Gary Parsel digs old-school Phoenix so much that he’s spent the past decade depicting the city’s vintage houses and buildings in hundreds of acrylic paintings as a way to “capture its history and character before it disappears.” We asked for some of his favorite places. Fontenelle Lofts “Gosh, the Fontenelle…
We’re suckers for Durant’s swanky, old-school vibe, from the kitchen entrance in the back (which makes us feel like members of a secret club) to the polished service to that lipstick-red velvet wallpaper. And there’s something about a juicy steak and a perfectly mixed martini that always sounds good. 2611…
The name Vintage Solutions says it all: This collection of cool stuff from the past really does offer solutions to such quandaries as, “What to get the kitsch collector who has everything?” or “Where can I find a dead-mint dining set from the ’60s?” Two new booths devoted to vintage…
If nothing else, the British know how to tie one on. So it’s only fitting that the Britannia-themed Rose & Crown is stocked with enough brews and booze to keep any Englishman or Anglophile happy (and properly soused). The usual pints of Newcastle, Tetley’s, and Guinness are available, as are…
Into the Wild (Paramount) Sean Penn waited a good decade before adapting Jon Krakauer’s book about Chris McCandless, who graduated college in 1990, then disappeared into the American unknown, re-emerging as Alexander Supertramp before his final, tragic farewell in the Alaskan wilderness in ’92. Penn’s patience is evident in every…
To all the gun-toting video-game bad guys out there: Please stop standing next to exploding barrels. Seriously now. Of the hundreds of places you could squat and shoot, you and your henchman pals always camp beside the neon-orange canister with “Flammable!” painted on the side. Really, we don’t need your…
Archie’s Funhouse: The Complete Series (Classic Media) Army of the Dead (Maverick) Arranged (Film Movement) Ben 10: The Complete Season 3 (Turner) Billy Wilder Film Collection (MGM) Dead Moon Rising (Anthem) Half Moon (Strand) Lonesome Dove: Season One (Echo Bridge)Magnum P.I.: The Complete Eighth Season (Universal) Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium…
The word on the street is that Phoenix is gonna be going green, but it’s got nothing to do with Al Gore. It’s because the groovy Gaelic get-down known as St. Patrick’s Day is about to strike the PHX, with everyone in Apache Junction to Avondale getting their Irish on…
It’s that time of year again. People who normally never travel south of Camelback will be heading downtown for Art Detour, where they’ll ogle art and artists in a tour of galleries and work studios; a subdivision-free milieu that many suburbanites consider with some small amount of fear. Folks visiting…
Near the beginning of The Counterfeiters, a fact-based Holocaust drama by Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky, we meet Jewish money forger and former jailbird Salomon Sorowitsch (brilliantly played by Karl Markovics), packing to flee Berlin in 1936 with a suitcase full of fake money. We know from an opening coda that…
Based on a true story” is what The Bank Job brags before diving into the clear blue water of the Caribbean, where, in 1970, a topless woman frolics with two swimming mates — just another day in paradise. The trio retires to a hotel room for a sweaty, breathless afternoon…
This past week, you may have noticed a surge of bleary-eyed, artsy individuals grabbing their caffeine fix from downtown coffee shops before noon. That can mean only one thing: Art Detour. The gigantic, weekend-long extravaganza comes once a year and is equal parts art showcase and insane asylum — kinda…
Fans lined up at GameStops around the country to compete in a massive Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament during the game’s midnight launch.
Weekend adventures got underway on Friday, March 7, with a simultaneous Art Detour 2008 and First Friday explosion on the streets of Phoenix. If you missed the detour, check out the slide show. Also on Friday, you may have missed several MLB players lining up for a home run derby…
The fab Phoenix photographer shows off some fab new works for Art Detour. (A detail of Grant Woods, Fife Symington, Phoenix, AZ is pictured.) Photos by Luis Salazar and sculptures by Jeff Zischke are also displayed. Fri., March 7, 7-10 p.m.; Sat., March 8, 12-6 p.m.; Sun., March 9, 12-5…
Names are given, not earned. Some names are never grown into, and some barely foretell a person’s talent. John Banville, acclaimed Irish novelist and author of Silver Swan, fits into the second category. Cheeky bloke that he is, Banville upturned the baptismal hierarchy and claimed a beefier epithet: Benjamin Black…
In the real world, dropkicking your buds off a sky-high platform in the middle of a fistfight would probably get you 25-to-life in the hoosegow. But inside the world of Super Smash Bros., it’s the only way to win, champ. In fact, your skills at rocking the blockbuster Nintendo game…
Being a baseball geek used to be so simple. You’d open the newspaper and flip to the box scores. If you wanted to get really in-depth about it, you’d go to the store and buy a package of baseball cards disguised as bubblegum. But yesteryear’s gum-popping fans have morphed into…
We were watching drag racing on the tube the other night when a family member said that our favorite redneck facility, Manzanita Speedway, had been upgraded. “Perish the corporatization!” we thought, until we learned that Manzy had simply installed some new handrails. Whew. See the track in all its trashy…
Say, what do ya get if you cross a pig with a coin dealer? Nothing. There are some things even a pig won’t do! Hey, how do you know a coin dealer has gone on vacation? He has chairs on top of his house! So, what kind of horse is…
As you read this, C.R. Vavrek could be rifling through your garbage. Don’t fret. The 27-year-old shaggy-chic painter ain’t trying to score some dirt on you. More likely, he’s hunting for funky junk to put the finishing touches on his Gypsy Village, which he’s erecting for this weekend’s Art Detour…
Benoît Maubrey of Germany’s Die Audio Gruppe gets all conceptual and stuff when he calls his Audio Ballerinas — chicks wearing sound equipment on their tutus — “mobile and multi-acoustic sculptures.” They look more like human d’oeuvres trays to us, but whatever. The future is now, and it’s musical clothes…
