Beer! Beer! Plus Beer! Practice saying “Weisswurst” (white sausage) and you’re revved up and ready to go for CityScape’s Oktoberfest event.
This Saturday and Sunday, October 22nd and 23rd, CityScape’s big, open mall will be hoppin’ with live music and dancing, the aroma of sausages and sauerkraut, and tables stacked with steins of cold German beer.
If you’re nuts for beer, especially authentic German beer, Oktoberfest will feature beers and breweries that have been making people happy for centuries. The Weihenstephan Brewery, for example, was founded in Bavaria in 768. Just think of it: 768 A.D. Everyone’s favorite beverage preceded the printing press, telephones, blue jeans and Monday Night Football.
You can also sample Spaten Oktoberfest Beer, created in 1872 for the world’s first Oktoberfest, plus Bitburger Premium Pils, from a brewery founded in 1817. Tim Hughes, the lucky guy in charge of selecting the beers says, “Our goal is to deliver beers that you would find at Oktoberfest in Germany to make this the most authentic experience this side of the Atlantic.”
A Munich-style feast is in the works, along with live, on-stage entertainment and a dance floor. Presented by Phoenix Sister Cities, this is the first of many big events planned for CityScape.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 1st, for only $10 per person, or you can pick up free tickets in advance at the following CityScape businesses: Lucky Strike Lanes; 5 Guys Burgers; Gold’s Gym; CVS Pharmacy; Designer District; Par Exsalonce Salon and West of Soho.
Come and raise a glass or three to the first launch party at CityScape, as Downtown continues to bust out some new moves. Cheers, everyone.
May’s Spring Fling crawl brought together more than 750 people who had a whopping good time (and hopefully, remembered it the next day). Next Saturday’s event will be even bigger, with a record number of pubs participating. Each location will offer drink/food specials exclusive to Pub Crawlers. See below for a full list, but first, here’s a quick look-see at a few of the locations:
First up: Jerry Seinfeld. Even in re-runs, his show never gets old. But if you’d like to hear Jerry perform some brand-new material, hop online now and get tickets for his return to the 
The show features terrific dance numbers and the classic songs that Fred and Ginger brought to beautiful, heart-stopping life. See it Oct. 4-24 at the 
Wine Tasting at the 
Thanks to Target, the 
I know plenty of people who are fascinated by eight-legged critters and will rush over to see the spider exhibit from the ASU Spider Lab. I’ll be avoiding it like the terrified, overgrown child I really am. But, the rest of this event should make for spine-tingling fun, this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But in a welcome twist, a new version of Grease is opening this week with actors who are about the same age as the characters they play. From Aug. 13-29, 
Robert Plant & The Band of Joy
Sure, it’s fun to watch stuff blow up. But this July 4th weekend, there’s also an explosion of things to do: live music and nightclubbing, comedy slams and ways to amuse your kids.
If you’d prefer to be fully dressed while drinking, check out the 
Big Mural at Valley Youth Theatre
Monday, October 25th, 2010Another huge mural graces Downtown Phoenix, on the Valley Youth Theater’s corporate office at 807 N. 3rd Street. Roy Frank Sproule III, an avionics technician with the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Luke AFB, west of Phoenix, came upon the 69 x 11 foot wall during one of Phoenix’ famous First Fridays in 2007. He had never painted a large-scale mural on his own but, after spending six months putting a portfolio together, he approached the staff at the theater and his idea was met with enthusiasm.
He began painting in March 2008 and spent 17 months working on the mural, all while working at his full-time job in the Air Force. He donated his time (2,000 hours) and his own money to the project in order to build his profile.
Roy was given 20 years of photographs of the Valley Youth Theatre’s productions and, from these, he made a collage of over 50 photographs to fill the 759-square-foot wall. He then outlined the shapes with charcoal dust, a technique used by fresco painters during the Renaissance, using perforated patterns created in Photoshop. Interesting that his technique used technologies spanning centuries.
I’m embarrassed to say that I only recognize a few of the productions represented as theater is not my main cultural interest. Can you identify them?
There are several articles on this project, including Roy’s views of what a mural should mean to a community–he thinks the community should benefit by it–and the artist’s role in creating it. Here is another and at this site is a list of several more.
Roy has another large mural in Downtown Phoenix, finished just this last August, that I’ll write about in my next mural post.
Tags: downtown, downtown phoenix, downtown phoenix events, downtown phx, First Friday, Murals, phoenix, phoenix art, phoenix events, Roy Sproule, Valley Youth Theater
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