Choices, choices… what with the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Super Bowl, and Brewers Bowl all vying for attention; only the inaugural Brewers Bowl isn’t a spectator sport, but a participatory one with more than one dozen Arizona craft breweries serving their tasty creations. Hosted by Bad Water Brewing, one winning…
Rejoice, dog lovers. It’s the one time of the year when the Desert Botanical Garden welcomes our four-legged companions. Yet, this event is more than just a walk in the park, er, garden. A plethora of activities are planned to keep Fido feeling energized. Downward dog anyone? Start the day…
One doesn’t have to be immersed in Hispanic culture to love Flamenco dancing. Relished for its expressive movements, rhythmic foot stomping, flamboyant costumes, and emotional intensity, el baile flamenco migrated from the Andalusia region of Spain in the 1800s. This music and dance is celebrated (annually) at Lluvia Flamenca. Translating…
White Arrows frontman Mickey Church approached writing the band’s latest, In Bardo, as though it were the end of his musical world on Earth. The result: a playfully quirky, anything-goes-into-a-pop-song groove inhabiting the album from start to finish. “I didn’t really know or care what was going to happen after…
Russian music has a deep and storied history. Promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church, composers used music to extol the joys, but also the hardships, of life in mother Russia, turning snippets of literature, art, history, and folk tales into inspired works. Politics too occupied early Russian music, occasionally leading…
Guitarists Julian Lage and Nels Cline lead wildly different musical lives. Lage operates primarily in a jazz realm, having collaborated with Jim Hall, Gary Burton, and Eric Harland. Yet, he’s also worked with mandolin master David Grisman and fiddle and bluegrass virtuoso Mark O’Conner, among others. Cline, when not fronting…
We’ve all had that “what if” moment of wonderment when thinking about past lovers. That moment plays out yearly when former lovers Doris and George happen to meet again and rekindle their past relationship. First a play, then a movie, this laugh-out-loud comedy explores the passion of these lovers —…
Poet, rapper, hip-hop artist, educator, activist, and community leader are but a few of the titles that define Phoenix resident Myrlin Hepworth, who got his start doing slam poetry on Mill Avenue while simultaneously studying English at Arizona State University. As Hepworth sees it, it was something of a double…
Keith Richards, in his autobiography, Life, claims to remember everything from his lengthy musical career. Clearly, there’s some embellishment. Kim Simmonds, who’s been playing music approximately the same length of time, and has fronted British blues rock heavyweights Savoy Brown for almost as long as Richards has led the Rolling…
“Monday, Monday … Lalala, lala…” Yes, the Mamas and the Papas summed up the feeling of that first day of the week quite appropriately in song. It’s a day to either love (because you like your job) or dread (because you like the weekend more). Though there’s no avoiding the…
Many of Christine Sandifur’s monoprints on display through Sunday, January 4, in the Herberger Theater Gallery look like Persian rugs. Other’s have an abstract Picasso-like appearance. Still many more are reminiscent of trippy 1960s acid blotter. Whatever the prints in the “Chasing Patterns” exhibit look like to you, this colorful…
Irreverent comedy is the best kind of comedy, especially when it focuses on the holidays. Think about it: Now is a time of joy, happiness, sadness, silliness, contemplation, thievery, and mixed emotions all washed down with plenty of mixed drinks, which, when rolled together can create a combustible combination ripe…
There’s no warning, no hints, and, once it begins, nowhere to hide. It’s the best white elephant gift otherwise never encountered. What one least expects to happen in each local performer’s allotted seven minutes usually does. Oh, the things that have transpired at the annual 7 Minutes Under the Mistletoe…
Ever curious about what Santa wears under his red-and-white jumper on Christmas Eve? How about Mrs. Claus? And what makes those elves so damn jolly anyway? These titillating questions and more just might be answered at Scandalesque’s holiday show, A Decade of Glitz. The show combines comedy, dance, burlesque, and…
Determining which came first — ska or punk — is irrelevant. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones offer up a duel personality that’s simultaneously abrasive and chill. First (or maybe second), the driving energy and angst of punk rock pushes the pace, while the cool riddims, staccato guitar and punctuating horn blasts…
Whether it’s apathy or simply ignorance, some bands tend to remain mostly hidden from the world. This can add an air of mystery, or perhaps lead to an underground cult following that will ultimately lead to a burgeoning career. For Los Angeles’ Francisco the Man, there’s no real answer for…
Never is a fish be more out of the water than in desert environments. That’s the basic premise behind artist Joe McAuliffe’s current exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden. McAuliffe, who doubles as the Botanical Garden’s and research ecologist and director of research, utilizes gyotaku impressions of fish taken from…
In the 122 years since Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s now-holiday classic, The Nutcracker, first debuted at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, there have been numerous adaptations and interpretations (even a disco version). Yet, performances with the greatest appeal rarely wander far from the core work. Ballet Arizona has updated this…
Only the best are chosen for the final undergraduate art show of the semester: the “Undergraduate Juried Exhibition.” Selected by a jury of ASU art professors and open to all ASU art students, the exhibition features only artwork developed during the fall 2014 semester. Pieces can be in any medium…
Don’t eat dinner before going to see Neil Hamburger live. This non-stop comedian, who says he performs nearly 400 shows a year, is liable to make you throw up a little bit in your mouth between laughs with his oft-disgusting, vile, and revolting humor. Hamburger (real name: Gregg Turkington) spreads…
According to Harry Nilsson, one is the loneliest number. But for singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams, one is more than enough. Unlike one-man bands of old, Williams doesn’t have cymbals on his knees, horns under his arms, taps on his toes, or a drum on his back. Rather, Williams has propelled the…
Local blues harmonica player — and Rhythm Room owner — Bob Corritore could not have picked a better title for his latest release. That Taboo is an all-instrumental album is rare enough these days in the blues world, but one fronted by a harp blower makes the outing even rarer…
