All the Rage

Dave, a man who’s barely there, lulls his son to sleep with stories of a boy lost in the woods who escapes from wolves; it’s a thrilling bedtime story for the child, a tale that never loses its excitement with each repeated telling. Dave, played by Tim Robbins like some…

Saint Veronica

Veronica Guerin isn’t at all a bad movie, and some kind things will be said about it here. But cynical appraisal also has its place, so we’ll cover that aspect as well. Even before that, a significant disclaimer: Since this review is being written for several New Times publications, which…

Youth Ache

Eastern Youth’s music is so powerful that it doesn’t matter that the Tokyo band’s full-length American debut, What Can You See From Your Place, is sung entirely in Japanese. Language barriers haven’t stopped the likes of At the Drive-In, the Murder City Devils and No Knife from touring with the…

This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks

Thursday, October 16 While the gallery scene in Scottsdale covers all the bases of contemporary art, Western subject matter still has a mighty stronghold in “The West’s Most Western Town.” See the latest creative take on cowboy art from supporters of this all-American genre when The Scottsdale Gallery Association presents…

A Pair of Aces

He may be a comedy legend, but Tim Conway knows that the humor business — and his place in it — aren’t to be taken seriously. Though he rode the fame wave on The Carol Burnett Show, not all of Conway’s projects have been successful. He recently spotted a cable…

Spurs of the Moment

10/17-11/16 The 38th Annual Cowboy Artists of America Sale kicks off its boots on Friday, October 17, at the Phoenix Art Museum. For a mere $200, you can rub elbows with some of the most notable art collectors in the state. But if $200 has you cringing, you can attend…

Milky Way

Sat 10/18 Hunched over your Cheerios in the morning, staring at the 2 percent milk, ever find yourself thinking, “I could build a boat out of this here milk carton . . .”? Us neither. But some brainiac in Seattle did, and the city now hosts an annual milk carton…

Breaking Point

Sat 10/18 You deserve a breakdance today. The ASU Hip Hop Coalition boogies into Burton Barr Library’s Teen Central this Saturday, October 18, for a hip-hop hoedown. From 2 to 4 p.m., DJ demos set the beat as breakdancers, graffiti artists and freestylers take to the floor, and participants ages…

Rasta Bout

10/18-10/19 The first Rastafarian, Leonard Howell, said, “Everyone, regardless of race or religion, is a Rasta deep within.” Get together with the rest of mon-kind at the 5th Annual Legends of Rasta Reggae Festival Tour (formerly the Annual Bob Marley Festival Tour) from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, October 18,…

Like a Virgin

10/16-10/19 Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Arizona Opera’s opener — except for the duet Au Fond Du Temple Saint, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is relatively unknown. The story, set in Sri Lanka, is full of twists, as estranged friends Zurga and Nadir must decide what to do…

Girls, Uninterrupted

Several years ago, I was soundly excoriated in the pages of this newspaper by a seriously disaffected letter writer from the arts community. She was incensed about a review I wrote concerning a downtown art gallery event that I found less than, shall we say, aesthetically enriching. In fact, she…

Gus the Theater Cat

In a town where every arts organization is struggling to stay afloat, who would risk bankrolling an experimental, ethnocentric theater company devoted to producing the work of a single playwright? And who but a lunatic would invest in a theater company run by a man who refuses to promote the…

A Ball, Screwed

It’s beginning to look as though the films of George Clooney are less the works of fiction than the products of documentary crews following around the actor leading his enviable life. In film after film, he’s seen dining with beautiful actresses in gorgeous surroundings perfectly lighted for an evening’s seduction:…

Half Great

The opening credits insist Kill Bill: Volume 1 is “Quentin Tarantino’s 4th film,” when it’s actually his 3.5th; it’s too incomplete to be measured as a whole, half a movie waiting for a proper ending due to arrive in the next volume in February. Until then we’ll have to contemplate…

Homo Alone

Having already produced a book (Disco Bloodbath) and directed a “shockumentary” (Party Monster) about the “Club Kids” scene that rose brightly and fell murderously in New York in the late ’80s/early ’90s, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) would seem to have said their piece…

Ridin’ High

Rawhide laces up an intimate Western venue with all the right gear — free admission, a “No quiche” restaurant, and the occasional Main Street shoot-out. Bucking Thunder prices run from $15 to $50. At the early Saturday performance, one child 12 and under gets in free with each paying adult. Tim and Willy set you back another $5 if purchased with rodeo tickets, or $15 separately. Chris LeDoux’s concert is $10 with a rodeo ticket or $20 separately. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, 480-784-4444 or www.ticketmaster.com. Rawhide camps at 23023 North Scottsdale Road at Pinnacle Peak Road, two miles north of the 101 Freeway in Scottsdale. For more information, call Rawhide at 480-502-1880.

This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks

Thursday, October 9 Now on the fourth leg of their gigantic U.S. tour, The Red Hot Chili Peppers rock Phoenix with The Flaming Lips and punk legend Mike Watt on Thursday, October 9. The superstar lineup clearly has a wild mix of styles, but one thing all the acts have…

Quilty Pleasures

“These pieces — well, they’re kind of strange,” laughs choreographer and former Arizona State University dance teacher Marion Kirk Jones. “But don’t put that in the article.” By “strange,” Jones means diverse works ranging from Arachne, about the weaver who dared to challenge Athena and was turned into a spider…

Wild Guerrilla

Thu 10/9 Between numerous guerrilla film projects, microcinema events and the Phoenix Film Festival (devoted to low-budget features and short films), Phoenix is becoming a haven for indie filmmaking. So this city has the perfect readership for the latest book by cult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman, Make Your Own Damn Movie:…

Fall in Line

Sat 10/11 If we learned anything in Gamma Delta Phi, it’s that fish don’t like beer. Since the usual Oktoberfestivities won’t do, the mayor, along with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department and Arizona Game and Fish, present Octoberfish, a morning of free fun to usher in fishing weather from…

Web Masters

10/10-10/12 When you bring the entire Titanic onto the Herberger stage and sink it to music, people start suspecting you are more than the average children’s theater — which is fine with Bobb Cooper, artistic director of Valley Youth Theatre and director of its latest offering, Charlotte’s Web. “We look…