Artists can’t resist molesting the world with their paint, ink, or charcoal. A blank surface doesn’t stand a chance. Think of Basquiat. His lady friend falls asleep for two seconds and the guy splats up her expensive party dress. Sure, she was pissed at the time, but little did she…
When it comes to hip-hop, it doesn’t get any more old-school than KRS-One. The 43-year-old MC is an icon and living legend who’s spent the past two decades educating many rhyme-spitting rappers on coming correct. He’s had particular influence on PHX artists, including a recent collaboration with Cut Throat Logic…
For those of you who are annoyed with the increasing ubiquity of speed cameras, we have a solution: Head down to the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Weekend at Phoenix International Raceway – which will be hosting four races from the Great Redneck Institution on four consecutive days beginning tonight…
To you, “label whore” is a term of endearment. Your purse dogs are named Gucci, Versace, and Vuitton. We needed Sex and the City to educate us about Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik, but you learned to speak fluent Prada before you hit middle school. Well, dear fashionista, November is…
New parents who say they’d love their kid to grow up to be the next Picasso obviously weren’t paying attention during their high school years. Football players get hot-cheerleader girlfriends and college scholarships. Scrawny art geeks get their heads stuck in toilets. Some go Columbine on their peers; others, like…
“I’m still amazed by all the vileness and stupidity I’ve witnessed in my life,” former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic once told the Cortland Review. It was this vileness and stupidity — and the philosophy that “true art must be greater than the person who created it” – that inspired…
Here’s our idea of a pretty decent 24-hour period beginning on, say, a Saturday: sleep in, drink coffee, maybe walk around and stuff, watch college football on TV, go out or whatever at night, come home, sleep in. What sounds like heaven to us is hell to others, especially those…
Want the closest thing to a lucid dreaming experience? Then check out Nadia Hironaka’s “The Late Show” video installation, in which a gallery space and its viewers are as much part of the exhibition as the multi-channel video montages and surround-sound audio. Her work in this show attempts to dislocate…
Curiouser and curiouser. About now in most Arizona Cardinals campaigns, pre-Ken Whisenhunt, the Redbirds would’ve been folding like cheap tents, making off-season travel plans, and pondering the firing of yet another head coach. In this Alice in Wonderland world we’re now inhabiting, the Cards are right in the thick of…
Kathy Griffin is the biggest bitch on the planet. Or not. She wants you to think so, then doesn’t, then most emphatically does. We’d call the comedian passive-aggressive, except there’s nothing passive about her. She’s a combat guerrilla with orange locks. Look, we’re not much for standup comedy, but this…
We’re mere days away from one of the most important elections of our lifetime and it seems like peeps on either side of the race for the White House (be they supporters of McCain or Obama) are pulling out all the stops. For instance, the PHX’s hip-hop scene is putting…
The Fiesta Bowl-sponsored event features unlimited $1 shots at a 125-yard hole. The top three daily finishers advance to the finals and a chance at the $1 million payday on November 16. Proceeds benefit the 100 Club. Nov. 6-15, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., 2008…
Call us lazy, but if we won a Grammy like the Phoenix Bach Choir did earlier this year, we’d be soaking in the glow from that bronze statuette like it was our freaking job. However, the homegrown classical group, which seems to be taking a “Big deal, what’s next?” approach,…
Faux blood dripping from the ceiling. Cheesy construction paper cutouts of bats and shit hanging on the walls. Over-the-top costumes worn by over-the-top folks. Yeah, not exactly our idea of a fun Halloween celebration. For a kick-back, chill-out good time with good peoples, hit up the Hallows Eve Costume Party,…
You were one of those cool kids who rode a motorcycle in high school and lost your virginity on the train tracks. After you graduated, though, you broke up with your squeeze, cut your hair, got a job, and bought a four-wheel boat anchor. It majorly sucked, dude. Well, maybe…
Lisa Starry’s original dance production, now in its fifth bloodcurdling year, features a cast of 15 along with special guests Nicole Graffeo and Travis Mesman of Cultivating Flight. Presented by Scorpius Dance Theatre. Thu., Oct. 30, 8 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 31, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 1, 8 & 10 p.m.;…
People have been whispering about actor Greg Lutz’s upcoming directorial debut. Seems Lutz has cast fellow actor Neil Cohen, who’s typically found emoting on stage in an evening gown (and occasionally a gingham dirndl), as a man in iTheatre Collaborative’s Eat the Taste. What’s more, word on the street has…
BA’s artistic director, Ib Andersen, joins greats such as Balanchine and Marius Petipa in tackling the Bard’s classic. Anderson’s libretto is original, and the score is Mendelssohn’s 1843 version performed by the Phoenix Symphony. Fri., Oct. 31, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 1, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 2, 2…
The longtime National Public Radio book critic discusses his own new work, To Catch the Lightning: A Novel of American Dreaming. Thu., Oct. 30, 7 p.m., 2008…
Last year this time, we were chuckling hubristically about our legends of the tall, the Phoenix Suns, opening at home against the L.A. Lakers. We’d owned those clowns for eons. Right. So we’re not about to take this year’s home-opener opponent, the New Orleans Hornets, lightly. For one thing, the…
Stephen Strange should teach a class in time management. Not only does the local freakazoid co-produce the hilariously whacked Television Noir, but he also performs with the Strange Family Circus, raises his two daughters, and organizes the Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts (a.k.a. PAPA). And he does it well,…
John McEnroe. Jim Courier. Todd Martin. Mark Philippoussis. Yep, these old-timey racquet wielders will be competing live and in-person in Surprise during the five-day Cancer Treatment Centers of America Championships. Wed., Nov. 5, 6:30 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 6, 6:30 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 7, 2 & 7 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 8,…
