Arts & Culture

The artist explores the blurring boundaries between “cityscapes” and the natural environment. Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Jan. 23. Continues through April 12, 2009…

Bass Donato Di Stefano plays a traveling salesman who’s peddling love in this 20th-century update of Donizetti. Sung in Italian with English surtitles. Thu., Jan. 22, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 25, 2 p.m., 2009…

The team-centric event, sponsored by the Excel Beyond triathlon-coaching organization, features 720 minutes of nonstop thrills in the Tempe waterfront area and on nearby Papago Park’s fast, steep single tracks and trails. It starts at the Tempe Marina boat ramp on the north side of Town Lake. Proceeds benefit the…

Our semi-dated T-shirt features an image of Dubya and Cheney man-hugging beneath the catch phrase “Meet the Fuckers,” so we’re probably not the target demo for the folks behind the Papago Military Vehicle Show. But even conscientious objectors should dig the unusual antique and vintage conveyances on display at the…

When you’re in late teens/early 20s-hood, you may start asking all sorts of super-spiritual questions, such as, “Who am I?” and “What is my true life’s purpose?” Then you find out that the answers to such inquiries ain’t so easy and give up trying. Instead, you get married, get preggers,…

Should African-Americans cling to the legacy of slavery as part of their identity or should they distance themselves from this shameful, victim-identified chapter of their history? Thomas Gibbons’ A House with No Walls, in a production by iTheatre Collaborative, explores this conflict by juxtaposing a fictionalized, present-day story with the…

The 10th-anniversary event features bottles from the world’s top houses. The price also includes hors d’oeuvres. Fri., Jan. 23, 5-7 p.m., 2009…

Amy Wilson’s work, an off-Broadway hit, spoofs the burdens modern mothers must bear. The play is based loosely on the life of the playwright, a regular on network TV (Law and Order, All My Children), Broadway, and the big screen (Kinsey, Kissing Jessica Stein). Actress/comedian Betsy Stover (pictured) portrays Wilson…

Charli Turner Thorne’s Devils, still in the thick of the Pac-10 race, take on the lowly Wildcats of UofA, who are — how can we say this politely? — not in the Pac-10 thick of things. Sat., Jan. 24, noon, 2009…

The 2006 feature-film debut of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck tracks the waning days of the East Berlin secret police (Stasi) and the all-powerful control the organization exerted over the citizens of the German Democratic Republic in the days prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Wed., Jan. 28, 6:30…

A plea to the National Hockey League: Stop. Just stop now. Stop what, you ask? The blasted regular season. If you call it quits pronto, the Phoenix Coyotes will make the playoffs, something the team hasn’t accomplished since 2002. But once the ’yotes begin the second half of their season…

It’s mid-January, which means that about 35 percent of Americans have already broken their New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’re still doing crunches and avoiding carbs, but if you’re like us, you’re already tucked into a giant meatball hoagie watching the latest episode of The Mentalist. Luckily, we can keep our…

In 1939, before Capitol and Motown, some fine fellows named Alfred Lion, Max Margulis, and Francis Wolff started a little jazz label. Blue Note, as it was called, continues to crank out hits by unforgettable artists, ranging from Thelonious Monk and Clifford Brown to Madlib and Norah Jones. On Wednesday,…

Valley sports lovers have a lot to celebrate right now, with the once-laughable Arizona Cardinals hustling their way from the toilet bowl to the Super Bowl. But forget football: Fans of the pigskin are a bunch of beer-swilling slobs. Who wants to celebrate the glory of sports with that lot?…

It’s common practice for big-name bands, à la U2 and the Stones, to sell out stadiums not merely across North America, but on a worldwide scale, as well. When it comes to comedians, however, inherent subtleties of material or persona are often lost in translation. Chris Rock comes close to…

Before tax specialists H&R Block admitted to overstating its earnings for 2003 and 2004 by $91.1 million, founder Henry W. Block used to appear in its TV commercials, itemizing “the 17 reasons why you should let us prepare your income tax.” Taking a subliminal cue from the Block head himself,…

There’s nothing like being in a public place without the public. We’ve achieved this higher state of being twice, and we’re not about to tell you where or how. Find your own deserted public crib to crash. As an example, take the Phoenix Zoo, a facility that’s difficult to navigate…

One of photography’s powers is the ability to mythologize and exoticize space, inviting viewers to journey afar by psychic means. The images in “Odyssey: The Photographs of Linda Connor” – an exhibit featuring 70 of the artist’s works spanning the last three decades to the present – have this kind…