Arts & Culture

Brothers are supposed to armwrestle, throw punches, and fight over chicks. Right? Not so for “Molten Brothers” Kenneth Richardson and Mike Goodwin, local artists who met at the 515 Arts gallery and immediately felt a kinship. They co-curated the popular “Deck” skateboard art shows, then started working on collaborative pieces…

Meet reps and see hot new stuff from the likes of Ping, Cleveland, Nike, Adams, Wilson, Sun Mountain, U-Pro, Titleist, and Ahead. Thu., Dec. 18, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., 2008…

In this age of illegal wiretapping and 9/11 conspiracy theories, it’s a wonder that Beth Ames Swartz admits she hides subliminal messages in her art. No worries; this isn’t They Live, so there won’t be any commands to “obey” or “marry and reproduce.” The colorful paintings in the Paradise Valley…

Remember Hot Shots, the mechanical sports game with the moving hoop and a catapult to launch tiny basketballs? We sure do, because we totally owned that shit, finger-banging our way to god-like status. But when it came to real b-ball skills, we were — how should we put this? –…

The former host of KMLE Country’s Dave Pratt in the Morning signs his new memoir, Dave Pratt, Behind the Mic: 30 Years in Radio. Proceeds from book sales benefit the American Cancer Society. Sat., Dec. 20, 11 a.m., 2008…

Most pop-culture consumers don’t realize it, but there’s much more to being a professional comic than scoring a sitcom and some semi-humorous film work. A circuitous path, as a matter of fact, is far more often the exception than the norm. Take Kevin Brennan, for instance. The Saturday Night Live…

It’s about time someone made something of the fact that many of the best-known Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers, and no one who knows anything about his career is surprised that it was Jake Ehrenreich who finally did it. A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, the actor’s almost-one-man show…

With apologies to the zillion other Nutcrackers on tap this season, this one’s the one to see. Even non-Nutcracker nuts will be won over by the vision of co-artistic directors Anatoly Emelianov and Vladimir Troshchenko and the power and grace of their company. Tue., Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m., 2008…

The bitch of a Pac-10 season is upon the ASU Men’s Basketball team, so some home cookin’ against the cupcake-caliber Idaho State squad will be served. Tue., Dec. 23, noon, 2008…

During the period when Skinny Puppy was broken up – from the mid-’90s to about 2003 – frontman Nivek Ogre formed a new project called ohGr with composer/producer and fellow stray Puppy member Mark Walk. The group was (and still is) the shiz, because ohGr’s two-man sound storm departed from…

Despite its yee-haw history, modern-day Phoenix has kicked cowboy culture to the curb, and ropers and wranglers are as hard to come by ’round these parts as fans of the UofA. One place you can usually find ’em in droves is at Friday Night Bull Riding at Rawhide at Wild…

The 30K, 5K and 30K Relay winds through the mean streets of Surprise during this in-and-back course. Correction: Surprise has no mean streets. Sun., Dec. 21, 8 a.m., 2008…

The Nashville Predators, a team that wins more than the Phoenix Coyotes (yes, we know, that ain’t saying much) visit Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena. Thu., Dec. 18, 7 p.m.; Sat., March 14, 7 p.m., 2008…

Here at New Times, we’ve covered the ever-living shit out of artist James Turrell’s skyspace viewing chamber Knight Rise at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Don’t believe us? Scroll up and punch “Turrell” into the search box. We’ve pimped it for good reason. It’s one of the best places…

Things with big hearts: elephants, Valentine’s Day cards, teen-girl signatures, Denver Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups. Things with no hearts: amoebas, Tin Woodsmen, slumlords, former Nuggets guard Allen Iverson. Since the early-season Denver-Detroit swap of Iverson for Billups, the latter’s hard, smart play has ratcheted the Nuggets up a notch in…

Christmas is two days away, and you’ve yet to track down that special thingamabob for your arty friend — the one with the paintings and sculptures all over his house, the one who definitely won’t want to find a DVD box set or the new Josh Groban CD under his…

Ever played a partner-based card or board game and wanted to cheat? Well, here’s one way to do it: speak Spanish, and make sure your opponents are a bunch of gringos who don’t. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 21, you can pick up some en español skills while…

Think of all those scientists who wear tube socks, own the complete Babylon 5 series on DVD, and scream out the Pythagorean theorem when they bust their load. We’re afraid that if they don’t find some creative outlet, they’re doomed for some wicked shit. Don’t believe us? Take the quiz…

Generally speaking, we frown on guided hikes. The Sonoran Desert is not the Louvre, and true hikers hardly need to have someone spell out its (fairly obvious) magnificence. The extraordinary exception is this relatively difficult seven-miler, which takes participants into the park’s achingly beautiful backcountry for some sublime views and…

The “rock star of yeast” discusses his favorite Port Brewing and Lost Abbey beers. Fri., Dec. 19, 6:30 p.m., 2008…