The only thing better than a play by Douglas Carter Beane is a play by Douglas Carter Beane — the author of As Bees in Honey Drown, the Broadway musical Xanadu, and the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar — presented by Nearly Naked Theatre. Therefore, the…
We’re in the midst of a toy revolution. Bratz dolls are kicking Barbie’s ass, and today’s G.I. Joes are deployed with enough plastic weaponry to blow Strawberry Shortcake to kingdom come. Not so good for the kiddies, but awesome for artist Josh Pearce, a.k.a. f+, who created a creepy series…
We’re in the midst of a toy revolution. Bratz dolls are kicking Barbie’s ass, and today’s G.I. Joes are deployed with enough plastic weaponry to blow Strawberry Shortcake to kingdom come. Not so good for the kiddies, but awesome for artist Josh Pearce, a.k.a. f+, who created a creepy series…
The State of the Union Address is the government’s way of telling us that everything still sucks, but in a way that doesn’t make us want to go postal. The Prez accomplishes this with concerned facial expressions or, in Dubya’s case, bad grammar and mangled diction. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon…
If ASU Men’s Basketball coach Herb Sendek thought he had it rough coaching against the big dogs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, or trying to bring the Sun Devils back from the dead in recent years, he didn’t know what rough was. Rough is trying to take the Sun Devils…
When Jimmy Carter visited Changing Hands Bookstore, the parking lot overflowed. When pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell spoke, his genius-y head disappeared in the crowd. So Changing Hands has booked award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver at a larger venue, just down the road: the auditorium of Tempe’s Marcos De Niza High School…
Who needs Venice? Like that lovely city, Phoenix may, if Dr. Nan Ellin and her students have their way, be fronted by waterways one day soon. The new exhibit “Canalscape for Metro Phoenix” proposes the re-creation of Phoenix’s most vital urban hubs, where our canals meet major streets. It’s an…
In the summer, we occasionally cast an envious eye toward burgs with cooler temps or nearby bodies of water. But then an amazing fall returns every year to remind us why we suffer through those dog days. As the leaves drop, block parties pile up just as fast in the…
Municipal Waste is a band meant to be blasted while tearing the sleeves off your jean jacket. With gang vocal choruses, rapid-fire machine-gun riffing, and tongue-in-cheek rippers like “The Thrashin’ of the Christ,” these dudes recall the glory days of ’80s crossover, when metal and hardcore first swapped DNA via…
The fest, held in conjunction with the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, celebrates Scottsdale’s various green initiatives. It features live music by Grant Ferguson Fusion and Watershade, an organic beer garden, architect talks, and the related Green Street ArtWalk through the Scottsdale Arts District. Thu., Nov. 12, 7-10 p.m., 2009…
Expect a high-scoring affair as the NBA’s top-scoring team (Your Suns) hosts the third-highest-scoring squad. The Raptors are led by magnificent power forward Chris Bosh, still one of the best-kept secrets in the league — at least until he gets the big payday during next offseason’s free-agent signing period. Sun.,…
Yayoi Kusama’s installation at Phoenix Art Museum, Stepping Into You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies, feels like a glimpse into the infinite. Countless LEDs stand out against the engulfing darkness while mirrored walls reflect their endless glow as they shift colors in time with the…
Making fun of home-schooled kids used to be funny. They’re incredibly awkward around people their own ages, they’ve never done drugs, and they don’t even get references to trashy reality-TV shows. But while you were busy “sexting” some kid you met on MySpace, the home-schoolers had graduated at 16 and…
Noted beer crafters and green brewers, including California’s Sierra Nevada and Colorado’s New Belgium, strut their tasty stuff at this year’s big brew bash. Special guests at this year’s fest are rock band Everclear and George Wendt — a.k.a. Norm of Cheers. Thu., Nov. 12, 4-11 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 13,…
Does Broadway know how to create a show anymore that wasn’t originally a high-concept film? From our perspective out here in the sticks, that’s sure how it feels. Love the trend or loathe it, it seems it’s here to stay, and we might as well make the most of it…
ASU’s theater department presents the imaginative Deborah Stein work, set during the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and offering a “roller coaster ride through the archives of history.” Fri., Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov…
Everyone is plotzing because Marlo Thomas is coming to town to do an Arizona Theatre Company play, but how about this? That play, George Is Dead, was written and directed by Elaine May. Hello! Elaine May! As in Elaine May and Mike Nichols. As in Heaven Can Wait and The…
Only the Arizona Cardinals could come up with a notion as nutty as road-field advantage. 4-0 away from home in ’09, they’re a puny 1-3 at University of Phoenix Stadium, where they went 6-2 in ’08 on their way to the Super Bowl. Another huge factor in last year’s success…
You would be forgiven if you assumed that Powerman 5000 was a protein-rich meal replacement shake, or the name of a roughly-three-mile charity race benefiting lupus sufferers. But you’d be wrong. It is, in fact, the 15-year-old industrial metal band fronted by Rob Zombie’s real-life kid brother, Spider One (aka…
Neil Sedaka was right: Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when you and your lover are a pair of working musicians with a productive and profitable creative partnership. Then it’s real, real hard. The trick, if you can do it: Break up, but don’t disband. Glen Hansard and Marketa…
We have some pretty sick fantasies, but none ever centered on staring at the night sky through a telescope. Undaunted hat- and scarf-wearers and general-punishment gluttons can rendezvous at the secluded Estrella Mountain Regional Park for this 3.7-mile jaunt up the Toothaker Trail that ends at arguably the best place…
Tempe hardcore act Eyes Set to Kill are back with a new disc. The band, who is signed with California-based BreakSilence recordings, released their sophomore effort “The World Outside” on June 2. The group have spent a lot of time on the road since releasing their debut album last year…
