City Week

Down 'n' Dirty With Roller Derby

First Blood: No Penalties Roller Derby

8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 18

Las Cazuelitas Event Center

1365 W. Grant Road

333-7768

See the Renegade Rollergirls of Tucson play the Phoenix-based Renegade Rollergirls of Arizona in a battle for state supremacy.

Suzi Berrie, owner of RROT, created the Tucson team a year ago after recruiting more than 40 women for tryouts. Formerly a member of the Tucson Roller Derby, Berrie chose to create a team in the renegade style—which means no penalties, and basically no rules.

"It's a lot more simplified and easier and more fun to watch," said Berrie, who is a blocker for RROT. "I'm excited and nervous, but I'm hoping it all works out. I've had this crazy vision that it would be an all-out party."

Roller derby, played on roller skates, involves two teams of five members each who skate around a circular track. The teams score points by designating a jammer who tries to lap members of the other team. Blockers do whatever they can to prevent the opposing team's jammer from scoring.

Whichever team wins this bout will enjoy bragging rights, at least for the day. Berrie said there are no tournaments or multiple-match days in roller derby, because after one bout, the contestants are roughed up and need a break.

"That's why we have the after-party!" Berrie said.

The event includes a bar and live music from local bands including Drizzle, Bricktop and Why Bother, whose singer is a member of RROT.

RROT also has bouts set for September and October against California teams. They will be the team's last bouts until spring.

Admission is $10. Children are permitted, but not encouraged, to attend. —S.V.


The Boy Wizard's Roots?

Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic and Medicine

7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, through Monday, Sept. 10

Arizona Health Sciences Library

Java City coffee bar (Room 2101)

1501 N. Campbell Ave.

How is the fictional Harry Potter connected to the very real Renaissance era?

You can explore the world of Harry Potter through the lens of the Renaissance at the Arizona Health Sciences Library, located in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona.

The library is featuring a traveling exhibit that illustrates how Renaissance science, magic and medicine are tied to the best-selling series of books. The exhibit, produced by the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, is being displayed at various universities across the country.

Nga Nguyen, a member of the UA exhibit committee, said that although the contents of the Harry Potter books are fictional, they revolve around Renaissance conventions that served as the basis for the evolution of Western science and medicine.

She added that in a way, "Medicine is magic" (and was especially regarded as such during the days of da Vinci and Michelangelo), so the connection between wizards and Renaissance science is not much of a stretch.

Along with the exhibit is a "Hogwarts Potions Laboratory" display that has beakers, flasks and test tubes filled with faux potions, as well as other pharmaceutical supplies loaned by the History of Pharmacy Museum at the UA College of Pharmacy. Wands are also provided to ramp up the Harry Potter factor.

The exhibit is free. You can grab a drink or a snack before or after viewing the exhibit at the Java City coffee bar. It's open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, with hours extended to 3:30 p.m. starting Aug. 22. —H.M.


Consciousness Raised

Classical Indian Music Concert

7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 18

Tucson Osteopathic Medical Foundation

3182 N. Swan Road

390-9161

Join musicians Steve Oda and Ty Burhoe in a performance of classical Indian music that's designed to change your consciousness.

Steve Oda plays the sarode, a 25-stringed Indian instrument, which he's been studying for 40 years under the instruction of Ali Akbar Khan, a famous sarode player.

Ty Burhoe, who plays the tabla, an Indian hand drum, has been studying his craft for 22 years and learned from the well-known tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Both have performed together, including tours around the world, for more than a decade. This performance marks the third time they have performed in Tucson.

It's important to share the beauty and the soul of this very spiritual art music, Oda said. "My teacher asked us all upon learning this to try to engage others and show them how beautiful this music is, and really to help spread it all over the world so that it wouldn't die."

Cynthia Scherer, co-creator of the event with her husband, Camillo Scherer, will accompany the artists on the tamboura, which creates the drumming sound found in all types of Indian music.

Oda and Burhoe's "musical concerts are pretty much more than just sitting and listening to music. It's a very uplifting experience," Cynthia Scherer said. "It has a very deep stirring and is a consciousness-changing kind of experience. And it's something that the audience participates in. As the audience becomes uplifted, that kind of feeds the musicians, who then feed it back to the listeners."

The performance space can hold roughly 200 people.

Admission is $18 in advance, or $20 at the door. Tickets are available at tyburhoe.com. —S.V.


The Poetry Poster

Broadsides

9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, through Friday, Sept. 28

Pioneer Building

100 N. Stone Ave.

624-0595, ext. 10

The line "when the world is puddle-wonderful" was written by poet e.e. cummings in the poem in just-. While those words may be delightful, the placement of his words on the page offers an added visual treat: There is white space between words and a jagged left margin.

In the Broadsides exhibit at the Pioneer Building, viewers can find more poems with visual components. Poems are presented in different fonts and layouts, and some include drawings. The two-dozen or so poems are displayed as framed artworks, with varying size and texture.

Broadsides, or posters, were used in the 18th and 19th centuries to display the words of poets. The use of broadsides became popular again in the late 20th century. Works in the Broadsides exhibit were drawn from the archives of Chax Press, Kore Press and the UA Poetry Center.

Chax Press founder Charles Alexander, one of the exhibiting poets, wrote, "A broadside often accentuates aspects of letterpress art, with deeper impressions than in book work, (and) more colorful combinations through multiple print runs, and unique page designs."

Both Chax and Kore use letterset printing to create broadsides. Letterset printing uses hand-set moveable type, and the effect is a more-pronounced impression on the page.

"It creates a richer quality," said Emily Duwel, communications manager of the Tucson Pima Arts Council. "Broadsides push the visual aspect even further so that it becomes a bridge into visual art and graphic design."

Broadsides includes works by Pulitzer Prize-winning writers including Allen Ginsberg, Gwendolyn Brooks and Gary Snyder. Arizona poets include Alison Deming, Jane Miller and Alberto Ríos.

The exhibit is free. —I.M.