Wed 6/11 Kick-start your blooming cycle with “Yoga Pura at the Garden: Finding Serenity” and discover the wonders within you. On Wednesday, June 11, from 7 to 9 p.m., the Desert Botanical Garden once again hosts the Moon Valley school Yoga Pura. Master instructor Eric Walrabenstein takes you through a…

The art salon is not, after all, a thing of the past. ArtsAz and its director Ernest McIntyre figured this out long ago, and every month hold the FirstMondays Art Salon, an ongoing series of free public programs at the Burton Barr Central Library. This month’s artist, Lisa Takata, is…

There is nothing more uncommon than common sense. — Frank Lloyd Wright Wright was right. One needs only to glimpse the multitudes of golf courses, swimming pools and artificial lakes here in our desert to know that he was right. A house that faces west still makes us Arizona natives…

5-28-6/19 This week the watchdogs of the Phoenix art scene will drop their bones and let you have a look at what they’ve been up to. Opening Wednesday, May 28, “Sentinels: The Exhibition” is a mixed-media exhibition compiled by the likes of Janet de Berge Lange, Joel Coplin, Jeff Falk,…

5/16-5/17 Tensions can run high during the merciless Phoenix summer; for those beaten down by ever-rising temperatures, some hoop therapy’s in order.Let the healing begin this weekend, when the fiery Phoenix Mercury sets the pace for season seven with two preseason games. The local ladies of the WNBA face the…

5/165/17 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Elvis Presley has been swimming in it since his death in 1977. From his hip-swiveling ’50s maverick, shown on TV only from the waist up, to his jumpsuit-wearing dinner show crooner of the Vegas years, Elvis provided poseurs with multiple personas…

5/9-5/11 The endlessly optimistic Thomas the Tank Engine is rolling into Arizona. The modern-day equivalent to Watty Piper’s Little Engine That Could (“I think I can, I think I can”), Thomas has won the hearts and minds of many a tyke during his travels. Thomas pulls into the Grand Canyon…

Toe tappers all around the world decided about eight years ago that it was high time for an entire week dedicated to dance. So they put their jazz hands together and created National Dance Week, designated as the last week in April each year. They’re currently still lobbying for national…

4/25-4/27 One of the more interesting aspects of this particular planet’s people is the way we compartmentalize ourselves into identifiable groups. Nations are formed; flags are waved; and beliefs, customs and practices become identifiable over time as part of individual cultures. The word “culture” also can mean the enlightenment and…

Spending 33 years in Chinese prison and labor camps would fill any person’s heart with rage. Only the strongest spirit could survive such treatment. But Palden Gyatso not only survived, he continues on as a practicing Buddhist who wouldn’t wish harm on anyone. When he was finally released from prison…

4/194/20 We’ve all had our encounters with the bunny hop. It might have been at a college fraternity party, a wedding, or in the privacy of our own living rooms. Ahem. This time, do it for the right reasons. Kierland Commons, an upscale Scottsdale shopping center, hosts its inaugural Bunny…

4/114/27 Children’s theater will disregard the social injustices of post-Napoleonic France no longer. Greasepaint Youtheatre’s all-student cast is tackling one of musical theater’s most beloved – and most sophisticated – sagas. Adapted for school-age actors, Les Misérables, School Edition retains the original production’s plot and songs, including “Castle on a…

Fri 4/11 The pursuit of peace has inspired thoughts poetic — “We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels; we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds” (Anton Chekhov) and pragmatic: “I like to believe that people, in the long run, are going to do more to promote peace…

Sat 4/5 At times like this, we all have, at least briefly, the instinct to turn away from the news. Perhaps this would be a good week to get reacquainted with your favorite book while discovering the Arizona Book Festival, set for Saturday, April 5. This is actually the Sixth…

Because April is National Poetry Month, it seems only appropriate to look to our poet laureate, Billy Collins, for thoughts on poetry and art in general: Then I blinked and moved on to other American scenes of haystacks, water whitening over rocks, even one of a brown hare who seemed…

For the past 16 years, artists have been getting together to discuss the capitalist feeding frenzy that happens every December, and wondering aloud about the meaning of it all. Behold The 17th Annual Bad X-mas Pageant, an event that is becoming a downtown tradition. Jeff Falk, one of the founders…

For all you purists who are continuously annoyed at the commercialization of the martial arts, this weekend you’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime shot to see purity in action. For those of you who have never experienced martial arts, this weekend you’ll have the opportunity to witness one of the most innovative,…

“You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese’ in France? A Royale with Cheese.'” — John Travolta in Pulp Fiction For every word or phrase in the English language, there is an equivalent in every other language . . . right? Or is it that sometimes there are…