When we first heard about Sip & Spin – an event at the jazz-centric Kazimierz World Wine Bar where attendees can sip on fine wines while listening to live DJ music – our jazz-snob radar hit 10. “Great. Way to perpetuate the jazz and wine stereotype, guys,” we thought with…
Normally, when we hit up a potluck, we’re rudely greeted with the same tired-ass cuisine. Processed crap. Stale bread. Tubs of mayo topped with hues of yellow mustard and green relish goo. Every. Single. Time. You’ll see none of this during The Firehouse’s weekly Food Club vegan potluck and hang-out,…
You shunned the road less traveled for the security of a day job. For years, the closest you got to partying like a rock star were the Shop Boyz crammed down your throat. You even gave in to cracking open your cell phone at shows rather than fishing around in…
When the fiercely fun, fishnetted females of Scandalesque shimmy into Wrigley Mansion, they’ll bring “a mix of classic burlesque and neo-burlesque — a little bit more edgy feel,” says the troupe’s Tarah Niccoli. (We say “edgy” don’t begin to describe what these fire-spinning-ballet-trained-circus-artist types will do to ya.) Drag queen…
Ahem. Is this thing on? Okay, thank you for coming today. We’re here to tell you about Edward Weston. Weston was easily one of the greatest photographers of all time, with his impossibly brilliant still life images and nudes. He also authored the Daybooks series, a great insider’s look at…
You’ll laugh – or choke – when we opine that summer is Phoenix’s best season. There’s the snowbird/tourist exodus, the cheap resort rates, the great sunsets, the deserted hiking/biking trails, and, not least, the weather. For nine months a year, we have none, so a rippin’ monsoon burst is as…
The narrator speaks in the sort of stentorian tones that used to explain photosynthesis, democracy, or continental drift in eighth-grade classroom films. But this time, he says: “This is marijuana. Official name, cannabis sativa. Its mind-expanding power has been known for two thousand years. The secret of its sexual power…
Summer shorts are typically made of light, wrinkle-free cotton and are de rigueur in July and August. Less typical and much more entertaining is the Summer Shorts Festival at Theatre Artists Studio. The company, founded just a few years ago by such theater stalwarts as like Judy Rollings and Patti…
Two things in life make us want to spit: 1) drivers who cut into our lane without signaling and 2) pop-ups on the Net. One that’s particularly galling is an azcentral.com survey that stops you from reading further without answering a bunch of questions. Well, we’re not ashamed to say…
If nothing else, the members of Tucson indie rock outfit seemingly have an endless supply of confidence in their sound. How do we know this? Just check out the slogan on their MySpace page, bub, featuring the declaration that they’re the “Most Underrated Band in The World.” Normally we’d just…
If our local sports-media cadre was an athletic squad, it’d be toddler-league wiffle ball. What a bunch of cowering prisses! Read the Republic, listen to KTAR, it’s all one big Chamber of Commerce love-in between the “journalists” and the teams. This is especially true of the Arizona Cardinals, an organization…
Jesus Christ, what year is this? What dimension is it? Valient Thorr begs such questions. The band is a pleasing pastiche of Molly Hatchet and Iron Maiden from Venus by way of Valhalla. It harks back to the 1970s glory days of thundering conceptual rock, when music was stupid and…
You buy your books from Amazon.com and your housewares from IKEA, and you only grant foreigners and their charming accents passage rights to your uterus. What’s wrong with you? Haven’t you ever heard about giving back to the community, about appreciating and encouraging local efforts? Support homegrown art by checking…
What distinguishes the music of The Crystal Method from other IDM/breakbeat outfits? The band’s music has been copped for use in a grip of motion pictures, such as Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Zoolander, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Fri., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., 2008…
“California’s original punk/surf power trio” released a new Greatest Hits album in May, the appropriately-titled Surfing to Some F#*ked Up S@!t. Of course the compilation includes the classic “Bloodstains” (an old favorite of DJ Rodney Bingenheimer on L.A.’s KROQ station), and “Everything Turns Grey,” another track from the band’s seminal…
Starry Safari Nights, a summer-only event at the Phoenix Zoo that features water games and animal presentations, will see its seasonal end on Friday, August 9. Boo hoo. However, since the event is seasonal, that means the end of this supergross heat is around the corner, right? Uh, since we’re…
Shai Hulud debuted with 1997’s Profound Hatred of Man, and judging by this year’s Misanthropy Pure, they haven’t exactly altered their lyrical approach. The group hasn’t really tinkered with its sound, either, but metalcore has changed significantly over the past decade. Whereas popular metalcore now entails a parade of downtuned…
Is there anything hotter than a gal playing the theremin? Not in many dudes’ books. Shit, she could have the personality of a kneecap and most fellows would still want to approach her after the show. Betcha some fools would even argue that Clara Rockmore looked pretty good for a…
The words “standup comedy” and “insightful documentary” don’t traditionally coincide. There was Seinfeld’s Comedian, of course, and 2005’s raunch-orific The Aristocrats, but while such films tend to reveal a great deal about the decidedly unfunny creative process of crafting material, they fail to achieve what the best comedy does in…
After a fruitful 40-year career, the legendary Steve Miller finally comes out with his first live DVD, Live from Chicago (Coming Home Media/Koch Records), a three-disc package that includes a full concert captured during last year’s edition of the Ravinia Festival in Chicago (to which he returned for its release…
It’s been one freaky-ass year in Major League Baseball’s Deep South. At press time, the Tampa Bay Rays were leading the Red Sox and Yankees in the AL East, and the Florida Marlins were shadowing the front-running Phillies in the NL East. Meanwhile, the Land of Cotton’s perennial 800-pound gorilla,…
By Wynter Holden It’s minutes before midnight on Friday night and I’m packed so tightly against a skinny brunette in a hip-hugging black dress that I can practically feel the outline of her thong against my thigh. The room pulses with energy. The evening’s long-awaited final act begins exactly as…
