Arts & Culture

We know very few people who get excited about flag day (and even fewer who know when it is), but throw out the words “flag party,” and suddenly people start listening.The Caribbean American Phoenix Carnival Cultural Association of Arizona, also known as CAPAZ, is bringing back its Caribbean-style carnival this…

Quentin Tarantino has received flack for stealing scenes from other movies. Take the show-down in Kill Bill — it looks an awful lot like the fight scene in Noribumi Suzuki’s Sex and Fury. Sure, everything’s been done before but that’s why we love him (or hate him).No doubt Quinten gets…

If you find yourself perusing Seventh Avenue vintage stores dreaming of owning an Eames chair, then you’ve probably heard of Alison King, founder of the website Modern Phoenix.King presents “Where Cantilever Meets Coyote,” a sort-of Midcentury 101 that aims to give audience members a better snapshot of this city’s rich…

The Teutonic overtones of Hanzel und Gretyl might be worrisome if there weren’t knowing winks served up along with their crunchy-riff-heavy electro-clanging. The Gotham-based industrial rock duo headlines the grand ball for party-minded BDSM aficionados, Fetish Prom 2013, on Saturday, May 25.Whereas the visiting rockers are a tad tongue-in-cheek, Life…

The choice of mascot says a lot about your team. Take the Arizona Rattlers, for instance. With a devastating plus-16 turnover margin earned from posting eight sacks, five fumble recoveries, and 15 interceptions in seven games, Arizona’s champion arena football squad lives up to its venomous namesake. Plus, the Rattlers…

Roses are… Well, you know, they aren’t always red. They come in all sorts of shades. For empirical evidence, head to The Rose Garden at Mesa Community College, where consulting rosarians and master gardeners lead tours through the spectrum of reds, yellows, pinks, and more.The garden was established in 1997,…

It’s official: Pool party season is upon us. And that means some of the Valley’s top DJs will be seen poolside once again. This summer, Sean Watson, William Reed, and Stateside Presents team up for their latest venture, Sunshine Underground, a weekly rooftop pool party at The Hotel Palomar’s Lustre…

It would be overly simplistic to imagine a chasm between the haves and have-nots in today’s psych-rock landscape, even between the ones with huge production values and the ones sticking it out with streamers and bubblegum. The reason: All the best bands these days carry some degree of scrappiness, no…

Our geekiness might be showing by admitting this, but Captain Jack Harkness is one of the coolest mofos in science fiction. Ever.As an online Whovians so aptly stated, the Doctor Who/Torchwood lothario, portrayed by actor John Barrowman, is a “time traveling, immortal, omnisexual superhero” who’s handy with both firearms and…

We’re willing to bet our lower-level seats that there have been a few moments this season when certain Arizona Diamondbacks players wish they could’ve called a “do-over.” Like reliever David Hernandez, closer J.J. Putz, or most of the team’s loathsome bullpen this year, who’ve offered many regrettable, game-changing pitches to…

Let’s be honest; yoga is not a poor man’s sport. By the time you’ve purchased your matching lycra ensemble, your polyurethane-coated mat, and your limited edition tie dye Yogitoes towel, you’d bend over backward to find a class that fits into the rest of your budget — in other words,…

The two recently paroled heroes of Jon Klein’s play T Bone N Weasel hit the roads of rural South Carolina in pursuit of their future — gainful employment or whatever else presents itself — and confront discrimination, people who take advantage of them, bizarre temptations, and picaresque mayhem aplenty. What…

Arizona artist Ron Burns doesn’t paint dogs in bowler hats playing cards — that would be too easy. Focusing on man’s best friend at his best, worst, and when working hardest, Burns’ use of bright, Day-Glo-esque colors amazingly captures Fido’s personality and expression. Burns happened into this second career by…

It’s impossible to deny that Phoenix is an emerging culinary destination for food lovers and aspiring chefs alike. Our hometown heroes may not have taken home any coveted James Beard Awards this year, but this state’s chefs have more than enough talent to feed the hordes of foodists for Spring…

Artist Josef Albers was obsessed with two things: abstract art and color. The latter is the focus of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “Learning to See.”Albers wrote The Interaction of Color, and in it he proposed that the only way to truly understand colors was in relation to other…

If you’ve been depressed since 2006, when Arrested Development was infamously cancelled, because you were left with only three (increasingly shorter) seasons, chances are you’re looking forward to Sunday, May 26, when Netflix brings back the beloved show for a fourth season. Welcome Diner will screen all 15 episodes of…