TUE 12/28 These Beavers are anything but sloppy. Sure, Oregon State started the 2004 season by posting a dismal 1-4 record (including getting walloped 49-7 by Cal-Berkeley in October), but head coach Mike Riley turned the team’s fortunes around, and OSU won five of the next six and clinched a…
12/24-12/25 Can’t afford a plane ticket to go home for the holidays? Don’t end up alone in your crummy apartment with a lukewarm TV dinner when you can surround yourself with a flock of female impersonators at Pookie’s Cafe, 4540 North Seventh Street, where drag queens perform their usual Vegas-style…
Okay. Let’s say that Jesus Christ is real, and that he was born to a virgin mother and is the son of an all-powerful but invisible being who offered up his only offspring in payment for our sins. Does this guy — this savior, this product of an immaculate conception…
THU 16 Seems everyone from Dumperfoo’s Blunt Club in Tempe to Mickey’s Hangover in Scottsdale finally might have some central Phoenix competition in appealing to the laid-back set of Valley nightlife, thanks to the 16th Street Sports Bar and Grill, 6522 North 16th Street. The Grill’s weekly 16 Spot, which…
Quick, who’s got the best selection of local music in the Valley? Zia? Hardly. Eastside Records? Possibly. Leslie Barton? Definitely. With hundreds of CDs bursting from two gigantic Caselogic CD wallets, it’s an understatement that the 35-year-old promoter of Modified Arts is plugged in to the local music scene. She’s…
FRI 12/17 Those missing the fast-paced, hard-hitting action of hockey courtesy of the NHL lockout may find a willing antidote this winter within the Phoenix Coyotes’ own Glendale Arena. Since landing in the Valley a year ago, professional lacrosse has struck a chord with a small but dedicated group of…
THU 12/16 Snow? Tony “Scarface” Montaña would bury his face in it, but we’re not talking about blow. Sonik magazine’s “Snow” party on Thursday, December 16, at Devil’s Martini, 4175 North Goldwater Boulevard in Scottsdale, boasts two tons of real snow — the natural, non-homicidal-episode-inducing kind. The party includes six…
Last Wednesday, while Phoenix City Council members considered an ordinance that would allow police to evict transients from city parks, Kurt Brewer was relaxing at home. While lawmakers debated whether people with no fixed address should be allowed to hang out in the park, Brewer kicked off his shoes and…
It’s been a very long time since I’ve reviewed Actors Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol. I see it every year, but I haven’t troubled anyone outside of my home with an opinion about it for quite a while. I must have written something when, a half-dozen years or…
This much can be said for the movie version of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: Its villain, Count Olaf, just might be Jim Carrey’s finest screen role. A bitter, would-be master thespian who delights in donning ridiculous disguises and adopting funny accents, he doesn’t seem that far removed…
In Spanglish, which is less a story than a snapshot of a crumbling marriage populated by sitcom characters, Adam Sandler plays John Clasky, an average man with an above-average life. With his burgeoning double chin always covered in a slight shadow of stubble, he’s a celebrated chef who runs his…
A Very Long Engagement, the new film by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (most famously of Amélie), will have its fans. For one thing, there’s no denying its beauty, an onslaught of gorgeous tableaux, painstakingly arranged and shot through filters to exclude colors that don’t suit (i.e., anything other than sepia…
Gaynel Hodge didn’t pick a fight with Dick Dale. He just showed up at Dale’s December 8 performance at the Rhythm Room, got a picture with the man who’d recorded his song “Jessie Pearl” — twice — and thanked him for the $7.75 royalty check Dale sent him (the first…
SAT 12/18 Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” discussed how to prevent the children of poor people in Ireland from becoming a burden to their parents. One of Swift’s solutions was to eat the children, as they represented a renewable food resource. Modest Proposal magazine — named after Swift’s…
THU 12/16 Attention, earthlings: Space oddities are on a collision course with the terrestrial venue known as the Paper Heart, 750 Grand Avenue, and will invade on Thursday, December 16. Don’t swallow your government-apportioned cyanide pills just yet, as we’ve determined these non-hostile aliens will take the form of two…
Will Wilson: “Auto Immune Response” at the Heard Museum: How do you survive in a postapocalyptic world? According to Will Wilson, the key to survival lies in an understanding of the past. The Navajo photographer explores this, as well as the concepts of Native American identity and connection to the…
THU 9 While hot toddies, bourbon balls and hot buttered rum are required party paraphernalia in other parts of the country during the holiday season, we here in the desert prefer a south-of-the-border Christmas spirit: tequila! On Thursday, December 9, Scottsdale’s pair of Blue Agave Mexican Cantinas (at 4280 North…
Rated PG-13.
SAT 12/11 Normally we wouldn’t recommend walking the streets of Cave Creek after dark, given the number of bikers — inebriated or otherwise — who frequent the hamlet’s roadhouses and saloons. But we’ll make an exception on Saturday, December 11, for the second annual Cave Creek Luminaria Run. More than…
SAT 12/11 Look, there! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a boat covered in Christmas lights! Make that 40 boats, as a twinkling fleet of yachts, sailboats, motorboats, and even kayaks cruises down Tempe Town Lake, at Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway, on Saturday, December 11, for the…
Sun 12/12 Could you ever have imagined a world where the sight of someone with facial hair and a mortgage spending quality time with a good comic book would actually be considered cool? Welcome to the 21st century, a brave new world where comics have transcended puberty and become must-read…
Robrt Pela interviews Emma Stone (then known as Emily) over Partridge Family records.
