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 Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Thursday 10
DARK MAGIC. The year was 1921, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, seethed with racial tension. The pretense was a black man accused of assaulting a white elevator attendant, an alleged crime that released a torrential white backlash. Before the maelstrom was over, 600 African-American-owned businesses, comprising the town's "Black Wall Street," would be obliterated as white citizens in planes bombed the district with nitroglycerin. Black deaths were estimated in the thousands.
Rhodes reads from and signs copies of Magic City from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Book Mark, 5001 E. Speedway. For details, call 881-6350. UNHINGED HUMIDITY. Sweating your way through the summer rainy season just got a little easier with the help of those moisture-minded merchants on Fourth Avenue. Once again they're unleashing their own version of tropical insanity with Monsoon Madness, a night-time entertainment romp running Thursday evenings throughout July. Mania hits the stage tonight with buzzed bards calling themselves the Drunken Word Poets, and musical chairs Scenic Route and The Simpletons. Event is free and runs from 7 to 10:30 p.m. on the Winsett Park stage, located on Fourth Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets. For information, call 624-5004.
Friday 11
The backdrop for Semchuk's vision stretches across Canada's native and post-colonial terrains, tracing cultural traditions from Ukrainian immigration to matriarchal lineage. Using color as well as black-and-white photography, she diversifies her approach to reveal every facet of what one curator calls "the adventure of her inner landscape...guided by desire, that energy which imprints its movement on forays outside the self and shapes human relationships." An opening reception gathers from 5 to 7 tonight, with the exhibit opening July 13 and continuing through September 14, at the UA Center for Creative Photography, located at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway east of Park Avenue. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call 621-7968 for information. STEP BACK. Ballroom dancing was retro even before retro was retro, an often elegant, occasionally smarmy style predating disco by more trends than you can shake a leisure suit at. Now the glide back in time is riding a wave of redemption, as latter-day sophisticates discover its mesmerizing, often glitzy aura. Catch the neo-action at the Ballroom Dance Showcase, which swings from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Windmill Inn Hotel, 4250 N. Campbell Ave., in St. Philip's Plaza. Event features both exhibition and open dancing. Admission is free, but space is limited. Call 327-3405 for reservations and information.
Saturday 12
Sean Elliot's Steak and Burger Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Marriott University Park, 880 E. Second St. Tickets are $40 each, or $320 for a table of eight, available by calling 573-3533. NEXT STOP, MCDONALD'S. Now that Mt. Lemmon Highway has become an even wider concrete gash--albeit a much safer one for Winnebagos--it's been designated by the U.S. Forest Service as a "Scenic Byway." That means federal funds will be spent figuring out what aspects of the road and its environs are important to southern Arizona. Officially, that's called a Corridor Management Plan, and is meant to "describe a vision for the future...which includes tourism and economic development." Today you'll have a chance to add your own two cents to the debate over the roadway's fate. Coronado National Forest staffers host an open house to discuss the plan from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Bear Canyon Library, 8959 E. Tanque Verde Road. For details, call 670-4530.
Sunday 13
COLOSSAL FUSS. For years Colossal Cave has ranked right up there with "The Thing" as an irresistible southern Arizona tourist draw. But now that Señor Thing is reportedly on a junket to Roswell, the burden of entertaining locals and out-of-town rubber-neckers falls increasingly to that hole in the Rincon Mountains on Tucson's east side.
Later it was used as a sanctuary by everyone from Old West outlaws to--rumor has it--the legendary Lost Brownie Troop of southern Arizona. That's before a peculiar missing link called Entrepreneurial Man stepped in, transforming the geologic den into a booming commercial outpost. The first tour of the spot occurred as far back as 1923. Eventually, the Civilian Conservation Corps applied its expertise toward retrofitting the cave to meet modern standards, building flagstone walkways, installing electricity, adding handrails, and generally just spiffing the place up for casual guests. Now the proprietors of Colossal Cave offer half-mile, 50-minute treks six stories down into the chasm's cool bowels, while your guide describes its history, legends, and such geology as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, boxwork and helictites. Emerging from the depths, you'll step outside to find great views of the valley, a gift shop and charming little picnic spots. Summer hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and holidays. To reach Colossal Cave, take Broadway east to Old Spanish Trail. Turn south, driving approximately 17 miles to the entrance. Admission is $6.50, $5 for kids ages 11 to 16, $3.50 for ages 6 to 10, and free for kids under age 5. For information, call 647-7275.
Monday 14
Toward that end, the Arizona Women's Caucus is sponsoring The Land, an exhibition in several media created by selected members. Their ranks range from Suzanne Bloomfield and Linda Cain to Justine Mantor Clarysse and Jenny Kilb. And the work represented varies, from traditional approaches to organic abstractions. But the theme of maintaining a bond with and sensitivity toward nature--and the contribution of women artists--remains constant. Exhibit runs through August 14 in the UA Arizona Gallery, located on the second floor of the Memorial Student Union. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 621-6142.
Tuesday 15
BORN AGAIN. As we near the millennium, shopping malls have long since supplanted village squares as the main concourse of American discourse. No big secret there. But continuing the trend, they've also increasingly become the staging ground for myriad cultural events. Not missing a beat, Tucson Mall stretches beyond the merely commercial with Hot Nights--Cool Jazz, a Tuesday evening series continuing through August and featuring some of the best in local talent. Tonight, Tucson jazz mainstay Jeff Haskell shares the climate-controlled stage with his regular performing pal, trombonist Tom Ervin. Haskell has been immersed in the jazz scene from the tender age of 12, and continues a career that includes more than 800 concerts in the United States, England and Scotland. Ervin is likewise considered a world-class horn player in constant demand. Free performance is from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Tucson Mall Center Court, 4500 N. Oracle Road. For details, call 293-7330. TAXING TRIBUTE. To see what your tax dollars have done for you lately, stop in and peruse the Tucson/Pima Arts Council exhibit Parks, Plazas and Parkways: Public Art in Tucson. There's probably never been a publicly commissioned piece that everyone loves, but the city- and county-adopted Percent-for-Art program has still managed to pay for more than 20 completed works countywide, and at least one of them is likely to tickle your fancy. (See this week's Arts page.) The exhibit includes photos, charts and project statements explaining the art-selection process. Exhibit runs through July 31 at the T/PAC offices, 240 N. Stone Ave. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 624-0595 for details.
Wednesday 16
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTHFUL WISDOM. You loved him as Nogales' barely post-pubescent municipal chief. You adored his MTV escapades, and shed a tear when he was dumped on-screen by a Generation X moppet named Allison after an alleged nocturnal romp. Now you can hear Louie Valdez, formerly America's youngest mayor and still a heady paramour, expound upon the national tableau when the Arizona Historical Society presents another installment of its summer lecture series, Our Legacy: Reflections of Arizona Leaders. The forums are designed to let current and one-time elected officials describe their visions of our collective existence, and specifically comment on the question, "What will be our legacy to future generations?"
Lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the AHS headquarters, 949 E. Second
St. Admission is $5, $3 for students. For information, call 628-5774.
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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In her new novel, Magic City, Jewell Parker Rhodes uses
the Tulsa tragedy as a backdrop for a tale of violence climaxing
in an heroic stand of blacks determined to defend their homes
and businesses against whites equally determined to destroy them.
SELF EN MASS. For two decades, Canadian photographer Sandra Semchuk
has explored layers of identity from ethnic and nationalistic
perspectives to gender, illuminating her theme through the pluralistic
lenses of family, community and self. Now How Far Back Is Home...,
a retrospective in the UA 
RED MEAT BASH. Now an 
Luckily, Colossal still fills the bill. Listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, it had been used for centuries as
a shelter for prehistoric folks, before facing Anglo "discovery"
in 1879.
ARTISTIC PARLEY. Nationally, the Women's Caucus for Art boasts
more than 3,500 members, and remains dedicated to raising appreciation
for women in the field. The state chapter is likewise determined
to keep that profile high, with a membership including various
emerging and professional artists.
