It’s highly likely that Rob Reiner used the theatrical-metal band Iron Maiden as a working template for This Is Spinal Tap. But as cartoonish as these volume-to-11 Brits can be, the Maiden’s also been known to break the mold it helped create with stray shrapnel like 1984’s “Rime of the…
Sixty-four to 35. 84 to 59. 63 to 28. These are all losing tallies that the Arena Football League’s Grand Rapids Rampage has suffered so far this season (some Arena teams rack up 28 points in one quarter). If these scores still don’t mean anything to you, let’s put it…
To hear them tell it, photogenic Kills principals Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince were lost before they found each other — ambitious outsiders trapped in standard-issue punk bands. Drawn together like bullied drama-club kids, Mosshart (a Floridian femme fatale) and Hince (a British Lou Reed) met in 2000 and have…
A single, quick glance at Billie #14 is all it takes to burn the name Lyle Ashton Harris into one’s brain forever. Ashton’s transfer print from an old Polaroid is so evocative of a long-gone glamour era, so transformative of Billie Holiday’s unmistakable visage, that no one who sees this…
Besides skin-searing temperatures and sky-high electric bills, here’s another sign we’re hip-deep into summertime: the annual assault of big-name package concert tours. Between now and Labor Day, the PHX will be invaded by the Vans Warped Tour, Projekt Revolution, the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, Crüe Fest, and the Metal Masters Tour,…
Phoenix artist Mayme Kratz once told New Times that she spent her childhood “burying things and digging them back up and dissecting them.” Kratz’s predilection has paid off as an adult with scores of shows and representation by Scottsdale’s Lisa Sette Gallery. As the current artist-in-residence at Desert Botanical Garden,…
The Spanish version opened in Madrid last October. The Swedish take opened in Karlstad shortly afterward. The Japanese production opened recently in Tokyo, and other foreign-language adaptations are scheduled to première soon in Finland, Germany, and South Korea. But Phoenicians will have to settle for the original English production of…
We’ve heard the “opera with a twist” and “rock opera” distinctions before from various classical-music organizations. However, each time we’ve checked out these so-called hip concerts, the music’s turned out to be too, well, operatic for our tastes. In the case of the Phoenix Symphony-presented Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears, the…
Valley ‘boarders battle for an all-expenses-paid trip to the OC and a spot in the éS Game of Skate Amateur World Championships at this tricky-tricky flatground single-elim tourney modeled after the hoops game H-O-R-S-E. Sat., May 24, 3 p.m., 2008…
By Jonathan McNamara It’s five minutes into the six-minute trailer for Mill Ave. Inc., a new documentary about the gentrification of Mill Avenue, and nothing but musicians, citizens and club owners talking about “corporate takeover” and prizing (the old) Mill Avenue as “the jewel” of Tempe have been seen. Finally,…
By Jonathan McNamara Adam Sandler did not appear in the original 2006 musical version of The Wedding Singer. Stephen Lynch did. What better replacement? The producers swapped one comedic song-writing star for another. Neither Lynch nor Sandler will be appearing in tonight’s opening show for The Wedding Singer at Gammage…
By Jonathan McNamara This weekend got underway with a gift for us all from 103.9 The Edge’s Craven Moorehead. The Skapunk show host parodied “Handlebars” by The Flobots brining us “Scottsdale Bars” by the Blobots. The song which is currently in rotation on 103.9 The Edge crams an unprecedented amount…
By Jonathan McNamara And the wiener is… Wiener dog owners presented their pampered pooches at Phoenix Greyhound Park this weekend for the Wienerschnitzel Wiener National Race and Festival. Interspersed between greyhound races, the little guys got into the race action running 100 feet from the starting box to their owners’…
By Joseph Golfen The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art opened its slick glass doors to the public for a special engagement on Friday, May 16. SMoCA’s Summer Reception introduced two of the museum’s upcoming summer shows while displaying pieces from the permanent collection. “This is sort of our offerings for…
By Jonathan McNamara That’s right. Wiener dogs. Racing. The Wienerschnitzel Wiener National race will raise money for Arizona Adopt a Greyhound, an organization that finds homes for retired race dogs. So if you’d relish the chance to see a team of dogs run 100 feet into the arms of their…
“Things never happen the same way twice.” Thus boometh Aslan the lion (Liam Neeson), alias the Son of God, popping his computer-generated shaggy head briefly into The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian to pep-talk a bunch of discouraged Brits into fighting the good fight again. As in life, so in…
If you read reviews the way I do, you’ve already started by checking out the score, and now you’re back here to see what the hell my problem is. Peace, brother. Grand Theft Auto IV is a fine game, with tons of content and all the great moments you’ve come…
Nine years ago, a guy named Brian Boner moved to Phoenix as a fresh college grad with an art degree from Minnesota State University. Boner stopped by gallery after gallery in Phoenix and Scottsdale, trying to make a connection. Inexperienced and shy, Boner didn’t have a résumé or portfolio —…
I lost my virtue in a shopping mall. Sort of. It was actually in my boss’s office at the Mexican restaurant where I had my first-ever job, in what’s known as Metro Parkway, the shopping complex surrounding Metrocenter Mall at I-17 and Peoria. This was in the late 1970s, when…
Unlike corn or that long-overdue Scott Baio retrospective on The Biography Channel, the world is not running low on Metallica cover bands. After performing a quick Internet search, we found some with predictable names (Holland-based The Unforgiven, the online-only Sad But True), other generic outfits (The Greedy Bastards are German,…
Your sixth birthday fiesta might have been the shiznit way back in the day – especially with pony rides, clowns, and a moon jump – but we guaran-damn-tee it absolutely pales in comparison to the fly festivities being planned for the Blunt Club’s Six-Year Anniversary Party on Thursday, May 15…
While there’s been much talk about the changing Phoenix area, Tempe is the part of town perhaps the most under siege. Long-timers remember the days when Mill Avenue was a cool place to be – when mom-and-pop businesses and live-music venues lined the street. Now . . . not so…
