6/28-7/12 It’s one way to get a jump on the competition. The title character of FrogWoman, a new production by Theater in My Basement/SW Annex, “has her whole body changed in order to become famous,” explains director Ilana Lydia. “She has her skin dyed green and her legs extended and…
On a recent Sunday evening, a good while after dusk, the artist known simply as Rodgell led a caravan of cyclists to his downtown Tempe studio to unveil his latest work, a mounted sculpture of a steam locomotive coming out of a wall, its headlight lit, and behind it a…
Although our paths never crossed, John Starkey and I both attended St. Jerome’s Catholic Church as children. I was a misfit parishioner, a kid with no keen spirituality who squirmed through weekly Mass and abandoned the church as a teen. Starkey was a committed Catholic; an altar boy involved in…
He’s 12 feet tall. He’s ripped. He’s as quick as a tiger and fierce as a dragon. Lit by his fury to a dull green glow, the guy is sheer, boundless power. Any NFL team you can think of would love to start him at middle linebacker. But, as art-house…
Nobody can convey more, doing nothing, than Billy Bob Thornton. His minimalist style is appropriate for the ironically named Levity, but what is conveyed never quite generates the emotional charge of Sling Blade or Monster’s Ball. Writer-director Ed Solomon is best known as the screenwriter of the two Bill &…
The number of boring, uninspired studio pictures hitting today’s multiplexes is getting depressing. To add insult to injury, many of these mind-numbing creations come from formerly — and presumably still — talented writers, directors and actors. Last week saw Hollywood Homicide, a tired — and what’s worse, lazy — buddy-buddy/cop/action…
“I feel all itchy,” Kimber Lanning whispered in the darkened theater at Arizona Center, and it wasn’t the plush AMC furniture making her skin crawl. The local record store and art gallery owner was trying her best to sit still halfway into Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, but…
This weekend, the Heard Museum — world-renowned for its focus on the native cultures of the Southwest — adopts a wider lens. Stories from Brazil, China, Guatemala, Canada and New Zealand reach Arizona audiences as the first Heard Museum Film Festival celebrates cinematic works by indigenous screenwriters, directors, producers and…
Thursday, June 19 Rather than fight or flee the heat, the folks at SIX are handling it in a Zenlike way, starting up a weekly party to make the best of it. SummerSoul, “a celebration of summer lifestyle,” is all about kickin’ it to the laid-back sounds of reggae, funk…
High style meets lowbrow in the neo-burlesque revival that is grabbing America by the pasties, offering people more tease with their strip. The movement began in the 1980s when Dixie Evans started Exotic World, a museum dedicated to old burlesque, in Helendale, California. Halfway between the glitz of Las Vegas…
6/276/29 From Orson Welles to Steven Spielberg, the fraternity of successful filmmakers is a select one indeed. And while it’s safe to assume that the many intricacies required to bring an idea to the big screen are most likely cultivated over the course of a lifetime, a weekend crash course…
6/20-6/22 For jocks itching to get in the game — whether that game is baton twirling or BMX bike racing — the Grand Canyon State Summer Games serve up sports of all sorts. From Friday, June 20, through Sunday, June 22, some 9,000 amateur athletes will compete in 37 events…
Fri 6/20 Central Phoenix’s cultural revival just keeps getting better. Enter Fate, a new restaurant venture by the proprietor of Tempe’s Lucky Dragon. Lucky Dragon has consistently maintained an eclectic atmosphere, cultivated via art shows, live music and DJ nights. The vegan-friendly Fate, at 905 North Fourth Street, just around…
6/20-7/27 Hey, Mom and Dad, does your mini-me have too much rock and not enough opera in his cultural stew? Strike a balance by checking out In the Kingdom of Clouds, a rock opera for and performed by kids at Scottsdale’s Desert Stages Children’s Theatre, 8473 East McDonald. Written by…
6/20-6/21 Veteran Valley dancers Liz Casebolt and Carley Conder combine their talents to present Falling & Flying, their choreographic debut, this weekend. The collaboration is a mix of modern dance and performance art comprising three pieces set to a diverse score that includes music from G. Love & Special Sauce,…
There is a new movie out. It is called Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. It is a prequel to the 1994 movie by Peter and Bobby Farrelly called Dumb and Dumber. In that movie, Harry was played by Jeff Daniels. Lloyd was played by Jim Carrey. Parts of…
Having seemingly exhausted all permutations of the sports comedy formula (Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump, etc.), Ron Shelton has now moved on to another obsession: the Los Angeles Police Department. Earlier this year, we got the uncharacteristically somber (for him, anyway) Dark Blue, a “what if” tale of the…
Fast cars. Big guns. Chicks in string bikinis. New Times needed someone along to see 2 Fast 2 Furious who could handle that kind of entertainment lineup. So we turned to fast-car-driving, gun-loving, stripper-club-defending local attorney Nick Hentoff. For years, Hentoff was Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s biggest pain in the ass,…
Thursday, June 12 Eating your lunch at your desk every day gets old — fast. Get a stimulating break from your workday courtesy of the Arizona Humanities Council on Thursday, June 12, with the latest installation in the Thursday Lunch Talks series. Local artist Ralph Cordova, a member of the…
Sat 6/14 If June in the Valley doesn’t feel like optimum walking weather to you, you’re either (a) perfectly sane or (b) simply hanging out with the wrong people. For the sake of argument, let’s say it’s the latter — and rejoice in the fact that if your urge to…
ONGOING It’s more than a fleeting launch fad; it’s the West Valley’s wildest ride. In weeklong sessions continuing through July, the Challenger Space Center’s Adventures in Space program hurls kids into educational orbit. The Space Place Adventure teaches prekindergartners and kindergartners how astronauts eat, sleep and — most fascinating! –…
ONGOING Oil up that arm and get ready to show some strangers just how tough you really are. In homage to the old-style roadhouses of the Wild West, Iguana Mack’s, 1371 North Alma School in Chandler, can guarantee you a good time — if you have the elbow grease. The…
