September 7 - September 13, 1995

City Week

Thursday 7

RUN UPSTAIRS. Good-bye summer blockbusters, hello Tucson theatrical community. We've missed you. Now that summer's almost over, the live performance season is heating up. Among those returning to the limelight is The Upstairs Theater Company, staging Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio. Written in 1987 before the national presence of media blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, Talk Radio tells the prophetic story of radio host Barry Champlain and his rise to the top, the power he gleans over his listeners and his continuing search to find out who he is when he's not on the air.

It's a poignant glimpse at "the voice behind the mic," all the more relevant to those of us who, desensitized by the tidal wave of media coverage in recent years, have accepted the talk radio phenomenon as some measure of political "reality." Talk Radio previews tonight at 7:30 p.m., for a mere $5 at the door. Production continues with select performances through September 15 at the Tucson Performing Arts Center, 408 S. Sixth Ave. Call 791-2263 for tickets and information.

VESELI HALYCHANY. Did you even try to pronounce that? Veseli Halychany ("Jolly Ukrainians") is a troupe of 11 folk musicians, dancers and a comedian, in full costume, performing traditional song and dance from villages throughout Western Ukraine. We're not sure what the comedian has planned, since stand-up may not go over as well in our predominantly non-Ukrainian speaking pueblo. In any event, with their "vigorous, athletic" dancing and elaborately embroidered costumes, they sound like a colorful act to follow.

"This is a really special event," says event coordinator Bea Salywon of the group's first-time Tucson appearance. She reminds us that only in the past few years have people been allowed to leave the former Soviet-bloc country. This particular group has performed throughout eastern Europe and the eastern United States, and now packs up and heads west to headline the annual Ukrainian Festival in San Diego. Veseli Halychany performs at 7 p.m. in the Modern Languages Building auditorium on the UA campus. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students, available at the door.

DISHING IT OUT. Preview Primavera's fifth annual "Bowl-Me-Over" auction items from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight at the Alamo Gallery, 101 W. Sixth St. Enjoy the refreshments, meet the artists and wander through an imaginative assortment of bowls in various shapes, sizes and media, from a large ceramic bowl "you could bathe a baby in" to a fragile papier-mâché vessel. They even have a dog bowl tribute to man's best friend. Other premier items include glasswork by Tom Philabaum, a handmade lace wall hanging and one of Jude Clark's signature spoons, which Primavera's Bonnie Demorotsky says are "always a big hit." Interspersed on easels throughout the exhibit will be photographs by Sandy Smith depicting "street art" on buildings, walls and cemeteries around Tucson.

The exhibit is free, with tickets for the October auction on sale for $10. Proceeds will benefit the Primavera Foundation's eight programs to assist and empower homeless and low-income residents of our community.

Friday 8

MOON QUEST. We heard the last Moon Stroll turned into more of a Monsoon Stroll than was expected. But tonight and Saturday the Valley of the Moon creatures come out of hiding for a new adventure: a quest for The Golden Key to Happiness. Let the wizard's apprentice be your guide on this 30-minute walk through interactive play in "the land built of rock and imagination." Fantasy tours run from 7 to 9 p.m., barring torrential rainstorms or other unforeseen natural phenomena. Admission is free, though donations are gladly accepted for the restoration of this Arizona historic site. Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road, is north of Prince Road and east of Tucson Boulevard. Call 323-1331 for information.

Saturday 9

TWITCH AND SHOUT. It comes as no surprise that this artful documentary of individuals with Tourette Syndrome won the Best of Category award at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. Laurel Chiten, who was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when she was 28 years old, skillfully builds the film around the first-person narrative of Lowell Handler, a photojournalist with TS who traveled the world taking pictures of others living with the disorder. Handler's photographs and storytelling, combined with the film's "live action" documentary, provide two unique perspectives of the disorder from the inside out. Twitch and Shout screens at 2 o'clock today and tomorrow at the Gallagher Theater on the UA mall, and will be followed by an open discussion with the filmmaker. Admission is $5, $10 per family. Call 622-3068 for information.

LUCKY STARS. It isn't easy for an association of magicians to organize an event--some joker is always sawing the secretary in half. Nonetheless, the Tucson chapter of the Society of American Magicians has persevered. See what they have up their sleeve at tonight's eighth annual "Stars of Magic" show, featuring the internationally renown Adrian Van Vactor, winner of the 1994 Milbourne Christopher Newcomer Award for "the most promising young magician of the future" (past recipients include Las Vegas masters Siegfried and Roy and David Copperfield). Van Vactor will share the stage with Mari Lynn (one of the country's few female magicians), award-winning ventriloquist John Nolander, and the comedic, bizarre and large-scale illusion-spinning troupe including Gene Collins, Norm Marini, Beatriz Rasco, John Shyrock, Bruce & Jan Spell, and Master of Ceremonies Rod Robinson.

"Stars of Magic" performs at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. in the TCC Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $7.50, $5 for children 12 and under, available at Dillard's the TCC box office and Williams Magic and Novelties, 6528 E. 22nd St. Call 791-4266 for information.

Sunday 10

GET THE BLUES. The sixth annual Tucson Acoustic Blues Showcase is fresher than a Georgia peach and grittier than Mississippi mud. Settle down with your favorite libations and a plate of down-home Bar-B-Que while The Blues Kats, Earl Edmonson, Ken Tucker, Heather Hardy and Michael Nordberg ease your desert-weary soul. Boogie-Woogie piano, award-winning finger picking, Piedmont-style blues guitar and "lightening virtuosity and unhindered soul" à la violin are but a sample from the acoustic menu. Be there or you'll be singing the blues for sure until next year's event.

Tucson's top acoustic blues talent brings down the house from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Southwest Center for Music, 2175 N. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $5 at the door, $3 for TBS, TKMA and KXCI members. Call 884-1220 for information.

Monday 11

SEE DOUBLE. Invisible Theatre opens its 25th anniversary season with the Southwestern premier of Double Double, a clever, romantic English thriller by Eric Elice and Roger Rees. Combined with featured performances by the acclaimed acting duo of Harold and Maedell Dixon (from last season's Love Letters), this classic "whodunit" will have you laughing and guessing to the final scene.

Preview tickets for tonight and tomorrow's 8 p.m. performances are $9, available at the Invisible Theater box office, 1400 N. First Ave. Double Double opens Wednesday, September 13, and continues through October 1. Regular ticket prices range from $12 to $14. Call 882-9721 for information.

Tuesday 12

GLASS HOUSES. Philabaum Contemporary Art Glass, 711 S. Sixth Ave., presents Architectonics, an exhibition featuring various approaches in glass which resemble architecture in structure and organization. This unique show highlights works by artists from across the country who find inspiration in architectural forms, bending and reshaping their chosen medium to create a truly spectacular vision, including architectural studies carved onto glass sculpture and construction techniques that employ glass elements. Architectonics continues through November 11. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Call 884-7404 for information.

Wednesday 13

Legends Of The Fall. No, we don't mean the cheesy movie with the vapid and vainglorious peach Pitt. We're talking about real legends and real places in the Southwest, coming alive this fall in Saints and Legends of the Pimeria Alta, a three-week class from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Arizona State Museum on the UA campus. Jim Griffith, anthropologist and director of the University of Arizona's Southwest Folklore Center, will discuss some of the regional Hispanic, O'odham and Yaqui traditions and beliefs he's compiled in his two books: Southern Arizona Folk Arts and Beliefs and Holy Places: A Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta.

People making pilgrimages along highway 15, colorful crosses rising out of the desert floor and Milagros pinned on the altars of saints are sights we take for granted in the Southwest, but each is a unique and mysterious aspect of our collective cultural identity. Cost of the series is $35, $25 for AAHS members. Call the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society at 797-1248 for registration and information.


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September 7 - September 13, 1995


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