Murder. Scandal. Black-ops. Military profiteering. Fraud. Bribery. Beltway blackmail. Hmmm, you’d think author Len Downie Jr. had written a secret history of the past two presidential administrations in his debut novel, The Rules of the Game. In a way, he has. The gripping read is an end product of the…
Joel Davis – a.k.a. DJ Epidemic – has some mighty clackers. Whether you consider Dolly Parton camp personified or a bumpkin genius, it takes a lead-covered set for a quasi-underground jock to banner his MySpace page with a funked-up remix of Dolly’s “Joleen.” But the DJ’s “Joleen Epidemic Edit” is…
Generally speaking, we frown on guided hikes. The Sonoran Desert is not the Louvre, and true hikers hardly need to have someone spell out its (fairly obvious) magnificence. The extraordinary exception is the Elephant Mountain Fortress Hike. The relatively difficult seven-miler takes participants into the park’s achingly beautiful backcountry for…
Murder. Scandal. Black-ops. Military profiteering. Fraud. Bribery. Beltway blackmail. Hmmm, you’d think author Len Downie Jr. had written a secret history of the past two presidential administrations in his debut novel, The Rules of the Game. In a way, he has. The gripping read is an end product of the…
Some say the Super Bowl is the only true remnant of America’s once-communal society. If you call getting assaulted by four-hour pregame shows and inane advertising communal, okay. But we’d argue that the last moment when this society was truly at one was July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong planted…
Charlotte’s Boris Diaw in his strange new role: starter. If Charlotte were Philly, the Phoenix Suns would be wise to beware of flying alkaline batteries and half-filled beer cups when they take the court against the Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena at 5 p.m. tonight. But North Carolina’s still part…
There’s nothing like being in a public place without the public. We’ve achieved this higher state of being twice, and we’re not about to tell you where or how. Find your own deserted public crib to crash. As an example, take the Phoenix Zoo, a facility that’s difficult to navigate…
Our semi-dated T-shirt features an image of Dubya and Cheney man-hugging beneath the catch phrase “Meet the Fuckers,” so we’re probably not the target demo for the folks behind the Papago Military Vehicle Show. But even conscientious objectors should dig the unusual antique and vintage conveyances on display at the…
If you’re an eBay PowerSeller, you’ll scoff at this modest sale. Personally, we go to this low-key annual affair ’cause we like books. We like choosing them. We like reading them. When we’ve finished the last line, we like placing them on a shelf and feeling a small ping! of…
Because they’re antithetical to our moviegoing comfort zone of 20 minutes of previews and a 100-minute feature, short films require a special sort of patience that has nothing to do with time and everything with a different way of seeing. For those with the right kind of eyes, the payoff…
You wanna see Bill Shatner? Turn on Boston Legal. We prefer pop-cultural sci-fi icons who aren’t quite so, uh, iconic, and this year’s Phoenix Comicon will dish out a heaping helping of special guests from the pop-cult fringe. These include Richard LeParmentier, the Death Star Commander in the original Star…
There may be nothing new under the sun, but back in late 1978, four skinny British kids named David Haskins, Kevin Haskins, Peter Murphy, and Daniel Ash cooked up something totally unprecedented beneath the Northampton gloom. The band was Bauhaus. The foreboding, atmospheric sound was eventually dubbed gothic rock. Music…
We like to hike at night, but last time out, we’re pretty sure we saw a zombie gnawing on some fresh man meat. Or it could’ve been a rock formation. At any rate, if you have any sort of qualms about the dark, don’t go on this kinda-creepy pitch-black trip…
Bid Bidwill, Ken Whisenhunt, and Rod Graves in January 2007 The Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl, and the world didn’t end. Despite their myriad critics, maybe that means they belong there. Dangerous corollary for a young team: Maybe they’re beginning to think they belong there. Luckily for…
Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh At 1 Sunday afternoon in Glendale, the Arizona Cardinals play the biggest game in franchise history. At 10:30 that morning in chilly Canada, the Phoenix Suns, uh, don’t. The Suns’ opponent is the Toronto Raptors, who’re battling Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks for the basement in the…
Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt is Arizona’s ace in the hole. Color Terry Bradshaw red, for he has seen the light, brother. After ragging on the Cardinals all year, the shiny-domed former Super Bowl MVP announced his conversion on the FOX NFL Sunday postgame show following Arizona’s shocking dismantling of…
A mid-January game against the Minnesota Timberwolves is no big D, right? The playoffs-bound Phoenix Suns will ring up these bottom-feeding fools without stainin’ their sweats, yo? Wrong on both counts. And that “playoff-bound” part is dicey, in and of itself. Everyone but the Suns seems to realize that every…
Good news for the Phoenix Suns: Tonight’s opponents are the Minnesota Timberwolves, mainstays of the NBA’s bottom-feeding contingent. Bad news: Like many NBA dogs, the T-Wolves historically give the Suns fits, though the Big Cactus and crew did pull off a 110-102 win in Minneapolis back on November 26. Really…
If you want to appeal to the better angels of our nature, seduce our inner demons. That’s the plan at SWAY Events’ Sugar & Champagne, a fundraiser for H.E.R.O. (Human & Equal Rights Organizers) that features “indulgent” eats, “decadent” drinks, and lounge-music spins by bad-boy PHX DJ William Fucking Reed…
After the Philadelphia Eagles stunned the top-seeded New York Giants on January 11 at the Jersey Meadowlands, a friend e-mailed us the following missive: “Am I on crack, or are the Arizona Cardinals about to host the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles?” Nope, we’re not collectively hammered on gutter…
About the only thing this swank culinary experience will lack is, uh, Barack Obama. Tea Loft owners and Virginia natives Glynis and Eric Legrand aim to capture this “amazing moment in time” with an evening-long celebration to warm even the most crimson of Red State hearts. Amenities include a cocktail…
It’s the best of times and the worst of times for the Angeleno sports fan. There’s still no NFL, and none on the near horizon, which seems to bother the NFL more than it does L.A. Jack Nicholson’s once again grinning like a pre-lobotomy Randle Patrick McMurphy since his pet…
