There’s not much room for innovation in music anymore. Rock’s been relegated to pop; punk is so not punk that it’s almost punk all over again; and “alternative” has become a generic catch-all for Top 40 genre hybrids. The real music alternative is noise. For the past 20 years, an…
4/15-4/17 Pompous palates get pleased every year at the Scottsdale Culinary Festival, as foodies from all over gather to indulge in some of the best dishes in the Southwest. But the beauteous buffet isn’t just for epicures, as the Scottsdale Civic Center, 7375 East Second Street, plays host to a…
SAT 4/16 The spirit of Pat Tillman marches on — and runs and walks — on Saturday, April 16, when the inaugural “Pat’s Run” makes its way through the streets of Tempe, starting at 8 a.m. Already, nearly 3,000 participants from almost three dozen states across the country have registered…
4/14-4/17 It’s been a year since you were laughing your ass off at the quick-witted humor being bandied about at the last Phoenix Improv Fest. And here it is, time for what co-organizer Jose Gonzales calls “the biggest one ever.” And that, comedy hounds, is no jive. The 2005 Fest,…
WED 4/20 A bong-toting “Happy Hitler” is probably the last thing those celebrating “4-20” will expect when stumbling into the Paper Heart, 750 Grand Avenue, desperate for munchies. The reflexive response to such a warped spectacle is, of course, to get on your cell and curse out your dealer for…
Punk Rock. That’s right, Punk Rock. Where the hell are all my CDs you local bands are supposed to send me? The idea here is to get the word out about your music and your ideas. And that goes for you in the other arts as well. If I can…
I hate Shakespeare. I always have. And you — if you’re unfortunate enough to have slogged through one of his interminable plays (or worse, a film adaptation of same) — probably hate him, too. That is, unless you’re a snooty dilettante who’s allowed himself to be convinced that every couplet…
THU 7 We’re amazed — and subsequently quite pleased — that the über-structured hierarchy of Arizona State University continues to keep the scattered and beautiful mind of Chris Danowski on its payroll as a theater professor. So we won’t be greedy and lobby for a raise for the guy, but…
“What do ya think?” asks Nick, my 74-year-old stepdad, as we watch the same Casino Arizona commercial on the television for the zillionth time. You know, the one with the Showstoppers Live bit. “The fuckin’ Blues Brothers rule,” I tell him. “You wanna go check them out?” he asks. I…
Childsplay’s Romeo and Juliet is not just for kids. Thanks to crafty staging and a talented cast, all of them able to play persuasively any age or gender, it’s an edifying and even entertaining production of this oft-told love story. At a Sunday matinee populated mostly by underdressed tweens, I…
Everyone with a TV remembers President Bush in the flight suit, landing on that aircraft carrier, standing in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner, and triumphantly declaring that major combat operations in Iraq were over. Two years on, many feel like asking exactly what he meant by that. Gunner Palace…
Last year, the Simmons family of Needham, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, sent Christmas cards for the first time in more than 20 years. “We send out Xmas cards about as often as the Red Sox win the World Series,” the card very cleverly proclaimed. This movie is for them. In…
Almost as wide as he is tall, with a round but unremarkable face, Schultze doesn’t look like a rebel. Truth to tell, he looks like Curly of Three Stooges fame, or, less kindly, a mass murderer (well, he does bear a passing but disturbing resemblance to John Wayne Gacy). Schultze…
Sorry, retro rock fans, but Rush: The Musical won’t have a Geddy Lee cameo, nor will there be any chorus-line cancans to “Tom Sawyer.” ASU senior Lauren Henschen came up with something even cheekier: a “goofy pop-rock romp” about five college girls trying to survive sorority rush week. Henschen’s participated…
If it’s any consolation to Kevin Bacon, the backers of the Phoenix Film Festival believe he’s worthy of recognition, even if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn’t. Bacon’s taken the Oscars snub — the Academy ignoring his leading-role performance in The Woodsman, one most critics said was…
SAT 4/9 Wanna be in gay porn pronto, Tonto? Better show ’em your “Oh!” face on Saturday, April 9, at the Bunkhouse, 4428 North Seventh Avenue, where Will Clark, a gay porn “star” — none of the men at the Bunkhouse during a recent happy hour would admit to knowing…
SAT 4/9 While most consider rolling off the couch to manually change TV channels a severe hardship, a unique subculture that thrives on brutally pushing their bodies to the verge of collapse visits Tempe this weekend. They’ll compete hoping to break the tape — or simply finish — in Arizona’s…
4/9-5/11 When 17-year-old Mountain Pointe High School student Erika Vogt-Nilsen entered a graphically designed image of an evil-looking puppeteer dangling a crucified Christ in her school’s winter art show in January, she learned an important lesson on the provocative nature of art. A small group of viewers, including a particular…
4/8-4/29 It’s not easy being a queen; just ask Doug Loynd. “There’s pain involved in being in drag,” says the 41-year-old actor. “Makeup takes two hours, breasts are heavy, earrings pinch, and heels hurt.” The transvestite toil is worth it, however, as Loynd has a shot at fame as one…
Sahara is a stunning piece of work — stunningly inept, stunningly incoherent, stunningly awful in every single way imaginable. How this didn’t go directly to video or cable or airplane or bootleg is unfathomable. Actually, that’s not entirely true. It gets a proper blockbuster theatrical release through Paramount Pictures because…
I’ve written many thousands of words about my most beloved gadget, the GameBoy. And, of course, the GameBoy Advance. Tiny machines that let me play video games on the go. I could play golf while standing in line at the supermarket, play Tetris at the bank, and Zelda on the…
Dale Chihuly: Before Dale Chihuly became the godfather of art glass, he worked as a commercial fisherman to earn money for grad school. He brings this memory of the world beneath the waves to the glass works on exhibit at Phoenix’s premier contemporary art gallery. Eight undulating pieces that look…
