It’s hard to feel pity for something with four-inch spikes, but even an Echinocereus fendleri deserves a break from the sun. It’s a fearsome thing, the Sonoran hedgehog cactus, but also a thing of beauty, which is why Desert Botanical Garden wants to keep fendleri and friends comfortable and resplendent…
Michael Lundgren takes a nice pic. His silver-gel landscapes offer unadorned depictions of our lovely, denuded desert. Odds are, you’ll like ’em. So God forbid the works should be allowed to speak for themselves. No, their meanings must be spelled out, tediously, in terms you have no hope of understanding…
Here’s something you’ve never stopped to ask yourself: Why are the words “hog” and “motorcycle” often used interchangeably? You think it’s because revving choppers sound like snorting swine, don’t you? As poetic as that would be, it’s not so, as you’ll find out after visiting the Harley-Davidson Traveling Museum, a…
Tiger Woods snubs the Valley every year. At least budding superstar Michelle Wie wanted to be here. The 18-year-old received an exemption from the Safeway International that would have allowed her to compete as a pro for the first time in Arizona, but an injury nixed that idea. Oh, well…
The sweetie-pie star of the Food Network show Quick Fix Meals With Robin Miller unveils her new book, which is titled (take a deep breath, ’cause, appropriately, it’s a real mouthful) Robin to the Rescue: Quick & Simple Ideas for Delicious Home Cooking, an Essential Guide for Getting Weeknight Meals…
The brain child of Portland improv comic Aaron Ross, this touring production features Ross as a throwback windbag of a talk-show host based on the real-life author of a motivational book Ross found at a thrift store. The show also features a house band named Thuggage and a requisite second…
One of our favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon is hit up Phoenix Art Museum’s repertory-film series. For one thing, it’s free. Second, it’s free. Three, the movies are projected on a real screen as opposed to a wobbly reject from your old grade-school history class. Four, the…
A drummer for a Southern-rock band — let’s go whole hog and say the Southern-rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd — painting prissed-out carousel ponies? That and Michael Cartellone’s highly suspect list of former running buddies (Eddie Jobson of Roxy Music, Tommy Shaw of Styx, Peter Frampton, Damn Yankees! Freddie Mercury!! Cher!!!)…
Those who believe in signs – or like to pull the wings off of flies – saw a golden opportunity for the Phoenix Suns to hurdle another playoffs roadblock when Houston Rockets center Yao Ming went down with a season-ending injury. Well, suck it up, boys, ’cause the Ming-free Rockets…
If you know of him at all, you know singer/songwriter Steve Poltz by his association with Jewel, with whom he wrote the No. 1 hit “You Were Meant for Me.” It’s hard to imagine a more unlikely pair to pen a No. 1 song. Jewel’s a slacker megastar who’s can’t,…
The NFL-champion New York Giants finished 14th out of 32 teams in scoring. Yaaaaawn. The San Antonio Spurs, reigning NBA overlords, are averaging 95.8. Blaaaaah. Our Arena-league pinball wizards, the Arizona Rattlers, won their March 1 opener 63-62. Scooooore! And continued satisfaction is guaranteed thanks to the team’s historic playoffs-or-full-refund…
Football is full of mobile sides of beef who’d kick their grannies in the dentures if push came to shove. The NBA is mean streets all the way. Robert Horry. Steve Nash. ’Nuff said? The NHL? Todd Bertuzzi. Chris Simon. Marty McSorley. Butchers on ice, the lot of ’em. Baseball,…
Football is full of mobile sides of beef who’d kick their grannies in the dentures if push came to shove. The NBA is mean streets all the way. Robert Horry. Steve Nash. ’Nuff said? The NHL? Todd Bertuzzi. Chris Simon. Marty McSorley. Butchers on ice, the lot of ’em. Baseball,…
Most rap sports the power of a guerrilla uprising and the musicality of a cantaloupe. Thump. Those who like a little melody with their revolution should check out DJ Spider, a world-beating L.A. spin doctor who specializes in hip-hop but deftly drops in elegant soul stirs by the likes of…
Those wacky government employees at Goodyear’s Estrella Mountain Regional Park are at it again with their Full Moon Over Ireland Hike. This time, bards in boots compete in an Irish History Month limerick contest while trekking ’neath the silvery orb. It leaves at the Toothaker trailhead. Fri., March 21, 6:30…
Despite the bold assertion in the accompanying photo, author/photojournalist Tammy Lechner should’ve titled her book Chicago Cubs: Big, Fat Losers. Rather, she chose the high road with her new Our Team, Our Dream: A Cubs Fan’s Journey Into Baseball’s Greatest Romance — described as a “passionate photo documentary highlighting 15…
It’s soooo tempting to buy one of those cheerful-looking succulents you see in the Garden department at Target. Don’t succumb! They’re mass-produced and babied in nurseries, and they’ll almost certainly croak after a week of exposure to the summer heat. While a lot of places pretend to know what they’re…
George couldn’t draw to save his life. Linda was into photography, and thus went Paul. Ringo still uses Crayons to pen his daily mail — so we hear. That, by default, makes John our favorite Beatle artist. We’ll be polite and call his works whimsical. While we’d never hang the…
Now, it may seem odd to recommend a team that finished 69-93 in ’07, but the Kansas City Royals are making some noise in Big Mo — and in Tokyo — with their high-powered Japanese hurlers Hideo Nomo and Yasuhiko Yabuta. Best thing to happen in KC since the invention…
The French Revolution. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The oppressed escaped from the boot heel of the bourgeoisie, there were a few beheadings. Similarly, America’s pop-culture insurrection has given us great stuff like The Simpsons and the iPhone, but a lot’s been lost…
Unless you were head cheerleader, starting quarterback, or Miley Cyrus, you’re probably still nursing some festering wounds from high school. That’s why we’re collectively drawn to movies about the Four Years Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned. As Phaedrus, the Roman author and onetime slave, put it, “All the old…
Green beer. Raw oysters. Tripe and onions. Meat cobbler. Ewwwwwwwww. For those who feel a kinship with the Irish but question their commitment to healthy living, try the St. Patty’s Day 8K run. There’ll also be a 1-Mile Fun Run/Walk and a Kids Leprechaun Dash. Sun., March 16, 7:30 a.m.,…
