Friday, January 25, 2019
22 Great Things to Do in Tucson This Weekend: Jan. 25 to 27
Kristen E. Nelson and Elizabeth Frankie Rollins. Head on over to Antigone to watch these two show off their literary chops! Nelson, a queer writer, performer, literary activist and author of the length of this gap and two chapbooks, will share her poetry. Rollins, who has published in Feminist Wire, Fairy Tale Review, Sonora Review and Conjunctions, is the author of The Sin Eater & Other Stories and a collection of short fiction, a PCC professor and the resident of a pink house. She’ll be sharing some of her work as well. Don’t miss a chance to treat yourself to some of the loveliest literature in town, and support some of our local lit superstars. 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25. Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave. Free. Details here.
Super Gay Party Machine. It’s the moment at least some of you have been waiting for: Tucson’s premiere LGBTQA dance party and show is here! Tempest DuJour hosts, DJ Shorty keeps the tunes going and you’ll get special performances by Häus of K and special guest Z. Throw in some go-go dancers, lots of drink specials and even more dancing on your part and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a Friday night—just add water (’cause, you know, it’s always good to stay hydrated during a night out). 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25. Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. $5, 21+. Details here.
Desert Hawking Classic. If you’re like us, you haven’t been to very many falconry meets. So you’ll just have to take our word for it that it’s one of the finest in the U.S. And just in case you are at all unclear on the definition of falconry, it’s the art and sport of taking wild quarry with trained birds of prey. The sport first came to North America in the early 1900s, though it’s been around for about 4,000 years. Nearly 100 falconers from several states are expected to bring various species of hawks, falcons and even Golden Eagles that have been trained to hunt everything from quail and ducks to eight-pound antelope jack rabbits. Check out the birds and ask falconers questions at two events. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 at Udall Park, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road, Ramadas 8 and 9, and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26 at the north side of the Radisson Hotel, 6555 E. Speedway Blvd. Details here.
Roadrunners vs. Condors. The Tucson Roadrunners face off against the Bakersfield Condors twice this week. And who would root for a big, ugly condor to win against a sweet lil’ roadrunner? Friday night is college night, which means one ticket, two drinks and a hat for just $25, as well as Ladies Night, which features a pregame Chalk Talk and free drinks and snacks sponsored by Genesis OBGYN. Saturday is Superhero Night, where Cox Communications will be giving away Super Dusty Bobbleheads. So take your pick of what night you want to go, but don’t be on the wrong side of history: Root for the Roadrunners all the way. 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25 and 3:05 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26. Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Ave. $10 to $61. Details here.
Where Freedom Begins. Take a break from the constant, dreadful news from our Southern border by viewing the world premiere of this mockumentary. In it, a group of reporters hit the streets of Nogales and Tucson to discuss the freedom of speech and border. Lets just say the production didn’t go as planned. Hosted by Studio ONE: A Space for Art and Activism. Screenings at 7:30 and 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25. 197 E. Toole Ave. Free. Details here.
Animated Arizona. Billed as the “First Purely Animated Short Film Fest in Arizona,” the Animated Arizona Film Festival is taking over the Screening Room. The event includes over a dozen short animated works, all 15 minutes or less! Films include The Good, the Bad and the Cactus, The Hole Family, Good Night, Quantum and more. 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25. 127 E. Congress St. $6. Details here.
Four Shillings Short. Four Shillings Short is a pair of full-time troubadours/folk musicians/artists who have been touring the U.S. and Ireland for more than two decades. Aodh Og O’Tuama plays tinwhistles, Medieval and Renaissance woodwinds, recorders, the Doumbek, the bowed Psaltery and spoons. Plus, he sings in English, Gaelic and French. Christy Martin started studying the North Indian Sitar when she was 15, then added instruments like the hammered dulcimer, the mandolin, the mandola, the bouzouki, the banjo, the guitar, the bodhran, the charango, the bowed psaltery and the ukulele. And she sings in English, Irish and Sanskrit. With a range like that, they’re bound to make at least one sound you’ll enjoy. 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. Solar Culture Gallery’s Galactic Room, 31 E. Toole Ave. $10 to $15 donation. Details here.
Morning at the Museum. It’s the Desert Museum’s first annual Coffee and Tea Event.What do birds and coffee have in common? Find out at the tasty and educational “Morning at the Museum” event. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is hosting a bash filled with food, drinks, music and animals. You’ll get to try out their mimosas, Irish coffees, sweet snacks and more. Participating coffee and tea houses include Purple Tree Organic Açai Blends, Yellow Brick Coffee, Exo Roast Co., Batch Cafe & Bar, and more. Featuring music from desert songman Jacob Acosta. Morning at the Museum tickets include samplings from various coffee, tea, and a sweet snacks vendors, a 12-ounce cup of coffee and pastry, commemorative coffee mug and admission to the museum. 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 26. 2021 N. Kinney Road. $32 presale, $37 day-of. All ages. Details here.
Black Tulip Gala at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Alright you big-spenders, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a cozier, more photogenic place to eat at this week. You’ll get to enjoy music and drinks while dining under the gardens’ mesquite trees or along their shaded pathways. Plus, there will be tulip displays! Who doesn’t love a good tulip? If you’re looking for a fancy evening out and a chance to support the local botanical gardens and a group of artists, look no further than the Tucson Botanical Gardens’ Black Tulip Gala. It celebrates the opening of three nature-inspired exhibits: Living Bronze Sculptures, by Robert J. Wick; The Photographic Art of Kate Breakey, featuring hand-colored photos of black tulips and their growers; and Out of the Woods: Celebrating Trees in Public Gardens, a New York Botanic Gardens Triennial Exhibit featuring 42 works to celebrate trees. Living Vine Entertainment is performing and Gallery of Foods is catering. 5 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. 2150 N. Alvernon Way. $225. Details here.
Reading with Natalia Treviño and Leticia Del ToroKore Press hosts this appearance by two visiting fiction writers that will leave writers, aspiring writers, lovers of literature and most humans feeling inspired. Treviño, in from Texas, is the author of Lavando La Dirty Laundry and the new chapbook VirginX. She’s also a professor at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio. Del Toro, in from California, is a writer, arts activist and teacher who has received honors including the Kore Press Short Fiction Award and a VONA Voices fellowship. She’s completed a short story collection and is at work on a novel. 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. Kore Press, 325 W. Second St., room 201. Suggested donation of $5, no one turned away for lack of funds. Details here.
Carlos Estévez: Entelechy–Works from 1992 to 2018. Carlos Estévez uses his art to explore the way human spirituality intersects with the human experience throughout all of time and history. So we’re talking cosmological, metaphysical, transformational themes. In fact, “entelechy” is a philosophical concept about the transformation of an idea into reality. With everyday objects like encyclopedias, clocks and vials, combined with bold geometric patterns, delicate line art and lots and lots of symbolism, Estévez explores the process of becoming. You’ve enjoyed plenty of art on a visual level, but this work aims to transcend the visual and enter the realm of the mind. Saturday, Jan. 26 through Sunday, May 5. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, 140 N. Main Ave. $12 adults, $10 seniors 65+, $7 college students and youth ages 13 to 17, free for kids 12 and under, veterans and museum members. Details here.
Robert J. Wick: Earth, Life, Man. The Tucson Botanical Gardens knew that Robert J. Wick’s sculptures, all of which carry living plants or trees, needed an exhibition at the gardens as soon as they heard him say, “Until you can grow a tree from your own heart, you’ll never understand the oneness of all things.” I mean, seriously, who just spews beautiful poetry like that? Or how about this? “The flora are not decorations, but are an integral part of the art defining its character by quality, shape and nature of the plants used… My works are a union of art, man and nature.” These beauties will be on display throughout the gardens starting this Saturday, Jan. 26 and through the end of June. Garden hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day, and 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way. $15 adults, $13 students/seniors/military and $8 for kids 4 to 17. Free for members & kids 3 and under. Details here.
Border Cowboys and Border Cowgirls. Jackson Boelts, an art professor at the UA, and Joseph Labate, who chaired the School of Art’s Photography department for 19 years, collaborated on this project to tell the stories of the men and women working on the ranches of Southern Arizona. And they’re doing it (thanks to a grant from the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry) with some truly beautiful art. Boelts created a series of large, abstract watercolor paintings, and Labate captured the subjects in photographic portraits. The result is a series of images that are full of life and color, and worth far more than a thousand words. 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. Amerind Museum, 2100 N. Amerind Road, Dragoon, AZ. Admission is $10 adults, $9 seniors 62 and up, $8 college students, $7 youth 10 to 17 and free for kids
under 10. Details here.American Indian Arts Exposition. 15 days. 10,000 years of culture. 80 tribal nations. An official event of the Tucson Gem Show, this collection of American Indian arts and crafts will feature demonstrations on basket weaving, Hopi crafts, beadwork, traditional Navajo jewelry and custom jewelry making and repair. They’ll also have weekend tribal dancers at the poolside. Whether you’re looking for jewelry, a buffalo skull, a handmade Navajo rug, a dream catcher, artisan pottery, a handmade flute or pretty much anything you can even dream of, you’ll find it here. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26 through Saturday, Feb. 9. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10. Quality Flamingo Ballroom, N. Stone Ave. Open to the public. Details here.
Family Adventure Hour at the Tucson Presidio. Folks at the Tucson Presidio Museum are big believers in hands-on learning. After all, what better way to help you get a grasp on the fact that historical figures were living, breathing people than by living out a little bit of history yourself? The Family Adventure Hour is geared for children ages 4 to 8, and features a tour of the archaic-era pit house, the Presidio barracks and original foundation wall, the millstone, and the mural. Then, an interactive activity will teach a lesson about Tucson’s history and culture. And THEN, everyone gets to color. The kids will enjoy it so much, they won’t even mind that it’s educational. 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. Tucson Presidio Museum, 196 N. Court Ave. Cost included with admission, which is $5 for adults, $1 for kids 6 to 14 and free for kids 5 and under. Details here.
Tombstone: Outdoor Screening at Old Tucson. This special screening of the 1993 classic Tombstone takes place at the same location the film was shot at: Old Tucson! This is your chance to get fully Western, as the screening also includes a pre-show costume contest. The Loft Cinema’s giant inflatable Solar Cinema screen will be placed next to the “Reno locomotive,” which was used in the film. 6 to 8:20 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. 201 S. Kinney Road. $5. Details here.
St. Philip’s Market. Did you know this market is one of the largest in the state? If you’re looking to spend a Saturday morning and early afternoon browsing through and buying handcrafted local jewelry, pottery and art, this might be an event for you. And if items like handmade pasta, delicious baked goods and other food items from local vendors are on your grocery list, you can even get some of your grocery shopping done. And what better place to do it than on top of cobblestones and beneath the shade of Eucalyptus and Sycamore trees? 9 am. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. St. Philip’s Plaza Farmers Market, 4280 N. Campbell Ave. Free. Details here.
Tattoo Pop-Up Party. Want the look and feel of a permanent hand-poke tattoo without the risk of having your drunk friend do it? Try the clean, safe and calm environment of The Ninth House. This Saturday, you can get a tattoo from the custom flash sheet drawn for The Ninth House for just $40, or discuss a small custom design for just five extra bucks. The event is first-come, first-serve, so consider getting there early. And while you wait, you can get an astrology reading! Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. The Ninth House, 236 S. Scott Ave. Details here.
Fine Wines for Felines "Winter Times." You get to drink wine and support cats? What more could you want? Here, you’ll get to sample multiple Arizona wines, and at the same time enjoy hors d’oeuvres. Plus, $10 from every ticket go to the local animal rescue group, Pawsitively Cats. Hosted by the Pawsitively Cats No-Kill Shelter and the Arizona Wine Collective. 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27. 4280 N. Campbell Ave., Suite 155. $25 for wine tastings, raffle tickets extra. Please purchase your ticket online prior to the event. Details here.
Citrus Jubilee at Rillito Park Farmers Market. Celebrate the citrus season at the Rillito Park Farmers Market. The Heirloom Farmers Markets will be selling a sea of citric acid, in the form of local oranges, grapefruits, lemons, tangelos and kumquats. Featuring citrus tastings and education. Plus, when you purchase citrus from the market, you can have it juiced for free. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27. 4502 N First Ave. Details here.
Events compiled by Briannon Wilfong, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: weekend , fun things , movies , art , events , Tucson , farmers markets , music , educational , film , sports , local events , things to do , Image
About The Author
