Ales in Comparison

Beer is a big deal. Don’t believe us? Just ask the thousands of folks who flocked to Denver recently for the Great American Beer Fest, a.k.a. the nation’s biggest beer competition when several of Arizona’s brewers took home top prizes.For years Flanny’s has been a go-to beer spot in the…

Party Down

The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts invites you to get your party on and soak up some culture as it hosts La Gran Fiesta, a daylong celebration of Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. La Gran Fiesta will let friends and family explore the sights, sounds, and movement of…

Stamping Grounds

Everyone has their thing. For some, it’s knitting. For others, it’s comic books. So it should come as no surprise that there’s an entire weekend-long convention dedicated to rubber stamps. The 16th Annual Rubber Stamp Fall Fiesta is coming to Mesa to create a lasting impression on card makers, crafters,…

Living, Dead

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, occurs the two days following Halloween, but it has nothing to do with the contemporary ghoulish event, except perhaps sharing a love of skeletons and morbid imagery. Instead, Dia De Los Muertos is a revered, ancient and colorful celebration of lost…

For Those About to ROC

Who could honestly say the best part of Double Dare was the answering of banal trivia questions? No, we watched for the physical challenges — wild, manic, messy. They looked fun as hell. The ROC Race (ROC = Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge) recreates the ridiculousness of this bygone game show and…

Case in Point

Superman wasn’t the first fictional character to die and come back. Holmes did it, homes. When fans demanded more stories, savvy Arthur Conan Doyle figured out how no-shit-Sherlock could escape his fatal predicament and return, as he did in “The Adventure of the Empty House,” superpowers or no. Even after…

Mind Games

We all know Mrs. Klein — that manipulative, over-bearing woman whose word is the rule of law and those who don’t believe it best be damned. In the case of Nicholas Wright’s brilliant piece of theater, Mrs. Klein, the titled protagonist is a respected psychoanalyst who uses her to manipulate…

Tapped Roots

Sometimes, words don’t suffice for creative and personal expression. Dustin Loehr’s been on a journey melding spoken word with tap dancing and his latest solo show, Footnotes of the Untellable Tale, debuts during Herberger Theater’s Lunch Time Theater Tuesday, November 5.Storytelling comes through words, movement, and sound to explore the…

Counting Offer

Fear not, no one is going to encourage a resounding chorus of “five golden rings.” This version of The Twelve Dates of Christmas is a different tale: one of dating disasters and unexpected compassion, providing a refreshing option during a season steeped in tradition.Presented by Class 6 Theatre, this one-woman…

Bot Love

While the rise of the robots has yet to happen, it doesn’t mean that we can’t prime our hearts to belong to a number of mechanized potential overlords. A whole man-created army in waiting will be unleashed at the new exhibition “Robots and What Nots: A Space Boy Robot Show!,”…

Car Talk

Stymied by your entertainment choices? Try the Pulitzer Prize yardstick — there’s just one per year for drama (sometimes none). If the script subsequently wins a Best Picture Oscar, you’re looking at the kind of odds you get with Driving Miss Daisy, at Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre through Sunday, January…

Steamy Stuff

It isn’t hard to see the beauty of the world of steampunk, where retro-dreams meet futuristic imagination. Spanning literature, fashion, film and art, the culture has taken on a life of its own.“Steampunk: The Exquisite Adventure” brings together steampunk artifacts, artwork, costumes and more. Co-curated by Scottsdale Public Art collections…

Actors Theatre Returns with A Steady Rain, and It’s a Good Thing

Actors Theatre returned last week from a self-imposed sabbatical with a reminder of why we might have missed them if they’d gone altogether. Keith Huff’s stagey police drama, A Steady Rain, is the sort of tightly wound, finely crafted morals tale that this troupe has long done so well. Rain,…

Five Haunted Places in Arizona

Arizonans can take pride in knowing their state is rich in history. Arizonans with a propensity for all things creepy can take pride in knowing that many of the history-rich spots around the state are also believed to be haunted. Here are a few places around the Copper State that…

Slutty Wallet: “Lose Your Dignity, Not Your Wallet”

Hey, sluts, tired of carrying around your fake ID, mascara, and Plan B? Purses can be such cock blockers. You have you have to lug them around and worry about losing them when you’re bingeing on shots, plus they cover up what little clothing you are wearing…

Vintage Phoenix Business: Azteca Bridal

What started as five wedding dresses in the back of a furniture shop is now the fully operational bridal, tuxedo, and quinceañera megastore that is Azteca Bridal. The original part of the store, now dedicated to fitting rooms and expansive mirrors, contains a vintage stairwell that has existed since Azteca’s…

Dispensary Review: Bloom in Phoenix

Chitral Hays — not his real name — is Jackalope Ranch’s resident expert on medical marijuana in Arizona. In Perfectly Blunt, Hays delivers news, reviews, and must-know info. From time to time, he’ll review a local dispensary. Bloom Dispensaries was the first official dispensary to be licensed and fling open…