On Wednesday, January 7, the Herberger Theater Center pays tribute to the burgeoning and much ballyhooed downtown arts scene with “Celebrating Visual Arts in Downtown Phoenix.” If you’re not a denizen of the frantic First Friday art walk scene, this exhibition should be a fitting introduction to the artists and…
Thursday, January 1 Whether you need one last hurrah for the holidays or you’re simply looking to let someone else feed and entertain you now that family obligations are out of the way, celebrate the new year with Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre West, whose current show, Holidazzle, continues through Saturday,…
Fri 12/26 Granted, it’s a far cry from being college football’s most attractive postseason invitation, but this year’s Insight Bowl has a great personality — really. The match-up pits the Golden Bears of California-Berkeley, who handed first-ranked Southern Cal its only loss of the season, against Virginia Tech’s Hokies, who…
Thursday, December 18 It’s hard to say “humbug” to Actors Theatre’s popular presentation of A Christmas Carol, a beloved Valley tradition that makes Charles Dickens’ haunting holiday story come alive, year after year. Directed by Michael Wiener, the production features many returning cast and crew members, including Kim Bennett in…
Bland canvases and poster art hanging in the typical workplace rarely goes beyond the realm of pleasant decor. But at UBS, the financial services corporation formerly called Paine Webber, important works by the biggest names in contemporary art grace the lobbies and executive offices. The creative output of luminaries like…
12/13-12/14 In 1978, Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt formally established an event that had already gained a foothold in the Phoenix area: the Annual Hohokam Commemoration and Indian Market Days Celebration. That year’s event drew more than 3,000 people, establishing itself as one of the best markets in the nation. Now…
All it takes is one bad run-in with snobbery for a person to get the wrong impression about wine — as if drinking mankind’s oldest beverage is somehow a solemn, elitist experience. Well, in some circles, it certainly is. But before you trade in your corkscrew for the familiar comfort…
Thursday, December 11 Every year as Christmas approaches, the story of the birth of Jesus is shared in countless ways. But rarely is it presented as vividly as in “Walk Through Bethlehem,” where more than 350 members of the CrossRoads Nazarene Church show, rather than tell, the biblical tale. Created…
Fri 12/5 “I’m sure a lot of people used to fantasize about Cris [Kirkwood] or [Derrick] Bostrom as a woman, so no, I don’t think it’ll be a stark departure,” Curt Kirkwood says of his former Meat Puppets bandmates, comparing his new project with singer/guitarist Lisa Newmyer to the local…
“All of my work has always been about the duplicitous nature of emotion,” says prolific provocateur Lydia Lunch. “You hate it but you love it. You shouldn’t do it, but you can’t stop yourself.” That’s the secret behind the seduction of Lunch’s starkly honest statements about sex, power, beauty and…
Thursday, December 4 It’s been 15 years since Robert Fulghum first wrote about the wisdom revealed in life’s simplest details in his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Now, with 25 new essays, the author’s “Reconsidered, Revised and Expanded” edition hits the bookstores just in…
Mon 12/1 Interested in artworks, but not really sure how art works? Let Steven Yazzie paint you a picture on Monday, December 1, when the local artist takes the podium at the FirstMondays Art Salon. Aiming to acquaint audiences with artists and the creative process, the free public program encourages…
Thursday, November 27 Like clockwork, our Thanksgiving always plays out like this: Spend the morning ravenous, tortured by the incredible smells of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie wafting from the kitchen. Inhale the whole meal, extra helpings and all, too quickly for a feeling of fullness to kick in. Then…
The sheer size of The Arizona International Auto Show can be a bit overwhelming. But that’s a good thing to Bobbi Sparrow, vice president of the Valley Auto Dealers Association, which organizes the yearly event. “We use every square inch of the Civic Plaza, and we use the outside, too,”…
11/20-12/22 In both form and function, the human body has always been a nearly perfect work of art. Even so, its perfection hasn’t stopped ambitious artists from using it as a canvas upon which to express their own artistic endeavors. In the Valley, exhibit A of this phenomenon would be…
11/22-11/23 “It’s like taking a vacation and being a dictator for two days,” says Mimi Altree, the actress playing Queen Elizabeth in the 21st annual Devonshire Renaissance Faire. “But it’s good to be the queen, even if it’s for only a few days.” Altree has played Elizabeth I at the…
Thursday, November 20 Arizona Opera performs a new addition to its repertoire beginning Thursday, November 20: The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta about the comically complicated love lives of Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum. The two frolic in the fictional village of Titti-Pu, made delightfully real thanks to sets created by Don…
As former director of the popular First Friday stop Artfit Exhibition Space, which was housed in the monOrchid building, Scott Andrews knows how to attract a crowd to an art event. So he’s already figured out the best way to jump-start his new nonprofit, without any funding: “Throw a party,”…
11/21-11/22 A new beat generation gets its message across loud and clear when Taikoproject presents the world première of (re)generation at Gammage Auditorium this weekend. For their debut creative work, a multimedia stage show combining dynamic taiko drumming, spoken word and hip-hop dance, the young performers of Taikoproject give their…
Sat 11/15 Arizona’s aspiring filmmakers have a tendency to flee to Hollywood, but that’s all going to change if the Movie Militia has anything to do with it.Open to anyone interested in independent filmmaking, the organization is the brain child of Ben Juhl, a local writer, director and actor. Frustrated…
Sat 11/15 Thanks to designers who routinely revive styles from past decades, American consumers are well schooled in the diversity of silhouettes that defined 20th-century fashion. But they’re much less familiar with the trends of the 1800s. “Beauty and Style in 19th Century American Fashion,” opening this weekend in Phoenix…
Thursday, November 13 Osha Gray Davidson’s most recent book, Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean, tells “a compelling story about turtles and their future that ought to change our view of the world,” says Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late ocean…
