Thu 5/13 Contrary to public opinion, at least one Valley charter school isn’t its students’ last-ditch effort to make a go of this whole education thing. In fact, at Metropolitan Arts Institute, the kids are literally dancing in the halls. “I didn’t come [to Metro] to get away from public…
Fri 5/14 As long as there are summer Olympics, there will never be a summer Olympics in Phoenix. But while the Games continue to elude the Valley, Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Nick Hysong makes Arizona the center of his sport’s pre-Athens universe at 5 p.m. Friday, May 14, when…
Angel Cabrales lives and works in alternate realities. While driving through Cabrales’ neighborhood in east Mesa, you find that the cliché of suburban mass production — identical two-story floor plans inhabited by 2.something kids, canines and/or cats — ends at Cabrales’ property. Save for the unkempt lawn that hasn’t been…
Sat 5/8 The heart of rock ‘n’ roll is still beating. Feel the love this Saturday, May 8, when the third annual “Music for a Cure” resonates with sound (13 local bands on three stages) and vision (all proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation). Sharing the benefit…
Sun 5/9 Despite their five-game win streak, as well as a likely berth in the Arena Football League playoffs, the Arizona Rattlers will play what may be their final home game of the season at America West Arena on Sunday, May 9, against their Western Division rivals, the San Jose…
Jake Flake’s always up for a good poem — a good cowboy poem, that is. As the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, the 69-year-old Republican has been known to filibuster — figuratively, of course — a legislative session with some spoken word born on the range. “Talking in…
Sat 5/8 There is a place for those who yearn for blue-collar intellectualism, pale-skinned nymphs, and the melancholic moodiness of Morrissey. And it isn’t 6,000 miles across the Atlantic, thanks to “Trash!”, a new monthly event at The Clubhouse, 1320 East Broadway in Tempe. To kick off its homage to…
Mon 5/10 In the grand tradition of twosomes taming the open road (Thelma and Louise, Bill and Ted, Kermit and Fozzie), Rosella North and Eva Duvall are bound for the big screen. In 1941, the friends hopped a Harley and rode from Detroit to Venezuela, a ballsy move even by…
4/29-5/23 When Icarus donned wings to reach the sun, the gods rewarded his boldness by throwing him back to earth. Varekai, the latest incarnation of the famed Cirque du Soleil, reveals what happens when he lands. The word “varekai” (ver•ay•’kie) means “wherever” in the language of the Gypsies. Based on…
Fri 4/30 At 22, Zachary Yoshioka would be the youngest working director in Hollywood, by far. As it is, he’s ASU’s only filmmaker with 14 movies and music videos on his rsum — and a legion of low-budget cinemaniacs yearning for him to make it big. “I’d love a picture…
If another long week’s got you stressed, a visit to the Phoenix Airport Marriott for this weekend’s fourth annual Valley of the Sun Tattoo & Piercing Jamboree — where it’s a good thing to be on pins and needles — might be in order. “It really is just a place…
Sat 5/1 In a battle for Valley skateboard supremacy, who’s shredding who this Saturday, May 1, when two of the state’s newer skate parks — in Chandler and Glendale — host their first contests? If you’re looking for humility, don’t ask CJ Cowie of Industrial Skate & Boards, co-sponsor of…
4/30-5/5 Ask 10 revelers what event Cinco de Mayo pays homage to and, chances are, 11 of them would have no idea. Why sweat the details when the party extends from one end of the Valley to the other, and even underwater? The action promises to be bigger, better and…
4/23-4/25 Mad hops and beer hops join forces when the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour serves up the Tempe Open from Friday, April 23, through Sunday, April 25, at Tempe Beach Park. Think the Town Lake is a sorry substitute for Manhattan Beach? Not so, according to two-time Olympian Holly…
4/22-4/24 Don’t expect Jose Gonzalez to dismiss the unflattering perception of young improvisers like himself — that is, those melodramatic, overly extroverted speech and debate geeks whom Broadway will never acknowledge. “Oh, we’re all that and more!” proclaims Gonzalez, a 26-year-old member of local improv troupe Galapagos. “I sympathize with…
Why is a Tucson cop standing at Tom Miller’s door? “I . . . I don’t know,” says Miller, a veteran of the 1960s underground press known for agitating the powers that be (or were) via the printed word. Turns out, the Five-O is on the steps outside Miller’s domicile…
Fri 4/23 “I don’t want the audience to blink,” says Hodgie Jo, artistic director for Imation Dance Company, “not even once, throughout my show.” It’s a stiff mandate, but one he just might pull off. The debut performance of his modern jazz dance company, Footsteps, is an amalgam of Cirque…
Sun 4/25 Don’t laugh, baldy. Hair styling is an art form. Just ask Stephanie Blaze. The connoisseur of creative coiffures, and a stylist at Scottsdale’s Rumors Salon, is set to compete in this weekend’s Supreme Salon Tour at The Venue of Scottsdale. “Some of the hair styles [on display] take…
Wed 4/21 “I prefer to write plays that fuck with the audience’s mind on the drive home afterwards,” says Chris Danowski, writer of ApoCalypso, Theater in My Basement’s latest surrealistic production. “I know when I see a play, I like to be bombarded with a lot of ideas, emotions and…
Sat 4/17 Phoenix artists Stephanie Carrico and JRC officially unpack their bags on Saturday, April 17, as Grand Avenue’s newest art venue, The Trunk Space, celebrates its grand reopening. Carrico and JRC — who previously worked The Paper Heart’s java cart (aptly called “The Paper Cup”) and ran open mike…
4/17-4/18 “We have all the answers now in terms of technology, clean water, clean air, transportation, building, education [and] social issues,” argues SolFest organizer Belle Starr. “We have those answers, and it’s just a question of accessing them.” It’s also a matter of disseminating them to a sometimes environmentally heretical…
Todd Taylor, welcome to the wonderful world of good hygiene. “I’m used to hanging out with people that don’t shower and don’t shave,” says Taylor, author of the punk rock homage Born to Rock, and the featured reader at the DIY (“doing it yourself”) Punk Rock Reading Monday, April 19,…
