Good morning, Tempe. The heat warning holds through 8 PM Sunday with afternoon highs of 103 to 111, so the indoor picks below earned their spots.
- 🎸 Three shows in three nights at Marquee. Tom Petty tribute tonight, Pepper on Friday, LUCKI on Saturday.
- 🛍️ Parkside Pop Up Market is back Saturday. Vendors at 1801 S. Cutler Dr.
- 📚 Tempe Public Library runs five programs Thursday through Saturday. Therapy dogs, butterflies, LEGO robotics, and a writers' group.
- 🎓 SAT testing Saturday at Mountain Pointe. Doors at 7 AM.
- 🏠 Tempe homes are taking about 54 days to sell right now.
- 🎤 Martin Lawrence, Atmosphere, and Hermanos Espinoza all play the Valley tonight.
Marquee books three nights in a row
Marquee Theatre at the north end of the Mill Avenue District runs a show every night from tonight through Saturday, all of it indoors while the heat warning sits over the Valley.
Key facts
- Tonight: The Broken Hearts, a Tom Petty tribute.
- Friday, 7 PM: Pepper and The Movement, High Tide Summer Tour.
- Saturday, 7:30 PM: LUCKI, hip-hop.
- Where: 730 N. Mill Ave.
Rock tribute, reggae rock, and rap in 72 hours is a fair sample of what the room books in a normal week. The streetcar's Mill Avenue loop puts the door within a short walk, which beats circling for a space on a show night.
Next ticketed date at Yucca Tap Room, the other long-running room in town at 29 W. Southern Ave.: Cancerslug on September 1.
The weekend
Thursday
- 🐕 Paws 2 Read at Tempe Public Library, 3:30 PM. Finn and Roxy are registered therapy dogs. Sign-ups start at 3:15 in the Learning Lab, 10-minute slots, free.
- 🧠 Two trivia nights, both weekly. Recess at 2000 E. Rio Salado Pkwy. and Fat Tuesday at 680 S. Mill Ave.
- 🎙️ Powerful Voices Open Mic. Music, comedy, and poetry on one bill.
Friday
- 🦋 Mini STEAMers at the library, 10 AM. Butterfly life cycle and pollinators, built for ages 0 to 5.
- ✍️ Writers Connection, 2 PM. Free critique group for adults, every other Friday, all levels.
- 🤖 Lego Lab, 4 PM. LEGO Education SPIKE robotics for ages 6 to 11.
Saturday
- 🛍️ Parkside Pop Up Market at 1801 S. Cutler Dr. Local vendors, south of Broadway off Hardy.
- 🎶 Music trivia at Social Hall. Dinner plus a game show format. T-shirts for winners, door prizes for everyone else.
Around Tempe
🏠 Homes in Tempe are taking about 54 days to sell. That is the current median time on market, with 167 new listings and 138 sales in the most recent reporting period.
📺 12News dug up its 2002 Tempe tape. Haunted hotels, the peak of telemarketer complaints, and an Ohio State bar in town. Good background noise on a 110-degree afternoon.
🌵 Fall programming at Desert Botanical Garden is on sale. It is in Phoenix at Papago Park, not Tempe, but Visit Tempe is pushing all three: the Great Fall Kickoff Festival, the Halloween-season Strange Garden, and Music in the Garden on select dates in October and November.
From the schools
📝 SAT testing Saturday at Mountain Pointe, 7 AM. One of the six high schools in Tempe Union High School District (TUHSD). Check the school calendar for reporting instructions before Saturday morning.
🔧 Snacks and Chats with EVIT, Saturday at 1 PM. Staff from the East Valley Institute of Technology walk teens 12 to 18 through its career and technical programs at Tempe Public Library. Free, snacks included.
Around the Valley
Three picks worth leaving Tempe for tonight.
🎤 Atmosphere & Friends at The Van Buren, downtown Phoenix. The Minneapolis rap duo has been touring for a quarter century and rarely plays a room this size. Light rail runs there from Tempe.
🎺 Hermanos Espinoza at Arizona Financial Theatre. The LINAJE Tour, downtown Phoenix, doors this evening.
😂 Martin Lawrence at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler. Thursday, August 20 at 8 PM. Take I-10 south from south Tempe.