Welcome to the Morning Buzz, a catch-up on interesting happenings around the city and country and a quick guide to what (and who) to keep your eyes on. We’ll be here, first thing every weekday, to get you going. Here’s what’s buzzing this morning: Changing the name of your hometown…
From the second-story patio of Phoenix College’s art building in downtown Phoenix, photographer Bob Carey can point to the hospital where he was born, the neighborhood where he grew up, and the three or four houses he lived in after high school and college. The Phoenix native moved to New York in…
Whit Stillman made a name for himself making semiautobiographical, deadpan, highly literate comedies about the night lives of idle heirs (his 1990 Oscar-nominated debut Metropolitan), privileged Americans abroad (Barcelona, 1994), and resilient yuppies in decadent early ’80s Manhattan (The Last Days of Disco, 1998). But for more than a decade,…
The Scottsdale Culinary Festival’s still going strong in its 34th year. Let’s not discuss putting everything end to end (because most of it would have gone bad by now), but that’s beaucoup bites and slurps of yummy stuff. On Thursday, April 19, check out Bubbles and Bliss, a champagne-infused cocktail…
Living legends tend to live a little longer in baseball. This, perhaps, is why there was relatively little fanfare surrounding last month’s announcement that Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones would retire at the end of the season. The 40-year-old Jones has been in the majors for so long that…
There’s a very geeky and compositionally beautiful place where cycling and design meet – just ask local designers and bike enthusiasts Jon Ashcroft, Dorina Bustamante, Jonce Walker, Jeremy Stapleton, and Nicole Underwood. The group (with help from community members) will invite the Valley to celebrate the intersection at the inaugural…
Our ‘90s Nickelodeon upbringing and particular affinity for Melissa Joan Hart’s Clarissa Explains It All will forever make us wary of anyone bearing the name Ferguson, our undyingly cool role model’s annoying, Young Republican redhead little brother. But we probably shouldn’t hold that against comedian and Late Late Show host…
Everyone has one snobby friend who always derides five-pound Chipotle burritos because they’re not “real Mexican food”. Maybe it isn’t as authentic as his favorite hole in the wall, but we’d argue it’s at least a tasty homage to south of the border cuisine. Luckily, ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo…
Which famous hero of the land sports a green tunic and a pointed cap? If you answered Robin Hood, your geek cred is shot. On the other hand, if you’ve ever called a horse with a wind instrument, peed in a bottle during a 5-hour nonstop battle with Majora’s Wrath,…
Getting decked out in your finest steampunk digs is fun, but your goggles, corset, monocle, and ray gun are bound to attract a few stares from the unsuspecting public. That can prove quite the conundrum for anyone who enjoys dressing like a Wild Wild West extra. But those dress-up fanatics…
The evil, evil sun has been showering summer-grade heat down upon us for the last month. Your best opportunity to chill out might be the Coyotes Curling Club’s 9th annual curling tournament, the Desert Ice Bonspiel. Curling has come quite a long way since its humble beginnings as a passtime…
On Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales, Pixar’s short companion to Cars, Mater battles all kinds of crazy characters in a monster truck rally. And, in real life, it’s sort of like that too. Take, for instance, the NAPA Auto Parts Monster Truck Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. The high-octane event…
When you’re young, lectures that contain words like “heritage” and “tradition” are instantly written off. Because, seriously, what kid cares about cultural practices unless they involve monster trucks or gunfights? That’s the dilemma faced by the elderly protagonist of Sakura no Ne (Root of the Cherry Tree), on stage through…
When late downtown arts champion Jane Reddin opened the doors of Practical Art, she wanted to give Phoenix artisans a space to display their work and bring together locally-minded consumers. It was no small mission, and after her passing last February her friends, local artists Kara Roschi and Lisa Olson,…
We’re currently in what we like to call the Dead Zone of sports. The early season of baseball is worthless. College and pro football games don’t start for another five months. And with the giddy high of March Madness fading fast, fellow fans are already going through some serious action…
Although Phoenix doesn’t exactly top the list of gay-friendly ‘hoods, there’s nothing can keep fabulous down. And since 1981, the Valley’s LGBTQ community has made its rounds, letting anyone and everyone know that they’re a force to be reckoned with. Moving beyond the line, “We’re here, we’re queer, get used…
The works of Jane Austen are no strangers to adaptation. Her novels have been transformed into modern-day tellings like Clueless, traditional period pieces, and even porn. Expect a more traditional take on Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy’s hot and cold courtship from Queen Creek Performing Arts Center’s Pride and Prejudice…
Never underestimate the human desire to see a little skin. For instance, this year’s edition of the yearly ASU Undie Run was in danger of not happening due to financial issues and budgetary shortfalls. Thanks to a slew of last-minute donations from folks interested in seeing half-naked college kids dash…
Green Day has come a long way since the band’s days as semi-subversive ’90s rockers whose CDs your parents hesitated buying. Nowadays Billie Joe Armstrong and company have hit it big time on Broadway with a rock opera version of their 2004 record American Idiot. With an anti-drug and anti-consumer…
It was George Bernard Shaw who mused, “Youth is wasted on the young.” We’d argue that youth is more about getting wasted. But once the blinding hangover headache clears, it will become pretty obvious that teenagers craving adult problems (as opposed to relishing glitter and giddiness) are all too pervasive…
Some jukebox musicals try to wrap an invented storyline around an oeuvre of pop hits, but Dream a Little Dream doesn’t have to resort to that, because the events of The Mamas and the Papas’ years in the limelight are dramatic enough for anybody. Papa Denny Doherty co-wrote the script…
It’s Nicholas Sparks’ world; we just live in it. Sparks, in case you haven’t scanned the paperback racks lately, is the former pharmaceutical salesman who’s written 16 bestsellers since 1995, when The Notebook was plucked from the slush pile by a wily publisher. The 2004 movie version of The Notebook…
