Veggie Boy: Phoenicia Cafe

By Benjamin Leatherman It’s not a deep-fried corn dog, but it’ll do nicely. I used to love the Arizona State Fair. But this year I’m gonna hate it. Endlessly. See, one of the main highlights of attending our fair state’s annual exposition (which kicks off this weekend) has been loading…

Who’s performing at tonight’s First Friday art walk

By Benjamin Leatherman DJ William Fucking Reed will be doing an after-hours spin session at Modified Arts tonigh…err, Saturday morning starting at 1:30 a.m. There’s gonna be plenty to see and do at the monthly First Friday art walk. As Lilia Menconi wrote earlier today, Chaos Theory 9 will be…

Veggie Boy: Gluten-Free Creations Bakery

By Benjamin Leatherman GFCB’s “Chocolate Delight” Cookies: egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, but not flavor-free. When I last visited my doctor in April, he didn’t pull any punches. Start losing weight now, he told me, or you’ll be dead in 10 years or less. Damn. As depressing as his proclamation was, it…

And We Are Live At Edgefest

By Benjamin Leatherman After a little bit of a delay with credentials and whatnot, we are setup backstage at Edgefest out in Queen Creek and doing the liveblogging thing. White boy rapper Mickey Avalon is finishing up his set and UK rockers The Kooks are getting ready to go on…

When Will Rise Against, Gogol Bordello, Flobots, NOFX, Flogging Molly, Pennywise, And The Other Bands At Tomorrow’s Edgefest Be Hitting The Stage? Here’s The Schedule

By Benjamin Leatherman The gypsy punks of Gogol Bordello are scheduled to perform at 5:50 p.m. on the SRP Stage at tomorrow’s Edgefest in Queen Creek. Tomorrow’s Edgefest is sure to be an off-the-chain affair with almost 12 hours of alt-music mayhem. More than 30 different local and major label…

The Beach is Back

If victory is a drug, then Kerri Walsh must be a hardcore addict. After all, the 6-foot-3 professional beach-volleyball player has amassed more than 100 wins on both the AVP and FIVB tours with longtime partner Misty May-Treanor, and has scored gold in back-to-back Olympics (including the Beijing games). Walsh…

Nerdstock

Hardcore World of Warcraft players creep us out. Most resemble Harry Knowles (of Ain’t It Cool News fame) and spend every waking moment immersed in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Personally, we prefer Kingdom of Loathing geeks. For the uninitiated, KoL is a lo-fi MMORPG utilizing stick figures and…

Electrostatic

Looks like the DJ freakazoids behind Electrostatic have found a new home for their popular weekly dance night, formerly hosted at the shuttered Glam. And fittingly enough, it’s at Homme, 138 West Camelback Road, where they’ll be working the mixers every Tuesday night. While the gay-friendly lounge ain’t as swank…

The She-Jay of 1,000 Tracks

Andrea Silkey is obsessed with the quality of her music mixes. Every week, the 31-year-old DJ (who’s also know as Sonique des Fleurs) spends several hours in front of her computer hunting through digital music sites like beatport, djdownload, and trackitdown, sampling more than 500 MP3s of techno, house, and…

The Maestro of the Magic World

Victor Gade’s charisma is no illusion. The affable Argentina-born magician, 59, has a constant twinkle in his eye and suave smile on his face, charming people wherever he goes. He’s also constantly in entertainer mode; cracking jokes or conjuring a simple magic trick from his pocket to amuse an impromptu…

The Soaring Soviet Sweetie

Oksana Kroshkina’s background is as intriguing as her alluring Russian accent. The 31-year-old Soviet-born beauty spent almost a decade traveling the world, masterfully engaging in thrilling and danger-filled exploits on behalf of her motherland. Was she some Communist femme fatale or secret agent? Goodness, no. Kroshkina starred as a high-flying…

The High-Voltage Madman

Barry Schwartz is a wired guy. Jittery and manic, the overly hyper artist sounds as though he’s practically plugged into the wall as he explains the large-scale electrified installations he’s built around the world during the past 20 years. In lightning-quick fashion, Schwartz rattles off factoids about attenuators, ground leads,…

The Kitschy King of Camp

Paul Wilson’s had more than a few obsessions in his day. In fact, the über-eccentric artist’s spent a lifetime indulging his endless manias for the past (particularly 1953-1963) and all things kitschy or campy. Following his kooky muse since childhood, the 45-year-old Valley native has chronicled his ever-changing fixations through…

The Hyperactive Human Spider

Travis Mesman engages in a nonstop battle with gravity. At 34, the dancer and movement artist wages his war against the invisible adversary during each of his performances, whether he’s propelling his lithe and muscular body through twisting acrobatic routines, or stilt-walking on a stage like a gigantic daddy longlegs,…

The Outrageously Odd Couple

If ever there was an embodiment of Phoenix’s weirder side, then Stephen Strange and Sahar Mitchell are it, and proud to be. He’s a 32-year-old occultist and magician with a flair for the fantastic. She’s 34, a graceful serpent-wielding dancer dubbed “the Mother Fakir.” Collectively, they’re the Strange Family Circus,…

The Death-Defying Strongman

Don “Hollywood” Yates isn’t someone you wanna mess with. Boasting a fearsome countenance and muscle-bound physique, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound badass has made a career out of battling both man and beast. As the villainous “Wolf,” a breakout star on NBC game show American Gladiators, he’s fiercely taken out contestants, unleashing…