1975. David Carradine has just laid down his nunchucks as Kwai Chang “Grass-hoppa” Kane in Kung Fu. Sylvester Stallone is an unknown pug whose mug will soon be known all over the globe. B-movie producer Roger Corman is at the peak of his power. Together, this unlikely triad will create…
The auspicious 7/7/07 went off without a hitch — unless you count the thousands of couples who got hitched hoping that the lucky sevens might somehow decrease their odds of divorce. Las Vegas was packed with superstitious wackos hovering over slot machines. And Tupac is still dead despite his crazed…
They’re the most underappreciated talents in theater, falling somewhere between the ticket taker and the lighting designer in the recognition department. Playwrights seldom get their due, a fact that local author Richard Warren has been trying to rectify for the past decade with Phoenix Theatre’s New Works Festival. Warren selects…
Hey, fellas, ever wonder what truly goes on during an exclusive ladies night? Maybe your girlfriend meets a Prince Charming with all of the qualities you lack. You know, a tall, attractive Dapper Dan who can wield a garlic press like no other, quote Rumi, talk about feminine emotions, and…
Can’t quite pin down the odor that’s living in the house? Ever think it could be your bitch, uh, dog that’s stinkin’ up the joint? A visit to Wag N’ Wash Self-Service Dog Wash — a cutesy, colorful pet emporium that provides all the equipment and space you need to…
If you thought architects were a bunch of boring blueprint lovers, you’re probably not familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright’s dramatic life story. Fired for moonlighting on the job, Wright fled to Italy with a client’s wife. After returning to the States, his lover was killed after an ax-wielding servant torched…
If you were a white guy of a certain age and sexual inclination in 1977, chances are astronomically good that you had the following posters hanging on your wall: Led Zeppelin, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Stevie Nicks. The first two are obvious choices. Stevie was not. The spun-glass songbird was considered…
Coupla weeks back, the Arizona Diamondbacks broadcast team coined the moniker “Bratstock” for a four-day series in Milwaukee. When Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, and the Atlanta Braves visit our snakemen for a three-game series, maybe they should call it “Taco Stand.” Want a nice, cold Mexican beer to wash that…
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Shout!) Avenue Montaigne (THINKfilm) Baxter (Lionsgate) The Best of the Colgate Comedy Hour (Passport) Beer Drinkers in Space (Tempe) Birdman & the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series (Turner) Esther Williams: Volume 1 (Warner Bros.) Gunsmoke: The First Season (Paramount) The Happy Hooker Trilogy (MGM) The…
Nothing if not appropriate for summer blockbuster season, Werner Herzog’s latest feature, based on his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, offers a suitably fantastic tale of war, freedom, and fortitude, set in the jungles of Indochina and featuring an immigrant lad who turns out to be just as…
Did John Waters sell out? Or did our ever-more-metrosexual age merely render him irrelevant? Certainly long before Hairspray took up residence on the Great White Way in 2002, Waters had abdicated his throne as America’s elder statesman of underground smut in favor of a more lucrative career as a neutered…
I wanted to hate I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Truly I did. Two straight guys pretending to be gay (insert fiscal excuse here); been there, done that (insert all known variants on The Odd Couple here). Rampant homophobia hiding behind liberal pleas for tolerance — blech. And it’s…
My friend Michelle met me at Desert Stages the other night to watch its production of Footloose. I think Michelle looks exactly like Jodie Foster during her short-brown-hair period, and when we’re out together and I get bored, I like to pretend Michelle is Jodie Foster and that I’m friends…
Red Dawn: Collector’s Edition (MGM) John Milius’ 1984 war pic was a mighty bonkers release even back then; not since the 1950s had something come down the pike so rife with Commie paranoia. Russian and Cuban forces invade the U.S. with tanks and choppers and the whole shebang, only to…
The last hour of The Darkness is exactly what the game should have been from its opening moments: a magnificent, bloodthirsty mix of firepower and hellish wrath. Playing the role of Jackie Estacado — a hit man who inherited demonic powers via a family curse — you will spend the…
There appears to be a conspiracy afoot, one designed to prevent people of a certain age from forgetting one of the worst movie musicals of all time. And believe me, we’d like to forget Xanadu. But someone — a secret government agency? a group of especially nasty theater queens? —…
Footloose: Kick off your Sunday shoes. No, seriously. Because the stage musical adaptation of Herbert Ross 1984 teen scene flick is back, this time for more than a month at Hale Center Theatre (not to be confused with the Desert Stages production, reviewed on page 46), where teenage rebellion and…
There’s nothing like being in a public place without the public. We’ve achieved this higher state of being twice, and we’re not about to tell you where or how. Find your own deserted public crib to crash. As an example, take the Phoenix Zoo, a facility that’s difficult to navigate…
The Arizona Diamondbacks are great! They suck! They’re great! They suck again! That’s the way it has been for the schizophrenic club and its consistent pattern of win streaks that are quickly erased by a string of goose eggs. The D-Backs will strive for greatness, not sucky-ness, when they open…
Give us a CrackBerry smartphone with notepad and camera, and we’ll still be brainstorming on cocktail napkins, sketching in beach sand, and staring longingly at blank walls, because Homo sapiens’ urge to scribble cannot be sublimated, baby. Fortunately for artists, we also appreciate the doodlings of others. Cassandra Coblentz, associate…
Support your local dive bar! Like, now, folks. With mom-and-pop joints droppin’ like flies in central Phoenix – Chez Nous is apparently moving, Ham’s is bye-bye soon – you’ve gotta fight the powers that be and throw your money at deserving homegrown establishments. So instead of dressing up like a…
Maybe Shane Sittig, owner of the sometimes-performance space known as the Tribe House, lied about the Tribe House Grand Finale. Why else would he book the bloody amazing lineup that includes Djentrification, Sonorous, The Insects, and Panda Smash? If so, he’s a coy fellow. If not, then we’ll soak in…
