Not too long ago, my spouse and I took our friend Caitlyn out to celebrate her seventh birthday. Our plan was to have a little lunch at Scottsdale Fashion Square (7014 E. Camelback Rd., Scottsdale, www.fashionsquare.com) and then let her go nuts in the Missy section of one of the…
Telling people they should hike in 115-degree heat is like plopping the London Bridge in the middle of some podunk Arizona town. Oh. Right. That hiking hard-sell is at the core of the “Beat the Heat” Strategies Hike. During the two-miler on the Blevins Trail, a ranger will offer “practical…
The Castles -n- Coasters Summer Fun Days promotion is a smoking deal — if you don’t spontaneously combust. We’re just tossin’ out a caveat emptor, ’cause you should know up front that your $15 buys unlimited rides on the theme park’s attractions, plus a free round of mini-golf, all of…
Nobody ever called Frida Kahlo an asshole, though, in 1939, the Mexican artist dubbed André Breton and the European surrealists the “bitches of Paris.” Oh, snap! Frida existed to paint, and only then was the “Dove” allowed to fly free and depict her dark reality of surgeries, miscarriages, and self-medication…
If these babies sound as good as they look, mama. Designed and numbered by industrial artist Ross Lovegrove — known, among other things, for designing the Sony Walkman and the iMac — these monsters are cast from solid blocks of pure aluminum, tower above six feet in height, weigh 250…
Why did Laurie Notaro leave her hometown of Phoenix, AZ? Had she sucked the last drop of marrow from every 1990s Mill Avenue moment and chewed the bones into dust? (She does have big teeth.) Whatever the case, the Muchacha del Idiota returns to her former stomping grounds to read…
Since the dawn of its invention, music fans have held the synthesizer in direct conflict with the drum kit. While these opposing camps may never lay down arms, Phoenix’s Maypop is out to show that this town isn’t too small for the both of ’em. Describing itself as “Rocktronic Indieca,”…
We’re all for hybrid cars and green cleaners, but if we have to look at one more painting exploring the dangers of deforestation, we’re gonna blow chunks. What’s next — artists go PETA on our asses, hurling red tree sap at anyone not using recycled paper? At first glance, Marcus…
Most big cities have summer stock of some kind. Phoenix’s post-theater season typically equates to a handful of remounts and three months of dinner theater. For the past decade, one of the few bright spots has been Phoenix Theatre’s New Works Festival, a monthlong showcase of original plays and musicals…
Indian jewelry is one of the Southwest’s signature art forms, and one of the loveliest. Unfortunately, even the best of it’s often lumped in with the Native dreck hawked at roadside stands and retail stores. Discerning jewelry-philes haunt the Heard Museum, both as a place to shop for genuine, topflight…
When you think of a ukulele, do you think of Joan Rivers and Cheech & Chong? You will once you get a load of Ukulele Ray & The KokoNutz, a tropical/classic rock/comedy act from Tempe. Leader Ray, an ex-Chippendales dancer, is a conjugation of hot and hilarious. The self-hailed pop…
One of the most lamentable facts about the ’90s was the inability of underground hip-hop to register even the slightest blip on the mainstream radar. While gangsta rap rose to pop-culture ascendancy – ruling Top 40 charts and pretty much directing the speech, fashion, and reference points of every American…
L.A. four-piece HEALTH sounds more suited to the hipster-tastic Rogue Bar than Trunk Space, where the band will be posting up tonight. We felt this especially after we listened to Health’s hit “Crimewave.” During certain movements of the dance-happy song, which is driven by palpitating, drum-circle-like beats, something screams at…
Leave your cynicism at the door for the totally unironically named Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo (subtitle: Camp Jump & Yell for Girls and Wizards). The package tour features three proudly nerdy bands from the Northeast who will not only pummel you with their indomitable spirit but will use it to beat…
The longest span of any American’s life is from age 18 to 21. You’re old enough to vote, own property, and carry a firearm, but you don’t have the right to get shitty drunk at a bar? Brutal. Of course, everyone in the age range is boozing it on the…
Audiences love epic showdowns. Ali versus Frazier. Jerry Springer brawls. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. This weekend, National Comedy Theater-Phoenix (NCT for short) squares off against NCT-San Diego in what Dorian Lenz, founder and director of NCT-PHX, says should be a “high-energy, very exciting and fun show.” Lenz’s performing history spans…
Ernest Hemingway famously sought depth and heartbreak in the extreme brevity of a six-word story by penning, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” While not as restricted by word count (and certainly not as morose), the Cave Creek Film and Arts Festival Short Story Reading will give aspiring Raymond Chandlers…
There are plenty of words to describe Phoenix. Dusty. Sunlit. Sprawling. Somehow, “green” doesn’t make the list. Artists Lindsay Palmer and Rebekeh Brems might disagree. Their joint exhibit “The G R E E N B E L T: a photographic collaboration” features large-scale images of natural forests, deforested areas, and…
West Coast Comedy 101: To springboard into acting, you strike out for LA. To perform standup for – gasp! – standup’s sake, you slug it out in the wilds of the San Francisco club scene. Al Madrigal falls into the latter category, having honed his deceptively baby-faced delivery and effortlessly…
Onetime Hollywood strongman Michael Ovitz used to make news for all the wrong reasons: voicing paranoiac slurs about the “gay mafia,” causing schisms in the Mickey Mouse fantasy factory during his star-crossed Disney stint, and manhandling the help as documented in Suzanne Hansen’s book You’ll Never Nanny in This Town…
Missed the Phoenix Mercury during the Olympic break? Jonesing for some women’s basketball on account of all of that sweet balling in Beijing? Then you can totally score when the Mercury hosts the San Antonio Silver Stars at U.S. Airways Center in the Merc’s first home game after the Olympics…
Why did Laurie Notaro leave her hometown of Phoenix, AZ? Had she sucked the last drop of marrow from every 1990s Mill Avenue moment and chewed the bones into dust? (She does have big teeth.) Whatever the case, the Muchacha del Idiota returns to her former stomping grounds to read…
