Megalopolitan Life

For philosophers like Walter Benjamin and The Situationists, the figure of the flâneur held a special allure. Flâneurs (French for “strollers”) were the original urban explorers: idle 19th-century dandies who spent their time taking their sweet time along the streets of Paris. For many philosophers, these loitering strollers became symbols for engaging with cities in a more personal and creative way. Flâneurs see things that schmoes in cars never will. One benefit of being a flâneur in the Valley is stumbling on the work of James B. Hunt. A wildly inventive visual artist, Hunt enlivens our urban landscape with his stickers, show fliers, and poster art. Bicycling across town, the black-clad Hunt sometimes organizes scavenger hunts in which he hides his paintings in the city’s nooks and crannies. While so many artists confine their work to galleries or coffee shop walls, Hunt lets his art out into the wild. Stumbling onto a Hunt piece is like crossing paths with a javelina or a coyote during an evening stroll — one of those rites of passages most Phoenicians eventually experience.

Imagine being charged with creating a mural for a space that’s already home to one of James Turrell’s famous skyspaces and a massive glass scrim wall by James Carpenter. Scottsdale Arts commissioned Janel Garza to do just that, and she nailed it. Garza created one of her characteristic geometric designs for a wall inside a courtyard near the entrance to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, using colors that reflect not only the desert surroundings but also the monumental artworks nearby. Her landscape of shapes channels the beauty of the Sonoran Desert while elevating the role architecture plays in shaping individual and collective identities.

You may not see puffy Lisa Frank unicorn stickers as raw material for feminist art, but Malena Barnhart does. A prolific and thoughtful visual artist, Barnhart works in multiple mediums (including video art and performance pieces). But one of the most striking is one that most of us who grew up with bubble machines and Trapper Keepers know all too well: the wonderful world of stickers. Barnhart has amassed a large collection of stickers that she uses to create hilarious and unnerving pieces of art. She uses their cutesy, colorful appeal in a subversive way, cobbling massive amounts of them together to form bear traps, handcuffs, and other tools of restraints. She creates murals and banners full of stickers, highlighting their textures and playful shapes. Barnhart has taken material that is temporary and disposable by nature and used it to create pieces that linger in our memories long after the sticky backing on those pieces has worn off.

Don’t call it a glow-up — Daniel Funkhouser has been shining for years. An artist with a knack for crafting whimsical installations and androgynous self-portraits, Funkhouser is one of the Valley’s most forward-thinking and prolific creators. While he creates in a large variety of mediums, one constant in his body of work is neon. Funkhouser knows how to paint with light. He’s created (literally) brilliant neon pieces for the annual Chaos Theory group shows, pieces that are both inviting and menacing, shedding the kind of sultry noir neon glow you’d expect to see in a David Lynch film. Bright neon colors and tones give his photographs a garish, lurid energy — like they’re snapshots from some alternate dimension where Kenny Scharf designed everything. When it comes to lighting up a room, nobody does it better than Funkhouser.

Four rows of dirt planted with strawberries anchored this exhibition by Mexican-American artist Janet Diaz, who returned to her hometown of Salinas, California, to gather the materials used in this compelling art show. Gallery visitors smelled the dirt and felt the humidity of watered plants, as they might while working hot days in a California field. Diaz also used sound, video, and portraits of migrants who work the strawberry fields, making visible the many people at the heart of American life whose efforts go largely unnoticed. Her portraits of migrants were hung high on the gallery walls, so those who normally look down on them would gaze up to them instead. Here, the artist made palpable the rigors of working in the field, while prompting viewers to embrace the humanity of migrants.

A bevy of large beaded creatures by Christy Puetz sit near the entrance to the children’s section of Burton Barr Central Library, where a trio of Daniel Funkhouser’s transparent trees in vibrant colors stand guard on another floor. They’re just two of 10 artworks created for the latest iteration of this arts collaboration, which spans several cities. The temporary artworks are placed in public places, where people delight in stumbling across them. Kyllan Maney transformed exterior walls for a Tempe arts center using fractured spiral patterns drawn on maps. Steven Torres added whimsy to a Scottsdale neighborhood with a giant yellow steampunk-style seahorse. Mary Shindell brightened Glendale City Hall with several colorful acrylic cylinders wrapped with desert flora and fauna. All the installations reveal the talent in our midst, and highlight the role of art in creating vibrant communities.

Love it or hate it, John Randall Nelson’s white jackrabbit standing 26 feet tall is a conversation-starter. It’s also a playful marker for a part of Old Town Scottsdale once considered a thriving arts district, where bars and retail shops now far outnumber galleries. The metal sculpture calls to mind Lewis Carroll’s fictional white rabbit and stories he penned about a girl named Alice. Where others fear a friendly wink at psychedelic drugs, we embrace the perfect symbol for a city wrestling with its own identity. Scottsdale may be perpetually falling through its own looking glass, but at least it has a monumental work of art to inspire greater imagination along the journey. Unlike the myriad horse sculptures placed around Old Town, One-Eyed Jack is a nod to the city’s future rather than its past.

CALA Alliance has been bringing art conversations out of traditional art space and into community venues, giving people with diverse backgrounds and interests new ways to spend time together inspired by mutual respect and the power of sharing stories. During a series of Crossfade Labs moderated by creative Josh Kun at Crescent Ballroom, community members have experienced facilitated conversations between artists working in multiple genres, and created their own conversations around issues including immigration, queer experience, and cultural appropriation. Together, Crossfade Lab participants are forging new, intersecting pathways for conversations, helping people envision fresh ways of creating, listening, and sharing both personal and collective stories, all with an eye to creating community action infused with love and justice.

There’s nothing like stumbling onto an arts space that’s a bit off the beaten path, then discovering that it’s home to some amazing creativity. The Millet House sits on a peaceful neighborhood street not far from Mesa Arts Center, quietly offering a rich assortment of experiences that blend art and community. The adobe mud brick house was built around 1940. Today, two rooms are used for showing art, offering free art sessions, holding pizza parties, sharing journaling time, and more. Millet House is all about helping people on the margins by giving them a shared creative space to make and show their artwork. It’s a welcoming, volunteer-run space where emerging artists connect with established artists, and people feel the power of art to transform lives. The fact that Millet House is tucked away makes it even more delightful when you discover the many treasures it holds.

When people converge on The Sagrado Galleria, opened by Sam Gomez in south Phoenix in 2016, it feels like a family reunion. Old friends gather and new faces join in, creating an aura of joy and acceptance that reveals this is far more than a traditional art gallery. Gatherings often include food, indigenous music and dance, and presentations about cultural roots. Works by some of Phoenix’s most revered artists share space with works by young creatives, all embraced as reflections of shared humanity and mutual responsibility for transforming the world through creativity. The gallery also engages youth and other artists in projects ranging from murals to architectural designs for public spaces, blending art and activism as a means of creating social change. Instead of nurturing only artists, The Sagrado nurtures community.

While the arts landscape changes all around it, The Hive continues to serve as a hub for creatives in and beyond metro Phoenix. It’s anchored by Julia Fournier’s vintage thrift shop, The Bee’s Knees, where curated fashion, decor, and local artworks converge to envelop visitors in a cozy yet vibrant vibe. The Hive art gallery shows pieces by emerging and established artists working in mediums from needlepoint to photography. If you want to discover an artist you’ve never experienced before, this is the place to start. It’s also home to Wasted Zine Ink Distro, and an eclectic assortment of studios and shops that showcase the quirky side of Phoenix culture. A courtyard gives artists and other community members a place to share poetry, food, music, and conversation. Add in the annual Coronado Art Show highlighting artistic neighbors, and vibrant murals dotting the space, and you can’t deny this makes one hell of a second home when you just need to recharge your batteries with art and acceptance.

Grand Avenue has shifted from an alternative arts destination to the main attraction on First Friday. With most creative spaces located along a single diagonal street that sits in the shadow of a giant anti-Trump billboard, it’s easy to find and easy to explore by walking or cycling. Grand Avenue boasts a beautiful balance of galleries, music venues, small creative businesses, and welcoming places to eat and drink with friends. The atmosphere is casual and quirky, so people feel right at home even as they get the sense they’ve just landed on a wonderfully weird and wacky planet. Pinata-style art hangs from trees. Fences are dotted with art made from ribbons or old campaign signs. People gather indoors and out, talking about the art they’ve seen in their travels. Best of all, community events like the Grand Avenue Festival and Chalk Art Festival transform enjoying art from a solitary affair into a social adventure.

While others seek to consolidate the Phoenix arts scene into areas dubbed art districts, artists and married couple Joel Coplin and Jo-Ann Lowney are expanding the boundaries of Phoenix’s evolving arts landscape. They’ve transformed a warehouse space not far from the Arizona State Capitol into a studio and gallery, inviting community members to see both their own art and exhibits featuring works by accomplished artists who have been nurturing the downtown arts scene for decades, such as Jeff Falk, Annie Lopez, and Beth Ames Swartz. They’ve also planted a garden, where they enjoy talking with passersby. Coplin’s studio includes a space where he often paints people he’s met on nearby streets as he listens to them talk about the circumstances that have dramatically altered their lives, from losing a job to battling addiction. Gallery walls are filled with artworks that convey reverence for the natural world, as well as artworks that use humor and historical perspective to amplify human foibles.

Lisa Sette’s midtown art gallery is part exhibition space and part sanctuary, perfectly suited to those who want to linger with art and explore its many layers and subtleties. Each of the artists she represents, including several based in metro Phoenix, demonstrate exceptional mastery of materials, technique, and artistic vision. Every exhibit brings new perspectives on ordinary experience, as well as vast shifts happening within the contemporary cultural landscape. Recent exhibits have explored a wide range of social justice issues, including priest pedophilia, white supremacy, and environmental degradation. Here, art prompts the thoughtful reflection and dialogue that’s getting harder to find in a world filled with noise and shiny objects.

Every first Friday of the month, thousands of people gather in downtown Phoenix for what is essentially a monthly pop-up block party featuring dozens of art galleries, local artists, performers, and food trucks. Promoted by Artlink, First Friday has become a popular way to see tons of local art for free. The self-guided tours allow you to wander around the streets of downtown Phoenix while supporting local artists by browsing their wares forever without buying anything, then taking an art break to get drunk and (we hope) going back to actually give the artists some money. The participating vendors, studios, and restaurants are concentrated in a few neighborhoods, including Roosevelt Row, the Grand Avenue Arts District, and the Warehouse District just south of Roosevelt Row.

James Turrell has been working on his Roden Crater project north of Flagstaff for so long, there’s a chance he could die before it’s complete. Thankfully, at least one extremely rich person doesn’t want that to happen, and unexpectedly, it’s Kanye West. After he and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, visited the site in December, he decided to give $10 million to help Turrell finally finish the thing. He wrote of the visit on Twitter, “This is life changing. We all will live in Turrell spaces.” He also seemingly put some locals in a giving mood: Just one week later, Arizona State University President Michael Crow announced that the university would invest in the project to the tune of $200 million, ensuring people will finally get to see the crater in its finished glory.

Locals often lament that the Valley arts scene doesn’t get enough national attention, considering that Phoenix is the country’s fifth-largest city. Now, maybe, they can put that idea to rest, knowing that Meow Wolf decided Phoenix was worthy of its first combined hotel and arts venue project. The arts and entertainment group based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is partnering with True North Studio to make it happen in Roosevelt Row, although it likely will be many years before it opens. It’s planning to have local artists involved at several levels, including designing themed hotel rooms and producing work for the interactive art space. That means more paid work for creatives, and a chance to finally put Phoenix arts and culture on the map.

Technology gets used way too often by performance artists who think it makes their work more relevant or accessible. Take note, choreographers. Audiences are way past wanting to ruminate on the ways digital technology is challenging human connections. Instead, they want to see more works like Drone, a contemporary dance piece performed by NobleMotion Dance of Texas during the 2019 Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance and Film Festival at Tempe Center for the Arts. Its embrace of drone technology was authentic and effective. By giving a drone that hovered over dancers humanlike properties, choreographers democratized humans and machines, prompting audience members to consider whether machines might be capable of artistry in their own right. Scary thought? Yes, scary good.

After Phoenix choreographer and dancer Liliana Gomez learned about the BlakTina Dance Festival launched in Los Angeles back in 2013, she partnered with founder Licia Perea to create a BlakTina Dance Festival here in Phoenix, eager to highlight the contributions of black and Latinx creatives on the local arts scene. Now called the BlakTinx Dance Festival, the event brings together diverse movement artists and audiences for contemporary dance works that explore shared humanity, human emotion, and sociocultural issues related to women’s rights, the immigrant experience, systemic racism, and more. The festival incorporates poetry, film, and other creative expression, breaking down walls between art forms as it punctuates the power of movement to effect change.

Luxury theaters with reserved seating, fancy food, and bars are becoming de rigueur around town these days, but we still love heading to Camelview for both critically acclaimed indies and long-anticipated blockbusters. The sound and projection rival any other multiplex in town, and the reclining chairs are still well-maintained after cradling the butts of movie fans for nearly four years. After seeing that heady horror flick, you can grab a drink and step out on the scenic patio to discuss what the heck you just saw. The popcorn will always be overpriced, but you can see where those extra dollars in the admission price went.

Phoenix parks aren’t just about grass. One of the best city parks in town features a building erected in 1935 to house the then-decade-old Pueblo Grande Museum and adjacent park. According to city staff, during the Great Depression, Phoenix’s archaeologists used to love to brag that the city only had to pay for a box of nails — the rest of the materials for the adobe were scavenged. Today, you’ll see signs of ingenuity from much further back in time — and more recently, too. Scientists and historians estimate that the Hohokam settled in the Valley of the Sun before 500 A.D., and by 750 had everything from houses to cemeteries. Pueblo Grande gives visitors a glimpse into the awesomeness that were the Hohokam, whose actual name is lost to history. No one knows what they called themselves or what they dreamed about while not digging canal ditches, but these were some of the hardiest, most ingenious people ever to have lived. What we do know is that while Euro-migrants have been at this Sonoran Desert-living thing for a couple of hundred years, the Hohokam plowed the ground here for 1,000 years before vanishing for reasons that are still mysterious. You can put your hands on remnants of their civilization at the museum and park, which features an “interpretative agricultural garden” with cotton, corn, and other crops grown way back when. If you haven’t been here yet, you don’t know your home’s history.

We love Bird scooters because they have good brakes and are easy to steer. And because you can actually find one in downtown Tempe. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the concept of the scooter dates back to 1817, when Germans first used the handy mode of transportation. The super-portable vehicles have been controversial ever since (they’ve been long loathed by the cycling community), but perhaps no more so than when the electric scooter hit cities in the last few years. Thanks to technology, you can easily rent a scooter using a credit card, and no one but your mom cares if you wear a helmet as you zoom around town. In Tempe, electric scooters have become such a menace to pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers that the city has introduced pretty onerous rules regarding liability. Earlier this year, Lime pulled its scooters from Tempe, and Razor has threatened to do the same. But Bird signed up for another round, and it’s Bird we patronize when we want to ditch the car and take a more enjoyable, and environmentally cleaner, romp around town. Sorry about the helmet thing, Mom.

Phoenicians wait all year for the chance to don flannel shirts for just a few days of chilly weather, defined as anything below 70 degrees. On New Year’s Eve, fabulous flanneled folk descend on Roosevelt Row for an evening filled with live music and art, culinary fare, and a host of creative activities that help to cultivate the community spirit that continues long after flannel and boots get replaced by tank tops and flip-flops. This year’s event will take place near Second and Roosevelt streets, where neighbors, tourists, and the hipster crowd unite amid the city’s exciting cultural and culinary landscape, launching each other into another year of urban adventures.

This giant, drivable holiday amusement was built for fans of twinkly lights and loud, festive Christmas music. Folks come from far and wide to visit two drive-thru play parks, where giant snowmen flash, colossal Santas flicker, and cutie-pie elves glow in time to music piped directly into car radios. Billed as a “family holiday driving experience with synchronized Christmas lights,” Illumination claims to be the world’s largest animated holiday show — and it’s certainly more than just a bunch of lights plugged into an extension cord. Shiny Yuletide features include a 100-foot-wide nativity scene and something called Santa’s Portal, a 500-foot-long sonic tunnel filled with just some of the attraction’s 1.7 million pixelized lights. Illumination will be held this year at Tempe Diablo Stadium and Westgate in Glendale. Just look for a gigantic glow in the December night sky, and start driving toward it.

Spanning over 26 miles across multiple city borders, a ride on the light rail provides a brief window into so many of Phoenix’s unique neighborhoods. One guarantee that is included with your light rail pass is the fact that you will be sharing the experience with a wide array of Phoenicians. People-watching is all about variety, and taking a ride on the light rail, you’ll get a glimpse into the lives of Phoenix residents from every walk of life. Whether you’re on your way to a sporting event or concert downtown, or commuting to work to avoid the nuisance of rush-hour traffic, save for staring down at your phone, there’s really not much else to do on the light rail but to observe the people getting on and off at every stop. As usual, Phoenix never disappoints.

Alison King planned to be a high school art teacher, but academia’s loss is Midcentury Modern architecture’s gain. King is the queen of all things built in the Valley before 1980 or so; since 2004, she has documented mid-20th-century buildings and building trends on her Modern Phoenix: The Neighborhood Network site. King grew up in Scottsdale and attended Saguaro High School, where she met her husband, Matthew. The pair went on to create and host an annual Modern Phoenix Week, with tours, talks, and public events aimed at design professionals and midcentury enthusiasts. She’s documented modernist influences and helped revive the reputation of architect Ralph Haver, whose distinctive 1950s tract homes lately have become so sought after. King has made a name for herself among the best Phoenix historians.

Miss the days of your parents giving you $20 before dropping you off to hang out at the mall with your hooligan friends? Imagine if you saved that money — let that thought haunt you before you go to bed tonight. Anyway, the mall used to be the spot: always bustling with families on shopping outings, teens hanging out, everyone with a pretzel in their hands. The days of a busy mall probably are numbered. Though you can still get a buttery pretzel, you’ll just be walking around a nearly empty mall. But there’s beauty in the emptiness, and Retail Archaeology explores just that. The man behind the camera, Erik Pierson, started documenting dead and dying malls almost three years ago on YouTube. In his videos, Pierson gives life to malls around the Valley, like Fiesta Mall and El Pedregal, by walking around and narrating with facts, architectural observations, and personal anecdotes.

The best libraries lure readers not only with books, but with a profound sense of community. That’s exactly what happens at this flagship branch of the Phoenix Public Library. Community members gather for lively discussions of civic issues inside the auditorium; for art exhibits featuring works by emerging and established artists; and for shared experiences in spaces focused on topics ranging from maker culture to workplace skills. Children have their own cheerful space, where books provide solace and a sense of wonder. Teens have an area for self-expression and conversation. For people who love history and literature, the Rare Book Room is a welcoming space. And the annual used-book sale is one of the community’s best-loved traditions. Throughout the library, Will Bruder’s designs assure that visitors are enveloped in light and soaring architectural elements that reinforce the primacy of learning in the course of human civilization.

Stray Cat’s production of Jack Thorne’s dark drama belonged almost entirely to Veronica Mars actor Duane Daniels. As a creepy fellow who hides behind trees and slits the throats of college kids, he created a canny set of scenes that helped elevate an otherwise ordinary story. Based on the 2004 novel of the same name by John Lindqvist, and on the author’s screenplay for a 2008 Swedish film adaptation, Let the Right One In sold like crazy to fans of vampire fiction and those who like their romance to include a certain amount of gore. The blood in Stray Cat’s production, nicely directed by the company’s artistic director, Ron May, was neatly contained, though — fortunately — Daniels’ performance was not. He played a shifty slob who skulked about a cold, lonely set, the whites of his eyes illuminating shadows and suggesting evil with just the set of his shoulders and the grumble of his voice. Bravo.

A good movie theater — one with character and a selection of films that someone actually took time to curate — is hard to find. Fortunately, Phoenix has FilmBar, an independent theater that shows the latest indie hits (think Booksmart), cult classics (name another theater that shows Donnie Darko), and foreign, local, or downright different films (such as Loving Vincent, animated in the style of Van Gogh). Just inside FilmBar is a bar with a selection of craft beers, plus popcorn and tamales — try finding those at a commercial theater. Inside the theater, choose between plush, velvet-cushioned seats or a table in the back for a proper place to eat those tamales. FilmBar is a beacon of light in the soulless sea of chain theaters around the Valley, and at about $10 a head, tickets are some of the best-priced in town.

Let’s face it, dropping a Hamilton or more to see a movie is a gamble nowadays, especially when you can see practically everything on a streaming service. Local real estate developer Michael Pollack also took a chance when he purchased this discount theater more than 15 years ago. The lobby, drowned in neon pink, is a cross between a museum and a kitschy gift shop you would find along Hollywood Boulevard with an array of video games, animatronics, and wax sculptures of cinema icons from long ago. You wouldn’t expect an experience like this when you’re only dropping $3.50 to watch a flick you could easily rent on iTunes, but Pollack usually can be found in the lobby on a Friday night to ensure you get a little more than you paid for.

You don’t have to make the six-hour drive to Hollywood to get your independent film made. The Independent Film Project (IFP) here in Phoenix has a vast number of resources. There is the Monthly Movie Meeting (held most months), where filmmakers can showcase their work and receive feedback. Another monthly event is Filmmaker Fusion, where a topic is discussed with special guests and, afterward, attendees are encouraged to network. Two filmmaker challenges are held every year: the Beat the Clock Challenge and the Breakout Challenge. Both events come with the opportunity to have the participants’ work seen on the big screen. The monthly meetings are free of charge, but there is a tiered annual membership you can choose to purchase to receive other benefits and discounts. Grab your camera, polish your script, and check out everything you can do right here in town.

If you’re looking for a barometer for what wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards, film festivals are not that place (come on, Green Book? Really?). If you’re looking for a movie that you’ll actually enjoy, then the Phoenix Film Festival has something to scratch your itch. Opening night of this year’s festival featured a Q & A session with Joe Berlinger, director of the hit Netflix movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile before it premiered on the streaming service. There are even nights dedicated to nerd and genre films for those repulsed by awards bait. Because the event takes place entirely at Harkins Scottsdale 101, chances are you’ll run into the person behind that little documentary you caught earlier in the afternoon at the concession stand. For Valley cinephiles, there is no experience like it.

If the purpose of art is to change one’s perspective, the “Electric Desert” light and sound exhibition at Desert Botanical Garden checked all the boxes. The international Klip Collective created seven site-specific installations, setting them in various garden locations to magnificent effect. Through lights conveying a sense of movement, cactus gardens appeared to undulate, leaving viewers feeling they were witnessing a magical underwater dance of coral. Rather than disguising the desert’s own natural shapes, patterns, and textures, the collective amplified the organic properties of desert plants while adding new visual layers, with intriguing results. For skeptics who worry that technology is sapping interest in the natural world, the exhibit revealed technology’s potential to draw attention back to the environment and its myriad wonders.

This year saw two blockbuster exhibitions on pre-Colombian Mexican art come to the Valley. The Phoenix Art Museum wowed with its “Teotihuacan: City of Fire, City of Water,” showing off ancient artifacts recently uncovered at the famed Mesoamerican city. Yet it was the smaller “Josef Albers in Mexico” show imported by the Heard Museum from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York that really impressed us. The exhibition delves into the Bauhaus artist’s travels through the same Mesoamerican ruins plumbed by “Teotihuacan.” But by displaying the painter’s simple, colorful modernist paintings alongside photos and sketches, it shows how the works of these ancient societies still resonate, inspiring artists across time and space.

Don’t make any plans for immediately after you visit the Musical Instrument Museum, because you’ll want to spend the whole day there. With more than 7,000 instruments from 200-plus countries and territories, you’ll be kicking yourself if you rush the experience. The Artist Gallery downstairs showcases instruments from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Maroon 5, and more, or you can become a rock star in your own right, jamming out on the guitar, a Native American communal drum, or a Peruvian harp in the interactive Experience Gallery. If you’d rather listen to the professionals, check out the concert calendar offering music from every genre.

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum is distinguished by its thoughtful, imaginative approach to showing works by local, national, and international artists. Its solo and group exhibitions often feature women artists and artists of color, bringing much-needed diversity to the art scene. We never tire of seeing the museum’s El Mac mural depicting an immigrant from Guatemala holding a lovely long-stemmed rose. Expect to see not only traditional works of art here, but also murals painted on gallery walls, rows of mounted skate decks, and large-scale installations created with offbeat materials like plastic bags. Best of all, the museum routinely exhibits work by such local artists as Rachel Bess, Colin Chillag, Joe Willie Smith, Marilyn Szabo, and Fred Tieken. They even throw fabulous season openings where art, live music, and conversation converge to create a strong sense of community.

Given the long-running contentiousness between the Central Arizona Project and the Arizona Department of Water Resources, plus the historic fight-inducing nature of water in the West, it’s a wonder that Arizona’s drought plan for the Colorado River materialized at all last fall and fell into place in early 2019, just in time for a federal deadline. But miraculously, Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke and Central Arizona Project General Manager Ted Cooke pulled it off. Not only did they avoid coming to blows, they even sat side by side with matching poker faces through endless public meetings and press conferences. And we can only guess how many more times they met behind the scenes, until most of the parties who lay claim to Arizona’s supply of Colorado River water agreed on how to distribute expected cutbacks to that precious resource. Even when negotiations seemed on the verge of collapse, this alliterative duo stayed the course. We hope they’re catching up on rest now, because the next round of Colorado River negotiations starts in 2020.

Public officials never admit to anything, even when they get caught. Journalists, by contrast, are in it for the story. Writers may produce a book, like David Carr’s Night of the Gun. TV reporter Bryan West of Channel 12 (KPNX-TV) decided to take up writing after serving nine days in jail for extreme DUI and failing to obey police commands. The burst of literary prowess for the reporter, who typically covers morning practice by high school bands, debuted on social media, naturally. In the 3,200-word essay, West apologizes for his actions and describes how he lived a double life as a hardcore alcoholic for “too many years,” often drinking until he blacked out. He relates how his drunk and reckless driving led to his arrest that fateful night in August 2018. Yeah, we heard he left out some key details. But the deeply personal mea culpa on Facebook, set to public, was well received by USA Today‘s editor and hundreds of other journalists and well-wishers. West still hasn’t returned to his on-air job at Channel 12. With luck, he’s pursuing a less self-destructive lifestyle.

Gail Griffin and Chris Sevier are a match made in a heaven where porn doesn’t exist, everyone is fully clothed at all times, and no one ever thinks an impure thought. That sounds an awful lot like Utah, where Sevier once tried to marry his laptop as he strongly implied that gay marriage was just as ridiculous. The anti-gay activist came up with an anti-porn idea this year as his latest stunt, and spread it like a disease through 18 states, including Arizona. Griffin signed on as Sevier’s political soulmate, introducing HB 2444 in January. The bill would have required electronic devices in Arizona to be fitted with software that would block all internet porn. To remove the block, you’d have to be over 18 and pay $20. The money would go to something called the John McCain Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Fund, and this new fund’s No. 1 priority would have been to help build Donald Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico. Even for the red, Trump-supporting state of Arizona, this was mad-genius-level legislation. Griffin soon pulled her bill from consideration after nationwide ridicule.

Although its greatest offenses took place in 2014, only in 2019 did the largest electric utility in the state and its parent company, Pinnacle West, finally cop to dumping more than $130 million in customer dollars into political spending, charitable contributions, marketing and advertising, lobbying, and sponsorships from 2013 to 2018. Arizonans were disgusted but unsurprised when the utility disclosed, under threat of subpoena, that it had indeed secretly poured tens of millions in dark money into the 2014 Corporation Commission race. That money contributed to the victories of APS’s preferred candidates, who were then tasked with regulating the utility and deciding how much it could charge captive customers for electricity. The utility hasn’t drawn the line at trying to buy its regulators, though. It has also been under federal investigation since at least 2016 over its involvement in the 2014 Arizona Secretary of State’s race. With this particular investigation, the utility promises, it is fully cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Created in 2015 by Governor Doug Ducey, the task force was his way of telling voters he’s doing something about illegal immigration, which many Republican voters see as a huge problem. The state reportedly has spent $82 million on the task force since then, and this year it got an $11 million boost that will include the hiring of several new troopers. Yet, if the border strike task force does anything that the state doesn’t already expect the Arizona Department of Public Safety to do, that would be unusual. As the Arizona Republic and New Times have found out, the program does little beyond act as Ducey’s propaganda tool. Statistics detailing the task force’s alleged successes borrow from the work of other law enforcement agencies, research shows. Fewer than 18 percent of the cases it works on involve drug smuggling or organized crime. That is, if a police agency stops a semitruck and finds a pound of meth on the driver, the task force might list it under its tally for drugs seized for the year. But this sort of smoke-and-mirrors crime-fighting program is just what you’d expect of one created by a politician. More criminals likely would get busted if the program wasn’t so focused on trying to make Ducey look good.

Jon Talton is actually based in Seattle, but the fourth-generation Arizonan is a former columnist for the Arizona Republic, and his writing in his Rogue Columnist blog reflects a thorough, insightful knowledge of the players and dynamics of this city and state. He still gets the occasional scoop, and he writes lovely, elegiac remembrances of the Phoenix that used to be, catching the finer human points of how the Valley has morphed and expanded over the years. He pulls no punches — only “fools” go hiking in a Phoenix summer, he writes in disgust — and the scope of Rogue Columnist is expansive. This “pen warmed up in hell” tackles climate change, heat, train stations, the newspaper industry, and many other subjects, but it never lectures or grows too bitter. Instead, his blog posts are often a fusion of personal recollections and critical reflections on the small- and large-scale changes that will continue to mold Phoenix in the years to come.

Short and to the point, devoid of unnecessary frills, The Breakdown is essential listening for commuters who want to stay informed on the latest developments at the Arizona State Capitol. Every Wednesday morning, Arizona Capitol Times‘ plugged-in hosts, ahem, break down the issues of the week with clarity and humor. Whether they’re explaining the nuances of the drought contingency plan or walking through the rapid-fire developments in the David Stringer saga, the podcast team has a knack for filling listeners in on complex issues without making them feel stupid. On top of all that, the intro music is refreshingly pleasant for a news podcast.

Bob Huhn is so helpful it’s almost shocking, especially once a reporter becomes conditioned by futile efforts to get answers from state agencies, certain people at the city of Phoenix, and Governor Doug Ducey’s office. Call Huhn, and he picks up the phone and is eager to answer questions. Email him, and he’ll call you directly. Huhn can get a few air-quality experts on the line with you in the next couple of hours to answer any and all of your detailed questions about air pollution, like what ozone, PM2.5, and PM10 really are. He is sincere and eager but not simpering, and he’s been known, on occasion, to take the liberty of filing public records requests on behalf of reporters. We wish every public information officer would be as responsive and dedicated as Huhn.

The anxiety before this year’s ruling on marijuana concentrates in Rodney Christopher Jones v. State of Arizona by the Arizona Supreme Court probably brought in business for local therapists. The stakes hardly could have been higher: If the state’s highest court had ruled against concentrates, nothing less than the crumbling of the dispensary industry and suffering of the program’s most ill patients would have been the result. The agonizing wait began after the state Court of Appeals ruled in June 2018 that the state’s medical marijuana program didn’t cover products containing resin extracted from marijuana, and that it had been just fine for medical marijuana patient Rodney Christopher Jones to serve two years in prison for something he bought at a state-licensed dispensary. In theory, that ruling made illegal some of the most popular products sold in dispensaries, like vape-pen cartridges, shatter and hashish, and infused edibles. Business owners and nearly 200,000 patients continued to sell, buy, and use the extracted-resin products, but they feared the worst. On May 28, however, the Supreme Court went for concentrates like a hardcore stoner who hasn’t seen his dabbing rig for a month. The justices voted 7-0 that, duh, the 2010 medical marijuana law’s protections extended to all forms of marijuana. The dispensaries and patients were psyched — picture the final scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, when everyone’s cheering and the Death Star’s in pieces.

Can you believe Arizona was the only one of 33 states that required no testing at all of its legal cannabis products? Of course you can. Yet surprisingly, the Arizona Legislature fixed that situation this year. Why is that surprising? Because Arizona’s actually a weed-hating state, and the Republican majority in the Legislature have been loath to do anything kind for the cannabis community. Their change of heart can’t be fully explained by savvy politicking. With recreational marijuana now legal in 11 states and Washington, D.C., and medical marijuana in 33 states, even hard-nosed local GOP members know pot will be in their future, like it or not. So, they finally gave in to common sense and created SB 1494, a bill that sets up a new testing system intended to protect patients. After the law goes live in November 2020, independent labs overseen by the state will test dispensary weed for potency and contaminants like mold. But it gets better: The new law makes medical marijuana cards good for two years instead of one — so, half off the normal price of $150 per year. And you thought all pot laws were bad.

There are many ways to handle an election loss. One might express gratitude to supporters and look forward to spending more time with family. Hungrier candidates might begin reviewing what went wrong and planning for the next election. What’s not recommended is lashing out like a child against public relations professionals on Twitter, a la failed State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Frank Riggs. As election returns spelled bad news for Riggs against Democrat Kathy Hoffman, Riggs used his preferred social media app to lob some unkind words toward consultant David Leibowitz, who had taken some jabs at the 68-year-old perennial candidate. “Punk & coward,” Riggs wrote to Leibowitz. “Couldn’t last one week in boot camp or police academy. Sorry Softie.” Riggs went on to hurl insults at flacks and journalists who weighed in on his poor election results and juvenile behavior. Don’t conservatives like Riggs have a word for overly sensitive people who flip out when they’re lightly criticized? Oh, yeah — #snowflake.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is probably the only state agency whose tweets are liked and retweeted by people who actually mean it. It is almost certainly the only agency that can lay claim to having even one tweet go viral. Its messages are pithy, clever, and sometimes even saucy — nearly as good as the traffic messages and warnings they display along the highway. Remember the guy in September 2018 who was caught on video playing the saxophone along the side of Loop 101? Thank ADOT’s killer team of public information officers for bringing you that news, and remember, you saw it first on its Twitter feed. When ADOT isn’t showing Arizona a roadside music performance (with a gentle admonishment to viewers not to try this at home), the agency is bringing you useful, if more routine, information about crashes, closures, and weather, sprinkled with “Where in Arizona?” photo challenges and lifesaving reminders about not to text — or tweet — and drive.

It was a big year for higher education news in this state. Thankfully, Arizona Republic readers could count on reporter Rachel Leingang to tell them what they needed to know. Three students were prosecuted after they protested an appearance by Border Patrol agents at the University of Arizona, igniting a free speech firestorm that may or may not have led to their charges getting dropped. An Arizona State University economics professor accused the school of engaging in a shady deal with an online textbook company that forced him to fail some students. Mired with accreditation issues, Argosy University failed to pay millions of dollars in financial aid, screwing over countless students before shutting down in March. Leingang broke major developments on all these stories and more, hardly ever missing a beat.

Phoenix police shot a record 44 people in 2018, surpassing the rate of police shootings in larger cities. As that number grew through the year, activists from Poder in Action became a mainstay at City Council meetings, where their protest tactics earned them the title of “anarchists” from City Council member Sal DiCiccio and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. But the group was tapping into an issue that would soon blow up. By the time the video of officers brutally detaining the Ames family put Phoenix in the national spotlight earlier this year, Poder had the manpower and background to organize an informed response.

In an age when soundbites are currency, no matter how dishonest, state Representative Kirsten Engel of Tucson eschews the default grandstanding mode of legislating in Arizona in favor of a law-school-professor-does-her-damn-homework style of soundbite that puts most of her peers to shame. In her role on the House Judiciary Committee, Engel was a tireless advocate for criminal justice reform, despite an unsavory alliance between Chair John Allen and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery that kept common-sense bills from getting heard. As a member of the Environment Committee, Engel’s expertise in environmental law helped her ask some of the most incisive questions on Arizona’s most critical issue: water. Even when more trivial-seeming matters were at stake — such as state Representative David Cook’s bill prohibiting nonmilk products from being labeled milk — Engel’s wit delivered a breath of fresh air. “Have you ever heard of coconut milk?” she asked Cook. “It could be coconut beverage,” Cook said. “Peanut butter? Butter comes from cows,” Engel responded. “That would seem to violate this law.”

Thanks to the corrosive influence of big-pocket donors and the prevalence of backroom deals, it’s easy to feel jaded by politics. Especially in Arizona. That’s what made Republican state Senator Paul Boyer’s unapologetic stand during the final stretch of the 2019 legislative session so remarkable. Glendale’s Boyer pushed a bill that extends the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse to sue their assailants. His Republican colleagues and the insurance industry blocked the legislation. So, Boyer said he’d refuse to give a pivotal vote for the party’s budget unless the Legislature passed his bill. Republican Heather Carter of Cave Creek joined Boyer in his stand. House Speaker Rusty Bowers tried to get Boyer to back down with a watered-down version of the bill. Boyer refused. Two of his GOP colleagues, Ben Toma and Kelly Townsend, were caught on hot mics musing about retaliating against Boyer for bucking the party line. He still did not stand down. Boyer’s leap of faith eventually worked. The House passed the bill and Governor Doug Ducey signed it, a victory for child sex-abuse victims — and for political courage.

Rodney Glassman made the mistake last year of running for one of two empty seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission. Since the commission is a powerful, albeit lesser-known, fourth body of state government, candidates receive a fair amount of scrutiny, and someone brilliantly unearthed an old video from 2010 featuring Glassman. The “Sweet Home Arizona” video is campaign material from when Glassman ran against John McCain for senator — as a Democrat. Glassman, who is tall and tends to man-spread when he sits, is the lead singer in the video. Backed by a sorry-looking band, he belts into a microphone and awkwardly thrashes his upper body. “Sweet Home Arizona” criticizes big oil and asks about bringing solar to the state (seriously, who wrote those lyrics?), while Glassman’s voice is about as pleasing as nails on a chalkboard. Glassman did not win a seat on the Corporation Commission, but it is unlikely that the video had much of an impact on that loss.

The camera never blinks. The mic is always on. Those are words to live by if you’re in the TV news business. Yet one afternoon in July, Fox 10 diva Kari Lake apparently forgot those broadcast axioms. Before they were set to appear in a Facebook Live video, Lake and her co-anchor, John Hook, were discussing the station management’s directive for her to delete a reference to the extremist social media site Parler, not realizing that the recording equipment was doing its thing. Hook suggested that their bosses were worried that Lake would get written up by New Times again. “Fuck them,” Lake responded. “They’re 20-year-old dopes. That’s a rag for selling marijuana ads.” Well, yes, all five of our news reporters are 20-somethings, but four of them have master’s degrees from Columbia University and the fifth’s investigative reporting already has taken down the state director of parks, Sue Black, and former legislator David Stringer. And yes, we do sell marijuana ads, thank you very much for reminding everyone, because medical pot is quite legal and profitable in this state. But despite speaking the truth, Lake was off the air for a week, though management never said why. Perhaps she just needed to chill with a bud or two. We would have been happy to recommend a dispensary.

Perhaps he ate a bowl of Cold Stone Creamery’s Vanilla Lite late at night and couldn’t get to sleep. Maybe he had a childhood crush on Betsy Ross. We don’t know. Whatever the reason, Governor Doug Ducey went presidential at 2 a.m. on July 2, tweeting a shitstorm. He got all red, white, and blue over Nike’s decision to pull a pair of shoes featuring an early American flag with 13 stars after former National Football League quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick complained about the colonial design’s connection to an era of slavery. By the time the governor’s six-minute Twitter tirade was done, Ducey had instructed the state to withdraw a $1 million grant to the company to build a factory in Glendale. Oops. That factory will employ 500 people. Many likely will be voters. My bad, Ducey said only nine days later. “This is good news for Arizona and for @GoodyearAZGov. 500 plus jobs. Over $184 million in capital investment. Arizona is open for business, and we welcome @Nike to our state,” Ducey tweeted at a more reasonable hour on July 11. If the flip-flop fits, wear it.

It seems like every comic book artist in town has a crowdfunding campaign to fund his or her latest work. Some meet their goals. Most don’t. Then, there’s the case of Nick Cagnetti’s Pink Lemonade from It’s Alive! Press. There’s something about the titular nomadic heroine he created that makes comic fans open their wallets and exceed the campaign’s goals. It could be the sleek ’60s vibe that oozes out of each colorful, Jack Kirby-inspired panel, or the wonder that informs the character’s worldview. You can order the first issue in October, but do yourself a favor and check out Cagnetti’s previous work online. The time is coming when the Valley artist won’t have to crowdfund his dreams much longer.

When the abysmal Phoenix Suns cornered City Hall into shelling out $150 million in taxpayer money to spruce up Talking Stick Resort Arena, no one captured the public outrage over the demand as succinctly as Greta Rogers. It was December 12, 2018. The 90-year-old Rogers, cane in tow, approached the public lectern and tore into the City Council, reserving most of her blunt venom for the loathed Suns owner, Robert Sarver. “He’s so tight, he squeaks when he walks, and you have been negotiating with this kind of person,” Rogers said. “Shame on each and every one of you.” For at least two decades, Rogers’ civic activism mostly found its audience in city officials unfortunate enough to be on the other side of her words. But her speech on Sarver brought her a new level of fame, from viral tweets and headlines in national papers to the ESPN highlight reel. Not that she cared. Rogers told Phoenix New Times that she doesn’t use the internet.

We love Nearly Naked Theatre, and not just because artistic director and founder Damon Dering always gets at least one cast member to take off all their clothes. Founded 20 years ago, this longstanding avant-garde troupe has brought us everything from Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy to Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show to not one, but two productions of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. If the Naked folks don’t hit it out of the park with every production, they do always deliver something unique and original. And if they’ve lately been hard to find (their website hasn’t been updated in a couple of years, and it’s rumored that they’ve left their former home at Phoenix Theatre), it’s always worth it once you find them.

There’s no i in team (unless your team name is “I, Robotnik”). If you want to win gold and glory at a trivia night, you’ll need a team. And there are few better excuses for getting a group of trivia fiends together than Boulders on Broadway’s trivia events. Every Tuesday and Saturday night, Boulders on Broadway hosts a contest (with first-, second-, and third-place teams winning gift certificates to BOB). What makes the trivia nights at Boulders so good is the pacing. Each round has only a handful of questions, making the trivia action fast-paced. And the difficulty level of the questions scales pretty well: There are plenty of easy questions to build up team scores and make folks feel like geniuses before the brainbusters start coming at you. The fact that Boulders also has a pretty outstanding assortment of beers on tap, and excellent pizza and wings, is an added bonus.

Repent! is a devilishly irreverent comedy show hosted by local comedian Michael Paul Kohn, who plays a fictitious crackpot evangelist called Pastor Mike. With the help of his gospel-belting co-host, First Lady Right Twix (Iesha Renée), he guides the audience through a hilarious and blasphemous sermon that is not easily forgotten. The show is equal parts stand-up, sketch, and improvisation, and has featured some of Phoenix’s best comedians. Repent! is an example of what great comedy should be: controlled chaos. It is a multifaceted performance during which comics have their time on stage to earn laughs with a prepared set, and are afterward subject to anything the erratic hosts throw at them — usually a gut-busting dive into the comics’ social media pages, exposing some of their more embarrassing moments. Intermittent sketches featuring characters dreamed up and performed by local comedians round off the show’s havoc, thus making it one of the most unusual comedy shows in Phoenix.

One thing that remains imperative to comics, no matter where they’re from or what style of comedy they perform, is the overall feel of the room. Many things play a role in what makes a room especially conducive to a great performance, like size, acoustics, and seating layout. Stand Up Live, at CityScape in downtown Phoenix, is one of those special rooms; you can deduce this from the high-profile comedians who are booked there year-round. The stage is perfectly set like a U-shaped tongue sticking out into the crowd, just far enough to feel personal while never seeming crowded or cramped. Whether the room is sold out for a comedy A-lister or the front section is filled with local comedy connoisseurs on a Thursday evening to see what antics will ensue in This Week Sucks Tonight, the energy at Stand Up Live is always ripe for laughter.

On December 9, the citizens of the world take a deep breath to forget their troubles and celebrate the only holiday that matters: Ja Rule Day. We have Anwar Newton to thank for this special occasion, which the rapper has acknowledged every year since its inception in 2016 (when he isn’t fielding questions about his role in the Fyre Festival). The Valley comedian is also one half of the team that produces This Week Sucks Tonight, which relocated to Stand Up Live earlier this year. His Twitter account frequently fires shots at everything nerd culture holds dear, from Marvel movies to Game of Thrones. Phoenix will eventually have to create a day to honor Newton. Until it does, let’s have a laugh.

A skilled athlete as well as an author, poet Natalie Diaz imbues her works with movement and physicality, opening windows for the world onto her own experiences as a queer indigenous woman, but also the wider context of colonialism past and present. Diaz is Mojave and an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community whose passions include revitalizing indigenous language. Her first poetry collection, When My Brother Was an Aztec, was published in 2012. Her second collection, Postcolonial Love Poem, will be published in 2020. Diaz holds the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Poetry at Arizona State University, where she teaches as well. She’s also a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. You’ll often find her doing readings around town or collaborating with other creatives, proving there’s always another path to share or window to throw open.

Most people picture poets as lonely sorts isolated from the world around them, living in a perpetual dreamlike state with little regard for reality. But Rashaad Thomas crashes through that stereotype, creating works that amplify the breadth and depth of racism past and present. Thomas often does public poetry readings, sharing works that range from comforting to deeply unsettling. They’re a clarion call to conscience, urging people to work for change in their communities rather than settling for the status quo or supporting systems of oppression. He’s particularly gifted in blending the personal with the political, creating poetry that’s both profoundly challenging and accessible.

Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End isn’t so much a play as a collection of zippy one-liners lifted directly from the writing of the popular newspaper columnist and bestselling humorist, who died in 1996. And Arizona Theatre Company’s production couldn’t do much to save this stale honorarium by playwright sisters Allison and Margaret Engel. They hadn’t bothered to write much of a story, instead creating a timeline they borrowed wholesale from Bombeck’s many essays about motherhood, housewifery, and the place of women in contemporary culture. Bombeck herself is lost in the Engels’ bid for laughs aimed at her wry assessment that motherhood was hard, and the world was a wearying place to live in. If there was anything to recommend this tired tale, it was Jeanne Paulsen’s neat performance as Bombeck. Affable and demure, Paulsen did what she could with this recitation of Bombeck’s aging punchlines. Rather than impersonate the columnist, she channeled instead her quiet anger, folding it (as Bombeck had done) in humor and a friendly shrug. Hurrah to Paulsen, then, for making the most of a mostly bad thing.

Storyteller and Zen monk Dan Hull founded this monthly storytelling event in 2011. It’s held at The Newton, which houses First Draft Book Bar, and continues to showcase speakers who consistently bring humor, grace, and humility to their stories. Every month, speakers tell personal tales that need only adhere to an ample time limit and whatever the chosen theme is for that evening. Audience members are selected at random to award a score to each speaker at the end of their story. This is a fun and useful way not only to determine each month’s winner (to whom goes a grand prize of $30), but with cheers and good-natured jeers, it ends up involving the entire audience. Accompanied by a beverage from First Draft’s surprisingly impressive wine and craft beer list, this affair is a perfect way to learn about your fellow Phoenicians through the timeless tradition of storytelling.

Phoenix has become a hotspot for storytelling over the last few years. Folks like Liz Warren, Dan Hull, and Rachel Egboro have been organizing events and spreading the gospel of yarn-spinning across the Valley. The storytelling community in Arizona is large yet tight-knit: Go to a handful of shows, and you’re bound to see a few regular faces like Joy Young bring the house down with their heartfelt and hysterical stories. In addition to being a storyteller, Young (who uses they/them pronouns) is a poet, juggler, and occasional zinemaker. Their years of experience doing poetry slams have given them major stage chops, which is part of the reason why Young is so compelling to watch and listen to. They have a natural ease on stage; listening to them talk on the mic feels as intimate as sitting in a friend’s kitchen while they tell you all about what they did last night. But in a field crowded with dynamic personalities, Young stands out for their willingness to experiment. Young brings their circus training to bear during storytelling shows, making juggling, balloon animals, and other fun sideshow flourishes a part of their work.

The Show airs every weekday morning on KJZZ/91.5 FM starting at 9, and it’s a blend of local news, politics, interviews, commentary, and analysis, all of it with general appeal. Catch up on the latest news, or learn something about a subject you might never have expected, like the Valley’s culinary scene. One of the best elements of The Show is its in-depth interviews, which dig behind the headlines to explore the how and why of something, rather than just the what. Hosts Lauren Gilger, Steven Goldstein, and Mark Brodie are calm, effective presences — nothing like the bombastic hosts you’d be apt to skip on other radio stations. They step in at just the right times to direct the conversation, ask a question, or inject levity and character into a discussion. But what really makes The Show is its local focus, the sense that it is a program very much by and for people who live in and care about the Valley of the Sun.

KWSS is the local radio station that could. The independently owned operation, which can be found at 93.9 on your FM dial, has been broadcasting choice selections of indie and alternative rock across Valley airwaves 24/7 for the past 14 years. And it’s earned a listenership and fanbase while doing so. The station’s success, however, hasn’t been powered by the backing of a multimillion-dollar media conglomerate, well-monied sponsors, or wide-reaching advertising campaigns. Instead, KWSS has survived and thrives thanks to the tireless efforts of its small but passionate staff, including Dani Cutler, Jay Cairo, Dubs Witma, and owner Frank Magarelli. They put together the station’s playlists (which include deep cuts, rarities, and old-school alt-rock and indie tracks, not to mention music from emerging and established local bands), host daily and weekly shows, and handle other behind-the-scenes duties. KWSS is also the only place in the Valley you can hear esteemed radio personality Jonathan L. broadcast audio oddities via his legendary Lopsided World of L program, as well as the sort of tunes that aren’t on other local rock stations. In a landscape dominated by giants of the airwaves, KWSS stands a bit taller than the rest.

Jared Duran’s independent podcast hit the 100-episode milestone this year. He marked the occasion by interviewing Wilco’s Nels Cline before the guitarist took the stage at the Musical Instrument Museum. Duran’s passion for the performer’s craft showed throughout the episode, but his natural curiosity isn’t limited to the touring musicians he now interviews on a regular basis. The conversations aren’t a one-way street, either. He is genuinely intrigued by what fuels the inspiration for the local writers, artists, and influencers who talk to him. Much like Marc Maron, who is Duran’s inspiration, he’s not afraid to bring his insecurity and neuroses to the show, which is what keeps Phoenix coming back week after week.

Once you’ve taken a look through the impressive repertoire of the Kaiserworks studio, you instantly will recognize its work. Throughout the Valley, you can cross the threshold into many of its creations that are occupied by businesses like Undefeated, Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix, and Welcome Diner. Principal designer Christoph Kaiser and his team have garnered an illustrious reputation by designing spaces that break the barrier of architectural norms but still provide a universal and welcoming aura. Beyond providing exquisite spaces for local businesses, Kaiserworks has also made a lasting impression in home design. Perhaps its most celebrated structure is the Silo House, a 1955-grain silo converted into a 360-square-foot, two-story home, located in the Garfield neighborhood.

Arizona history has no shortage of career-ending political scandals, but few, if any, have matched the sheer awfulness of state Representative David Stringer’s. The Prescott Republican’s downfall began in July 2018, when a video of him lamenting that there are “not enough white kids to go around” in Arizona public schools went viral, revealing his racism (and earning him the distinction of Best Viral Newsmaker in that year’s Best of Phoenix). More racism from Stringer, recorded on tape and published by New Times in November, renewed calls for him to resign. Then, the bomb dropped. New Times published a report in January revealing that Stringer accepted a plea deal on multiple sex crimes when he lived in Baltimore in the ’80s. For two months, Stringer resisted calls to step down and refused to cooperate with an ethics probe into his past. But that didn’t stop investigators, led by Joe Kanefield, from digging up a police report showing that his case involved allegations that he paid young boys, including a developmentally disabled child, multiple times for sex. That revelation finally brought Stringer down. Good riddance.

After a racist yearbook photo threatened to derail Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, the USA Today Network began an ambitious project to examine what other nasty secrets decades-old school memory albums might reveal. Well, they certainly found a doozy in the 1988-89 Arizona State University yearbook: a photo of two white frat boys in blackface makeup dressed as heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and his soon-to-be ex-wife Robin Givens, who had alleged physical abuse. And who not only was the editor of that yearbook, but also the student who designed that offensive page? Yep, current USA Today Editor Nicole Carroll, who previously had been a top executive at the Arizona Republic and a member of the ASU journalism school’s hall of fame. Carroll didn’t take questions from reporters, but did issue an immediate mea culpa through the network. Alas, her apology had to be corrected for a factual error. Journalism 101: Don’t assign a story without knowing if you’re going to be a part of it. And if you are forced to apologize, make sure it’s correct.