Seeing as how we don’t have children, we feel infinitely qualified to tell parents everywhere how to indulge theirs in a little something called “culture.” Far from suggesting near-impossible tasks such as getting them to read more and watch TV less, our suggestion comes in the form of music culled…
On a Saturday sometime in the mid-’90s, the lives we were living — and the lunches we had just eaten — were erased forever. We were introduced to a couple of guys named Spike and Mike and the wonders of animation gone bad. Some days are a revelation, and any…
The book binds two women who share Collected Stories, Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer-nominated play chronicling the relationship between a successful writer and her protge. Over the course of six years, the characters navigate friendship and friction, as the student becomes her mentor’s confidante, colleague and, ultimately, rival. The Arizona Jewish Theatre…
Wanna party with some celebrity swingers? Keep your pants on — we’re talkin’ softball. This Monday, February 16, the Scottsdale Charros present the 1st Pitch Celebrity Softball Game & All-Star Concert at Rawhide Wild West Town. Combining line drives and line dancing, the 1st case scenario includes a 3:30 p.m…
Greasy food and cheesy tchotchkes are staples of almost any Valley festival. But the Rathayatra Parade and Festival in Tempe on Saturday, February 14, promises something a bit different — a chance to touch the ethereal plane. Such spiritual transcendence comes by way of pulling a towering, 20-foot-high, crimson-domed, garland-anointed…
2/6-2/8 Before Spain got us all fired up with its hot dishes — paella and Enrique Iglesias, por ejemplo — it set the world sizzling with another spicy export: flamenco. A folk dance form attributed to the country’s Andalusian gypsies, flamenco’s rapid-fire footwork continues to evolve into a theatrical art…
2/7-3/28 Finding itself in a state of awe, the Phoenix Zoo is saluting Arizona’s environmental diversity with a new series of educational activities. Focusing on the area’s agriculture, art, history, flora and fauna, “Amazing Arizona” launches this Saturday, February 7, and Sunday, February 8, and continues every weekend through the…
FRI 2/6 Downtown Phoenix is usually full of artistic energy on First Fridays, but this Friday, February 6, that energy will have a decidedly sensuous twist. The Icehouse art space, located at Fourth Avenue and Jackson, presents its take on Valentine’s Day with “Bizarre Love Triangle.” From 7 to 10…
SAT 2/7 The clothes-minded don a historical perspective this Saturday, February 7, when the Phoenix Art Museum hosts a daylong symposium addressing “Nineteenth-Century American Life: Clothing, Technology and Innovation.” Offered in conjunction with two current exhibitions — “American Beauty: Painting and Sculpture From the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1770-1920” and…
1/29-2/1 “It’s not a standard musical,” says cast member Clark Webb of Theater Works’ Songs for a New World. “It’s more cabaret-style.” Though the songs, written by wunderkind and Tony winner Jason Robert Brown (who wrote the score at age 20), are separate entities, they all blend together with common…
Fri 1/30 In a single-minded pursuit, The Dating Venture spreads the love at a Singles Expo/Extravaganza set for Friday, January 30. Singles, swinging and otherwise, are invited to enjoy an evening of comedy, music and dancing while checking out the merchandise (“romance products,” that is) and soliciting the services of…
1/29-4/18 Mesa Southwest Museum’s new Tyrannosaurus Rex exhibit, “A T-Rex Named Sue,” is a big deal in more ways than one. “We consider getting Sue a major coup for the Valley and for the museum,” says Cynthia Diaz, museum marketing coordinator. “First, because a lot of people are unaware that…
1/30-2/1 Drop into the weekend’s wildest wing ding: the Arizona Powered Paraglider National Fly-In, starting Friday, January 30, at Maricopa’s Phoenix Regional Airport. Hosted by Arizona Powered Paragliding — a “cactus-roots” group of PPG flying enthusiasts — the three-day event provides an action-packed introduction to the high life, with performance…
Sat 1/31 Strength in numbers, indeed. For the first time, all seven East Valley cities — Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, Guadalupe, Gilbert, Mesa and Queen Creek — are joining forces to celebrate Black History Month with the inaugural East Valley Regional Unity Walk and Diversity Festival on Saturday, January 31. For…
1/22-2/1 Great Arizona Puppet Theater’s remount of Dragons, Ladies, and Tigers, a series of three stories adapted from traditional Chinese folktales, features shadow puppets inspired by Chinese artwork. Originally commissioned to accompany an exhibition of Chinese art at the Phoenix Art Museum, Dragons has proven to be one of GAPT’s…
Fri 1/23 Think downtown after dark is black and white and dead all over? Not this Friday, January 23, when “COLORS . . . 002” coats the Old Brickhouse Grill in creativity. A collaboration between Terrence O’Connor and Mark Chai — both working DJs — the COLORS series pools the…
1/26-2/1 Sell out? It’s impossible at the Phoenix — ahem — FBR Open golf tournament at the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale, where, every Super Bowl weekend, massive hordes of golf junkies crowd the galleries and booze it up for seven days straight. But when FBR — a Washington, D.C.,…
Wed 1/28 As Quentin Tarantino proves, there is life for hopelessly obsessed film geeks beyond the counters of the neighborhood video rental store. Thanks to a local casting session (one of seven nationwide) hosted by the Independent Film Channel and Cox Communications, Ultimate Film Fanatic offers movie maniacs the chance…
In 1959, as June Cleaver vacuumed in pearls and pumps, something strange and wonderful was thundering down suburbia’s streets, foreshadowing the racy rebellion that would detonate in the next decade. It was Chevrolet’s El Camino, and its newfangled façade capped off a decade driven by design. A stylish new exhibition…
We’re no mathematicians, but this seems clear: One really is the loneliest number. Having no one to smooch on New Year’s Eve is depressing enough — until the realization hits that, in a mere 45 days, Valentine’s Day rears its ugly head. You can’t hurry love, but — with the…
Caught up in a flurry of worry? It’s high time to simmer down: new year, new attitude. We know that emotional, mental and spiritual health affect physical well-being, yet we allow bottled anger, self-esteem issues, stress and anxiety to take their toll on our bodies and brains. But this year…
1/15-1/31 Talk to Gus Edwards, and it’s clear he has an opinion on everything under the sun. It’s also clear that he doesn’t take them or himself too seriously, leaving the subject of his latest hour-and-20-minute play, Dear Martin, Dear Coretta, in a rather precarious situation. But under Edwards’ deft…
