Claudia Webb can't forget the day her late husband was betrayed by his union. Reed Webb was a new salesman for the U S West Direct Yellow Pages in Phoenix. In 1991, his second year, Webb's sales were near the top of the highly competitive 30-member staff that sold the...
At first, it seemed like a routine shoplifting case, recalls Phoenix police detective Larry Stubbs. "I've been a cop for 23 years," says Stubbs, who investigated the case late last year, "and this is the only time I can remember a shoplifter who says he was innocent who apparently was...
Two years ago, Denzel Washington earned an Academy Award best-supporting-actor nomination for his portrayal of South African black-consciousness leader Stephen Biko in Cry Freedom. Then he waited for the big offers to pour in. Then he waited some more. And some more . . . What about the critical acclaim,...
Recently, the Tucson Police Department's child-abuse detail confiscated artwork by local artist-photographer Robyn Stoutenburg from the city's downtown Gallery Six & 13--without a validly executed search warrant. Twelve of the artist's photographs were seized after the principal of an adjacent middle school complained of the propriety and accessibility of the...
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The best if you were selling tickets; the worst if you were buying them. And now, only one question remains. Will film historians of the future refer to this as "The Heaven's Gate Decade," "The Ishtar Decade," or...
Writing this is not going to be easy. On the way down to the New Times command center this past, glorious Super Bowl Sunday, I drove through the drive-through at Omega Burger. Bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, soda; an American meal. Now here's the ugly part: As I made my way...
They will sentence Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the hour. The courtroom is in the old Phoenix Union High School. "Where can I find Kareem's courtroom?" I ask. The receptionist on the main floor doesn't have to check her chart. "You mean that basketball player?" she asks. I nod. "Down the stairs...
When word leaks out that you're going to be interviewing Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the stars of Lethal Weapon and its new sequel, called (what else?) Lethal Weapon 2, you can count on getting two reactions. Reaction No. 1 (from females of all ages): "MEL GIBSON?!? Oh, my God!...
If there is a normal career path for Academy Award-winning actresses, Geena Davis certainly isn't following it. Prior to being Oscarized in March for her performance in The Accidental Tourist as a dog trainer at the Meow Bow Animal Hospital who is in love with a reluctant travel writer, Davis'...
The long, lean black man takes a break from tinkering with a car beneath the South Phoenix sun. Drenched with sweat, he falls onto a tattered couch under a paloverde tree. "I remember sitting under a shade tree as a kid watching my dad fix a car," the man says,...
Special message to readers from Cap'n Dave: This is the second installment of my special guest-review program, by which I goof off for several weeks and have my friends do all the work, at least until the new serious restaurant reviewer punches in on March 14. This week it's Tom...
Prior to the Eighties, the desert dining scene might best be characterized by its cheap (but delectable) chimichanga chow and its pretty (but indigestible) resort restaurant ambiance. Even as late as 1979-1/2, high-tone Valley victualizing often meant the likes of generic Veal Oscar and canned vegetables, albeit served in beautiful...
During one of the few days he actually appeared for work at the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, James Abbott McNeill Whistler executed a small engraving of an island in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California. Because he was Whistler, he could not resist adding some...
If the Guinness Book of World Records has a category for Shortest Radio Talk-Show Appearance, I'm a shoo-in to make the next edition. In my role as New Times/KTAR-AM radio film critic, I was all set to go on Michael Dixon's midday program to chat about the previous night's Oscar-doling...
City Sights 'n' Sounds, Phoenix's noontime nod to the muses in Patriots Square, is under siege. By Oscar the Grouch. The daily one-hour serving of live music is the only regular, cheap cultural alternative to dirty-movie houses within miles of downtown. But someone in that swarm of high-rises surrounding the...
When the Babbitts abandoned Arizona to pursue the White House, they bequeathed Evan Mecham and Rose Mofford to those of us left behind. Not content with this questionable legacy, the Babbitts have once again taken to the road, most recently to midwive the birth of democracy in the unlikely precincts...
"Ric Rankins did not die in vain," the speaker shouted last Sunday night. "His death has created a new spirit in this community." The crowd packed into the low-ceilinged meeting hall of the church on Broadway and 19th Street cheered. Seated in the front row were black political leaders state...
There should never have been a doubt. Those two Smitty's supermarket workers who allegedly strangled Ric Rankins last July deserve to stand trial for manslaughter. At first I was appalled by the mishandling of the case by County Attorney Richard Romley. His cynical excuse for avoiding the controversial case was...
They finally elected Bill Veeck to baseball's Hall of Fame. I don't pretend to know how that honor would sit with him, though. Even though he was an owner most of his years in the game, Veeck was always considered an iconoclast. While most owners have always thought a baseball...
Not all is running perfectly at the world's largest jazz festival. It's 2:30 a.m. in the Dutch concert hall in which the North Sea Jazz Festival is being held. Trumpeter Lester Bowie sits backstage, waiting to go on with his band Brass Fantasy. The situation threatens disaster for the jazzman...
Ethics evangelist Michael Josephson is trying to heal Arizona, a state made gimpy by corruption. Last week he spoke to a large roomful of attorneys. This week he speaks to the Arizona State Legislature, then the Arizona Press Club. He has cornered all the usual suspects, in other words. Josephson,...
Evelyn Grgurich remembers the first time the lineup for this year's Sedona Jazz on the Rocks festival was discussed. "I brought up Pat Metheny's name a few times," she recalls, referring to the experimental jazz guitarist. A seven-year member of the Jazz on the Rocks board, Grgurich also served a...
