Tucson Weekly: City Week (June 25

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

Thursday 25

REIGNINGCATSANDDOGS. The batting cage rattles to life tonight when the Sidewinders take on the Tacoma Raniers. And it's buck-beer night, too--with $1 soft drinks for your designated driver. The ballgame starts at 7 p.m. at Tucson Electric Park, 2500 E. Ajo Way.
City Week The Sidewinders have games every night through Friday, July 3, when they'll cap the homestand with an Independence Day fireworks fiesta.
Tickets for the game range from $3 to $8. For details, call 434-1000.
PETA PARTY. Help raise some badly needed cash for the Humane Society of Tucson at Plaza Palomino's annual Pet Fiesta.
This fur-laden extravaganza includes a silent auction of fine goods donated by plaza merchants, not to mention some of Tucson's top, four-legged talents. Owners are invited to register their pets in contests ranging from "best dressed" to "fiesta favorite," all picked by a panel of celebrity judges. Animals will likewise compete in the "best pet trick," "closest to the ground," and "kiss-on-command" categories.
Event runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in Plaza Palomino, at Swan and Fort Lowell roads. Admission is free. Contest registration is $5. For details, call 321-3704.

Friday 26

SHOT FOR THE DOC. Once again, the reality of healthcare woes for professional, small-business types and the self-employed come to a tragic head in our community in the story of one James Jarchow, a local veterinarian who was diagnosed last month with acute promyelocytic leukemia.
Jarchow, a nationally recognized reptile specialist, has lived and worked in Tucson since 1972. He's been a sensitive and generous practitioner in his own field, with a reputation for pro bono work on a variety of beat-up desert tortoises, lizards and other reptiles brought to his attention.
The 51-year-old doctor and his wife have two children still living at home...and now an $80,000 running bill to take care of.
The Tucson Herpetological Society hosts a fundraising dinner starting at 6 tonight in the Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, at Speedway and Campbell Avenue. Cost is $40 per person, or $75 per couple. For reservations, call 321-1462.
Donations can also be made at any Norwest Bank Arizona, or through the Southern Arizona Veterinary Medical Association, 1604 N. Country Club Road, Tucson, AZ 85716. Checks should me made out to SAVMA--FBO Dr. Jarchow.
HIGHLAND HIGH NOTES. The setting is mid-19th century Lima, Peru. Paquillo and La Périchole are hungry street singers, and they roll into town on the Viceroy's birthday, which he has humbly ordered to be celebrated in top fashion. But Paquillo's jealously won't permit La Périchole to accept payment for her warbling from other men, and the two are subsequently hovering near starvation.
Of course, the Viceroy is smitten by the singer's loveliness, and invites her to the palace, setting the stage for high comedy in Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole, presented by the UA College of Fine Arts Opera Theatre, and by the School of Music and Dance.
Tonight's performance is at 8 p.m. in UA Crowder Hall, located in the Music Building at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway, east of Park Avenue. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10, $8 for UA faculty and staff, $5 for students and seniors, available at the Fine Arts box office or by calling 621-1162.

Saturday 27

ROAD MOST TRAVELED. W. Lane Rogers takes readers down a trail to the past at today's booksigning for When All Roads Led to Tombstone, a memoir of the writings of John Plesent Gray.
An Earp contemporary, Gray compiles his remembrances of the bawdy western burg, including the mandatory--and perhaps slightly embellished--tidbits about the vaunted OK Corral firefight. Rogers subsequently edited those notes, and provides detailed annotation.
While reviewer Leo Banks took Gray to task for his "promiscuity with the facts," ("Riding Shotgun," Tucson Weekly,
May 28), Banks calls the book "valuable for its small insights into everyday life," noting that only one "who was there can really capture the mores of a frontier town."
Signing runs from 3 to 5 p.m. in The Book Mark, 5001 E. Speedway. Call 881-6350 for information.
SWING ON IN. Swing is the scene when Tucson's favorite shakers Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades glide onto the Rialto Theatre stage. Besides, there's no better place to celebrate the vintage groove-fest these boys helped inaugurate. And by all reports, every Swingin' Saturday Night in this historic downtown outpost just keeps getting bigger and better.
The all-ages show starts at 9 p.m., with free dance lessons at 8 p.m., in the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. Tickets are $5 at the door. For information, call 740-0126.
SEEDING THE CLOUDS. Nobody knows harvesting the desert better than the folks of Native Seeds/SEARCH. Now they invite you to share their knowledge when NS/S gardener extraordinaire Sean Burlew leads a two-hour monsoon planting workshop. Burlew has more than seven years' experience with drylands gardens and organics, and regularly works with community gardens and elementary students throughout Tucson.
He'll share his experience with traditional Southwest gardening, and provide plenty of tips for your own monsoon cornucopia right here in the Old Pueblo. Among other things, he'll discuss where and when to plant, seed selection, desert composting, harvesting, and local gardening resources.
Workshop runs from 8 to 10 a.m. in the NS/S Sylvester House Annex, 2130 N. Alvernon Way. Cost is $12, $10 for NS/S members. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. For registration and other information, call 622-5561.

Sunday 28

MARTHA'S JAM. Local favorites Martha Reed and her band stoke the melodic fires at the Tucson Jazz Society-sponsored Jazz Jam. These informal soirées are the perfect way to while away summer nights, and continue scoring big on the local jazz charts. As always, an open jam will be held 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.
SUN SEEKERS. For more than a century folks have been rolling into the Copper State in search of better health. From the "consumption" sufferers of the mid-19th century to latter-day sun worshipers, Arizona has always offered dry heat and restful recuperation. Not surprisingly, merchants have arrived close behind to serve the growing masses. Settling in for the long-term, they helped establish the Sonoran demographics we know today. Among the arrivals were a slew of families whose names now ring synonymous with Arizona, such as the Goldwaters and Drachmans.
Historian Alex Kimmelman focuses on the region's long-lived promise of recovery with a lecture titled Chasing the Cure--Healthseekers in Arizona. Kimmelman has co-authored a book, also titled Healthseekers in Arizona, with Dr. Robert Kravetz.
Kimmelman's presentation is sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Arizona, and will include numerous pictures revealing where the migrants were housed, and the countless health facilities that drew them, ranging from urban hospitals to rural clinics.
His free lecture begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Arizona Historical Society Auditorium, 949 E. Second St. For details, call 577-9445.

Monday 29

PLANET HOLLYWOOD. Playwright Elaine Romero revisits Tucson's old town with a twist in Barrio Hollywood, presented as part of the Damesrocket Theater Company's play reading series.
Set against a backdrop of cross-cultural love, the dramatic, often funny play focuses on the impact a Chicano boxer's brain injury has on his sister and mother. The work was developed with an NEA grant, awarded to only 12 playwrights nationwide.
Reading is at 7:30 p.m. in Damesrocket Theater, 125 E. Congress St. Admission is $3. Call 623-7852 for information.
FULL PLATE. Do you routinely stuff your face, only to find your body still dishing up a smorgasbord of strange hankerings? Well, just because you eat a bunch doesn't mean you're chowing the right stuff, a topic highlighted by Lisa Duba in Digestion and Assimilation: Is Your Stomach Full, and Your Body Starving?
Duba is a sought-after speaker with nearly 20 years' experience in the health industry. Tonight's free lecture is hosted by New Life Health Centers, and gets underway at 7 p.m. in the New Life Health Center at 4841 E. Speedway. For details, call 325-2739.
MEDIA FRENZY. Tucson's venerable Upstairs Film company fires up the downtown screen with another night of movies and music in the ongoing Multimedia Mondays series.
Showing tonight are two films by Ira Hirsh and Eric Mellen. "Gramma Does Dick" and "Johnny Had Sex" grace the Old Pueblo direct from the alternative film and video festival in Honolulu, and the San Francisco Fantasy and Horror Film Festival. They're lovingly described as "despicable video your mother would be sure to hate."
Films show at 8 p.m. and midnight, with music from 9 p.m. to midnight, in the Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Admission is $5. Call 622-1751 for information.

Tuesday 30

ODD UNION. Maybe you don't often utter "mall" and "cool" in the same sentence. You aren't alone. But the two words now rub shoulders with the Tucson Mall's Hot Jazz-Cool Nights concert series, held smack in the hotbed of conspicuous consumption.
This time the stage is filled by the Ed Ducia Band with Liz Fletcher, musical veterans who pull out the stops for a blend of classic jazz, blues and R&B. For his part, Tucson Weekly readers voted De Lucia "Best Guitarist" in last year's TAMMIES. And Fletcher's distinctive vocal style speaks for itself.
Free performance runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Tucson Mall Center Court. Call 293-7330 for details.
POSTCARD OUTPOST. The Arizona Historical Society captures the U.S.-Mexico border in sharp postal relief with its new exhibit, Lines Drawn in Sand and Water: Postcards of the Mexican-American Border.
These cards provide visual testimony to a series of critical frontera issues through photographs and illustrations spanning the 20th century, examining changes in urban structures, issues of sovereign boundaries, and daily life along the border.
Exhibit runs through January 15 in the Arizona Historical Society, 949 E. Second St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call 628-5774 for information.

Wednesday 1

ANNIVERSARY REGALIA. Hard to believe it was a mere 200 years ago when Franz Joseph Haydn's masterpiece oratorio, The Creation, premiered with Haydn himself conducting. The piece was composed using German translations of Genesis and Milton's Paradise Lost.
Oratorio's were hot stuff in London at the time, prompting the piece's timely translation into English, with various versions appearing through the years. Now the UA Community Chorus renders its own ambitious interpretation, backed by a full orchestra.
The score dramatically portrays the establishment of order from chaos, vividly depicting through vocals and orchestra the power of God's works, culminating in the creation of Leonardo de Capricio; or rather, "Man."
The narrative unfolds through rich choral renderings of the words of three archangels--Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel--and finally of Adam and Eve.
Soloists for the concert include soprano Candice Smith as the angel Gabriel; tenor Robert Swensen as the angel Uriel; bass-baritone Michael Sheranian as Raphael; baritone Charles Roe as Adam; and soprano Vanessa Salaz as Eve.
Tonight's performance is at 7:30 p.m., with a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m. in UA Crowder Hall, located in the Music Building at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Admission is $10, $8 for UA employees, $5 for seniors and students. For more information, call 621-8517.

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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