New Times picks the best events and things to do in metro Phoenix from January 4 to January 10. “Ecosystem” Are you one of those people who sees bubble wrap and can’t keep your hands off its plastic pearls? That overwhelming desire to pop those little pods is something you must…
New Times picks the best events and things to do in metro Phoenix from December 28 to January 3. Holidays at the Heard There’s no place like Heard for the holidays — for a few reasons. It’s one of the premier Native American art and culture museums, for starters. But during…
Between scoping out the best holiday lights displays throughout the Valley, wrapping up last-minute shopping, and balancing out your cookie consumption with hiking, here are 11 things to add to your to-do list that’ll be totally worth it. Hannibal Buress It’s been a big year for Hannibal Buress, the stand-up comic…
Google “cats and guitars.” Go ahead, we’ll wait. A glamour shot of a mixed breed praising an electric. A Siamese strumming a six-string. A kitten peeking out from inside a guitar. These are but a handful of an ever-ascending number (at last look, we’re talking more than 4 million) of…
New Times picks the best arts and culture events in metro Phoenix from December 14 to 20. “Dinosaurs in Motion” Remember when people believed that lizard people ran the country? They’re still around, but there are enough cretins and creeps running for president that the conspiracy-minded are pretty busy. If we…
Bea Velazquez stands in the center of a small gallery on the second floor of Phoenix Center for the Arts. Friends mill about, directed from photograph to photograph, as Velazquez offers insight into each individual, each portrait, each intimate experience. The 27-piece, black-and-white exhibition is getting a lot of eyeballs…
New Times picks the best art and culture events in metro Phoenix from December 11 to 13. See more on our curated calendar of events. Herakles We’d say that each performance of Orange Theatre’s Herakles is limited to 25 seats, but that isn’t quite right. More like 25 people, who…
New Times picks the best arts and culture events of the week. Jenny Lawson For her second book, Jenny Lawson went with some light-hearted subject matter: her life-long battle with mental illness in the form of oft-interrupting depression and a crippling anxiety disorder. The topics may not be cheery, but Lawson’s…
New Times picks the best arts and culture events and things to do from November 30 through December 3. ZooLights Your neighbor Carl and his Christmas display have nothing on ZooLights, the Phoenix Zoo’s annual showcase of flora and fauna dazzlingly constructed from millions of colorful bulbs. This year the zoo’s…
New Times picks the best in art, culture, comedy, and theater events in metro Phoenix from November 20 to 22. For more things to do, see our curated calendar of events. Emerging Artists II There’s not enough modern dance hereabouts. Meanwhile, performing arts grad students can’t just toil away at…
VICE Magazine called it “Comi-Con meets burlesque nerd orgy,” while Esquire minced no words in describing it as “beautiful young women with tattoos.” Each was describing the same scene, one of shimmying Stormtroopers and scantily clad tattooed women dancing and playing dress-up with pop culture references. The show is Blackheart…
Two startups from Phoenix and one from Tucson will advance to the next round of the Challenge Cup, after winning the first round during a rapid-fire pitch competition Saturday, November 14, at The Newton in Phoenix. The event drew 15 startups from across the state, each vying for one of…
Suns vs. Lakers There have always been rumblings that legendary Laker Kobe Bryant might at times be more of a liability than a luminary to his teammates. Well, in what may be Bryan’ts final season, no one is rumbling anymore. It’s obvious. On a roster chockfull of young talent, Bryant’s…
If everyone’s a photographer these days thanks to the iPhone, then maybe everyone’s a writer, too, considering the prevalence of blogs, personal platforms, and 140-character Twitter observations. The Second Annual Arizona Writer’s Conference, held at Wilkes University in Mesa on November 13 and 14, taps into the creativity. The two-day…
New Times picks the top weekend events in the Phoenix area from November 13 through 15. Disgraced The holiday season will soon descend upon valley stages with lighthearted, sugary fare. There’s nothing wrong with dessert but Disgraced is bringing heavy food for thought to the table. The 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play…
The world’s next big thing could be from Arizona — and you have a chance to watch the first round this weekend. For three years, Washington D.C.-based, a global incubator and venture fund, 1776, has hosted the Challenge Cup. An international startup competition, the Challenge Cup crowns one winner out…
Kitchen Tours is Chow Bella’s ongoing series in which we get up close and personal with the at-home chef’s most prized space. We’ll take a look at kitchens belonging to everyone from culinary giants and restaurant owners to everyday cooks and self-proclaimed foodies. Ditch the grocery list and forget the…
Spillers Storytelling events have been all the rage the last few years. Unlike many of these happenings that feature writers presenting pieces based on their own real-life experiences, the quarterly event, Spillers: Short Fiction and Tall Drinks features six wordsmiths performing edgy, 10-minute, short fiction stories for the crowd. If…
Pot is profitable. Whether intentional or not, that was the message behind the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo earlier this week. A few thousand people turned out for the inaugural event, held at the Phoenix Convention Center in the heart of downtown. The three-day experience hosted a career fair and…
Phoenix Ghost Tours Opening as part of the nationwide Orpheum Circuit of theaters in 1929, Phoenix’s Orpheum saw its fair share of vaudeville performers and touring Broadway productions pass through. It seems inevitable that in its storied history that eerie creaking, bumps in the night, and other imprints of the…
Celebrity memoirs tend to be a carefully curated exercise in name-dropping and selective memory, chronicling a rise to stardom but rarely acknowledging the pitfalls (save for certain addictions). Tend to, but not always. Such is the case with The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy, a breath…
Day of Our Lives Book-Signing Watch out for fan apoplexy at the Days of Our Lives: 50 Years book-signing event at Changing Hands Tempe. It’s not just a soap opera; it’s a fiercely beloved soap opera that’s been on since 1965. The lovely commemorative book ($34.99) gets you and a…
