City Week

WE HATE HATE

We tend to remember the truly heinous criminals--Jeffrey Dahmer, who stalked and killed young men and then, yes, ate some of his victim's body parts; Ted Bundy's spree through too many young women's lives, snuffing them out along the way; then, of course, there was Jack the Ripper. I'm sure his mother didn't give him that name.

But we're likely to miss the hate crimes that don't make the national news. "People are often surprised to learn that since the widely covered 1998 brutal death of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student in Laramie, Wyo., there have been 56 documented anti-LGBT murders in this country, including the vicious murder of a gay man in Tucson last summer," says Cathy Busha, Wingspan's director of its Anti-Violence Project, an expansion of the community center's domestic violence services.

Today's reception launches the new community initiative and explains the AVP's assistance programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. If you're not queer, you can still stop by--straight allies get extra karma points, I'm told.

The evening also launches a preview of the documentary, Laramie Inside Out, by local filmmaker Beverly Seckinger. She's a native of the same town in which Shepard was savagely beaten and left to die on a hilltop under the windy night sky. Once her hometown was thrust into the spotlight, Seckinger was compelled to investigate how the climate for gays and lesbians had changed since her closeted college years at the same university Shepard attended.

Come mark the five-year anniversary of his death. And help to end hate crimes in your town.

The event is free.

RIDE 'EM, COWBOY

It's a corral of reconstructed "chopper-cabras" and backwards bikes. There's a bicycle Ferris wheel and carousel.

It's time for the Cyclecide Bike Rodeo.

Gracing Tucson for the second of three appearances this year, the nationally known show and jousting tournament rides through town at sundown. (Seems appropriate given the wild, wild West nature of where we live.) Their motto, "2 Dumb 2 Die," isn't just an underused expression, but a way of life for the motley, traveling bike circus that hails from San Francisco.

Check out the band o' fun. Admission costs $5 to $8. Local organizers have made a plea: "Give the $8 so we can get these guys out of here when they're done!"

By the way, the folks at Bicas also informed me that if I thought this wasn't an important enough event to tell you about, then I'll be sorry when the Cyclecide returns for the Tour de Fat, riding down Fourth Avenue Oct. 25. Apparently, all the cool people have already perfected their tall-bike riding skills and will rule the Avenue that day. If you need a head start and want information from the locals organizing the Tour de Fat, e-mail dianewagdog@earthlink.net.

REBUILDING AFTER WAR

The war and devastation is one of the scariest ones inflicted by the United States: post-nuclear Hiroshima.

Marguerite Duras is generally known as a novelist. But she also wrote the script for the 1959 French film Hiroshima Mon Amour, in which she forces the viewer to question the adequacy of the visual arts for representing the trauma of war.

Emmanuelle Riva plays Elle, a successful actress who travels to Hiroshima to make an anti-war film. She falls in love with Lui (played by Eiji Okada), a Japanese architect whose family suffered through the bombardment. Despite her initial ability to transcend cultural differences and her empathy for victims of the bomb, Elle soon learns that visual spectatorship is a limited and passive role. The film invites the audience to actively make connections with the actress--between larger historical forces, repressed history and erotic desire. It succeeds in doing this through voice-over narration and amazing footage of Hiroshima, a city in the process of being rebuilt after the unthinkable bomb is dropped.

Thanks to the weekly International Arts Society film series, this flick comes to you free of charge.

FISHING FOR LOVE

From the guy who wrote Carmen comes its predecessor to the more famous opera. Bizet's The Pearl Fishers is a passionate tale of love, friendship and betrayal set in ancient Sri Lanka.

Two fishermen find their friendship threatened by their mutual love for an exotic priestess, Leila. Arizona Opera's production recreates the sumptuous setting with massive Hindu temples and a reclining Buddha that were originally built in Chile for Washington Opera. The voices that boom from the belly include John Bellemer and Scott Scully alternating as Nadir; Kathleen Brett and Jeanine Thames play Leila; and Gaetan Laperriere and Victor Benedetti switch off as Zurga. Rising star Mark Risinger debuts as Nourabad. Cal Stewart Kellogg conducts and Brian Deedrick stage directs. Don't miss the opera's famous tenor-baritone duet, "Au Fond du Temple Saint."

Ticket prices for the Tucson performances range from $25 to $90. Call Ticketmaster or go online for reservations.

WE LOVE LOVE (ALL KINDS)

Where were you that hot weekend in June 1977? If you were hip and brave and out and proud (and had a sun hat), you were gathering for Tucson's very first OUToberFEST.

In 1994, the festival grew too big for little Himmel Park and scooted over to Reid Park where participants have been screaming, "We here! We're queer! And we're not going to disappear!" for almost a decade. Someone got the very bright idea to shift it to the cooler month of October. Smart move.

Check out the entertainment at this year's festival: Digital Soldiers, Leann Savage and the Audacity, Kristi Martel, Yvonne Perea, Mark Weigle, BMT (who consist of Tom Maza, Curt Beal and Rey Tester). There's also Desert Voices, Reveille Gay Men's Chorus, Outrageous, Tucson T-Squares, La Fuerza Latina Travesti, Diana Flair and Tucson's Best Drag Show.

If you get thirsty or hungry, there's beer and other beverages and all kinds of food. Commercial and nonprofit exhibitors fill booths with displays and merchandise. A dance tent to shake your booty is open from noon to 8 p.m. with DJs from IBT's.

IBT's and Woody's present the festival, and it's produced by Tucson Pride Inc. with sponsors too numerous to list. Want to volunteer and check out all the sweet boys and girls? Make a two-hour commitment and you get in for free--as long as you sign up before Saturday. Plus, your volunteer hours turn into cash as Tucson Pride donates $8 per hour to the charity of your choice.

Admission for the rest of us costs $5.