SAT 2/5 We’ve got some deep divides in the Valley: Republican against Democrat, warmonger versus peacenik. But c’mon, people, now, smile on your brother, everybody get together for the free Unity Walk and Diversity Festival on Saturday, February 5, in Tempe. “Cities sometimes argue over the next mall or where…
It’s the subtle intrusions that agitate Lara Taubman, the many seemingly small but unrelenting violations the MonOrchid Gallery curator tries to ignore from day to day. Strangers rifling through her luggage at the airport. Video cameras documenting her every move in public spaces. Armed security guards suspiciously observing her shopping…
If you can make it past the first 10 minutes or so of Hide and Seek without busting up laughing, chances are that you’ve never seen a horror movie before in your life. This hack job of a “thriller” may steal from the best, but it does it so badly…
PARK CITY, UTAH — John Singleton, director of Boyz N the Hood, was all warm grins at the frigid outdoor party on January 22, and with good reason. Hustle & Flow, a movie he produced for 33-year-old writer-director Craig Brewer, was in the process of being sold for $9.5 million…
I love audacious titles like The Only Doo-Wop Collection You’ll Ever Need. How can you argue with such bravado? But in this case, the handle is more than just marketing-department bluster. Shout! Factory got it right: This may be the only such anthology that most of us require. Just about…
On her latest album, Ani DiFranco exorcises ghosts, feigns death, and once again opens herself up to the world. While she’s never separated the personal from the political, Knuckle Down comes across as a direct reflection of her recent personal heartbreaks. DiFranco’s divorce is the subject of a few songs,…
The recurring mental image I get while listening to High on Fire’s latest molten sludge-metal opus, Blessed Black Wings, is that of Lemmy Kilmister being strapped into that electric chair on the cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, then bellowing a soul-paralyzing shriek as the searing juice jolt smokes his…
If a band is known for its kooky costumes and outrageous theatrics, people might assume there’s something lacking in its sound. Not so with the J-pop punkers in Peelander-Z, who back their whack with some solid songs. Their origins are a closely guarded secret, but news reports from Area Z…
Rise Against is finally headlining a tour. No longer needing the big boys there to hold its hand, the Chicago punk-rock outfit is stepping out of the shadows of mentor bands like Bad Religion. With its first major-label release, Siren Song of the Counter-Culture (DreamWorks), Rise Against has shown it…
When you scribble about bands for a regional publication every week like I do, it’s an occupational hazard that shitloads of crap local CDs arrive in the mail daily, destined to become coasters for cans of Budweiser. It’s rare that a local’s disc I come across is beyond lackluster, and…
“Dude,” says the kid with both his ears pierced, “it’s so obvious you are gay. Why not just come out and say it, you fag? I won’t judge you!” I look at this guy who has turned up at Phoenix’s notorious rip-off of the New York City Motherfucker Party, and…
It’s not often that I come across a courageous state bureaucrat who’s willing to risk everything to expose high-level corruption. That is, to do the right thing. This is the tale of one such employee who was rewarded for her valor by being fired from her post as executive director…
2/4-2/6 Despite whispers of its demise, the OutFar! Lesbian & Gay Film Festival traipses on. Festival director Amy Ettinger thought this year’s event might be the last, and then she was barraged with ticket inquiries and film submissions. “I was looking at the stacks of stuff and almost had a…
SUN 2/6 You gotta be from the ‘hood, according to Steve Weiss, to understand Arizona’s — statehood, that is: February 12, 1912, the day the Grand Canyon State joined the Union. “Growing up in Arizona,” says the 48-year-old Valley native, “you knew when statehood was celebrated. You learned about the…
The Reverend Doctor Lady Bishop, “America’s Premier Voodoo Priestess,” wears both a crucifix and a Star of David around her neck. “Voodoo is like gumbo,” she says. “In gumbo, you have a little bit of everything.” Indeed. Bishop, a.k.a. JoAnn Jennings, uses every clairvoyant trick in the book, from tarot…
After a long run at Boston’s/P.I., the Valley’s preeminent hip-hop night, Blunt Club, has made a temporary move to the Rio Salado Brewery on Mill Avenue in Tempe until it finds a permanent home. On Thursday, February 3, stop by to see your usual favorites: open mic sessions early in…
Don’t hold the six-word band name against Fear Before the March of Flames. The Denver band is neither indie rock nor attempting to cash in on a trend. However, FBTMOF does have one clear influence: hardcore genre-definers Converge. Until 2004, Converge had been MIA for three years, so it’s not…
For Cheryl Olson, a registered nurse who also chairs meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, the only thing worse than having her chatterbox, musical know-it-all husband hanging around the house all day, running his quirky little Internet radio station from the den, is having to listen to all the…
Lawrence McLaughlin, 48, painter, sculptor, part-time resident of France, and relentlessly cheerful former Minnesotan, has plenty to be happy about. His paintings and concrete monumental sculptures (his “babies”) are featured in galleries and private collections the world over, but are created in his “compound,” a vast hunk of rambling desert…
When the Valley’s own Jonathan Kaye returns to the FBR Open this week to defend his title against Vijay Singh, he might be swinging with BlueBalls. And it’s entirely possible that, when local favorites Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia grab their shafts this week, there’ll be a naked lady there…
“No foolin’, he got Jay-Z?” Jarrett Maupin II is hollering into his cell phone, pacing the hallway of the downtown office suite where the St. Mary’s senior spends most of his time after school. “Lord have mercy! That Rev is something else!” It’s the day before Maupin’s big trip to…
THU 3 Before 1978, it took more than faith and loyalty to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to become a priest in the Mormon church. Namely, it depended on gender and the color of one’s skin. While males continue to be the gender of choice for LDS leadership, the “revelation”…
