Can coolness wedge itself into walls and floors? Because every inch of the Hotel Valley Ho is cool — and has been since 1956. Everyone knows it’s the meticulous renovation of this historic, Midcentury Modern resort that makes it cool, but the extreme hipness of the people who hang out there…
If you grew up in Scottsdale, chances are good that some of your favorite icons — former Mayor Herb Drinkwater, the Safari Resort, Lulu Belle’s — are long gone. But this split-personality city (chi-chi meets Wild West) has held fast to some wonderful old icons, like that kitschy, giant cowboy…
“It” Kickers Long before it became a statewide chain of eight Western wear stores, Saba’s was a Scottsdale institution. Nothing says “Southwest style” like the boots and duds found in this slick family operation, which still calls Scottsdale home with three shops there. Founded in 1927 by milliner David Saba,…
The Night Also Rises Scottsdale may not be the only place in the world with a permanently installed skyspace open to the public, but it is one of only three such places. Dig that! Internationally acclaimed artist James Turrell’s famous Knight Rise installation, at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s…
My grandfather died, quickly and unexpectedly, on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. My mother returned from his Ohio funeral with a suitcase full of Grandpa’s circular saw blades. Mom, a prolific oil painter, gessoed the blades and used them as canvases for landscapes that she gave to each of her five…
Oh, these troubled times–especially for the arts community, always the first to be cut loose in any kind of economic crunch. The latest arts organization to fall apart is Actors Theatre, one of a handful of professional theater companies here. The Herberger Theater Center resident, which launched its 26th season…
In Bill Harris’ Stories About the Old Days, an elderly man and woman stand in an old church and recount their lives. They bemoan the passing of time and the ways in which the world has changed and slowly reveal to us the reasons they’re the broken people they’ve become…
The fact that Phoenix has become The Home of the Huge Public Embarrassment has its upside. When we’re not being shamed by our politicians and our draconian public policies, Phoenix is sometimes the testing ground for some spectacularly expensive nonsense that can truly make my day. Recently, for instance, I…
Ted Decker smells really good. But don’t ask him what scent he’s wearing. Decker can recite the names of every one of the artists who created the more than 1,000 pieces in his private art collection, but he has no idea what his cologne is called. “It’s some kind of…
Stray Cat Theatre has kicked off its 10th season with a meandering mess of dramatic devices masquerading as a play. A murder mystery of sorts, The Sparrow has broken wings. The real mystery here is why Stray Cat’s talented artistic director, Ron May, optioned Chris Mathews and Jake Minton’s lifeless…
“Extended Collapse,” the striking second installation in Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s Architecture + Art series, is my kind of show. A big, moody commentary on how buildings are repurposed and sometimes forgotten, it considers some of my favorite questions about life in the desert: What used to be here?…
We were, as we do most Saturday nights, dressing for theater. “Why does this shirt look so nice on the hanger,” I asked my spouse, “and so dumpy on me?” “I don’t know,” he replied, pointing to my head. “But you need a haircut. Those bangs make you look like…
I am sitting in a downtown cafe, waiting for an out-of-town friend and reading the galleys of a new book that calls Phoenix “the world’s least sustainable city.” Outside, a television news reporter is asking people seated under the misting system how they feel about the record-breaking heat. “Ask them…
Things were looking up, even before Nearly Naked Theatre’s Oedipus for Kids! commenced on opening night. It’s always nice to open a playbill and read that Johanna Carlisle is among the actors about to take the stage. And even nicer to read the occasional actor bio that pokes fun at…
I’ve never been shy about admitting that I’m not the brightest man in town. And so I’m not ashamed to tell you that, for years, I avoided Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street pretty much all the time, because I could see myself whipping my car into one of the reverse-traffic…
Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan’s Hairspray is, I’ve decided, made of Teflon. It would appear that nothing can hurt this oft-produced musical version of the 1988 John Waters film, a Broadway winner that’s been produced here twice this season already (and is about to take the stage at the Herberger…
My visit to Hale Center Theatre last week marked the fifth production of Little Shop of Horrors I’ve seen in a decade — no surprise there, as this show is a musical theater staple, trotted out by Equity houses, children’s theaters and everything in between. The revelation is that this…
My visit to Hale Center Theatre last week marked the fifth production of Little Shop of Horrors I’ve seen in a decade — no surprise there, as this show is a musical theater staple, trotted out by Equity houses, children’s theaters and everything in between. The revelation is that this…
This hasn’t been a great year for renowned local architects named Michael. In May, Michael Kemper Goodwin passed away. And now we’ve lost Michael Schroeder, who died unexpectedly last month at his summer cabin on Whitefish Lake in Montana. Schroeder was only 64. And although you may not recognize his…
The nice people at Arizona Broadway Theatre sent someone to lecture me about the way I review theater. Apparently, my last review of an ABT show included a fart joke and the word “fuck” (hey, I’m not Frank Rich), so when I called to ask for a ticket to see…
One hears ASU Art Museum curator John Spiak’s latest show before one sees it. From the landing above the stairwell leading down to the museum’s cool, dark, barely lit gallery room where “By myself and with my friends . . .” is exhibited, one can hear the slow, steady rhythm…
Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan’s Hairspray is, I’ve decided, made of Teflon. It would appear that nothing can hurt this oft-produced musical version of the 1988 John Waters film, a Broadway winner that’s been produced here twice this season already (and is about to take the stage at the Herberger…
