An extra-long Labor Day weekend means there's more than usual to do. From partying to pageantry, here are your best bets for getting out and about.
Splat! Paint & Foam Party @ Arizona Event Center Who needs "good clean fun" when you can get a little dirty? Such is the premise of Splat's annual paint party.
This rave spans three stages, each designated for paint, foam, and a "clean" zone. The bash boasts a laundry list of DJs that run the gamut from hardstyle to electro to dubstep, including the talents of Luminox, Freddy Todd, DJ Dali, St8house, and many more. Guests are encouraged to wear white in order to make the paint appear that much more brilliant. (But don't worry; the paint is washable, though you may want to keep your colorful clothes as a souvenir.) VIP ticketholders receive a complimentary bottle of paint, because dousing somebody with hot pink paint isn't a bad way to break the ice.
See also: 12 Labor Day Weekend Parties in Metro Phoenix
Get your groove on at Splat's Paint and Foam Party on Friday, August 30, at Arizona Event Center, 1300 South Country Club Drive, Suite105, in Mesa. Doors open at 7 p.m., but the all-ages party rages until 3 a.m. General admission tickets are $20, and VIP are $30. Visit www.facebook.com/1vibeofficial or call or text 602-315-9023 for info. -- Melissa Fossum
An Evening with Mink Stole @ The Rock While people are still flipping their lids over Orange is the New Black, we wouldn't blame cult film queen Mink Stole if she considered it old hat. She tackled the role of Esther, devout Christian on death row, in Steve Balderson's 2009 tongue-in-cheek homage to women-in-prison flicks, Stuck! Stole gets free when she touches down in the Valley Friday, August 30.
There aren't too many screen archetypes Stole hasn't played, and that isn't surprising considering she's been featured in the majority of John Waters'delightfully filthy films including Pink Flamingoes, Desperate Living, and Female Trouble. In addition to a Q&A and some meet & greet time, Stole will belt out some tunes from her Kickstarter-supported album, Do Re MiNK!
An Evening with Mink Stole starts at 10 p.m. at The Rock, 4129 North Seventh Avenue. Admission is $25. For more information, visit www.therockdmphoenix.com or call 602-248-8559. -- Jose Gonzalez
Miss Arab USA 2013 @ Talking Stick Resort Frankly, we get a little bored with the whole Miss America thing -- and we're not even talking Donald Trump.Year after year, America's most major pageant features the same old stuff: huge hair, sparkles, swimsuits. We get it.
But dammit if the Miss Arab USA 2013 pageant hasn't piqued our interest. Women who vie for the crown must speak fluent Arabic and make it through rounds of judging before being selected (or not) for the final five who will compete in a full-fledged pageant on August 31. The winner gets some sweet prizes, in addition to the requisite crown and sash, including a cameo in an upcoming Akon video. Not too shabs.
Check out the competition Saturday, August 31, at Talking Stick Resort, 9800 East Indian Bend Road in Scottsdale. Tickets are $35 and up via www.missarab.org. -- Becky Bartkowski
Saboten Con 2013 @ Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa Über-fans of Japanese pop culture have just the right mix of creativity and weirdness. Coming up with the perfect Zelda or Final Fantasy cosplay (a portmanteau of costume play) is pretty cool, but seeing folks wearing ears and tails can be strange. The sixth annual Saboten Con has a little bit of everything, making it one of the largest anime conventions in the Southwest. Voice actors like Yuko Miyamura, Travis Willingham, and Laura Bailey will participate in panels between the cosplay masquerade and J-fashion show. The real fun comes with the special events, such as a Pride & Petticoats tea party led by the Arizona Lolitas and cafes dedicated to sexy maids and the NERV crew from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Get your nerd on at Saboten Con through September 2 at the Glendale Renaissance Hotel, 9495 West Coyotes Boulevard. Convention hours are 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 31, through 1:30 a.m. the following morning. Single day tickets start at $35. Call 480-428-2776 or visit www.sabotencon.com. -- Melissa Fossum
Indie Game: The Movie @ Phoenix Art Museum Everyone has played video games at least once -- be it old school Pong or Ms. PacMan, the über-popular Angry Birds or Call of Duty. Somehow, no one is immune to the allure of playing. But what of the people behind the scenes, the makers, distributors, and visionaries of these obsessive diversions? Indie Game: The Movie delves deep behind the computer chip as the first feature documentary about the making of video games. An official selection of Sundance 2012 and SXSW 2012, the film follows three people in their development of games they hope go big -- like a skinless boy looking for his girlfriend made of bandages -- all the while sacrificing family, friends, money, and normalcy to bring their video visions to the world.
The documentary rolls 1 p.m. Sunday, September 1, at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue. Tickets are $5. Visit: www.phxart.org/event/e80ed78e-b895-9e3d-5af6-15906af9d260 or call 602-257-1222. -- Glenn BurnSilver
