Since we live in a National League town on account of the Arizona Diamondbacks, we don’t pay a lot of heed to those designated hitter-using American Leaguers. So when we checked out the current 40-man roster for the Oakland Athletics, we were like (to quote Major League), “Who are these…
Dizzy Gillespie was a lot more than the chubby-cheeked trumpeter one sees plastered on old-school posters of jazz greats. With Charlie Parker at his side, Diz changed 1940s popular music with bebop, a rollicking brand of improvisation that pissed off white people because they couldn’t dance to it and further…
What would you do for a cheap drink? Would you . . . uhhhh . . . actually, never mind. We don’t want to know your sicko ways. Instead, we’ll tell you how to score a buck off imports, top-shelf liquors, and premium spirits: Strip down to your skimpies during…
Did you know that Ansel Adams ruined landscape photography? What say you? That’s right. Because the legendary shutterbug was so freaking good at what he did, our top three associations with contemporary landscape imagery are “yawn,” “ugh,” and “bo-ring.” However, there are diamonds in the rough like Barbara Bosworth, whose…
Rednecks like things that go pop! Just-opened beer cans. Guns. Fireworks. Funny cars jolting off the starter’s line with concussive force. Firebird International Raceway will transform such ’neck-friendly ear and eye candy, sans the guns, into one huge blowout during the Coors Light Summer Spectacular. Funny cars and jet cars…
Last year, we cared a bunch when we heard that one of Van Buren’s last remaining vestiges of a nearly forgotten Phoenix, the circa-1939 Log Cabin Motel, had changed ownership and was in serious danger of being torn down. Then we read an impassioned four-page essay and photo/memorabilia piece in…
Patchwork tapestries glued together from trash, cityscapes made out of discarded glass bottles, and junk mail assembled into fancy wall collages are just some of the scavenger exhibits you may find at your local contemporary art gallery. While it’s a hot trend in visual art, the hunter-gatherer/assemblage spirit hasn’t caught…
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, I stood in the garage of a Paradise Valley home, surrounded by carillons, chromatic bell instruments that had their heyday in the 1700s. The antiquated, Dutch contraptions — which sound like clinking church bells fused with sharp piano tones — are the namesake of local…
By Steve Jansen Guess which one costs more? On a recent weekend night, I was hanging at Vocé Ristoranté, listening to the laid-back sounds of Khani Cole, when I was struck by a serious jones for a dessert. My $11 glass of organic Shiraz, though good, just wasn’t cutting it…
We hadn’t seen a portraiture group show that knocked our socks off for a long time. We hadn’t, that is, until we checked out “The Portrait” exhibit, which features works of a different breed entirely. Local photographer, eye lounge art-collective member, and show curator Lindsay Palmer gathered works by many…
Reggae-like grooves that quote 1960s Jamaica. Funk-soaked keyboards, circa 1973. Santana-esque electric guitar solos. No way a modern-day band can successfully fuse all of these elements into something listenable, groovy, and tight. Well, we felt this way until we were made hip to Alfred Howard & the K23, a San…
It’s no secret that we hate Tucson and the scum who populate the freaking place. But when we remember folks like Hank Arnold – a Tucson racecar driver who won more than 160 main events throughout Arizona before dying in a Manzanita Speedway crash in 1967 – well, we still…
Bitching about the heat in Phoenix is one of our pet peeves (and so is the use of “pet peeve”… grrr), so you’re not going to read such tripe in Night & Day. No sirree. Instead of complaining about the inside of our car reaching nuclear levels or how just…
By Steve Jansen This place rocks It’s no secret that it’s bloody hot out there. But instead of whining about the inevitable (after all, we do live in a desert), I’m going to celebrate the arrival of nuclear temperatures by switching from hot to iced coffee in the mornings. This…
Just because we ain’t got the Great Smoky Mountains and fields of Kentucky bluegrass in this here desert don’t mean we ain’t got folks playing a bunch of acoustic stringed instruments and singing a high-lonesome sound. On the contrary, there’s plenty o’ places in town to play/hear bluegrass music. The…
When it comes to poet, performance artist, photographer, improviser, and Grand Avenue Live! talk-show host Kevin Patterson, we either love him, hate him, or sum up his well-meaning presence with a universal-size sigh. However, there’s no doubt how we’ll feel during the Kevin Patterson Roast, where he will be verbally…
Black Carl is basically the perfect band to play at the “PLASTER THIS! The Art of the Concert Poster” First Friday exhibit. Why? Because the Tempe-based group incorporates all that’s good and fine with music, including upbeat rock, soul grit, and booty-shaking grooves. As for “PLASTER THIS,” the exhibit features…
According to legend, the Diné (Navajo) underworld was a supercool place to live for the Holy People. The weather was perfect, food grew in loads, and the staples of Navajo art – such as rug weaving, silversmithing, and basketry – were cultivated and honed. In his “Underworlderness” exhibit, Navajo artist…
By Steve Jansen Don’t let the two forks fool you. I ate most of these myself. I consider myself a pretty healthy eater. Fresh fruits and vegetables, non-packaged goods, and organic when possible. Plus, I always carry around a container of purified water with me to stay hydrated (rarely do…
Hot rods and custom bikes. The Major League Baseball Road Show. An Xbox gaming center. A performance by local hip-hopper extraordinaire Willy Northpole. Appearances by Rick Throne and pro skate dude Jake Brown. Yo, where in the hell can we find all of this? Answer: the Dub Magazine Custom Car…
Tijs Verwest, a.k.a. DJ Tiësto, a.k.a. DJ Magazine’s best record spinner in the world three years running from 2002 to 2004, basically invented the trance-music party that we’ve all either accidentally or purposely stumbled upon. His newest album, the Grammy-nominated Elements of Life, keeps things jamming with his signature sound…
It’s tough to artistically capture a war-torn land or a place that’s experiencing upheaval without falling into a clichéd, depressing point of view about the affected country and its people. You won’t find such an empty portrayal in Nidaa Aboulhosn’s “Conatus. Every Day.” Aboulhosn grew up just outside Beirut, Lebanon,…
