11 Best Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from Friday, September 30, through Sunday, October 2. For more, see our curated events calendar. 

Fall Forward
Sun Devil football may have kicked off over a month ago, but Arizona State University celebrates the start of a new season this weekend with Fall Forward, the first mainstage production of the ASU School of Film, Dance, and Theatre’s 2016-17 season. The annual dance showcase brings together local musicians, artists, and faculty for a choreographed commentary on space, time, and existence in the digital age through movement, film, and textile creations.

Curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 30, at Paul V. Galvin Playhouse Theatre, 51 East 10th Street in Tempe, with shows through the weekend. Tickets are $16 (with discounts available for ASU employees, alumni, and students) and can be purchased through the box office online at filmdancetheatre.asu.edu/events or over the phone at 480-965-6447. Janessa Hilliard

Scott Westerfeld Book-Signing
Locus Award-winner Scott Westerfeld is back with Swarm, the second installment of his “Zeroes” Trilogy. The bestselling author of the YA “Leviathan” series visits Changing Hands Tempe, 6428 South McClintock Drive, at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 30.

Described as X-Men meets Heroes, the series, co-written with Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti, follows the Zeroes, a group of six super-powered teens. The team has found success fighting mobsters and foiling robberies, but when a pair of new enemies come to town, the Zeroes face their worst enemies: themselves.

Swarm is available in hardcover for $19.99. A book purchase gets you two tickets, which are required for the signing. Visit www.changinghands.com or call 480-730-0205 for more information. Michael Senft

Forever in CO+HOOTS
Now in its sixth year as an incubator and home away from home office for more than 250 entrepreneurs, the co-working space CO+HOOTS has officially outgrown its baby clothes and is headed for something a little more … roomy: 14,000 square feet of room, to be exact.

CO+HOOTS and its cohorts have relocated from a downtown office to a new permanent residence at 221 East Indianola Avenue, and everyone’s invited to the housewarming. Rub elbows with fellow movers and shakers, grub on food truck fare, and celebrate the startup community from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, September 30, during Forever in CO+HOOTS.

Admission is free, but tickets are required through www.eventbrite.com/e/forever-in-cohoots-tickets-26467775830?aff=erellivmlt. VIP tickets are available for $99 and include four drink tickets and access to a pre-party dinner. For more on CO+HOOTS, visit cohoots.com. Janessa Hilliard

I Drink Your Blood
One of the first X-rated films, 1970’s I Drink Your Blood seems tame enough. Satanic, LSD-fueled hippies commit rape and get what they deserve: adulterated meat pies that transform them into rabid, satanic, homicidal hippies. No blood is drunk; the title’s a relic of a catchy double bill pairing Blood with a film rechristened I Eat Your Skin, in which no skin is eaten.

The distributor teamed up with Blood’s director to give theaters permission to un-X-ify the movie on their own, generating countless different versions. But you’ll enjoy 2006’s restoration in all its, uh, glory at FilmBar, 815 North Second Street, starting at 10 p.m. Friday, September 30. Admission is $9, with persons younger than 21 admitted with a parent or guardian. See www.thefilmbarphx.com. Julie Peterson

"CLAY"
Eric Boos set three green pear shapes inside a bright pink vessel with four legs, giving bowls a whimsical new twist for the juried biennial "CLAY” exhibition at The Gallery at Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 West Rio Salado Parkway, which opens on Friday, September 30. Kazuma Sambe placed suckling piglets in vintage flour sacks.

They’re two of more than 20 artists showing functional and decorative pieces made with various forms of clay, a medium Garth Johnson associates with a mischievous sense of humor. Curator for the ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center, Johnson is one of four jurors for the “CLAY” show, which features primarily metro Phoenix artists, including Danielle Wood, Christine Cassano, Jeff Reich, and Constance McBride.

See their work and enjoy light refreshments during the free opening reception with national artist Patsy Cox, happening from 6 to 9 p.m. Then check out workshops happening soon. Visit www.tempe.gov. Lynn Trimble

Downtown Flow
You can namaste in bed on Sunday morning, because Saturdays are for Downtown Flow — a free yoga class put on by Urban Yoga Phx and held at DeSoto Central Market, 915 North Central Avenue.

This free, all-levels Vinyasa flow class runs 60 minutes and is hosted by an Urban Yoga instructor. Class time for Saturday, October 1, is 10 to 11 a.m. in DeSoto’s indoor mezzanine. Just BYO mat. Participants also get 25 percent off at Radish Salad + Juice after class. To join, sign up with the instructor upon arrival. For more information, call 602-680-7747 or visit desotocentralmarket.com. Lauren Cusimano


Tour de Fat 2016
If that bicycle seat chafes you, now might be a good time to take care of that, as the 2016 Tour de Fat is wheeling into town on Saturday, October 1. The 17th annual Tour de Fat is one of those massive bike tours you hate when you’re in traffic, but is actually super fun when you’re participating.

Put on by New Belgium Brewing, Tour de Fat’s Arizona stop will begin registering cyclists at 10 a.m. at Tempe Beach Park, 80 East Rio Salado Parkway, with the ride starting at 11 a.m. Musical guests Dr. Dog, Esmé Patterson, and The Kolars are on the schedule, plus games and fashion shows. Costumes, beer drinking, and silliness will be unavoidable.

Entry for the family- and pet-friendly event is $10 at www.eventbrite.com. For more information, visit www.newbelgium.com or RSVP at www.facebook.com/events/462595130606846. Lauren Cusimano

"Push Comes to Shove"
Hit the first day for the “Push Comes to Shove: Women and Power” exhibition at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 7374 East Second Street, and you’ll get to explore works by 19 artists addressing ways women think about and use power. It’s happening Saturday, October 1, from noon to 9 p.m., when museum admission is $10 (or free after 5 p.m.).

Created in partnership with ASU intermedia professor Muriel Magenta, “Push Comes to Shove” aims to “use art as a critical catalyst in rethinking and transforming the advancement of women.” Featured artists include Angela Ellsworth, Hilary Harp, Adriene Jenik, Mary Neubauer and Todd Ingalls, and Magenta — who curates the exhibition with SMoCA curator Sara Cochran.

The show continues through January 8, 2017, but there’s reason enough to check it out the day it opens, because artists Gabriela Muñoz and M. Janea Sanchez will be doing a durational performance. Visit www.smoca.org. Lynn Trimble

Oddball Comedy Festival
If you love going to see your favorite stand-up comedians but feel like you’re still in the mood for laughs as they’re calling it a night, a multi-act festival might be just up your alley.

The Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival is a laugh riot on wheels. This touring shindig, now in its fourth year, is presented by the humor peddlers over at the Funny or Die website. It brings together a slew of comedians, with headliners on a mainstage and a side stage for up-and-comers. Jim Jeffries, Dane Cook, and Sebastien Maniscalco are among this year’s biggies.

Other performers include Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh from HBO’s Silicon Valley) and Iliza Shlesinger. Jeff Ross, the man behind Comedy Central’s many celebrity roasts, is the show’s host. Sides start splitting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 2, at Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd Avenue. Tickets are $29.95 to $125. Visit www.oddballfest.com. Amy Young

Ghost the Musical
At this point, it seems as though you could pitch a musical based on your favorite film, no matter how unlikely, and someone would produce it. So far we’ve encountered tuners that salute Legally Blonde, Grumpy Old Men, Carrie, and The Bridges of Madison County, among dozens of others. Well, why not? Sometimes the musical turns out even better than the movie.

Ghost the Musical is one of those titles that make us say, “Wait, what?” just before we wonder whether it’s a campy spoof. But it’s a straightforward homage penned by the romantic weepie’s screenwriter, with just enough special effects to justify those 2012 nominations for set design.

The international hit (currently touring Australia) premières in Arizona thanks to Glendale’s Brelby Theatre Company through Saturday, October 15, at 7154 North 58th Drive. On Sunday, October 2, showtime is 2 p.m. Tickets are $17 to $25 at brelby.com or 623-282-2781. Julie Peterson

"Bare It All"
For photographer Jaclyn Mo, a new exhibition at {9} The Gallery came from a persistent feeling of outrage and understanding: outrage at a society that polices women’s bodies, judging everything from shape to size, and understanding from someone whose experience has taught her what self-acceptance truly means.

The series, “Bare It All,” “stemmed from a desire to do something about it,” Mo says, using photography to remind viewers what real women look like, that insecurities aren’t insurmountable, and that “all bodies are good bodies.” The show, which debuts from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 2, features real women — friends and strangers alike — baring it all with confidence.

Attendees of the exhibition at 1229 Grand Avenue must be 18 or older. Visit www.facebook.com/events/234036930331994 for more information. Janessa Hilliard