Occasionally I can be convinced it’s the singer, not the song. I’ve no love for Britney Spears’ “Baby… One More Time,” but can’t get enough of Brit band Travis’ laconic redo of said iconic single, which squeezes out the then-teen temptress’ toxic sugar ’til it’s just a bittersweet lament. On…
5/22-6/28 It was 1984. Reaganomics were trickling down, collars were turning up, and an unknown Kevin Bacon, with his sassy spiked hair and angry choreography, made the world safe for dancing. Nearly 20 years later, the Footloose phenomenon parties on, as a stage version of the movie opens Thursday, May…
Talk about tough acts to follow: The original 1999 Matrix, a critical and commercial smash, came almost as a revelation out of nowhere — if the combination of Joel Silver, Warner Bros., and roughly 60 million bucks qualifies as “nowhere.” After more than four years, The Matrix Reloaded — the…
Ross Hunter, dead seven years, hasn’t been this alive at the movies since the 1950s and ’60s, when he produced some of the weepiest melodramas and cheeriest romantic comedies ever to barely stick to the screen. His ghost has been wandering up and down the aisles ever since Don Simpson…
It’s usually right about this time of year that film critics, especially those of advancing years, begin to feel a slow chill of dread creep up their spines. Suppressing that urge, they generally find it quickly replaced by a sudden rush of sneering condescension and smug mock-martyrdom. “Oh no!” they…
The people who brought you democracy know how to party. First, they invite everybody. The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Scottsdale invites you to the Big, Fat Greek Festival, where you can dance to live music, meet people named Nick, and eat your way to heaven. “The church wants to…
Thursday, May 15 There were few things more ominous and terrifying than the atomic bomb in the 1950s, but somehow the devastating new technology inspired a renaissance of dynamic, biomorphic art and design in that decade — just stroll through Phoenix Art Museum’s current exhibition, “Vital Forms: American Innovation in…
LepreCon 29. Don’t let the name fool you — there will be no green beer or fuzzy short guys with goofy hats and pipes munching Lucky Charms cereal and spewing riddles. Rather, those who venture to the Embassy Suites Hotel at I-17 and Greenway Road this weekend likely will encounter…
5/165/17 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Elvis Presley has been swimming in it since his death in 1977. From his hip-swiveling ’50s maverick, shown on TV only from the waist up, to his jumpsuit-wearing dinner show crooner of the Vegas years, Elvis provided poseurs with multiple personas…
5/16-5/17 Tensions can run high during the merciless Phoenix summer; for those beaten down by ever-rising temperatures, some hoop therapy’s in order.Let the healing begin this weekend, when the fiery Phoenix Mercury sets the pace for season seven with two preseason games. The local ladies of the WNBA face the…
5/15-6/8 “Some folks dream of the wonders they’ll do, before their time on this planet is through.” So begins the tale of Joseph, the dreaming favorite son of Jacob, father of the 12 tribes of Israel. But, unlike the Biblical tale, this version is set to music by Andrew Lloyd…
5/16-6/22 Stuck in a society more concerned with the workings of popular culture than with works of fine art, a trio of local artists has struck a shrewd artistic balance. Offering a modern take on the Pop Art movement that painted the 1950s and ’60s with colorful, consumerist images, “Popped…
Sun 5/18 For those about to rock — well, they’re doing so to better society, and we should salute them. This Sunday, May 18, a 16-band benefit concert rocks Nita’s Hideaway, its proceeds supporting the Anti-Defamation League’s efforts to fight bigotry and terrorism. Horizon High School junior Linda Ruvalcaba organized…
You could belt out Blondie’s “Call Me,” or ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” Maybe “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles. Fitting snugly in the cushiony pod, you select a song — David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” seems the most appropriate — and sing into a microphone, your voice echoing against a chorus of…
ShariAnne Fischer needs your help. Her husband, Daved, has end-stage emphysema and, if he doesn’t have lung reduction surgery in the next several months, he may die. ShariAnne doesn’t like to leave Daved alone for very long, so holding down a job is out of the question. But you won’t…
Neil LaBute is back to his old self again, and the cinematic world is a better place for it. Honestly, what was he thinking when he made Possession? Did the charges of misogyny, still lingering from In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors, get to him so…
Long ago Eddie Murphy had grown tired of Eddie Murphy parts: the fast-talking high-jiver, the preening put-on. Even before he began parodying himself in Bowfinger and Showtime and I Spy, the latter two perhaps accidentally, he accepted high-paying roles in low-rent movies that neutered and humiliated the character he had…
In last year’s Showtime movie turned theatrical release The Believer, audiences were introduced to a hate-filled young skinhead who seemed surprisingly knowledgeable about the arcana of the Jewish people he loathed so much. Turned out he was Jewish, and ultimately had to come to grips with his Torah upbringing and…
Once upon a time, before the age of specialization, performers prided themselves on cultivating a jack-of-all-trades mentality. Acting, dancing, singing, and even comedy were skills practiced in tandem with one another — sometimes within the confines of the same production — making for performances and performers as well-rounded as they…
Tattooists whose artistic vision transcends their trade often need a larger canvas to flesh out the details. “Tattoo AZ,” opening this weekend at downtown’s Alwun House, spotlights the works that result when tattooists forsake skin for nonorganic media. A party on Saturday, May 10, kicks off the second biennial exhibition…
Two women, dressed in standard waitstaff uniforms, emerge from the bar and into the well-appointed lobby of the hotel built 90 years ago by beer magnate Adolphus Busch, who tried to bring the Jazz Age to what would become a Muzak town. About 50 feet away, an interviewer and his…
Anyone doubting that Latino theater has proven itself a worthy subgenre need look no further than last month’s Pulitzers. Nilo Cruz, Cuban-American author of Anna in the Tropics, the play about Tampa cigar-makers set in the Spanish-Cuban community of Ybor City, received this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama — the…
