Valentine’s Day weekend may mean heart-shaped chocolates and red roses for some, but for the diehard bookworm, it means the return of the VNSA Book Fair. The annual literary-palooza will be selling more than half a million gently used books, CDs, DVDs, puzzles, and games in nearly every category imaginable…
Things we know about Napoli: Ballet Arizona performs it this weekend. It is the first time any American company has staged the work (a.k.a. big deal, you guys). Napoli is what the locals call Naples, which is the birthplace of pizza and deserves all the thank-yous. The ballet is a…
If you’re one of the few surviving members of the human race who has yet to be voluntarily tattooed or pierced, then pat yourself on the back. You are, quite ironically, the real contrarian. Still, if you’ve been hoping to dip your pen in the inkwell, so to speak, your…
All of the cocktail knowledge in the world isn’t going to be very useful if you don’t pair it with the right supplies. Luckily, Arizona Cocktail Week at Hotel Valley Ho, 6850 East Main Street in Scottsdale, includes an Artisanal Spirit and Cocktail Market. The market will feature boutique spirits,…
Cancel your Wednesday morning meeting, because Fat Tuesday will be taking you past your weekday bedtime. The evening begins with a colorful communal bike ride around town hosted by Heavy Pedal and The Phoenix Cruise. Riders will then follow up with a New Orleans-style party featuring cajun food, drink specials,…
Each year, Black History Month celebrates many of the same civil rights leaders. Playwright Larissa Brewington’s out to change that, introducing “the stuff we don’t hear about.” Through Thursday, February 19, Herberger Lunch Time Theater presents Brewington’s March, highlighting women’s contributions to the sit-ins, protests, boycotts, and marches of the…
Watching a Cirque du Soliel show is a bit like lucid dreaming — you’re in control, sure, but it’s still surreal and exciting and half the time you have no idea what the hell’s going on. Varekai, a new production from the Cirque squad, carries on with this tradition by…
You’re getting old. You can’t figure out why the title of Gammage’s next big touring is Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage. Classic story? It only hit the screen in 1987. And this stage version was a white-hot comet of Catskills-coming-of-age in Australia, Canada, and London’s West End, but…
One of the more aptly named and certainly descriptive titles, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, comes to Arizona State University on Friday. Written by noted playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer and directed by associate professor Erika Hughes, who specializes in youth theater, the comedic interpretation of the…
Billy Strayhorn may be gone, but his music lives on. And to celebrate the centennial of the late jazz composer, Phoenix’s Black Theatre Troupe is paying tribute with Ben Tyler’s new one-man play, Conviction. Set in prison and starring David Hemphill, Conviction tells the story of an inmate who performs…
Fifty Shades of Grey is opening is nationwide, and in New York, Village Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl connects via the magic of the Internet with LA Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson discuss the hotly anticipated movie starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, adapted from the E. L. James novel…
Sometimes, you walk into a gallery and it’s like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. We get that it can be overwhelming, and so do the people behind PhotoTapas. In its third year, this series of events, overseen by Art Intersection, aims to give guests smaller tastes of…
What happens in the studio, shouldn’t always stay in the studio. Studio Visit is a weekly series that profiles artists in their studios. Up today: Recent graduate from ASU’s MFA Drawing program, Joseph Shetler. Joseph Shetler, a 30-year old artist currently based in Phoenix, comes from a fairly diverse background…
Whether you’re more into opera or erotic/exotic art, we’ve got a fun selection of ways to spend that special day — plus the night before and day after. Think theater, circus arts, museum play date, ballet, and more. Exotic Art Show February 13 Alwun House Fetish attire is welcome, but…
Cool couple and true arbiters of whether love is dead Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally are hitting the road this spring. The hilarious pair announced this week that their live show Summer of 69: No Apostrophe is coming to Phoenix’s Comerica Theatre on Thursday, April 23, during a 23-city tour…
If you happened to be cruising through either central or midtown on Saturday, February 7, there’s a good chance you caught a glimpse of this year’s Idiotarod in progress. After all, its participants certainly made it easy enough to spot them. As with any of the previous versions of the…
If you started from the bottom and you’re still not on top, don’t sweat it. Whether you’re well to do or hard up, there’s plenty of opportunities for on-the-house events in the Valley. From outdoor movie screenings and poetry readings to cycling seminars, here are our top three picks for…
This week ASU’s Performance in the Borderlands Project will host an event celebrating the release of Tucson poet Logan Phillips’ first full-length collection, Sonoran Strange. The evening will feature readings and performances by a variety of local writers and artists, including Arizona’s first Poet Laureate, Alberto Alvaro Rios…
Love stinks. Yeah, yeah. Whether your status is single, complicated, or in a relationship, there are plenty of ways to get your kicks this Valentine’s Day weekend without the candy hearts and the candle-lit dinners. From comedy shows and cultural celebrations to half-naked men and half-priced books, here are our…
To the idle viewer, the small acts of resistance on display in Timbuktu might seem ready-made for Upworthy, little liberal lessons just waiting to be parceled out to anyone who “won’t believe what happens next.” Yet that type of self-righteous sentimentality — and its opposing strawman, knee-jerk cynicism — is…
The steps leading to the altar of Terrence Malick are practically a safety hazard, cluttered as they are with assorted offerings of frankincense and myrrh, bouquets draped with sashes that shout “Good job!” and perhaps a virgin sacrifice or two. Critics and certain moviegoers love him that much, which explains…
In 2004, I worked at a bar in Kansas City’s River Market district. One night, a woman handed me her credit card to pay her tab; I looked at it and said, “HAHA. Your name is Monica Ross!” She made a big, exasperated noise and dropped her forehead to the…
