City Week

Multiple Mediums

Reception: Patty Siva And Other Artists
7 to 9 p.m., Friday, Jan. 13; exhibit runs through mid-February
Shot In The Dark Café, 121 E. Broadway Ave.
882-5544

Get a whole lot of Jackson Browne at this month's art opening at the Shot in the Dark Café. Featured is Patty Siva, who will be showing roughly 30 portraits of the American singer-songwriter. Other artists showing include photographers Marco Brito and Skid Severson, and oil painter Tabitha Adams. Will Elliot will provide live music.

Born in Germany, Jackson Browne was one of the original members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing with them for a few scant months in 1966. He later released his own material from 1972 onward, according to his eponymous Web site.

Siva's interest in depicting him is so great that she reportedly painted an image of him on the rear wheel cover of her car.

For Siva, this is her first art opening, and it almost seems fitting that it is at the Shot in the Dark Café: Some of the portraits were produced while she was at the cafe, says co-owner Eldon Katz.

"She'll set up a post on a couch and paint," he says.

Siva's work includes watercolor, charcoal and oil painting--but why so many portraits of Jackson Browne, who's the subject of more than half of her portraits?

Jason McHenry, who helped set up the show, says he believes she is trying to take the perfect image in her mind and put it on paper.

"It's an artistic impetus" to do that, he said.

Siva, like many of the café's regulars, has seen Shot in the Dark change hands and names many times over the past two decades--during the 1990s, it was best known as Café Quebec.

This event is free, and "Jackson Brownies" will be available to eat gratis. --M.W.


A Sweet Meeting

Crime at the Casino: A Dessert with J.A. Jance
2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14
Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road
383-5756

Meet and eat with a locally based mystery author, and maybe hit the slots afterward, at this book release and fundraising event. The Friends of Tohono O'odham Libraries' (FOTOL) nonprofit organization is hosting a book release party for J. A. Jance's latest mystery novel, Edge of Evil.

The event also doubles as a fundraiser for FOTOL's efforts to get a bookmobile for the Tohono O'Odham library system. Jance will be talking about the book for the event.

Jance, who spent five years as a librarian in Sells for the Tohono O'odham library system, is a New York Times best-selling author who resides in Tucson and Seattle.

Edge of Evil, which was just released, centers on an ousted television newscaster who picks up her life and moves back home to Sedona. After moving there, the main character sets up a Web blog but soon finds threatening messages that make her fear for her life. (Jance says on her Web site that the book was "inspired by watching a local television news personality get the boot"--I wonder who?)

In the past 21 years, Jance has written more than 25 books, including the 15-book J.P. Beaumont detective series and eight Joanna Brady novels.

Jance's books will be available for purchase at the event.

Tickets for the dessert are $25 and can count as a tax deduction. All of the money raised will go toward the bookmobile. Tickets are available at all Bookman's stores and Clues Unlimited. --M.W


Suspense, With Cake

Clues Unlimited's 10th Anniversary Celebration
12:30 to 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 15
Clues Unlimited, 123 S. Eastbourne Ave.
326-8533; www.cluesunlimited.com

There are only two independent mystery bookstores in Arizona, and one will be celebrating its 10th anniversary under the same ownership this Sunday. Meet a multitude of authors and enjoy some authentic Nicaraguan food, cake and champagne at Clues Unlimited's upcoming get-together.

Local mystery author (and occasional Weekly contributor) Jonathan Lowe will be there doing a book-signing for his latest novel, Geezer, starting at 1 p.m. Other local authors such as Susan Cummings Miller, J.M. Hayes and Mike Walsh are expected to attend.

Clues Unlimited was bought by Christine Acevedo-Medina in 1996 as part of her passion for mystery novels (among other genres) and an interest in owning a niche bookstore. Her husband, Marcileno, is now co-owner. The bookstore first opened in 1986.

"For mystery authors and readers, making (a) connection is very important," Christine said, adding that Clues Unlimited represents a part of what Tucson is about. "Where else would you have a multicultural bookstore where you might find a conversation about anything?" she said.

The attraction to the mystery genre is its strong narrative and grounding in fictional realism, she said. While offering escapism, mystery novels--ranging from criminal mysteries to suspense thrillers--also place characters in real-life settings.

The incidental fact Tucson is a hotbed for mystery authors makes the scene stronger. "It's amazing how many mystery authors we have," Christine said.

While the bookstore is oriented toward the mystery genre, it also sells other genres, including books about the Southwest. It also has its own book club.

This event is free. The bookstore is located on the western side of the shopping plaza. --M.W


Didgeridoo Superstar

Allan Shockley Didgeridoo Presentation
11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14
17th Street Market, 810 E. 17th St.
624-8821, ext. 145

Allan Shockley is one of America's premier didgeridoo players, with more than 15 years of experience. The instrument originates from aboriginal Australia, where hard woods such as eucalyptus are naturally hollowed out by termites, and when those wood tubes are blown through, the result is a mystical droning sound.

His mastery of the tube has brought him from selling the instrument to supposedly becoming America's first full-time "didge" teacher.

On Saturday, he'll be spending four hours at the 17th Street Market doing as he pleases, but expect lots of music and possibly a chance to interact with him.

What happens is his decision, because it's his show, 17th Street Media Director Bonnie Brooks said.

With a worldly perspective on merchandise, the 17th Street Market mainly offers imported foodstuffs ranging from British wafer crackers to a wide variety of food from the Asian homelands. They also have a fresh farmer's market.

The Guitar and World Instrument store is located inside a corner of the store and includes instruments from China, Lebanon and around the world. If you are so inspired, you can buy a didgeridoo, too.

The 17th Street Market tends to hold a free musical event every Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This event is free. One option to get to the 17th Street Market, which is a block east of the corner of Euclid Avenue and 17th Street, is to go north from the corner of 22nd Street and Sixth Avenue and then go east once you hit 17th Street. --M.W