Tucson Weekly: Cheap Thrills (October 22

Cheap Thrills HIGHWAY CRAWL: Tucson's own sultans of brass funk--otherwise known as Crawdaddy-O--headline a send-off party on Saturday, October 24, for their first American tour. It's great to see yet another band of music-minded Tucson renegades on the march.
And what a march it is: Crawdaddy-O's pending pilgrimage will take them from El Paso and Austin through Little Rock, Charleston, and all the way to Times Square, where they'll be the only Arizona band appearing in the CMJ MusicFest '98. The MusicFest showcases for four nights, with live performances by up-and-comers in some 60 venues across New York City.
For those outside the loop, Crawdaddy-O is a five-piece brass bunch that melds the New Orleans sound with funk and swing.
The bon voyage bash will include the soulful Sapphire Kieft, the Irish jigs and Celtic harmonies of Morrighan, and eclectic rock with the Whiskey Dicks.
The wild rumpus begins at 8 p.m. at Nimbus Brewing Co., 3850 E. 44th St. Admission is $5. For information, call 745-9175.
UNCERTAIN CELLULOID: Hollywood writer/director Sean Michael will be joined by cabaret singer Charley Geary and cast for the screening of their film, shoulda...coulda...woulda, presented as part of the Tucson Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
Shot in only three days, with sequences in black and white as well as color, the 34-minute film takes a comedic look at three separate moments of truth in one man's "look-but-don't-touch" coming-out years. The light-hearted story details what Josh (Paul Katani) "shoulda...coulda...woulda" done if he had it to do all over again.
A series of shorts opens the show at
4 p.m. Saturday, October 24, at The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St. Admission is $5, free for anyone age 23 and under. For information, call 622-2262.
BIG PICTURE: In his new exhibit, Vestiges: Wilderness in Arizona and New Mexico, Michael Berman reminds viewers of the pure aesthetic and power of the "natural site," using large format portrayals of the desert.
Now showing in Etherton's Temple Gallery, the works are devoid of ecological or social dogma, satisfied instead to simply capture the essential landscape beautifully measured by its own time and inherent order. His settings are the places draped in shadows, weathered by millennia, and changed by a succession of seasons. They're habitats where plants are not adapted or planted, but rather scatter or circle according to the dictates of wind and wilds.
Berman achieves this using various media, including painting, drawing and photographic installation. He participates in the romantic tradition of Western landscape photography, signifying nature in its most primal state. To the artist, that obviously means a place belonging neither to photography or reality, but just a site he inhabits as an emulator, imitator and innovator.
Vestiges shows through December 2 in the Temple Gallery, 330 S. Scott Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and prior to ATC performances. Call 624-7370 for information.

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