Hey, did you know it’s National Poetry Month? Ok, it’s also National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, National Child Abuse Prevention Month and National Safe Digging Month (WTF??), but we didn’t figure those were appropriate topics for a geek blog. Why do we care? Though poetry may not be in the…
Kevin Macdonald’s Washington thriller is a bellows designed to puff up the most beaten-down reporter’s chest. Compressed from the highly regarded BBC miniseries first telecast in 2003, State of Play is an effectively involving journalism-cum-conspiracy yarn with a bang-bang opening and a frantic closer. There are more than a few…
This much is for sure about the makers of the new Zac Efron picture 17 Again: They know their audience. Scientifically engineered for maximum shriek-and-squeal value among Efron’s legion of distaff tween fans (and no small number of lonely-heart cougars and gay men), the movie opens on His Zackness’ sweaty,…
After more than four years of rocking the Stray Cat Bar & Grill, the members of Wildlife Refuge have moved their weekly hip-hop hootenanny down University Drive to the Big Fish Pub. But while the location has changed, the game remains the same: fresh rhymes, urban jams, and some of…
The Wednesday night electro/hip-hop affair Pinky Ring has offered some choice guests over its six months of existence (including local legend Z-Trip and NYC/ATL funkmeister Treasure Fingers). And now its organizers are about to add top themselves with their latest coup: Afrika Bambaataa. The Bronx-born hip-hop pioneer (who’s considered by…
Nineteen-year-old Aline Sibomana was a toddler when her family fled their Burundi home for a refugee camp in Tanzania, but says, “I remember pretty much everything. You grow up fast there.” Sibomana is one of the castaways featured in the “Refugee Status at School: Photographs by Eliza Gregory” exhibit, developed…
Party with the beautiful people at this “libation lover’s delight,” featuring hand-crafted cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a “hot, urban vibe.” Yowsah. Thu., April 16, 6:30-9:30 p.m., 2009…
This “no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry” from director Anat Baron offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the cutthroat world of corporate brewski via the perspectives of two indie/vanity brewers. Professional iconoclast Ben Stein hosts the screening and presides over a post-show discussion. The film’s also playing at…
The annual event highlights recycling and “green” options, with an emphasis on business. Proceeds benefit Keep Phoenix Beautiful. Wed., April 22, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 2009…
Not everyone is content with one successful career. Whose Line Is It Anyway? writer Clive Anderson used to be a criminal lawyer. Joaquin Phoenix left acting to become a scraggly bum, er, “rapper.” Filmmaker Patricia Cardoso spent years as an archaeologist — even discovering the oldest C-14 date in the…
As you know — because you’re a New Times reader and we’re New Times — we’re not the sort to glad-hand politicians. If we were clinging to the lip of a crevasse and forced to pick a pol to save our life, we’d just let go. If choosing death wasn’t…
The Phoenix photog details the plight of refugees from nations like Iran, Burundi, and Serbia in Arizona’s public education system. Fri., April 17, 5-9 p.m., 2009…
What do cold gin, David Bowie, and a Ouija board have in common — besides the eighth-grade sleepover party where we first got felt up? You’ll get a smarter and far less embarrassing answer from artist Mike Maas during the Third Friday reception for his solo show “Aside and Besides.”…
The years might be creeping up on us, but we still have the youth, fun, and exuberance embodied by the Trunk Space, the art gallery/performance venue that recently turned 5. For a half-decade, co-owners Stephanie Carrico and JRC have kept the good times rolling in downtown Phoenix, drawing on a…
Contemporary bromoil works by the nationally and internationally recognized art photographer. Fri., April 17, 6-10 p.m., 2009…
Sex. Think of all the different ways of, uh, putting it. You can make love, bone down, screw, engage in intercourse, or (God forbid) rip guts. But no matter how you word it, there’s always more to learn. No one knows this better than Mary Roach, whose latest book, Bonk:…
It takes balls (not to mention boundless energy) to play a dozen shows in three days at SxSW, but that’s exactly what the Black Lips did two years ago at the annual music showcase. Whether it was the ultimate display of DIY guts and determination or just a carefully crafted…
It seems, somehow, a little late in the game for another film about the religious condemnation of homosexuality. But while Daniel Karslake’s documentary For the Bible Tells Me So makes the usual points — about whether God censures gay relationships; whether the Bible actually even addresses the subject; whether gays…
It’s not every day a band is born from a jam session, but, for The Bollox, it was the case. The Valley Celtic-rock band formed after Authority Zero singer Jason DeVore and former Last Action Zeroes drummer Keith Walker met up a little over a year ago to work together…
Candy Jimenez (pictured) and Dulce Dance Company, who are hosting the fest, aim to put contemporary dance in the audience’s lap, almost literally, by performing in this nontraditional gallery space. The intimate program includes 11 works by companies/choreographers from New York, Minnesota, and the PHX. Fri., April 17, 8 p.m.;…
Check out the newly spiffed-up resting place of former Arizona governor George Wylie Paul Hunt (Papago’s famed pyramid) at this official-unveiling ceremony. Hunt, who died in 1934, was elected to serve the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th terms as Arizona’s governor. Sat., April 18, 2 p.m., 2009…
The fundraiser for Beatitudes Center DOAR features 62-, 30-, and eight-mile bike rides. Sat., April 18, 7 a.m., 2009…
