Thursday 7
Kicked around some. Whether your interests run to Central America or the Middle East, poet and essayist Carolyn Forché probably has something to tell you.
Forché, who worked as a journalist and activist in El Salvador from 1978-1980 and was a former National Public Radio correspondent in Beirut, will read from her works as part of the UA Poetry Center's Visiting Poets and Writers Reading Series.
Author of Gathering the Tribes, The Country Between Us and The Angel of History, she has also edited the anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness and translated the work of Robert Desnos and Claribel Alegría.
Her articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Nation, Esquire, Mother Jones and other national magazines.
Forché teaches in the MFA program in poetry at George Mason University.
The free reading begins at 8 tonight at St. Philip's in the Hills Church, 4400 N. Campbell Ave. at River Road. An informal colloquium with Forché is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Swede Johnson Building, Room 301, 1111 North Cherry Ave. For more information, call 626-3765 or visit www.coh.arizona.edu/poetry.
Friday 8
Long time coming. After 42 years in New York, the longest-running musical in American history arrives in Tucson.
David Alexander Johnston returns to the Tucson Music Theatre for The Fantasticks. Johnston plays the dashing bandito --"El Gallo"--in the fanciful plot adrift in young love. Tucson performer/director Robin Lee will direct the production while David Craig handles the music. Performances begin at 8 tonight, Saturday and March 15-16 at the Broadway Christian Church. A matinee starts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14 to $16. For tickets and more information, call 275-8429.
Patriotic Pops. You may have to dig around in the closet for something to wear--the latest concert in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's Pops Concert Series is all about red, white and blue.
Guest conductor Keith Brion updates his perennially popular Sousa at the Symphony show for this performance, which will begin with the National Anthem, finish with The Stars and Stripes Forever and include favorite light classics, thrilling solos and stirring marches throughout.
These Sousa concerts feature among the most successful, sure-fire and long-running hits in symphony orchestra pops--a real tribute to Sousa's legacy to the orchestras and bands that followed: the Boston Pops, Goldman Band, Glenn Miller and The Beatles. Brion's verve and authentic musical style, combined with Sousa's programming and great marches, have earned these concerts great audience appeal.
TSO soloists Edward Reid, cornet, Paula Karrer, piccolo, and Michael Sherline, tuba, are featured, along with guest soprano Lee Merrill.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall. Ticket prices are $15 to $35. Tickets are available by calling the TSO Box Office at 882-8585 or by visiting the TSO Box Office at 2175 N. Sixth Ave., south of Grant Road and east of Stone. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Colorful flamenco. A spectacle of color, movement and emotion, flamenco possesses an irresistible appeal that is entwined through centuries of distinct civilizations and cultures. Both a folkloric expression and a vehicle of movement for the passions of a people, flamenco has found one of its great masters in Antonio Márquez, who will visit Centennial Hall tonight for one Tucson performance.
Blending technical precision with artistic flair, Márquez provides a stirring journey into the soul of Spanish culture through his choreography.
Márquez is considered an heir to the great dancers and choreographers of flamenco, a dance meant to provoke an overwhelming sensation of happiness, joy and sensuality.
While its origins are uncertain, flamenco singing and dancing appears to have originated in Andalucia in the 15th century, during the Gypsies' encounter with inhabitants of southern Spain. It has only developed into a theatrical performance in the last century, through stylistic experimentation and technical refinement by leaders such as Marquez.
He began his study as a dancer at the age of 12, completing his training at the Ballet Nacional de España's school. Distinguishing himself through his talent and technique, he joined the company Ballet Nacional de España in 1982.
Márquez formed his company in 1995, debuting in Seville at the Teatro de la Maestranza. With this troupe, he starred in El Sombrero de Tres Picos at the opening of the Royal Theatre in Madrid and created choreography for the opera Carmen for the Monte Carlo Opera as well as the Teatro Real in Madrid. Tonight's performance begins at 8 p.m. at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. Tickets are $22 to $34, with discounts available. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets also are available online at www.tickets.com.
A free "Arts Encounter" will be held 45 minutes before the performance in the lobby of the Arizona State Museum, located directly across from Centennial Hall. For more information, call 621-3341.
Saturday 9
Do it again. Sometimes once just isn't enough. When it comes to Broadway's best, it hard for some folks to ever get enough.
One More Time: A Broadway Review is a musical rewind of all of your favorite Broadway hits--from Hello Dolly to Fiddler on the Roof to West Side Story.
The talented cast is directed by former Broadway performer Bob Curtis.
Performances are 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Jewish Community Center Auditorium. Tickets are $8. Proceeds benefit JCC senior programs. For more information or to charge tickets by phone, call 299-3000.
Two-fer art. One of two exhibitions opening at HazMat is something called The Cairn Circle Project, an intriguing foray into the wide expanse of experimental photography.
The HazMat Basement Gallery features Stu Jenks, a Tucson resident who focuses his attention on experimental photography in nature and installations.
By arranging organic forms and tracing handheld lights in the dark, Jenks places spiral and circular forms in the desert night to reference the circles in life that each person faces. His photography is coupled with an installation of form and light.
The Cairn Circle Project is the result of Jenks' latest efforts.
HazMat Gallery also will show abstract paintings by Peter Young and Dan Walsh.
Young resides in Bisbee and has works in every major collection including the Whitney, Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim. Showing several "Dot" paintings from the early 1990s, Young is widely known for his "pattern painting," which focuses on bright colors and circular repetition.
In the same respect, Walsh's paintings will be experimenting in the optical interpretation of color. The paintings in this exhibition will identify the differences that subtle changes can make to the same color. Walsh is represented by the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, where he recently curated the exhibition 7 Grays.
The shows run through April 13.
A reception for the artists is from 7 to 9 p.m. today at HazMat Galleries, 191 E. Toole Ave. Regular gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 624-5019.
Strumming up awareness. Rick Cyge and Lynn Trombetta, who perform as Meadowlark, say their "New World Music" cultivates awareness, sensitivity and imagination.
You can check them out tonight in an acoustic instrumental concert at Pima Community College.
The music features Trombetta on flute and pennywhistles and Cyge on acoustic guitar, piano and keyboards with world percussionist Sonja Branch and violinist Allen Ames.
Meadowlark fuses influences as diverse as Celtic, African and Mediterranean into an eclectic mix of original compositions inspired by nature. Cyge's use of open tunings and harp-like fingerstyle guitar techniques, in tandem with Trombetta's rich and soulful flute and pennywhistle performance, creates an underpinning of Celtic style to the Meadowlark sound.
Best described by reviewers as "joyful celebratory music," the music of Meadowlark is a magical mixture of Cyge's acoustic guitar brilliance and Trombetta's sensuous flute and pennywhistles. Original compositions transport the listener from sandy beaches to the drama of the desert, to the skies over the African plains and far beyond. In concert, Cyge and Trombetta offer delightful creative insight into the stories behind each of their compositions.
Meadowlark has released four recordings and written more than 40 instrumental compositions.
The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. today at Pima Community College Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Tickets are $12 general admission and $10 seniors and students. For tickets, call the PCC box office at 206-6986. For more information about the concert, visit www.meadowlarkmusic.com.
Sunday 10
Little red Corvettes. For most car lovers, few classics get the ticker heated up like a Corvette in absolutely cherry condition.
If you're one of those who rubbernecks every time one of those beauties flies by, you don't want to miss the Tucson Corvette Club's annual show. The show will feature cars owned by club members, ranging from classic '60s versions to the newest models.
The public is invited to attend the free event and admire the cars, talk to owners and vote on their favorite in each of four categories.
For the first time, the show will be held at Presidio High School, a charter school that will use the opportunity as an open house.
While car enthusiasts are voting on the cars, the rest of the family can spend time in Presidio's courtyard where Corvette Club members and Presidio parents will be holding a rummage sale.
All proceeds from the rummage sale will go to Presidio's Celtic Studies Program to help pay students' travel costs for an upcoming trip to Ireland. The Corvette Club will provide free cotton candy and popcorn, and Presidio's Student Council give away balloons.
The school's prom committee will sell corned beef sandwiches, baked goods and sodas.
The show is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Presidio High School, 1695 E. Fort Lowell Road. For more information, please call 881-5222.
Tuesday 12
The Adams family. Hike the High Sierras.
No, I'm not talking about one of those insane midnight lurches to the top of Mount Whitney. I'm talking about a blisterless (read, vicarious) experience that will take you far away from the Spandex crowd and deep into the mountain range.
Join other Ansel Adams fans for two new exhibitions --The Ansel Adams Centennial: Classic Images and A Portrait of Ansel Adam.
A Portrait of Ansel Adams presents unique objects from his extraordinary archive, such as his 8x10 metal-view camera, correspondence with some of the most important figures in the history of photography and his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. Accompanying the objects will be dozens of portraits of Adams by artists such as Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, John Sexton, Jerry Uelsmann, Edward Weston and Cedric Wright, who were his friends, students and admirers.
The Ansel Adams Centennial is drawn from the Ansel Adams Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, the largest repository of his work in the world. The archive includes voluminous correspondence, book layouts and manuscripts, ledgers, periodicals and monographs, camera equipment, memorabilia and more than 20,000 negatives and proof prints.
Approximately 2,500 exhibition prints crown the world's most extensive public holding of Adams' photographs.
Together, the new shows celebrate the 100th birthday of American photography's most recognized and beloved figure through his legendary images and fascinating life.
The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona was co-founded by Adams in 1975, and is an archive, museum and research institution dedicated to photography as an art form and cultural record. The center holds more archives and individual works by 20th-century North American photographers than any other museum in the country.
See Adams' work at the center at 1030 N. Olive Road, in the Fine Arts Complex, at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. Ansel Adams: Classic Images and other related publications will be available for purchase in the museum store. For more information, please call 621-7968 or visit www.creativephotography.org.
Wednesday 13
Drawing on the desert. Arizona's spectacular wildflower bloom last year was a unique and memorable gift from Mother Nature.
Manabu Saito, a part-time Tucson resident and accomplished botanical illustrator, used the rare opportunity to sketch on-site a wide array of wildflowers that he encountered in the city and surrounding areas, including the Rillito riverbed, King's Canyon, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and his garden. A Desert Palette: Watercolor Wildflowers by Manabu Saito, on display through March 25 at Tohono Chul Park, shows off Saito's watercolors, which depict Mexican gold poppies, desert bluebells, owl's clover, Arizona lupine, Lobb's poppy, mariposa lily, stemless primrose and rock hibiscus.
Saito was born and educated in Tokyo. During the mid-1950s he studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and in the 1960s he was employed as a designer in New York City. He has been a freelance botanical artist since 1972.
Enjoy Saito's work at Tohono Chul, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, one stoplight west of the intersection of Ina and Oracle. For more information, please call 742-6455 or visit www.tohonochulpark.org.
