Tucson Weekly: City Week (October 29

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

Thursday 29

HIGHBROW WHODUNIT. A smoke-filled room, a dastardly deed, a cast of eccentric, likely suspects. Sounds like just another night at ol' Twist-n-Shout, right?
City Week Wrong. It's actually the suspenseful setting for J.B. Priestly's An Inspector Calls, the latest offering by the Tucson Parks and Recreation CommunVote 'Em Outish drawing room, the stylish whodunit is described as "a thinking-man's thriller that asks the audience more than 'who really did it?' "
Free performances are 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday in the Tucson Parks and Recreation Performing Auditorium, 200 S. Alvernon Way. For information, call 791-4663.
DARKNESS FALLS. Long Day's Journey Into Night has been called the greatest work of American theatre. But it's hardly the brightest: Eugene O'Neill's powerfully stark, largely autobiographical drama details his family's descent into the twilight of despair. Now the dark masterpiece comes to Tucson in a production by the Arizona Theatre Company.
The curtain rises as evening approaches and fog envelops the Tyrone family's summer home on the Eastern seaboard. The miserly father--an aging matinee idol--his deeply troubled wife, and two flawed sons peel away layers of scepters and half-truths in an attempt to exorcise their family demons.
O'Neill wrote the play as a gift to his wife. It's a work so intimate and controversial that he asked that it not be published until 25 years after his
death.
Performance is 7 p.m. in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Performances continue through Saturday, November 7. Times vary. Tickets range from $19 to $28, and are available at the ATC box office, Dillard's or by calling 622-2823. Half-price adult and $10 student rush tickets are available at the box office one hour before curtain.

Friday 30

DEAD HEADS. The dearly departed take center stage with a new exhibit in the Mexican American Cultural Art Center.
El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a long-standing tradition among Mexican families, both in the United States and in Mexico. Boasting roots in Aztec and European cultures, it remembers the dead as graves are swept clean and adorned with gifts. In homes, altars are erected with more gifts, flowers and candles.
This exhibit celebrates that spirit with work by a variety of artists, including Christina Cardenas, Tony De Carlo, Alfred Quiroz, Antonio Pazos and Jeff Litvak. And from
2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, the center will host a free family day featuring traditional treats for kids, story telling, and workshops.
Tonight's opening reception is from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Mexican American Cultural Art Center, 222 E. Sixth St. Exhibit runs through December 5. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For details, call 624-6878.
EMERALD EVE. "There is a country called Tír-na-Nóg," Yeats wrote, "which means the Country of the Young, for age and death have not found it; neither tears nor loud laughter have gone near it."
And at no time is the myth of Tír-Na-Nóg stronger than during the ancient samaín festival celebrating Celtic New Year's Eve. It's traditionally considered a time of magic, when revelers might be able to find that mysterious, blissful land.
The local Emerald Isle Society offers bargain-basement passage with A Night in Tír-na-Nóg, a gala gathering of eating, drinking, Irish music, singing and dance, all in the ancient spirit. Your only requirement is showing up in "ethereal dress."
Event is at 6 p.m. in the Tucson Woman's Club, 6245 E. Bellevue St. Admission is $20, and seating is limited. For information, call 740-0000.
ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS. The Tucson Symphony Orchestra continues its rollicking fall season by revisiting a pair of masters, under the direction of George Hanson. Tonight, the ensemble performs Beethoven's "Symphony No. 4," and "Scheherazade," by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. in the TCC Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets range from $10 to $29, available at the TSO box office or by calling 882-8585.

Saturday 31

GHOULISH MARDI GRAS. Onyx Productions celebrates All Souls Day with a twist, as they fire up a Halloween Mardi Gras. This adults-only, BYOB-blast will feature music by D&A Entertainment, along with plenty of festive chow. And the Onyx folks remind us that "it's a major faux pas not to wear a mask on Mardi Gras evening."
The action runs from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Tucson Woman's Club, 6245 E. Bellevue St. Advance tickets are $12.50, available at Al's Barber Shop and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's. Tickets are $15 at the door. For details, call 621-3419.
CONGRESSIONAL CREEPFEST. Rock and roll bares its eerie soul at 8 p.m. at The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., where there's a king's tomb of music on three stages. Congress Street will be blocked off for the second annual Neewollah extravaganza featuring The Paladins, Hipster Daddy-O, Billy Bacon and The Forbidden Pigs, Shoebomb, and the Spirit Union Revival. There will also be appearances by life-size marionettes, a Flam-Chen fire performance, The Tucson Maniac, and the best costume contest in town. Single tickets are $8, $12 for a pair, available at Zia Record Exchange or at the door. Call 740-0126 for information.

Sunday 1

WELL-STRINGED. Tom Patterson directs the renowned UA guitar program, and his students have won more than 50 prizes in international competitions. So he's no slouch when it comes to his own guitar talent, with a string of globe-trotting performances from Japan and Italy to Spain and Brazil under his talented belt. Tonight, he displays that finesse for the hometown crowd, joined by flutist Valerie Watts of the University of Oklahoma. Their performance will include Radames Gnattali's "Sonatina," Sérgio Assad's "Circulo Mágicó," and Astor Pizzolla's "The History of the Tango."
Show time is 2:30 p.m. in the Holsclaw Recital Hall, UA Music Building, at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Tickets are $10, $8 for faculty and staff, $5 for students and seniors. Get them in advance at the UA Fine Arts box office, or by calling 621-1162.
FADED FAIR. The good, the bad and the charmingly timeless go on the block today at the Pima County Parks and Recreation antique fair. Everything that's old and valuable will be up for grabs, offered by collectors from all over the region, along with plenty of hot food and cold drinks.
The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Tanque Verde Center, 2300 N. Tanque Verde Loop Road. Admission is free. For details, call 740-2680.
HIGH NOTE. The Arizona Repertory Singers ring in the fall season with Fabulous Folk, a concert featuring a wide repertoire of ethnic classics. The excellent a cappella ensemble will tackle traditional American, Irish, Macedonian and other European folk tunes with their signature, warbling flair. There will also be Renaissance works, a few spirituals, and even some numbers by George Gershwin.
Show time is 3 p.m. in Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors, and will be available at the door. For details, call 792-8141.

Monday 2

CREATIVE TRADITION. The UA Joseph Gross Gallery celebrates both its mentor and 20 years of fine tradition with a salutary exhibit entitled Tribute. This show marks the commitment and efforts of Joseph Gross and others from the UA who helped spark the school's quality art department, culminating with the gallery's official opening in 1978.
Since that time, its walls have hosted countless works by an army of students and educators. That spirit gets a big nod from the current display, a sampling of artists who've shown here over the years. Their ranks include Bruce McGrew, Jim Waid and Bailey Doogan, along with Tim McDowell, Kevin Sloan, and even 94-year-old Lenore Tawney, who was recently honored with a major retrospective in the American Craft Museum.
The exhibit runs through November 12 in the UA Joseph Gross Gallery, in the Fine Arts Complex on Speedway, east of Park Avenue. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For details, call 626-4215.
LONG-TIME TRAVELERS. Nearly two decades of duo performances have taken Mark Rush and Tannis Gibson to concert halls across Europe, Canada and the United States. Besides that collaborative junket, this husband-and-wife team also has a few notches on their individual musical belts: violinist Rush is a founding member of the Monticello Trio Ensemble at the University of Virginia, where he was on the musical faculty; and Gibson, a pianist, has not only performed with many prominent composers, but is in growing demand as a chamber artist.
Tonight the pair shares the stage in a performance to include Beethoven's "Sonata in G Major," and "Sonata for Solo Violin," by Nicholas Maw.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. in UA Crowder Hall, in the Music Building at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Tickets are $10, $8 for faculty and staff, $5 for students and seniors. They're available at the UA Fine Arts box office, 621-1162.

Tuesday 3

AROMATIC RECALL. In their new exhibit, The Persistent Scent of Time, artists Maria Schutt and Beata Wehr explore the passing moment with mixed-media assemblages, art books and paintings.
Wehr is a native of Poland, and her work is strongly influenced by feelings of cultural dislocation, and a frustration at being an outsider in both cultures. Schutt is likewise a refugee of sorts. Born in Quebec, she's spent much of her life in various places around the United States, and reveals that sense of dislocation and transience through her art. Both women also mark time's passage by its physical effects on the human body and mind. These feelings of isolation, aging, and struggling to adapt to nomadic lives ultimately give The Persistent Scent of Time its dead-center poignancy.
The exhibit runs through November 13 in the UA Lionel Rombach Gallery, located inside the Gross Gallery, south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call 626-4215 for information.

Wednesday 4

ONE VOICE. Local feminists extend their struggle to the rights of animals with Animal Liberation Through An Ecofeminist Lens. This slide presentation explores the history of women's relationships to animals in art, religion and mythology "before and after the advent of patriarchy."
That notion is then taken a step further, drawing comparisons between the objectification, exploitation and abuse of both women and animals in contemporary society, from pornography and the vivisection lab to the slaughterhouse.
Sound like a reach? Don't be so sure.
The free discussion runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. First Ave. For details, call 825-6852.
LETHAL LAUGHS. "We've got guns," says Penn Jillette, one-half of the Penn and Teller comedy duo. "Real .357 Magnums actually loaded by audience members. We could get killed. Shot dead in front of the paying public. Who else would be crazy enough to try that?"
Crazy indeed. This fantastic pair of comedic magicians has been ripping up crowds for years, doing for stage magic what The Texas Chainsaw Massacre did for home improvement. Now they bring their riotous act to Tucson. And according to a recent review by The Boston Globe, they're in top form: "Penn and Teller have never been better. Even though they've been doing this for more than 20 years, they're still what they've always been--just two guys having a helluva time on the midway of life."
Show time tonight is 7:30 p.m. in UA Centennial Hall, inside the main gate east of Park Avenue. Tickets range from $24 to $36, half-price for students and children ages 18 and under. For reservations and information, call the Centennial Hall box office, 621-3341.

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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