Look out for the 22-foot blonde with the boob job! She’s part of Phoenix artist Hector Ruiz’s room-size installation Westernization, a tragicomic take on America’s image in the world, and part of his “La Realidad (Reality)” show opening Friday, July 1, at the Heard Museum. “America is so appealing to…
MON 7/4 This year, you can choose to fire up the grill and celebrate America’s independence by inviting over your near-and-dears, replete with the usual band of screaming kids and unruly pets, or you can go to the City of Phoenix’s 20th annual “Fabulous Fourth” celebration at Steele Indian School…
MON 7/4If you have a hot jalopy that you’re dying to show off to a group of ogling, salivating spectators, gas it up and drive to Chandler, where the Arizona Veteran Rodders Club hosts a classic car show at Tumbleweed Park on Monday, July 4, as part of the Lions…
7/1-7/30 While typecast TV stars have quotation-marked middle names for faster recognition — witness Jaleel “Urkel” White — it’s quite uncommon for a fine artist and portraitist. But avant photographer Heidi “Bluegirl” Calvert, whose photographic retrospective opens with a reception from 6:30 p.m. to midnight at Perihelion Arts on Friday,…
SUN 7/3The local hip-hop underground goes above ground, as the true record playas of the Valley will turn on their turntablism talents during Reign of the Tech on Sunday, July 3, at the Old Brickhouse Grill, 1 East Jackson. Myriad mixmasters from around the PHX will mass for the 21-and-over…
THU 6/30″Chunks of Fried Funk” might sound like a bad school cafeteria lunch, but techno-haters and hip-hop junkies love the mystery meat packed into this sonic casserole of electrobreaks, hip-hop, “nu skool,” funk and “ghetto stylez.” The weekly DJ night at Ichiban Sushi Bar, 1435 East University Drive in Tempe,…
Until scientists master the secret to immortality, local businessman-jock-turned-philanthropist Bill Wohl has the answer: Donating your organs (and therefore your DNA) is a good way of stayin’ alive. Granted, you won’t be entirely yourself, but your affection for chicken wings might well live on if you leave your eyes or…
Technology and inhumanity and greed, oh, my! Those wild beasties have been lurking in the shadows alongside the yellow brick road to progress for generations. Spend some time at the spirited “Surrealism USA” exhibit at Phoenix Art Museum, and you’ll realize we were worried about the dark side of our…
Bewitched may go down as the first movie about a fictional failed actor that created a real-life failed actor. This hackneyed, hapless, and utterly useless redo of an overrated 1960s sitcom is excruciating to sit through for a dozen reasons. But nothing is more intolerable than the sight of Will…
I envy people whose favorite television show is something well-written or intelligent. My cousin John loves The Mary Tyler Moore Show; my sister has seen every episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show a dozen times each. Even my mechanic favors smarty-pants programs like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. I,…
Not many people saw Lost and Delirious, the 2001 boarding-school drama about two girls in obsessive love, and that was probably for the best. Yes, Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) made a stunning androgynous rebel, but she couldn’t rescue the film from its unctuous self-importance. My Summer of Love, a bewitching…
Anyone who would insist that movie reviewing is not a real job (‘Sup, Mom) hasn’t been forced to sit through screenings of Bewitched and Herbie: Fully Loaded in the span of five days — and by forced, I mean either you see both movies, write 800 words about each, or…
It’s okay to be slightly afraid of Hungarian movies. Even critics don’t necessarily relish the thought of them, or look upon Budapest as a hotbed of filmmaking. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to recall the last time there was a good movie from the land that gave us…
Edna Mode may have stolen the show as the snooty seamstress to the superheroes in The Incredibles, but the next time Batman chills at the Batcave, dahling, he just might be sporting a Mark Newport knitted sweater. For the past two years, Newport has been knitting superhero costumes — including…
Many a posturing punker has attempted over the years to emulate the puerile pranks of GG Allin, arguably one of the more infamous and reviled figures in rock history. Whether slicing open their melons, wearing women’s underwear, or flinging fecal matter, amped-up alt-rockers everywhere have copied the late shock-rocker’s aggressive…
THU 6/23We love belly dancers like the desert loves rain. Lucky for us, “Splash: Summer SMoCA Nights,” on Thursday, June 23, at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts, quenches our thirst on both fronts — metaphorically speaking. Along with performances by electronic duo Peachcake and DJ Maji, the Gamil Zarah…
SUN 6/26Admit it, you’ve been bad . . . really bad. But it’s all good, especially since you’ll be getting a well-deserved whuppin’ at the Sky Lounge, 132 East Washington, on Sunday, June 26, at “Spanked.” This classic “tea dance” — a popular afternoon or early evening dance party aimed…
6/23-6/26The Bible rocks, dude. (Surely all that thumping has got to create a wicked beat . . .) And if you’re watching a performance of the long-running musical Godspell, then you know that the Bible really can rawk, man. Moon Valley Productions raises the roof on Thursday, June 23, at…
SAT 6/25If the Indian nations as a whole were ever to declare a sport their national pastime, you can bet basketball would be right up there with lacrosse. Basketball has been an all-consuming passion and a source of pride in Native American communities for generations, with reservation courts serving as…
Leandro Soto at Paulina Miller Gallery: There’s no place like home when you’re far, far away. Maybe that’s why the mixed-media assemblages about Cuba, Leandro Soto’s lost home, are so much more powerful than the ones about his adopted hometown, Phoenix. Soto’s landscapes of saguaro and rock are technically accomplished,…
THU 23 If you feel the need to unleash your inner diva, or if you just want a reason to wear that overpriced cocktail dress one more time, fret not — Scottsdale’s rolling out the red carpet just for you. On Thursday, June 23, Barcelona, 15440 Greenway-Hayden Loop in Scottsdale,…
Just when you think you’ve seen everything Phoenix has to offer, someone drives you down to the warehouse district and walks you through a towering maze of boxes stuffed with papier-mâché teapots, tiny plastic feet, and soaring stacks of grosgrain. And there, deep in the swamp-cooled bowels of Diane Ribbon…
