Living in a professional sports town whose teams range from subpar to piss-ant poor, we tend to be attracted to other equally lousy teams, if only to make us feel better about breathing the same air as those Cardinals and Coyotes. Take the Pittsburgh Pirates, the bitches of the National…
Think “cowboy” and y’all will most likely imagine vast expanses of the old American West. But as long ago as the first nomads got footsore and became farmers, human, horse, and bull forged a triumvirate that emerged around the world. For example, the Camargue region of France is known for…
We were in our shrink’s waiting room when we read about the Guggenheim’s current retrospective of Louise Bourgeois’ career. The loony-bin setting was perfect, because this old broad is certifiable – and fucking great. More serendipitous still, we’d just seen The Mist, Frank Darabont’s third film based on a Stephen…
Some people — okay, us — would classify Gidget as a monster movie. No, Sandra Dee was not the Devil and Moondoggie wasn’t her slavering hellhound, but their 1959 flick ushered in the frightful genre known as the beach-party movie. Now, Gidget was foul, but it was at least digestible…
The scenery-chewing fiends in Robert Altman’s Prêt-à-Porter (1994) are beautiful creatures with perfectly manicured claws — i.e. the models, designers, and all-purpose rogues who frequent Paris’ Fashion Week. Shot on location at the Carrousel du Louvre and other City of Light locales, Prêt-à-Porter was Altman’s attempt to satirize the petty,…
By far the best thing to do in the PHX on a Sunday night, this social-activist hair salon’s monthly hoedown draws artists, scenesters, and, of course, people looking for a new look. This month’s bash features new metallic paperworks by Dawn Cramer (pictured) and entertainment by Djentrification. Sun., Aug. 3,…
Friday July 25: Bobby Fresh Fashion Show at Cherry Lounge and Pit “Fresh Kicks Fresh Tits.” That’s what it says on the back of this Bobby Fresh T. You’ve got to give it to the man; he’s got no problem shoving his urban-inspired designs all up in your face. Looking…
On a recent monsoon-ravaged July evening, people were showing the love on Marshall Way in Scottsdale. The Thursday night art-walk crowd was sporting white buttons with phrases like “your thumb print on my skin,” “I could jump into you . . . and land without consequences,” and “you could give…
I haven’t seen much at the movies in the past two years that has given me as much unbridled comic pleasure as the sight of Will Ferrell as the win-at-any-cost NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby, calling on Jesus, Tom Cruise, and Oprah Winfrey to put out the psychosomatic flames engulfing his…
For gamers, E3 — the Electronics Entertainment Expo — is Christmas in July, only you don’t have to endure the Family Dinner from Hell while your new toys gather dust under the tree. Translation: It’s geek Nirvana. The annual industry gathering, held last week in Los Angeles, isn’t the chaotic,…
Considering all the public whimpering and hair-tearing I’ve done about the routine razing of really great old buildings, I have to hand a palm to the folks at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, which has made its new home in downtown’s historic Monroe School. Rather than plow down this imposing…
Before we get to the macho stuff, we must give a small shout-out to 1130 The Restaurant, still the best thing that’s happened to Arizona Center since about 1990. Or since the last Miss Hooters contest. Now, the macho stuff. While it can’t compete with a bunch of big-boobed blondes…
Ah, the beloved T-shirt. First worn by the Brits in 1880, then called “under vests” by those same blokes (what a bunch of dorks), they weren’t accepted as outerwear until a very tasty Marlon Brando stretched the cotton fibers over his lick-worthy torso and made every red blooded woman in…
Much of what once made it bustling and lovely to look at is gone, but the shadow of downtown Phoenix casts a long memory. It’s a dark shadow filled with pretty sites: The San Carlos Hotel on Central Avenue, with its street-front portico and its swoopy neon sign; the Henry…
How does a quirky beardo from the tiny town of Wynne, Arkansas (pop. 8,615) come to write songs that are so beautiful and moving that they can only be referred to as “pieces?” Chances are, there was nothing else to do in a place that small for Chase Pagan, whose…
Who would have ever thought Stone Temple Pilots would top off 16 drug-and drama-addled years by hitting the road for a reunion tour? Then again, rehab’s expensive, and with at least three albums’ worth of solid music (out of five), the band can make a killing with 65 greatest-hits appearances…
It may be hard to believe, but John Mayer is a white guy suppressing his true soul music soul. Don’t believe us? Then check out these quotes from music czar, incredibly deep dude, and The Roots’ drummer Questlove, who wrote, produced, and performed on D’Angelo’s Voodoo. (An album, in our…
A theory: Yes, he hosted E!’s Talk Soup and starred as Michael Novotny on Showtime’s Queer As Folk. But as far as his onscreen presence goes, Hal Sparks is most hilarious (intentionally or not) in concentrated three-minutes-or-less chunks. The evidence: Everything out of his mouth on all of those VH1…
Believe it or not, P-town peeps, but there are plenty of other events going on this weekend besides that certain championship football game on Sunday afternoon that everyone seems to be all hyped up about. Case in point: SoCal mixmaster J.J. Keo will be staging a boffo birthday bash on…
Foodies Betty Fraser (pictured) and Richard Blais, a couple of contestants from the Bravo Network’s smash culinary bash Top Chef, bring their ladles and the 48-foot Top Chef truck to the Market to host a series of cooking demos and food tastings. There’ll be live, interactive shows from 8:30 to…
If someone asks to have words with you in an alley, expect fisticuffs. However, John Lynn, the host of Words in the Alley: Feral Poetry, just wants to stoke your latent creative juices. You see, Lynn used to secretly write poems until local open mics coaxed him out of his…
The Native American Basketball Invitational Tournament (NABI) has finally hit the big time, according to their Web site, which exclaims, “It doesn’t get any bigger than this!” Actually, we disagree. It should be much bigger. (Insert timely argument about our W.A.S.P. society here.) But we’ll take what we can get,…
