf Detroit Bar February 21, 2008 Better Than: Wishing you could inherit Jimmy Lavalle's talent simply by touching him. Download: “On Your Way” vid by Album Leaf I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a rainy Thursday night than to kick back with a brew and take in the visceral temptation that is Album Leaf live. And now that I have experienced it, the rest of my nights are pretty much ruined. Opening band What Laura Says Thinks and Feels sounds

  February 22, 2008

• Metalocalypse Season 2 on DVD Today

  Yesterday's announcement of Tim and Eric coming to the Glass House has got me in an Adult Swim-kind of mood, so it would be remiss not to note season 2 of "Metalocalypse" is out on DVD today.The cartoon is co-created by Brendon Small, the man behind the excellent "Home Movies." It's nominally about an American/Scandinavian band Dethklok and their various misadventures, but really about so much more. Metalheads love it, but even those not so into metal can find some well-earned guffaws.Small anc

  December 2, 2008

• The Maine Sells Out Two Shows at Chain Reaction

  Pop-punk band The Maine are from Tempe, Arizona, the same 40-square mile city where I spent pretty much my entire life (give or take) other than the last few months.So it's with a good deal of hometown pride that I talk about their two sold-out shows at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, tonight and tomorrow afternoon (it's an early shoe, starting at 4 p.m.). I'll admit, I never checked them out back home--their music isn't really for me, which is fine, I'm definitely not their target demographic--but i

  December 19, 2008

• On-Sale Saturday: Black Lips, Shelby Lynne, More

  Those wacky Black Lips! They have a show coming up on April 15 at Detroit Bar, and now they added another one, at the Glass House on May 2! And other shows are also going on sale! Yay!

  January 16, 2009

• Super Bowl Partying with Colorado's Underminer

  BY REX REASONSuper Bowl. SUPER Bowl. SUPER BOWL. You can try to escape this unique and uniquely American "holiday," but even if you ignore it, it hangs in the air. Since Super Sunday was the setting when I spoke with Jeff Reese of Fort Collins, Colorado's Underminer--in town tomorrow at Alex's Bar in Long Beach--we decided to embrace it and ask Reese for semi-quarterly updates as the game unfolded. "I'm actually looking forward to watching the Boss," says Reese. "There have been some good Super

  February 3, 2009

• It's a Quick Read 8

  Orange County Register: The man who shot himself to death inside Crystal Cathedral two weeks ago thought he was a prophet of God and heard the voices of demons inside his head. Wait, there's more than one of us? The Reg also has video of the dude. . . . A Costa Mesa Police officer and another from neighboring Huntington Beach were cleared by the district attorney in the shooting of a man armed with a screwdriver. This only would have been news in Orange County had our DA not

  March 6, 2009

• Last Night: Jimmy Eat World at Club Nokia

  Photo by Andrew YoussefLast Night: Jimmy Eat World, No Knife at Club Nokia, Los Angeles, March 5, 2009.Better than: Hearing John Mayer do his song "Clarity."Preemptive justification: Sure, we don't really cover LA shows here, but I haven't reviewed one since Jenny Lewis at the Orpheum back in October, so I think it's OK."I still like Jimmy Eat World, even though it's not cool to like them anymore." That's what photographer Andrew Youssef said when we first talked about going to see Jimmy Eat Wor

  March 6, 2009

• Unstuck In Time and @Space With Nobuhito Nishigawara

  May 29, 2008

• Get Into Girls Pants

  September 15, 2005

• Gin and Chronic

  June 15, 2006

• the Arizonans Are Coming!

  December 1, 2005

• Hes Too Sexy

  October 6, 2005

• How Will We Know?

  February 19, 2004

• No Escape

  July 11, 2002

• Live(ish) from Coachella: Final Friday Thoughts!

  About to head out to take on another day. Whee! Beth Stirnaman is here in OC Weekly Central (Motel 6 in Palm Springs) uploading pics, so soon you'll have some stuff to look at instead of just these awesome plain text posts. Heard Mentality blogger Nate Jackson is here, too. Say hi, Nate!Before shoving off for Coachella: Part Deux, let's put Monday to bed with some thoughts:- Franz Ferdinand nailed it. Nice little one-hour set drawing on all three of their albums. "Do You Want To," "Take Me Out,"

  April 18, 2009

• Last Night: Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, the New Pornographers at the Hollywood Bowl

  Just watch the fireworks.Last Night: Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara and the New Pornographers at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles; July 5, 2009.Better than: Staying home and celebrating the Fifth of July, the sacred holiday commemorating the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996.Minor celebrity spotting: Former Saturday Night Live cast member Horatio Sanz. He's skinny now, y'know.I first saw Death Cab for Cutie in 2003 at the second location of the now-defunct Nita's Hideaway in my hometown o

  July 6, 2009

• Last Night: Hellogoodbye, Fun, Limbeck at Chain Reaction

  Hellogoodbye gettin' blurry with it.​Last Night: Hellogoodbye, Fun, Limbeck at Chain Reaction, Anaheim; August 19, 2009.Better Than: Waiting for the next Hellogoodbye album to come out (it's been three years this month since Drive-Thru released Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!).Great Debate: Over the relative quality of District 9. Fun were incredibly turned off, saying that it was too heavy-handed and steeped in allegory. Hellogoodbye repeatedly proclaimed the sci-fi film's awesomeness a

  August 20, 2009

• Pastor Wiley Drake Has Obama-Death-Prayer Competition

  Pastor Steven Anderson with a future mind ripe for polluting.First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park pastor Wiley Drake now has high-profile competition when it comes to praying for President Barack Obama's death. Pastor Steven L. Anderson of Tempe, Arizona's Faithful Word Baptist Church--which, from the looks of it in this video of his "Why I Hate Barack Obama" sermon, appears to have been decorated by the Blind Boys of Alabama--told congregants recently that he also prays for the pr

  September 10, 2009

• 2009 Postseason Throwdown: Angels' Original Owls Fly Again

  Courtesy of FutureAngels.comSeven of the eight Statesville Owls of 1961 who came to Tempe pose for the camera.​​The not-yet-dead Texas Rangers are trying to prevent the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from winning the American League West crown, something the Halos can achieve as early as tonight at the Big A with a win against their Lone Star state rival.It makes one wonder who players from the old Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers of the American Association are rooting for. They were the Angels' Tri

  September 28, 2009

• Last Night: Nine Inch Nails, Health at the Fonda

  Chris VictorioDon't be fooled. This picture is from the Hollywood Pallaidum on Sept. 3!​Last Night: Nine Inch Nails, Health, at the Music Box at the Fonda, Los Angeles; September 8, 2009.Better Than: The two previous Los Angeles "Wave Goodbye" shows at the Hollywood Palladium and the Echoplex, if reports are to be believed.Amount of People Fitting the Clichéd Nine Inch Nails Fan "Look": Honestly, not very many. I saw a couple girls that overdid it with the eyeliner, but that's about it. Mostl

  September 9, 2009