Get out and about this week with Jackalope Ranch's top picks for things to do in (and around) Phoenix.
Let's face it, you're not as fit as you'd like to be. That's okay, because the majority of the population is in the same boat. It's easy to fall off the wagon and nosh on some Cheetos while gorging on the new season of House of Cards, but the trick is getting back into a routine. Gyms are pricey, and it's getting hotter, so this can be a challenge. Fortunately, CityScape is here to help with free exercise classes during its Spring Fit Fest.
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On Monday, April 28, Shaun T acts like a pal and pushes your limits with Insanity. Participation includes free admission to Lustre's rooftop pool and 20 percent off food and drinks, so reward your hard work with a cocktail.
Get fit at CityScape, 1 East Washington Street, at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 28. This all-ages event is free. Visit www.cityscapephoenix.com. -- Melissa Fossum
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Colorado Rockies
One of the key benefits of Major League Baseball's impossibly long season is that it's virtually impossible for a team to be out of the hunt early in the season. A team can be an absolute dumpster-fire in April and still have 120-odd games to prove that month an aberration. This is just about the only good news the Arizona Diamondbacks have to work with after getting off to the worst start in franchise history.
The D-Backs will be looking to turn their luck around on Tuesday, April 29, when they take on the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field, 401 East Jefferson Street. The Rockies have been thoroughly mediocre, which makes them exactly the sort of team the Diamondbacks will have to start beating to turn their season around.
The game will start at 6:40 p.m. Tickets start at $5 and are available online via www.ticketmaster.com. -- Ed Kummerer
In the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," Elton John sings, "Butterflies are free to fly, fly away/fly away, bye bye." The insects at Desert Botanical Garden's Spring Butterfly Exhibit won't be so lucky, but visitors can enjoy their winged captivity through Monday, May 12. Hundreds of North America's beauties -- including Malachites, Giant Swallowtails, Julias, Great Southern Whites, Zebra Swallowtails, Queens, and Painted Ladies -- will be fluttering about the Marshall Butterfly Pavilion, sipping nectar, warming themselves in the winter desert sun, and exploring the special, colorful "host" plants that attract butterflies. Hold still long enough, wear bright colors, and one might just pay you a close-up visit.
The exhibit is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 1, at Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 North Galvin Parkway. Tickets to the exhibit are $3.50 for non-members and free for members. Garden admission is $22 for adults, $20 for seniors, $12 for students, and $10 for children between 3 and 12 years old. Through May 12. Call 480-941-1225 or visit www.dbg.org/events-exhibitions/spring-butterfly-exhibit. -- Glenn BurnSilver
Moshe Kasher has been through some stuff. Before graduating high school and becoming a writer and playwright, he was a sign language interpreter, drug addict, Hasidic Jew, and avid gangster rap fan. Lucky for audiences, Kasher added stand-up comic to his list of titles, working through his past and present in hilarious self-deprecation that reflects on everything from his love of literature to his distaste for Ireland.
"I started comedy like everybody else did. I just got up on stage and luckily I got laughs instead of boos," he says. "I don't think my ego could have taken my first set being a bad set and so I got trapped in the undertow that is comedy."
Kasher says he hopes audiences come out to his Phoenix shows, preferably to laugh and even more preferably with enchiladas for him. He will be performing six sets at Stand Up Live, 50 West Jefferson from Thursday, May 1, through Sunday, May 4. Tickets and more information can be found online at www.standuplive.com or by calling the box office at 480-719-6100. -- Heather Hoch
When film director David DeCoteau, a former production assistant for Robert Corman who's famous for the "boxer briefs horror" genre, wants to stretch his artistic muscles (we're guessing), he makes (under an assumed name) feel-good family romps like A Talking Cat!?! -- reputedly not the finest "so bad it's good" movie ever, but better than, say, Sharknado, as well as entertaining and full of feels. It stars a grown-up Johnny Whitaker (A Family Affair, Tom Sawyer), Kristine DeBell (Meatballs, Eight Is Enough), and Eric Roberts (Eric Roberts!) as the voice of the cat. One IMDb commenter says one of the younger actresses looks "too much" like Daniel Tosh -- as though that's even possible.
Comedian and New Times contributor Jose Gonzalez hosts a screening of A Talking Cat!?! at FilmBar, 815 North Second Street, including a cat-alike costume contest for audience members, starting at 11:55 p.m. Friday, May 2. Admission's $9 for the event, open only to people 21 and older, because FilmBar serves sometimes vitally important alcohol. Visit www.thefilmbarphoenix.com or call 602-595-9187. -- Julie Peterson