thursday january 1 Craig Shoemaker at the Improv: The alchemical comedian has transformed a miserable childhood as a hopeless geek into a he-man mint--he was the American Comedy Awards pick for best standup comedian of 1997, he's slated to host this year's VH1 game show My Generation, and he's to...
thursday january 22 Scotland the Brave: Ambrose Bierce defined "kilt" as "a costume sometimes worn by Scotchmen [sic] in America and Americans in Scotland." His point will probably be amply proved at this presentation starting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, January 22, at America West Arena, 201 East Jefferson, which will...
thursday december 25 Salvation Army Christmas Dinner: If you're using this publication for warmth as well as reading material, you may want to drop by this free, open-to-the-public repast in Exhibit Halls A and B at Phoenix Civic Plaza, Second Street and Adams, from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, December...
The atmosphere in Mind's Eye Digital Recording is jammed with sound waves, the kind of badass, bottom-loaded frequencies that blow woofers and mess with eardrums. Bionic Jive, a Tempe sextet, is rehearsing songs from its forthcoming Six Million Dollar Band CD, a psycho-delic joy ride that makes groups like Prodigy...
Six East Lounge. "The Beast." People in Tempe have called it that since the late '70s, when it was still a biker bar. Today, it's easy to see--and smell--why the nickname stuck. When you walk in, rancid piss and cleaning chemicals mingle with whiskey, smoke and a musty, old-house smell...
Fred Green Groover (Rorschach Records) It's a common syndrome. Great live party bands, when put in the clinical confines of the recording studio, often just don't cut it. It's easy to see why. Live performance and recording require very different skills. Manic energy and fierce commitment can carry a live...
thursday november 27 The Ben Folds Five: The piano-bass-drums trio from Chapel Hill, North Carolina--so named because "it sounds better than the Ben Folds Three," says baby-grand man Folds--plows a deep furrow about midway between roots and alt. In fact, the BFF sounds a bit like a Gen X version...
thursday december 4 Baby, It's Bright Outside: Fiesta of Light; Ahwatukee-Foothills Festival of Lights; "Wild Winter Nights": Phoenix's free Fiesta continues nightly, through Thursday, January 1, 1998, in the area surrounding Symphony Hall Terrace, Second Street and Adams (534-3378). Phoenix's other major display, Ahwatukee's bounteous, white-lights-only bonanza, can be viewed...
Time to get ill? Nah--time to get sik, on location in the Sik Bay, creative den of R.C. Lair, underground DJ and premier graphic artist for the Valley's dance-club and rave scenes. R.C. (the initials stand for Ryan Christopher) is a bit nocturnal. Sik Bay--actually one room in the Tempe...
thursday october 30 Three Semi-Automatics Just for Fun: The genesis of this black-comic, multimedia piece--produced by Arizona State University's Institute for Studies in the Arts and billed as "June Cleaver wearing pearls and a pistol"--was a visit to an Albuquerque bookstore by one of the work's principals, American actress Leslie...
thursday november 6 The Food Chain: Though Nicky Silver (Pterodactyls; Free Will and Wanton Lust) is one of America's more promising comic playwrights, his writing sometimes straddles the line that divides standup patter from subtler characterization; there's surely no little connection between that and men having an en masse attraction...
Mention the name "Fritz Tuffli" around the upside-down glass pyramid of Tempe City Hall, and you will likely be greeted with a roll of the eyes, or a slight crinkling of the nose, as if some unwanted odor had drifted into the building. Tuffli is a humorless man who seems...
thursday october 23 UK/AZ You Like It: Romeo et Juliette, Hamlet on Trial and More Stuff From Beyond the Pond: The UK/AZ Festival celebrates the--rather tenuous--connection(s) between England and Arizona. So what have France and Italy got to do with it? Well, Arizona Opera opens its season with French composer...
thursday october 2 UK/AZ You Like It: Othello, Zandra Rhodes, "Rootstein Mannequins" and Other Stuff From Beyond the Pond: The UK/AZ Festival, continuing through October (though some of the offerings extend beyond Allhallows Eve), celebrates the--rather tenuous--connection(s) between England and Arizona. Britain's Royal National Theatre--making its inaugural visit to the...
Carvin Jones likes Stevie Ray Vaughan. No, you don't understand. I mean he really, really likes him. You can see it in the Phoenix bluesman's stage wardrobe, replete with snakeskin boots and wide-brimmed black hat. You can sense it in the Vaughanlike way he hunches his shoulders whenever he digs...
thursday september 25 Dave Brubeck: Best known as the progenitor of cool jazz in the '50s (and for "Take Five," one of the all-time standard-bearers of cool), the West Coast pianist/bandleader is a giant of jazz--period, and no modifier required. Granted, the Brubeck sound cracked open the door, far off...
High noon on a spring day in 1994. The stranger steps through the gates of the Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum, takes one look around and shakes his head. Everywhere, he sees things that don't belong, from buckskinners clutching cans of Pepsi and eating foodstuffs wrapped in Ziploc baggies to...
thursday october 16 UK/AZ You Like It: Phoenix Symphony's A Midsummer Night's Dream, ATOP's The Essential Henry V, ATC's Blithe Spirit and More Stuff From Beyond the Pond: The UK/AZ Festival celebrates the--rather tenuous--connection(s) between England and Arizona. Guest conductor Christopher Wilkins wields the baton in Phoenix Symphony's presentation of...
thursday september 11 Proposals: The world-premiere tour of Neil Simon's latest work for the stage--his 30th--plays the Orpheum Theatre following an L.A. run and in advance of productions in New Haven, Connecticut; Washington, D.C.; and, this November, on Broadway. Terrific actor Ron Rifkin (the recent movie The Substance of Fire)...
thursday september 18 Ballet Arizona's "Black & White Gala": The troupe's formal, season-opening bash features world-class hoofers and a wide-ranging repertoire. The highlights: the premiere of "Solo for a Gala" by BA artistic director Michael Uthoff, danced by Jeremy Raia; Kevin O'Day (Twyla Tharp's company, Baryshnikov's White Oak Project) performing...
thursday october 9 Further Stuff From Beyond the Pond: UK/AZ's "Wallace and Gromit" Mania, "Rootstein Mannequins" and More: The UK/AZ Festival, continuing through October (though some of the offerings extend beyond Allhallows Eve), celebrates the--rather tenuous--connection(s) between England and Arizona. Nick Park's beloved claymation characters "Wallace and Gromit" (Wallace is...
The history of pop is actually the story of great rivalries, real or imagined: Elvis vs. Jerry Lee, the Beatles vs. the Stones, mods vs. rockers, Bowie vs. Ferry, Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam. And, by the way, whose side were you on during the fabled Tiffany-Debbie Gibson wars of 1987?...
