Camille Messina, 24, fashion designer, filmmaker, singer and hairdresser, lives with three roommates, four pets and one creepy mannequin in a quaint Tempe condo. Favorite art form: I don’t know. Fashion comes the easiest. If I haven’t done that in a long time, it makes me feel better. Music is…
Arizona’s cowboy history and cactus-speckled landscape are permanent fixtures, so when we’re not grumbling about the kitschy paraphernalia and silly stereotypes that come attached, we might as well celebrate their presence. This year, we’re getting a little help from the experts at the Smithsonian Institution when Smithsonian magazine brings its…
Wed 11/3 With the D-Backs in freefall, the Cardinals in the basement, and the Coyotes involved in a lockout nobody cares about, the smart money is on the new and improved Phoenix Suns to reclaim their status as the big dogs of the Valley’s sports landscape. Just months removed from…
Tue 11/2 For politically active artists (redundant, we know), the presidential election is a bit like the Super Bowl, sans the beer commercials. Perfect time to gather like minds around the tube with some snacks, sodas and, in this case, a night full of satire. While election-watching parties on Tuesday,…
Ditch your donkey-show and dollar-a-day hooker dreams. Tijuana is a real town with more to love than its proximity. So says Culture Clash, a national Chicano-Latino performance troupe. Clash is breaking down cultural barriers and busting gringo balls with its original play Bordertown, the opening of the Actors Theatre’s 20th…
10/21-11/14 Bob “Daddy-O” Wade knows weird when he sees it — or makes it. The “King of Texas Kitsch,” as fans and art enthusiasts call him, has long turned the dull into dazzling and the useless into priceless. His Technicolor-terrific revisions of early 1900s Western photography will be on display…
Sat 10/16 Does Todd McFarlane ever sleep? In between overseeing day-to-day operations at three different companies, raising three kids, developing movie and television projects, and occasionally drawing pages for his signature title Spawn, the Valley resident and comic book mogul has been putting the finishing touches on McFarlane Toys Showroom…
Sun 10/17 While men fantasize about the seductive third-date strip tease, women dread the nuances that come with the nerve-racking experience. What music do I play? Where does one find an industry-standard strip pole? Can granny panties ever look sexy? Who will hold my boobs up while I dance? How…
A displaced mother and daughter beg for food in India, where women and children make up 75 percent of refugees. A homeless Ethiopian woman clutches her baby, fighting the chill of winter from the newborn’s tiny body. A woman slaves away on a plantation in south Asia. The images are…
It’s too easy to label Rachel Bess dark. After all, the 24-year-old artist harbors an obvious obsession with mortality. Her artwork is more still-dead than still-life, often incorporating fragments of animal skeletons or human skulls, and the bleak landscapes she paints, with titles like The Nightmare, have earned the moniker…
Mike Maas has more than a few skeletons in his closet. The budding artist who spent his childhood watching Creature Feature boasts a house full of monsters, goblins, freaks and bunnies. Yes, bunnies — both real and ceramic — the signature touch of sweetness that wife Jodi lends to Mike’s…
If splashy special effects and epic backdrops are a must for your theater-going experience, Phoenix Theatre’s Seventh Annual New Works Festival might not be for you. The monthlong festival, starting this weekend, showcases a workshop production of a new musical and staged readings of three new plays. In other words,…
If the Icehouse smells like a stable on Friday, July 9, don’t be discouraged. The open-air art venue still caters to art enthusiasts and primo partygoers — but with a twist of benevolence. “Amalgamation,” a one-night art exhibition to benefit Gilbert’s Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, starts at 6 p.m. Friday and…
Bedazzling in your Uncle Sam novelty hat and puffy-paint flag shirt, with nowhere to go? At least it’s the Fourth of July this time — and not your cousin’s bat mitzvah. (Don’t worry — we’ve made the same mistake.) No need to waste your ingenious ensemble on homemade barbecues and…
6/25-6/26 Scott Sanders, owner of the Paper Heart Gallery, has his own method of bitch-slapping culture-deprived Valley residents. This time it’s with “Haz Mat,” the Heart’s latest installment of experimental music, theater and video art. The two-night gig, which promises to open your mind — and then screw with it…
6/11-6/20 With titles such as Death and Taxes, The Trouble With Death and A Prison in the Heart in its repertoire, Phoenix-based Sharkey Productions could win a prize for the most depressing act in town. But since the independent theater company prides itself on producing original plays with a touch…
When the Phoenix Coyotes fail and the Arizona Diamondbacks don’t deliver, it might be time to invest our loyalty in a new breed of athlete — one the average office Joe can relate to. Representing every cubicle-dwelling dweeb and hardworking, soft-bellied stiff of corporate America, the fourth annual Aeron Chair…
Steve Uren is too cool to knit — or so you’d think. His thick, russet glasses offset short, spiky hair, and his tee shirt, which boasts a menacing skull with crossing swords, doesn’t exactly scream craftwork. Even his gritty last name (pronounced the way you think it is) fits his…
Sat 5/22 Carlos Urtubey, a baritone of Colombian descent, tells the story of one of the zarzuela duets (lyric Spanish theater) he’ll perform — “Canta Mendigo Errante” — on Saturday, May 22, at the Phoenix Center for the Arts. “That song is about a Gypsy who sings to try to…
Fri 5/21 To compensate for the swelling First Friday crowds, some downtown art venues are adding a second evening of events each month. “[First Friday has] become a big party in downtown, which is great,” says JRC, owner of The Trunk Space, “but, for serious collectors or people who are…
Fri 4/30 At 22, Zachary Yoshioka would be the youngest working director in Hollywood, by far. As it is, he’s ASU’s only filmmaker with 14 movies and music videos on his rsum — and a legion of low-budget cinemaniacs yearning for him to make it big. “I’d love a picture…
If it weren’t for Chris LaMont’s and Golan Ramras’ curious desire to spoof Hollywood “it” boys Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the Phoenix Film Festival might still be a figment of the young filmmakers’ imaginations. And movie buffs might still be sifting through “Mike’s favorite picks” at their local Blockbluster…
