When The Pistoleros singer Lawrence Zubia decided to kill himself after years of depression and drug abuse, for some reason the familiar buttes of Monument Valley came to him in a cocaine-addled haze. Zubia had no gun. And he'd already ingested enough drugs to kill a normal person. Instead, he...
El Conquistador, 15420 North 32nd Street, Phoenix, 493-3913. Hours: Lunch, Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 9 p.m.; Lunch and Dinner, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Would you ever walk into a bookstore, randomly buy...
When people meet me and discover what I do for a living, they invariably ask two questions: 1) What's your favorite restaurant? 2) With all the eating you do, how do you keep yourself in such magnificent physical condition, so lean, muscular and fit? Actually, nobody ever asks me the...
Gordon Biersch, 420 South Mill, Tempe, 736-0033. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week. It's hot. It's sticky. It's August. How do you find relief this time of year? If you've got some vacation time and disposable income, you can get a cabin in...
Haus Murphy's, 5819 West Glendale Avenue, Glendale, 939-2480. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For the past 20 years, Americans have been wrestling with their principles: how to balance a strong commitment to ethnic diversity with an equally...
Arizona Roadhouse & Brewery, 1120 East Apache, Tempe, 929-9940. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week. Aye, laddie, may your leprechauns always be green; may your sainted mother find a four-leaf shillelagh; and may the Blarney Stone kiss ye back. I don't know what...
You'd think the one place a person would be safe would be locked inside a prison cell. You'd be wrong. In 1996, a team of lawyers brought a class-action suit against the Arizona Department of Corrections on behalf of 274 inmates in protective segregation. DOC wanted to move those inmates...
One of the first times I saw Big Pete Pearson and the Blues Sevilles was at Char's Has the Blues, the club on North Seventh Avenue. I was chasing shots of Jack Daniel's with ice-cold Rolling Rocks. At one point during the performance, Big Pete disappeared from view. But the...
It's the season for fantasy. But I don't fantasize about the meek inheriting the Earth, smooth sailing on the rush-hour Squaw Peak Parkway or mandatory IQ testing for Arizona legislators. My job requires me to dine out 200 nights a year. So, not surprisingly, my fantasies tend to be about...
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...
Ozzfestering Only sissies don't like Ozzy, and The Flash ain't no sissy. He's a hard-rockin', sun-soakin', beer-swillin' American heavy-metal fan, dammit, and the sweaty, besotted, meth-ridden throngs who took over Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion for OZZfest '97 last Thursday were beautiful people. Overcome with nostalgia as he reeled past a...
Korean Restaurant, 1414 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 994-5995. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Dinner, Monday through Wednesday, 5 to 10 p.m. These are the times that try men's Seouls. The Valley's Asian community is growing at a phenomenal rate. Chinese, Japanese, Thai and...
Caffe Boa, 5063 East Elliot, Ahwatukee, 893-3331. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Why do people confuse money with class? Ted Kennedy and Fife Symington, for instance, are both dripping with wealth, acknowledged or not. But...
Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. Not only because I do not have Lou Gehrig's disease, but because it has been my privilege and pleasure for the last 90 weeks to write the column that you are now reading. All of that will...
It's the teen vengeance fantasy du jour: Scorned by mean-spirited classmates for being "different," a high school misfit flees Arizona for the more tolerant environs of Southern California, blossoms, then finally returns for the 10-year reunion in a triumphant blaze of fashion fabulosity that sets the student body on its...
Radish Restraining Bolt (Mercury) Ben Lee Something to Remember Me By (Grand Royal) Frankie Lymon was 13 when he peaked in 1955 with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". Two years later, his career stalled for good, and he was only 25 when he died from a heroin overdose. Lymon's...
They ain't built the CD tower that can hold Joe Myers. Just try slotting any of the Tempe solo guitarist's three homespun releases into your favorite disc organizer with anything resembling ease. It can't be done! First, House With Nine Rooms came in a slim cardboard sleeve. Next, each copy...
Copper Canyon Brewing & Alehouse, 5945 West Ray, Chandler, 705-9700. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Ireland's patron saint had quite a life. Born in Britain, the boy was captured by pirates at age 16 and...
Carol Zraket welcomes visitors to her Scottsdale home with a broad smile and the weary words, "He's in the war room." But before she can turn to call him, her husband, George, appears carrying copies of the faxes, memos, letters, lawsuits and petitions that have been his chief arsenal in...
Gregory's Grill, Papago Plaza, 7049 East McDowell, Scottsdale, 946-8700. Hours: Dinner, Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m. It's spring, and I'm in love. And why not? The object of my affection is charming, sophisticated and eager to please. After a thrilling night together, my senses are on edge. I...
Vanessa Daou Slow to Burn (MCA) Virgin Island jazz-pop/dance diva Vanessa Daou and her producer/instrumentalist husband Peter Daou earned the favorable notice of dance-club feminists in 1994 with Zipless, an album that set the poetry and occasionally the voice of Erica Jong to music (the Fear of Flying author is...
John Cale Walking on Locusts (Rykodisc) When John Cale is in his deep and heavy mode, no one in rock 'n' roll is deeper and heavier. His old partner Lou Reed has to dress like a college professor, read his lyrics from a music stand and write dry, boring pieces...
