A few weeks ago, we lost our rodeo virginity out in Apache Junction. Because it was our first experience watching calf-roping, saddle-bronc riding, and steer-wrestling, we were confused when, before the event, an emcee led the crowd in a brief prayer “to make sure the animals wouldn’t get hurt …
If your cheesy, green-beer-swilling, American version of Saint Paddy’s Day got a Mohawk and a few tattoos, then did a fat line of blow along with its usual bucketfuls of Jameson, it would look a lot like Flogging Molly. This band turns traditional Irish music on its drunken ear, incorporating…
George couldn’t draw to save his life. Linda was into photography, and thus went Paul. Ringo still uses Crayons to pen his daily mail — so we hear. That, by default, makes John our favorite Beatle artist. We’ll be polite and call his works whimsical. While we’d never hang the…
It’s soooo tempting to buy one of those cheerful-looking succulents you see in the Garden department at Target. Don’t succumb! They’re mass-produced and babied in nurseries, and they’ll almost certainly croak after a week of exposure to the summer heat. While a lot of places pretend to know what they’re…
The documentary examines the Valley’s mysterious UFO “invasion” of the late ’90s, and the theories behind it. Sun., March 16, 1, 4 & 7 p.m., 2008…
Despite the bold assertion in the accompanying photo, author/photojournalist Tammy Lechner should’ve titled her book Chicago Cubs: Big, Fat Losers. Rather, she chose the high road with her new Our Team, Our Dream: A Cubs Fan’s Journey Into Baseball’s Greatest Romance — described as a “passionate photo documentary highlighting 15…
The multicolored building that houses .anti_space may look like a LifeSavers roll on crack, but that’s only because it provides a sweet selection of artistic efforts scattered among its seven different galleries and boutiques. Whether it’s the surreal metalwork of Waldoism or the punchy photography of Apathamy, you’ll never be…
Completed in 1928, the Historic City Hall (not to be confused with the amazing, futuristic, starburst-adorned new City Hall on West Washington Street) combines Moderne, Art Deco, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Renaissance influences in a stunning edifice of terra cotta, ceramic tile, and cast iron. This magnificent piece of our…
Gary Parsel digs old-school Phoenix so much that he’s spent the past decade depicting the city’s vintage houses and buildings in hundreds of acrylic paintings as a way to “capture its history and character before it disappears.” We asked for some of his favorite places. Fontenelle Lofts “Gosh, the Fontenelle…
We’re suckers for Durant’s swanky, old-school vibe, from the kitchen entrance in the back (which makes us feel like members of a secret club) to the polished service to that lipstick-red velvet wallpaper. And there’s something about a juicy steak and a perfectly mixed martini that always sounds good. 2611…
The name Vintage Solutions says it all: This collection of cool stuff from the past really does offer solutions to such quandaries as, “What to get the kitsch collector who has everything?” or “Where can I find a dead-mint dining set from the ’60s?” Two new booths devoted to vintage…
If nothing else, the British know how to tie one on. So it’s only fitting that the Britannia-themed Rose & Crown is stocked with enough brews and booze to keep any Englishman or Anglophile happy (and properly soused). The usual pints of Newcastle, Tetley’s, and Guinness are available, as are…
Into the Wild (Paramount) Sean Penn waited a good decade before adapting Jon Krakauer’s book about Chris McCandless, who graduated college in 1990, then disappeared into the American unknown, re-emerging as Alexander Supertramp before his final, tragic farewell in the Alaskan wilderness in ’92. Penn’s patience is evident in every…
To all the gun-toting video-game bad guys out there: Please stop standing next to exploding barrels. Seriously now. Of the hundreds of places you could squat and shoot, you and your henchman pals always camp beside the neon-orange canister with “Flammable!” painted on the side. Really, we don’t need your…
Archie’s Funhouse: The Complete Series (Classic Media) Army of the Dead (Maverick) Arranged (Film Movement) Ben 10: The Complete Season 3 (Turner) Billy Wilder Film Collection (MGM) Dead Moon Rising (Anthem) Half Moon (Strand) Lonesome Dove: Season One (Echo Bridge)Magnum P.I.: The Complete Eighth Season (Universal) Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium…
The word on the street is that Phoenix is gonna be going green, but it’s got nothing to do with Al Gore. It’s because the groovy Gaelic get-down known as St. Patrick’s Day is about to strike the PHX, with everyone in Apache Junction to Avondale getting their Irish on…
It’s that time of year again. People who normally never travel south of Camelback will be heading downtown for Art Detour, where they’ll ogle art and artists in a tour of galleries and work studios; a subdivision-free milieu that many suburbanites consider with some small amount of fear. Folks visiting…
Near the beginning of The Counterfeiters, a fact-based Holocaust drama by Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky, we meet Jewish money forger and former jailbird Salomon Sorowitsch (brilliantly played by Karl Markovics), packing to flee Berlin in 1936 with a suitcase full of fake money. We know from an opening coda that…
Based on a true story” is what The Bank Job brags before diving into the clear blue water of the Caribbean, where, in 1970, a topless woman frolics with two swimming mates — just another day in paradise. The trio retires to a hotel room for a sweaty, breathless afternoon…
This past week, you may have noticed a surge of bleary-eyed, artsy individuals grabbing their caffeine fix from downtown coffee shops before noon. That can mean only one thing: Art Detour. The gigantic, weekend-long extravaganza comes once a year and is equal parts art showcase and insane asylum — kinda…
Fans lined up at GameStops around the country to compete in a massive Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament during the game’s midnight launch.
Weekend adventures got underway on Friday, March 7, with a simultaneous Art Detour 2008 and First Friday explosion on the streets of Phoenix. If you missed the detour, check out the slide show. Also on Friday, you may have missed several MLB players lining up for a home run derby…
