Sat 10/18 You deserve a breakdance today. The ASU Hip Hop Coalition boogies into Burton Barr Library’s Teen Central this Saturday, October 18, for a hip-hop hoedown. From 2 to 4 p.m., DJ demos set the beat as breakdancers, graffiti artists and freestylers take to the floor, and participants ages…
10/18-10/19 The first Rastafarian, Leonard Howell, said, “Everyone, regardless of race or religion, is a Rasta deep within.” Get together with the rest of mon-kind at the 5th Annual Legends of Rasta Reggae Festival Tour (formerly the Annual Bob Marley Festival Tour) from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, October 18,…
10/16-10/19 Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Arizona Opera’s opener — except for the duet Au Fond Du Temple Saint, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is relatively unknown. The story, set in Sri Lanka, is full of twists, as estranged friends Zurga and Nadir must decide what to do…
Several years ago, I was soundly excoriated in the pages of this newspaper by a seriously disaffected letter writer from the arts community. She was incensed about a review I wrote concerning a downtown art gallery event that I found less than, shall we say, aesthetically enriching. In fact, she…
In a town where every arts organization is struggling to stay afloat, who would risk bankrolling an experimental, ethnocentric theater company devoted to producing the work of a single playwright? And who but a lunatic would invest in a theater company run by a man who refuses to promote the…
It’s beginning to look as though the films of George Clooney are less the works of fiction than the products of documentary crews following around the actor leading his enviable life. In film after film, he’s seen dining with beautiful actresses in gorgeous surroundings perfectly lighted for an evening’s seduction:…
The opening credits insist Kill Bill: Volume 1 is “Quentin Tarantino’s 4th film,” when it’s actually his 3.5th; it’s too incomplete to be measured as a whole, half a movie waiting for a proper ending due to arrive in the next volume in February. Until then we’ll have to contemplate…
Having already produced a book (Disco Bloodbath) and directed a “shockumentary” (Party Monster) about the “Club Kids” scene that rose brightly and fell murderously in New York in the late ’80s/early ’90s, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) would seem to have said their piece…
Rawhide laces up an intimate Western venue with all the right gear — free admission, a “No quiche” restaurant, and the occasional Main Street shoot-out. Bucking Thunder prices run from $15 to $50. At the early Saturday performance, one child 12 and under gets in free with each paying adult. Tim and Willy set you back another $5 if purchased with rodeo tickets, or $15 separately. Chris LeDoux’s concert is $10 with a rodeo ticket or $20 separately. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, 480-784-4444 or www.ticketmaster.com. Rawhide camps at 23023 North Scottsdale Road at Pinnacle Peak Road, two miles north of the 101 Freeway in Scottsdale. For more information, call Rawhide at 480-502-1880.
Thursday, October 9 Now on the fourth leg of their gigantic U.S. tour, The Red Hot Chili Peppers rock Phoenix with The Flaming Lips and punk legend Mike Watt on Thursday, October 9. The superstar lineup clearly has a wild mix of styles, but one thing all the acts have…
“These pieces — well, they’re kind of strange,” laughs choreographer and former Arizona State University dance teacher Marion Kirk Jones. “But don’t put that in the article.” By “strange,” Jones means diverse works ranging from Arachne, about the weaver who dared to challenge Athena and was turned into a spider…
Thu 10/9 Between numerous guerrilla film projects, microcinema events and the Phoenix Film Festival (devoted to low-budget features and short films), Phoenix is becoming a haven for indie filmmaking. So this city has the perfect readership for the latest book by cult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman, Make Your Own Damn Movie:…
Sat 10/11 If we learned anything in Gamma Delta Phi, it’s that fish don’t like beer. Since the usual Oktoberfestivities won’t do, the mayor, along with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department and Arizona Game and Fish, present Octoberfish, a morning of free fun to usher in fishing weather from…
10/10-10/12 When you bring the entire Titanic onto the Herberger stage and sink it to music, people start suspecting you are more than the average children’s theater — which is fine with Bobb Cooper, artistic director of Valley Youth Theatre and director of its latest offering, Charlotte’s Web. “We look…
Fri 10/10 You know the ladies at The Biz as the ones who serve the drinks, spin the beats, or bounce the ruffians and check IDs. But you can glimpse a different side of the staff from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, October 10, at the first ever Ain’t NOBODY’s…
10/10-10/12 Joe Rogan thinks he’s funny, though you may not know it from his poker-faced persona as host of NBC’s Fear Factor. Rogan, who formerly appeared in the sitcom NewsRadio alongside Phil Hartman and Andy Dick, and is now a rookie host of The Man Show on Comedy Central, professes…
If your name ends in a vowel and your people came over in steerage a hundred years ago, you will almost certainly find yourself in the kitchen these days, wooden spoon in hand, plum tomatoes draining in the colander, thoughts drifting between sweet nostalgia and the malaise of indefinable loss…
Founded in 1993 by Venezuelan dancer Maria Eugenia Barrios and Israeli dancer Offer Zaks, the Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas is becoming one of the most innovative dance companies in South America. And it’s not surprising, considering both of its founders have worked with dancers such as Alvin Ailey and Anna…
Thursday, October 2 Steve Martin’s first full-length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, debuted off-Broadway to critical acclaim in 1995. Set in 1904 in a Parisian cafe, the humorous play tells the story of a hypothetical meeting between two 20th-century geniuses, Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein, when they were both…
Afros and dreadlocks and conks and weaves, relaxer and straightener and perm endpapers and picks, cornrows and braids and beads . . . all of these styles, products and elements of African-American hair are examined and analyzed through the prism of art in the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s latest…
Sun 10/5 “I think there’s somewhat of a hunger for things to do downtown,” says Don Hamill, event coordinator for the Rainbows Festival, downtown’s gay and lesbian street fair. As proof, Hamill cites the turnout for last year’s celebration, the first time Rainbows Festival was held. “The reality is, you…
Sat 10/4 What is it, girl? Barktoberfest? Go fetch your costume! This Saturday, October 4, Friends for Life Animal Sanctuary presents its annual canine carnival and dog wash from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cooley Park in Mesa. Gilbert police demonstrate how K-9 officers catch the bad guys, and…
