Tucson Weekly: City Week (March 11

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Thursday 11

LEGAL LIGHT. Clarence Darrow was not only a top lawyer, he was a distinguished theorist of early 20th-century social thought in America. In a poignant one-man play, acclaimed actor Graham Thatcher explores the larger-than-life Darrow through four of his most famous cases. Clarence Darrow: Crimes, Causes, and the Courtroom was co-written by Anna Marie and Graham Thatcher, and is presented by Borderlands Theater.
City Week Show time is 8 p.m. in the PCC Black Box Theater, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Performances continue at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $7 to $15, and are available at Antigone Books, the Borderlands Theater office, the PCC Center for Fine Arts box office, or by calling 882-7406.
TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT. Modern gender politics come to a poignant head in David Mamet's Oleanna, presented by the Damesrocket Theater Company.
The story unfolds when a struggling young university student seeks guidance from her professor in the privacy of his office. They suddenly find themselves locked in high-stakes combat when she accuses him of sexual harassment. Every word, every nuance becomes part of a twisted banter, leaving both physically and emotionally devastated in a drama The Boston Globe calls "a scorcher."
Show time is 8 p.m. in the Damesrocket Theater, 125 E. Congress St. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 20. Tickets are $10, with discounts for seniors, students and groups. Call 623-7852 for reservations and information.
BATTER UP. The big question: Will slugger Sammy Sosa hit one out of Tucson Electric Park? Will he even make the trip down from Mesa? Find out when the Boys of Summer continue spring training this week, with games at both shiny new Tucson Electric Park and venerable Hi Corbett Field. Today, the Chicago Cubs take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at TEP and the Seattle Mariners play the Colorado Rockies at Hi Corbett Field. First pitch for both games is 1:05 p.m. Games continue every day through the end of March. Tickets at Hi Corbett range from $12 to $4, with $2 outfield bleacher seats occasionally available. Admission at Tucson Electric Park ranges from $14 to $3. For details on the rest of the week's schedule, check this week's listings or call 327-9467 for the Rockies or 434-1111 for the Diamondbacks and Sox.

Friday 12

ENDLESS LOVE. Hard to believe, but there was a time when the mighty Colorado River flowed freely. Long-time environmental activist Katie Lee recalls those liberated days through deeply nostalgic music in a Tucson performance hosted by the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. See this week's Music section for details.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. in the Zenith Center for Spiritual Arts, 330 E. Seventh St. Tickets are $7, available by calling 623-5252.
TWIN CRAFTS. Gerald Dawavendewa's paintings share space with jewelry by Raymond Sequaptewa in Pushing the Envelope: Contemporary Hopi Art, on display in Bahti Indian Arts.
Dawavendewa's rich craft reached new heights when his Hopi-inspired decals were affixed to the Space Shuttle, while Sequaptewa's jewelry is popular "in more earthly realms." Both artists are perched at the forefront of contemporary Indian art, blending traditional motifs with modern influences.
Pushing the Envelope runs through March 25, with an opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, in Bahti Indian Arts, 4300 N. Campbell Ave. Call 577-0290 for details.

Saturday 13

RUBBER SOULS. We jumped the gun in telling you about it last week, but keep those engines revved for state-of-the-art horsepower this weekend at The Ultimate Toy Show and World of Wheels.
This rubber-fest will feature a powerhouse of hotrods, custom cars, boats and RV's, along with the mellower trappings of spas, pools and electronics. Displays and events include the All-American Cycle Show, Truckin' magazine's Truck Corral, and Monster Truck Free-Style Competition.
The action runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Road. Admission is $8, $3 for children ages 6 to 12, free for children ages 5 and under. For details, call 622-6711.
LYRIC REPAST. Powerful verse takes center stage in the POG Poets and Artists series, continuing tonight with a reading by Juan Felipe Herrera.
Herrera's work was born of '60s street poetics, campesino migrant treks and multimedia political theater. He's crafted those influences into percussion and jazz poetry, and has taken his Chicano teatros and poetry brigades across the United States and Latin America. He's also edited numerous groundbreaking small-press magazines, including Red Trapeze, El Tecolote Literario and Bovine Interventions, and the university reviews Vortice and Metamorfosis.
Herrera reads at 7 p.m. in Las Artes Studios, 23 W. 27th St. A $5 contribution is suggested. For details, call 620-1626.
PRIME TIME. Vocalist Karrin Allyson headlines this year's Primavera Jazz Festival, showcasing the country's finest female jazz players. Joining her will be local doyenne Lisa Otey and the Swingin' Seven, an ensemble of young women from Tucson middle schools.
Allyson is a Kansas native who burst upon the national jazz scene in the 1990s "like a fresh breeze blowing out of the Great Plains," according to one reviewer. A trained pianist, her style cruises smoothly from scats to standards, with the occasional twist. "I'm always striving to put out the best sound possible in sometimes really weird circumstances," she says. "Taking chances is part of jazz."
Show time is 8 p.m. in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets are $18, $12 for TJS members, available at Hear's Music or by calling 743-3399.

Sunday 14

SUPREME SCRIBES. Literary heavy-weights Barbara Kingsolver, Russell Banks and Martín Espada converge today in a benefit reading for The Arizona Border Rights Project.
Kingsolver is a Tucson talent of global proportions, the author of poetry, essays, short stories and the award-winning novels Animal Dreams, The Bean Trees, and Pigs in Heaven. Her latest book, The Poisonwood Bible, has also garnered rave reviews.
Banks is the acclaimed author of nine novels, including The Sweet Hereafter, Rule of the Bone and Continental Drift, all of which became films. The screen adaptation of his 1989 novel Affliction is currently showing in theaters across the country.
Called "the Latino poet of his generation," Espada received the American Book Award for his collection of poetry, Imagine the Angels of Bread. Much of his writing arises from his Puerto Rican heritage, and vocations ranging from bouncer to tenant lawyer.
Proceeds will help The Arizona Border Rights Project fight against discrimination, law-enforcement harassment and abuse of authority along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The reading is 7 p.m. in the Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway. A press conference will precede the reading at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $12, $8 for students, available at Antigone Books and at the door. Call 770-1373 for details.
DARK BARD. Shakespeare's dark tragic-comedy of law, redemption and hypocrisy is revisited in Arizona Repertory Theatre's production of Measure for Measure.
Against the indulgent and decadent background of Vienna, the Duke Vincentio turns over the reigns of government to Angelo, secretly watching to see if "power changes purpose." Predictably, Angelo attempts to wield an iron hand, enforcing a strict moral code even as he's corrupted by his lust for a novice nun. This timely examination of lines between the public and private has been called one of Shakespeare's finest achievements.
Today's performance is at 1:30 p.m. in the UA Laboratory Theatre, on the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Additional performances this week are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 11 and 12; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 13; and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 14. Performances continue Tuesday through Sunday, March 23 through 28. Tickets range from $10 to $16, and are available at the UA Fine Arts box office. Call 621-1162 for reservations and information.
CREATIVE STROLL. Take a creative trek at the ninth annual Tubac Art Walk. Our neighboring burg will host numerous artists along its charming, historic streets, set against the backdrop of the Santa Rita Mountains.
"It's the one special time of year that the Tubac galleries invite their featured artists from around the nation in joining the resident artists who work and live in Tubac," says Robert Musmanno of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce. "The variety of art is endless."
The Art Walk continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Tubac, 45 minutes south of Tucson on I-19. Call 398-2704 for details.

Monday 15

EXPANSIVE VIEW. Fred Borcherdt has called the desert his home for decades, and it shows in his fine sculpture, now on display in the TMA's Contemporary Southwest Images XIII: The Stone Foundation Series.
Borcherdt's vision evolved from his discovery of the land's hidden relics--a prehistoric pot shard or a soldier's button--which leap across physical and artistic generations.
They combine with the light and scale of their larger environment, which Borcherdt experiences from his foothills studio. He portrays the rawness of that world in stone, steel and rock, drawing on the sense of mystery symbolized by such found artifacts.
It's a creative path that stops at the door of utility, according to fellow artist Steve Bondi. "Fred Borcherdt uses forging as a means to solicit an emotional response arrived at through an intellectual process," he says. "In some of the works in which he uses natural materials, the pieces appear to be directional markers of some kind, left by ancient civilizations. But in what direction are they pointing, and to what do they lead?"
Fred Borcherdt: 20 Years is on display through May 2 in the Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2, $1 for seniors and students, free for children under age 12. Call 624-2333 for information.

Tuesday 16

INNER TUBE. Get the inside scoop on screen, when Barbara Van Diest tapes her weekly cable access show, It's About You. Yes, you can join the audience while therapist Van Diest fields queries, in person and by phone, about the worrisome flotsam of interpersonal relationships.
The taping runs from 8 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the studios of Access Tucson, 124 E. Broadway Blvd. Free tickets are available by calling 299-2708.
RAISING ARIZONA. It's no secret that Tucsonans tend to be a low-income-per-capita bunch. But that's not just a tragedy of geography or regional politics. It's also tied to the fact that many locals just don't know how to read well, or at all. That places them smack on the bottom of our cow town's competitive heap.
You can turn that dismal picture around by helping the Literary Volunteers of Pima County. They'll train you in giving the gift of literacy to a herd of eager folks. And it only costs a fraction of your time.
Call the Literacy Volunteers at 882-8006.

Wednesday 17

BIG WINDS. The Civic Orchestra of Tucson tunes up for Sounds Symphonic, a free concert featuring viola master Jeffrey Showell.
The musician totes a well-honed pedigree, ranging from Stanford to Yale, where he earned his doctorate. He'll join the orchestra to perform "The Fair Day" from An Irish Symphony, by Hamilton Harty; The Spider's Feast, by Albert Roussel; Paul Hindemith's Trauermusik; Maurice Ravel's Minuet Antique; and Symphony No. 5, by Tchaikovsky.
Performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in UA Crowder Hall, on the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Call 325-3002 for details.
SEEDS OF SOUL. This old town is ripe with fine music, and the Tucson Jazz Society harvests that bounty with free Brown Bag Concerts every Wednesday, on the patio outside of downtown's Main Library. Today's lunch-time romp features the succulent sounds of R&B favorites Peaches and The Soul Jazz Session.
Show time is noon at the Tucson-Pima Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave. Call 903-1265 for information.

City Week includes events selected by Calendar Editor Tim Vanderpool. 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. To have material considered, please send complete information at least 11 days prior to the Thursday issue date to: Tucson Weekly, P.O. Box 2429, Tucson, Arizona 85702, or fax information to 792-2096, or email us at listings@tucsonweekly.com.

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