Tucson Weekly: City Week (July 24

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

DROP ZONE. It certainly is monsoon season. Which means lots of dim TV talking heads are sputtering ad nauseam about when the drops will fall, while the rest of us stare down those endless clouds that seem to unload their moist cargo everywhere from Nogales to Oracle. In other words, anywhere but right here in the Steaming Pueblo.
City Week At least one spot's cool in Tucson, as the merchants of Fourth Avenue keep up their roster of lively diversions with the Monsoon Madness music series. This week's free concert features local multi-chord talents Project Slim and Instant Martians.
Performance runs from 7 to 10:30 p.m. on the Winsett Park stage, located on Fourth Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets. For details, call 624-5004.
ORAL VISIONS. The written word and physical images combine in Bero Gallery's Poetry Gallery-3. This year's outing is a snapshot of collaborative works between poets and photographers. Included are Richard Siken, Darren Clark, James Graham, Camille Bonzani and Kore Press, among others.
Exhibit runs through August 30, with an opening reception and performance from 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, August 2, at Bero Gallery, 41 S. Sixth Ave. Regular summer gallery hours are 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, and 7 to 10 p.m. during Downtown Saturday Nights. Call 792-0313 for information.

Friday 25

FABFLICKS. The Screening Room continues offering blessed refuge from the omnipotent swelter with journeys from the galaxy's far reaches to the alien cultures of Europe.
This week features Blue, the first part of Krzysztof Kieslowski's award-winning tri-color trilogy exploring the heady notions of liberty, equality and fraternity. Winner of Best Film and Best Actress awards at the 1993 Venice Film Festival, Blue stars Juliette Binoche in a powerful look at the meaning of free choice. Binoche plays Julie, a mysterious woman who flees the outside world following the death of her husband and daughter. "The only thing left to do is nothing," she says distantly to her own ailing mother, lost herself in a fog of senility. But in Julie's attempt to lose herself, she finds instead her husband's secret life, which forces on her own internal pilgrimmage to find meaning and understanding.
Blue screens at 6 and 8 tonight, 8 p.m. Saturday, and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Also on this week's slate are Chapters 9 through 12 of Flash Gordon Conquers the Earth, wherein we witness the Flashman wading through The Pools of Peril, only to choke on The Death Mist. This film is part of the ongoing Kids' Film Fest. Show times are 2:30, 6 and 10:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Admission is $4, $3 for matinees. Flash Gordon passes are $8. The Screening Room is at 127 E. Congress St. For details, call 622-2262.
HIGH KICKERS. Just when we thought true cowboy stompin' had gone the way of the family farm, our faith is restored with the Southwestern Country Dance Fiesta. This weekend's big boot extravaganza includes full competition dancing at all levels, and everything from quaint waltzes to the Cha Cha and West Coast Swing. Toss in workshops, line dancing and kids' competition, and you've got yourself a good time. "And everybody's more than welcome to come on down," says Fiesta co-director Billy Bob Waters. "We'll have plenty of fun for the whole family."
Event runs from 4 to 11 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. tomorrow, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Holiday Inn, 4550 S. Palo Verde Road. Weekend passes are $45. Daily admission ranges from $15 to $22, and is free for kids under age 13 with a paying adult. Call 290-5731 for information.
DEAD MEN TALKING. The players come and go. Hamlet wanders through reading "words, words, words," before he's sent abroad. It's then that his college pals decide that entering the great beyond is their only recourse in The Millennium Theatre Company's Production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, starring Mark Hampton and Scott Seitzberg.
Winner of both the Tony and the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, this powerful play takes a poignant peek behind the scenes of Shakespeare's play. The result is "very funny, very brilliant, very chilling," says The New York Times. "It has the dust of thought about it."
Show times are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through August 10 at The Millennium Theatre, located in the Historic Y, 738 N. Fifth Ave. Tickets are $12, or buy two and get the third one free. For reservations, call 882-7920.

Saturday 26

TOUGH TALK. Americans have always been an independent-minded bunch, and our relationship with those hired to keep us on the straight and narrow has traditionally been one of barely concealed suspicion.
We try to keep close tabs on our boys in blue. Sometimes we succeed. Often we don't. Obviously, corruption is hardly a malaise limited to the Third World, and official abuse doesn't happen only in Midnight Express.
Perhaps our society can't compare to those where repression is on the daily plate. But when violence does erupt here between the protectors and the protected, the red flags of outrage immediately fly up, along with plenty of hard questions about just how far the cops can go to keep the peace.
Locally, it's hardly been a year of cooperative bliss between Tucson's finest and the citizenry, with a score of alleged transgressions and a handful of killings by the police.
And more questions have angrily spilled onto front pages recently, with the shooting death of Isaac Gallegos by TPD officers on the city's southside. The department says Gallegos, who'd formerly served time on drug charges, was trying to escape arrest in a stolen car. His attempted flight involved crashing about an apartment complex parking lot, allegedly putting the lives of officers and residents in danger.
The County Attorney's office has ruled the shooting to be justified. Meanwhile, a storm of criticism seems to be growing on the southside, fanned by Gallego's family and Hispanic activists.
Conveniently, it was about the time of the Gallegos incident that Liana D. Perez came on board as the city's new police auditor. That means she'll be the public's watchdog over the department, and probably a scapegoat for everyone involved.
Whether Perez can have a strong impact remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the Derechos Humanos Coalition is taking the police to task for the Gallegos shooting. They're holding a rally in front of the TPD headquarters, 270 S. Stone Ave., at 11 a.m. A march will then proceed to the Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., where a community forum will gather from 12:30 to 3 p.m.
For information, call 770-1373.
HAWG HEAVEN. Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the barnyard, the livestock again raises holy hell as Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs return to Tucson.
A perennial feedlot favorite, Mr. Bacon and his Pigs are wrapping up a sizzling six-week tour. They're sure to be up to their hocks in roaring, road-honed rock and roll. Opening the show will be Tim "Steelbone" Cook, who tears up the steel guitar and trombone. Steelbone earned his nickname from the late great Country Dick Montana, and of late has been touring and recording with Camper Van Beethoven and The Pleasure Barons.
Show time is 10 p.m. at The 3rd Stone Bar & Grill, 500 N. Fourth Ave. Tickets are $4 at the door. Call 628-8844 for details.

Sunday 27

THEATER IN THE GULCH. It's one bona fide, indisputable fact that Bisbee is a far cry cooler than Tucson, and sometimes not only in temperature. While those refreshing morning breezes wafting up Brewery Gulch after a night in St. Elmo's are a revelation, the old mining burg is also a somewhat unlikely borderland repository of high culture.
A good example is the Bisbee Repertory Theatre's fine production of The Wizard of Oz. Featuring Dorothy, Tin Man and the rest, there somehow doesn't seem to be a drama more appropriate to the town's sometimes dizzying, often hallucinatory yellow-brick ambiance.
Curtain is 3 p.m. today in the Bisbee Repertory Theatre, 94 Main St. Tickets are $5 at the door. To reach Bisbee, take I-10 to Benson, and head south on Arizona Highway 80. Travel time is approximately 90 minutes. For information, call (520) 432-3786.

Monday 28

UNCLE SAM'S BAND. Step aside, Top Gun. Make way, Mr. Cruise. Pack up those overblown Exocets, Norman, and head for the hills--because when it's serious high-flying action you're after, it doesn't get any more powerful than the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band.
Today the big, brassy affair will land in the Old Pueblo as part of a nationwide tour to celebrate the Air Force's 50th anniversary. And in contrast to those $1,000 toilet seats and multi-million dollar bombers, this doesn't cost the citizenry one thin dime--at the door that is.
Performance is 7:30 p.m. in the TCC Music Hall. Free tickets are available at the TCC box office. For details, call 791-4266.
TOUGHENED TIES. Stronger Families-Healthier Lives, a series of workshops sponsored by the Tucson Jewish Community Center, has one goal: helping you manage your family's day-to-day existence with physical and mental well-being in mind.
In light of that, today's topic is one near and dear to all of our modern, hyper-hearts. Eating on the Run: Nutrition for the '90s offers a few tips for maintaining a healthy diet when your hectic schedule allows for little more than a mad dash to the golden arches.
The free lecture is at 7 p.m. in the JCC, 3800 E. River Road. Call 299-3000 for information.

Tuesday 29

MOUNTAIN VIEWS. Once again, local aesthetics may fall prey to the heavy hand of "progress." This time the target is the Santa Rita Mountains, stretching luxuriously to the south and acting as a natural buffer between Green Valley's septuagenarian sprawl and Sonoita's serenity.
Here's the score: ASARCO, the mining giant and longtime Green Valley blight, is hoping to swap some land with the U.S. Forest Service and ultimately gain some 13,000 Santa Rita acres. Then it hopes to turn a chunk of the northern range into a giant glory hole, complete with charming tailings like those stretching endlessly along I-19 south of town. (See this week's cover story for the gory details.)
But Tucsonans aren't always known for simply curling up in the shade when trouble looms, and the fight against ASARCO is shaping up as a classic, gnarly southern Arizona brawl.
You can make your voice heard tonight, when a group called Save the Scenic Santa Ritas hosts a free public discussion at 7 p.m. in the Harvill Building Auditorium, located at Second Street and Olive Road on the UA campus. Call 628-9585 for details.
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY. The Flandrau Science Center goes back and forth with a pair of presentations exploring both the Jurassic past and the intergalactic future.
The Dinosaur Chronicles features reproductions of fossils from the Great Russian Dinosaurs Exhibition that toured Australia from 1993 to 1995. On loan from the Mesa Southwest Museum, the exhibit includes skeletons and eggs, along with tons of other dino-type artifacts.
Daytime exhibit hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Evening hours are 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 7 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Admission ranges from $3 to $5.
Jetting to the present, The New Martians follows the discovery and subsequent research of the Mars meteorite that may contain evidence of microscopic, fossilized life. This show examines evidence both pro and con, and glimpses the future of Mars research. It's technically minded, and not recommended for kids under age 10.
Show times are 2:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, in the Flandrau Science Center, located on the UA campus. Weekday admission is $4. Evening and weekend shows are $5, $4.50 for seniors, students and military, and $4 for children ages 13 and under. For information, call 621-7827.

Wednesday 30

BULLY PULPIT. State Rep. Debora Norris takes to the podium as part of the Arizona Historical Society's continuing lecture series, Our Legacy: Reflections of Arizona Leaders.
The Society's ongoing forums are designed to let officials wax philosophical about what they see as our collective destiny, and specifically to answer this question: "What will be our legacy to future generations?"
Norris represents District 11, covering the Tohono O'odham reservation and parts of Tucson. As an O'odham, she's one of the first two Native American women elected to the statehouse, and she's considered part of the new wave of Native American participation in Arizona's rough-and-tumble politics. Tonight, she'll talk about the challenges of filling that role.
Lecture is 7 p.m. in the AHS Museum, 949 E. Second St. Admission is $5, $3 for students. For information, call 628-5774.
DEPRESSION REDUX. Think times are weird? How's about that bizarre, carrot-topped moppet who spent her days with a bald-headed guy in shiny suits named Daddy Warbucks? Okay, we know Daddy rescued Orphan Annie from the evil orphanage in years following the Big Crash, allowing her to live large, belt out a bevy of memorable tunes and become a Broadway smash.
Now the sun's out again with The Players production of Annie. An offshoot of The Actor's Theatre, this troupe is made up of kids with the boards in their blood.
Show times are 7 tonight and tomorrow in The Gaslight Theatre, 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road. Tickets are $6, $3 for children, and available by calling 751-6419.

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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