BIG CITY, BRIGHT LIGHTS: The urban hub kicks in the new year in high gear, when Downtown Saturday Night dishes up everything from street theater to exotic dancers from 7 to 10 p.m. That's exotic as in from a different place, mind you. Under the direction of Francisco Levy, the award-winning Huehuecatolli Aztec dancers offer Native American ceremonial steps--including the Aztec Fire Dance--at the Ronstadt Transit Center. The Evan Dane Duo and The Dueling Idiots (formerly Thee Tragidiots) likewise cause a stir with swashbuckling antics, musical splendor and plenty of yuks in Arizona Alley. Of course, downtown galleries and restaurants will be open to feed both your spirit and your mind. For information, call 624-9977. TOUGH BUDS: Pilgrims from more fertile climes may not fully realize how much gumption a seed needs to make its home in the arid Southwest. But those efforts don't go unnoticed by a dedicated band of local germination aficionados known as Native Seeds/SEARCH. With the goal of gathering seeds that have provided crops for centuries and preserving them for posterity, NS/S staffers have catalogued over 1,300 desert species to date, and the list keeps growing. Those treasured strains are also grown nearby, and the seeds shipped to botanists and other plant fans around the country. The NS/S demonstration garden and educational center are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For information, call 327-9123. TREE SPREE: Every holiday season, Christmas trees are used and then abandoned, only to pile up like sad, post-revelry sentinels on curbs and in dumpsters throughout town, ultimately becoming little more than landfill-clogging detritus. But this year the city is again planning an assault on that unconscionable pattern with its tree recycling program. And once more they need a few altruistic folks with warm duds and a bit of vigor to keep the project flowing along. "In the past, we received criticism because the trees were collected and shredded, but they still ended up in the landfill, to fill in mud holes and things like that," says coordinator Helen McNeal. However, this year "the trees will be shredded, but this time they'll actually be used as compost products by various organizations around Tucson," she says. "They'll truly be recycled, and that's what makes the program so important this time." Residents can bring their cut Christmas trees for recycling to the three Home Depot stores in Tucson between 8 a.m. and noon on Saturday, January 4, and Saturday, January 11. Volunteers will be needed from 7 a.m. to approximately 1 p.m. each of those days. They'll be unloading trees from vehicles and controlling traffic. And they will walk away with a packet of literature about recycling, along with a warm, fuzzy feeling in their little hearts. For information, call 791-5000.

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