When retired safecracker Andrew Forkes first did lock-down time, bathtub gin was the libation of choice. By his 18th birthday in 1925, he had five years of reform school under his belt, the consequence of a childhood in Ohio spent burglarizing and running away from home. "Never thought I'd make...
The problem isn't what to say about Ireland's remarkable Chieftains, it's where to begin. And, as Paddy Moloney might say, when in doubt, one simply begins at the beginning. In 1963, piper Moloney, late of the traditionalist folk group Ceoltóiri Cualann, recruited a band of fellow musicians in order to...
Despite the recent collapse of several small theaters, new playhouses are springing up like Christmas tree lots. Would that these companies were offering something other than a handful of interesting performances in shows no discerning playgoer will want to see.Hidden away in a tiny, unmarked storefront, D and D and...
The wonder of Solas, the latest in a growing list of remarkable Spanish films that have recently made their way to the U.S. (Butterfly and Goya in Bordeaux are also well worth seeing), is a courtly old gentleman referred to simply as "Neighbor." Played to absolute perfection by Carlos Álvarez-Novoa,...
After kicking off with a cheerily conventional, highly entertaining Barber of Seville, Arizona Opera kicks its season into high gear with a superb, much less conventional staging of Carmen. Maybe because of its lurid tabloid plot, Bizet's masterpiece, regarded as scandalous when it premièred just months before the composer's death...
Fascinating and engrossing on every conceivable level, this beautifully constructed feature-length documentary opens with the mournful sound of a train, and images of toys and books sitting untouched in what was once a child's bedroom. As the credit sequence ends, an elderly woman addresses an unseen interviewer, recalling the day...
Fair warning: Enough time has passed that it's okay to discuss the ending of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. Those who've not yet seen the film and intend to might want to keep on moving. Or perhaps not: To reveal the ending, all 180 or so seconds of it, is...
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...
Every major recording artist has his "moment." It's that fleeting instant when the planets align in such a way that even an eccentric cult figure can bask in the pop-culture sunshine; when the fickle masses temporarily decide that you're the essence of hipness.Elvis Costello had it with Armed Forces, and...
Ridgely Fitzsimmons Nita's Hideaway 1816 East Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe 480-966-7715What makes a superlative bartender? Good conversation? Nah, anything that delays putting a drink in your gullet is about as welcome as a speed bump. But in dealing with teeming masses of demanding patrons and egotistical musicians, it does help to have a seasoned grasp of the English language and a penchant for caustic rejoinders. […]
Ridgely Fitzsimmons Nita's HideawayWhat makes a superlative bartender? Good conversation? Nah, anything that delays putting a drink in your gullet is about as welcome as a speed bump. But in dealing with teeming masses of demanding patrons and egotistical musicians, it does help to have a seasoned grasp of the English language and a penchant for caustic rejoinders. […]
In a classic 1955 I Love Lucy episode, Lucy Ricardo tries to figure out how to maximize her star-gazing mileage while vacationing in Hollywood. "Tracking them down one by one takes so much time," complains the country's biggest autograph hound after her sidekick Ethel Mertz suggests driving up and down...
A month ago, R.J. Cutler thought he found a home for his child, one that would coddle and nurture his baby until it was ready to stand on its own two legs without wobbling or falling. A month ago, it all seemed so simple to the Oscar-nominated producer-director, who was...
To put it mildly, it is uncomfortable and embarrassing to have one's cynical ass whipped by a huge, hulking Hallmark card, and this is exactly the sensation one takes away from Mimi Leder's Pay It Forward. Not that the near-total emotional submission isn't preceded by a knock-down, drag-out battle for...
Vassiliy Jirov is on his own. Jirov, the International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion of the world, is working without a trainer and without a sparring partner, shadowboxing in a makeshift boxing ring hidden in the back of the AZ Fitness gym in Mesa. For the past two years, Jirov's been...
String Being Name dropper: Thanks for Gilbert Garcia's exposé on the Valley's most famous guitarist ("The Tao of Estéban," September 21). I studied guitar in Spain for a couple of years back in the mid-1980s under one of Andrés Segovia's former students. I am aware of the respect and high...
When Michelle Bailey got pregnant two years ago, she was thrilled. Newly married, making good money at a company that had named her "Employee of the Year" just months before, she was living in a brand-new home in a family-friendly subdivision in Gilbert.But she was reluctant to tell her bosses...
When a show is billed so grandly as to be called a "revolutionary reincarnation" of a classic musical, it's wise to be skeptical. After all, Phoenix is the sort of theater town that every now and then plays host to bus and truck companies of huge Broadway shows like Titanic,...
Much has been made of the renaissance composer Burt Bacharach has been enjoying as of late. The Maestro's sudden resurgence is the result of a number of high-profile collaborations and media appearances, and a new retro craze that has put the work of classic '60s tunesmiths on a pedestal. But...
It was the best of years; it was the Durst of years. Of the latter, well, Jim Dandy once had his moment in the sun, too, and the critics were right all along: Black Oak Arkansas sucked, the stoned morons who were into the band eventually grew up (or died...
There are many, many productive paths a bright, ambitious young fellow can pursue in America. He can, for instance, start a mediocre rock band and try to make music for beer commercials. He can also design a Web site to advertise Web sites about Web sites. Or there's always the...
It's a pleasure to say that Clint Eastwood reverses his recent downward slide -- A Perfect World (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997), and True Crime (1999), each of which has seemed less satisfying than its predecessor -- with Space Cowboys, his latest. It isn't an...
