Since the opening of University of Phoenix Stadium and the hiring of head coach Ken Whisenhunt, the Arizona Cardinals have made significant strides toward painting this anti-Bidwill town red. The Birds have developed a nice little home-field advantage, and it’s rare anymore to see the UofP blitzed with foreign colors…
Way back in 1884, a small band of heat-addled Phoenicians put their hardscrabble noggins together and thunk up the Arizona Territorial Fair, which was essentially a reason to bust out of their stifling shotgun shacks after a season on the brink of madness. The diversions they installed at the old…
“Awwwwwwwwwwwww.” That’s what our 2-year-old is wont to say, followed by “So coot,” whenever he sees something that’s particularly charming to 2-year-old eyes. It’s what we’re saying as our charmed orbs scan the not-quite-cuddly creatures on display in the “Dia de los Plush” exhibit. The handmade creations are stuffed-animal-style representations…
Back in the day, we haunted a moviehouse that changed its marquee every single day. And not only flicks, but entire bills of fare. One day, there’d be a Peter Sellers triple-bill, the next a pairing of 2001 and Barbarella. Today’s movie-biz mechanics have made such an approach wildly unfeasible,…
Having a doctorate in arcane British lit might not seem like the fastest track to fortune, but canny author Philippa Gregory snapped on something few others grasped: those feisty Tudors (her specialty) were as jam-packed with sex appeal and drama queens as any 10 Disney Channel shows. Gregory’s 2002 novel…
In a nutshell, here’s the problem with pop culture: Marilyn Monroe created the template. Madonna was a knockoff, but a scam artist with enough personal charisma and talent to make the theft seem in some ways like an homage. Britney Spears is what’s left after all the inbreeding: a hollow…
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…
Those who think Rush wrote the line “All the world’s a stage” won’t know, or care, that Southwest Shakespeare Company has taken certain liberties with the Bard’s great comedy As You Like It, SSC’s season opener. On the other hand, those who believe it’s heresy to tinker with Shakespeare –…
So you’re a musician, the commercially nonviable kind. You have friends in high places who could grease palms and open doors if you wanted, but enlisting their support damns you to suckdom-by-affiliation. New Mickey Mouse Club alum Tony Lucca made his choice, as his promo materials blithely pass over the…
It’s a shame in a way – but then again, not at all – that most people first come to Dashiell Hammett via Tinseltown translations of his hardboiled prose. The Glass Key. The Thin Man. The Maltese Falcon. The latter book, adapted in letter-perfect fashion for the big screen by…
You’ve gotta hand it to the creators of the mobile pop-culture concept called the Seinfeld Campus Tour, ’cause they’re pretty front-and-center about what it’s supposed to do: “integrate the hit sitcom directly into the digital, on-the-move, multi-tasking lifestyle of college students and members of the 70 million-plus millennial demographic.” If…
You’ve gotta hand it to the creators of the mobile pop-culture concept called the Seinfeld Campus Tour, ’cause they’re pretty front-and-center about what it’s supposed to do: “integrate the hit sitcom directly into the digital, on-the-move, multi-tasking lifestyle of college students and members of the 70 million-plus millennial demographic.” If…
It’s a shame in a way – but then again, not at all – that most people first come to Dashiell Hammett via Tinseltown translations of his hardboiled prose. The Glass Key. The Thin Man. The Maltese Falcon. The latter book, adapted in letter-perfect fashion for the big screen by…
Our parents, who would’ve been clapped in irons today, took us to see Barbarella when we were 7. All we really remember is a bunch of nasty-ass space dolls gnawing on Jane Fonda’s thighs – and that this freaky shit beat the crap out of Dumbo. Discover – or rediscover…
If the Arizona Diamondbacks end up winning the National League West, it’ll be due in large part to a career .247 hitter named Adam Dunn. The big, beefy Texas steer – all 6-foot-6, 275 pounds of him – came to the D-Backs in an August 11 trade with the Cincinnati…
If it were any team other than the Arizona Cardinals, we’d say chalk up an automatic W against the Miami Dolphins, who’ll probably still be hapless despite the offseason addition of GM Bill (“Tuna”) Parcells (pictured in a typical pose). But these are, alas, our Cards, and they’ll be lucky…
It’s often said of Phoenicians – not unfairly – that we’re less than worldly wise. In fact, we at New Times were recently batting the issue around: Is it better to live in a place where life is permanently in yo face or one where the living is easy? Our…
Don’t go clubbing today expecting to trip to the spins of your pet-fave DJ, ’cause odds are, he or she’ll be slamming in the sticks at Earthdance 2008. We exaggerate slightly, but the lineup of MCs and DJs at this year’s noisy fundraiser for Earthdance International and the Emaho Foundation…
We don’t know about you, but there were times during the recent Beijing Olympics when we wanted to rain death blows on the Chinese party goons running things. A dark alley, some strategically placed mystery chops, and suddenly it’s our lady gymnasts dominating the medal podium instead of those teensy…
By Clay McNear Before we look forward, a quick look back . . . ASU vs. Stanford in Tempe, September 6 This game was supposed to be a lot closer than the end result, a 41-17 thumping of the Cardinal by senior QB Rudy Carpenter (pictured) and crew. After years…
What is it about the desert that makes people wax poetic? And how can we make them stop? Holly Metz, a West Virginia native, takes smashing black-and-white photos of the parched terrain near her Gila River Indian Community home, many of which you can see in her “The Spirit of…
Oprah. Elvis. Charlie’s Angels. Prison inmates. Fashion victims all, thanks to the jumpsuit. We’d tease and taunt these dinos and ne’er-do-wells, but, God help us, the vexing garment seems to be making a comeback. Rihanna was recently seen wearing a floral-print number. Maggie Gyllenhaal wore one to The Dark Knight…
