Your Guide to Arts and Culture Events in Metro Phoenix This Week

New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from Monday, March 14, to Friday, March 18.

Downtempo's Date with Tempe
Phoenix Downtempo Ride takes to the streets on two wheels in search of bike-friendly destinations and perfect Phoenix patios. Downtempo’s Date with Tempe, the latest ride in the crew’s 10-week-long spring season, ends at the original O.H.S.O. Eatery + Nano-Brewery in Arcadia at 4900 East Indian School Road.

Whether you’re pedaling a fixie or beach cruiser, join the group ride at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14. Meet at Coronado Park, 1717 North 12th Street, in the historic neighborhood. Interested Tempe bikers are also encouraged to start there, or they can ride in from a meet-up at Tempe Beach Park, 54 West Rio Salado Parkway, just west of Mill Avenue. Participation is free. Cyclists are encouraged to bring cash, locks, and lights. For details, visit the Downtempo Date with Tempe Facebook event page. Janessa Hilliard

Lisa Lutz
Author Lisa Lutz knows how to spin an intriguing mystery. Her "Spellman Files" series was a New York Times bestseller. In her latest thriller, The Passenger, Tanya DuBois ditches her dead husband’s body and starts a life on the run. It’s all twists and turns as she tries to stay a step ahead of her past. Get your own signed copy of her latest breath-stealer from 7 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15, at The Poisoned Pen, 4014 North Goldwater Boulevard in Scottsdale. Admission is free, but the book is $25.95. Purchase is required for signing attendance. Call 480-947-2974 or visit the Poisoned Pen website. Amy Young

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
During his early Jedi training in 1949’s darkly comedic film Kind Hearts and Coronets, Alec Guinness played each of the eight people standing between a destitute young man and the family fortune. This artistic and technical tour de force was based on the 1907 novel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, which also inspired the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, continuing through Sunday, March 20, at ASU Gammage, 1200 South Forest Avenue in Tempe.

There’s no pleasure quite like seeing apparently impossible physical reality unfolding before you onstage. That’s why plays with neverending quick changes are so popular. Actors also face the challenge of playing each character as a distinct person, as Guinness noted. And he had all the time he needed to change clothes. And wigs. And makeup.

Tuesday, March 15’s performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $125 at Ticketmaster or 480-965-3434. Julie Peterson

St. Paddy’s Day Party
When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, it seems as though everyone’s Irish. Such is the case when The Rose and Crown, downtown’s popular Brit bar, flows green with good cheer this holiday.

The pub is the center of this St. Paddy’s Day Party, which boasts a beer garden and plenty of prizes, and also features live, local music. Specialty menu items are available, and include the celebratory staple Guinness stew, a traditional take on corned beef and cabbage, and of course, classic fish and chips. After all, this watering hole is adorned with a massive picture of the Queen herself.

It’s an all-day affair when Englishmen elect to celebrate like the Irish. The block party begins at 11 a.m. and runs until bar time starting on Thursday, March 17, at 628 East Adams Street within historic Heritage Square. Admission is free. For details, visit www.theroseandcrownaz.com or call 602-256-0223. Janessa Hilliard

Wake Up Call!
Morning people, it’s your time to shine. On Thursday, you can literally start your morning dancing at Walter Productions, 747 West Roosevelt Street. Wake Up Call! is a 6:30 a.m. dance party; you’ll have just a enough time to get your groove on before you hit the office. There will be free morning snacks and coffee to help fuel the slow starters, and dancers are encouraged to wear green in honor of St. Patty’s Day.
Wake Up Call! kicks off bright and early at 6:30 a.m. on March 17. Tickets are $15 and include coffee, juice, snacks, glow sticks, and face paint — along with entry. This is a sober, all-ages event (children under 12 get in for free with a paying adult). For more information and to purchase tickets, visit wake.splashthat.com. Katrina Montgomery

“From Madmen to Unicorns”
Thanks to the ol’ WWW, media consumption is as ravenous as ever. Whether you chalk it up to ubiquity or sheer volume, even today’s most casual consumer, often unwittingly, can develop a keep eye for shoddy graphic design. Which makes the already challenging work of the designer that much more so. If you can appreciate the formidable task of toeing the line between catchy and kitschy, obvious and obscure, and for an employer who probably doesn’t speak in code, then you might want to check out “From Madmen to Unicorns” at the Tempe History Museum, 809 East Southern Avenue, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 17. The free event celebrates 25 years of graphic design made in Arizona and includes a design exhibition, local design leaders, games, prizes, and, of course, coffee and dessert. Visit www.tempe.gov/museum or call 480-350-5100 for details. Rob Kroehler

Bad Luck
“Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once said. He was talking about the good kind of luck, of course: Your neighbor won the lottery; your sister married a doctor; that kid you hated in high school became a famous actor. Dicks. But if the serendipity of others is painful to hear, tales of their bad fortune are equally joy-inducing. That’s why Bad Luck, the March 18 show in the SMoCA Lounge, will be so pleasurable. Stories of tragedy and misfortune from local comedians will make you feel lucky you’re not them.

Press your luck at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 7374 East Second Street. Tickets are $8 for museum members, $10 for everyone else. Call 480-874-4666 or visit www.smoca.org for more. Zach Fowle