Generally speaking, we frown on guided hikes. The Sonoran Desert is not the Louvre, and true hikers hardly need to have someone spell out its (fairly obvious) magnificence. The extraordinary exception is the Elephant Mountain Fortress Hike at Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. The relatively difficult seven-miler takes participants into…
Five years ago, Abelardo Gil decided to change lives for the better one show at a time with music that’s part electronic, part soul, part motivational speaking, and mostly magic. His one-man band, Treasure Mammal, will take you to a world of rainbow roads, unicorn life partners, and lovingly violent…
Among comedy geeks, Frank Caliendo is a divider like no other. First off, he’s an impressionist, and not since the halcyon days of Rich Little-as-George Burns has the skill been comparatively viable to, say, humorous hypnotism or ventriloquism. Second, his interpretations of Dubya, John Madden, and Jack Nicholson haven’t really…
By Lilia MenconiThis: Plus this: “Casablanca” by Yoshiki Hishinuma, wool seamless knitwearEquals an excellent way to decompress after clogging your bowels with Thanksgiving dinner.Okay, so maybe you don’t need that kind of decompression, but it’s a great way to take in some art and a little exercise before the “soft…
By Julie Peterson Let’s lay some cards on the table, here: I’m not crazy about traditional, mid-century, Rodgers-and-Hammerstein-style musical theater. I’m also not crazy about more recent spectaculars like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s. It’s not that I think less of those genres; it’s just that musical theater has so many challenging…
Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Jobing.com Arena on Sunday, November 23 Read: about the Christmas wonder rock that is Trans-Siberian Orchestra. See: a slide show of shots from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Irwin Benefit Boasts Two Brash Female Voices Read: about what went down at the benefit concert. See: a…
By Lilia Menconi With slideshow by Kathleen Vanesian Yes, you must see this and more in the slideshow.If you haven’t heard of Dale Chihuly, put a rubber band on your wrist, pull it back and snap that baby as punishment. This is an artist you should know. He’s one of…
See more of this in the slideshow. By Lilia Menconi Alright, folks, I’ll be straight: Arty Girl ain’t feeling so hot about some shit she saw last night. I have mixed feelings about this event. And I’m keeping in mind that Scottsdale Public Art has come through in the past…
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Well, who wouldn’t in this economy, even if the currency in question is rupees and winning the loot means being pegged as a fraud, getting a firsthand education in “enhanced” interrogation methods, and having to relive some of the most painful moments of your…
With his blazing white coat and pig-pink ears, to say nothing of the zigzag of lightning cut into his flank, the eponymous canine lead of Disney’s lively new animated movie Bolt looks a little bit real and a whole lot not. That’s not a failure of craft: Goofy and sweet…
I’m telling Danny Boyle over coffee that his new film, Slumdog Millionaire, is his best by far. “I hope it comes across that I had a real blast making it,” the British director murmurs politely. Either the coffee is over-caffeinated, or Boyle’s Lancashire friendliness disarms me, or I’ve had it…
The Lady with All the Answers is an agreeably entertaining character study in search of a story. Its direction by Samantha K. Wyer is faultless; its set, where we are left to visit Eppie Lederer (best known to you and me as the late, syndicated advice columnist Ann Landers), is…
Life can be tricky for metalheads who turn to heavy music either to galvanize their conscience. If that sounds like a stereotype, plenty of metal bands play into the whole meathead/douchebag/sociopath thing and do it with pride. Gojira isn’t one of those bands. On the other hand, Gojira doesn’t simply…
It’s nothing like our plushie fetish, but short guys really turn our crank. That’s why our eagle eye settled on Trash City’s Midget Jackass affair at Club Mardi Gras on Wednesday, November 26, when Puppet the Psycho Dwarf and Little Kato, both sub-4-foot-9, perform as the Halfpint Jerk Offs. Mr…
The West Coast always seems to lag behind the times, especially when it comes to dance clubs that pump out the latest and greatest feet-moving, body-gyrating beats. But the scene should get more hip when DJ JahMek debuts his “dub steppa’3000” tuneage at the Jungle Drum & Bass Kickoff Party…
In August, Leesa Irwin, mother of former New Times staff writer Megan Irwin, was involved in a car accident that killed her husband and left the surviving spouse with not only life-threatening injuries, but also mountains of medical bills. Local bands, DJs, friends of the Irwins, and overall good people…
One will help you through a blind date. Five will make you forget the crappy economy. Drink 10 and that bucktoothed brunette at the bar starts looking like Eva Mendes. If your dream date has great head and a full body, check out Draft Magazine’s The Big Pour Beer Festival…
Native North Americans legendarily used all parts of any buffalo they managed to fell. Nothing was wasted. Similarly, Banding Hendrix (pronounced “Bonding”) pulls from everything around him and within him and pours it into his work. See for yourself when the San Francisco native displays his array of pop, tribal,…
Are you sitting down? Good. Are you sitting at the bridge of the Starship Enterprise? You can at “Star Trek: The Exhibition.” Boldly go through 12,500 square feet and explore actual sets, costumes, and props from all five Star Trek TV series and all 10 films. Purchase cool souvenir photos…
Boxing up close and in the round, with the top match pitting bruising Bobby Gunn (pictured) vs. an opponent to be named. Thu., Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m., 2008…
The host of KMLE Country’s Dave Pratt in the Morning signs his new memoir, Dave Pratt, Behind the Mic: 30 Years in Radio. Proceeds from book sales benefit the American Cancer Society. Tue., Nov. 25, 7 p.m., 2008…
The recurring nightmare of our childhood always featured severed limbs somersaulting through the air, flung from the dark recesses of our closet by some hooded creature. We’d be paralyzed from the waist down, attempting to pull ourselves to safety through an otherworldly and expansive land of shaggy carpet. Struggling through…
