Thursday 4
GALLERY GAMBOL. Drop in and see the displays at El Centro Cultural, Salon Q, Studio 113 and Etherton Gallery during tonight's Tucson Arts District ArtWalk.
The Broadway route--the tour begins at 5:30 p.m.--also includes stops at Access Tucson Gallery, Kathryn Wilde Studio and Light Ray Studio.
The ArtWalk is a free guided tour and includes talks by artists. Other walks in the downtown area this month are scheduled for January 11, 18 and 25.
Tonight, Susan K. Johnson, a painter and sculptor at Studio 113, will present an art talk. A reception is 5 to 5:30 p.m., followed by the walk, which takes about two hours. For more information, call 624-9977.
OF HOPE AND FREEDOM. The poignant stories of three immigrants who arrived in America on the same day in 1922 are interwoven in Coming Through: Ellis Island Revisited!
The one-act play at Tucson's Invisible Theatre reveals the struggles of a few of the millions of people who entered the United States between 1892 and 1954. All of them came through Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York.
The brave and often desperate people who crowded the station came from all over the world hoping to find a better life. Some had been told the streets were paved of gold. The immigrants spent an average of five hours on the island, but many were detained for weeks, and thousands were deported.
Ellis Island came to represent the hope and freedom for those courageous enough to create new lives in America.
The recollections of the play's three immigrants are focused on their journeys to a new home, their experiences on the island and their lives as new Americans.
The production, adapted by Wynn Handman of New York City's American Place Theatre, is a special event during the Invisible Theatre's 30th-anniversary season. The play begins at 7:30 tonight. Other performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for the play are $10. Tickets may be may be ordered by phone or purchased at the theater office, 1400 N. First Ave. For more information, call 882-9721.
HIGH NOTES. Thomas Stacy, called "a poet among craftsmen" by Leonard Bernstein, unpacks his English horn tonight for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's Radiant Music.
The orchestra's fifth classic concert features the works of Rossini, Rorem and Brahms. Stacy, principal English horn player with the New York Philharmonic, is making his TSO debut. He'll play the Concerto for English Horn written for Stacy by American composer Ned Rorem.
Stacy's rise to orchestra fame is a quirky one. He grew up in Augusta, Ark., a town of 3,000. When he was in junior high school, he sold his motorcycle and used the money to buy his first English horn. It was a good move.
Hailed as the "Heifetz of the English horn" by the New York Times, Stacy has performed solo more than 60 times with the New York Philharmonic, and has been guest soloist with the National Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic. He has performed in Europe with Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, among others.
Tonight's performance, conducted by George Hanson, includes Johannes Brahms' Fourth Symphony, which has been described as "autumnal." Fitting, since it was Brahms' last symphony. It presents a pathos, austerity and seriousness not found in his other symphonies.
Performances at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall are at 8 p.m. today and Friday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 to $32 for the evening performances and $6 to $20 for the matinee. Call the TSO box office at 882-8585, or visit the box office at 2175 N. Sixth Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster, 321-1000, or at outlets at Robinsons-May and Wherehouse Music. Pre-concert talks by Hanson begin at 7 p.m. and are free to ticket holders.
Friday 5
EVEN THE KITCHEN SINK. A $16,000 dream kitchen will be given to one lucky person who attends the Arizona State Home and Garden Show.
If you're not that lucky, at least you can get something to eat because this year the best chefs of Tucson join the home show.
Nibble on a variety of food prepared by the city's finest cooks as you watch a steel framed house being built or take a peek at the ultimate treehouse. The show also features great landscaping displays, celebrity appearances and prizes, including a complete set of windows for your house worth up to $8,000.
An estate sale will continue throughout the three-day event. An assortment of furnishings and collectibles from all over the world will be available.
The show at the Tucson Convention Center is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $6. Kids under 16 are free. Check out www.americanshow.com for discount coupons.
EMILY'S STORY. Dickinson devotees won't want to miss The Belle of Amherst.
The funny, touching play at Live Theatre Workshop is autobiographical, a charming story of Emily Dickinson's life as she saw it.
Jan Aalberts, who has appeared on the stages of Old Pueblo Playwrights and Desert Players, stars in the show, which runs through January 28.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 for adults, $11 for students and seniors. Live Theatre Workshop is located at 5317 E. Speedway Blvd. For more information, call 327-4242.
OLD PUEBLO, NEW PLAYS. Love, war and a white girl who thinks she's Martin Luther King reincarnated.
Old Pueblo Playwrights presents three days on the stage with productions that include The Viola's Love Song, The White Garden, Escaping Father and Following Star.
The 11th annual New Play Festival begins tonight with The Viola's Love Song, a full-length play by Rich Amada. Classical musicians engage in romantic disharmony when an insecure violist falls in love with a married violinist who has an unsavory secret.
On Saturday, Adrienne Perry's The White Garden revels in historical fancy in which Vita Sackville-West is having a bad day.
Escaping Father by Earl Wettstein on Sunday is a story that takes place in 1942, with World War II as a backdrop. A disabled WWI vet, struggling in a personal war with drugs and alcohol, loses his domineering grip on his family.
Finally, Following Star may be the weekend's most intriguing production. It's a one-act play by Brian Bryson in which a delusional 11-year-old girl tries to keep the dreams of Martin Luther King alive in a world that includes her wannabe standup comic father, her Vicodan-addicted mother and her John Wayne-in-a-diaper grandpa.
The plays begin at 7:30 tonight and Saturday; Escaping Father is at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, followed by Following Star and three mini plays by Joan Van Dyke at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5, or $12 for a festival pass. All performances are at the Cabaret Theatre in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. For more information, call Marc Goldfeder at 529-2937.
Saturday 6
TWILIGHT 'ZONA. Jane Eppinga, a Tucson writer of the area's rich cultural history, will be signing copies of Arizona Twilight Tales: Good Ghosts, Evil Spirits and Blue Ladies.
Twilight Tales is a collection of spooky legends and folk tales passed through generations in the Southwest. Stories include those surrounding the phantom appearances on Route 66 and the haunted Birdcage Theatre in Bisbee.
During her visit Saturday to Reader's Oasis, Eppinger also will sign Images of America: Tucson, Arizona, a fascinating photo essay detailing Tucson's evolution from wild frontier to thriving city. Included are never-before-published photos of cowboy star Tom Mix and gangster John Dillinger.
The signing is 2 to 4 p.m. at Reader's Oasis, 3400 E. Speedway Blvd., No. 114. For more information, call 319-7887.
VIVA VIVALDI. An all-Baroque program featuring the sonatas of composers Barriere, Vivaldi, Handel and Bach will raise money to restore San Pedro Chapel.
Janet Anthony, cello, and Paula Fan, harpsichord, perform with Zoran Stilin, also on cello. Anthony and Fan have performed throughout the United States, and in South America, China and Europe.
The concert begins at 3 p.m. today at the chapel. Tickets are $10. Seating is limited. For reservations, call 326-6042.
Sunday 7
BEST BIKES? Whether you like the sleek styling of a Suzuki crotch rocket or the potato-potato-potato idling of a Harley, you'll want to check out Kickstart Grill's first motorcycle show of 2001.
The show, held in the Bear Canyon Center parking lot, features a great range of bikes, small to big, foreign and domestic.
Proud owners compete for trophies and plaques in eight categories: best of show, American big twin, foreign cruiser, tourer, Sportster, sportbike and foreign and American classics (1980 or older). Owners can enter their bikes between 12:30 and 2 p.m. Saturday.
Entries will be on exhibit beginning at 2 p.m. The band Day Job entertains throughout the afternoon. The event is free. Kickstart is located at 8987 E. Tanque Verde Road. For more information, call 760-3013.
GOLDEN ERA DUO. France-based mandolin virtuoso Richard Walz and pianist Mari Tomizuka will perform a program of seldom-heard classical treasures.
Today's concert features an enchanting repertoire of Italian and German masters, including Rafaelo Calace and Vincent Neuling. But Walz and Tomizuka won't ignore Beethoven in the performance at Pima Community College Center for the Arts.
The ensemble originally began performing in Europe as a Baroque violin and fortepiano duo. Walz has since rediscovered a fascination for mandolin and Tomizuka has moved back to Tucson from her home of two decades in the Netherlands, but the two still work together on both sides of the Atlantic.
The concert at the PCC Proscenium Theatre begins at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 for seniors and $5 for children under 5. Tickets are available at the box office, 2202 W. Anklam Road, or by calling 206-6988.
Monday 8
MEMORY LANE. The state's most memorable people, places and events come to life in a one-hour guided tour at the Arizona Historical Society Museum.
The twice-a-week free tours are narrated by museum docents. Tours begin at 2 p.m. every Monday and Friday. Simply show up in the lobby of the museum, 949 E. Second St. Parking is available at Second Street and Euclid Avenue. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 628-5774.
Tuesday 9
SERIOUS THEATER. Helping young people cope with the impact of drug and alcohol abuse is the focus of the play Coming To.
Cast members reach out in live theater and peer discussions, speaking about subjects they know only too well. The production marks the beginning of a third season.
The play begins at 7:30 p.m. at Berger Center for the Performing Arts, 1200 E. Speedway Blvd. Admission is free. For group reservations, or for more information, call 881-3447.
Wednesday 10
MIND MAINTENANCE. Ever walked into a room to retrieve something, then forgotten what you were looking for? Been happening more often as the years go by?
The effects of age on memory have thus far been hard to peg. But lately some researchers are challenging the notion that memory loss is inevitable. Speakers at the fourth annual Arizona Senior Academy Conference will present views on aging and memory.
Dr. Lynn Nadel, head of the University of Arizona's Department of Psychology, is among the speakers at the conference, which starts today at the Hilton Tucson East.
"We're doing research utilizing a new technique--functional magnetic resonance imaging--that provides a window into the working brain," said Nadel, who added that her research group includes members from radiology, speech and hearing sciences, optical sciences and neurosciences.
The four-day conference isn't cheap--$250 for Arizona Senior Academy members, $350 for non-members--so don't forget your wallet. To register, or for more information, call 647-0171.
