Say the word “Melrose” to anyone older than 25 and it evokes one thing: the campy, deliciously tacky TV drama brought to you by Aaron Spelling. The good folks at the Seventh Avenue Merchants Association (SAMA) are adding “shopping” and “street fest” to that mix with the Melrose on 7th…
If you’d told the first bunch of bra-burning, you-go-girl protesters that their granddaughters would pay money to run in a skirt, they would have bopped you on the head with their copies of The Feminine Mystique. But that’s exactly what you’ll see at the SkirtChaser 5K. It’s ladies first at…
Thank the good Lord. The great-unwashed masses have left the Valley, en masse, to return whence they came. Now we can get back some après Super Bowl normalcy. Really, now. Does anyone head to Scottsdale to see people wearing the same oversize athletic jerseys at a street party? We didn’t…
All that glitters isn’t gold, but it’s a sure sign that you’ve been visited by Sherry Goldberg, whose sparkly landscapes are an homage to all things girly and just a tad campy. And now, with her new, 3,000-square-foot Femmes Fatales & Fantasies art gallery, Goldberg’s blinged-out glitter glamour and 3D…
“Hippie chic” was once an exercise in irony, since there was nothing fashionable about the reality. Patchouli-drenched, unwashed tie-dye shirts. Burlap-like hemp shoes. Crusty denim jeans. “Sustainable” just meant how long it was possible to go without a shower. As a result, there was no runway here, just a stifled…
Okay, don’t laugh: This year, instead of bashing this sprawling, hot vacuum we call home, I’ve resolved to stop dissing Phoenix. That’s no simple task, because there’s something about these miles of desert-y ‘burbs that invites — no, begs for — criticism. From the endless traffic to the cookie-cutter houses…
Ask anyone who’s been to France – it’s all about the food. Wine, cheese, crusty baguettes, amazing sauces, fresh crepes, and appreciation of the culinary niceties in life must be hard-coded into Francophile DNA. Luckily, desert dwellers can enjoy such pleasures without updating the old passport. Restaurateur Vincent Guerithault and…
No one likes to languish in airports. First, there’s the tortuous wait, barefoot, in line to clear security, hoping your bottle of mega-hold gel isn’t confiscated as weapons-grade grooming gear. Then there’s the airport food. Whether it’s a $12 steam-table hamburger or $12 coffee, you’d better enjoy it, since you’ll…
These days, it seems like half of Arizona is on its way to pseudo-Tuscan McMansionville. It’s too bad, really, since mid-century modern architecture is found in exactly two places on earth: Palm Springs, California, and the Phoenix area. One local diamond in the rough, the Hotel Valley Ho, was barely…
Peeping and appreciating art at the gaggle of Roosevelt Row galleries doesn’t mean sporting beatnik berets or bongos, emo hoodies, ironic t-shirts, or the ever-present guyliner. Sometimes the work is just gorgeous, man. Especially if the show involves art of the wearable kind, like the beautiful bijoux of Ali Kauss,…
Only in the good ol’ U.S. of A can a holiday about family, food, and sharing be followed up with an insane, credit-card-fueled, post-turkey day consume-a-thon like “Black Friday.” But even with that grim celebration of unbridled avarice behind us, we won’t really be out of the woods ’til those…
Before there was a building boom downtown, back when First Fridays meant you and 11 other people kicking rocks down Roosevelt, Casey McKee was putting out work that made him an underground sensation. Before long, he became all famous and would sell out shows, which, around here, can mean only…
It’s that time of year when every single party guest has overdosed on spinach dip, mini franks, Chex Party Mix, and other cloying holiday treats. And that’s not the worst part. Party season has just begun. It’s going to be a Stepford Season’s Greetings if you’re not careful. That’s why…
On just about every corner in CenPho, some teenage malcontent with a spray can has thrown up his or her initials on anything stationary. Even worse are the morons with knives who etch their initials in glass windows, causing thousands of dollars in damage in exchange for inexplicable doodles. No…
Downtown’s been sprouting new buildings like a garden that grows new fall bounty. Right in the middle of this construction bumper crop is the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, which recently augmented its Saturday-morning hours with a new shopping night for you locavores (a.k.a. a person who exclusively eats food harvested…
If Shakespeare had had a fashionable gay brother, gay Will might have reworked the soliloquy from As You Like It to read, “All the world’s a runway.” At least this week, all of Scottsdale will be one during the second annual Scottsdale Fashion Week, a less-ostentatious-by-design take on the Big…
If your musical career began in underground clubs, it’s safe to say you’ve jumped the shark when you release a compilation of your own remixes. Oakenfold’s been filling large venues for years, but the distance from the dance floor has resulted in some serious distance from the very real talent…
Way back in the ’80s, when real men didn’t eat quiche, wine was relegated to fancy restaurants and snooty folks who watched PBS. But thanks to the pioneering efforts of “Two Buck Chuck,” wine with dinner can now be had for the cost of an extra-large Slurpee, and Charles Shaw…
Looking for a way to hide the fact that you’re secretly shopping for a new wardrobe? Sunset Clothing Xchange has figured out a stealthy way to disguise our Ed Hardy habit with its Four Seasons Graffiti Art Show. Paintings that match your couch? So ´98. Up your street cred with…
If Walt Disney had ever lived in Phoenix, he might have been inspired to write us a theme song. It would probably be something like “It’s a Suburban World After All,” because if you drive any direction from the central corridor, there’s nothing but dreaded urban sprawl — it’ll take…
One of the mantras that emerged from the hippie counterculture movement of the ’60s was “never trust anyone over 30.” When you’re young, idealistic, and wearing rose-colored raver sunglasses to protect your eyes from the early-morning sunrise assault, that seems all right — especially since 30 seems impossible, a nonreality…
It’s easy to laugh at someone you hate, like the Michael Scott character in The Office, especially because dude is embarrassingly similar to at least half the bosses we know in cubicle-lovin’ corporate America. But in some societies around the globe, a culture that’s rich in contemptible bosses is a…
