Arts & Culture

Wing man Peter Mueller and the resurgent ‘Yotes face off against the always challenging Red Wings, only one year removed from Stanley Cup supremacy. Thu., Oct. 22, 7 p.m., 2009…

In the Caveman Days before YouTube and reality TV, people had to amuse themselves with sock puppets and radio plays and The Carol Burnett Show. We know — you’d totally kill yourself, right? The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art breathes new life into the old-fashioned variety show with the Arte…

For a place with an overall IQ of about 32 – to judge by all the shotgun-toting boobs sporting Sheriff Joe bumper stickers – Phoenix has an ace literary scene. Many of those same redneck yahoos who try to run you off the road every morning run amok in the…

The Phoenix Suns host the family fest, which features a Suns team scrimmage from 1 to 2 p.m., pumpkin decorating, trick-or-treating, the Phoenix Suns Gorilla and Suns Dancers, and more. Donations of non-perishables for St. Mary’s Food Bank are encouraged. Sat., Oct. 24, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 2009…

Official biographers always run the risk of coming across like cheerleaders, but Sam Weller doesn’t seem to mind. He’s an unembarrassed fanboy for his subject: legendary sci-fi/fantasy author Ray Bradbury. Weller trumpets his passionate geekdom in the first lines of the 2005 book The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray…

Five years ago, Phoenix homes were worth a mint. Now you can score a three-bedroom pad for $60K – if you don’t mind that the previous owners hammered holes in the walls and pissed on the carpet as a pre-foreclosure “screw you.” Our economic situation looks bleak, but according to…

Remember when fans used to set up camp outside the box office, waiting through the night to buy tickets for rock concerts — potentially once-in-a-lifetime rock concerts? For the new concert film Michael Jackson’s This Is It, some fans have waited in line three days for tickets to opening night,…

We were traumatized when we saw the title characters in the film The Witches stomp on children-turned-mice, so we weren’t quite sure what to think about the 22nd annual Phoenix Witches Ball. Event co-coordinator John Mitchell reassures us that there won’t be any foul play going down at the costume…

Please don’t tell PETA we’re saying this, but the best kind of wasp is a dead one. They’re creepy-looking, can’t make honey, and don’t even have the decency to die after stinging you. For those reasons and more, the name Dead Wasps is a wise choice for UK duo Gaz…

We were born on the wrong side of the tracks in Yahoo, Texas, and have spent every subsequent day trying to live it down. We drink wine, appreciate art, have offspring who say “please” and “thank you,” and drive a girlie-man hybrid car to help the environment. For 49 weeks…

Jules is a guy looking for a quickie. But be forewarned: If you want to hook up with him, you have to do it in his subterranean biology lab. That’s because Jules, the lead science nerd in Actors Theatre’s Boom, is a marine biologist. When Jo, a female journalism student,…

Conspire, the co-op espresso bar and boutique, has blossomed in its two years downtown. The DIY outpost has not only given a home to locally created art, clothes, and goods, but has also spawned a local currency named PHX Bux. The cooperative was formed when the C.O.L.A.B. crew – which…

Bring up cycling culture to someone around here and you’ll eventually hear, “Oh, Tucson is better because it’s more friendly toward bicyclists.” Whatever. Dude has never ridden his or her two-wheeled apparatus in Tempe south of U.S. 60, where some of the paths can honestly accommodate small cars. If you…

The saucy vaudeville variety showcase with a Halloween tinge features Dolly Diamonds (pictured), Motley Sue, the Black Light Glow Set, and live music by One Kitty Gone. (Photo by Joe McKiernan.) Sat., Oct. 24, 8:30 p.m., 2009…

This is a piece about a showing of the documentary Karsh: The Searching Eye at Phoenix Art Museum. This writer thought it would be real smart (and totally agoraphobic) to just throw the film in the Netflix queue. This would be the part where a “FAIL” joke could be made,…

Every child dreams big; our dream was to capture the world record for the longest fingernails. The only reason we aren’t currently in The Guinness Book of World Records is that we repeatedly lost sight of our goal whenever our Mom threatened to revoke our dessert privileges. At the end…

The late Michael Jackson was not only the King of Pop. He used to be our personal King of Halloween. If you were a child of the ’80s, like us, chances are better than good that you, too, dressed as Jacko for All Hallows’ Eve during your grade-school years (back…