Not to be confused with the ultra-polished Indiana University a cappella group of the same name (though that would be funny as shit), this extreme metal outfit dares to go where most of its peers fear to tread. Which is to say: awkwardness. Yes, Straight, No Chaser will still melt…
We were surfing through DJ Tranzit’s impressive-looking MySpace page the other day, and besides being amused by the house music maestro’s catchphrases (“Some people call it a dance floor. I call it my office”), we peeped a pretty lengthy list of the clubs and gigs where he’s plied his turntable…
A couple years back, this “bloody-disgusting love story” from playwright Tracy Letts was made into a feature film directed by William Friedkin and starring Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr. It was a squirmer — pretty tough for even hardened gore-hounds to sit through. So will this live version produced…
The 4th Dimension: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 5, at Space 55 Theatre By Clay McNear David Lynch, blecch. He’s the Alan Rudolph of cinematic subversion, and here’s how much I dislike him: I’d rather writhe through a Rudolph triple-bill of The Moderns, Choose Me, and Trouble in Mind before seeing…
Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Beautiful Mutants” reception: 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, July 4, at Perihelion Arts By Clay McNear Mark Mothersbaugh lives a symmetrical life of wild extremes. Consider: • He’s was born and still lives in Akron, Ohio – all-American birthplace of the rubber tire, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the soap-box…
The guy can’t even cast his own ballot. But Efrain Robles still rocks the vote. Big-time. Robles, a Phoenix resident from Mexico, is here legally. But he’s not a naturalized citizen, so technically, he can’t vote. That doesn’t mean he can’t get his voice heard. He tried it four years…
The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis as a dead man, was writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s breakthrough, but its follow-up, Unbreakable, starring Bruce Willis as the walking dead reborn as a superhero, was the filmmaker’s masterpiece. It remains the most quietly influential of all recent superhero movies, the unacknowledged template for…
How much of a game has to be interactive for it to actually be a game? I’m not being snide; it’s a serious query. If an experience is mostly passive, isn’t it just a movie with elements of gameplay, and not vice versa? Or does even the tiniest bit of…
It’s a theater critic’s job, as he enters a playhouse, to leave at the door any attitudes or preferences he may have about a particular genre of play. Therefore, I abandoned my ennui about camp in the lobby of Nearly Naked Theatre as I headed in to see what they’d…
If Jay’s Cocktail Lounge were a country club, some butch chick would’ve taken the bar to court by now over its weekly Men’s Night promotion. But we’re all grownups here, so let us respectfully request that you lovely ladies leave us alone for one goddamn night a week, ’kay? Is…
Midnite Movie Mamacita presents the 1963 horror classic by Brazilian director Coffin Joe. Prior to the screening, the “Arizona-Americana” power trio Instant Hobo performs tracks from its new disc, including the tribute tune “Coffin Joe.” Sat., July 5, 9:45 p.m., 2008…
David Lynch, blecch. He’s the Alan Rudolph of cinematic subversion, and here’s how much I dislike him: I’d writhe through a Rudolph triple-bill of The Moderns, Choose Me, and Trouble in Mind if it got me out of seeing Eraserhead again. Serendipitously, I’ve found someone who not only agrees with…
With House M.D., American Idol, and Dancing With the Stars on hiatus until the fall, your Tuesday nights have pretty much been free . . . and filled with boredom. But instead of suffering through reruns and insipid summertime programming, sweeten things up with a heavy dose of hip-hop and…
He claims he “isn’t even a D-List celebrity,” yet he has an Emmy Award and a best-selling memoir and is on a national tour. It’s not the kind of comment that comes from humility — Leslie Jordan is, after all, an actor — but rather from the psyche of a…
Where do you think the term “The Tempe Tornado” comes from? A reference to the loftification of University Drive or the Anywhereville-ing of Mill Avenue? Nope, the moniker belongs to the one and only Lealand McSpadden, one of Manzanita Speedway’s greatest racecar drivers. The Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame member,…
While postpartum depression and nuclear fallout are downers, it’s the aftermath of a great party that gives rise to our leaden sighs. Local polka ensemble Haunted Cologne plans to take full advantage of America’s un-birthday, otherwise known as the day after the Fourth. “We’re gonna make July fifth Polka Dependence…
It’s pretty obvious when summer’s come to town. Just look at the children. They’ve spent about a million hours reenacting The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo in the backyard pool, so their hair is completely bleached out and their eyes are all bloodshot. Instead of looking like Disney characters, they…
If Ward and June Cleaver were Phoenicians, they’d live in Arcadia. Wally would be charming the pants off (not literally, of course) the pretty girls at Arcadia High, and Lumpy, Whitey, and the Beav would be bugging the crap out of the firefighters down at Engine Station No. 1. Meanwhile,…
When you’re 6 years old and have an imaginary friend, you get a roll of the eyes and a pat on the head. If you’re 30, you get a rubber room and a dose of anti-psychotics. Luckily for Neil Gillingham, artists get a free pass when it comes to having…
It may come as a shock, but Arizona has something of a vibrant ska scene. Granted, it’s not as expansive or off-the-chain as our state’s hip-hop or rock communities, but we can think of almost a dozen different ska bands that have been unleashing Rude Boy and 2-Tone beats around…
Dip your toes in the water while attending the Lake Pleasant Fireworks Celebration at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, where sky decorations are shot off from Waddell Dam at 8:45. Thu., July 3, 8:45 p.m., 2008…
Rev, White & Boom at Phoenix International Raceway, 7602 South Avondale Boulevard in Avondale, is a free event that includes tours of the track and a fireworks display at dusk. Thu., July 3, 6-9:30 p.m., 2008…
