Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo.

Pick of the Week: Tucson Jazz Festival

All That Jazz: The third annual Tucson Jazz Festival kicks off this week with young phenom Kamasi Washington, whose debut album The Epic was described in these pages last week as “steeped in spiritual jazz traditions of John and Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, the funky fusion of Donald Byrd and Wayne Shorter, and the free jazz explorations of Ornette Coleman,” taking the stage at downtown’s Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12. Tickets are $15 to $60.  The festival continues with more than a dozen performances through Jan. 22, including a Downtown Jazz Fiesta that features a day of free shows on Monday, Jan. 16.

Food & Booze

Food & Booze Girl Scout Cookie + Beer Pairing at Dragoon! These events have been popping up for a couple of years now, and we're definitely happy to see them continue. Head over to Dragoon on the very first day of 2017 Girl Scout Cookie season, pick up your favorite seasonal snack (Thin Mints, obviously) and pair it with a delicious local beer. These are the type of Saturday afternoons people dream of. 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Dragoon Brewing Co., 1859 W. Grant Road. Bring cash for cookies and beer.

Bowling & Booze: Whether you're more into wine or craft beer Each week, every team of two will get to enjoy (or, you know, not) with a new bottle of wine or four bottles of beer while bowling three games. Learn about different breweries or wineries every Thursday for six weeks starting Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Lucky Strike Bowl, 4015 E. Speedway Blvd. $12.99 per person, per week.

Arts

Tucson Fringe Festival: If you want to start your theater-going year with a heady dose of the "bigger and badder" variety, you should check out the sixth annual Tucson Fringe Festival. Get ready three days jam-packed with an array of original, unjuried works performed by artists both local, national and international. Read more about the festival in the art section). Jan. 13-15.

Terra Mater: Downtown’s Etherton Gallery presents its first show of 2017, Terra Mater, featuring work by three Phoenix-based artists, Mayme Kratz, Michael Lundgren and Christopher Colville, who all work in the Sonoran Desert. Kratz creates wall sculptures of luminous resin embedded with the desert detritus; Lundgren’s landscape photography chronicles the decay and transformation in the Sonoran Desert; and Colville uses spent paper targets to create photograms with explosions from small packets of gunfire. The free opening reception is 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, and the show continues through March 11 at Etherton Gallery, 135 S. Sixth Ave.

TRD Recruiting ’80s Night: Admit it—you've thought about becoming a roller girl. Join Tucson Roller Derby at Adult Skate Night to learn about roller derby while cruising around the rink. 8 p.m. 18+. Thursday, Jan. 12. Skate Country, 7980 E. 22nd Street. Tickets: $3. Skate rental: $3.

Cinema

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners: Monday is MLK Day, and that deserves recognition. Head over to the Loft to see writer/director Shola Lynch's documentary on Angela Davis, an outspoken 26 year-old UCLA professor whose affiliation with the Communist Party and the Black Panthers landed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16. The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Free.

Mondo Monday Presents Squirm: Creepy Crawly month continues with Squirm: A freak rainstorm and a few downed power lines cause millions of slithering, carnivorous worms to rise from the dirt, ready to chow down and worm their way into the hearts (literally!) of the rapidly-dwindling population of the small Southern town of Fly Creek. 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16. The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $3.

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages: Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath—What more do you want? Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 silent film is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction exploring the history of witchcraft, demonology and Satanism. 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22. The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $6 Cinema

Free Family Movie Night! featuring The Sandlot: A classic film, a night away from the kitchen and evening under the stars. Catch a free screening of The Sandlot and get the kiddos into the spirit of the movie with the inflatable batting cage, speed pitching contest, T-ball home run competition for ages 5 and under. 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Tucson Event Center, 1861 W. Grant Road. Free, bring money for food.

Community

Mineral Madness: The Desert Museum is beautiful and educational, and you’re probably overdue for a visit. Consider going during year’s Mineral Madness, which offers mineral lovers (novice and expert alike) a chance to learn something new about minerals and rocks and shop the mineral sale. Plus, walk around the grounds and stop in at stations to enjoy viewing micro-minerals, and mineral arts and crafts and learning about how animals and people use minerals. Kids, bring an egg carton in order to collect a free rock or mineral at each station. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 14-16. Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road. Included with museum admission.

Saguaro Market: Saguaro Market is a boutique/monthly shopping experience specializing in original artwork and crafts from local artists. Each month the market features new products and a new theme (January's theme is Renewal & Light: Celebrating Another Trip Around the Sun.) This month's selection includes desert themed socks, the condolence card we've all wanted to and out (“Sorry about your resting bitch face”) and Saguaro Cactus crystal-growing kits. This is way cooler than a trip to the mall. 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Jan. 12-15. Saguaro Market, 657 W. St. Mary's Road.

Grant Writing De-Mystified: Every once and a while the Weekly gets a phone call asking for tips on grant writing. We don't really have the time or expertise to help you out with that, but Southern Arizona Work Space is happy to step in. At the end of the workshop, you'll leave with a rough draft of your grant proposal and a plan for editing a final version. 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. City High School, 47 E. Pennington Street. $75.

Tucson Rodeo & Parade Barn Dance: Obviously, the Old Pueblo loves the rodeo—it's the cause of our favorite February holiday! But the bull-riding, lasso-dancing fun is in full swing long before the kids get to skip a couple days of class. Grab your drinking-age friends, get your boots on and start the party early with a little live music courtesy of Jack Bishop. 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum, 4823 S. Sixth Ave. $5.

Freecycle: Is your home feeling a little overcrowded, post-holiday haul? Load up the car with items that are gathering dust at home and take ’em to the library to swap with your community. 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. First Ave. Free.

Music

J. Boog: This Compton-raised singer is remarkable for a number of reasons, the best of which is the sweetness in his spring-warm voice: It’s the sound of a guy perpetually falling in love, or one who’s super curious about small wonders and life, but he never sounds too precious or maudlin. And his spellbinding, often chill tunes are all rooted in Jamaican sensibilities, reggae and dancehall, with dashes of old-school R&B and soul, and bits of hip-hop and rock ’n’ roll. More, the recordings never sound overwrought and ruined by modern studio techniques, more like a great singer fronting a real live band, all warm and natural. Good on him for that. Also, Boog’s been kickin’ out the jams since ’07 yet he’s really catching fire lately, especially with the release of his fourth album, 2016’s Wash House Ting. The hard-touring Boog boasts about a half-million Spotify listeners monthly, and that number’s climbing. With Jo Mersa Marley, Jemere Morgan, and Westafa on Sunday, Jan. 15. The Rock, 136 N. Park Ave. 7 p.m. $20-$25. All ages.

PIPELiGHTS: It’s easy to be pulled into the hush and sway of PIPELiGHTS. For one thing, Guitarist/singer Abby Corcoran’s vocals are instantly hypnotic—fans of Feist and Fiona Apple take note—and when she harmonizes with kickass-named keyboardist Emily Poppen, the results are deceptively heavy, rich and slicing. The women sound like sisters who grew up harmonizing over their dad’s King Crimson records. Their songwriting canvases human things like breakup pains, fucking up, and the necessity of living life in the fringes. The music reflects that, with its driving sparse sound, swirling synths and pianos, panned bass and unpredictable time changes. This young, all-female Tucson band (they’ve been together not long before releasing their debut album, 518, in July 2016) label their music indie art rock. But it’s more than that. With Earthwon and Half-Broke Town on Sunday, Jan. 15 at The Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St. 8 p.m. 21+. $5.

Desert Beats: Dirty, amped-up garage with fiery vocals from Randall Dempsey (and friends) whose record collection must be littered with ? & The Mysterians LPs, and maybe Link Wray and Duane Eddy 45s. There’s some good old Pandora’s Box longing in the sonics too, so much so it’s hard to tell what year we’re living in when we listen. But the harmonies are way more up-to-the-moment (listen to the toothy “We Can Forget.” Yow.) Come help the band celebrate the release of its limited-edition cassette album alongside other Tucson reprobates-in-song like the rising Lydian Osman and the ever-impish Golden Boots. Fair warning: the show will be packed, get there early. Friday, Jan. 13 at The Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St. 9 p.m. 21+.

Brujeria: Here’s an frighteningly punchy all-star death metal/grindcore combo that passes itself off as a murderous, truly evil drug cartel, one into Satan worship and Donald Trump. (Brujeria is Spanish for “witchcraft.”) Yes, they’re lampooning the form, but the music absolutely holds up as some of the heaviest shit ever recorded this side of Scandinavia. So let’s not confuse such skull-splitting din with lightweights like Spinal Tap or Gwar, OK? It’s no surprise members of Carcass, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and Napalm Death fill out the lineup. They’ve been together in one form or another since 1989 and their long-awaited fourth album, Pocho Aztlan, dropped a few months back. With The Casualties, Piñata Protest, Flying Donkey Punch, Maldad, and Napalm Strike. Friday, Jan. 13 at The Rock, 136 N. Park Ave. $23-$25. 6 p.m. All ages.

Copper and Congress: Singer Katie Haverly has a graceful voice that sometimes sounds like a reed instrument, and then an acoustic stringed one. Its dusty warmth embodies the place where love and joy and sadness intersect, and it can pull the listener in any of those directions. All of her solo albums lift on her vocals. In other words, it’s real singing, straight from the gut and heart. This six-piece group Copper and Congress finds the singer/songwriter collaborating with gifted Tucson musicians, such as multi-instrumentalist Patrick Morris, drummer Julius Schlosburg, saxman Michael Moynihan and artist/poet Teré Fowler-Chapman. The band mixes elegant jazz runs, opulent folk (and classical) chords, sexy piano strains, hip-hop, spoken word and Echo Park indie rock. It’s breathy, late-night blend sports a beat cool that a young Rickie Lee Jones would’ve tapped into. This show benefits the Coalición de Derechos Humanos and also features Jivin’ Scientists and the mighty Carlos Azate and the Kind Souls. Thursday, January 19 at The Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St. 8 p.m. $5. 21+.

Matt Haimovitz: This Israeli-born, Julliard-studied Cellist pretty much made his name recording stunning versions of Bach, Haydn and other composers, and even backing pop artists like Neil Young and Elvis Costello. But this Harvard grad’s a trailblazing classical music stud of the highest order—a master of subtlety, dynamic soundscapes and gently suited wisdom. He first played with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at 13, and then the New York Philharmonic a year later, and next he signed to the world’s classiest classic-music label. He’s made killer jazz records, stunning quartet albums, and recorded overtures to greats, all with absolute musical aplomb and thoughtfulness. He’s the one cellist on earth who could call an album The Twentieth-Century Cello and get away with it. People have been known to weep at his performances. This particular Tucson appearance (in the lobby at Hotel Congress) is a rare chance to see him up close and personal. This show is sneak preview of his musical take on Papa Hemmingway’s Moveable Feast, which will be performed in full the next night at Crowder Hall on the UA campus. At Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress on Friday, Jan 13. 1 p.m. All ages. Free.

WAVECLASH v1: You all may know the effervescent Spyder Rhodes from his on-air days at KFMA-FM back in the late ’90s, or as the forward-thinking mixologist who helmed the country’s first ’80’s night (“Deja Vu” Thursdays at Club Congress, beginning ’93). Yes, the dude’s been a programmer and master musicologist for more than 30 years—both here and up the west coast, and he’s been called a “guru of electronic music, Brit-pop, indie, alternative dance, 80’s underground dance music,” whose skills have been cited by MTV, URB Magazine and Playboy. Who are we to argue? Lots of us grew up on music that that dude pointed out. Now Rhodes is back on the decks for WaveClash v1, which he calls “a new wave resurrection, hybrid fusion of your analog past and your digital future. Spyder say’s he’ll be spinning all your fave ’80s new wave and dark wave, merged with the best of millennial, indie "now wave," seasoned with classic and current Brit pop. Tucson’s best sound system begins kicking Spydie jams at 8 p.m. At TheEvent, 6350 E. Tanque Verde. 21+ $5 before 9 p.m., $7 after p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Couples $10.