City Week

People tend to separate poetry from the visual arts. But very often, it's the same side of the brain creating these masterpieces.

Jennifer Moxley's most recent mighty wordsmithing can be found in Wrong Life: Ten New Poems. She's also author of Imagination Verses, Often Capital and Enlightenment Evidence. Her six books have all been churned out in the last four years by presses such as Equipage, Tender Buttons and Tucson's CHAX Press. Her translation of Jacqueline Risset's work was put out in 1996 by Burning Deck.

Moxley's also the editor and founder of The Impercipient, a contemporary poetry magazine. She also co-edited with her husband, Steve Evans, a monthly poetics pamphlet. Raised in San Diego, a poetics grad from Brown University and a former resident of Paris, Moxley now lives in Maine and works at the National Poetry Foundation.

She pairs her writing in an evening of words and visual arts with Tucson sculptor Barbara Grygutis, who's created large-scale, site-specific sculptures for communities throughout the country. (For more information, see "Public Artist" in the Arts section.)

Hear what both artists have to say about their creative process. The CHAX Press- and POG-sponsored event costs $5 general, $3 for students.

HEART BEATS

They describe their music as sonic synergy--a sound that emanates directly from the heart and generates an energy greater than the sum of its parts. Call it somatic synthesizia.

It's the rhythms that flow forth from Will Clipman and Cantrell Maryott, two locals who say that while their music-making is global in scope, it has its roots in the unique landscape, weather, flora, fauna and human culture of northern Sonora they call home--the Singing Desert.

Cantrell experiments with chanteling--harmonizing vocally within acoustically charged spaces to channel the chant, "a dialogue between the human voice in all its instrumental breadth and the drum in all its nonverbal communicative capability."

Will explores the imaginative realm that exists between notes as he pounds on various percussive instruments, finding "the silence between words, the stillness between heartbeats."

Their newest CD is called Listen With Your Heart, and to celebrate, they're performing live. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert lasts about an hour. Meet the artists and buy their CD at a discount. Tickets at the door at Zuzi are a mere five bucks. Questions? Call 743-1347.

When you're done there, check out another CD-release party of local musicians--of a different stripe. The Carnivaleros are the brainchild of accordionist Gary Mackender, who performs a swingin' Zydeco-tinged, tangoesque, polka-fueled, waltzin' Western stew--only at the Boondocks. Tonight's personnel include Teddy Morgan and Mitzi Cowell on guitars, Hurricane Carla Brownlee on sax, Steve Grams and Chris Giambelluca on basses, Richard Medek on drums and, of course, Mackender on accordion. Opening the show is Conjunto Nopal, featuring Sabine Wilms on button accordion and fiddle and Jesus Garcia on Baja Sexto.

Cover is $5, which gets you a CD for $10. If you're confused, call 792-1525.

AUTHORS ARE DOIN' IT FOR THEMSELVES

Darn. That big-time book publisher keeps forgetting to call you with that advance for your masterpiece.

What's a writer to do?

Publish it your damn self! Find out how when three Tucson self-published authors shower you with advice.

Mary Anne Butler enjoyed a long career as a news a radio journalist before deciding to publish The Good Wife, her debut novel set in 19th-century Virginia. Former political lobbyist John Martin Hill's novel, The Christmas Hour, equally found its way to print independent of the Simon and Schusters of the world. His is a political love story involving a D.C. teacher's scandalous affair with two students. Rambling Thoughts is a humorous collection of life observations à la Mark Twain or Will Rogers. This time, it's James Sandefer rambling--he's a newspaper columnist and former military officer.

Discover the freedoms and the potential pitfalls of the self-publishing industry. The discussion is free.

1492 AND BEYOND

A mere 511 years ago, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were anxious to kick out all the Jews from their country.

"Convert or leave Spain!" was the not-so-compassionate request, yelled from the tippy-top of the castle drawbridge.

A few decades later, Portugal offered its Jews an even harsher choice: Convert or die! Some Spanish and Portuguese Jews remained on the Iberian Peninsula, but most migrated to northern Europe or somewhere around the Mediterranean basin. Those Jews who decided to stay went underground. On the books, they were good, practicing Catholics.

Oy, the Diaspora is exhausting.

Call them Conversos, Anusim, Marranos or Crypto-Jews. Today, they're attracting center stage in the Jewish community. The various names refer to Jews of Hispanic descent--Sephardim as opposed to the more common, European-descended Ashkenazi. They're only just coming to recognize their Jewish heritage. The "strange" practices in their Catholic families indicate that Jews were among their ancestors. Vestiges linger as some of those rituals and customs are practiced today without their practitioners really understanding why. Many Conversos live right here in Southern Arizona--as a result of immigrational trickles through Mexico.

Arthur Benveniste is the former president of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies. He journeys from his home in California to regale stories and reveal new research into this ancient community.

His lecture is free.

TRAIN HOME

The Associated Press says Chris Smither is an American original, "a product of the musical melting pot," and that his newest album, Train Home, "is well worth taking."

He's described as an acoustic roots singer, songwriter and guitarist. His CD blazes with wise and pulsing songs that blend blues nuances with urban songwriting. Bred in the traditions of New Orleans folk and blues, Smither expands on the six-strings-and-foot-stomps delivery of a master like John Lee Hooker, but draws as much on the sweet jazz melodies of gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt or the spidery swing of country bluesman John Hurt.

His gigs span from Syracuse to Berkeley to Austin to Toronto. Smither slithers into Tucson this week. Tickets cost $14 in advance and $16 at the door. Call the folks at Rhythm & Roots for yours.