Phoenix is a hotbed for jazz and jazzy-type players. Yes, really. Here’s proof: • Juini Booth, NYC-based Sun Ra Arkestra bassist and temporary snowbird to our fair climate, plays here every spring. • “Papa” John DeFrancesco, the father of legendary jazz organist Joey, has a gig each Sunday at Bobby…
10K? Are you kidding me? If you’re gonna go to all that trouble to shape up, you might as well run with the big dogs at the Desert Classic 30K. The out-and-back also includes a 30K relay. Start time is 8am, with race-day registration beginning at 7. Sun., Dec. 16,…
Lonely whistle of a distant freight train becomes a shrieking, pumping metal coffin driven by a wild-eyed, sharp-fanged conductor spinning a stand-up bass guitar. That, more of less, is the spirit of rockabilly, a product of the 1950s that was pivotal in the history of American popular music, with the…
Do we have to mention glowsticks and Candy Kids every time we write about a rave? They’re so over — or should be. But there’ll surely be a few luminescent losers at Kandieland 4 along with a gaggle of winning DJs, including big-timers Slipmatt, Squad-E, and Saiyan. Call 888-602-HTID or…
Tony Carrillo used to push tin — you know, those tarmac hustlers who use the little orange sticks, waving in planes after landing. You’d need a sense of humor for a job like that, so it figures that Carrillo’s landed a more fitting gig as creator of New Times Best…
With a name like Alfred Darlington, it’s not terribly surprising that the IDM and electronica producer behind Los Angeles’ one-man band Daedelus looks like a cross between a 19th-century fop and a new-millennial Beck. Though Daedelus may be rep’n the West Coast, his clever sampling techniques and precocious beat creations…
We were changed forever by Stevie Wonder’s 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life. The romantic nostalgia that evoked our personal stuff. The social commentary that wedded hope to despair. The music — mmmm. Black Poet Ventures celebrates Wonder’s wonder with Conversations in the Key of Life. Arizona poets…
If anything, Calaca Café — a gathering of musicians, performers, and Mercado-style art — is the shit because of its venue. Join the folks of the Calaca art collective at the Elias/Rodriguez House, a Sonoran-style adobe that was built way back in 1885. Fri., Dec. 14, 7-10 p.m., 2007…
Austria. Home of Mozart, Hitler, The Sound of Music, the Governorator, and, uh, surfing? That’s right. A bunch of beatniks from the landlocked European country created the epic Zen & Zero, a 2006 flick that chronicles their quest to uncover “the surfer dude myth” as they travel from California to…
The danger with “ART”ini Thursday — an inspired bit of marketing in which patrons can hand-design their martini glasses as customized souvenirs — is that said patrons will get too sloshed to paint, creating unintentional Picasso cocktails. Less-inebriated souls can splash away with artistic impunity during the weekly shindig. Thursdays,…
Local Latin funk band Gunzawless — composed of the Gonzales brothers Frank, Pete, and Paul, Matt Vaiza (a cousin), and Mike “Cheeba” De La Torre — is steadily gaining a reputation for deft musicianship and a tight live show. The band even has a “space and time” mantra, according to…
Midnite Movie Mamacita ends her long-running affiliation with Paper Heart — which is closing up shop at the end of December — with “director” Chester Novell Turner’s just plain nasty awful flick about a bloodthirsty puppet who looks like a cross between Chucky and Whoopi Goldberg. “This low-budget movie is…
Old shock-rockers don’t die, they just play golf a lot. And make public-safety commercials. And — like any reformed blood-spewing, snake-fondling maniac — become pillars of the community. So it is – sigh – with Alice Cooper, who’s transformed the notoriety gained from his rowdy days of the early ’70s…
You probably already know this, but Urban Cowboy was a bunch of bull. Englewood, New Jersey’s John Travolta on a mechanical mount? Cleveland Heights, Ohio’s Debra Winger in ropers? A whole generation grew up believing — to quote another egregious example of Wild West revisionism by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen…
Mannheim Steamroller Sat., Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m., 2007…
Need some coaxing to go out on a Tuesday night? What if we told you that Stinkweeds and Retail Laboratory have put their stamp of approval on a hot weekly event? Would that sway you? Huh? If so, check out 602(sdays) at Glam, where DJs Epidemic, Jump-Off, and EPHX spin…
Women’s sports rule in the Valley. You hear us, Arizona Pigeons, uh, Cardinals? If you don’t believe us, let’s jostle those brain cells and remind you of the Phoenix Mercury’s championship as well as the ASU Women’s Basketball team, who made it to the last year’s NCAA Elite Eight. The…
Howard Stern can make or break you. If you’re the band Gloritone, you lose credibility, but if you’re Florida shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge, the Stern connection can nab you millions of brand-new, like-minded listeners. The Absorbent One was dropped from Clear Channel in 2004 and picked up by…
Admit it: You hear the name “César Chávez” and your mind goes straight to farm-worker strikes and cheesy one-liners about boycotting grapes. Who knew that Chávez was linked to a series of gorgeous Pop Art posters of ladies dancing and cool old airplanes? The folks at Tempe City Hall certainly…
You’re a golfer. You just drove the piss out of the ball straight down that there fairway, Happy Gilmore-style. Then you sink a beast of a putt that’s more ridiculous than an Arnold Palmer hole-sinking tap at The Masters. You’re feeling good about yourself, your life, the kids at home,…
Everybody has a soft spot (pun intended) for the floppy, colorful characters in the “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” exhibit, a traveling show that begins its Southwestern première engagement on Saturday, December 15, at Arizona Museum for Youth, 35 North Robson Street in Mesa. The exhibition combines fascinating fun with reverence…
The Suns Gorilla will take one for the team at this shindig, at which the Great Ape will be situated on the Marketplace’s District Tower for 24 hours or until the 100,000th vote is cast in an effort to send our Suns stars to the NBA All-Star Game. If team…
