Seth Boyer

Comedian Carlos Mencia knows controversy sells -- and he's got it in spades. Mencia, born Ned Mencia in Honduras in 1967, grew up in East L.A. after immigrating at 7 months old. He almost acquired a degree in electrical engineering at Cal State Los Angeles before winning an open mike competition at The Laugh Factory and pursuing stand-up full-time.

Megan McCormick's debut record may be titled "Honest Words," but her guitar is saying plenty without so much as a syllable. After moving to Alaska when she was 14, McCormick played a year with local bluegrass institution Barefoot Bluegrass and was ready for East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass and country music program by 16.

Brandi Carlile dropped out of high school to pursue her now-successful music career -- the nightmare scenario of all parents of musicians ever. But now she's selling out shows all over Alaska.

Armed with a Hammond B3 organ and not a vocalist in sight, legendary keyboard player and multi- instrumentalist Booker T. Jones is set to kick off this year's Juneteenth celebration at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Metal band Atreyu has rocked Ozzfest, the Warped Tour and is now adding the Egan Center to that list. Named after a character from the 1984 film "The Never Ending Story," Atreyu formed in 1998 in Orange County, Calif. They've grown from a punk band into something of a combination of modern rock and '80s hair metal with more melodic vocal work.

Five albums in five years is an almost unheard of amount of productivity for one band, but with this month's release of "American Ghetto," Wasilla's Portugal. The Man has managed to do just that.

Anchorage will be getting a bit funnier tonight thanks to a performance by the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company. The group is a long-standing improv and sketch comedy troupe formed in the late 90s by a group of comedians including Saturday Night Live's Horatio Sanz. The company founded Upright Citizens Brigade Theatres in New York and Los Angeles and later started the touring company to provide road shows.

One of the more notable acts to play Bear Tooth Theatrepub's First Tap series, Cold War Kids blend elements of soul and blues with garage rock sensibilities, playing dirty instruments through dirtier amps and banging on anything nearby for percussion. The foursome formed in 2004 and quickly became local darlings in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area. They released their first full-length album, "Robbers and Cowards," to critical success in 2006. The band toured for two years before reconvening in the studio to produce a follow-up.

While very few artists can classify their music as glam hip-hop, Mickey Avalon, can safely make that claim. Avalon's style bridges the wide gap between brutally blunt hip-hop and '80s glam rock, making for intense and often sweaty performances. He is rarely photographed wearing a shirt, and his live act exudes sex, glorifies drug use and puts promiscuity on a pedestal.

The most famous Alaska musician no one in Alaska has heard of is burgeoning pop star Kate Earl. She grew up in a Chugiak but performed at a only a few open mikes in Anchorage before relocating to Los Angeles in 2000 so she could pursue her craft in earnest.

Everyone in the pop culture loop during the '90s has heard Chris Barron's two most famous songs. As lead singer of the Spin Doctors, Barron's wrote "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," tracks which helped the band's 1991 debut album "Pocket Full of Kryptonite" sell over 15 million copies worldwide.

Comic Dane Cook has gone from viral MySpace video star to Hollywood icon with millions of real-life followers turning out in droves to sold-out shows. The transformation made Cook successful and also brought out scores of detractors.

Eric Giliam's nine-to-five job is disappearing -- or, rather, making things disappear. A recent West High School graduate, Giliam has performed magic in every major (and minor) Anchorage venue as well as Nashville, Tenn., Dallas and Las Vegas He's even won national magic awards for his innovative illusions. All before his 18th birthday.

Portugal. The Man, Alaska's most punctuated band, has come a long way from their Wasilla roots. They relocated to Portland, Ore., and boast a rigorous touring schedule of roughly 250 shows annually. This year they also added big-name festivals Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.