If you’ve never heard of Ken Shamrock, the mixed martial arts master, ex-pro wrestler, and cage fighter, be prepared to take a shooto strike in the jugular, followed by a front kick in the package. Okay, kidding. But seriously, Shamrock is the shit (of course we’re going to say that…
If there’s one thing hipsters and Scottsdale socialites might agree on – aside from illicit drug use in public restrooms and celebrity gossip blogs – it’s DJ extraordinaire Steve Aoki. The hip kids dig Aoki’s American Apparel indiglo palette fused with an ’80s hip-hop style and remixes of current indie-music…
Academicians aren’t exactly known for their partying skills. For example, if you’re the parent of a nerd and you go out of town, here’s the worst-case scenario: Your house gets trashed, but instead of empty pizza boxes, there are algebra books left open all over the floor. The recycle bin’s…
Comedian Brian Posehn is the ultimate schlemiel done good. He’s carved out a nice niche by playing a bunch of nobodies in scores of contemporary TV shows and movies. There’s not the remotest chance you’ll remember him in any of these, but here’s a partial list of his credits: The…
Director Roger Corman once said, “In science fiction films, the monster should always be bigger than the leading lady.” Undying words of wisdom from the King of the Bs, who rolled out nearly seven movies a year between 1955 and 1971 and dandled the likes of Martin Scorsese, James Cameron,…
It’s tough to artistically capture a war-torn land or a place that’s experiencing upheaval without falling into a clichéd, depressing point of view about the affected country and its people. You won’t find such an empty portrayal in Nidaa Aboulhosn’s “Conatus. Every Day.” Aboulhosn grew up just outside Beirut, Lebanon,…
There’s naive art and there are naive subjects. Artist Terry Thompson mines the latter with his architecturally precise depictions of vintage roadside landmarks such as motels and diners. The paintings will cause twinges in those harboring memories of a simpler time, because his works are hyper-realistic representations of an America…
You have to hand it to the subjects of Giulio Sciorio’s “Faces of Ecstasy: Real People, Real Orgasms” exhibit, which has been claiming column inches all over the country for some little while now. The men and women, some depicted as couples, were all photographed fully clothed while having an…
Tijs Verwest, a.k.a. DJ Tiësto, a.k.a. DJ Magazine’s best record spinner in the world three years running from 2002 to 2004, basically invented the trance-music party that we’ve all either accidentally or purposely stumbled upon. His newest album, the Grammy-nominated Elements of Life, keeps things jamming with his signature sound…
If you’re like us, you loathe and despise the captive-audience price-gouging that goes on at sports arenas. Five or six bucks for a dog? Eight or nine for a brew? Hell, you’ll only shell out $5 for a sixer and another buck for the wiener at the neighborhood Circle K…
Who knew that Mr. Potato Head, the spud born of George Lerner’s childhood imagination that Hasbro marketed to the masses in the ’50s, was the forerunner of a bright DIY future? These days, interchangeable plastic features have given way to Kidrobot’s Munny, a blank canvas of a toy figure that…
Through the summer, the museum is offering rotating Yin Fridays and Yang Fridays. The mama’s-boy Yins feature organic-tea sipping, yogi/yogini visits, and similar wimpy stuff. We comparatively manly Yangs get to sample cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, groove to live jazz, and participate in what SMoCA calls “art chatter.” Buddha bless!…
If creating earworms was a crime (and God knows it should be), then both Chicago and their 70s hitmaker counterparts the Doobie Brothers would be multiple-time offenders. Admit it: Every time you’ve heard Michael McDonald sing “What a Fool Believes,” or Peter Cetera crooning out “You’re the Inspiration,” chances are…
Green Jellÿ (pronounced “Jell-O”) is a low-budget, 217-member band that was hailed by Joey Ramone as the worst act ever to open up for the Ramones. That’s pretty much the point, as Green Jellÿ proudly bills itself as “The World’s Worst Band.” It’s a wretched, revolving-door group whose sound is…
When Debbie Carrick of Arizona Women’s Theatre Company put out a call to female playwrights, she may have had that Pink Floyd album title Is There Anybody Out There? rolling through her head. “We knew women playwrights were out there, but we didn’t know where they were exactly,” says Carrick,…
“One of a kind” is a worn-out phrase used to describe everything from baked beans to hand-painted vases. One hesitates to use it to describe Eartha Kitt, for fear that she might pounce — and that is the very last feline reference this short article will contain. So how shall…
Hot rods and custom bikes. The Major League Baseball Road Show. An Xbox gaming center. A performance by local hip-hopper extraordinaire Willy Northpole. Appearances by Rick Throne and pro skate dude Jake Brown. Yo, where in the hell can we find all of this? Answer: the Dub Magazine Custom Car…
The greatest fakers in the art world aren’t forgers, wanna-bes, or even drones churning out 20 Mona Lisas a day for oil-painting stores. They’re practitioners of trompe l’oeil. French for “fool the eye,” the art style was first used in ancient Greece, where landscape murals were so realistic that citizens…
By Ray Stern Chris Page, a theater reviewer laid off by the East Valley Tribune three weeks ago, was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide in his Mesa townhome. Mesa police spokesman Chris Arvayo confirmed the death, saying friends of Page’s had notified authorities over the weekend after they…
Kokopelli winery was less about uncorking bottles of liquid delicious this weekend and more about fluffing your ‘fro while listening to The Grateful Dead as it celebrated the ’70s with the “Rock the Vine” ’70s festival. Yum! What a funk-tastic vintage. The weekend went from funky to a little freaky…
By Jonathan McNamara So you’ve sacrificed another Memorial Day weekend’s worth of dogs and burgers to the porcelain god. Why not make Memorial Day a little more memorable by learning about your crap? Do you know how much scat can tell us about the animals that excreted it? How would…
By Jonathan McNamara Local comedian Erik Abramowitz has a few pieces of advice for brahs lookin’ to take home a cougar or two from the Scottsdale dating scene. Step one? Don’t bring debit cards. Go to the ATM before you go out and carry no more than $40. “It’s like…
