Tyler Perry may be the biggest one-man media empire you might never have heard of. His movies (Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Why Did I Get Married?) have debuted at No. 1 at the box office, he recently closed a $200 million TV deal with TBS, and no less…
We’re glad we don’t have it rough like underground-comic-book schlub Harvey Pekar, with his two divorces and bout with cancer, but as he says in the autobiographical film American Splendor, “Hey, man, every day’s a brand-new deal, right? Just keep on working and something’s bound to turn up.” Harvey seems…
Boys Don’t Cry star Hilary Swank is a lot of things, but none involves belting out showtunes. Thank God. Things’ll be busting out all over, though, at the Phoenix Kings Club Drag King Show. The girls-cum-boys of the Kings Club put on a saucy little cabaret, which will be augmented…
We have a no-way-in-hell-you’re-gonna-win challenge for you, dear reader. Check out any fashion mag from the newsstand and try to tell us that the faux Photoshopped beauty on the cover has something over any portrait snapped by Richard Avedon. You won’t have a chance. The late American shutterbug — who…
Recall the last time you mounted an odd-toed ungulate? Bet you felt pretty smug afterward, sucking on that postcoital cigarette. What did you truly get out of it, though? A 20-second sound clip of tense whinnying and neighing? You certainly didn’t win national acclaim and the deed to your very…
Enough with these weenie two-mile leisure walks through the desert. The Cholla Mountain Loop Hike at McDowell Mountain Regional Park will kick your freaking ass. The four-hour gauntlet is an eight-mile jaunt filled with peaks, valleys, and thigh-burning switchbacks. Meet up with other macho men and women at Alma School…
Why do Americans insist on everything being so BIG? Supersize trucks. Get-fat-as-soon-as-possible fast-food meal deals. Big-box stores. Whether purchasing an Escalade or sucking down a 64-ounce Thirstbuster, bigger is considered better. Unless you’re talkin’ about chicks. Right, bro? If you’re sick of being told to “think big,” “bigger is better,”…
Bookended by two of our more illustrious ex-lovers, we contemplate the cyclical circumstances that brought us to this particular bar rail. For ages, the tiny Chez Nous Cocktail Lounge – steeped in velvety darkness and dangerous liaisons — stood guard against formulaic nightlife at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and…
Abandoned houses are always creepy, but there’s nothing more disconcerting than driving by your old childhood abode and seeing a stuccoed monstrosity, an empty lot, or the crumbling squalor of a meth lab. The punch in the gut that follows is unexpectedly severe, even if the change is as innocuous…
Cars. Cars. Cars. What the hell’s going on with all of these friggin’ cars? It’s like somebody flipped a switch and thousands of garage doors opened simultaneously, their owners looking to hock their high-end roadsters while the hocking’s good. And while we peons in our battle-scarred Neons can’t hope to…
Pollak — who began his show-biz career doing standup — is a Hollywood star, sort of. He’s one of those cats whose face is all over the place but whose name escapes you. Well, check out the star — or, mostly, minor star — of A Few Good Men, The…
A post-race blowout featuring Kool & the Gang starts at 5 p.m. at Tempe Beach Park. Sun., Jan. 13, 8 p.m., 2008…
To heck with James Cameron and his Leo-centric fantasy about the doomed ocean liner Titanic. In Christopher Durang’s stage version of the story, about to set sail (but hopefully not sink) in an Artists’ Theatre Project production, we’re seated far from the captain’s table with Richard and Victoria Tammurai and…
The show captures the essence of ancient Chinese culture with classical dancers, musicians, and acrobatic tumbling. Mon., Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m., 2008…
October 29, 2007, was a dark day in our fair town. Downtown’s most recognizable coffee shop, the Willow House, closed its longstanding locale on McDowell for good. We could say economic factors (two Starbucks within a one-mile radius) spelled doom for the indie hang, but anyone who downed a house…
P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona Marathon and Half-Marathon . . . huff, puff. We’re out of breath just saying the damn name, so we’re not too hopeful about taking home the trophy at this annual endorphin-o-rama. (A post-race blowout featuring Kool & the Gang follows at 5pm at Tempe…
Homer Simpson posited, “If horse racing is the sport of kings, then surely bowling is . . . a very good sport, as well.” What’s kept it from absolute perfection? How about shoe rentals, arm-straining equipment, blaring music, and seizure-inducing lights? Nintendo’s Wii Sports changed the game forever. Using the…
We’re used to seeing souped-up hood rides dotting the contemporary urbanscape, not dotting the walls of an art gallery. That’s why we’re gonna roll out to the “Lowriders: 8th Annual Dia de los Muertos Festival Exhibit.” The show merges modern automotive art with iconic Day of the Dead representations. Mondays-Fridays,…
“The Music of Led Zeppelin: A Rock Symphony” might be the Phoenix Symphony’s highest-grossing concert of the season, and that’s the point. Geezers with elbow patches on their jackets are an endangered species, so orchestras – like the London Symphony with its salute to the Beatles – are going to…
While January’s NBA sched is providing Your Phoenix Suns a mini-respite of sorts from the minefield known as the Western Conference, this year’s baffling Sunnies squad can’t afford to rest easy against anybody. Still, they might be able to catch a quick breather against the East’s poor-to-middling Milwaukee Bucks. Phew…
Hello? Oh, hi! I’m okay . . . considering. Nope, he’s still staying at the hotel. He says he doesn’t know if he can love me anymore. You’re right, he’s an asshole. Anyway, let’s talk about something else. How did it go last night? Mmm hmm. Oh, that’s a nice…
Supercross racers don’t get their blood racing by screaming down city streets on crotch-rockets or watching the open road fold out before them while riding hogs. They do, however, get a nitro-boost of adrenaline by tackling temporary terrain not found in nature on the backs of precision-crafted off-roading motorcycles. Need-for-speed…
