Artists in Residences Capital “A”-holes: There are Artists (with a capital A), and then there are artists. Unfortunately, The Bird paints them all with a very broad brush (“Those Crazy Artists,” The Bird, Robrt L. Pela, December 29). Everyone has to start somewhere, but in every vocation there is a…
It’s a Saturday evening in late November on the border of Phoenix and Glendale. The scent of barbecue drifts through the brisk air on a residential street just north of Camelback Road. All seems quiet at the moment in this working-class neighborhood. But just after 10 p.m., two cars turn…
To celebrate the B-day of Albert Hofmann, the Swiss cat who discovered LSD back in the day and who hit the century mark last Wednesday, your humble Crunkalicious King of Kreme was planning to kick it at home, drop the latest disc from MF Doom, and get trippy off lickin’…
Published online: Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 3:10 p.m. MST We at New Times would’ve gotten a big laugh out of all the pompous posturing by the likes of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett and the fawning Arizona Republic, except for one thing: These yokels, over…
Sitting down can be tricky for JoAnn Gray. She’s also got to be on constant lookout for little boys with pins. “Usually, I’ll have someone walking behind me,” she says, “just to make sure nothing happens.” Such are the hazards when you’re the world’s most in-demand model of elegant balloon…
Published online: Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 3:10 p.m. MST An independent voting-technology expert has discovered widespread problems within the Maricopa County Elections Department that raise serious questions over the ability of voting officials in the nation’s fourth-most-populous county to conduct fair and accurate elections. “Any election where the margin of…
Who Would Jesus Marry? No better than pedophiles: I first noticed John Dougherty’s latest article in his “Polygamy in Arizona” series on the New Times [national] Web site (www.newtimes.com), and as the opening statement introducing the story touts, this may be the “most shocking development yet” in Phoenix New Times’…
Transamerica A beacon of light: I’ve been an avid reader of New Times for years, and I’ve never been disappointed with the journalistic integrity of its writers. This was especially true when I read “The Crying Game” article (Joe Watson, December 22). I’ve known one of the principal subjects of…
Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs continued to elude a nationwide manhunt at the end of 2005 as the fundamentalist Mormon municipalities he controls along the Arizona-Utah border headed toward financial disaster. Jeffs, 50, was named to the FBI’s most wanted list last August after he fled the largest polygamist community in…
You cannot slug a cop. It’s that simple. And the police cannot assault prisoners. This simple bargain between law enforcement and the rest of us is one of the things that separates Americans from the denizens of Iraq and every other dusky pest hole. Keeping the scales even on this…
A Tough Break Arms and The Man: This is an issue that a lot of people keep talking about, and it’s getting blown far out of proportion with the main issue completely overlooked: DJ Donnie Burbank (a.k.a. Dr. Father, now a.k.a. Dr. Fracture) had his arm broken by a bouncer…
Hear that squawking? It’s not The Bird. It’s that group we’ve come to know as “downtown artists.” This time they’re not shrieking about city fathers trying to police the lawlessness of their monthly First Friday gatherings (one of which is coming up just next week) along that stretch of galleries…
Fifteen years ago, a strange-looking child suffering from severe physical maladies and acute retardation was brought into the office of Dr. Theodore Tarby. The pediatric neurologist regularly deals with a wide range of serious childhood diseases as a doctor with the state-funded Children’s Rehabilitative Services in Phoenix. Tarby says he…
Growing up on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona, little boys play basketball, torture their younger sisters, and try to emulate their fathers. Everson played with dolls and wore his mother’s makeup. Not much has changed for Everson since elementary school. Two years ago, at 15, Everson got his own…
The Bird’s been keeping a beady eye on the competition of late — and not because it wants to learn how to bore its readers to death. No, this faux falcon has been flying over Cancer Corner, that downtown spot formerly known as Second Street and Van Buren, just outside…
State of Emergency Better late than never: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your recent “Ambulance Chasers” article (Sarah Fenske, October 27). Ms. Fenske’s story appears, in large part, to be based on innuendoes, half-truths and distortions coming from Southwest Ambulance’s management and union. Until now, Rural-Metro/Southwest has…
There’s an open bottle of Veuve Clicquot next to us as we sip champs to the tune of the Shakira and Alejandro Sanz duet “La Tortura,” deep in the bowels of Phase 54 (www.phase54.com), this dope spot out near I-10 and Elliot Road that’s blowin’ up like George Clooney’s waistline…
It may have looked like a group project to some of the kids in eighth-grade science class. But the chemical compound one 13-year-old girl was pouring from her hand into the small bottle her friend was holding wasn’t listed on the classroom’s Table of Elements. “What is it?” a Phoenix…
One scorching afternoon in June, a cadre of Phoenix New Times writers and editors gathered at a small, dark bar in downtown Phoenix. What better way for journalists to plan a drug series than over cocktails? We knew crystal methamphetamine was a tremendous problem in our community, overwhelming law enforcement…
Crystal Not-So-Clear The Bird wouldn’t be surprised if readers who’ve been following New Times’ series “The Perfect Drug,” on crystal meth in Arizona (the final installment of which is in this issue), are left with a certain distrust of the so-called “facts” presented by our fearless civic leaders. After all,…
The Thandie Newton of P-town and I plan to stay fly ’til we die just like the Dirty South’s Three 6 Mafia, but we also wanna keep it trill, y’all. That’s the combo of “true” and “real.” And I can’t think of a spot truer or realer at the moment…
Judge Not Jurist prudence: In reading about Judge Warren Granville’s attitude on the bench and the issues with the County Attorney’s Office, I say one thing: “Bravo! You go, Judge” (“Judicial Blacklash,” Paul Rubin, December 1)! It isn’t often that one gets to see a truly competent jurist like Granville…
