"Suck a duck, Jett, you're getting collard juice all over my brand-new kicks!" I yelp as the AC/DC Gabrielle Union spoons some greens into her kisser. "I just got these K-Swiss at Steven's Shoes, you crazy chickenhead." "Mmmm, these truffled collards are delish," she moans, as if in heat. "And...
Steve's EspressoSometimes, the rest of you forget that Tempe actually extends south of University Drive, beyond Arizona State University and into suburbia. It’s there that we find Steve’s Espresso, across the street from Target, around the corner from Ace Hardware and next door to a pretty good Indian restaurant. We love Steve’s because the crowd’s a […]
"A Few Pieces of Advice to Help You on Your Way"We can’t recall when we first noticed the signs stuck in the grass where Mill Avenue veers into Apache Boulevard, curving around Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University in Tempe. But we figured they had to be a prank, since one of the poster-size boards — designed to look like a green chalkboard — held […]
Taco Del MarOne of our toddler’s first words was “Mugget” — short, of course, for Chicken McNugget. Who knows what’s in those things (well, thanks to a certain book and a movie, now we know and want to forget), but let’s face it: There comes a time when even the most health-conscious parent needs to feed the […]
THU 3There's no reason the island sounds of reggae and the exotic music of the Middle East can't get along, especially when beer and beautiful belly dancers are involved. Every week, Sinbad, 5004 South Price Road in Tempe, hosts Hookah Jam Thursdays, a culture dish of hookah smoking, impromptu jams,...
THU 20What a glorious racket the Yamato: Drummers of Japan make -- glorious, that is, unless you happen to be the poor schlep who lives above them in Japan's notoriously cozy residential quarters. The 12-piece percussion ensemble makes joyful noise reminiscent of Stomp, only with hands instead of feet. Founded...
News of Hurricane Katrina's unfathomable aftermath began hitting the airwaves around the same time that we were putting together this latest issue of New Times. And almost simultaneously, we started getting word from members of the Valley music community that fund-raising events to help survivors of the disaster were already...
You feel the chill in the air, that spooky tingle at the base of your spine, the growing sense of dread in the pit of your stomach. You know it's coming, and your ass had better be prepared. We're not talking about yet another numbskull Adam Sandler flick, pal. Nope,...
You feel the chill in the air, that ooky tingle at the base of your spine, the growing sense of dread in the pit of your stomach. You know it's coming, and your ass had better be prepared. We're not talking about yet another numbskull Adam Sandler flick, pal. Nope,...
SAT 9/17In the '60s, there were love beads and hippies. Today, the "make love, not war" mentality lives on through Kandee Kids -- ravers with beaded bracelets and positive vibes. On Saturday, September 17, the Gaia of all raves, Earthdance 2005, heads to a Tucson desert locale so secret you...
THU 6Someone in the world has to be selling that avocado-colored ashtray from the '70s you never knew you always wanted. Or that cheap bust of Sigmund Freud. Or maybe that cute painted-teak coffee table. You just never know what'll catch your fancy at a yard sale, which is why...
THU 29Say amen, everybody, as Black Theatre Troupe opens its 36th season with the rousing gospel musical Amen Corner. Adapted from James Baldwin's 1955 play The Amen Corner, the work is simultaneously serious and uplifting. It's centered on the internal struggle of Sister Margaret Alexander, a spiritual shepherd who loses...
THU 22Master chef Stephen Stromberg whips out his magic pan on Thursday, September 22, for the final installment in "Cooking & Cocktails" at Latitude 30, a gratis summer series of culinary demonstrations and tastings at the swank eatery, which is named after the imaginary line that bisects the heart of...
There's a party going on Thursday nights at the Shaker Room -- if you're savvy enough to find the dance floor. The club, practically hidden across a patio and up a flight of stairs behind Martini Ranch, is, to begin with, too far back from Stetson Drive to draw in...
George Miller keeps the good stuff in a jug behind the counter of his small, nine-month-old Carolina-style 'cue joint, Restaurant 28, in a Glendale strip mall on the southeast corner of 51st Avenue and Olive. If you tell him you hail from the Old North State, he'll let you sniff...
There isn't a single image of Phoenix in the "Big City: Cityscapes and Urban Life" exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum. Which is odd, seeing as how there are only a handful of cities in the country bigger than this one. Don't we rate at least one tiny watercolor in a...
The only deity I've ever had a personal affinity for is that corpulent, jolly "buddha" with a small "b" known as Jin Foo, Bu Dai, or Hotei, depending on whom you ask. Personally, Gautama Buddha, he of the Bodhi tree fame, always struck me as a bit too severe, like...
SAT 10/29Alas, you won't see gore-rock band Samhain playing a nude set with backing vocals by a buff Samantha Stevens from Bewitched at "Rites of Hekate, Samhain 2005." However, there will be naked Wiccans galore at the garment-optional affair, which marks the "witchiest Sabbat of the year." The 18-and-over event...
THU 28Though he failed to cement his place in history as the first pop star in space, *NSYNC's Lance Bass could always head down to the Challenger Space Center, 21170 North 83rd Avenue in Peoria, to see what he missed besides the Top 40 charts for the past three years...
SAT 7/16Dante got it wrong: There are actually 10 circles of hell, and local filmmaker Nicholas Holthaus has been there and back making Dante's Arizona, which premières Saturday, July 16, at the Alwun House, 1204 East Roosevelt. "Four people have died during the making of this film, including my mother...
THU 14 You pretend you're joking around, trying to be funny by singing "The Greatest Love of All" at karaoke. But your friends can tell by the spirited way you grind out, "They can't take away my dignity!" that you're serious about this singing thing. So why not take a...
Matt Brown's house is filled with painted doors, boxes of spray paint, secondhand canvases, paintings propped up in corners, and palettes crusted with layers of coagulated colors. He says a lot of cool new Tempe artists drop by just to hang out and paint. "It's my house, but it's also...
