Some things only get better with age. Looking back at the 10th annual New Times Music Showcase, which shook up Tempe's Mill Avenue last Sunday, April 17, it's clear that local music fans have not only made the event a tradition, but stepped up their support more than ever. With...
Like the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, Buffalo wings get no respect, no respect at all. The name "Buffalo" hardly engenders esteem, as that burg's other contributions to the culture include Millard Fillmore, Vincent Gallo and the Goo Goo Dolls. Probably doesn't help that the word can be used as a...
THU 26 Girlie shows never get old, even if the girlies do. Such is the appeal of Terry Earp's play Have Tassels, Will Travel, based on the life of legendary burlesque performer CeCe Walker, a.k.a. "Satan's Angel: The Devil's Mistress." Walker herself, long since retired from her days of twirling...
When I migrated here from New York, I hadn't counted on how near impossible it would be to put a band together and keep it focused during the hot summer months. Even the lamest justifications for missing rehearsals, from the persistent "Uhh, I spaced it, man" to the truly wretched...
THU 14 As cynical as we might be at times, we'll refrain from tagging The Redwalls, who play the Big Fish Pub (1954 East University Drive in Tempe) on Thursday, April 14, as nothing more than a foursome of rip-off artists. Fact is, The Redwalls sure sound like the Brit-blues...
Might there be some redemption for what I like to call the swill on and around Mill? As I mentioned in my recent write-up of Mucho Gusto Taqueria and Mexican Bistro, just west of Mill Avenue on University Drive ("Taste Magnet," January 20), Mill Avenue generally holds as much fascination...
THU 28 Still thumping "Hey Jealousy" from your Dodge Laser and mouthing "The Gin Blossoms are sooo fresh" to a carload of babes at the stoplight? Time to hightail it to Martini Ranch, 7295 East Stetson Drive in Scottsdale, on Thursday, April 28, for New Times New Music, which starts...
TUE 4/5 To all the wanna-bes who love sushi and Bruce Lee, but whose best kung fu moves are limited to wax on and wax off, Tokyo Tuesdays are for you. Leave the coveted Enter the Dragon box set at home and karate-chop your way to Ra Sushi Bar Restaurant,...
SUN 7/31Thank Salvador Dali for Blade Runner. That goes for Fight Club, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Truman Show, and even Total Recall, too. His name doesn't pop up in the credits, but the most famous name in Surrealist art is credited with making the genre a profitable commodity in Hollywood, where Dali...
4/22-4/23 Some things are worth the wait -- like, for instance, the Mesa Arts Center. After nearly five decades of false starts, failed bond elections, tax hikes and tumult, the suburb's sleepy downtown finally gets a one-megaton wake-up call as Arizona's largest cultural complex, located at 1 East Main Street,...
Phoenix Rising Love it or leave us: I was incredibly impressed with your story "Phoenix Has an Inferiority Complex" (Amy Silverman, May 12). Being from New York, and having more recently moved here from Boston, I personally find myself saying more and more that the worst thing about Phoenix is...
Elton Bush loves Arizona. He's not too fond of his ironic namesake, the president, for taking his time mobilizing the guard while Elton and his wife waited for a helicopter on the interstate for three days. He's also not too happy with the mayor of New Orleans, for not having...
SAT 7/9Word on the street is that Phil Buckman, front man (okay, only man) of I Hate You When You're Pregnant, is going to hang up the thong and go in other musical directions. Fans from Baltimore to San Pedro are preparing for a time when live performances of "Desiree"...
Green Fairy Tales There is life here: I moved to Phoenix from California -- the Bay Area -- and I had all the usual regrets about moving from the big city to the not-so-big city. You know, Phoenix at first blush just seems like a ghost town, despite the fact...
SAT 6/25If the Indian nations as a whole were ever to declare a sport their national pastime, you can bet basketball would be right up there with lacrosse. Basketball has been an all-consuming passion and a source of pride in Native American communities for generations, with reservation courts serving as...
Most of the songs The Reflection plays end in the same raucous fashion: with the howl of two overamped guitars, loudly reverberating on the same chord, holding the tone like a musical staring contest between the players until one of them blinks and the pitch veers off in unpredictable and...
After a long run at Boston's/P.I., the Valley's preeminent hip-hop night, Blunt Club, has made a temporary move to the Rio Salado Brewery on Mill Avenue in Tempe until it finds a permanent home. On Thursday, February 3, stop by to see your usual favorites: open mic sessions early in...
The ker-plunk and whoosh is most pronounced right around the intersection of Tempe's Fifth Street and Mill Avenue, or, as I like to call it, the corner of Hooters and Gordon Biersch. No doubt you've heard it before: the sound of your soul being flushed into the rancid sewer of...
Y'all rellies ready to get your gurp on? Kill Mill resident DJs Foundation, Dirty Napz, and Ether One are bringing that crazy-ass Z-Man, the verbal innovator, and Awol One, of the Shape Shifters, to town on Tuesday, January 18. It's a duo not to be missed; Z-Man is one of...
THU 3 Objects, the Biltmore's newest men's and women's clothing and home furnishings boutique, is already known for its global thinking, snatching up apparel and merchandise from around the world, including Africa and southeast Asia. And now it's acting locally, with the "Bella Notte" charity gala to benefit the American...
THU 17 It's game time for local painter David McPherson. If pro athletes can summon the power of the Almighty -- you know, "God was on our side today . . ." -- McPherson can draw upon his Zen teachings and the blessing of the Venerable Norbu Lama with the...
Is your wallet feeling a bit light after all that holiday shopping? Run down to the Salt River Saloon (605 South Mill Avenue in Tempe) on Tuesday, December 28, and enjoy an economical night of beats and rhymes at Kill Mill, Blow Up Co-op's weekly hip-hop night with special guest...
