THU 1/27 Where have all the heroes gone? Sure, today’s pop culture heroes deserve some props. (Just how many bullets has 50 Cent taken and survived?) But for hard-core heroism, we must hark back to the 1800s, and people such as Harriet Tubman, who braved the severest of penalties –…
It’s the third week of January. By now, if you’re like everyone else we know, you’ve broken your New Year’s resolution — popped that Vicodin, lost your gym membership card, hit the drive-through at Jack in the Box. We know a guy who resolved not to make any resolutions –…
“Brian Alfred: The Future Is Now!” at the Phoenix Art Museum: New York-based artist Brian Alfred ponders corporate culture and rampant industrialization in his latest exhibition. Although Alfred’s retro-futuristic paintings and collages emphasize society’s fascination with the digital age and subsequent sensory overload, his collection of work is surprisingly sensory-friendly…
THU 20 Hail to the king, baby. Despite the lion’s share of controversy that has dogged Simba and company ever since they hit the silver screen more than a decade ago — including charges of gender stereotype reinforcement, plagiarism, and the sexual orientation of Scar — we’re going to adopt…
“Do you really think these girls are gonna kick your ass?” asks The Baron, as we make our way toward The Rogue in Scottsdale, already three hours late for the Renegade Roller Girls’ costume party. “I think they might,” I tell my friend, whose real name is Brian, but who…
It’s been three weeks since your New Year’s resolutions should have kicked in, and you’re still working your way through that box of peppermint bark in the freezer. You’ve decided that the minute you run out of eggnog, you’ll really get going on eating right. And why waste a good…
Jules Demetrius, 35, agitprop maestro, poet-sledgehammer on the mic, is well-known to those in the know, whether it be from his live art and madcap MC-ships at the Priceless Inn’s Blunt Club, or from his incendiary imagery of doped-up housewives, starving children, pedophile priests, and pissed-off Iraqis. A member of…
You have to hand it to Sean Penn. Okay, you don’t absolutely have to, and if you’re a Red Stater through and through, you certainly won’t want to, but give him some credit. After being pilloried in the press for visiting Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s reign, torn apart by housecats…
SAT 1/22 Face facts, football fanatics — true gridiron glory isn’t found in some climate-controlled arena, but rather amidst the grass and mud of an outdoor field. So instead of watching the Arizona Rattlers fumble away yet another championship this spring, check out the Copperstate Football League, which kicks off…
Assault on Precinct 13, the sluggish remake of John Carpenter’s grungy 1976 movie of the same name, begins with a bang to which it never lives up. In a smoky den of all manner of iniquity, Ethan Hawke’s trying to close a drug deal. With his girl splayed out on…
“24 hours. 350 miles. His girlfriend’s kids. What could possibly go wrong?” In the case of Are We There Yet?, here’s the short answer: a flaccid screenplay, bratty kids stripped of depth and personality, a single joke replayed in every scene, unearned attempts at sentiment, and a bizarrely whitened backdrop,…
Mikki and Stanley Weithorn aren’t driven as art collectors by trendy artists or the pretentious critics who crown them the “next big thing.” Nor do they equate the work of emerging artists to mere financial investments. But that doesn’t mean the Weithorns’ collection of sculpture, paintings and mixed-media works by…
In the mid-1980s, L.A.’s Getty Museum was on the cusp of acquiring an ancient Greek kouros statue. Using stereomicroscopes, scientists certified the rare statue as authentic. And without anything more than a cold stare, art experts the world over knew it was a fraud. The controversy raged for years until…
SAT 1/22 Despite all the funky new hangouts, art galleries and bistros, it seems downtown Phoenix is still — quite literally — a ghost town after dark. According to some, you can thank the venerable San Carlos Hotel, at 202 North Central, for being the apparent source of this spirit…
1/25-1/30 There are two types of people who attend car auctions: bidders and gawkers. And while it may be your fantasy to hear the word “sold” attached to your name at a big-time auction, simply spending a day in the presence of the finest collection of classics you’ll see anywhere…
1/21-1/26 There’s nothing like having a J-O-B that requires you to clean the soiled sheets of others, carry a dozen hot plates on one forearm, or clean up fecal matter in front of the layaway department. And when that paycheck comes, hoo boy! You might have 10 bucks left after…
I welcomed in the new year with a shudder and a sigh, because 2005 is the year that Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park will return to Broadway. As if that weren’t enough, we have, right now in lovely Phoenix, two productions of this hoary old comedy playing concurrently, which…
THU 13 One night with DJ Lady Tribe, a.k.a. “The Sexiest DJ on Earth,” most certainly isn’t enough. But that’s all you get on Thursday, January 13, when the notorious L.A. graffiti artist turned legit model/DJ headlines Latin Ladies’ Night at the Hard Rock Cafe, 3 South Second Street, with…
Paul Weitz, with brother Chris, co-wrote and co-directed 2002’s adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel About a Boy, in which a cocky grown man (Hugh Grant) learned how to actually act like a grown man by observing a gawky young boy (Nicholas Hoult) who was nearly abandoned by his suicidal mother…
Nobody messes with Samuel L. Jackson — at least not at the movies. He’s Shaft reinvented, the coolest cop on the street. He’s Mace Windu, the only swashbuckler in the Star Wars galaxy who gets to swing a purple light saber. Best of all, he’s Jules Winnfield, the ultra-hip hit…
SAT 1/15 Doctor’s orders: You’re to exercise more in 2005! Running is a good option. But frankly, jogging alone looks painfully boring. Perhaps your ideal workout is something more akin to frat-house activities: frequent “beverage” breaks, drinking games, and singing some bawdy songs. If so, you should join the Phoenix…
1/14 – 1/30 Some people say they’ll wear purple when they grow old. We say we’ll wear leopard print, poke the opposite sex in the buttocks with our canes, and meet at the retirement-home bench for daily arguments. That’s what Harold and Ben, the lead characters in the play A…
