“Sponsor a Law Kid”

One new idea for every day in 2011. We’re talking big, small, local, international, in action and on the drawing board. Here’s today’s — what’s yours? Ruth Carter admits she falls into the “poor law school kid” category. She’s in her last semester at ASU’s College of Law, she’ll take…

The Green Hornet: Seth Rogen Schlubs It Up

Only inertia will bring people to Michel Gondry’s 3-D spectacle, The Green Hornet. Opening amid persistent negative buzz in the mid-January dead zone, this long-germinating prospective franchise, based on a character that first saturated the nation’s radio waves in 1939, seems pretty much DOA — although in the absence of…

Blue Valentine: Love Is a One-Way Street

When the MPAA handed Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine an NC-17 rating this fall, cynics suggested that the so-called “kiss of death” was better publicity for the gently experimental marriage drama than anything famously crafty distributor Harvey Weinstein could buy. When the rating was reversed — downgraded to an R without…

Get Jiggle Wit’ It

For a real taste of jazz in this town, à la NYC-style (the best style, btw), hit up the Lost Leaf and marinate your ears in the sounds of local quartet Jiggle. The band — fronted by founder/bassist Ted Sistrunk and including hot-shot drummer Shaun Lowecki and woodwind players Scott…

For Art’s Sake

Don’t ask me how I came to be a gallery curator. I suppose it happened because I finally grew tired of complaining about how the downtown art scene just wasn’t giving me enough of what I wanted. And about how, not so many years ago, one went, on any given…

Pictureplane

A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Travis Egedy, who performs under the name Pictureplane, has been rapidly gaining the attention of popular underground bands such as HEALTH, which praised the act on Pitchfork, invited Pictureplane to go on tour, and brought it to the attention of the Lovepump United…

King for a Day

For naysayers that think this place can’t sustain tradition, chew on this: the Dr. Martin Luther King Festival and March – which starts at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and proceeds a couple of miles through central Phoenix before posting up for a celebration at Margaret T. Hance Park, 1134 North…

Chang Gang

Some do it for the adrenaline rush; others for the adoration of the hundreds of cheering fans. Purists do it for that raw, organic energy that shakes their souls. All this can only mean one thing: a marathon. Participants in the P.F. Chang’s 7th Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon…

Glyph-Hanger

You know, it’s not every day that one gets to see a 7,000-year-old piece of art. The Mona Lisa is only 500 years old. King Tut’s tomb was created just 5,000 years ago. But 7,000 years ago? That’s before Stonehenge, bitches! And you can see it here in town. No…

Road Rage

Car auction? Please. When you’re Barrett-Jackson, the Scottsdale-based company catering to classic and collector car owners and enthusiasts around the world, you have an automotive lifestyle event. La-dee-dah. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, this year’s buggy bash kicks off with the second annual Scottsdale Road Rally on Saturday, January 15. It…

Over the Hill

Chad Reed is the youngest over-the-hill superstar you’ll see in any sport not called gymnastics. Read just about any preview of this year’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championships, and you’ll get a strong impression that the two-time winner is in the twilight of his career. Hell, even the circuit’s official…

Dump the Dive

We all love a good dance night. And, we admit that we have a soft spot for dive bars. But mixing the two on a weekly basis can get a little creepy. And sometimes, it causes debauchery overload. That’s why we’re glad to hear that William Fucking Reed and Co…

Cold Comfort

Self-proclaimed psychic medium John Edward ranks as either the “Oprah of the Other Side” or, as South Park and Penn Jillette would have it, “The Biggest Douche in the Universe.” The distinction hinges less on whether his gifts are real than on whether it’s appropriate to erect an empire on…

Market Research

One of the biggest bummers about a relatively new city like Phoenix is the absence of established markets, à la New York City, Tokyo, Mexico City, and even places like Kumasi, Ghana. But what those on-cultural-steroids haunts may not have is a countrified, chill-out gathering featuring Native American, Latino, and…

Golden Girls

Ask a teenager who the most important actresses are and she’ll probably start with Kristen Stewart (because teenagers are idiots); ask a thirty-something and she’ll most likely include Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. But as moving as Miss Congeniality 2 was, it’s high time to remind people of (or teach…

History Anew

When we see our parents and elders through our own eyes, we’re only getting one dimension of the story. Tempe artist and photographer Kris Sanford encountered a diary that her grandfather, someone she never met, had kept in 1954. That particular journal inspired Sanford’s exploration of lives, families, and loves…

Shades of Green

You can be on the cover of Rolling Stone, write a book about your struggle with cancer, marry Hollywood royalty, and create your own Internet channel, but a single movie scene with an animal and you’re forever “that guy who jerked off a horse.” Tom Green, the slack-jawed, goateed, screaming…

Knee-Jerk Reaction

It’s almost impossible to bring up the Portland Trail Blazers without talking about what could have been. Portland fans have gotten used to not seeing former top pick Greg Oden sit on the bench. Now, it appears that their star player – 26 year-old guard Brandon Roy – might never…

Desert Dog Days

Unlike last season, the Phoenix Coyotes aren’t such hot you-know-what in 2010-11 thus far. But that’s better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t been relevant for a decade-ish. Last time the Maple Leafs qualified for the National Hockey League playoffs was 2003-2004. (Sound familiar, Coyotes’ fans?) If the postseason…

Yuja Wang

Schubert’s Sonata No. 19 in C minor, Saint-Saëns’ Dance Macabre, and Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain are just some of the classical favorites that will be presented by the wunderkind pianist during her concert at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Thu., Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m., 2011…

Full Moon Hike

Find your way through the thick of the desert night with just the moonlight to guide you. Sound awesome? Trust us, it is. Wed., Jan. 19, 6 p.m., 2011…