4/29-5/23 When Icarus donned wings to reach the sun, the gods rewarded his boldness by throwing him back to earth. Varekai, the latest incarnation of the famed Cirque du Soleil, reveals what happens when he lands. The word “varekai” (ver•ay•’kie) means “wherever” in the language of the Gypsies. Based on…
4/30-5/5 Ask 10 revelers what event Cinco de Mayo pays homage to and, chances are, 11 of them would have no idea. Why sweat the details when the party extends from one end of the Valley to the other, and even underwater? The action promises to be bigger, better and…
Thursday, April 29 Shakespeare scholars love this labor lost. Touted as the Bard’s great lost — and possibly last — drama, Cardenio surfaces this weekend at the Tempe Performing Arts Center. The Southwest Shakespeare Company makes something old new again, presenting the Southwestern première of the work, also known as…
He drips with dry humor, but Steven Wright claims that comic inspiration rolls in only occasionally. “Jokes come to me like rain,” the comedian says. “A lot of ’em will come, and then nothing will happen for a while. And then some, a little bit. And then nothing. And then…
Thursday, April 22 Make a date to see The Figgs. The guitar-rock trio leaves the garage to gig at the Clubhouse, 1320 East Broadway in Tempe, on Thursday, April 22. Despite 17 years of rocking, Pete Donnelly, Pete Hayes and Mike Gent remain among “America’s best-kept rock and roll secrets”…
Tenth-grade driver’s ed was never like this: professional pit crews, engines packing 600 ponies, and fevered orders to hit the gas. Sure, fashion takes a back seat — participants zip themselves into baggy blue jumpsuits — but, for speed freaks, The Richard Petty Driving Experience is a tailpipe dream come…
Thursday, April 15 Funny thing about Kevin Pollak: His dramatic films (The Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men) have met with serious success. Yet — while he’s among the most successful standups on the circuit — his comedies (The Wedding Planner, Juwanna Mann) tend to be, well, laughable. Pollak gets…
College theater gets a good rap next week, when Grip the Mic Tight premières at ASU’s Herberger Mainstage Theatre New Plays Festival. Mark Ebsen Zeller’s “slam poetry and hip-hop lyrical odyssey” recounts the life of Ivory, a famous white rapper bent on self-destruction. “He’s about to commit suicide when the…
Thursday, April 8 Thanks to a big phat deal with rapper Bubba Sparxxx, the Yonder Mountain String Band is reaching an entirely new audience. Sparxxx’s track “Comin Round” sends a shout out to the Colorado jamgrass band, sampling its 2001 tune “To See You Coming ’round the Bend.” YMSB comes…
Thursday, April 1 Ensuring their spots in hawg heaven, local bikers gear up for the greater good this Thursday, April 1, when the eighth annual MDA Charity Ride and Silent Auction hits the highway. The “official ride of Arizona Bike Week” benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association — and in a…
3/26-3/28 One night of agave-fueled tequila or two days of refreshing suds? Hell, why choose just one when you can satisfy your thirsty liver with both? A true champion of the people would head to the Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 North Galvin Parkway, on Friday, March 26, for the second…
Thursday, March 25 Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and Kate Bornstein is from somewhere else entirely — Fargo. The author and performance artist, who “identifies herself as neither a man nor a woman,” was born male and raised as a boy. After undergoing gender reassignment surgery, Bornstein…
Thursday, March 18Our enthusiasm for cultural outings is directly proportional to the amount of free food involved. We become the most passionate of patrons this Thursday, March 18, when the Scottsdale Gallery Association partners with the Scottsdale Culinary Festival to put a tasteful twist on the city’s weekly ArtWalk. While…
Ongoing Those seeking Sanctuary in Scottsdale’s nightlife are most certainly a saddened bunch these days, now that the 3-year-old nightclub is no more. But Diane Corieri, co-owner of the former glitter hot spot, promises that its reincarnation, Myst — which recently staged its grand opening — will dry those crocodile…
Thursday, March 11 Take a revealing look at an industry where the G-strings are lined with gold. Addressing “the self-esteem, dependency and objectification issues that plague dancers’ lives,” True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl continues its run at ASU Thursday, March 11, and Friday, March 12. While Jill Morley’s play…
Thursday, March 4 Widespread panic? A little less so after this Thursday, March 4, when “panic!,” the Valley’s original weekly Brit pop/indie dance night, clears the way for a new order. Rocking Anderson’s Fifth Estate every Thursday for four years, the event quickly outgrew the club’s Elbow Room and –…
2/26-2/29 A saucy mix of horny and corny, the British sex farce drips with mishaps, missteps and mistaken identity — think Three’s Company with Cockney accents, gov’nor. The genre inspires Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s play-within-a-play about the troubles and tensions dogging a touring theater troupe. Plots, props and pants fall…
Sun 2/29 Face it — the invite to Sunday’s 76th Academy Awards wasn’t lost in the mail. So instead of spending a king’s ransom on Vera Wang couture or an Armani tux in hopes of sneaking in, better go with Plan B. The Oscar Night America Gala at the Ritz-Carlton…
Ballerinas kept Edgar Degas on his toes. The famed artist may have been an unapologetic misogynist, but women — the most feminine of dancers, in fact — served as his most potent muse. More than half of the Impressionist’s pastel and oil works draw upon dance, as does his most…
Sat 2/21 Who nuzzles our necks and sits all day on the couch with us when we’re sad? Dogs do. Pam Gaber knows the healing power of a pooch, so she started Gabriel’s Angels to take Fido’s fidelity to those who need it most. Volunteer Angels pad into Valley hospitals,…
Sat 2/21 Your boys don’t brake for art? Bring ’em along for the rides. Chandler’s “Saturday Music and Art in the Park” boasts a new attraction this go-around: the inaugural Classic Car and Hot Rod Show. Some 130 cars are set to roll in to Historic Downtown Chandler for the…
No gratuitous violence, no blatant sex, minimal profanity. Must be a very short film festival. Passing the big-screen screening process at The Phoenix Jewish Film Festival is no simple task. Shel Pierson and his wife, Phyllis, who co-founded the fest nine years ago, devour a steady diet of movies, passing…
