If Bob Ross were alive today, he'd be painting happy little trees all over the place in ecstatic fervor for all the arts and culture happenings in Phoenix. To help you see the forest for the trees, here's a recap of the top arts and culture stories of the week.
Cycle: Score Deals and Brats at Bicycle Haüs Swap Meet in November
You always have to tip your hat to a local business that can not only hang in there eight years after opening, but grow into a local institution.
Scottsdale's Bicycle Haüs has done just that, and it's holding one of its famous swap meets to celebrate its anniversary.
The swap meet, now in its fourth year, is set for November 8 at 6:30 p.m. with no specific end time in mind. Bicycle Haüs will provide some tables for first-comers as well as brats, beer, some raffle prizes, and, most importantly, a place for cyclists to exchange war stories from the pavement and trails.
Here are the details on the Bicycle Haus's fourth annual swap meet.
--Jason Franz
Carrie Marill's Mural Is Defaced on Roosevelt Row; the Fight to Preserve Public Art Continues
Work by local painter Carrie Marill was brutally defaced Thursday night (the same night she gave a talk about her current exhibition at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art).
It was quickly painted over by Marill and members of Roosevelt Row the following morning.
Marill, painted the brick wall in March. The black and white mural of a woman on an old-school cruiser with a striped top and a hefty baguette in her bike basket is what the Marill describes as an homage to the late, iconic street artist Margaret Kilgallen, who died in 2001.
Thursday night was the second time Marill's mural had been defaced. The first time, Marill says someone wrote "pirate bootleg rip" over the mural, a likely reaction to her work being inspired by another artist.
And while the reaction was nothing new -- artists have debated inspiration, appropriation, and the life of public, ephemeral art since the emergence of fine art -- the defacement of public art raises questions within a community about the value of art and how much that community values the work on its walls.
Read the full story.
--Claire Lawton
Frank Lloyd Wright House in Phoenix Sold to Anonymous Buyer
The fight to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright house that's been in danger of demolition for the past few months may be over -- Robert Joffe, the real estate agent who listed the house at $2,379,000 has confirmed he has found a buyer
Joffe says the buyer has chosen not to release any personal information, but that the intent is to preserve and restore the historic property.
Today, the buyer met with Joffe and 8081 Meridian, the property's current owners in a "meeting of the minds." Next will be a walk through and process of due diligence, which will give the buyer time to get into the "guts" of the house, says Joffe, and then a close of escrow. According to Joffe, the process should take a few weeks.
Read more about the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home and see the large images.
--Claire Lawton
Five Reasons Why Star Wars Movies Will Be Better Under the Walt Disney Company
Star Wars fans around the world probably felt a major tremor in the Force on Tuesday as news broke across the universe that the Walt Disney Company is buying Lucasfilm from its founder George Lucas. And here's the kicker: The company is gonna start making Star Wars films almost immediately, with Episode VII coming out in 2015.
Better start planning your lineup now, Jedi fans.
The news of Disney's latest purchase of a geek-friendly franchise (the company also scooped up The Muppets in 2004 and Marvel Comics in 2009) is nothing but good news for fans of the space opera saga.
Sure, there's plenty of irony in the fact that the company that produced the late-70s Star Wars ripoff The Black Hole now owns the entire Star Wars universe, but the fact of the matter is that the newest movies set in a galaxy far, far away will be far, far better than those execrable prequels. And we have five reasons why.
--Benjamin Leatherman
DIY Glass Etching: A Semi-Dangerous How-To with Laurie Notaro
Would you like to see my etchings?
My mother used to buy liter glass bottles of Coke every week when I was in grade school. She knew when to buy more mayonnaise when the butter knife clinked along the inside of the glass jar, sounding a little like a wind chime.
We kept leftovers in Pyrex containers when I was little, and if you dropped a bottle of ketchup on your foot, you knew you could say goodbye to a toenail or two for a couple of months. I like the fact that I won't bleed out if I drop a bottle of orange juice anywhere near my neck, but at the same time, my compulsion to hang onto objects I feel are fleeting has turned my basement into something of a glass catacomb.
See what you can do with all those empty glass bottles piling up in your recycling container.
--Laurie Notaro
Don't forget to check out Jackalope Ranch's series, 100 Creatives.
