You might’ve seen DJ Dino (a.k.a. Denard Webb) rocking the decks with dirty electro tracks last weekend at the Lovestruck party in downtown Phoenix. Or perhaps when he was doing the same back in July at the Dark Knight, or at any of the dozens of other local raves this…
After pulling out of Fashion Square back in 2001 following a lease dispute with the mall’s landlord, Westcor, the world-class toy shop returns as a 1,000-square-foot “store-within-a-store” at Macy’s. Fri., Sept. 5, 2008…
ASU prof and one of the smartest guys in town discusses his new book African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage and Excellence, which offers “an examination of African Americans in sports from a variety of perspectives and through a lively range of rhetoric styles.” Tue., Sept. 9, 7 p.m.,…
What did you say? You’ve been losing sleep because every time you turn back the bedsheets, there isn’t a scorpion waiting there to say hi and you really want to get up close and personal with one? Well, if you’re one of these types of folks, then check out the…
Think Jesse Ventura and your mental image may very well be the emotionally traumatic sight of his jiggling crotch bulge, clad in purple iridescent fabric. Still, though ’80s wrestling spandex may have propelled the man’s career, he’s due some credit for his stints as a Navy SEAL and the former…
Worthwhile road trips feature unique sights and sounds, from tourist-drawing dinosaurs to roadside diners stuck in the past. It’s rare that the road-trippers bring the sights and sounds with them. San Francisco-based performance-art troupe Double Vision trucks its combination of choreographed and improvised dance, video projections and animation, and live…
Mad Juana’s MySpace page boasts, “Imagine Django Reinhardt and Patti Smith fronting the Velvet Underground in a Bourbon Street dive, and the exotic soulfulness and inflamed passion rises like a possessed voodoo spirit.” Yeah, well, that’s kind of true, but let’s break it down a bit more simply: The band’s…
Ah, Carnaval, the debaucherous Brazilian street party riddled with sparkles, feathers, and grabby hands galore. It’s usually reserved for spring, right before all the Jesus lovers in the world restrict their normal states of debauchery and perversion for Lent. Somehow, they believe that a measly 40 days of self-control redeems…
Just because you wrote a few songs doesn’t mean you’re qualified to author an entire book. (How would you like to read Donny Osmond’s memoirs?) Fortunately, former Phoenician Art Edwards — co-founder, co-songwriter, and bass player of The Refreshments — has more than the necessary credentials (i.e., an MFA in…
Many equate the ancient-Indian mandala with life itself, so it’s an interesting analogy that artist Jason Ripper’s working in his new “Mandala” exhibit at Step Gallery. Ripper’s metaphorical floor construct is crafted out of colored duct and gaffing tapes, and life held together by industrial adhesives is a pretty good…
While Hurricane Katrina was wreaking havoc in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, President Bush was in Phoenix, posing for a photo-op, cake in hand, with birthday boy Senator John McCain. That lack of priority was only the beginning of the government’s failure. For filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small,…
Rob Gardner’s musical profiles the infamous pirate Edward Teach. This production represents the world premiere following last year’s successful workshop at the Herberger. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. Thursdays-Saturdays. Starts: Sept. 5. Continues through Sept. 27, 2008…
The first-gen Korean-American novelist pocketed the PEN/Hemingway Award for his topical thriller Native Speaker. Lee reads from and signs works at this event, part of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing’s Fall 2008 Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. Wed., Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m., 2008…
In 1963, SoCal native Johnny Lozoya was 10 and enthralled watching low-slung, growling machines called lowriders pace his neighborhood streets. As he tells New Times, “They were definitely not my parents’ four-door family sedan.” In 1979, Lozoya organized the first Lowrider Convention at Firebird Lake. Now 55, he’s still as…
To some artists, drawing is an expression of beauty. To others, it’s a visual soapbox on which the artist can figuratively stand and whine about politics, injustice, or whatever other crap is newsworthy. It’s hard to figure out which category local artist and ASU grad Hector Ruiz is in. Part…
A local day-labor center is about to close, bowing to the pressures of anti-immigration advocates. The immigrants who rely on the center for their crummy incomes fight to keep the facility open. When one of the workers gets arrested, all hell breaks loose. Sound plausible? Los Illegals is a ripped-from-the-headlines…
Sooner or later, with all of technology’s leaps and bounds, we’re bound to stare a dinosaur straight in the reptilian eye. Not in the Jurassic Park way, but in the sense that somebody, someday, will create a dino that seems so real it might as well be. The folks behind…
Oprah. Elvis. Charlie’s Angels. Prison inmates. Fashion victims all, thanks to the jumpsuit. We’d tease and taunt these dinos and ne’er-do-wells, but, God help us, the vexing garment seems to be making a comeback. Rihanna was recently seen wearing a floral-print number. Maggie Gyllenhaal wore one to The Dark Knight…
What is it about the desert that makes people wax poetic? And how can we make them stop? Holly Metz, a West Virginia native, takes smashing black-and-white photos of the parched terrain near her Gila River Indian Community home, many of which you can see in her “The Spirit of…
The economy blows. There are foreclosures on every block, big-name chains are filing for bankruptcy, and a tank of gas costs more than a week’s worth of groceries. Hell, even local art galleries and theaters are downsizing just to stay afloat. When faced with rising costs, Phoenix’s Black Theatre Troupe…
Ask any nerd piss-ant what he knows about Japan and he’ll probably blather on about manga, the island nation’s sadistic game shows, or those Tokyo vending machines that specialize in used celebrity underwear. We don’t deny that a lot of strange things emanate from that cooped-up otherworld, but there are…
Kudos to the Pac-10 conference for scheduling meaningful division games in August and September, including last week’s Oregon State-Stanford tilt and a bitter-rivalry contest between Oregon and Washington. What do you have to say to that, Texas Tech (Eastern Washington, at Nevada, SMU, UMass) and LSU (Appalachian State, Troy, North…
