Top 5 Must-See Phoenix Shows This Week

Are you still writing 2013 on your checks? Are you still writing checks? If the first full week of the year has you a little jet-lagged, it might not seem like a good idea to go to a probably loud show that goes until probably very late at night. But…

Top 5 Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Week

CitySkate @ CityScape The tradeoff for being able to dress like it’s spring break year-round as the rest of the country shivers and sniffles is that we don’t get the kind of White Christmas that ol’ Bing sang about. If you’re still craving some holiday chill, the CitySkate skating rink…

Top 5 Must-See Phoenix Shows This Weekend

The post-holiday hangover is in full effect and it’s more than a little funky. We’re still finishing off the last of our Christmas leftover, trashing the remainder of the decorations and festive miscellanies, and trying to get our brainpans back into a normal schedule after all these mid-week holidays and…

Top 5 Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

Taiyou Con @ Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa Halloween seems like a distant memory and Comicon is over six months away. If your costume yen needs to be fulfilled, the fourth annual edition of Taiyou Con celebrates the different dimensions of Japanese pop culture starting Friday, January 3, that includes, yes, cosplay…

Photos: Mary X-Mas Rave and Tempe Winter Dance Formal

New Times’ photographers were out and about this past week. Did we take your picture? Mary X-Mas Rave, 12/25/13 Self-proclaimed as Arizona’s longest running rave party, Mary X-Mas took place on Christmas night somewhere in the Metro Phoenix sprawl and featured DMC world champ DJ Swamp and a slew of…

5 Best Wake Up Calls of 2013

Every weekday, Chow Bella brings you food stories from around the world in the form of its Wake Up Call column. Sometimes the stories are about national food trends bound for Phoenix, other times they’re just plain fun, and still other times they’re stories of food scene mavens caught up…

1999 Is Back, And It’s Never Going To Die

By Nathan Smith These days, swing revivalists seem to have comfortably settled into their own niche in the music industry. Brian Setzer has cornered the market in playing swingin’ Christmas carols to grown folks; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, out on its own Christmas tour all month, will play a post-Christmas…

Top 5 Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Weekend

Al Madrigal @ Stand Up Live Al Madrigal is no stranger to Arizona, what with his coverage of Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies Ban, SB 1070, and government gridlock. Now The Daily Show’s senior Latino correspondent returns to the Valley with some breaking new comedy…

5 Best “Last Call” Cocktails of 2013

This week we’ve looked back at some of our favorite posts in Guilty Pleasures, Bites & Dishes and Chef & Tell. We’re rounding things out with a cocktail (what else?) with our five favorite Last Call cocktail recipes of 2013, courtesy of Chow Bella resident bartender J.K. Grence. How to…

5 Best Food Battles of 2013

This year Chow Bella writers tossed everything from the breakfast sandwich to the chimichanga into the ring, for a mouthwatering series of “Battle of the Dishes.” Here are our five favorites from 2013. Pig & Pickle vs. Searsucker: Bone Marrow Beatdown in Scottsdale Bone marrow has begun to pop up…

Smuggled Sugar Packets and the Art of Compromise

Once again this year, Chow Bella writers are gnawing on the holidays — in the form of stories of Christmas and food. Hope you have some Alka-Seltzer handy. Enjoy. By Ada Malcioln Martin A product of divorced parents, a crazy Jewish Panamanian dad, and a bi-polar Anglican mom of West…

Top 5 Must-See Phoenix Shows This Christmas Week

There’s a big, two-day hole cut into our concert schedule this week, on account of Jesus’ birthday (observed), but I’ll be damned if this weekly Phoenix-concert-listings feature goes dark on my (and Jesus’) watch. We may or may not get to five shows, but let’s give it a shot…

Top 5 Things to Do in Metro Phoenix This Week

A West Coast showdown, Christmas raving, and airport art round out Jackalope Ranch’s top picks for things to do and see in Phoenix this week. Have at ’em, and happy holidays. Phoenix Suns vs. L.A. Lakers @ US Airways Center The first month of the NBA season often winds up…