Torcher ChamberMatch game: I am reading the article "Burn, Baby, Burn" (James Hibberd, January 11) and I am shaking my head in disbelief over the casual attitude that so many people have toward the arsonist, who feels he is justified in doing this crime to make a point.I do not...
Based on his reputation, you'd think you're at the wrong place. The old wood-frame house in the heart of the Tempe 'hood has the feminine air of a homemaker, not that of a rock 'n' roll hellion. But sure enough, sitting in the living room on a large white leather...
"Double-belled euphoniums and big bassoons . . ."It's a lyric from "76 Trombones" in The Music Man, and if you've heard of Leslie Van Zee's favorite musical instrument, there's a good chance that's where you've heard of it. Van Zee uses only a single bell, not a double, but she...
philosophy 510 South Mill, Tempe 480-968-2424Reading the labels on philosophy cosmetic/skin care products is like browsing the self-help aisle at Barnes & Noble. Moisturizer is “hope in a jar,” eye cream is “eye believe,” exfoliator is “help me” or “the great awakening” — because “sometimes your skin needs a wake-up call.” Created by a Phoenix aesthetician, philosophy has been a […]
philosophyReading the labels on philosophy cosmetic/skin care products is like browsing the self-help aisle at Barnes & Noble. Moisturizer is “hope in a jar,” eye cream is “eye believe,” exfoliator is “help me” or “the great awakening” — because “sometimes your skin needs a wake-up call.” Created by a Phoenix aesthetician, philosophy has been a […]
Changing Hands Bookstore 6428 South McClintock, Tempe 480-730-0205Squeezed out of its longtime Mill Avenue digs last spring by the prospect of competition from a yet-to-be-announced national chain, this beloved independent bookstore didn’t surrender. In fact, its second store is now thriving in its second location — in a Tempe strip center just two doors from another used-book shop. Like its defunct flagship […]
Changing Hands BookstoreSqueezed out of its longtime Mill Avenue digs last spring by the prospect of competition from a yet-to-be-announced national chain, this beloved independent bookstore didn’t surrender. In fact, its second store is now thriving in its second location — in a Tempe strip center just two doors from another used-book shop. Like its defunct flagship […]
The template quality of the Pistoleros' story thus far resembles the first half of nearly any episode of the increasingly irritating Behind the Music specials seen on VH1. Band forms and pays dues playing myriad local gigs. A loyal following blossoms. A founding member quits and later commits suicide. Band...
When you think of the cutting edge of hip-hop, a flurry of names immediately springs to mind: Killah Priest, Sauce Money, Major Figgas, C-Murder, Barry Goldwater. Barry Goldwater? It's true. Barry Goldwater III, the grandson of the late Arizona senator and presidential candidate, is poised to become a "playa" in...
Tonight is a homecoming. It's been three and a half years since Dead Hot Workshop's classic lineup has played together, more than that since it's taken the stage at Long Wong's, the last remaining vestige of a scene it helped create. For a decade it was the most respected group...
In the ancient Greek tradition, Eros, a.k.a. Cupid, was the son of Chaos. This ancestry might make more sense to Phoenix's own Jill Reger, creator of the online comic Dipuc.com, than the one which later Roman mythological tradition gave to the God of Love -- that the spiteful little bastard...
For the better part of two decades, Felicia Fahr was the Valley's Queen of Queens, a flame-tressed temptress who ruled the local female impersonator circuit with stiletto heels, sequins, lethal talons and, as more than a few colleagues can attest, a tongue to match. Arriving in Phoenix from Los Angeles...
Where do hospitality employees go for good food when they're done with work? Many restaurants close at 11 p.m. on weekends. Nightclubs don't kick patrons out until 1 a.m. And resorts never shut their doors. What's a starving late-shift staffer to do? Keegan's used to be the "in" spot for...
This summer's Musicmaker.com-sponsored twin tour -- by a Jimmy Page-led Black Crowes and modfathers The Who (hitting Blockbuster Desert Sky on August 13 and 14, respectively) -- is for most observers an uneasy mix of nostalgia and commerce. Certainly neither effort can be regarded as much more than a kind...
Tempe Butte is an island of rock in the midst of a city, a volcanic and sedimentary bump that rises barely 300 feet above downtown Tempe. Yet to an increasingly vocal crowd of locals, the Butte -- also known as "A" Mountain and Hayden Butte -- looms as the latest...
Could it be that Phoenix is finally becoming a town where restaurants can not only survive the summer, but also thrive? A recent rash of hot-weather expansions and grand openings suggests this might be the case. Now, let's all get out there and eat, to support these brave restaurateurs and...
Scary Thoughts Self-absorption: We have governors become presidential candidates who rush to execute a person with the mind of a 6-year-old (Clinton in 92) or who cruelly mock an executed woman who had uplifted her life (George W. in 98). If the media slide over such things, can we expect...
"I'm not here trying to sell millions of copies of records," says Knot Known Records president and sole full-time employee Chris Richardson. He says this between bites of a roast chicken sandwich at a Mill Avenue eatery staffed with nervous waiters and waitresses who look like next year's crop of...
When you enter the nondescript, two-story complex in the industrial hinterlands near 27th Avenue and Osborn, you're assaulted by a fierce squall of amplified noise. It's impossible to tell if it's one band or 30 responsible for the offending skronk; there are close to 100 practice spaces located in this...
This year marks the 10th anniversary of what some regard as the finest, and others the only, major accomplishment of the Bush administration: the day -- June 26, 1990 -- when ol' George Senior signed the Americans With Disabilities Act into law. Various events are being held around the country...
He may not know a Coquille St. Jacques from a Jumbo Jack, but self-styled "Mill Avenue Food Critic" Dennnis (that's how he spells it) Skolnick knows what he likes: a free lunch. But four years after he first began dispensing dining tips to tourists walking along Tempe's main drag, the...
The day Laura Bernstein was stabbed, kicked and left to die on a Mill Avenue sidewalk, the Tempe Daily News ran a front-page photo of a new police car. In a staged shot typical of small-town newspapers more than 30 years ago, two officers were shown "inspecting" the spanking new...
