Every Monday night, one of the Valley’s best jazz ensembles, Moseyhorse, nestle themselves in the exposed-brick corner of artsy beer/wine bar the Lost Leaf and play the hippest burning jazz in town. The Tempe-based ensemble focuses on straight-ahead takes on jazz originals and showcases guitarist Jeff Libman, John Chapman on…
Based out of Chicago, this groundbreaking Grammy-winning sextet presents an entertaining program of contemporary classical music entitled The Only Moving Thing, which features “provocative and engaging” performances, compositions, and instrumentation. Take a look at this video of the group in action, and I’m sure you’ll agree: Tue., Oct. 21, 7:30…
With Jaguar Love, & Black Gold. Tue., Oct. 21, 8:30 p.m., 2008…
When the young, petite sisters of death-metal band Hellen, Mindy and Desiree Duponte, first caught our attention two years ago, we were impressed with their raging brand of guttural metal and psycho-operatic vocals. But before the sisters could fully realize their potential as Hellen, Desiree passed away suddenly in April…
Fatigo has a cool factor that most people dont. Fri., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., 2008…
Ask anyone alive during our country’s 200th birthday in 1976, and they’ll tell you it was still the Me Decade, but filtered through Eisenhower eyes, since America had less past to reprocess. On TV, there was plenty of unapologetic jiggle alongside the Happy Days marathon. In music, the ’70s excesses…
BlackPoet Ventures presents the “all-male lyrical revue,” based on the 1983 Isley Brothers hit “Between the Sheets.” The show is part of the group’s fourth performance-poetry season. Sat., Oct. 18, 8 p.m., 2008…
The traveling shrine to Hormel’s mystery meat returns to pass out more free SPAMBURGERS to Arizona State Fairgoers. Fri., Oct. 17; Sat., Oct. 18; Sun., Oct. 19; Fri., Oct. 24; Sat., Oct. 25; Sun., Oct. 26, 2008…
Is Mary J. Blige still the reigning queen of hip-hop soul? It was looking iffy a few years ago, when she released her lukewarm Love & Life, an awkward attempt to reconcile her usual gritty themes of abusive relationships and ghetto drama with an increasingly happy personal life — newly…
Elizabeth Ferrer of Brooklyn’s BRIC Rotunda Gallery discusses the trailblazing photog and his work in conjunction with the “Pedro Meyer’s Heresies” exhibit. Tue., Oct. 21, 7 p.m., 2008…
We’ve said it before and we’ll gladly say it again: Andy Herrera (a.k.a. Big Latin) is one of the hardest-working cats in the P-town DJ and dance scene. He’s got gigs going down at some of the biggest Latin nightspots around the Valley. For instance, every Friday afternoon and evening,…
When you’re a new band, one of the biggest challenges can be describing the style of music you play to journalists, especially if it doesn’t fit into a neat and tidy category. Take the case of the Montreal trio Plants and Animals: Though their songs evoke several classic-rock styles (psych…
Sheryl Crow is back to her old self after the fiasco that was 2005’s Wildflower. By renewing her partnership with Bill Bottrell (who produced her first CD in 1993), she comes up with a selection of infectious pop tunes reminiscent of her earliest efforts. “Gasoline” and “Love Is Free?” have…
There’s a sly smile that highlights Paisley Yankolovich’s face. It’s the kind of bemused calm of knowing that the Christian performance artist’s journey with Jesus is less a sunset-showered walk on the beach than an adrenaline-pumping roller coaster that invites people to hop on and throw up their hands at…
Pet the title nasties as well as bamboo and nurse sharks, who return for another season starting today. Starts: Oct. 18. Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 2008…
By Martin Cizmar Twisted Big Top Westgate City Center Glendale First, some introduction: This is the first of a few haunted house reviews that Up On The Sun – your favorite Phoenix music, arts and culture blog – is going to have this month. Why? Well, first off, haunted houses…
By Lilia Menconi Eve Plumb as we remember her. Celebrity and art – yum! – one of my very favorite topics. I’m endlessly fascinated with the way celebrities are able to assign instant value to an artist simply by purchasing a piece. Or, better yet, when a celebrity decides to…
By Lilia Menconi If you’re a local artist, I know you have a pile of pieces leaning against one of your apartment walls collecting dust, hairspray spritzes and probably the occasional splash of beer. Well, it’s time to bust those babies out of forced retirement, take some slides and submit…
By Jonathan McNamara AZ Fetish Ball at The Venue of Scottsdale “Rock ‘n’ rubber ruled the night at the AZ Fetish Ball on Saturday, October 11. Thousands of costumed cajolers brought out their best breasts and were treated to a variety of fetish performances and music from Venus De Mars,…
By Lilia Menconi By Joseph Labate. I absolutely love the West Valley Art Museum. But I didn’t grow up on the Westside, I only have a few acquaintances who live there and I don’t have any ailing grandparents in Sun City. So, other than the museum, there’s not much reason…
A new kind of war movie for a new kind of war, Body of Lies is about the war on terror as it is being waged on the ground, in the air, but most of all in cyberspace. Directed with terrific verve by Ridley Scott (coming after the listless American…
The Duchess is the best women’s movie of the past few months. Don’t get too excited: Sex and the City, Mamma Mia!, and The Women set the bar so dismally low that almost any film with a dame in it who doesn’t channel her identity only through buying, boogieing, and/or…
