Crystal Not-So-Clear The Bird wouldn’t be surprised if readers who’ve been following New Times’ series “The Perfect Drug,” on crystal meth in Arizona (the final installment of which is in this issue), are left with a certain distrust of the so-called “facts” presented by our fearless civic leaders. After all,…
One scorching afternoon in June, a cadre of Phoenix New Times writers and editors gathered at a small, dark bar in downtown Phoenix. What better way for journalists to plan a drug series than over cocktails? We knew crystal methamphetamine was a tremendous problem in our community, overwhelming law enforcement…
It may have looked like a group project to some of the kids in eighth-grade science class. But the chemical compound one 13-year-old girl was pouring from her hand into the small bottle her friend was holding wasn’t listed on the classroom’s Table of Elements. “What is it?” a Phoenix…
No wonder Iraq is a mess. If the battlefield in America’s Army: Rise of a Soldier is an accurate picture of what it’s like in the Middle East, we should cut and run ASAP. The United States Army’s officially licensed shooter puts you smack in the middle of the action…
Sin City: Recut, Extended, Unrated (Buena Vista) Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s near frame-for-frame adaptation of Miller’s bone-crunching comics finally gets a rewarding DVD treatment, following a shamefully sparse edition earlier this year. The theatrical cut boasts two commentary tracks (with Quentin Tarantino and Bruce Willis, among others), but there…
When it comes to dining, or any other aspect of existence worth writing about, I consider myself simpatico with Ray Milland’s quip in Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, where he riffs off a line from Thoreau, stating, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation: I can’t take quiet desperation!” Transcendence…
THU 8Imagine your bath mat on acid — or you on your bath mat on acid. No, you’re not all wet; you’ve stepped into the Alice in Wonderland world of Brian Knep. The multimedia artist’s “Brian Knep: Healing Series” is a totally groovy collection of interactive floor pieces reminiscent of…
Thursday 8Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and Chris Shannon (dance) e4: “Eve” Ladies’ Night in the Fire…
Steadfastly political and occasionally amusing (as on “Homophobes Are Just Mad They Can’t Get Laid” and “Degrassi Junior High Drop Outs”), these Canadian anarchists were one of Fat Wreck Chords’ first bands, and have been plotting their musical coup for more than a decade. After two albums, the 1997 departure…
Growing up in Chicago, Kaskade was initially into British New Wave acts such as The Cure and The Smiths before discovering clubs, Frankie Knuckles and house music. You can hear it in the melancholy groove of his deep house tracks, echoing the Brits’ love of Northern Soul. Kaskade began spinning…
Breaking into your 20s can be harder than breaking into the music industry, but the acoustic-driven alterna-rockers in the band Micah Bentley have done both with a guileless acquiescence. Between 18 and 23 years old, these strapping young lads — including Micah Bentley himself — dish out lovingly listenable tunes…
In case you were pining for another four-month Hollywood/Nashville marriage to fill the Kenny Chesney/Rene Zellweger void, forget it. Urban and Nicole Kidman are currently not an item according to the London Free Press, which reports Kidman advised Urban, “I’m just too busy for romance right now, as much as…
With Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna makes progress in returning to form after the preachy, pale American Life, but this seamless, beat-filled ode to dance clubs isn’t enough to restore her pop relevance. These are the sounds of 1998, halfway between the Chemical Brothers and Stardust, and on “Sorry,”…
Conspiracy theorists, ready your blogs: The RIAA unleashed last month’s Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now on the American public to convince us to stop sending aid to Louisiana. Why? Who knows? But this two-disc benefit album is the musical equivalent of 9/11, each CD an unforgivable, falling tower of smoldering…
All hail Big Poppa! Not only was the Notorious B.I.G. a master storyteller and MC, but he also has never humped a corpse. That may seem faint praise for such a legend. However, his lack of necrophilia sets Biggie apart from his friends and family, who have turned his moldy…
“Big City” at Phoenix Art Museum: There isn’t a single image of the PHX among the cityscapes and urban life scenes drawn from PAM’s permanent collection. That’s odd, seeing as how we’re the nation’s fifth or sixth largest metropolis. The omission is partly because of the age of the work,…
The Meth Plague How to deal: My hat goes off to Maggie Voss and her accomplishments. What she’s done for herself and her family is no easy feat (“Ice, Ice, Baby,” Robert Nelson and Joe Watson, November 24). I know this because my story is very much like hers: hard-core…
Dirty Love (First Look) Dragonball Movie Boxed Set (Funimation) Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner Bros.) Fun With Dick and Jane (1977) (Columbia/Tristar) The Future of Food (Cinema Libre) Gilbert Gottfried: Dirty Jokes (Image) God Save the Queen: Punk Rock Anthology (Music Video Dist.) Hellbound (Warner Bros.) He-Man…
SAT 12/10Liz Phair doesn’t want to be your blowjob queen anymore. She may have sung such on her groundbreaking 1993 album Exile in Guyville (an answer to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street), but, truth be told, she’s stopped singing songs that make feminists pump their fists while manly…
SAT 12/10If you want to act a fool this holiday season after consuming one too many eggnogs, feel free. Just don’t expect to rock the boat and poop on somebody’s parade during the APS Fantasy of Lights Holiday Boat Parade on Saturday, December 10. A fleet of more than 40…
SUN 12/11We need some advice. Godzilla’s 51st birthday is coming up, and we haven’t a clue as to what to get the big fella. Imagine the pressure involved with selecting the perfect gift for this ungodly creature that’s laid waste to numerous cities and battled everyone from Mothra to onetime…
12/11-3/12If the photographers whose work will be displayed at Phoenix Art Museum’s new exhibition “Keeping Shadows” were a baseball team, they’d be the 1927 Yankees. The all-star lineup includes Margaret Bourke-White, Walker Evans, Imogen Cunningham, Man Ray, Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Timothy O’Sullivan, Lewis Carroll, Henri Le Secq, Julia Margaret…
