Even on First Fridays, the streets of Phoenix are cold, cruel, callous boulevards where materialism and art clash, hipsters congregate in slow-moving packs, and drunken ASU students suffer from disorientation and boredom. Since last February, “Free Hugs” dude Ian Fecke-Stoudt has made it his mission to bring joy to First…
The Invisible Pink Unicorn, birthed on the whim of early Internet users fed up with religion, gained underground ubiquity as a symbol of atheism. LAS Gallery’s “The Visible Pink Unicorn” exhibit plays with the notion of a different type of cult: “the ultra-feminine.” Pieces in this collection echo a certain…
The tendency of art in the past century has been to kick the old to the curb, to break away from the traditional once any medium is labeled as such. Lately, certain contemporary artists have seen fit to drag various processes from the crowded depths of obsolescence and attach new…
Local Latin funk band Gunzawless — composed of the Gonzales brothers Frank, Pete, and Paul, Matt Vaiza (a cousin), and Mike “Cheeba” De La Torre — is steadily gaining a reputation for deft musicianship and a tight live show. The band even has a “space and time” mantra, according to…
In Bakari Kitwana’s 2003 book The Hip Hop Generation, he argued that “although hip hop has secured its place as a cultural movement, its biggest challenge lies ahead,” referring to the form’s potential as a mobilizing political force. We imagine a statement like this to be eminently quease-inducing to certain…
Our introduction to Dane Cook came abruptly one night, when, out of boredom or curiosity, we turned to Saturday Night Live and watched in amazement as the host, a fairly normal-looking, frattish-type man, energetically described flicking a cashew off his erect penis. The monologue went on for some time –…
Someday, a raucous hardcore band from Scotland will unleash its sonic fury upon the unsuspecting ears of the world. That day is not today, which is okay, because we’ve all become comfortable with the enjoyably pop of bands hailing from Scottish hamlets like Glasgow (Belle & Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand). So…
It takes us forever to keyboard-pick these words each week, so when we hear about the career trajectory of individuals more talented, creative, and ambitious than we, we’re immediately struck by depression and lowered feelings of self-worth. But this is America, after all. You work hard, you get ahead. You…
2007’s been a rough year for D.L. Hughley. His co-starring spot on the Aaron Sorkin experiment Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip evaporated after the once-applauded but bizarrely boring show was canceled. Then, later in the summer, he was hated on by protesters for a joke made in the aftermath…
Man-versus-machine interactions rarely end well for either side (witness Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000 or any Borg from Star Trek), unless the unique nature of each form is put to collaborative effect as a kind of mutual cooperation. (Witness Transformers.) Such was the thinking, perhaps, of a few California photographers in…
What if we lived in a world where people were freaked out by illegal immigrants from Canada? And the derogatory name for the threatening hordes of border-crossers was Great Lake Swimmers? That would be crazy, eh? In real life, that moniker belongs to a Toronto-based band that traffics in low-key,…
Famed tax resister and naturalist Henry David Thoreau once said, “Blessed are they who never read a newspaper, for they shall see Nature, and, through her, God.” Oops. Too late for that. However, you can redeem yourself in His eyes by checking out Carrie Marill’s “Dirty Birdy” exhibit. Marill, a…
When the spotty youths of Arctic Monkeys arrived on the eager-but-fickle British music scene via a digital grassroots campaign, they were heralded as the latest incarnation of The Type of Band Brits Love to Love — i.e. of northern, working-class stock (read: Oasis, The Smiths). Their first album, Whatever People…
Though NASCAR’s position in popular culture is totally solidified, the sport has never been what you’d call art-gallery material. Shawn Hardegree, who grew up in Georgia and spent hours at the racetrack with his father, is looking to change that with the sophisticated “paint what you know” techniques displayed in…
Henry Rollins has always struck us as the type of guy whose intensity belies a kind of antiquated chivalry. Sure, during his Black Flag days, he regularly assaulted audience members and was generally regarded as a macho asshole by his bandmates, but we picture him as that dude with the…
Anyone who describes baseball’s glory days as “fat old white men freebasing bacon in the dugout” and defends Barry Bonds from the curmudgeons who see it otherwise immediately wins our favor. This means you, Greg Proops. The pompadour’d comedian is best known to comedy buffs as the other guy with…
Of all the subcultures that sprang forth from within the Harry Potter universe, wizard rock is by far our favorite. A constellation of slightly punk, totally bookish bands with names like Draco and the Malfoys, Harry and the Potters, and Owl Post, the genre features adorable fan boys and girls…
If you can tell the difference between drum ‘n’ bass, jungle, breakbeats, and backbeats, then you’re probably rocking a picture of Sly & Robbie above your Alesis SR-16. The revered Jamaican duo (a.k.a. “The Riddim Twins”) have provided the bass line and beats for virtually every major reggae artist over…
You’re a cultured individual. You read high-art fiction like Wizard of the Crow by Ngûgî Wa Thiong’o, listen to the odd out-of-print Milford Graves jazz record and to Daniel Johnston’s lo-fi masterpiece Hi, How Are You?, and support the visual arts. But does art featuring smoking-hot naked chicks engaging in…
Wayne Michael Reich claims he once roamed the arid streets of downtown Phoenix for five hours before he saw a single living soul. Not so much as a cop car or homeless dude crossed his path. But Reich – a NYC transplant with designs on the Phoenix art scene –…
