Tucson Weekly: City Week (June 11

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

Thursday 11

BALLPARK FIGURES. Turn up the dial at Tucson Electric Park, where the Sidewinders take on the Edmonton Trappers tonight and tomorrow in some juicy Pacific Coast League play.
City Week And the Arizona Small Business Association gets in on the action tonight with Take Me Out to the Ball Game. This networking extravaganza of casual fun, food and door prizes is free with reservations and runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Call 886-6588 to reserve a seat.
First pitch is 7:30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at Tucson Electric Park, 2500 E. Ajo Way. Tickets range from $3 to $8. For details, call 434-1000.
VERBAL VOLLEY. It's no big secret that kids love to throw things. But no objects or eyeballs are at risk with today's throwing spectacular--it's the Bookman's Kids' Club Ventriloquist Show. Top voice tosser Ruth Means will show kids how to bring inanimate objects to life by simply jabbering from the corners of their mouths.
Free event runs from 11 a.m. to noon at Bookman's Used Books, 1930 E. Grant Road. Call 325-5767 for details.

Friday 12

SATIRICAL SEPARATION. Local wordsmiths, melody makers and artistic types will be on hand for Disassembled Parody, a mixed-media event featuring readings by seven local student poets, as well as music by Veering Ever Red and the Perversion All-Stars. These gatherings are intended as networking sessions for Tucson's creative crowd, so come rub shoulders with fellow visionaries at 7:30 p.m. in Espresso Caffe, 6546 E. Tanque Verde Road. Admission is $2. For information, call 290-9303.
IN THE SWIM. Tucson Parks and Recreation combines cool pools and cinematic excitement for their summer Friday and Saturday party series. The free parties include food, games and music by local DJs.
Friday nights are for teenagers, and run from 7:30 to
11 p.m.; Saturdays will feature Family Dive-In Movie Nights, complete with swimming and pool games, food and movies beginning at 7 p.m.
This weekend's pool parties will be held at Himmel Park, 1000 N. Tucson Blvd., and El Pueblo Park, 5100 S. Missiondale Road. Tomorrow's family feature film is Hercules. Call 791-4873 for details.
MOUNTAIN ART. Summerhaven on Mt. Lemmon offers a cool and creative getaway with the village's Celebration of the Visual Arts, running today through Sunday.
Artists of all types, from clay and raku makers to painters, will be demonstrating their skills. Visiting painters are also invited to create pieces at the festival, for eventual sale in Summerhaven eateries.
Free event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily in Summerhaven; take Catalina Highway to the top of Mt. Lemmon. For more information, call 398-2885.

Saturday 13

CLASSIC ACTION. Famous Sam's and Easter Seals pull out bats and balls for their annual Sports Classic Softball and Volleyball Tournaments. The family-oriented action will include prizes, raffles, a BBQ and home run derby, fast-pitch contests, fashion show and even a dunk tank. Proceeds will help Easter Seals provide assistance to more than 200 disabled folks in Pima County every month, and nearly 95 percent of the money they raise goes directly for those services.
Event begins at 8 a.m. today and 10 a.m. Sunday in the Sportspark Softball-Volleyball Complex, 6901 N. Casa Grande Hwy. Admission is $1.50. Call 745-6222 for details.
NIGHT VISIONS. The setting is dreary little Alto, Texas, where middle-aged Ramona tends the farm her late father left her. Lonely and obsessive, her main passion is feeding the birds fluttering about her place. But they aren't the only scavengers drawn to this bleak spot. There's also Sam, a drifter Ramona picked up beside the road, now moved in to stay. Not to mention Reverend Fail, the patronizing preacher who has his eye on Ramona's pocketbook even as he tends to her soul.
Slowly, this nefarious flock grows tighter in Indigo Playwork's production of Thine Eyes, written by Mary Caroline Rogers, and performed as part of a dinner package at the historic Rex Ranch south of Tucson.
Ramona begins having horrific nightmares about a great horned owl which only she can see. Sam scoffs at her tales of the mysterious bird. The Reverend meanwhile tries to ease her mind with tales of the owl in Indian lore, and how they considered it a spiritual creature of the night. As her nightmares become more threatening, Sam plots with his hapless friend Phil to rob Ramona and leave town. Little does he know that another set of eyes are watching--and plotting--as well.
The cast for Thine Eyes includes Carlisle Ellis, Clark Andreas Ray, George Dobbs and Benjamin Priam. Show time is 6:45 p.m. at Rex Ranch, located 37 miles south of Tucson on I-19, one mile east of Amado. The play will be followed by a buffet dinner, and music by Susan Artemis and Richard Sullivan. Tickets are $35 per person, available by calling (520) 398-2914.
MUSIC MACHINE. Guitars, Cadillacs and rock and roll tear up the downtown stage tonight when the Rialto Theatre hosts Hot-Rod-O-Rama. Five bucks gets you eight bands, ranging from Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs to Frank Sprague and his Rockabilly Ripsnorts. The racy scene will also include a custom hot-rod and bike show, and a tattoo and pin-up girl contest.
Get down at 8 p.m. in the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. Tickets are $5 at the door. For details, call 740-0126

Sunday 14

BIG WINDS. Under the direction of Lászlo Veres, the Arizona Symphonic Winds add powerful melodies to temperate breezes with another refreshing concert under the stars. This final outing in the Winds' spring series will feature vocal soloist Steve Gray. An acclaimed baritone, Gray has premiered in the Off-Broadway production of Wuthering Heights, and was a featured singer at the Lincoln Center. Tonight, he'll perform selections from Jekyll and Hyde, Anastasia and Les Miserables, in what he calls "a modern take" on the classical symphony performance.
Tonight's free performance is at 7 p.m. and features guest soloist Steve Gray. Pre-concert performances begin at 6 p.m. in Udall Park, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. For information, call 577-2410.
LATIN JOURNEY. Tucson's own Ballet Folklorico Méxica weaves a tapestry of cultural traditions with Mosaico Folklorico. Ambrosio Hernandez will direct folklorico performers ranging from tots to adults. Their stunning dances come from such far-flung Mexican states as Colima, Jalisco, Veracruz, Puebla and Chiapas. "The dances are mostly done by adults, and they are very precise and intricate," says organizer Mercedes Guerrero. "The show will be wonderfully colorful."
Concert begins at 4 p.m. in the TCC Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Advance tickets are $8, available at the TCC box office, Dillard's, or by calling 791-4266. Tickets at the door are $10, $7 for seniors and students, free for children ages 5 and under.
CLUB COOL. Smooth summer sounds set the tone for another Tucson Jazz Jam at the Cottonwood Club. The Pete Swan Group will headline tonight, performing the first and last sets. An open jam takes over the stage between sets, with free admission for musicians showing up to play.
Event runs from 8 p.m. to midnight in the Cottonwood Club, 60 N. Alvernon Way. Admission is $4, $2 for TJS members. Call 743-3399 for information.

Monday 15

BUSTLING BONEYARD. They used to call it a graveyard. No more. Granted, the Pima Air Museum is home to more than 185 military, civilian and commercial aircraft, ranging in size from small to behemoth. And it's true that most of those planes have left their flying days far behind.
At the same time, this cheerful place bustles with visitors and provides a refreshing respite from the summer heat. Big, striking machines fill the cool museum hangers, and stand in silent rows outside, covering 75 acres outdoors, and 100,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space.
Other displays include a full-scale mock-up of the Wright Flyer from Kitty Hawk; the last piston-driven presidential aircraft used by presidents Kennedy and Johnson; and the Space Gallery, containing memorabilia from Brig. General Pete Everest, and from astronauts Thomas Jones and Stephen Smith. This is also home to the 390th Memorial Museum, complete with a B-17 bomber commemorating the 390th Bomb Group of WWII.
And the museum will soon expand its scope with the planned Challenger Learning Center, designed to "launch" children's interest in math or science with hands-on interactive exhibits, flight simulators and aerospace camps.
The Pima Air Museum is at 6000 E. Valencia Road. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with last admittance at 4 p.m. Admission is $6, $5 for seniors and military, $3 for children ages 10 to 17, and free for children under age 10. For information, call 574-9658.

Tuesday 16

NATIVE LEGACY. Onetime Tucsonans Agnes and Don Smith spent decades traveling the Southwest, feeding their fondness for native cultures with an extensive collection of the region's folk art. Most of the pieces were acquired during the 1950s and '60s, and include fine baskets created by the Pima, Tohono O'odham, Western Apache, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo peoples. Now more than 100 of those works are on display in Tohono Chul Park's Exhibit Hall.
The display is joined by Creative Visions I, featuring the artwork of children in the Catalina Foothills School District, which contiues through July 16.
The Tohono Chul Park grounds, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, are open from 7 a.m. to sunset daily. Exhibit Hall hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. A $2 donation is suggested. For more information, call 742-6455.
MALL IMPROV. If you don't think of the mall as a hotbed of musical creativity, think again: The Tucson Mall fires up its Hot Jazz-Cool Nights series tonight, with Dennis Rowland.
Rowland is known throughout the United States and Europe for his unique vocal stylings, and particularly for his eight-year stint with the Count Basie Orchestra. His free performance is from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Tucson Mall Center Court. For more information, call 293-7330.

Wednesday 17

LATIN REIGN. For some 50 years, timbale master Tito Puente has been an acknowledged powerhouse in the Latin music scene. That reign has landed him four Grammy Awards, and recording gigs with luminaries from Woody Herman and Dizzy Gillespie to Lionel Hampton and Phil Woods. "Pound for pound, Tito Puente is responsible for shaking more booty than anyone in the world," Woods says.
"What makes a Puente concert special is the happy spirit present," says the Ann Arbor News. "The unabashed joyous feeling that oozes from the bandstand of a Puente-led group is nothing short of infectious."
Now that infectious sound arrives in Tucson with a performance by Tito Puente and his Latin Jazz Ensemble. Show time is 7:30 p.m. in UA Centennial Hall, located inside the main gate east of Park Avenue. Tickets are $24 and $27, available at the Centennial Hall box office, Hear's Music, Dillard's, or by calling 621-3341.
LUNAR STROLL. Enjoy the summer's nocturnal relief with a "moon stroll" through Valley of the Moon. Created by late eccentric George Phar Legler, the Valley is chock-full of amazing moonlit forms in a magical park "built of rock and imagination."
The George Phar Legler Society celebrates its namesake's legacy with a series of evening strolls on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, continuing through August.
Tonight's Moon Stroll runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road, north of Prince Road and east of Tucson Boulevard. Admission is free, though donations will be gratefully accepted. For details, call 323-1331.

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.

Home | Currents | City Week | Music | Review | Books | Cinema | Back Page | Archives