Phoenix, your weekend awaits. Here's how to spend it.
Fancy yourself a DIY-er or maybe just hardcore? Check out this hands-on metalworking class at downtown's shop on the corner and community garden.
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Chris E. Reesing, a Tempe-based artist, is more or less GROWop's go-to gal when it comes to all things metal -- she's taught at the boutique's Third Friday "PopUp Metal Shop" workshops before. Curious about the kinds of things she creates? Visit Reesing's website (www.reesingdesign.com), where pictures of popular items like rings and neck jewelry are posted side by side with detailed sculptures and figurines.
This week's intro course focuses on riveting, in which pieces of metal are joined together -- typically with a permanent fastener -- without the use of heat.
Join other metalheads from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 20, at GROWop, 902 North Sixth Street. Reservations are required, and the $35 cost covers materials and post-lesson refreshments. Call 602-714-5256 or visit www.facebook.com/growopboutique for details and registration. -- Janessa Hilliard
Of all the guys we know whose last name sounds like a Toyota model, Adam Carolla is definitely the most impressive. Just check out these bona fides: Loveline (very useful sex info). The Man Show (genius). Crank Yankers (hilarious, if you're into that kind of thing). Catch a Contractor (like To Catch a Predator for the guys who remodel your house. Brilliant). Carolla's latest project, The Adam Carolla Podcast, may also be his most successful -- it was named iTunes' top podcast in 2009 and receives more than five million downloads a month. On Friday, June 20, the man who made The Man Show is bringing said podcast to Phoenix for a pair of live tapings. Can Mickey Avalon do that?
Adam Carolla will cast his pod at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday, June 20 at Stand Up Live, 50 West Jefferson Street. Tickets are $35. Call 480-719-6100 or visit www.standuplive.com for more. -- Zachary Fowle
Hate to break it to you, dancing queen, but you ain't got nothing on the in-motion maniacs moving through Phoenix's thriving dance scene. Truth hurts, we know. But you can move and shake vicariously through the many performers featured in beta, an evening of new choreography from some of the Valley's most innovative companies and artists.
"Overall, we hope for beta to be the birthplace of new and unique opportunities for choreographers throughout the Valley, highlighting what a strong and diverse dance community that exists right here at home," says event organizer Alyssa Brown. And based on the 14-person bill, which includes Liliana Gomez, Angel Castro's Halo Movement Collective, and Rashawn Hart, an eye-catching array of styles will be presented. Tickets are $10 for one performance, or $15 to attend both the 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows, at Phoenix Center for the Arts, 1202 North Third Street. A reception will be held between performances. Free parking is available at Third and Moreland streets. Visit www.phoenixcenterforthearts.org/events/beta or call 602-254-3100. -- Becky Bartkowski
To paraphrase that swingin' dude, Friedrich Nietzche, stare long into the abyss and the abyss stares into you. An American expedition team tries to contain a mysterious life form before it harms them first in The Thing, on Saturday, June 21.
John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror masterwork features Kurt Russell and Keith David heading up a research team in Antarctica whose lives and work are initially disrupted by a Norwegian team's pursuit of an Alaskan malamute. The pooch is Patient Zero as the host of a malevolent alien eager to assimilate whoever it can. Carpenter ratchets up a dread and paranoia masterfully elevated by Ennio Morricone's pulsating score.
Cult Classics AZ presents The Thing at Pollack Tempe Cinemas, 1825 East Elliot Road. General admission tickets are $12, with special ticket packages ranging from $20 to $40. Visit www.cultclassicsaz.com for full details and to purchase advance tickets. -- Jose Gonzalez
Actors Theatre embraces the leisurely, peripatetic nature of Phoenix summer with two comedies in rep: faux-British, faux-roaring-'20s farce The Cottage, opening Friday, June 27, and Karen Zacarias' The Book Club Play, alternating with it through Sunday, August 17.
Not just another way to use that cheese platter prop, Zacarias' contemporary comedy witnesses a group of varyingly committed yuppie-ish readers digesting and discussing such gems as Presumed Innocent, The Da Vinci Code, and The Age of Innocence, as well as a new member, a single academic who might be as hot as he is obnoxious. (Pssst -- they never are.) Meanwhile, a filmmaker documents the phenomenon, and there are characters named "Former Secret Service Agent for Jimmy Carter" and "Shark Bite Survivor." What's not to like?
The show opens 2 p.m. Sunday, June 22, at 1333 East Washington Street. Tickets are $20 to $45 at 602-888-0368 or www.actorstheatrephx.org. -- Julie Peterson
