Being that Phoenix natives are as elusive as the Sasquatch (or millionaires who pay adequate taxes), many Valley residents have never even heard the name Jack Durant. But one moniker even the greenest transplant will recognize is that of Bugsy Siegel, the notorious mobster who was one of Durant’s best…

What’s worse than shoving your hand up a puppet’s ass on national TV? Looking like a complete ditz as you struggle to improvise dialogue to distract from your humiliation. But don’t let Real Housewife Teresa Giudice’s epic fail on Celebrity Apprentice put you off seeing, or trying, real improv. The…

When you’re young, lectures that contain words like “heritage” and “tradition” are instantly written off. Because, seriously, what kid cares about cultural practices unless they involve monster trucks or gunfights? That’s the dilemma faced by the elderly protagonist of Sakura no Ne (Root of the Cherry Tree), on stage through…

Which famous hero of the land sports a green tunic and a pointed cap? If you answered Robin Hood, your geek cred is shot. On the other hand, if you’ve ever called a horse with a wind instrument, peed in a bottle during a 5-hour nonstop battle with Majora’s Wrath,…

Blues legend Bessie Smith’s tombstone (ironically, purchased by singer Janis Joplin just before her own death) declares, “The greatest blues singer in the world will never stop singing.” Smith may be crooning in the afterlife, but here on earth her sultry tunes and the songs of other late blues greats…

Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you, especially when it involves pictures taken in the era of Jordache jeans, neon spandex, and hair coated with enough Aqua Net to qualify you as a walking fire hazard. Too bad you couldn’t use it to burn every copy of your high…

Even celebs have love-hate relationships with their bodies. For example, Rihanna recently confessed that she struts around naked to confront her body issues, while Kris Jenner posted a nude pic of her younger self preggo with son Rob Kardashian (as if his sisters don’t provide enough embarrassment). Body image and…

In the performance world, being a triple-threat usually means you can sing, dance, and act equally well. It also means that every actress of similar age is imagining you strung up in traction when they tell you to “break a leg.” Ib Andersen is a different kind of triple-threat, a…

Thanks to some bad apples in the Catholic priesthood, altar boys have been in the spotlight for having more than just scripture crammed down their throats. After all of the negative focus on pedo priests, it’ll be a godsend when the smash off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz rolls into Desert Stages…

If the only fairies you know are Tinkerbell and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Fab Five, brace yourself. Not all fairies are gentle, kind, or snappy dressers. Case in point: Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent, who casts evil spells and looks like a reject from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Hopefully, the frolicking…

The word “circus” conjures images of elephants with glittery harnesses and spandex-clad contortionists. But take away the fancy costumes and sets and what have you got? A petting zoo and a handful of Juggalo rejects. Not so with Circa, an Australian performance act that strips the circus down to its…

Newsflash, University of Iowa researchers: It doesn’t take a video game study to tell us that the American attention span is that of a goldfish. Information is fed to us in bite-size chunks these days, whether in a 140-character tweet or a Daily Show sound byte. Even artists are breaking…

If you’ve ever seen Busted & Disgusted or Cheaters, you know how heated things can get when girlfriends find out their perfect pairing is actually a ménage à trois. Think black eyes, ripped clothing, and sexual harassment lawsuits. Even the ancient Egyptians weren’t immune to the wrath of the pissed…

The human imagination has no limits when it comes to envisioning advanced machines. From trash-talking C3PO and trash-pushing WALL-E to intelligent robots that change into cars, we’ve seen it all (even if just on-screen).While the dream of having a mechanical maid like the Jetsons may still be light years away,…

Some mothers will do anything to live their starlet fantasies vicariously through their children. So what if you have to spring ten grand on wigs and false teeth or drug your little miss sunshine with “Go-Go Juice” to make her perky? It’ll all be worth it when the trophy room…

Cell phones are a communication lifesaver, but they also make it easy as hell to piss off everyone around you. Nothing’s more disturbing than hearing Lil’ Wayne’s “Pussy Monster” ringtone in the middle of church service — except maybe a phone endlessly chiming because its owner is taking a dirt…

With all the misinformation out there, it’s hard to separate history’s villains from the scapegoats. Nero took the heat for the fire in Rome, even though he was out of town. Lee Harvey Oswald went down solo. And the Bible reads like Judas was destined to be a fall guy…

Despite the fact that nearly a quarter of American adults under 50 have tattoos, there’s still a stigma attached to body art. The Marines banned major ink in 2007, and many employers still require workers to hide their piercings (because, of course, that Hello Kitty band-aid on your eyebrow looks…

Hardcore nerds Patton Oswalt and Wil Wheaton aren’t the only celebs to cash in on the geek trend: Hollywood bad boy Vin Diesel hid the name of his Dungeons & Dragons character in his XXX tattoos, while super-hot songstress Katy Perry donned braces and huge glasses for her “Last Friday…

The average non-Arizonan might view Phoenix as the type of place where recalled Republican senators nab top GOP positions and horse-faced chief executives wag pasty fingers at the President. They wouldn’t exactly be wrong. But liberalism and freedom of expression are always alive and well at Alwun House’s annual “Exotic…

Ever since 17th-century Frenchman Charles Perrault penned Sleeping Beauty, others have co-opted the famous fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm trimmed the length, Disney turned it into a musical, and Anne Rice’s adults-only novel began with Beauty waking up to a visit from the prince’s, er, sword. Perhaps the most ambitious…

Controversial art has always faced the threat of censorship, whether it’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or the video of an ant-covered Christ that was yanked from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery last year. Playwright Martin McDonagh makes the case that artistic freedom always trumps the potential for offending someone in The…