Cheap Thrills

CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE. Have you lately noticed Junior getting hollow-eyed and placid, as his spot in front of the tube deepens into a rut, and his conversation consists of repeatedly muttering "Taste of a new generation"?

Well, it's a classic case of TV overdose, and your little pabulum-laced duffer has plenty of company across this great land. In response, the forward-thinking folks of TV-Free America are hosting National TV-Turnoff Week, April 24 through 30. And in case you don't think there's a broad-based broadcast problem, take a gander at these stats:

Number of minutes a week parents spend talking to their kids: 38.5. Number of minutes a week those same kids spend watching TV: 1,680; percentage of four- to six-year-olds who prefer watching the tube to hanging out with their dads: 54; number of commercials seen by an average tike in one year: 20,000.

Luckily, TV-Free has created a list of 101 alternatives to watching the tube, from going for a walk to climbing a tree, anything but plopping like a lumpen mass to absorb the idiocy beamed down from the satellite. For information and a brochure, call (202) 887-0436.

Locally, those alternatively minded folks at Buffalo Exchange and the 3,400 Miles Off Broadway program have also divined a few alternavisions, with acting classes running from Saturday, April 26 to Wednesday, April 30, at various libraries throughout Tucson. Admission is free. For information, call 743-3751.

BENEFIT BLAST: The Arts Brigade collective hosts a "multimedia party" fundraiser at the Casbah Tea House. Altruistic action includes music, a raffle, inter-generational artwork, dancing and good old-fashioned collective camaraderie, says Brigade spokesman Michael Schwartz.

"Basically, we're a neighborhood-based arts project, and we're trying to bring attention to pressing needs in the community through arts," he says. "We want to establish creative solutions to those problems with help from artists of all ages."

Event is at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at the Casbah Tea House, 628 N. Fourth Ave. A $3 donation is requested. For information, call 791-9359.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINCE: Richard Avedon ranks among the prime photographic chroniclers of the human experience through the volumes-speaking faces of his subjects. Today, Mark Williams, associate registrar at the UA Center for Creative Photography, discusses the profound impact Avedon's career has had on the art of portraiture. The presentation will be accompanied by taped interviews with Avedon.

Free lecture is 5:30 p.m. in the UA Center for Creative Photography auditorium, located at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway east of Park Avenue. Call 621-7968 for details. TW

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