December 14 - December 20, 1995
Thursday 14
ART WALK. Feed your soul and cross a few more names off
your holiday shopping list by strolling through tonight's Art
Walk in the Downtown Arts District. Folks have been busy trimming
the trees and storefronts of our fair city center, and the Tucson
Arts District Partnership offers free guided tours for the uninitiated.
If you haven't been downtown this month, you don't know what you're
missing: new outdoor murals and phantom gallery spaces; and the
always colorful window displays on Congress Street have become
exhibits unto themselves, from Pink Adobe's playful display of
toys, ceramics and metal sculpture to the wild animals at Berta
Wright Gallery. Art Walk hours are 5 to 7:30 p.m. Call 624-9977
for information on participating galleries and studios.
ARIZONA REPERTORY SINGERS. Tucson's premier choral ensemble
performs sacred a cappella works and traditional holiday
favorites at 7:30 tonight and Friday, December 15, at Mission
San Xavier del Bac, 1950 W. San Xavier Road. Admission to this
annual standing-room-only event is by donation, with proceeds
contributing to the mission restoration fund. Call 792-8141 for
information.
Friday 15
HEAVENLY HOSTS. The Catalina Chamber Orchestra, under the
leadership of Enrique Lasansky, continues a growing holiday tradition
at 8 tonight at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.
The CCO celebrates its fourth year presenting Mozart's rendition
of Handel's Messiah concert. Professional soloists Judith
Anderson, Korby Myrick, James Hulse and Jay Regan sing the story
of the Old Testament prophecy of the coming of Christ, including
the famous "Hallelujah" chorus. Handel spent less than
two months setting the texts to music, but the result has become
one of the most famous classical pieces of all time. Not only
is the CCO the only professional gig in town performing the Messiah,
but Lasansky confides, "We're becoming specialists in this
(piece). We'd like to see the annual concert become a lasting
Tucson tradition."
Tickets are $10, $8 for seniors and students, available at the
door or in advance from Jeff's Classical Records and Hear's Music.
The program will be repeated at 3 p.m. Sunday, December 17, at
St. Philip's In The Hills, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. Call 327-4721
for information.
SUGARPLUM PROJECT. As far as we can tell, this is your
last chance this season to see the Nutcracker ballet in
Tucson. So if you've been holding out, wondering which fine production
to take the kids to this year, the pressure's on. Tonight's rendition
is presented by the Ballet Arts Foundation, which says theirs
is "Tucson's own full-length holiday classic." If you're
up-to-date on your calendar reading, you know the drill: toy soldiers,
armed mice, a dashing hero and a one-way ticket to Candyland to
visit that darling sweetmeat herself, the Sugarplum Fairy. Excuse
us if that sounds more like cable TV than a wholesome fine art
endeavor, but these recurring visions of sugarplums are making
us nauseous.
Nutcracker people, you know who you are: Set your course
for the PCC Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Evening
performances continue at 7 p.m. through December 17, with weekend
matinees at 2 o'clock. All tickets are $12, available at Dillard's.
Call 623-3373 for information.
Saturday 16
START YOUR DAY IN RUINS. If all you really want this year
is an ancient civilization, your prayers have been answered. Old
Pueblo Archaeology Center once again offers archaeologist-led
tours of the Sabino Canyon Ruin, a major Hohokam village site
inhabited between A.D. 1100 and 1300. Tours last two hours and
depart on the hour between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Reservations must
be made in advance by calling 798-1201. Recommended apparel, directions
to the site and the dangers of looking directly into the Lost
Ark will be explained upon registration. A suggested donation
of $2 is appreciated to offset tour costs.
HAVE A COW. If you think manatees are rare in Florida,
try finding one in the lower Sonoran desert. As you can imagine,
the Tucson chapter of the Save the Manatees Club has more than
its share of obstacles to overcome in getting the word out on
this Endangered Species of sea cow. They're sponsoring a festival
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Reid Park, 22nd Street and Country
Club Road, to raise funds to rehabilitate injured manatees, further
protective legislation and "fund manatee refuges in the United
States." Bring a non-perishable food item for the Community
Food Bank and receive two free carnival game tickets. Admission
is free. Call 326-8803 for information.
Downtown Saturday Night. Another evening of after-hours
fun is underway tonight in the Arts District, where galleries,
book stores, toy vendors and restaurateurs vie for attention from
7 to 10 p.m. Thee Tragidiots, those Shakespearean street urchins
rarely glimpsed outside Arizona Alley, present a holiday-theme
performance at 7 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center on Broadway
and Sixth Avenue. Also in the Transit Center, the 50-member Desert
Voices chorus performs Spanish carols and lullabies, followed
by a holiday community sing-in.
But the real highlight this evening is the grand opening of the
Youth Storefront Project, a nifty hands-on enterprise for kids
termed "at risk" and "marginal" by traditional
education standards. The project is a collaboration between educators,
merchants and artists offering classes, workshops, work space
and adult and peer mentors for this student-run gallery shop.
The Storefront is one of the innovative fledgling programs at
Project M.O.R.E. Alternative High School, and involvement in it
will earn students school credits. The Storefront is at the west
end of the old Louis Hotel off Arizona Alley, south of Broadway
between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Open house hours are 5 to 11
p.m. For more information, call Thomas Anderson at 617-6460.
WINTER CELEBRATION. We have only three things to say: R.
Carlos Nakai, William Eaton and Will Clipman. Each is a master
in his field, and their collaboration for a third Winter Celebration
Concert of Southwestern holiday music is sure to draw a full house.
Nakai's internationally recognized impressionistic style weaves
the soothing tones of the cedar flute with a rich tapestry of
Native American culture, and it will be joined by the colorful
harmonies of Eaton's hand-crafted instruments. Clipman, a new
addition this year, rounds out the ensemble with all things percussive.
This Arizona Historical Society event starts at 7:30 p.m. at the
Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets are $15,
$12.50 for seniors, students, children under 12 and AHS members.
There will be an additional concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, December
17. Call 628-5774 for information.
Sunday 17
HELP IN THE KITCHEN. The Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association
rings in the new with a holiday party to raise funds for the 11th
annual Tucson Folk Festival. Musicians donating their talents
are Guitar Society players Brenda Buckendahl and Mary Loser, Stefan
George and Songtower, Eb Eberlein, the pop/country/ blues Ad Hoc
Committee, Art Kershaw, and Linda Lou and The Drifters. Have a
hot meal and refreshments starting at 4 p.m. at St. Michael's
and All Angels Church, 602 N. Wilmot Road. Admission is $5, concessions
not included. Call 326-9021 for information.
NACIMIENTO TOUR. Unto you is born this day in the city
of saguaros a tour, which is the St. Elizabeth of Hungary tour.
And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the sculptures
and figurines cast in clay, residing in the Casa Cordova Museum
and historic southwest homes. And there will be with the tour
a multitude of adults and children praising collections and saying,
"Oooh, neato in the highest," as they pay their $5 to
support the Clinic's good will toward men with health services
for the working poor. Behold! The seventh annual self-guided Nacimiento
Tour starts at the Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House Museum, 151 S.
Granada Ave. Tickets and tour maps are available in advance at
El Charro Restaurant, St. Ambrose Church, Our Mother of Sorrows
Church and the Clinic, 140 W. Speedway. Tour hours are noon to
6 p.m. Call 326-1381 for information.
Monday 18
NAVAJO SANDPAINTING. Join the coexistent forces of the
mythic past and everyday present in a free lecture by Trudy Griffin-Pierce,
who discusses Space, Time and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting
at 7:30 p.m. in the Arizona Health Sciences DuVal auditorium,
1501 N. Campbell Ave. Drawing from field research with Navajo
chanters, Dr. Griffin-Pierce will identify the major Navajo constellations
and their depiction in sandpaintings, and share tales evoked by
the appearance of specific star groupings.
Trudy Griffin-Pierce is the author of Earth Is My Mother,
Sky Is My Father: Space, Time, and Astronomy in Navajo
Sandpainting and The Encyclopedia of Native America.
For information on this and other Arizona Archaeological and Historical
Society programs, call 327-7235.
Tuesday 19
MASTERSINGERS AT THE MISSION. Once again, the mission reverberates
with the sounds of the season as the Tucson MasterSingers come
a-caroling at 7 p.m. at Mission San Xavier del Bac, 1950 W. San
Xavier Road. The a cappella program includes classical
selections, carols in Spanish, French and Nigerian, and clever
appropriations by the Mel Brooks of the classical world, Peter
Schickele (alias PDQ Bach). Exit I-19 south at San Xavier Road
and head west. Admission is by donation. Call 294-2624 for information.
Wednesday 20
BAD GIRL STORYTELLING BRIGADE. Founded in 1991-92 mainly
as a performance group, the Brigade has evolved into a core group
of five female visual and performing artists. "We operate
from the premise that any girl can be 'bad,' " says member
Karen Falkenstrom, referring to the historical paradigm that labeled
women who didn't play by the rules--who often excelled in arts,
science and other "unfeminine" careers--as "bad."
The Brigade's first visual art show features sculptural wall
assemblages and "pillow art" by singer/musician Cantrell
Maryott; "offering vessels" in cast paper by visual
artist To-Reé-Neé Keiser; mixed-media works by visual
artist Katie Cooper; painting and tile work by blues guitar phenomenon
Mitzi Cowell; and text and color photographs by poet Falkenstrom.
Show continues through December 22 in DeGrazia's Little Gallery,
6300 N. Swan Road. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Sunday. Call 299-9191 for information.
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December 14 - December 20, 1995
