August 17 - August 23, 1995

City Week

Thursday 17

BULLY PULPIT. Yes, that sad day is upon us--the Tucson Toros are playing their final games of the regular season. The good news is the Toros have remained atop the Pacific Coast League during the second half of the season, so we may have a chance to see them again during post-season play. Given the Toros' victorious PCL championships in '91 and '93, it only makes sense that they'll take it all this year, too. Get out to meet these future champs before they become legends. The Toros wrap up their series against the Las Vegas Stars tonight and tomorrow, then take on the Albuquerque Dukes Saturday through Tuesday. All games start at 7:30 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field in Reid Park. Tickets range from $3 to $5. For more information call 325-2621.

Friday 18

UNFINISHED BUSINESS. Poet/performance artist Dennis Williams closes chapter four of his on-going work Big Time, Big Self with a "one-man band half-time show" called "Unfinished Business," the continuation of last week's "Double Image" performance. Williams' musical interlude features washtub and cookie-can foot drums, a "five-gallon homemade steel guitar played with a bottle neck," harmonica, accordion and piple (the lesser-known of Mexican mariachi instruments). His original songs include stories about his grandfather's funeral and "a relationship with a victim." "I don't know how you make a humorous spectacle of a serious song, but that's what I usually do," he says.

Additionally, new and returning audience members will continue to work on the community mural started last Wednesday, which incorporates holy drawings (as in, poked full of holes) and torn rags. "It's impossible to describe," Williams tells us sympathetically. So we implore you--go experience this for yourself. "That's what performance art is all about--telling each other stories."

The beginning of the end starts at 9 p.m. at Café Luna Loca (formerly the D.P.C. Café), 546 N. Stone Ave. Admission is by donation at the door. Call 882-4488 for information.

HORSEPLAY IN THE HOUSE. Steer yourself over to the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., tonight through Sunday for a taste of cowboy fun at this summer's Desert Thunder pro-rodeo championships. This first-time indoor Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned hoo-ha will feature five-time world champion calf roper Joe Beaver, three-time world champion bareback rider Marvin Garrett and top barrel racer Sherry Potter-Cervi, from Marana, among an estimated 350 top competitors on the pro-rodeo circuit. Kids ages 4 to 6 will compete in a "Mutton Bustin' Championship" at 7 o'clock tonight and Saturday, with the rodeo proper cranking up at 7:30 p.m. Rodeo hours on Sunday are 3:30 p.m. Mutton Bustin', 4 p.m. rodeo start.

Tickets range from $9.50 to $17.50, available at Dillard's and the TCC box office. To order by phone call (800) 638-4253. For information on rodeo events call 795-5277.

Saturday 19

MONSOON MADNESS. The rains may not have come through for us this summer, but there's a storm of activity over at Rillito Park Race Track with the seventh-annual Monsoon Madness benefit auction for the Tucson Centers for Women and Children. The event features two live and three silent auctions, all in the comfort of the second-floor clubhouse. Guest auctioneers Jimmy Stewart (you got it, the weatherman from Channel 4 and Mix F.M.), political cartoonist Dave Fitzsimmons and charismatic D.J. Alan Michaels will warm up the crowd with silly celeb tricks before pro auctioneer George Birger gets down to some serious fast-talking.

"People have been so generous," says event coordinator Norma MacKenzie. She's not kidding. Auction items include a spa, round-trip airfare for a weekend getaway, an evaporative cooler, cellular phones, an original print by Fitz, tickets to Phantom of the Opera, an ornamental steel security door, a handmade dollhouse (complete with furniture and swimming pool), and a slew of restaurant, theater and fitness certificates. "This concrete plant even told us we could have 'anything we could carry,' " says MacKenzie, who has yet to determine what that might be. The center has amassed more than 500 gifts, and the donations are still pouring in.

Auction opens at 6:30 p.m. and continues "until the madness ends." Tickets are $12.50, available in advance by calling 795-8001. Proceeds benefit TCWC's ongoing shelter and support services for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

DOWNTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT. Don't let the summer heat beat you into submission. Party with the Naked Pueblo at an Arts District birthday bash to ring in Tucson's 220th year. The Viva Tucson Caliente Festival leads off from 7 to 10 p.m. on Pennington Street between Sixth and Scott avenues, with food booths from area restaurants and hot salsa by Rafael Moreno & Descarga's energized, eight-piece dance band. Performances at the Ronstadt Transit Center, Sixth Avenue and Congress Street, include "multi-ethnic folk music" by Chubasco from 7 to 10 p.m. and live music and modern dance improvisation by Bob Steigert and John McNamara at 8 p.m. Dance in the streets to blues rock by Jonquill from 7 to 10 p.m. on Scott Avenue between Congress and Pennington streets; or ambush the Tragidiots between 8 and 10 p.m. in the Arizona Alley, south of Congress Street.

For information on the Arts District and Downtown Saturday Night events, call 624-9977.

Sunday 20

EB FLOWS. Eb Eberlein celebrates the release of his first CD, Voice in the Wilderness, with a live performance at 7 p.m. at the Southwest Center for Music, 2175 N. Sixth Ave. Who would've thunk it--a good ol' American folksinger with a voice oddly reminiscent of Lou Reed. Musically, it's a comparison full of holes: Far from the Velvet Underground's dark, claustrophobic auditory hallucinations, Eb Eberlein's poetic lyrics resound of wide-open spaces, canyon walls and crackling campfires. Proficient strumming on acoustic guitar, the hollow wail of harmonica and some off-beat sounds from the dobro have won us over with upbeat tracks like "Raven on the Red Wall," "Long Road Home" and "Get You A Stream." This is a guaranteed good time for anyone who's ever had the urge to jump a box car leaving the station.

Admission is $4, $3 for KXCI, TFTM and TKMA members. Call 884-1220 for information.

Monday 21

RURAL ART EXHIBIT. If you're looking for the Rural Arts Traveling Exhibit, you missed it. But as a consolation prize, the Tucson Pima Arts Council, that diligent local arts organization committed to inundating the pueblo with public art projects, hosts its first Rural Arts Exhibit in-house at the Community Gallery, 240 N. Stone Ave. The show they've put together has 94 pieces in all, more than twice as large as the traveling exhibit, with a wide assortment of western and southwestern canvases. Although the cowboys-and-Indians shtick is sure to please a large segment of gallery browsers, the show also polishes a few gems for more contemporary tastes: like "Sunset Pizza," a surreal desert landscape by Mary Lou Ray-Greer framed in unfinished, weathered wood; a series of thickly-painted toreros by Bruno Valdez; and "Aztec Calendar," wood sculpture by Louis Colucci. And who knows what else they've made room for since our last visit.

Regular gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 624-0595 for information.

Tuesday 22

HIDING IN THE LOFT. The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway, is everything a movie theater should be: spacious, avant garde and locally owned. What better venue for screening the latest Roman Polanski film, directed by Cinema Paradiso's Giuseppe Tornatore? This metaphysical murder mystery stars Gerard Depardieu as an unlikely murder suspect with nothing to connect him to the murder but his strange behavior. Roman Polanski plays the plodding, even-minded inspector determined to ferret out the truth--which will surprise everyone. A Pure Formality (PG-13) is in French with English subtitles. Ticket prices are $5.50, $3.50 for children, seniors and students with ID. All shows before 5 p.m. are $3.75. Call 795-7777 for information.

Wednesday 23

VALLEY OF THE MOON. Tonight may be your last chance this summer to idly wander the pathways of the George Phar Legler Society's Valley of the Moon, "the magical land built of rock and imagination." Nestled into the residential neighborhood north of Prince Road and east of Tucson Boulevard, this Arizona historic site and fantasy park has been a Tucson treasure for decades with its caves, pools and gardens painting the backdrop for the adventures of kids of all ages. The Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road, is open for a final "Moon Stroll" from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free, though donations are gladly accepted. Call 323-1331 for information.


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August 17 - August 23, 1995


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