Pundits agree: The 2008 election has finally and forever rung down the curtain on America’s longest-running psychodrama, namely the Boomerography, a.k.a. the ’60s. The long, strange trip is finally over. Still, a few stories remain to be told or retold. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 marks a particular 40th anniversary —…
I can imagine living at the foot of a mountain. Except in my fantasy, it’s a lush green mountain, not one of the dull, tan piles of rock of the Sonoran Desert. My mountain would be a sloped, slate-gray, moss-covered monolith spilling colossal shade trees onto the landscape below. No…
Get toasted, Phoenix. And we’re not talking about the backs of your legs on pleather seats after your car’s roasted in the sun for an hour in the Safeway parking lot. We mean cocktails — serious cocktails. In our latest guide to summer in this godforsaken city (well, godforsaken from…
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the first musical based on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, is a warm-hearted, straightforward appreciation of the joys and challenges of being a regular little kid. Little kids in the audience tend to enjoy the scenes about lunchtime, Valentine’s Day, romantic crushes, struggles with…
They always say “write what you know”. I think I’ll take the liberty to change that saying to “make what you know”. Consider it my gift to the world (and it works for this blog, so there ya go).Anyway, “make what you know” comes to mind when I see the…
TimesOnline, the online website for The Times of London, is reporting today that noted former Phoenix artist Rose Johnson, along with a number of other people in the past week, died in Bali from consuming arak, a type of local rice wine, tainted with methanol. According to the news report,…
The Phoenix arts community is still reeling today from news that one of its pioneers, painter and muralist Rose Johnson, 48, died yesterday, Sunday, May 31, at Sanglah General Hospital in Bali. The Jakarta Post is now reporting that Johnson most probably died from acute alcohol poisoning as a result…
Okay, folks. I’m going to blog about the Echelman piece. I know, I know…again????I realize I’ve covered the ever living being out of this sculpture, but, I also feel I’m justified to give it just a liiiittle more attention.This Friday, June 5th, put your thinking caps on for the “Civic…
There are a lot of bored people out there right now. I’m talking about the unemployed, of course (although audiences of the new Terminator movie might fit the category as well – just my opinion).Without work, one becomes under-stimulated, restless and anxious. And if you happen to be an unemployed…
Lego’s latest in its “Architecture” line: Two famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings. The Danish toymaker teamed up with the Frank Lloyd Foundation in Scottsdale to produce Lego versions of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Falling Water home…
I can’t keep saying I don’t like musicals when it turns out I enjoy myself at so many of them, so I guess I’ve processed whatever early trauma was getting in the way. Though I run into a clinker every now and then, our Valley has a lot of talented, fun, creative…
Miles Davis is often credited with reinventing jazz five different times in such a way that his never-heard-before reimaginings influenced music as a whole. Arguably, the same case can be said of contemporary soul songstress Erykah Badu. True, her relatively short recording career only spans twelve years, but it’s an…
The ASU assistant professor signs her new book, We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom, which details the Pueblo Indians’ battle to maintain the purity of their religious beliefs in the face of government suppression. Thu., May 28, 7 p.m., 2009…
Soulja Boy Tell ’Em may be a poster boy for those in the music-sucks-today camp – some of the song titles by the crunk-friendly rapper include “Wit My Yums On,” “Booty Got Swag,” and “Gucci Bandanna” – but have you really listened to his raps and rhymes? Like, really sat…
Here’s a get-rich-quick idea for folks in the music business: Kanye West and Black Moth Super Rainbow – a slightly-skitzo, psychedelic indie-pop band from Pennsylvania that uses so-hot-right-now auto-tune-esque technology – should tour together. Folks who love Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak would certainly love BMSR’s uses of vocoder and Novatron…
A few years back, Dane Cook was damned near unstoppable. His 2005 album Retaliation debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, eventually going double platinum to become the most successful comedy album since Steve Martin’s 1978 juggernaut A Wild and Crazy Guy. Then the backlash began, along…
Does Pennywise represent punk rock’s “second wave,” as described in the promoter’s official literature, or pop-punk’s first wave, as described by most critics? Or is it neo-gospel-rock’s fourth wave? Or who gives a shit? Whatever wave we’re talking about, all three of the band’s Jagermeister Music Tour tour-mates have surfed…
The Atlanta Braves who are coming to town to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks are not your daddy’s Tomahawk-Choppers. For one thing, there are very few remnants of the great Braves dynasty that set a Major League Baseball record with 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005. Head coach…
Scandalesque returns to Cherry Lounge with a new monthly revue of fun and bawdiness. Pitching in is comedian Kelly with a Big Ole K and DJ Playboy. Last Thursday of every month, 10 p.m. Starts: May 28. Continues through Aug. 27, 2009…
To call A Life of Science “ambitious” would be an understatement. The Phoenix band’s debut concept album, The Apneist, has grown into a multimedia project that spans both coasts and makes the cross-promotional efforts of bands like Coheed & Cambria seem almost underwhelming by comparison. A Life of Science released…
The Hohokam people mysteriously vanished around 1400 A.D., but they didn’t vanish without a trace. See their ancient rock art at one of the lesser-visited sites within the park during this ranger-guided two-hour trek. Not recommended for young children. Mon., June 1, 8:30-10:30 a.m., 2009…
No Festival Required presents the latest batch of indie shorts by filmmakers from around the globe. Sat., May 30, 8 p.m., 2009…
