There was a time when Disney knew its place. That time has long since passed. Once content to deliver clever cartoons and the occasional film comedy starring Kurt Russell, Disney has begun reading its own press clippings and, puffed up about being “The Happiest Place on Earth!”, wants to rub…
The small Appalachian community of Whitwell, Tennessee, boasts two traffic lights and a population of 1,600, nearly all of them white and Christian. Lying just 100 miles from Pulaski, where the Ku Klux Klan was founded, this now-defunct coal-mining town would seem an unlikely place to find a memorial to…
For those viewers hailing from the lucrative under-6 demographic, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie will prove to be a suitably sweet addition to the Winnie-the-Pooh cinematic canon. The youngest of them certainly won’t recognize the story’s central message — accept others, especially purple elephant-looking creatures with dreadlocks, for who they are –…
Bad Education, the new film by the flamboyant Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, opens on a man sitting at a table, poring over the tabloids for stories of interest. When he finds something he likes, he reads it to his lover: Isn’t this an arresting image? Could we generate drama from…
Believe it or not, there was a time when prepubescent boys didn’t have the luxury of rifling through Dad’s stash of Playboys for a little stimulation. Enter the pinup girl: She was glamorous, she was provocative, and evidently, she was titillating enough to rock the world of many a man…
2/11-3/11 Get your drink on, get your freak on, and get your strap-on, because the 22nd annual Exotic Art Show is back again. “People who like to dress crazy and sexy can come here, and nobody gives them a problem,” says Baron Dixon, one of 60-plus artists exhibiting work in…
Before I get into Halo 2, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, there’s a little matter of The New York Dolls’ new CD, The Return of the New York Dolls: Live From Royal Festival Hall, 2004, on Attack Records. That little matter is: WHAT THE FUCK? Okay, so that Morrissey…
“Brian Alfred: The Future Is Now!” at the Phoenix Art Museum: New York-based artist Brian Alfred ponders corporate culture and rampant industrialization in his latest exhibition. Although Alfred’s retro-futuristic paintings and collages emphasize society’s fascination with the digital age and subsequent sensory overload, his collection of work is surprisingly sensory-friendly…
THU 3 Before 1978, it took more than faith and loyalty to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to become a priest in the Mormon church. Namely, it depended on gender and the color of one’s skin. While males continue to be the gender of choice for LDS leadership, the “revelation”…
When the Valley’s own Jonathan Kaye returns to the FBR Open this week to defend his title against Vijay Singh, he might be swinging with BlueBalls. And it’s entirely possible that, when local favorites Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia grab their shafts this week, there’ll be a naked lady there…
Lawrence McLaughlin, 48, painter, sculptor, part-time resident of France, and relentlessly cheerful former Minnesotan, has plenty to be happy about. His paintings and concrete monumental sculptures (his “babies”) are featured in galleries and private collections the world over, but are created in his “compound,” a vast hunk of rambling desert…
The Reverend Doctor Lady Bishop, “America’s Premier Voodoo Priestess,” wears both a crucifix and a Star of David around her neck. “Voodoo is like gumbo,” she says. “In gumbo, you have a little bit of everything.” Indeed. Bishop, a.k.a. JoAnn Jennings, uses every clairvoyant trick in the book, from tarot…
SUN 2/6 You gotta be from the ‘hood, according to Steve Weiss, to understand Arizona’s — statehood, that is: February 12, 1912, the day the Grand Canyon State joined the Union. “Growing up in Arizona,” says the 48-year-old Valley native, “you knew when statehood was celebrated. You learned about the…
2/4-2/6 Despite whispers of its demise, the OutFar! Lesbian & Gay Film Festival traipses on. Festival director Amy Ettinger thought this year’s event might be the last, and then she was barraged with ticket inquiries and film submissions. “I was looking at the stacks of stuff and almost had a…
“Dude,” says the kid with both his ears pierced, “it’s so obvious you are gay. Why not just come out and say it, you fag? I won’t judge you!” I look at this guy who has turned up at Phoenix’s notorious rip-off of the New York City Motherfucker Party, and…
PARK CITY, UTAH — John Singleton, director of Boyz N the Hood, was all warm grins at the frigid outdoor party on January 22, and with good reason. Hustle & Flow, a movie he produced for 33-year-old writer-director Craig Brewer, was in the process of being sold for $9.5 million…
If you can make it past the first 10 minutes or so of Hide and Seek without busting up laughing, chances are that you’ve never seen a horror movie before in your life. This hack job of a “thriller” may steal from the best, but it does it so badly…
It’s the subtle intrusions that agitate Lara Taubman, the many seemingly small but unrelenting violations the MonOrchid Gallery curator tries to ignore from day to day. Strangers rifling through her luggage at the airport. Video cameras documenting her every move in public spaces. Armed security guards suspiciously observing her shopping…
SAT 2/5 We’ve got some deep divides in the Valley: Republican against Democrat, warmonger versus peacenik. But c’mon, people, now, smile on your brother, everybody get together for the free Unity Walk and Diversity Festival on Saturday, February 5, in Tempe. “Cities sometimes argue over the next mall or where…
WED 2/9 Many a music fan has declared Hank Williams III to be more about image than talent. They’ve accused the Misfits-loving, tattoo-wearing cowpunk of milking the hellbilly persona of a hard-drinkin’, Southern-fried outlaw, labeled him a novelty act, and sentenced him to forever toil in the shadow of grandpappy…
A few months back, I saw some great punk rock here in Phoenix. At The Emerald Lounge, to be exact. The band was called The Wrongsiders, and they were so cool, they played a Dead Boys cover, “Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth” — one of the coolest and…
We’ve lost another one. Last month, the folks at TheatreScape announced that they’re pulling the plug on the rest of their season and on the troupe itself. Small companies like TheatreScape come and go all the time, but the ones that put together shows as worthy as this company’s often…
