“When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band,” David Bowie laments.The line, from “Ziggy Stardust,” captures the dichotomy between the man behind the music and the “man” who was a direct result of it. Bowie’s Ziggy, an alien messiah, comes to earth to warn…

It sounds like an appealing alternative to the Valley’s summer temperatures, but “Skinny Dipping in Daylight” is the debut poetry collection from Cory Basil — who returns to his home state this week with a reading at Coronado eatery Astor House.Basil describes his work as both introspective and vulnerable. Expect…

Writers and whiskey? Synonymous. Books and beer? Not so much.Yet that’s the pairing you’ll find when the Irish Cultural Center hosts its seventh annual Bloomin’ Beerfest in honor of Bloomsday this weekend. For those who skipped James Joyce’s 1,000-plus-page tome Ulysses, Bloomsday is the date the story takes place. The…

This day and age has no shortage of “guides” for unattached gals. “The Single Woman’s Guide to Retirement.” “…to Living Alone.” “…to a Happy Pregnancy.” …To Renaissance England?That’s the topic Cora Fox, associate professor of English at ASU, discusses when she talks about Isabella Whitney, a Renaissance-era poet and one…

Afghanistan is a touchy subject, but it’s what Khaled Hosseini does and does well. The bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns brings his newest work, And the Mountains Echoed, to the Valley this week for a book-signing and conversation about his oft-misunderstood home country.His third…

Local boutique Frances, a favorite of fashion lovers and craft seekers alike, continues its monthly workshop series this week with a “Basics of Sewing” tutorial. Under the instruction of local artist Karyn Miracle, whose Etsy shop is filled with hand-stitched, repurposed vintage items like bags and pillows, students will beautify…

The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2013 Summer Opening highlights three new exhibitions: “Learning to See,” “Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles,” and “American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime.”Featured exhibit “Learning to See” explores artist Josef Albers’ argument that colors influence other colors and can be truly understood only…

If you find yourself perusing Seventh Avenue vintage stores dreaming of owning an Eames chair, then you’ve probably heard of Alison King, founder of the website Modern Phoenix.King presents “Where Cantilever Meets Coyote,” a sort-of Midcentury 101 that aims to give audience members a better snapshot of this city’s rich…