Party On The Spike doesn’t get out much, so the last two weeks have been a whirlwind. First, The Spike bookended a week with two book events — Al Franken at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, and then the Authors Luncheon at the Phoenician. Let’s just say that there could…
The sheriff’s deputies at the door told Richard Schmidt that he and his four kids had 10 minutes to vacate their home near Central Avenue and Happy Valley Road. It was the night of September 11, 2002, a particularly bad night to hear that something is threatening your home and…
From the street, it looks like a birthday party. On a recent Saturday evening, SUVs and minivans line a Chandler neighborhood, and people with large gift bags and boxes of baked goods swarm up to the door of Janet Klein. But Klein’s not a suburban soccer mom, she’s a book…
Bright Lights, Big City Cruise control: My blues band, the Loose Cannons Blues Band, plays quite often at Monroe’s (3 West Monroe), and the rockabilly band I play in, the Haymakers, performs at Big Al’s (710 South Central) quite often as well. These are restaurants and/or bars that you don’t…
Six-thirty on a Tuesday evening at Tom’s Tavern in downtown Phoenix. The place can serve up to 220 people, and it often does — during the day. But tonight, there are only six people eating dinner. Tonight, like so many other nights, Tom’s Tavern is empty. Near the bar stands…
The Spike got an early Halloween treat on Friday morning when it picked up the Arizona Republic and discovered that New Times and columnist Robert Nelson had been sued in federal court by an attorney for the Diocese of Phoenix. Normally, you’d think the people being sued would have been…
If you ask Child Protective Services officials to see copies of complaints made against the agency, you will receive pages of reports that look like the documents pictured at right. No joke. I’ve got a stack of such documents in front of me. Now, with such non-information in your ink-blackened…
Brownie Points Brown with envy: My sister (Kristen) was in Amanda Brown’s Brownie troop — in fact, my mom was the troop leader (“Legally Brown,” Amy Silverman, October 30). We both went to The Wallace & Ladmo Show. To think that we both sat there hoping we would win the…
The blondes are out in force for Amanda Brown’s book party. On a hot Phoenix evening in late September, hundreds of people are crowded into Borders Books & Music at Biltmore Fashion Park. White-blonde toddlers in fancy dresses mix with aging frosted-blonde socialites in pantsuits, snacking on crustless peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches…
“Town of Paradise Valley Police,” the dispatcher answers the radio. “This is Buck,” Sergeant Buck Boehm says. “Yes, Buck.” “You know where the Baskin-Robbins is by the Mobil station on Gold Dust and Scottsdale Road?” “Okay.” “Okay. This vehicle is parked right in front of Baskin-Robbins. Looks like either two…
Thirteen hundred people packed the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix on October 21 to hear Richard Florida, author of the wildly successful book Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure and Everyday Life, share his recipe for building successful cities. In urban planning circles, Florida’s got…
Jail Debate Reform school: It was refreshing to read that finally some of our legislators are seriously looking at reforms to the failed legacy of the Mecham/Reagan era (“Clink!” Robert Nelson, October 23). I was just at my first “buffet-style” parent/teacher conference, where overwhelmed, underpaid teachers attempted to talk with…
Arizona’s prison system is in crisis. The state’s prisons are built to hold 26,000 inmates. They now hold more than 30,000. Under Arizona’s current sentencing laws, the state’s prison population is expected to continue exploding with more than 1,000 additional inmates every year. By next summer, Arizona prisons are estimated…
Pussy Galore The Spike was invited to an art opening this past Saturday. In a cat shelter. In Sun City. The spawn of local artist Steve Yazzie and the Sun Cities 4 Paws Animal Rescue was called the 1st Annual Cat Art Show, and was said to feature the work…
On America’s top 45 AM radio stations, 310 hours of every week is occupied by bilious chatter from conservative talk show hosts. By comparison, liberal hosts account for only five hours of programming, or, my computer calculator says, 1.6 percent as much. Phoenix is devoid of any major liberal-leaning talk…
The long-expected happened Monday afternoon, when abortion doctor Brian Finkel took the witness stand in his own defense at his sexual assault and abuse trial. A minute or so after Finkel took his seat, his lead attorney, Richard Gierloff, asked him if he’d sexually assaulted or abused any of his…
Downtown Deluge Artistic statement: Thank you very much for the in-depth articles on downtown Phoenix. (“Exploding Downtown,” October 2 and “Jerry’s World,” October 16) Your special project deserves kudos for bringing to light the many opportunities that the Phoenix metropolitan area has to create a vibrant, creative, and “live-able” downtown…
Above the bold, silver letters of “Office of the Mayor” hangs a sign that inadvertently reveals how the nation’s fifth-largest city operates. “Diamondbacks Way” declares the blue-and-white strip inside Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza’s 12th-floor suite. Doing things the Diamondbacks Way means this: Do what Arizona Diamondbacks general partner Jerry Colangelo…
Lame duck mayor Skip Rimsza screwed up taking roll call for the new version of the Phoenix City Council at a recent council meeting. “Vice Mayor Simplot?” he asked. “Ah, jeez, sorry,” Rimsza quickly caught himself. “Not so quick. Councilman Simplot.” Maybe it was a Freudian slip. Sure, newly elected…
Sammy Writes Bull The Spike loves mail from jail. In fact, The Spike may now have a complete set of those Sheriff Joe Arpaio postcards he makes available so prisoners can help promote his re-election effort — Joe playing around in the middle of a pile of puppies, Joe standing…
Michael Coleman lost his right eye when he was a baby. As an adult, he was turned down for a job as a Navy nuclear propulsion specialist because of his monocular vision. He couldn’t join the Air Force. And, even though he holds a commercial driver’s license, the state of…
The Barrs Factor Facts over principle: Rick Barrs’ recent diatribe, “Politics over Principle,” (October 9) contains a couple of statements that cannot go unaddressed. First, Mr. Barrs characterizes a Mormon sect’s forcing underage girls into sexual slavery as “Islam with an X-rating.” On what basis (besides conspicuous bigotry and ignorance)…
