Damn. We were spoiled when Ben Todd lived here and played at Carly’s all of the time, but then dude split to Seattle. Boo hoo. Good news is that he’s bringing his Lonesome Shack band to town on its Haunted Blues Tour. BTW, the Shack is an old-timey sounding blues…
After a meteoric rise that brought them perilously close to the line that separates buzz from hype, Vivian Girls have followed up their self-titled debut album with another that seems to wisely dial things back just a little. That isn’t to say that Everything Goes Wrong is subdued or watered…
Divine Essence is never at a loss for words. The poet and spoken-word artist has been performing around the Valley for more than seven years, and hosting open mic nights since 2002, when she started a regular spoken-word shindig at Livingston’s soul food restaurant in Scottsdale. When Livingston’s closed, Divine…
It’s pretty much always good news when any of the Wu-Tang Clan decides to show up in town, so Ghostface Killah’s upcom¬ing appearance is probably worth checking out, if only out of prurient interest. He just dropped his latest album, Ghostdini: The Wiz¬ard of Poetry in Emerald City, which for…
Wanda Jackson dated Elvis Presley in the ’50s, and even if she may not have slept with him (“There were things you could and couldn’t do, and my daddy made sure I never crossed that line,” Jackson’s said of the period), just having shared a milk shake with Elvis is…
Seeking a mellow, down-to-earth sound that’s completely soul-rocking? New York’s The Rosewood Thieves have it down to a science. These five folks exemplify modern folk rock while incorporating retro resonance. With their classic aura, and ability to tell a whole story in five minutes or less, the group has a…
Since debuting in January, Cream Stereo Lounge has endured a significant amount of both love and hate, much like any new nightspot. Its supporters easily gush about its mix of European and Las Vegas-style touches, including swimsuit-clad models engaging in burlesque-like bathtub shows. The haters, on the other side of…
When we think of Willy Wonka, we think of a busy-bee eccentric, an inventor of sweet treats that capture the world’s imagination, a dude who’s content to plod away in a bizarre factory while ignoring societal norms in the process. So it’s fitting that a friend of Alex Votichenko (better…
Like its counterpart at closer-to-home Desert Botanical Garden, Boyce Thompson’s annual plant sale features scores upon scores of home-reared arid-land-adapted specimens, including many exotics that even DBG doesn’t stock. The downside: You have to pay admission to see all the plants. The upside: You get a beautiful drive out of…
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…
What’s old really is new again. We’ve seen the resurgence of burlesque, bell-bottom jeans and the monsters of our childhood (via pop culture vehicles such as the HBO series True Blood and Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Portland-based artist Brian Kappel capitalized on two recently revived trends…
The Yiddish shtetl shtick that opens Joel and Ethan Coen’s new movie — a Jewish peasant stumbles on an old Hasid who may or may not be a Dybbuk — is pretty clumsy, but at least it tips its hat to the great existential comedy that A Serious Man might…
The worst part was the cheering. On the other hand, there wasn’t much to love about that particular Sunday morning in the first place. It was hot out, of course, and we were all standing in tight little crowds, a hundred or so strong, on oily stretches of concrete. Making…
Apparently, Arty Girl is all about education this week.Monday, I blogged about the encaustic workshop at Eye Lounge and today, I’m going to tell you about a couple of writing workshops for all you writers out there looking to improve your craft.First, we’ve got “Writing for the Stage” with playwright…
So we were a little worried that SMoCA Nights might suffer on a Saturday night. Even though the event was filled with fine art, boozy cocktails, good music and an incredible fashion show, we feared it would get lost in the overwhelming shuffle of so many partying opportunities on that…
Who knew the fashionably chic were inclined to be so fashionably wasted? Maybe it was the “party all night” atmosphere or the seemingly neverending stream of martinis pouring out of Scottsdale’s famed Valley Ho this past Friday, but there was a lot of elbowing, a lot of cussing (even in the ladies room, where a woman apologized…
Star Wars: In Concert at Jobing.com Arena: Lucasfilm Ganks More Money Outta Geekdom For the past three decades, the “Great Bearded One” has been on a Jedi-like quest to separate Star Wars fans from their paychecks by any means necessary. His unabashed over-licensing has even exceeded Krusty the Clown-like levels…
Hooray! It’s a new artist workshop! I love these things.And it’s an encaustic workshop…one of my all-time favorite media. Encaustic is a painting method that uses melted wax to cover a surface. Of course, wax is thick and malleable so this can border on sculpture from time to time. I’ve…
Where: Arizona’s Original Scream Park at 101 and McDowell in Scottsdale.Overview: Arizona’s Original Scream Park has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the best Halloween attractions in the Valley. All four sections of this classic haunt are long, though inconsistently staffed. We loved two of the houses (3-D Fear…
Do you like the pretty flowers? So do I. But I’ll get to that in a minute.Now, I don’t want to beat a dead horse. But I’m just going to mention (again) that the Best of Phoenix Wonderland art opening is tonight. What’s that? You’d like to know more, you…
It’s always been rough to be a teenager (or to know one), but up until about 50 years ago, you could count on going to war, marrying young, and/or working your butt off for a living to distract you from hormonal storms, existential angst, and the cruel disappointment of finding…
Adaupto “Tato” Caraveo is one of the coolest mofos we know. Not only is the 35-year-old one of the most charming cats we’ve ever met, he also gets to tend bar at the Lost Leaf (one of hippest drinkeries in the whole Valley) and can pluck the upright bass with…
