City Week


Thursday 18

THE AWFUL TRUTH. Looking for a dirt-cheap way to spend a Thursday evening?

The Cinema La Placita film series continues this week with The Awful Truth, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

The Odd Couple, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, wraps up the month's schedule on July 25.

Tonight's film starts at 7:30 p.m. on the large outdoor screen in the plaza at La Placita Village, downtown. Other movies also start at 7:30 p.m.

There is no admission charge for the showings but $3 contributions are encouraged. The entrance to La Placita Village is at 110 S. Church St., near the corner of Broadway. Ample parking is available at the La Placita parking garage on Stone Avenue, just south of Broadway. For more information, email outdoormovies@hotmail.com.


Friday 19

BENEFIT FOR A BASSIST. Shannon Moreno, bassist for Al Foul and the Shakes, broke his neck in a motorcycle accident in April.

Fortunately, Moreno wasn't paralyzed and should recover from the accident. However, he piled up medical expenses and needs your help.

Show up tonight at Club Congress to help him out and you'll enjoy a rockin' good time. The lineup includes Al Foul and the Shakes, the Last Call Brawlers, Flagstaff's The High Rollers, Phoenix's The Trophy Husbands and Tom Walbank.

The show is one of two tonight at the club.

The Original Sinners, featuring Exene Cervenka and a to-be-announced special guest will be performing in the Hotel Congress Banquet Room. The Original Sinners get back to the early stuff--raw, rough, and uncompromisingly punk.

Both shows start at 9 p.m. today at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress. Tickets for the benefit are $6. Tickets for The Original Sinners are $8. For more information, call 622-8848.

JUST BEAT IT. Drummers of all ages and sexes beat together on the third Friday of every month at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

The action takes place in the Awareness Room or, if weather permits, the banging rocks the great outdoors. Pounders are urged to bring drums, rattles, bells, sticks or any other fascinating instrument. Come on, don't you really want to take a turn at the Big Drum?

Everyone is invited to enjoy this ancient form of relaxation. Follow your heart and beat to its rhythm.

The free drumming is from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4831 E. 22nd St. Reservations are not required. Drummers of all persuasions are invited to attend. Bring your drums and rattles, etc. For more information, call 790-4933 or email CharLittle@aol.com.


Saturday 20

PICKING UP THE SLACK. A guy with a real feel for serious blues picks up where W.C. Clark left off.

Guitar Shorty provides the entertainment tonight at Nimbus Brewing, which recently hosted Clark's CD release party.

If it's been a while since you've gotten a case of the blues, get out of the house and be ready to rock as Shorty unleashes his talent on Tucson.

Shorty's 1998 release, Roll Over, Baby, included "Hey Joe," a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, "I Want to Report a Crime" and "Sugar Wugar." Another song, "I'm Going Back to Houston," a nod to his hometown, is an organ-driven number that shows off his guitar skills.

Tonight's show, presented by Terry O'Productions, starts at 9 at Nimbus Brewing and Tap Room, 3850 E. 44th St. (Go south on the Palo Verde Overpass, take your first left on to 44th Street and follow the signs.) Tickets are $10. For more information, call 745-9175 or visit www.dotucson.com.

DEEP UNDERCOVER. A place called the Safehouse seems a likely destination for an auction featuring the works of the city's underground artists.

8 Eye Press will be holding its first such event. The auction will be comprised of work from Tucson-based not-so-knowns.

Tucson has always been known as an arts town and 8 Eye is ready to give you a glimpse of what the next generation of artists is up to. These talented artists have had their work displayed in various local cafes and galleries.

Learn more about these creative neighbors as the artists will be present to share their experiences and visions. There will be a raffle, as well as a chance to purchase artists donated work as a way to show support for local talent.

8 Eye Press is a small local publisher, dedicated to being a vehicle for expression, giving otherwise overlooked artists the exposure they deserve. 8 Eye Press currently publishes two titles--Project Dawn and Ornithopter Quarterly.

Ornithoper Quarterly is a small publication showcasing usually unknown photographers, writers, poets, painters and illustrators. Project Dawn is the first comic book in a series from Wade Smalling, a regular artist for Ornithopter Quarterly.

The auction begins at 8 tonight at the Safehouse, 4024 E. Speedway Blvd. For more information, call 490-0477 or email info@8eyepress.com.


Sunday 21

OH, SO SWEET. Chorus lovers are in for a very sweet 16 this evening.

St. Andrew's Bach Society's 2002 Summer Concert Series continues with Musica Sonora, a 16-voice chamber vocal ensemble dedicated to the presentation of music written before 1750.

The concert will be directed by Christina Jarvis with Baroque violinists David Sego and Amy Haltom, and Dr. Stephen Keyl, organ.

Vocal soloists are Maureen Papovich, Kay Wiley, David Bishop, James Callegary and Casey Papovich. The program will include works by Monteverdi, Marini, Schütz, Philips, Rivafrecha, Guerrero, Byrd and J. S. Bach.

Jarvis directed Collegium Musicum, the University of Arizona's early music ensemble, in 2001 and 2002. She has lived and performed in London, where she studied harpsichord and early performance practice.

Sego holds a master's degree in viola from Arizona State University and has studied Baroque violin and viola with David Douglas, Stanley Ritchie and Monica Huggett.

Haltom has a master's in historical performance from Mannes College of Music in New York. She has performed extensively on the East Coast. Haltom and Sego are founding members of the ensemble Galileo Project, which will perform at the Amherst Early Music Festival Baroque Academy in August.

Keyl, director of music at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Tucson, studied at Williams College, Duke University and the University of Munich. He received a doctorate in musicology from Duke.

Today's concert begins at 3 p.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 545 S. Fifth Ave. Tickets are $8 general admission and $7 for seniors and students and will be available at the door. For more information, call 628-8119 or e-mail christina@delegation.org.

GOT A MATCH? Talk about weird timing ...

An exhibition called Hot Art: Burning Images marks the start of the University of Arizona Museum of Art's 2002-2003 Exhibition Season.

In light of the recent wildfires, one might think the schedule would be shuffled a bit.

Anyway, the show, which opens today, features the works of John Cage, Paul Chojnowski and Andrew Bennett.

The proximity of fire with works of art on paper or paintings tends to evoke visions of unwanted destruction. Yet these three artists channel this threat and create spectacular works of art.

The free show runs through Sept. 29 at the museum, which is located on the UA Campus, at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 621-7567.

Monday 22

A VERY COOL DIG. Wouldn't it be great if you could indulge your passion for archaeology in Tucson during the summer months without risking heat stroke?

Well, you can through Arizona State Museum's Archaeology summer camp, which starts today and runs through Friday.

Work alongside Paul and Suzy Fish and their team of students working on the Marana Mound Research Project in one of ASM's recently renovated and air-conditioned research labs. See first-hand how and what they learn about the Hohokam in the Tucson basin through ceramic analysis, faunal analysis and lithic analysis.

Enjoy special tours, presentations and more--and do it all while staying cool.

The program's not cheap, but then, we're not talking evap, either. Cost is $270 museum members and $300 non-members. The class traditionally fills quickly and space is limited. Reserve a spot by calling 626-8381 or emailing darlene@al.arizona.edu. For more information, call 621-6302 or visit www.statemuseum.arizona.edu.


Tuesday 23

TALKING SHOP. P.K. Weis is a lifelong student of W. Eugene Smith, whose greatest works are now on display at the Center for Creative Photography.

Weis, a photographer and photo editor for the Tucson Citizen, will discuss how Smith's career shaped early photojournalism and influenced other photographers during a presentation called W. Eugene Smith: The Consummate Photo Documentarian.

Dream Street, the exhibition at the center, brings together 195 photographs from W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Photographs, Smith's epic, unfinished essay of Pittsburgh. This is the first time these photographs--which Smith considered the finest of his career--have been exhibited together.

The exhibition joins the two largest and most important public holdings of prints from the project, housed at Carnegie Museum of Art and at the Center for Creative Photography, home to the largest and most complete collection of Smith's work, the W. Eugene Smith Archive. Dream Street yields an illuminating perspective on Smith's creative process, and a portrait of Pittsburgh at the pinnacle of its industrial might.

Smith began the project in 1955, having just resigned his high profile but stormy post at Life magazine. He was commissioned to spend three weeks in Pittsburgh and produce 100 photos for a book commemorating the city's bicentennial, Pittsburgh: Story of an American City, by noted journalist and author Stefan Lorant. Instead, Smith stayed a year, compiling nearly 17,000 photographs for what would be the most ambitious photographic essay of his life, his intended magnum opus.

Weis brings his own knowledge to the talk as well, having been a member of the National Press Photographers' Association for 35 years. He has taught for the University of Arizona School of Journalism and at Pima Community College.

The lecture starts at 5:30 p.m. today at 1030 N. Olive Road, in the fine arts complex at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. The free exhibition runs through Sept. 29. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, please call 621-7968 or visit www.creativephotography.org.


Wednesday 24

SADDLE UP. Bet you don't know that the U.S. Army once had rigid standards not only for its calvarymen, but for the horses they rode.

Or that the most common saddle used by the calvary was the McClellan saddle.

Jim Ganas and Robert Hunter dress the part as they lead you on a little journey to the past. Decked out in period costumes, Ganas and Hunter will teach you all about Fort Lowell and the arrival of the U.S. Calvary.

Take a look at the McClellan and find out about mount and dismount drills, ceremonies and the life of a calvaryman in the Arizona desert.

Free one-hour tours are Wednesdays and Fridays at Fort Lowell Museum, 2900 N. Craycroft. The tours run through Oct. 11. For more information, call 628-5774.