Tucson Weekly: Cheap Thrills (May 14

Cheap Thrills FLYING POPS: The Tucson Pops Orchestra lights up springtime skies with an evening concert in Reid Park. Along with the orchestra's usual cast of talented regulars, Sunday's outing features guest soloist Devin Kim, a young cellist, and the Tucson Boys Chorus.
Other musical highlights include Haydn's Concerto for Cello; Abduction From the Seraglio by Mozart; The Girl in Satin, by Anderson; Dukas' Fanfare from La Peri; and Ritual Fire Dance by De Falla. In addition, the orchestra will perform a medley of Beach Boys favorites, and selections from the cinema classic, Gigi.
Performance runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, May 17, in the Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, located on Country Club Road between 22nd Street and Broadway.
ARIZONA ABSTRACTIONS: Acacia Alder, Marlene Burns and W. James Dumble present a powerful triple billing of art in the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Arts Gallery.
Alder is a Tucson artist who creates pastel and acrylic abstract landscapes evoking an experience of place. "The desert, bare-bones land of quirky life forms and intense light, appears to me already well on its way to visual abstraction," she says.
Marlene Burns of Scottsdale labels her work abstract expressionism, and part of a bigger process: "As the abstract expressionists did in their time," she says, "I experiment with the medium."
The paintings of W. James Dumble, also of Scottsdale, reveal subtle underpinnings making them quiet, peaceful and contemplative. His work reflects the earth tones and stone colors in layers of abstract geologic formations, combining color, light and line to create intriguing images, often containing camouflaged form.
Exhibit runs through June 5 in the TJCC Gallery, 3800 E. River Road. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Call 299-3000 for information.
DOWNTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT: Tucson's urban core lights up on Saturday, May 16, for another Downtown Saturday Night. This week's festivities get underway in a literary bent with the second-annual Tucson Poetry Crawl. The event will wind from cafés and clubs to theaters and even the bus depot, with more than 30 poets spewing forth vision and insight each step of the way. Evan Dain and Friends will provide the musical backdrop, culminating in a party led by Tucson's Poet Laureate, William Pitt Root. The Crawl begins at 7 p.m. at Mutts, 424 N. Fourth Ave.
Other downtown action includes a performance by Uncle Willie's Five, playing standards by Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Ronstadt Transit Center.
Orts Theatre of Dance will present Trapeze in the Trees from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Armory Park. This is the troupe's final environmental performance of its three-event series, and they'll have dancers flying within a backdrop of projected video images and live music. The performance will include excerpts from the Urban Gaits performance work "Evolving Reflections," along with two more works created exclusively for the park setting.
Finally, musician Marty Garcia lights up Fourth Avenue's Winsett Park stage from 7 to 10 p.m. For information on Downtown Saturday Night events, call 624-9977.

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