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 Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 2
VISIONARY STROLL. Proving there's far more to downtown than noisy bus stations, pierced noses and wiener stands, the Tucson Arts District Partnership offers yet another Thursday Night Art Walk, formulated to "take in the rich diversity of the Tucson art scene." The trek uncovers artistic styles including contemporary, regional, Native American and folk, with visits to galleries and even peeks behind the creative curtain in working studios. Also noted are groovy urban eateries and retailers, all revealing Tucson's eclectic soul to be anything but mall-bound. Walks can be self-guided or docent-led. Tours begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Santa Rita Park Inn lobby, 88 E. Broadway. Walking shoes are recommended. Call 624-9977 for information. LITTER BOX LAUGHS. The Central Arts Collective chuckles as more than 30 artists from California, Washington, Montana and Arizona team up in my pet, an exhibit described as "a serio/comic/emotional/ conceptual look" at our furry companions. "We made this open to artists throughout those states," says the Collective's Gail Hewlett, "and we ended up with 50 pieces of work. As for the name, it is silly, sure. But since everything so often seems so serious, we just wanted to do something kind of funny." The exhibit runs through January, with an opening reception Saturday, January 4, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Central Arts Collective, 188 E. Broadway. Regular gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Thursday Art Walks and Downtown Saturday Nights. Call 325-6504 for information.
Friday 3
The staged readings include Jesse Greenberg's Pushing the Envelope, three mini-plays by Rich Amada, Carol Saturansky's Irrational Geographic, Stuart Bousel's Rumpelstiltskin and Sybil Duus Needham's Mirror of the Past. Needham says her contribution is about a ghost who lives in a local museum. "Actually it's the Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House downtown. And the ghost is real." The festival is the latest offering by Old Pueblo Playwrights, which Needham says has existed "for eight or nine years. Basically, it's a support group for people who write plays, present them, and then critique each other's work afterwards." Performances are 7:30 tonight, 2 and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at the Tucson Center for Performing Arts, 40 E. 14th St. Tickets are $4 for each performance, or $16 for the entire festival. For information, call 297-3384. GIMME SHELTER. You've definitely slammed into the Golden Years when dinette sets and pastel commodes make you frisky. If that's the case, might as well give up the ghost and head on down to the Tucson Home and Garden Show, underway at the Tucson Convention Center. And in a cool little twist, American Homes, the sponsoring organization, has donated funds to Habitat for Humanity and the Tucson Shalom House. "This show will be highlighting lots of new things," says American Homes co-owner Richard Rossland. "Let's just say I don't think you'd want to venture in there without your checkbook." A water filtration system and a set of solar screens will be offered as door prizes, alongside how-to seminars, cameos by the Biosphere 2 staff and hundreds of displays detailing the good life's most minute aspects. Event runs from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the TCC, 260 S. Church. Tickets are $5.50, with free admission to children under age 16. Call 791-4101 for information.
Saturday 4
JUST IN TIME. Keenly aware that Armageddon may be breathing down our oblivious necks, the eccentric The People Who Do That troupe attempt to sidestep fate with their presentation of Big Larry. "You've seen us tame lions, eat fire, charm snakes and do our laundry (without soap!)," The People say. "Now, ye mortals, bear witness to our unholy spawn." That haunted offspring turns out to be none other than large Lawrence, in this raucous spoof of trash television. Part video, part live sketches, the production sees Larry landing a heavy-hitting host for his big show, which turns out to be Tucson's own infamous Fish Karma. And the rest is short-lived history. Performance is 8 p.m. at the Temple of Music and Art Cabaret Theatre, 330 S. Scott Avenue. Tickets are $9, $7 for students and artists. For information, call 622-2823.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal calls him "the real deal. At only 25, Zinn sounds like he came out of a time machine marked 'Chicago, 1950.' His singing has the kind of effortless Roy Brown demeanor that no one, black or white, has today." Tonight Zinn comes to Tucson as part of the Rialto Theatre benefit concert series, with funds earmarked for renovating the campy old hall. Performance is 9 p.m. in the Rialto Cabaret, 201 E. Broadway. Tickets are $5 and available at Hear's Music. For information, call 740-0126. TINY TUNES. Little ones turn out en masse when the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's Piano Trio presents Just For Kids, part of their ongoing Downtown Saturday in the Arts District series. Joined by tunesmith John Denman, the trio performs a new musical fable by Michael Fan, based on a children's story. Audience members can also tap their own nubile imaginations with the help of TSO's Magical Musical Story Machine. Free performances are 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Avenue. Call 792-9155 for details.
Sunday 5
Seers galore will be on hand to shed a little light on those and other troubling queries at the Renaissance Psychic Fair. These elite potentates of portent can answer your questions concerning money, love, family and that niggling little topic known as life. You'll also be welcome to travel to the Middle Ages inside the sultan's tent, shuffle the deck on your own demise, or ask the Highland Seer whether Mt. Graham's scopes could ultimately face completion. The predictable action runs from noon to 5 p.m. at Chivalry Sports Renaissance, 7718 E. Wrightstown Road. Admission is free. Call 722-1255 for information. DEL BAC-ON. The White Dove of the Desert was nearly a scrawny badlands turkey before Patronato San Xavier--also known as Pals of the Mission--started raising cash for a desperately needed facelift several years ago. Lots of glad-handing and a couple of million bucks later, the old Dove is looking great. Northernmost in a string of missions founded by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in the 1700s, San Xavier is considered among the finest examples of Spanish mission architecture still standing. It's also home to stunning religious murals and figures, now all gleaming under ongoing restoration. And a newly opened museum, devoted to the area's indigenous people, is adjacent to the church. San Xavier is open to visitors 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Drive south on I-19 to exit 19, turn west and follow the signs. Call 294-2624 for information.
Monday 6
However, in a brief, highly scientific poll, we recently discovered those alleys of antiquity are still thick as thieves throughout Tucson. And--clutch yer livers--Golden Pin Lanes, 1010 W. Miracle Mile, now hosts Monday Madness, the zany element coming from endless beers for a thin quarter from 9 p.m. to midnight. "Actually, we all call it drunken insanity," says Golden staffer Paul Litten. "But just the employees say that. It cost five bucks to get in, and then 25-cent beers from there. It can get pretty, uh, crazy." If you're looking for a more sedate sports setting, Tucson Bowl, 7020 E. 21st St., may be your spot, says a hard-working Phil Stevenson. "We have open bowling from nine to midnight Mondays for only $1.85 a game. Sometimes we get busy. Still, I can't say it ever quite gets out of hand."
Tuesday 7
ABSTRACTION AND ASPHALT. Arizona's basin and range backdrop provides one artist's muse, while others work deeply into the fabric of ritual and nature's geometry in a show now on display at the Dinnerware Contemporary Art Gallery. Innovative three-dimensional artist John Davis taps a feature of Arizona's landscape called "sky islands" for inspiration--they're spots where mountain highlands have distinctly different bio-systems than surrounding desert lowlands. From them he carries away images to be transformed by asphalt torn from roadways and dead wood from forests, then manipulated into distinct designs. Monica Jost uses a more common medium--paper--to explore the countless origins of ritual and belief, and how those practices evolve through time. The result is deeply layered, complex works tracing that evolution in its historical perspective. Abstracted from nature and rising from primitive geometric forms, Cindi Lukes' paintings spring from sculpturally textured spaces, reworked until the necessary distance from direct interpretation is complete. Works by the three artists are on display through February 1 at the Dinnerware Contemporary Art Gallery, 135 E. Congress. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. Thursday. For information, call 792-4503.
Wednesday 8
URBAN ROOTS. Let's put it thusly: If a rose were called something else, like a pude or a runch or a gank, would it still smell pretty good? Not sure on that one, but there are a few things the gardeners extraordinaire from the Pima County Cooperative Extension do know about the heavenly flora; and they're willing to sprout the facts in two lectures today. "We'll be talking about planting and pruning," says spokeswoman Francine Correll. "It's a good thing too, since January is a major planting and pruning month. We usually draw pretty big crowds this time of year." Avoid thorny rose-related mistakes with advice from the experts at one of these duplicated classes. The first one-hour lecture is at 9 a.m. at the Pima County Cooperative Extension, 4210 N. Campbell Avenue. The second is at 1 p.m. in the Wilmot Library, 530 N. Wilmot Road. For information, call 626-5161. ALL TUCKED IN. It's been nearly two decades since Maria Luisa Tena undertook a little project in honor of her mom. Little did she or her neighbors suspect that the humble nativity scene would eventually grow into a manger extravaganza. Today her nacimiento fills a big, well-lit room, replete with water flows and countless little dramatizations of tales from the Bible, holiday celebrations from across the globe and a narrative of Christ's life. That accomplishment, begun innocently enough, now likewise attracts hundreds of visitors a year. So, even if the tiresome Christmas season has you yanking at your follicles, send it off with a charming adios and visit this nacimiento, on display through March 22 at Casa Cordova on the Tucson Museum of Art Historic Block, 140 N. Main Avenue. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For details, call 624-2333. City Week includes events selected by Calendar Editor Mari Wadsworth. Event information is accurate as of press time. The Weekly recommends calling event organizers to check for last-minute changes in location, time, price, etc.
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UPSTAGED. Five local talents--from the budding to the accomplished--present
their recent works in the Old Pueblo Playwrights' New Play Festival.
WELL-OILED. Don't let the name fool ya--bluesman Rusty
Zinn is anything but. Having performed with several greats in
the last decade--including Jimmy Rodgers, Snooky Pryor, Luther
Tucker and James Cotton--Zinn has managed to build his own name
as a hard-hitting guitar fiend.
DO TELL. Ever wonder if your gal will someday land in the
sack with your best buddy Hank, or if that tired old Chevy might
finally crap-out somewhere near Gila Bend?
LANES OF DESIRE. Go ahead, admit it,