As I write this post it’s 52 degrees.
52!
That’s a New England basement, not Downtown Phoenix.
Worry not, fellow Downtowners. If you believe our local weather prognosticators, the generally poopy weather that has plagued us this week will soon be moving out to make way for the glorious sunshine and highs in the mid-70s we’re accustomed to.
Which is fortunate, because Downtown is blessed with a treasure trove of fun things to do this weekend.
THURSDAY
Comic, late-night talk show host, author, vodka lover and self-appointed floozy Chelsea Handler skewers celebrities, friends and family alike in a show at Dodge Theatre.
Since we’re talking about weather, Class 6 Theatre presents It’s Always Sunny In Phoenix, three short plays by award-winning playwright David Ives, who has been making people laugh for 15 years.
FRIDAY
Kobe Bryant and the detestable Lakers bring Showtime to the Valley for a tussle with Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and that Stoudemire fella Suns fans should be thankful the team didn’t trade away for 50 cents on the dollar.
Actors Theatre Company presents Secret Order, a bio-medical psychological thriller about an upstart scientist on the verge of curing cancer. Intrigued? Read Downtown Blogger Liz Fichera’s review here.
SATURDAY
Need to get in shape? People of all fitness levels can head to Civic Space Park for Personal PowerTraining Boot Camp with trainer Scott White at 6:30 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. Boot Camp classes are $10 a person, with multi-class packages available. If you’d rather not go the Biggest Loser route, check out the FREE Community Yoga Project that happens at 10 a.m. every week. Just bring a yoga mat or towel.
Want a part-time job working for the 2010 Census? Representatives will be recruiting workers at the Phoenix Public Market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. While you’re there, grab a Caramel Addiction brownie from Sherrye’s Kitchen.
The finest amateur pugilists in Arizona will be on display at Alice Cooper’stown for Independent Events’ Olympic Style Boxing at 2 p.m.
SUNDAY
Rained out last weekend, the Wheels of Britain car show has been rescheduled for Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Heritage & Science Park.
Adam awakes one morning to find himself alone and locked in a strange, sterile room with four beds. One by one, three more people join him – but nobody knows why they are there. Want to know more? Go see Indivisible at the Herberger at 2 p.m.
There’s no better place to wind down a weekend than at District American Kitchen, where on Sundays bottles of red and white wines are half-priced.
Written by playwright Bob Clyman, SECRET ORDER is the story of a brilliant thirtysomething cell biologist named Dr. William Shumway (Cale Epps) from the University of Illinois who may have discovered the cure for cancer. The discovery leads to a flashy new job at a prestigious cancer-research institute in New York, led by the ambitious Dr. Robert Brock (Mark DeMichele) who practically salivates at the thought of a Nobel Prize. Or any prize. As news of Shumway’s ground-breaking work spreads, a young wide-eyed, overly enthusiastic Harvard University student, Alice Curiton (Jessica Weaver), seems ready to sell her soul for a summer internship with Shumay. Throw in a jealous and sabotaging Dr. Saul Roth (David Vining) at the research institute and you’ve got a play filled with twists and turns that test the will, desire, and integrity of everyone.
While the focus of Art Detour involves exploring the artist studios and galleries, you may also want to pay attention to the public art displays at each of the light rail stations. METRO budgeted $6.3 million for the features you see incorporated in the station platforms, each one unique to the neighborhood where the station is situated. According to the METRO Web site:
- The missing pieces of art at the McDowell station are due to a sudden death during construction.
6 p.m. — Pamela Carvajal Drapala reads her poem, ”Following My Heart’s Desire”
So in order not to frown, visit the 52nd 
Also, nosh on frybread, posole and other Native foods, or grab a burger or hot dog and enjoy two stages of entertainment, ranging from acclaimed international recording artist R. Carlos Nakai and his “Wilde Boys” trio to traditional Native dance performances. Thanks to a partnership with Canyon Records, enjoy a second stage featuring some of the best Native musicians around!
This weekend, one of the Big Daddy’s of them all is coming to Downtown Phoenix. On Saturday, February 27th, CitySolve Urban Race will take you and a team partner on a crazy quilt adventure across the Valley.
I was excited to finally see [title of show] at the Herberger Theatre on opening night, especially after having interviewed the monstrously talented Lauren Lebowitz, one of the musical’s stars, earlier in the month. Going in, I knew that the show would be the real-life story of two, out-of-work New York actors in 2004 who decided to write a musical about two, out-of-work New York actors who decided to write a musical. The fast-paced, hilarious, and yet subtly serious story follows these two quirky actors and their two equally-quirky best friends as they navigate from the unemployment line to creating a major Broadway hit.
Biddle and Lynch began collaborating on each other’s plays via email and the result is a double bill, Tangelico/A Cube with a View, now playing at 
Her Secret is Patience
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Say what you will about the floating sculpture in Downtown Phoenix, but it’s magnificent. I’ve heard it referred to as a jellyfish, a uterus, a travesty, beautiful, bold, stupid, a waste. It was installed on March 18, 2009 and even when it was just a rendering it caused such a hullabaloo between people (like me) defending it and people who wanted to see it never happen. It’s fascinating that before the sculpture was even it up it caused so much dialogue but that is exactly what public art should do: bring people together to discuss ideas. Downtown Phoenix is lacking in quality public space and this piece was designed to be part of a new park that was under construction. The park is now open and is next to a light rail station, the new ASU Downtown campus, and Central Station in the heart of Downtown. (Local blogger Yuri Artibise wrote about the pros and cons of the park in a piece here.)
Overall, I like the park and think it has the potential to become a destination, and the floating sculpture will be a main driver behind that. I predict the sculpture will become iconic, something that people who visit the city will go home and say, “You’ll never believe what I saw in Phoenix.”
Art, by definition, should say something. This sculpture says that Phoenix is a city willing to think outside the box and is ready to grow up and have its own identity. Creating such a unique pedestrian location, not on the fringes of the city, but smack-dab in the middle is an achievement of people thinking smart and big and is a major step forward for a city so dependent on cars.
The City of Phoenix has an interesting past with public art. During the construction of the 51, a lot of money was spent installing public art along the freeway. The art consisted of oversized ceramic pots on the side of a major road. I have one main objection: the art was on the side of a major road! A person cannot truly appreciate art while flying by it at 65+ mph and giving it an accidental glance.
But Her Secret is Patience is in a public park that people can get to by walking or taking the light rail. It’s in a park where the community can gather and relax and sit under trees and read and throw a football.
I hope this will be a catalyst that brings more people with vision to Phoenix because the city needs better vision and new ideas. We need better architecture, pedestrian friendly streets, and reasons to be downtown. Her Secret is Patience is just the beginning.
Tags: ASU Downtown, civic space park, downtown phoenix, Her Secret is Patience, METRO light rail
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