Tucson Weekly: City Week (November 12

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Thursday 12

BEAT GOES ON. That ornery scrublands arts journal called Border Beat will celebrate its second anniversary with an evening of fine Southwestern music and literature. Topping the roster for tonight's party is a musical Texas twister led by Joe Ely, Tish Hinojosa and Tom Russell, with readings by Demetria Martínez, Patricia Preciado Martin and Gary Nabhan.
City Week Show time is 7:30 p.m. in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Tickets are $20 and $18, and available at Hear's Music. For details, call 321-0928.
DESERT DANCE. The UA Dance Ensemble and special guests from the Amsterdam School of the Arts kick off the annual Arizona Jazz Dance Showcase, Jazz in AZ.
This high-steppin' international program will include three dance pieces by the Amsterdam School. Also featured will be Between the Lines, Little Girl Blue and Blackbird, choreographed by UA dance faculty members Michael Williams and Susan Quinn.
Performance is 7:30 p.m. in the UA Crowder Hall, in the Music Building at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Tickets are $10, $7 for seniors and students, and available at the UA Fine Arts box office, or by calling 621-1162.
GENDER BENDER. Celebrating female power is the concept behind the Divine Medusa concert, described as an expression of the need and desire for Tucson's female talent to create a "place of their own" in the Old Pueblo's music scene.
Tonight they carve out that niche in spades, with appearances by a pair of Tammie Award-winners, the Annie Hawkins Band and Saffire Kieft, along with New York's Lou Ann, and KXCI spin-mistress Susie B.
Show time is 8 p.m. in the Mat Bevel Institute, 330 N. Stone Ave. Admission is $5, $3 for students. For information, call 570-9582.

Friday 13

ORAL RX. In those primitive pre-Internet days, tenets of the human condition were shared via narratives, also known as storytelling. Now the Arizona State Museum revives that ancient mode of interfacing with a two-day, family-oriented storytelling festival. Tonight's gathering will focus on stories for families and young children, hosted by Martin Rivera and Gloria Meyers, followed by humor geared toward older kids.
Tomorrow, the "Showcase of Children's Stories" will include three traditional tales by Navajo storyteller Millie Walters, followed by yarns narrated by children themselves.
Today's event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in the UA Center for English as a Second Language Building auditorium, on North Campus Drive east of Park Avenue. The cost is $6, $4 for children. Tomorrow's event runs from 1 to 3 p.m. on the Arizona State Museum lawn, on campus inside the main gate east of Park Avenue. Admission is free. For details, call 621-6302.
TIMELESS FRIVOLITY. "People aren't what they seem, and the shameless flirting, harmless fibs and unfaithful couple have never been so amusing."
Melrose Place? Hardly. Rather, it's the unseemly theme behind Die Fledermaus, a delightful opera set to the music of Strauss that's as "light and frivolous as a glass of champagne."
This Arizona Opera production will introduce four new voices to Copper State audiences, including Benoit Boutet as Eisenstein, Pamela Hicks as Rosalinda, Douglas Wunsch as Alfred, and Suzanne DuPlantis as Orlofsky.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 p.m. Sunday, in the TCC Music Hall, 260 S. Church St. Tickets range from $15 to $65, and are available by calling 293-4336.
MORALLY CHALLENGED. John Steinbeck's haunting tale of misplaced intentions and human cruelty is recreated in Of Mice and Men, presented by the Live Theatre Workshop.
The poignant, Depression-era story circles around an enormous, powerful, retarded man named George, and his pal Lennie, who compassionately steers George through the straits of hard times, and attempts to rescue him from the abyss of tragedy.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow, 3 p.m. Sunday, in the Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway. Performances continue through December 6. Tickets are $10, $9 for seniors and students, and available by calling 327-4242.

Saturday 14

WESTERN WIZARDRY. A sleight-handed troupe of Arizona's top magicians share the mysterious spotlight with the Stars of Magic.
The show will feature old pros and rising stars, including John Shyrock, a veteran of Las Vegas, Hollywood's Magic Castle, and Magic Island in Houston. Other stars range from Gene Collins and Rod Robison to Norm Marini and Adrian Van Vector.
Performances are 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Tickets are $8, $5 for children under age 12, and available at the Temple box office and William's Magic Shop. For information, call 881-6949.
BELLY-UP. An ancient, sensuous art gets well-deserved recognition today at the second annual Belly Dance Festival, hosted by Dancers in the Desert Belly Dance Club. This abdomen-fest likewise happens in the exotic confines of Valley of the Moon, an eccentric little fantasy land created by the late George Phar Leglar.
The festival runs from 1 to 6 p.m. in the Valley, 2544 E. Allen Road, between Tucson Boulevard and Country Club Road, north of Prince Road. Admission is $5, $2 for children under age 12, free for children ages 6 and under. For details, call 750-0004, Ext. 2.

Sunday 15

UNLEASHED HUMOR. Suzanne Westenhoefer has been called "one of the most confident comedians, man or woman, to step on the improv stage." She's a lesbian whose gay-oriented material deftly leaps the lifestyle gap right into the heterosexual world, and her hilarious patter is captured on her latest recording, Nothing In My Closet But My Clothes. Tonight Westenhoefer brings her preference-hopping humor to Tucson for a premier performance.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 West Speedway. Advance tickets range from $15 to $17, and are available at Antigone Books, Tucson Trunk, or by calling 327-4809. Tickets are $16 at the door.
TO MARKET. Leave those ridiculous shoppers' cards at home, and pick up some real groceries when St. Philip's Plaza hosts its ongoing Sunday Farmers' Market.
More than 15 vendors will be offering everything from vine-ripened tomatoes and organic vegetables to flowers and even emu oil. There will also be European bread, pastries, English tea, coffee and tamales for sale.
The market runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in St. Philip's Plaza, 4380 N. Campbell Ave. Call 743-8063 for details.
FINAL RIGHTS. Hemlock Society founder and best-selling author Derek Humphry, and Gentle Closure president Mary Clement, are at the forefront of the right-to-die movement. And never has their cause been more prescient, with states like Oregon enacting laws allowing people in pain to take their own lives. Now Humphry and Clement embody their fight for final rights in their book, Freedom to Die: People, Politics and the Right to Die Movement.
Today, they come to Tucson to discuss their work and sign copies from 1 to 3 p.m. in The Book Mark, 5001 E. Speedway. For information, call 881-6350.

Monday 16

LIFE'S CABARET. Pre-World War II Berlin was a hotbed of carefree decadence, where sleazy joints like the Kit Kat Klub catered to patrons desperate to escape their troubles. It's also the sublime setting for Cabaret, a UA Repertory Theatre production based on Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Stories, and I am a Camera by John Van Druten.
This Tony Award-winning classic tells the story of Clifford Bradshaw, a frustrated American novelist, and Sally Bowles, the brash English singer who falls for him.
Preview performances are 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. today, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, in the UA Marroney Theatre, at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Performances continue through December 6. Times vary. Preview tickets are $10. Tickets for regular performances are $19, $17 for seniors and UA employees, $13 for students, and available at the UA Fine Arts box office, or by calling 621-1162.
NATIVE BASH. The UA Native American Resource Center gives a jubilant nod to indigenous people when it hosts the ninth annual American Indian Cultural Celebration Week.
Festivities open at noon today with a ceremony in front of the Nugent Building, on the south side of the UA main mall, followed by an open house, and a Native American Talent Showcase from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Tomorrow, the Native American band Blackfire performs "high-energy, politically driven music" at 7 p.m. on the main mall, and at noon on Wednesday the Jones Benally Dance Troupe performs traditional dances on the mall, followed by the Miss Native American UA Pageant at 6 p.m. in the Education Building Kiva Auditorium.
Other activities continue through the weekend. For details, call 621-3835.

Tuesday 17

COMEBACK TRAIL. Extinction may be forever, but life on the brink still harbors a chance for comeback. That's the topic of a discussion today led by Scott Richardson, urban wildlife specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Richardson will highlight various reintroduction programs around the state, ranging from black-footed ferrets, Mexican gray wolves and California condors to humble but integral dwellers like the desert pupfish.
Lecture is 2 p.m. in the Tohono Chul Park Wilson Room, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte. Cost is $2, and free for park members. Call 742-6455 for details.
SLAP HAPPY. Add a few smacks here and some slaps there, toss in a good whacking or two, and pretty soon you're talking real music. At least that's the rhythmic language spoken today with a performance by the Finnish body percussion group, Syrjahyppy.
Just like it sounds, body percussion is created by hands rhythmically touching various parts of the body, or by feet stepping or hopping. Syrjahyppy is at the forefront of this unique genre, and since 1991 has been touring the world with its skills. Today, the troupe arrives in Tucson for a premier performance.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. in the UA Gittings Dance Theater, at the south end of the pedestrian underpass at Speedway and Park Avenue. Tickets are $8, $6 for seniors and students, and available by calling 621-4698.

Wednesday 18

DRAWING ON TALENT. The Drawing Studio has made its name as a prolific, independent association of artists and art students dedicated to the practice of drawing, composition and aesthetics. Now that creative compendium is on display in Watercolor Painting: Observing the World Around Us, a new exhibit in the Utterback Middle School G.A.S.P. Gallery.
The collection draws from direct observation of life, and the result is very colorful works of art, including numerous landscapes, home settings, and plenty of beautiful, peaceful scenes.
The exhibit runs through November 30 in the G.A.S.P Gallery, in the Utterback Middle School, 3233 S. Pinal Vista Drive. The gallery is open during regular school hours. For details, call 617-6100.
NO-MO HO-HO. Those fleecy yukmeisters at The Gaslight Theatre ring in the Yuletide season with Give My Regards to Santa, or The Snow Must Go On.
It may be time to be jolly, but Wall Street is plunging and times are getting tough in this Depression-era comedy. Meanwhile, Broadway is marked by chorus lines and bread lines. Even a bell-ringing Santa looks a tad desperate.
All of which doesn't dampen the hopes of a young girl who wants to be a star, nor those of a temperamental leading lady, nor of a crooked producer with dollar signs in his eyes.
Together they combine fragile, sometimes devious desires in this new-fashioned holiday musical that reminds us that "Life can be sweet on the Santa side of the street."
Show time is 6 and 8:30 p.m. today in The Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway. Performances continue at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Beginning November 23, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Monday performances will be added. Tickets are $13.95, $11.95 for students, seniors and military, $6 for children ages 12 and under, and available by calling 886-9428.

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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