SUN 9/25When the late artist Joseph Cornell found objects, he put them in boxes. When he found celluloid, he crafted it into some of the richest and earliest experimental films this side of the Big Pond. The results were jocular and edgy phantasms that were enough to make Salvador Dali…
FRI 9/23The first person to shout “Play ‘Free Bird'” at the BlackMoods show on Friday, September 23, might get a microphone up the moo-moo. The local rockers built a reputation for cover songs under their previous moniker, Chalmers Green, but for the BlackMoods, it’s more about their own blistering brainchildren…
9/22-9/25There probably isn’t a musician in town who can command the weekly live audience that Bobby Freeman can — during the summer, at least. You’ve heard him yourself if you’ve ever been to an Arizona Diamondbacks home game, pounding out the Mexican Hat Dance, the Hungarian czardas, or the opening…
The massive “Revolution RezFest” will be the biggest party to hit the Salt River Indian Reservation all year, yet no drugs and alcohol are allowed at the event. Who needs them, anyway? “I’d rather have horse leg, pig ass, rabbit soup and Kool-Aid,” says guitarist Onk Akimel, whose band, Diana…
9/16-9/17While most kids long to be baseball stars or astronauts, Darrell Hammond was a comedian born. He started impersonating family members when he was 5, and he’s blossomed into Saturday Night Live’s resident impressionist, specializing in letter-perfect portrayals of political and entertainment figures such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Sean…
Yes, that could be Vince Vaughn standing behind you in line at your local Fry’s. The actor may be one of Hollywood’s hottest residents, but he’s a frequent visitor to Phoenix. “Phoenix is like a second home for me,” the actor tells New Times via phone from Chicago, where he’s…
SAT 9/10You know you’ve made it when people start impersonating you. But comedian Neil Hamburger admits he’s a little nervous about seeing his clones at the 1st Annual Neil Hamburger Fan Convention on Saturday, September 10. “I’ve heard about people dressing as me for Halloween,” says the tuxedo-clad comic, who…
MON 9/12When psychobilly-punk band the Tombstones was signed to Relativity Records in the late ’80s, front man Stevie Tombstone bought a headstone for blues legend Robert Johnson and personally delivered the slab to Mississippi. The press labeled his gesture “disrespectful behavior.” Punk was crass and uncool in those days, and…
TUE 9/13DJ Seduce is trying very hard to be humble. When he started the weekly “P.A.I.N.T.: Music* Art* Spoken Expression” nights at the Paper Heart, he was struggling to get a dozen people through the door. Thanks largely to word of mouth, his conglomeration of underground audio mixes, live painting…
SAT 9/3In the ’60s, if you caught people leaving a rock concert and asked how the show was, they might have answered with something like, “Man, that three-hour version of ‘White Rabbit’ was totally groovy!” But in the “here today, gone today” world of modern rock and short attention spans,…
9/3-12/31Designer Michael Graves (of Target teakettle fame) cemented his household-word status in 1979, when he participated in the “Tea and Coffee Piazza” project sponsored by Italian design house Alessi. The next wave, “Tea and Coffee Towers,” visits the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art beginning Saturday, September 3. Architects from 11…
9/2-9/30Looking at Gidget Gein’s art is like recognizing an old friend in a crowd and joyfully running up to greet him, only to be appalled by the huge new tumor sticking out of his side. The former bassist for shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, Gein will unveil his new artwork in an…
Tommy Nuñez knows that if you put 600 players in an amateur basketball tournament, there’s going to be some major machismo in the air — especially if all of the players are Hispanic. “There’s a lot of pride,” says Nuñez, who runs the Phoenix-based National Hispanic Basketball Classic. “They’re intense…
SUN 8/28The Indian ballet troupe Mamata Shankar does not perform a subcontinental Swan Lake, nor does it include Native Americans en pointe. Rather, the group fuses classical Indian dance with modern dance steps, says Sarbari Chowdhury of the Bengali Cultural Association of Arizona, the organization sponsoring the troupe’s local performance…
SAT 8/27Club Freedom’s been closed for more than a year now, but that doesn’t mean there’s nowhere in Phoenix for renowned DJs to drop their stacks of wax. On Saturday, August 27, several local organizations, including IONAZ magazine and dance station Energy 92.3, prove the beat goes on with “Splash…
THU 25When those “I Want You” propaganda posters of Uncle Sam first came out, Will Stockdale must have thought ol’ Sam was pointing at the grits on the porch behind him, because when the country bumpkin joins the U.S. Air Force in No Time for Sergeants, he’s clearly clueless. After…
THU 18Comedian Alonzo Bodden doesn’t need to worry about planes malfunctioning when he travels. The comic worked as a jet mechanic for Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas for nine years, and his work included a little project called the Stealth Bomber. But when Bodden discovered he enjoyed entertaining his fellow airplane mechanics…
THU 8/18Whether you’re a historic preservationist, a developer with a wrecking ball or somewhere in between, you’ll dig Phoenix: Then and Now. The book is a collaborative effort between two native Phoenicians, Paul Scharbach (a professional photographer) and John H. Akers (a writer/historian), who discuss and sign copies at 7…
8/19-9/14The Trunk Space’s new exhibition “Old/New/Traditional/Radical” showcases “artists with classic training and a modern aesthetic,” says the gallery’s JRC. Alan Jones, Susan G. White, and Marc Liao — all from Arizona — take well-trod styles (ceramics, quilts, vessels) and mod ’em up for the new millennium. Jones, well-known for his…
“Feel-good lesbian movie” sounds like an oxymoron when you consider that most big “lesbian” movies end with people getting shot (Boys Don’t Cry), dragged off by the Gestapo (Aimée & Jaguar), or watching their businesses burn to the ground (Better Than Chocolate). But Girl Play, which has its Valley première…
THU 11 Since Arizona seems to get more transplants than strippers get implants, why not reward out-of-staters for coming to our broiling desert metropolis with some cold, cheap drinks? Every Thursday, Daisy Dukes, 222 East University Drive in Tempe, plays host to “Transplant” — a drinking game that epitomizes random…
THU 8/11When we tried to call Wammo, co-founder of the wacky, acoustic alterna-swing/blues band Asylum Street Spankers, all we got was the sound of sirens and Wammo screaming, “Oh my God, oh my God, look out!” followed by a beep. We’re glad Wammo’s got a sick sense of humor; otherwise,…
