San Francisco mixmaster extraordinaire Lorin Ashton, a.k.a. Bassnectar, has spent the past decade in the Bay Area’s underground scene amassing a legion of fans who dig his exotic sonic concoctions, which blend thickly warbling bass lines, spastic techno glitchery, and throbbing breakbeats with generous dollops of funk, hip-hop, and freestyle…
Nothing makes for an awesome party like exotic dancers, drag queens, and naughty balloon hats — at least, this is true if you’re Hugh Grant, Josh Duhamel, or the fun-loving crowd at Alwun House’s annual Phantasmagorical Cabaret. Catch performers on two stages, including drag diva Ivanna Bump, Indigo Fire erotic…
Valley dwellers know all too well what it means to live on the grid. Painter, photographer, and printmaker Chuck Close knows, too. He’s been working on the grid for more than thirty years, relying on the structural guide to create enormous portraits that have the precise nature of digital prints,…
Otep Shamaya says, “Art is war.” The singer for her namesake L.A.-based metal-fusion band, Otep, considers herself a revolutionary, and makes art catharsis via visceral screams and songs that sear the ears like hot grease. Her lyrics are laden with apocryphal poetics about religion, politics, love, and loathing; she’s a…
Where else would you celebrate Fat Tuesday but here? Highlights include music, a New Orleans food menu, party favors, DJ V-EZ, and DJ Nightlife. Tue., Feb. 16, 11 a.m., 2010…
Score complimentary appetizer buffet, cocktail specials, DJs, dancing, wine and whiskey tastings, free beads, and more at this North Scottsdale affair. Tue., Feb. 16, 2010…
Partake in beads, live music, masks, floats, dancing, and more Tue., Feb. 16, 9 p.m., 2010…
This phat Fat Tuesday shindig features $5 hurricanes, two-for-one tequila shots and Mexican beers from 4-7 p.m. & 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., free beads, gumbo, and more. Tue., Feb. 16, 4 p.m., 2010…
This Fat Tuesday celebration (encompassing both Iguana Mack’s and Dos Gringos) features DJs, live music, $2 Dos Equus and Miller Lite, $3 Captain Morgans, $5 SoCo Hurricanes, $5 Don Julio margaritas, Cajun food specials, a bead contest for prizes, and more. 4 p.m., free. Tue., Feb. 16, 4 p.m., 2010…
In Pretty Woman, director Garry Marshall’s personal cinematic high score, the opening credits close (and the closing credits open) with the voice of a street freak, barely noticeable in wide shot, chanting an absurd mantra —”Welcome to Hollywood, land of dreams!” Twenty years later, Marshall dips into the same well…
Scottsdale’s galleries are proof positive that in a recession, art is one of the first luxuries to go. Longtime residents Victoria Boyce and Leslie Levy closed their doors in 2009 and went online. A dozen or so smaller galleries followed. One Scottsdale gallery owner I recently spoke to admitted he…
The White Ribbon is Michael Haneke’s first German-language film since the original Funny Games (1997) and, addressing what used to be called “the German problem” while dodging the filmmaker’s own likeability issues, it’s his best ever. A period piece set on the eve of World War I in an echt…
Ugly Trellis House is finally gone. This large, ramshackle 1920s bungalow, kitty-corner to my own, has been glowering at me ever since I moved into the neighborhood seven years ago. I could see its beauty, but I had to look hard, past the cheap, ugly trellising that someone had long…
UPDATE: Just got a note that tonight — Friday, February 12 — tickets are a recession-busting $10, but to get the deal you must call or text 602-214-4344 for more information. Franc Gaxiola’s Th [sic] Sense troupe’s sketch comedy seemed like a good fit for this column — it’s written…
Man, I am bummed.The West Valley Art Museum’s “temporary closure” has morphed into the sale of the museum’s building. They will have a benefit sale this weekend.In August 2009, the Museum shut its doors to restructure funds. The goal was to open again in the future and, at the time,…
So maybe Roosevelt Row isn’t L.A.’s La Cienega in the 60s and our Grand Avenue ain’t exactly Soho in the 70s and 80s. And we can definitively say that Marcel Duchamp never played chess at Phoenix Art Museum with a nude Eve Babitz (or anyone else, clothed or naked, for…
Did you miss out on the last First Friday? Don’t be ashamed if you did, since January’s edition of the monthly art walk extravaganza fell on New Years Day, which meant a lot of folks stayed at home dealing with a hangover rather than perusing pulchritudinous paintings and photographs. As…
Alright folks, allow me to take you on a visual journey (actually, it’s just a crap-ton of jpegs) to illustrate what’s happening with the visual arts at First Friday Artwalk tonight. “Natural Origins” by Lara Kupcikevicius and Christina Ramirez @ MonOrchidBoth artists chose patterns and visual themes from nature as…
There’s a lot of epidermis showing this month at Lisa Sette Gallery, as two artists take radically different approaches to exploring the body’s largest organ. Mexico-born creative type Claudio Dicochea uses casta – a tradition of 18th century paintings that recorded the racial mixing of Colonial Mexico – as the…
We assert that the word “lecture” gets a bum rap. For too long, it’s been unjustly associated with stuffy professors droning on about the specifics of topics like “Who the Eff Cares?,” “This Is Boring,” and “Get Me the Hell Out of Here.”Phoenix Art Museum is breathing new life into…
Business-professional peeps gab about the power of social media and how it can grow your business, social circle, or other creative endeavor. Speakers include Digital Royalty founder Amy Martin (pictured) and Emmy Award-winning reporter Carey Peña from Channel 3. Tue., Feb. 9, 6 p.m., 2010…
Oklahoma artist Richardson bends reality with brightly-colored depictions of animals. Thu., Feb. 4, 7-9 p.m., 2010…
