Charlie Hill’s career hasn’t been Earth-shattering. Oh, the standup comic’s had his moments: stray gigs on Letterman and Leno, one-offs on The Richard Pryor Show, Moesha, Roseanne, The Bionic Woman. Mostly, though, this son of the Iroquois Nation has spent his professional life in the middling gray area that separates…
Many contend that retired athletes ride the sports-memorabilia gravy train for the payola. We say they’re bored. Let’s take former NFL star William “The Refrigerator” Perry, since he’s handy. The Fridge was never the smartest appliance in the showroom, but an above-average talent propelled him to the phat land of…
As you know – because you’re a New Times reader and we’re New Times – we’re not the sort to glad-hand politicians. If we were clinging to the lip of a crevasse and forced to pick a pol to save our life, we’d just let go. If choosing death wasn’t…
When one door slams shut, another usually opens. Take Tempe’s Aztec Self Storage; its 120 doors closed and then reopened as the more artistic-sounding 1700Curry. The business at 1700 East Curry Road is still a place to store your high school memories, but on Saturday, May 17, the four acres…
Take a look at your little apartment and see how much junk you own. You’ve still got every single paperback book from your high school reading list, that drawer of mismatched socks that’s been collecting dust mites for two years, and a second grade-era DuckTales backpack. Looks like it’s time…
There are three types of people in this world: those with tattoos, those without, and those who need a little persuading. If you’re on the fence, check out the Super Bowl of epidermal modification, the Arizona Skin Art Expo, which features more than 100 of the top tattoo maestros from…
Ah, the mystique of the Ladmo Bag. Not only did it contain a dizzying mix of candy and knickknacks, it was also bestowed upon kiddies from the sainted hands of the Wallace & Ladmo characters. Bear Cole, a.k.a. Bear the Astronot, thinks music should be a similar fountain of treats…
Gilligan’s Island made Sherwood Schwartz’s other major contribution to society, The Brady Bunch, look like Shakespeare. It was foul. Worse, it was nonsensical. What the hell were a movie star, a brilliant professor, and a millionaire (and his wife!) doing on a mangy scow like the Minnow, anyhow? Mary Ann,…
It’s an age-old story: Boy is committed to insane asylum; boy meets schizophrenic girl in insane asylum; boy and girl perform interpretive dance moves and fall in love. David and Lisa is a story that, sans the dance moves, has been told in many formats, first as a well-regarded novel,…
The mother of the late ASU Sun Devil, Arizona Cardinal, and Army Ranger Pat Tillman introduces her memoir, Boots on the Ground by Dusk, in which she outlines her search for truth about how her son was killed in Afghanistan. Fri., May 16, 7 p.m., 2008…
It’s no big shocker that fans in these parts have more passion for basketball than any other pro sport. Okay, then, so explain why a pro-basketball squad that’s actually won something is virtually ignored while the other, can’t-quite-win-the-big-one team attracts rabid, out-of-their-minds followers? If you’re into watching the unveiling of…
You know that old adage “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”? Well, in the case of Phoenix and its creative types who run off for other happening places, it’s true. In the case of Camilla Taylor – a work-her-ass-off textile artist, printmaker, and curator – it’s triply…
It’s no small source of stupid pride for me that there are a million cool anagrams for my name, everything from Mr. Iodine Scene to I Sneer Demonic to No Dicier Semen. Any one of these would make a natty album title. But apparently, it’s equally no small source of…
“Conversations in the Garden,” an exhibit featuring the stellar work of creative duo Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, has been on our radar since we viewed the press release. Why? Because, every art piece we’ve ever seen the two make both individually and together is beautiful and original. For “Conversations,”…
We must confess that we’re not the biggest metalhead around. But, oh, how we wish we’d known of the Finnish all-cello band Apocalyptica when we were young (the classically trained foursome channels the sonic heft of Metallica). We would have played in the local youth orchestra. Then, perhaps, we could’ve…
As hard as we try to forget our childhood, the human memory, once triggered, can overpower our best efforts. For example, some jerk in your office decides to watch the Lite-Brite commercial on YouTube and you suddenly have a flashback: 6-year-old you – wearing knee-high tube socks and a C-3PO…
Every generation or so, the universe slips off its axis and Detroit catches a break. Right now, Motown’s livin’ large with the success of the Detroit Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings. (Lions? We said the universe slipped, not ended.) But when the Tigers dropped their first seven games of the…
If you usually go to a museum for quiet contemplation, ditch Josh Greene’s “Some Parts Might Be Greater Than the Whole” exhibit, which encourages elbow-rubbing among strangers. Greene’s “installation” — part of ASU Art Museum’s Social Studies series — is equal parts reality television and guerrilla theater. High jinks may…
Like most of the output from Vancouver indie-rock band Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams is a beguiling album that’s hard to pin down. Full of surrealistic tales of lost love and missed opportunities, Dreams’ songs defy easy categorization. We tracked down the band’s creative engine, guitarist and vocalist Dan Bejar, for…
Hey, Pat Murphy. It’s time to stop worrying. Really, man. Unless your ASU Baseball squad drops its remaining seven games (which ain’t gonna happen), your team is officially, yet again, one of the elite teams in college baseball this season. If you listen to the Sun Devils’ never-satisfied head coach…
How serendipitous! We’ve been looking high and low for a scissor lift, a portable light plant, and a used garbage truck. Also up for for grabs at this annual city-merch offload: cars, pickup and utility trucks, vans, dump trucks, trailers, a scissor lift, scrap wire and metal, and much more…
The Backwards Theatre honchos behind this production describe it as “a bizarre evening of experimental theater . . . in exploration of the shadow realm.” If that doesn’t grab ya, there’ll also be storytelling and “flickering images.” Sat., May 17, 8 p.m., 2008…
