26 Jan 5th–Jan 11th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | Questions? Feedback? Email me at [email protected] • Follow me on RATING (out of 5 McFly’s) Ride the Lightning! 2022 FoRd F-150 Lightning 2022 FoRd F-150 Lightning B uy the Ford F-150 Lightning. It’s awesome, period. It’s fast as hell, has more torque than you know what to do with, has a frunk (front trunk), is super quiet, the front lights are futuristic looking and bad ass, and it has everything you’d want in an F-150. I’ve said it before and will continue to say it, if you buy ANY electric vehicle, you’ll get a charger at your house and will charge it nightly. Most people aren’t driving 250-300 miles per day. If you do, an electric vehicle isn’t for you. The price wasn’t disclosed on the monroney I was provided but the Lightning’s look to be selling for between $45k-$80k. Definitely worth the money. My only concern and this isn’t just about the Ford is Cobalt. The mining conditions of this finite resource is something ALL of us should be aware of and need to address. We also need more solutions for the future as the quality of electric vehicles and the demand sky rocket. Pick-Up: Handling: Comfort: Passenger Comfort: Safety & Security: Sound System: Access to Controls: Bells & Whistles: Overall: Looks: would like to accomplish, Helinski adds, include getting instruments donated and given to people in other countries that don’t have the same level of access to equipment, and establishing a fund for local musicians with monetary needs. Helinski says there’ll be a signup sheet at the January 6 show for people who may want to donate their time and skills to the WWPD effort. Also at the concert will be a five-gallon water jug and a pad of paper. Probst is inviting people to write down memories or other messages as a time capsule of sorts and stuff them in the bottle. He’ll bury it in the backyard of Cardone’s house. “Who knows when it’ll get dug up?” Probst speculates. When it’s discovered, it will undoubt- edly be full of tributes. Kleinlein met Cardone not long after he opened the original Last Exit Live in Tempe in 2003. He recalls the bassist walking in, introducing himself, and imme- diately starting to connect the venue with Tempe bands. His fondest memories are of the many successful Apache Lake Music festivals the two organized, he says. Probst and Cardone met 15 years ago when he jumped onstage with Probst during a Lady Elaine show at Yucca Tap Room. “We started talking, and then you realize that this is the coolest guy in town. The coolest dude with his big silver neck- laces and his rings and his cowboy hat and everybody knew him,” Probst says. “Without him, I wouldn’t have done anything. He plugged me in.” But what Probst wants people to remember, even more than his friend’s legacy of supporting the local music scene and so many of the people in it, is how good a musician he was. “He did so many kind things for every- body, and I love to say nice things about who he is, but I really want to make sure that people know that he was a fucking badass musician,” he says. “People are forgetting that this mother- fucker was a downright, dirty-ass, badass bass player. You don’t get to play with 30 bands if you suck at bass. He was so techni- cally proficient. It was mind-blowing how good he was. And people forget about that because he’s so much larger than life. But the guy played a bass like nobody else. He played the bass for over 30 years. You don’t just get to be in bands because you’re a nice guy,” Probst adds. Right now, Helinski is focusing hard on planning the January 6 concert. “My coping mechanism is I can think of nothing else right now besides making the best show for P,” she says. She was introduced to Cardone well over a decade ago by Sugar Thieves singer Meridith Moore, and the pair became instant friends. He encouraged her singing and inspired the band name Future Exes, and regularly joined the band onstage. “And he supported me and saved me, just like many others,” she says. “When you’re needing a person to help you and guide you and save you, and scrape you off the ground, he was that person for hundreds of people. He did that for me. I don’t know if I would even be singing or doing all the things that I do if I didn’t know him. “He was a unique individual. I don’t think anyone doesn’t love P. … He wanted everybody to be friends and to know other good people, and I think that was some- thing he was really good at — collecting good people. He’ll be somebody who I’ll always think of on a regular basis. I don’t know if there will be a day that goes by that I don’t think about him,” Helinski adds. PC’s Celebration of Life. 2 p.m. Friday, January 6. Yucca Tap Room, 29 West Southern Avenue, Tempe. Cost is $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Visit yuccatap.com. Music from p 24 Cardone plays with his band Chocolate Fountain during his surprise birthday party in September 2022. Jennifer Goldberg
