What began as a quiet gallery stroll is approaching full-blown street fair now that thousands of regulars clog Roosevelt Street on the first Friday of even the hottest Phoenix month. Walking a block can take strategy and patience, because the art isn’t just in the crowded galleries anymore. Recently, countless…
You don’t fool me for a minute. You’re admiring that Jeff Falk painting, maybe even whispering to your companion about Jeff’s confident use of tempura and his canny allusions to Marc Chagall, but I know what you’re really thinking. You’re thinking about the turkey and Brie sandwich at My Florist…
Trouble is, now I’ll never be able to collect that $21,000 that Hunter S. Thompson’s owed me for going on 20 years. Not that I ever had expected to see a bloody nickel of the money that the son of a bitch had avoided coughing up until he recently blew…
What’s up with all the freakin’ rain in this town? Sure, I’ll be singin’ another tune come August, but I didn’t move to the middle of the desert to live in Seattle south. Now I know why everyone in the Pacific Northwest does heroin. Damn, if I have to spend…
Much Ado About Joe We’re the ones who pay: John Dougherty’s article (“Recall Joe!” February 10) should form the foundation of a well-deserved recall movement, but I’d like to add two points: When he first ran for office, Joe Arpaio campaigned on the concept that his tough-on-crime policies would reduce…
Tents have gone up in flames before at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous outdoor compound. And there’s no reason to think it won’t happen again at Tent City. With virtually unlimited access to cigarettes, booze and drugs, enraged inmates could torch the tents, just like they did on October 4, 1994,…
Monsignor Dale Fushek had long been the rock star of the Catholic Church in the United States. He founded America’s largest program for Catholic teenagers, Life Teen, at his parish in the East Valley in 1985. Today, about 100,000 high-school-age Catholics across the country attend his program each week. As…
Right now, Hank III, son of Hank Jr. and grandson of legendary country music badass Hank Williams Sr., resembles an XY version of that hirsute ghost in the horror flick The Ring. Long, dark brown hair hides his clean-shaven face as he works his fingers furiously over a red electric…
To the Extreme Brophy backlash: Jarrett Maupin’s efforts are certainly admirable. I, too, am a strong proponent of civil rights in this country, and believe the dialogue between the races needs to be reexamined to promote a better sense of diversity and understanding in our great country. Unfortunately, Jarrett Maupin…
Trudy Hill named her older daughter after Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch spinster who hid Jews from the Nazis and was sent to a concentration camp for her efforts. Ten Boom’s story, commemorated in a book beloved by Christians everywhere, is about trusting in God, taking on evil, and learning…
J. Fife Symington III, our former governor, plopped about his yacht in the Pacific Ocean last August. He explained to former colleagues that he was about to double-cross them. Nuzzled by the harbor breezes in Santa Barbara and far from Arizona’s maddening summer sun, Symington outlined how his consulting firm…
Last fall, I uncovered serious problems with the Maricopa County Department of Elections’ handling of a September primary recount that cast a cloud over the county’s ability to conduct fair and accurate elections. My concerns have now attracted the attention of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, which is demanding that…
Y’all are gonna think I’m crazier than Houston plucking his eyeball out in that London hotel room, but I’m here to spit the truth like Twista, Jesus, Buddha and Kanye West, and that truth is: Most strip clubs bite big, hairy camel balls. Now, no one loves lookin’ at nekkid…
Mediate This Maybe they can smell the despair: How do men like Gary Karpin keep happening in Arizona (“Dr. Buzzard,” Paul Rubin, January 27)? It seems like this kind of con man is a rampant problem in this state, particularly in the Valley of the Sun. Thanks to Paul Rubin…
Yeah, he won still another term in the November general election, but there’s reason for hope that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s days in office may be numbered. This just in: A recall committee that includes several prominent defense attorneys and the founders of the political action group Mothers Against…
A Rubinesque Story A fool and his money . . . : Another killer story, this time on divorce mediator Gary Karpin, by Paul Rubin (“Dr. Buzzard,” January 27). Without Rubin here in Phoenix, we would never find out about the charlatans in our midst. What amazes me, though, is…
“No foolin’, he got Jay-Z?” Jarrett Maupin II is hollering into his cell phone, pacing the hallway of the downtown office suite where the St. Mary’s senior spends most of his time after school. “Lord have mercy! That Rev is something else!” It’s the day before Maupin’s big trip to…
It’s not often that I come across a courageous state bureaucrat who’s willing to risk everything to expose high-level corruption. That is, to do the right thing. This is the tale of one such employee who was rewarded for her valor by being fired from her post as executive director…
Holding Court Witness for the defense: The New Times article on “Katie & Jordy’s Excellent Adventure” was rollicking good fun (Sarah Fenske, January 13)! I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a story more. I’ve been an avid Court TV watcher pretty much since the O.J. Simpson trial, and I greatly…
Two women hug like long-lost sisters beneath a gazebo at north Phoenix’s Roadrunner Park. Gina Niedzwiecki and Ruth Murray had been chatting by phone for months, since they’d learned of their sadly similar stories. But this sunny day in mid-January marks the first time they’ve met in person, and their…
I reckon my cheeks are redder than Elmo’s ass, the cheeks closest to my grill-piece, that is. It’s a Saturday night at Tempe’s colossal, 28,000-square-foot Graham Central Station (www.grahamcentralstationtempe.com), the four-in-one nightclub that includes the karaoke bar Alley Cats, a Top 40 dance hall called South Beach, an ’80s room…
I nearly fell off my bike on a recent cold night when I saw the agent listed on a for-sale sign in front of one of the most historic homes in Arizona — the Farmer-Goodwin mansion in Tempe. My stomach tightened, and I slowly began circling on my bike in…
