Jules Demetrius, 35, agitprop maestro, poet-sledgehammer on the mic, is well-known to those in the know, whether it be from his live art and madcap MC-ships at the Priceless Inn’s Blunt Club, or from his incendiary imagery of doped-up housewives, starving children, pedophile priests, and pissed-off Iraqis. A member of…
You have to hand it to Sean Penn. Okay, you don’t absolutely have to, and if you’re a Red Stater through and through, you certainly won’t want to, but give him some credit. After being pilloried in the press for visiting Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s reign, torn apart by housecats…
SAT 1/22 Face facts, football fanatics — true gridiron glory isn’t found in some climate-controlled arena, but rather amidst the grass and mud of an outdoor field. So instead of watching the Arizona Rattlers fumble away yet another championship this spring, check out the Copperstate Football League, which kicks off…
Assault on Precinct 13, the sluggish remake of John Carpenter’s grungy 1976 movie of the same name, begins with a bang to which it never lives up. In a smoky den of all manner of iniquity, Ethan Hawke’s trying to close a drug deal. With his girl splayed out on…
“24 hours. 350 miles. His girlfriend’s kids. What could possibly go wrong?” In the case of Are We There Yet?, here’s the short answer: a flaccid screenplay, bratty kids stripped of depth and personality, a single joke replayed in every scene, unearned attempts at sentiment, and a bizarrely whitened backdrop,…
Mikki and Stanley Weithorn aren’t driven as art collectors by trendy artists or the pretentious critics who crown them the “next big thing.” Nor do they equate the work of emerging artists to mere financial investments. But that doesn’t mean the Weithorns’ collection of sculpture, paintings and mixed-media works by…
In the mid-1980s, L.A.’s Getty Museum was on the cusp of acquiring an ancient Greek kouros statue. Using stereomicroscopes, scientists certified the rare statue as authentic. And without anything more than a cold stare, art experts the world over knew it was a fraud. The controversy raged for years until…
SAT 1/22 Despite all the funky new hangouts, art galleries and bistros, it seems downtown Phoenix is still — quite literally — a ghost town after dark. According to some, you can thank the venerable San Carlos Hotel, at 202 North Central, for being the apparent source of this spirit…
1/25-1/30 There are two types of people who attend car auctions: bidders and gawkers. And while it may be your fantasy to hear the word “sold” attached to your name at a big-time auction, simply spending a day in the presence of the finest collection of classics you’ll see anywhere…
1/21-1/26 There’s nothing like having a J-O-B that requires you to clean the soiled sheets of others, carry a dozen hot plates on one forearm, or clean up fecal matter in front of the layaway department. And when that paycheck comes, hoo boy! You might have 10 bucks left after…
I welcomed in the new year with a shudder and a sigh, because 2005 is the year that Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park will return to Broadway. As if that weren’t enough, we have, right now in lovely Phoenix, two productions of this hoary old comedy playing concurrently, which…
THU 13 One night with DJ Lady Tribe, a.k.a. “The Sexiest DJ on Earth,” most certainly isn’t enough. But that’s all you get on Thursday, January 13, when the notorious L.A. graffiti artist turned legit model/DJ headlines Latin Ladies’ Night at the Hard Rock Cafe, 3 South Second Street, with…
Paul Weitz, with brother Chris, co-wrote and co-directed 2002’s adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel About a Boy, in which a cocky grown man (Hugh Grant) learned how to actually act like a grown man by observing a gawky young boy (Nicholas Hoult) who was nearly abandoned by his suicidal mother…
Nobody messes with Samuel L. Jackson — at least not at the movies. He’s Shaft reinvented, the coolest cop on the street. He’s Mace Windu, the only swashbuckler in the Star Wars galaxy who gets to swing a purple light saber. Best of all, he’s Jules Winnfield, the ultra-hip hit…
SAT 1/15 Doctor’s orders: You’re to exercise more in 2005! Running is a good option. But frankly, jogging alone looks painfully boring. Perhaps your ideal workout is something more akin to frat-house activities: frequent “beverage” breaks, drinking games, and singing some bawdy songs. If so, you should join the Phoenix…
1/14 – 1/30 Some people say they’ll wear purple when they grow old. We say we’ll wear leopard print, poke the opposite sex in the buttocks with our canes, and meet at the retirement-home bench for daily arguments. That’s what Harold and Ben, the lead characters in the play A…
Rebecca Hardcastle isn’t from outer space. But she might be from a different dimension, one that transcends time and space and most college curriculums. We can thank our lucky stars that Hardcastle has landed at Scottsdale Community College, which now offers her Extraterrestrial Reality course as part of its Continuing…
Fans of lightweight post-dinner entertainment will appreciate Always . . . Patsy Cline, a slightly better than average amusement that’s playing at Theater 4301. The venue, one of Scottsdale Center for the Arts’ satellite theaters, isn’t particularly easy to find; parking is a small-scale nightmare; and a single, sluggish elevator…
The grim little green-walled apartment where Walter finds himself after his release has the look of a jail cell — with one apparent easement. What seems to be the only window in the place faces a school playground across the street. When Walter looks outside, he often sees kids running…
The story is simple enough: Sometime during the dying days of the T’ang Dynasty in China, though it could really be any time and any place, two cops named Leo (Andy Lau) and Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) sit in a station house drinking tea. They decide one of them will go…
An underappreciated art, vocal performance can make or break an animated film, as well as live-action movies that “star” talking animals. It’s Eddie Murphy’s exuberant line readings — not what he says but how he says it — that confer personality upon the garrulous Donkey in Shrek. And the sheep-herding…
Tony Hawk talks as fast as he skates. When describing his “Boom Boom HuckJam Tour,” the legendary skateboarder races through an explanation of the tour’s title. “We use the term ‘hucking’ to refer to launching yourself in the air,” Hawk says. “And it’s not a competition. It’s more of a…
