Actors Theatre has struck pay dirt with Nickel and Dimed, playwright Joan Holden’s comic adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich’s nonfiction best seller Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, in which noted author and activist Ehrenreich went undercover as a minimum-wage earner to write about how the working poor…
For the Phoenix Family Museum, there is no bigger event than the annual “Family Affair” gala. Last February, the gala raised almost a quarter of a million dollars. With a “Chinese New Year” theme for the February 5 festivities — complete with a magical dragon — the fledging museum hopes…
I nearly fell off my bike on a recent cold night when I saw the agent listed on a for-sale sign in front of one of the most historic homes in Arizona — the Farmer-Goodwin mansion in Tempe. My stomach tightened, and I slowly began circling on my bike in…
I reckon my cheeks are redder than Elmo’s ass, the cheeks closest to my grill-piece, that is. It’s a Saturday night at Tempe’s colossal, 28,000-square-foot Graham Central Station (www.grahamcentralstationtempe.com), the four-in-one nightclub that includes the karaoke bar Alley Cats, a Top 40 dance hall called South Beach, an ’80s room…
Tina Tamrat Hildebrand laughs and smiles shyly when I play reporter rather than gentleman, and ask her age. This fetching little Ethiopian lady could pass for someone in her mid-to-late 20s, but curiosity has yet to kill the culinary critic, which is why I pose the question. “You know, in…
SAT 1/29 Sometimes, the best way to reconnect with that estranged boyfriend or girlfriend is to pretend like you don’t know them. You know, arrive at the bar separately, talk like you’ve never met before, and then go home for the “make-up lovin’.” Cone Gallery, 1324 Grand Avenue, takes this…
FRI 1/28 So when, exactly, is local filmmaker Zachary Yoshioka going to get the fuck out of the Valley? Don’t get us wrong: The local film scene needs plenty of young talent if it hopes to amount to anything. But with 15 films and a few music videos under his…
When did we first encounter a feel-good film that united delinquent kids, a devoted (if professionally frustrated) teacher, and the transformative power of music? Was it Julie Andrews? Could it have been the spirited, softhearted Maria and her Austrian brood, trilling their way up the hills above the abbey? If…
It’s fitting that the band name Avail evokes the word “alive.” The best rock, like all the best art, is not some rarefied air breathable only to people who wear puffy shirts and pointy shoes. It’s music that makes everyday life feel alive. Richmond, Virginia’s Avail — perhaps the only…
“We didn’t play cowboys and Indians as kids,” explains my pal Sean, a hulking, six-foot-two-inch Navajo who weighs upward of 290 pounds. “Really?” I ask him, as we both stand together at the Mesa Pow Wow on a sunny Saturday afternoon — both extremely tired, and both hung over from…
Two women hug like long-lost sisters beneath a gazebo at north Phoenix’s Roadrunner Park. Gina Niedzwiecki and Ruth Murray had been chatting by phone for months, since they’d learned of their sadly similar stories. But this sunny day in mid-January marks the first time they’ve met in person, and their…
THU 27 This ain’t no flashdance, bub. Sure, the lively choreography, attractive young dancers, and multimedia that Casey Blake incorporates as part of his the eyes of the i’s dance piece in New Danceworks II, the ASU Dance Department’s latest recital, might lead you to believe you’re sleazing it up…
Thursday 27 Acme Bar & Grill: DJR (all genres) Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Tsunami (Top 40, hip-hop) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Panic! with DJ Manchester (Britpop, indie, New Wave) Big Fish Pub: Reggae Thursdays with Selector J-Cut & DJ Blackstar (reggae,…
Scratching, mixing, beat-juggling, all the elements of hip-hop DJing — they’re all good, but sometimes you just wanna hear a song you can dance to straight through, the way you know it, the way you loved it in the first place. And especially if you’re a dance-music recidivist, you need…
With a name cribbed from a mysterious Air Force base that houses UFOs, you would expect Hangar 18 (the latest group to emerge from underground hip-hop stalwarts Def Jux) to sound like your usual X-Files nerd rap, i.e., long on consonants and light on grooves. But while its jittery, effects-laden…
It’s going to be a beautiful Apocalypse. That is, if San Diego trio Via Satellite’s new album, Cities Are Temples, is the soundtrack. A stunning ode to love in the end times, opener “Seven Winged Lions” begins with a bell-clear laptop melody that unfolds into dreamy percussion, snippets of squelch,…
If Ike Turner’s name only draws mental images of a man violently mashing cake into Tina Turner’s face, that’s a great example of the instant karma that has beset one of the greatest guitarists in the history of R&B. Everything you’ve heard about Ike Turner may be true, but you…
We’ve lost another one. Last month, the folks at TheatreScape announced that they’re pulling the plug on the rest of their season and on the troupe itself. Small companies like TheatreScape come and go all the time, but the ones that put together shows as worthy as this company’s often…
A few months back, I saw some great punk rock here in Phoenix. At The Emerald Lounge, to be exact. The band was called The Wrongsiders, and they were so cool, they played a Dead Boys cover, “Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth” — one of the coolest and…
Holding Court Witness for the defense: The New Times article on “Katie & Jordy’s Excellent Adventure” was rollicking good fun (Sarah Fenske, January 13)! I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a story more. I’ve been an avid Court TV watcher pretty much since the O.J. Simpson trial, and I greatly…
1/21-1/26 There’s nothing like having a J-O-B that requires you to clean the soiled sheets of others, carry a dozen hot plates on one forearm, or clean up fecal matter in front of the layaway department. And when that paycheck comes, hoo boy! You might have 10 bucks left after…
1/25-1/30 There are two types of people who attend car auctions: bidders and gawkers. And while it may be your fantasy to hear the word “sold” attached to your name at a big-time auction, simply spending a day in the presence of the finest collection of classics you’ll see anywhere…
