1: Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio? Buffy was 16 the first time she saw the Ramones. It was 1984, and she still remembers exactly what she was wearing–black tuxedo jacket, black bra, black jeans and red sneakers. She saw the band 16 times after that. Joey, the gangly…
Foo Fighters Foo Fighters (Roswell/Capitol) “Now what?” God, how Dave Grohl must have grown to loathe that query over the last year. At least now he’s finally come up with an answer, and a good one at that. With his new band’s eponymous debut release, Nirvana’s former drummer has stepped…
They were six fine English boys Who knew each other in Birmingham They bought a drum and guitar Started a rock-roll band And Johnny played the little violin And Bobby Joe played the big violin The one that stands on the floor They were all in the rock-roll band Right…
Last summer, Davis Productions gave us the wonderfully polished, Broadway-quality Pirates of Penzance. This summer’s offering, Bye, Bye Birdie, falls far short of last year’s benchmark production. From sets that resemble three-year-old high school flats to dance numbers that involve more standing around than dancing, this summer’s musical leaves you…
Weasel Alert! As chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Jim Bruner cast the vote creating a sales tax that will fund a major league baseball stadium downtown. That move contributed to his being trounced in a bid for Congress last year, but don’t feel sorry for Jim. He…
In early June, Sheldon Weiner met with his employees at Family Archive Press, a Phoenix firm that published and telemarketed genealogy books. He said he wanted to respond to an anonymous note someone had dropped into a suggestion box. Tell Shelly to smile more, the note had said. This place…
Last month, Almitra Von Willcox left her San Diego home and went for a walk. And if all goes according to plan, the freelance photographer won’t return from her stroll until June 3, 2005–the date that the self-styled “Photo Gypsy” hopes to complete a ten-year trek around the world on…
Say what you like about Van Buren, there’s no denying that a leisurely cruise down this crippled street is not without a certain horrific charm. Even beyond the dazzling side show of cheap whores, beyond the tanned, thin, tattooed, shirtless guys emerging from run-down courts and jaywalking into heavy traffic,…
Golf courses. Clubhouses. Swimming pools. “Active adults” enjoying the good life in their golden years. This is the vision the developers have for 2,200-acre PebbleCreek Golf Resort, a new planned retirement community in Goodyear. The developers, SunCor Development Company and various companies operated by the Robson family, are proud of…
Four years back, Naughty by Nature emerged from East Orange, New Jersey, as the brash young Turks of hip-hop. Using the ghetto for a launch pad and the chant-along chorus of “O.P.P.” from its self-titled debut album as fuel, NBN took off for stardom. Critical acclaim and massive sales proved…
Before the explosion of music videos and talk radio, deejays were pilots in the long, teenage night, and Wolfman Jack was the hipster deejay par excellence. He was a pure American product, a transistor evangelist who so wanted to be black that he did the next best thing and darkened…
Probably the best argument that can be made for continuing federal funding for the arts is to consider what kind of entertainment would proliferate if market demands become the sole influence on artistic repertoire. One measure by which we might gauge expectations for the theatre is to gaze into a…
Given the opportunity last week to go head-to-head with Governor Fife Symington, Attorney General Grant Woods flinched. Not only did Woods pull his legal punches, refusing to seek criminal charges in his investigation of Project SLIM, the attorney general’s actions also raise serious questions about why Symington is being distanced…
If crime and pestilence and natural disaster and the other perils of modern life make you want to stay at home with the doors and windows locked, think again. You’re not safe even there, as a Tempe family discovered when a plumber searching out a persistent water leak from a…
Cody Lundin, Primitive Guy, is ready to go. He is wearing no shoes in the parking lot of a Safeway store outside Prescott. This is a common thing for him, this not wearing shoes. He does not wear them at home, he does not wear them when he drives, he…
On a cool night in early November, Muffin Shew left work at the Robinson’s department store in Paradise Valley Mall, like she always did, shortly after 9 p.m. She drove her big, old silver T-bird with the same sense of purpose with which she lived her life, barreling down the…
Wigstock: The Movie is a filmed record of the New York City drag/lip-synch festival founded about a decade ago by a convivial drag diva known as the Lady Bunny. The film includes footage from both the 1993 and 1994 Labor Day weekend observances of the event, the former at Tompkins…
The most subversive approach a progressive artist can take very well might be to present his or her beliefs in a mainstream form. No matter how alarming to the status quo your ideas are, if you can make a solid social drama–like, say, Priest–out of them, you’re on your way…
China Chow: When I first came to Phoenix, Gourmet House of Hong Kong was the only place in town to get serious, Chinatown-quality Chinese food. Over the next few years, though, worthy competitors started to spring up, like C-Fu Gourmet in Tempe and Big Wong on West Indian School Road…
If the words “Letters to Cleo” sound familiar, chances are you either lived in Boston earlier this decade or watch Melrose Place on a regular basis. Former Bostonians may have witnessed the alterna-pop quintet claw its way to prominence in the notoriously competitive Bean Town club circuit, keeping company with…
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers Free Like We Want 2 B (Elektra) Winning a Grammy is the artistic equivalent of contracting a venereal disease. The Melody Makers have two. Grammies, that is. But there’s no confusing these reggae revolutionaries with the soulless dregs found “entertaining” industry hotshots on awards…
Backstage Restaurant and Bar, 7373 Scottsdale Mall, Scottsdale, 949-1697. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. What’s the difference between a restaurant run by an individual proprietor and one operated by corporate headquarters? At first glance, none,…
