Our local NPR affiliate KJZZ ran a story this morning on Arizona bands at SXSW and the I HEART AZ party I hosted. They interviewed PJ and Ian from Dear And The Headlights, Brian and Andrew from Kinch, and then myself for the story.

Listen to Arizona Rocks Austin Festival

Thanks to Marcos Najera for covering the Arizona bands at SXSW.

I am so proud to finally announce I HEART AZ, The Official Unofficial Arizona SXSW Party!

I HEART AZ is a celebration and showcase of some of the best new artists coming out of Arizona today. The last few years have seen an explosion of new artists from Arizona breaking on the national stage. Artists as diverse as Calexico, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Maine, Job For A Cowboy and even Jordan Sparks have all made their mark on the national music scene. This group has one thing in common, they call Arizona home. But these artists are just the first in a new wave of Arizonan raised talent. Many people both in Arizona and in the music industry at large believe that Arizona could be home to one of the next great music scenes. I HEART AZ will showcases some of the best new bands from Arizona that will be on every music fans iPod in the year to come.

I HEART AZ will be held Thursday March 19^th from 12:00 PM until 7:00 PM during the SXSW Music Conference. It will be held at one of Austin’s best music venues and bars, The Jackalope, located on Sixth Street in the heart of Downtown Austin.

THE ARTIST:

Dear And The Headlights (Equal Vision Records)

Miniature Tigers (Modern Art/Sony Epic)

What Laura Says (Terpsikhore Records)

The Stiletto Formal (Eyeball Records/Warner Brothers)

Kinch (Named Best Phoenix Album of 2008 by the Phoenix New Times)

Back Ted-N Ted (Modern Art/Sony Epic)

Reubens Accomplice (Western Tread Recordings)

And special guest DJ Ben Collins (Owner-Modern Art Records / Chronic Future guitarist) spinning tracks between bands.

The Phoenix New Times just published their list of “Phoenix’s Best Records of 2008.”

Congrats goes to Kinch who took the top spot of their album “Advances.” You can download the #1 Phoenix Album here for FREE.

Other top albums were by Back Ted-N Ted, The Loveblisters, Miniature Tigers, The Stiletto Formal and Black Carl.

The Revival Tour (that was here in November) has posted a video made from footage from the tour. It is kind of neat. Watch it after the break.

REVIVAL ROAD revival tour 08
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Daytrotter have posted their Dear And The Headlights sessions.

The Morning Of plays some melodic, upbeat numbers that rest on the dual foundations of a piano-guitar backdrop and a girl-guy vocal combo.” - From The Phoenix New Times this week.

You can see The Morning Of at Modified Arts tomorrow night with My American Heart.

Did anyone else see some of our cooler Downtown local hot spots in The New York Times this weekend? Hotel San Carlos, Matt’s Big Breakfast, Made Art Boutique, and The Welcome Diner all got mentions. Congratulations to all of them.

New York Times: 36 Hours in Phoenix

The Phoenix Independents Bowl was a huge success! We had 46 teams bowl with some of the best bands and business in town. Congratulations to Desert Living Magazine for coming in at First Place.

I would thank everyone who helped make this a success. Big thanks to everyone at The Sunset Bowl, they were a great host. I would list everyone who helped but their are far to many people who helped make this event work.

Photos from the event should be up soon. Until then you can read a review of the event at the New Times Up On The Sun Blog or see a slide show at New Times or AZCentral.com.

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Thanks to everyone who came to one of The Stiletto Formal’s CD Release shows. And thanks to MR William Reed for making the party at Shake! such a blast!

You can read the New Times review of their new album here, read the review of the show at The Clubhouse here, or see the slide show here.

I am proud to present: