TUNES SOUTHWEST. Don Charles has said he thinks "making music is just too much fun to make a job out of." Perhaps he should have added making a living at it, too, but that's not what we care about. Our goal, and yours tonight, should simply be to stop in and hear Don Charles and Deb Gessner play some fine folk music, inspired by their life and love in the Southwest. Maybe they'll sing the one about mud turtles. Hear their Celtic harp, guitar, concertina and mandola (that oversized mandolin), starting at 8 p.m. Good chance to pick up their 1993 release Matter of Life and Death, too. Besides this talented duo, singer/songwriter Chuck Pyle will play some of his terrific songs, which have been recorded by at least two of our faves, Jerry Jeff Walker and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The big folk gig climbs on stage at the Southwest Center for Music, 2175 N. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $8 in advance, with discounts for KXCI, TKMA, TFTM and WMA members or $1 more at the door. Call 884-1220 for more folk info.
ADIX ALERT. "I want things to be unpredictable with my pieces," says artist David Adix, about the hidden treasures he puts on the backs of his purposefully arranged collages. "It's something the person who owns the piece will know it's there." It's that little secret something that intrigues in Adix' work, the mystery that makes you try to hatch a story amid the buttons, wire, knobs and knives and light bits of lace, all fairy-dusted with delicately colored glitter. "I've named the show Possibilities because the potential is limitless," says Adix, who notes this new work literally flowed out of him. His collages, filled with items from 1900 to around 1940, speak to the disposable society, always with a touch of the sarcastic Adix humor. "These pieces already have a history about them; I continue the history," he says, referring to some already framed photographs that he layers with treasures from someone's tool box or sewing kit.
Adix says this show is dedicated to his late partner John McArthur--not to his memory, emphasizes Adix, to him, because "in a very abstract way I feel John has guided me through these pieces."
Take yourself out for a look-see to enjoy this artist's very affordable work at a special three-day show at Obsidian Gallery in St. Philip's Plaza, 4340 N. Campbell Ave. Today's opening reception is from 5 to 7 p.m., with show times from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Call 577-3598 for information.
CORNUCOPIA. "Corn is Life," say the organizers of this year's Original Corn Fest, a husky cob of a festival popping up at Himmel Park today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Puns aside, the Hispanic Cultural Showcase wants you to know corn is one of those excellent staples the new world passed on to its faraway friends. The free event will have all those corny foods you crave, with the Original Corn Roasters handing out some of that oh-so-good natural food. Entertainment by corn-bred communities and tips and tales from the good people at Native Seed Search make this one of those learn-while-you-have-fun fests. Horticulture man-about-town George Brookbank will judge the famed corn-growing contest. Himmel Park is at First Street and Tucson Boulevard. For more information call 888-8816.
SOUTHWESTERFEST. It's ranchin', it's ropin', only it's doing it with some words and music at the Western Music Association's fall festival. Tonight, Downtown Saturday Night joins this national event by offering the Ronstadt Transit Center at Sixth Avenue and Congress Street as an open-air, wild-ride venue for some terrific western entertainers who've been workshopping and playing music all week. There will be horse-drawn wagon rides through downtown just to add some bit and bite to this theme scene. Bet you can even find a chuckburger or two at some of the way-west downtown eateries. Do it downtown from 7 to 10 p.m. For more information call 624-9977.
BEAT THIS. Today opens the International Percussion Conference at the University of Arizona, and that means good stuff for all of us. The forum opens with a public concert by The Caribbean Jazz Project at 7:30 tonight at Centennial Hall, Park Avenue and University Boulevard. Tickets for this event, featuring Dave Samuels on percussion keyboards, Andy Narell on steel drums and Paquito D'Rivera on saxophones, are $11 to $22. Call 621-3341 to reserve your seat. Tucson's own excellent Tucson Latin Jazz Orchestra opens the show. Also, don't miss the free concert by Fine Stream Gamelan at 8 p.m. tomorrow night at Crowder Hall. For a complete list of workshops, concerts and events for the conference, including marimba classes and discussions, call 621-2998.
GET ORGAN-IZED. If you need some organ music transplanted into your harmonious heart, we've got the time and the place. Showcase V, part of the Eastside Artist Series, will feature members of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, starting at 3 p.m. today. Phoenix organ specialists will join the Tucson gang of Lynn Alan Moser, Seong Lee and David Gay as they perform classical music for organ by Mathias, Guilmant, Marais, Lubeck and more. We hear the acoustics at the Christ Church United Methodist, 655 N. Craycroft Road, make this a fine place to catch the $5 concert. No reservations, just show up and enjoy. For more information call 299-7189.
SAVOR SONDHEIM. When George Seurat painted "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," there was no way he would have ever imagined a Stephen Sondheim would one day create such a popular theatre production based on the painting. But what a wonderful idea to examine the artist and his light- and composition-thrilling pointillist work. Sunday in the Park with George will take you through the work into the contemporary art world, where art as business becomes master, only to wander back to what the creative soul is all about. The Pulitzer-prize winning musical plays at the Marroney Theatre on the UA campus with previews today and tomorrow at 8 p.m., with its regular run from November 8 through 19. See how the UAs Arizona Repertory Theatre treats this exceptional musical. It's just $7 for preview performances, $8 to $14 after that. Call 621-1162 for ticket information.
ANTI-SEMITISM LECTURE. One of the best lecture series in town, the Faculty Community Lecture Series, will continue its run tonight with a lecture by well-known author and professor Leonard Dinnerstein. He'll be speaking on "Anti-Semitism in America." Dinnerstein, director of Judaic Studies and a professor in the Department of History at the University of Arizona, will focus on the roots of American anti-Semitism and discuss the worst period for this hatred, the late 1930s and World War II. He'll also examine anti-Semitism in society today. The free lecture is at 7:30 p.m. in the DuVal Auditorium, Arizona Health Sciences Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. Free parking is available in the parking garage off Campbell Avenue. For more information call 621-3512.
THE SUICIDE. It's fitting that a satirical play examining man against bureaucracy never saw the light of day when it was first written in Russia by Nikolai Erdman in 1928. Famed playwright Maxim Gorki begged none other than Joseph Stalin to allow its production, which he did, but in the end the play was not permitted to be staged. Interestingly, the late Pima Community College professor Richard Snider saw it produced in London in 1979--its first reported production, according to PCC's Chris Cunningham--and brought it to PCC for its American premiere in 1981. At that time the lead role went to Chris Wilken, who is directing the play this time around. One of only two plays written by Erdman, who died in obscurity in 1970, the unemployed "little man" in the play contemplates suicide while a variety of other unhappy souls demand his suicide be on their behalf. The play runs tonight through November 18, with $4 and $6 preview tickets available tonight. The Suicide plays at 8 p.m. at the PCC Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Call 884-6458 for more information. No reservations are necessary.
 |
 |
© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth |
|