In an early nod to Black History Month, Black Theatre Troupe is presenting Jeff Stetson’s riveting Fathers and Other Strangers this week and next. Stetson’s story, about a Black everyman who struggles to stand as a worthwhile example for his son, details the legacy of a faceless victim of America’s…
They’ve torn down all sorts of crap that we loved in this town – we use the word “crap” on their behalf; how else to explain the destruction? – but the majestic Orpheum Theatre is safe. The circa 1929 building at 200 West Washington Street, due to its National Register…
Country-noir singer Jesse Sykes looks like Lara Flynn Boyle and sounds like a cross between Marianne Faithful and Adam Sandler’s Operaman. Her smoky, strained, eerily spectral voice is seemingly poised between genders – like a dude doing a falsetto. Not that we’re complaining. Paired with guitarist Phil Wandscher (formerly of…
How’s this for a lazy Sunday-afternoon experience? Hang out with Power 98.3 personality Karlie Hustle and the hottie divas of the Fresh Fiends on the funky and laid-back patio of Padre’s Modern Mexican Cuisine, 1044 East Camelback Road, while resident DJs M2 and Tricky T spin downtempo, hip-hop, electro, and old…
Anytime we get a little skeeved out by all of the fancy lofts and upscale eateries that are sprouting downtown, we’re happy about the existence of the lovingly rough-around-the-edges space The Firehouse and its monthly Firestage extravaganza. Downtown denizen Ernesto Moncada curates the alchemy of interesting oddness, and then shuffles…
A one-film cabinet of curiosities, The Lovely Bones turns the most successful CGI director of the ’00s loose on one of the decade’s prime literary phenomena: Cults collide as Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson tackles Alice Sebold’s bestselling New Age gothic, the story of a rape-murder-dismemberment and its aftermath,…
Directors Allen and Albert Hughes were raised by an Armenian mother and African-American father. With such a background, it would be difficult not to have feelings about the church. The Hugheses’ fourth film, The Book of Eli, centers on the Christianity that was at the margins of their previous films…
I got a little misty a while ago when I received an e-mail from Kimber Lanning, owner and director of Modified Arts for the past 10 years. She announced she was handing over the reins of Modified to Phoenix newcomers Kim Larkin and Adam Murray, a husband-and-wife team who defected…
Phoenix artist Matthew Moore, who’s also a fourth-generation Arizona farmer, has just combined my two all-time favorite activities: food shopping and art viewing. His latest video installation, “Lifecycles,” which magically melds the two, is premiering at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier exhibition. The event, curated by film festival…
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a play that takes the form of a club rock show during which the singer/songwriter, Hedwig (né Hansel) Schmidt, imparts the story of her life (sometimes in song, sometimes in bitchysweet monologue) up to this point, which includes having undergone a quickie, incomplete sexual…
So you love art. Obviously. Because you’re reading this blog.Sure, I’d love to think people read Arty Girl just for the delightful creative voice of its author but, as you all know, I’m just too dang humble to believe such things.So you’ve got the interest. Now, the next step is…
Yes, you read that headline right. This blog is going to be about an event tomorrow that includes performance art, an art installation, a fish roundup and a canal dry-up.In case you didn’t know, our canals are filled with white armur fish that munch on the aquatic vegetation. These little…
The swanky and sinful Pussycat Lounge underwent a big-time renovation in August, hitting the F5 button on its décor and design scheme while all the college kids were away for the long, hot summer. There’s a new DJ booth, dance floor, and video screens inside the club, not to mention…
The event will feature a 5K fun run and walk. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. Sun., Jan. 10, 8:30 a.m., 2010…
After spending the past decade watching movies starring ring-toting hobbits and tween wizards, maybe it’s time to exit the fantasy freeway and revisit an era when afros hid guns and ass-whuppings were set to funk music. In other words, maybe it’s time for a double dose of blaxploitation, à la…
We all know folks who are busy. Perhaps you’re one of the busiest of the busy bodies. That’s cool. However, do you often spread yourself thin and compromise quality for quantity? We know we have. Ambur Keryne Gore is indeed a time-crunched gal, but her waking life is wisely occupied,…
The words “fantasy art” conjure thoughts of cheesy wizard posters hung in the dorm rooms of crater-faced, girlfriend-less World of Warcraft players. Bulgarian-born artists Vladimir and Daniela Ovtcharov create a different type of fantasy art — surreal, magical scenes designed to open the mind of the viewer. “Through my paintings,…
The words “fantasy art” conjure thoughts of cheesy wizard posters hung in the dorm rooms of crater-faced, girlfriend-less World of Warcraft players. Bulgarian-born artists Vladimir and Daniela Ovtcharov create a different type of fantasy art — surreal, magical scenes designed to open the mind of the viewer. “Through my paintings,…
Every couple has at least one quirky hobby. We know one who sings incessantly, another that obsessively collects china, and a pair that raises chickens in the backyard. It’s not often that these strange practices yield millions of dollars. Not unless you happen to be Herb and Dorothy Vogel. For…
Thanks to the just-passed holidays, we’ve been too emo, burned out, fat, and drunk to ditch the piles of work/errands to get some exercise. Layne Gneiting would have something to say about that, which could be along the lines of, “Stop being such a pansy, you sissy boy” (our words,…
While Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” heralded the backlash, the Antares Audio Tech software-born sensation, which renders the voices of modern R&B robotic, keeps rolling. (For example, T-Pain is promising a monster album in ’10.) Sigh. That’s why we’re thrilled for Soulflite, where true voices reign. Dedicated to R&B, soul,…
Though it’s amazing, neon-swank sign had been neutered long before, Phoenix Greyhound Park finally ran its last dog race and closed down last month. While the place hosted both live and off-track betting and dinner theater, the greatest show we’ve ever seen there was Neil Hamburger’s train wreck of a…
