11/8-11/9 Of all the ironies to emerge from our current “country at war” mindset, perhaps the greatest involves the startling number of would-be patriots who have emerged from the woodwork to embrace all things military. Safe to say that, once CNN tunes out from the latest conflict to end all…
11/8-11/9 It’s fitting that the Honeywell rodeo team (yes, the Honeywell rodeo team) honors aerospace cowboy Cliff Garrett each year in a memorial event for charity. Garrett tamed the young, rip-snorting field of aviation with inventions such as pressurized cabins and auxiliary power. This year, the Cliff Garrett Memorial Rodeo…
11/6-12/7 On the video screen and in the toy stores, technological advances have created a sea change in what passes for children’s entertainment. In the midst of it all, the Great Arizona Puppet Theater has remained true to a 20-year-old aesthetic, proving that, when it comes to delivering the goods,…
Sat 11/8 At last, a car show that’s so not Scottsdale. This Saturday, November 8, cruise to Fast Eddie’s Diner, 3422 West Glendale Avenue in Phoenix, after 11 a.m. for “Bad Guys III,” a car show featuring “pre-1968 hot rods, customs and motorcycles.” Presented by the Invaders Car Club, the…
11/8-11/23 In the shadow of the Cold War, a round of redbaiting in 1950s Hollywood produced a “blacklist” of film professionals banned from the industry. When the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company’s production of The Value of Names begins, the scene is set in 1981, and blacklisted comic Benny Silverman has…
Thursday, November 6 Laughter and, well, gaiety are guaranteed at Hamburger Mary’s, 5111 North Seventh Street, when Toronto-based comedian David MacLean takes the stage for a one-night standup stint. While MacLean admits that his comedy — rooted in his experiences as a gay guy — hasn’t always been openly embraced…
Remember that silly little-girl version of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally . . . , snuffling “I’m difficult!” through a charming tantrum? Well, make it a point to greet Ryan’s new incarnation in the psychosexual thriller In the Cut. Post-Crystal, post-Hanks and even post-husband Dennis Quaid (toward whom…
The riddles of identity that drive and disturb Philip Roth’s impressive body of fiction usually focus on contemporary Jewish characters whose conflicts between self-absorption and self-hate remain poignantly (and often hilariously) unresolved. But in The Human Stain, the first Roth novel to be adapted as a film in three decades,…
Some movies approach perfection. Alien: The Director’s Cut basically enhances a 99.9 percent perfect movie from 1979 with some digital polishing, small additions (including the revelatory “nest” scene) and minor nips and tucks. If for some weird reason you haven’t seen this brilliant creature feature, boycott the typically tell-all new…
Call it “the Valley of the Sundance.” Hardly known as a hotbed of indie or international film, the Valley — thanks to the Scottsdale International Film Festival — is finally making some cinematic strides. According to festival director and founder Amy Ettinger, the big shots at the Toronto International Film…
Thursday, October 30 For their home opener, the Phoenix Suns take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost to the Suns twice last season, but now, bedecked in new team colors and a new logo, boast the number-one draft pick, LeBron James. Tip-off time is 8:30 p.m. Thursday, October 30, at…
For the uninitiated, a trip into the land of NASCAR can be quite the eye-opening experience. Within this world, drivers, pit crews and fans pay homage to the God-given right to test the limits of both man and machine, and do so with a passion that borders on — and…
10/30-11/2 They call it “the 14th Annual Arizona Classic Jazz Festival,” and by “classic,” they primarily mean Dixieland, ragtime and swing: the three faces of pre-World War II jazz that rocked your grandparents’ world.As Dick Knutson — a featured musician and husband of fest director Jeanne Knutson — puts it,…
Sat 11/1 Bursting with civic pride? Take a civic ride. This Saturday, November 1, the Central City Bike Expedition takes to the streets of downtown for an exercise in urban awareness.Sponsored by the City of Phoenix, the excursion — seven miles, four hours — departs Encanto Park at 8 a.m…
Fri 10/31 This Halloween, the Arizona Science Center puts the “ick” in trick-or-treat, inviting little demons to indulge in groovy gross-out activities — designing spider webs, making slime and dissecting a pig’s heart. Halloweenies need not apply.From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, October 31, Hallopalooza Family Night transforms the center,…
Fri 10/31 The closing reception for Phoenix’s creepiest gallery show also happens to be one of the most eclectic Halloween parties around. On Friday, October 31, Alwun House hosts Monsters’ Ball, a night of revelry to send the “Monsters’ Menagerie” art exhibition back to the grave.Mixed-media works by the dozen…
11/5-11/9 The nuptial mood can go to hell in about two seconds when the bride’s ex is in the honeymoon suite next door, as in Noel Coward’s play Private Lives. “It’s what I call quaint comedy,” says actress Maren Maclean. “It’s not slapstick or falling-down funny, it’s intelligent, witty humor.”…
There are things about On Strivers Row — a handful of performances, a couple of funny line readings — worth waiting around for. But only if the many moments that surround these praiseworthy crumbs don’t drive you from Black Theatre Troupe’s borrowed space at Phoenix College, where the company is…
Famous people are often boring, and Jay Leno is very, very famous. A chat with the Tonight Show host and former Doritos pitchman often turns to his collection of vintage cars and motorcycles; his theories on staying funny; the evolution of the talk show. But fame isn’t enough for Leno,…
On October 12, BBC America aired the second-season premiere of The Office, the beloved mockumentary that follows paper-selling rats ’round the maze of cubicles leading to the office of head cheese David Brent, a pathetic little man who says in public things no rational human being would even think in…
Picture a painting, suffused with a golden glow, in which naked men and women writhe in what appears to be a bed of gleaming black lava, like tortured souls in purgatory waiting to be released into heaven. In the foreground, a man with an amputated leg is helped to the…
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