Tucson Weekly, Sept. 2, 2021 by Times Media Group

CURRENTS: ONE MILLION COVID CASES

SEPTEMBER 2 - 8, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Fall Arts Preview Your look ahead at what’s happening in local museums, galleries and theaters

DANEHY: Remembering Charlie Watts

XOXO: Where To Rock This Week

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 35

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STAFF

CONTENTS

CURRENTS

Local super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez will make his first title defense against Brazilian boxer

FEATURE

It’s Tucson Weekly’s annual Fall Arts Preview! See what galleries and theatres across town are up to this season

CINEMA

Candyman is back to frighten the tootsie rolls out of you

MUSIC

ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President

EDITOR’S NOTE

Jaime Hood, General Manager, jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Arts for Our Sake

IT WAS A TRUE JOY READING through all that’s happening in the world of museums, galleries and theaters as the team here at TW World Headquarters assembled the Fall Arts Preview in this week’s edition. It’s been way too long since COVID first shut down so many of our cultural touchstones, so it’s wonderful to see them on the rebound. Longtime arts writer Margaret Regan brings us the lowdown on what’s happening in the visual arts and dance world, while calendar editor Emily Dieckman tells us what to expect in the world of theater this fall. In related news, we’re also delighted to announce the return of Xavier Omar Otero’s much-missed XOXO column, rounding up the upcoming week in rock ’n’ roll. This week, we’ve got Chaka Khan, Sheila E, Gogol Bordello, James McMurtry and more coming through town as well as local acts getting back on stage. A note of caution: The Delta wave is still taking its toll on Pima County and the rest of Arizona, so be careful if you’re going to a big indoor event. Venues such as the Rialto, Fox and Hotel Congress are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test

Tyler Vondrak, Associate Publisher, tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting, claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

to attend a show, but many local theaters are not. The smartest play, of course, is to get vaccinated, but you ought to also wear a mask when indoors to do your part in wrestling this virus to the ground. Elsewhere in the book this week: staff reporter Alex Pere brings us the latest on the COVID spread; contributor Austin Counts previews next weekend’s boxing match between Oscar Valdez and Robson Conceicao at Casino del Sol; columnist Tom Danehy remembers Charlie Watts; movie critic Bob Grimm has a sweet (and horrifying) time at the movies with Candyman; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott looks at how recreational cannabis sales are on pace with the medicinal market; and we’ve got our usual calendar, cartoons, sex advice column and all the other stuff. Get vaxxed! Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz tell you all of the fun stuff to do in this burg at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday mornings on the World Famous Frank Show on KPLX, 96.1 FM.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor, jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor, mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Alexandra Pere, Staff Reporter, apere@tucsonlocalmedia.com Contributors: David Abbott, Rob Brezsny, Max Cannon, Rand Carlson, Tom Danehy, Emily Dieckman, Bob Grimm, Andy Mosier, Linda Ray, Margaret Regan, Will Shortz, Jen Sorensen, Clay Jones, Dan Savage PRODUCTION Courtney Oldham, Production Manager, tucsonproduction@timespublications.com Ryan Dyson, Graphic Designer, ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer, emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com CIRCULATION Alex Carrasco, Circulation, alexc@tucsonlocalmedia.com ADVERTISING TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com Kristin Chester, Account Executive, kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive, candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com Lisa Hopper, Account Executive, lisa@tucsonlocalmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Zac Reynolds Director of National Advertising Zac@TimesPublications.com Tucson Weekly® is published every Thursday by Times Media Group at 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona. Address all editorial, business and production correspondence to: Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona 85741. Phone: (520) 797-4384, FAX (520) 575-8891. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). The Tucson Weekly® and Best of Tucson® are registered trademarks of Times Media Group. Publisher has the right to refuse any advertisement at his or her discretion.

XOXO: Celebrating the return of live music— safely!

TUCSON WEEDLY

Marijuana’s role in the Arizona economy continues to grow

Cover image “Evening Storm” by Martha Saudek, courtesy of Tucson Museum of Art

Copyright: The entire contents of Tucson Weekly are Copyright Times Media Group No portion may be reproduced in whole or part by any means without the express written permission of the Publisher, Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, AZ 85741.

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

university reopenings,” Gerald wrote. Gerald also noted that transmission among children under the age of 15 continues to increase and the rate per 100,000 population has nearly surpassed COVID cases top 1 million in Arizona as state shuts down most testing in Pima County rates among all other age groups for the first time. “Resumption of K-12 in-person instruction in the face of high community transBy Alexandra Pere UA Zuckerman School of Public Health mission, inadequate vacation, prohibited apere@timespublications.com who has been tracking the spread of masking and inadequate surveillance COVID since it first appeared in the state testing is undoubtedly the cause,” Gerald in March 2020. ARIZONA SURPASSED THE GRIM wrote. “This is underscored by higher case In an Aug. 27 report, Gerald noted that rates among those 10-14 years (old) as milestone of more than one million the number of cases per week has been positive COVID cases as the Delta wave compared to those 15-19 years (old). This increasing for 11 weeks but the growth in reversal may be short-lived as universities continues to wash over the state. the week ending Aug. 22 was modest. As of Tuesday, Aug. 31, a total of resumed operations last week. Therefore, “While Arizona continues to experience transmission among those 15-19 years 1,011,923 Arizonans had tested positive for novel coronavirus, with several thousand a high number of cases, hospitalizations (old) is expected to increase in coming and deaths, week-to-week increases are people testing positive each day, accordweeks.” ing to the Arizona Department of Health currently moderating,” Gerald wrote. He also noted that 1,978 of Arizona’s But he warned the trend could reverse Services. 8,791 general ward hospital beds were ocand cases could start to rise again. A total of 18,786 people had died after cupied by COVID patients as of Aug. 25, “There have been temporary retreats contracting COVID, according to ADHS. an 8% drop from the previous week. But There are signs the latest wave may be before, so it is important to wait several as of the same date, the use of intensive more weeks before signaling a more leveling off, according to Dr. Joe Gerald, care beds was on the rise, up to 487 out of an epidemiologist and professor with the permanent shift, especially in light of the state’s 1,765 available ICU beds, a 13%

CURRENTS

DELTA BLUES

increase from the previous week. A total of 112 Arizonans died after contracting COVID in the week ending Aug. 15, down slightly from the 114 who died the previous week.

PIMA COUNTY RESUMES COVID TESTING

AFTER THE STATE OF ARIZONA stopped funding most free COVID testing centers, Pima County has picked up the effort, opening a testing center at the Abrams Public Health Center, 3950 S. Country Club Road. Nasal swab testing is available from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Pre-registration is recommended but walk-ins are welcome for onsite registration. But it remains unclear whether county taxpayers will have to pay the costs or if there will be reimbursement from the state or the federal government. Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva said a testing site can cost around

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

$100,000 per day for equipment, employees and other costs. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry asked U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva to consider directly funding the county’s testing program or to push the state to continue funding COVID testing. This is the second time the state has declined to pay for testing costs. Huckelberry told Congressman Grijalva that the state has said that federal dollars for testing are not intended to pay for free testing by the county, with state officials suggesting that testing providers such as Pima County “seek insurance and other reimbursements.” “Apparently, they would like us to charge for testing,” Huckelberry said in his letter. “It is a simple fact that adding administrative barriers to testing and vaccination is a practice proven to perpetuate the COVID-19 pandemic—hardly a wise public health response.” The state allocated $14.4 million to Pima County for COVID testing, which was spent early on in the pandemic. The State only gave 3.4% of its federal funds for testing to Pima County. In total, Pima

County has spent over $49 million on testing since the start of the pandemic. Previously, the state declined to reimburse Pima County for $7.5 million because the expenses occurred before Jan. 15. However, the Jan. 15 limitation only applied to one federal funding source used by the state, according to Huckelberry’s letter. Both the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, along with the Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in March 2020 require states to allocate federal funding for free COVID testing. Pima County was quick to open free testing sites at the beginning of the pandemic. “It was actually one of the major elements that distinguished Pima County from other counties because we made this commitment to ensure adequate and equitable access for our residents,” said Pima County Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. In an Aug. 24 press conference, Dr. Cullen said state resources for testing are

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GRAPHIC COURTESY OF THE ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES

Daily new COVID cases: Arizona has nearly reached the daily cases from last summer’s wave.

minimally available. The state will continue to fund the testing location at Tucson International Airport and the saliva test-

ing location at Ellie Towne Community Center. ■

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

CURRENTS

COURTESY PHOTO

WBC champ Oscar Valdez with his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, after defeating Miguel Berchelt for the super featherweight title in February.

HOMECOMING KING WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez will make his first title defense against Brazilian boxer Robson Conceicao By Austin Counts tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

A NOGALES-BORN, TUCSON-BRED PROFESSIONAL boxing champ is returning home not only to defend his new WBC title but to avenge a loss against a long-time rival. WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (29-0-0) will make his first title defense against Brazilian boxer Robson Conceicao (16-0-0) at Casino Del Sol on Friday, Sept. 10. Valdez won the coveted WBC strap earlier this year against Miguel Berchelt by knocking out the previous champ with a devastating left hook in Round 10. “I’m very happy to come back to my second home. I love fighting in Tucson in front of my people. It’s only an hour away from Nogales and every time I fight there it’s an awesome feeling,” Valdez said during a Zoom media call to promote his upcoming title bout. “I’m really excited to come back now as a WBC world champion and what better way to give my crowd, my people what they want, which is a good fight.” This will be the second time both boxers meet in the

squared circle since Valdez lost to the Brazilian pugilist by one point during the 2009 Pan American Games, back when they were amateurs. Conceicao later went on to win the gold in boxing at the 2016 Olympics—the first Brazilian to do so—while Valdez turned pro in 2011 and has since amassed an undefeated professional record fighting as a featherweight and super featherweight. The Nogales native won the WBO featherweight title in 2019 but later vacated the belt when he moved up to the super featherweight division the following year. “This is my opportunity to get revenge for my loss in the amateurs. We know that he [Conceicao] is an Olympic gold medalist, he has a very good amateur background and he’s a tough fighter,” Valdez said. “Nobody wins a gold medal in the Olympics being an easy fighter. He’s undefeated and wants to accomplish his dream, so obviously he is training hard for this. ” The WBC champ said he’s preparing for this fight differently than he did for Berchelt due to Conceicao’s reach advantage and technical style. Now that he’s working with Eddy Reynoso—super middleweight champ Canelo Alverez’s trainer—Valdez said he believes his team has crafted the perfect game plan to defeat Conceicao. “He [Conceicao] knows how to use his distance well and that can be a problem to fight. But, that’s the reason why we train so hard...to manage, learn and do what’s best to win the fight,” Valdez said. “He [Reynoso] tells me what to do in the gym and we do repetitions over and over. I’ve been studying Robson Conceicao and doing the perfect technique to beat him on Sept. 10.” While the super featherweight division is stacked with talented boxers like Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson—both of which could lead to huge paydays— Valdez said he never looks ahead to the next fight while training for an upcoming bout. The champ said it’s an unwritten rule of boxing to never focus on a fight you’re not currently training for. Those who break the rule do so at their own peril. Valdez uses his last fight against Berchelt as an example. “He [Berchelt] said ‘Once I beat Oscar Valdez, I’m gonna beat Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis...I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that,’ not knowing I was training three times a day,” Valdez said. “That’s a big mistake and a lot of boxers do it. You look past the fighter not knowing that fighter could possibly beat you.” Valdez moved to Tucson when he was 1 year old and spent his formative years studying at Manzo Elementary before returning to Nogales, Sonora after completing fifth grade, he said. The champ started training in the sweet science as a youth at Aztlan Boxing Gym on South 10th Avenue, where he said he learned from local boxing greats like Noberto ‘Nito’ Bravo. Valdez also looked up to other Nogales fighters like David “The Destroyer” Lopez who regularly fought at Desert Dia-

mond Casino and Casino Del Sol in the 2000s. Lopez’s career was cut short in 2009 after being shot and killed in Nogales, Sonora while driving with his son. “Tucson has a great boxing background. I remember as a little kid back in Nogales we used to drive up to Tucson to see a good friend of ours, let his soul rest in peace...Destroyer Lopez,” Valdez said. “I used to always say ‘Wow, one day I’m going to be like Destroyer Lopez, fighting right there at Casino Del Sol, Desert Diamond and everywhere’. When I was a kid I looked up to someone like him and now is my chance to come back to Tucson and I’m the main event. I’m literally living the dream.” On the undercard is Tucson’s own Jose “El Fosforito” Ramirez (1-0-0), who will be fighting his second professional match at Casino Del Sol. The 18-year-old Desert View High School senior said being a part of the Valdez vs. Conceicao card is a dream come true, especially since he started boxing around 6 or 7 years old, he said. “I think it’s amazing and it’s crazy. Just being around fighters that are world champions is like a feeling I can’t describe, honestly,” Ramirez said. “I really couldn’t ask for a better start for my career and I’m happy it’s going the way it is. All I have to do now is keep putting in work.” While his opponent has not been named as of press time, the young boxer said he has no worries about who he may face on Sept.10. All the hard work put in at Red Nation Warriors boxing gym and Tucson Southwest Boxing Academy has prepared Ramirez for whoever comes his way, he said. “We’re training and working hard every day. The work doesn’t stop,” Ramirez said. “I’m actually pretty confident going into this fight. I’m not stressing about anything because the last thing I want on my mind right now is stress.” ■

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

DANEHY

GOODBYE TO CHARLIE WATTS By Tom Danehy, tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com JUST A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, I was having a nice discussion about music with my good friend, Pima County Deputy Sheriff Bob (last name classified). He’s an inveterate hard rock headbanger guy, coming up on 50 but still banging his head. He and his wife even go on those Def Poison Megadeth Anthrax Leppard cruise ship things. I told him that since he was getting on in years, he’s going to start seeing his musical heroes shuffling off this mortal coil. We’ve all been through it. When I was teenager, Jimi, Janis, and Jim (Morrison) all croaked themselves within a year of each other, and all at the age of 27. I remember thinking that when I got to 27, I was going to be nervous for an entire year. But then I just decided that I wouldn’t be a drunken drug user and so 27 turned out to be a breeze. It sucks when they die way before their time. Karen Carpenter’s anorexia gave her a heart attack at 32. Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash at age 35. My favorite singer, Marvin Gaye, was shot dead by his father, one day shy of Marvin’s 45th birthday. Those are outliers, but the way the

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

music business chews people up and spits them out, there is another form of outlier, the musician who manages to maintain a relatively normal life and live into his old age, still doing what he loves. For example, Paul McCartney is still alive. He’s one of the very few older vegetarians who doesn’t look like he died several years ago but nobody told him. Probably the most impressive of this rare cohort is Brian May, the guitarist for Queen who earned his doctorate in Astrophysics at the age of 60. And then there was Charlie Watts, the legendary drummer for the Rolling Stones who passed away last week at the age of 80. How about this? The soft-spoken, unassuming Watts was married to the same woman for 57 years. That’s got to be the all-time record for a rock star. There was a seedy bar/sometimes blues joint on Van Nuys Boulevard, just outside The Projects where I grew up. My friends and I were all into Motown and Stax/Volt, but the first time I heard the blues, I said to myself, “Oh, heck yeah!” My mental voice was still high-pitched and squeaky as neither it nor —nor my colorful vocabulary—had yet passed

through the Puberty Portal. We’d sit on the curb and listen to the tales of woe being pulled along by a chugging guitar and an almost-sinister harmonica. One time they left the front door open, probably to let the accumulated body funk to come rushing out. The place smelled like ass, sautéed in stale beer. I looked in and saw a linebacker-sized woman dancing on the bar. No one was watching her, but nobody was telling her to get down from there, either. I thought to myself, the power of music! I wanted to be a musician (and an astronaut and a professional athlete), but I knew that my options were limited. No way was I going to be able to play the guitar since my hands are smaller than Donald Trump’s when he gets out of the pool. Plus, as we were widely known to be the absolute-poorest of the 500 families in The Projects, the purchase of a guitar would have to come sometime after we got our first Cadillac. I had learned how to play the clarinet at school, but, even to this day, the clarinet is to rhythm and blues what Tucker Carlson is to racial harmony. So, I settled on drums. I mean, how hard could it be, right? Plus, it would be the least-expensive instrument to play…as long as I didn’t want to get actual drums. I would watch all the bands on TV and study the drummers. A couple British guys had this weird affectation where

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they would hold the drumsticks as though they were surgical instruments, scalpel in the right hand, hemostat in the left. Others would defy convention by holding both sticks like hammers and just pounding away. But Charlie Watts was my idol. He was a traditionalist from the way he held his sticks, to the simple four-drum set he used, to his ability to set aside his jazz impulses as he set down a driving R&B beat. While Mick Jagger was doing the absolute-worst James Brown impression of any white man on the face of the Earth and Keith Richards was somehow using muscle memory to grind out the bluesrock riffs that helped earn the Stones the title of the greatest rock and roll band in history, Charlie Watts was the captain of the team, his simple, straightforward beats guiding and pushing the band along. His funky cowbell opening to “Honky Tonk Women” is legendary. It’s funny, however. While the band would be playing in front of 100,000 people in some giant stadium, Watts said that he would imagine himself at the Blue Note or Birdland, sitting behind and playing with Charlie Parker. Well, Mr. Watts, you’re in the music suburb of Heaven now. Go find Charlie Parker and ask Parker’s usual drummer, Kenny Clarke, if he’ll let you sit in. It’ll be to everybody’s satisfaction. ■

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

Editor’s Note: While we are delighted to see Tucsonans once again gathering for fun events, we are also aware that the new Delta variant is circulating and case counts in Arizona are on the rise. Please consider getting vaccinated against COVID if you haven’t yet and following CDC guidance, which includes wearing masks at crowded indoor events. Keep yourself and others safe—the pandemic isn’t over yet. Sonoran Restaurant Week VIP Launch Party. Sonoran Restaurant Week is back starting Sept. 10. But you? You’re a VIP. Or, at least, you are welcome to buy tickets to this VIP event and then refer to yourself as a VIP for the rest of your life at parties. Your friends and family will love it! Guests get to pop into the Sonoran Sip Room tasting lounge to try local food and beverages, with food grown on the San Xavier Co-op Farm. You’ll get plenty of appetizers, two drink tickets (FYI you can pick a mezcal flight or a wine flight as one of your drinks!) and a mini-bottle of agave spirits from Borderland Spirits. All ticket proceeds benefit the San Xavier Co-op Farm. 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9. Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St. $65. Retro Game Show Night: Wheel of Misfortune. In some ways, it feels like we’ve been spinning the wheel of misfortune for the past year and a half or so. “Aw, man, it landed on ‘global pandemic.’” “C’mon, c’mon, don’t land on ‘wildfires’… oh no.” And so forth. But sometimes you have to find a way to laugh at misfortunes, and what better place to do it than at Hotel Congress? Chatty Kathee will be your hilarious host for the night. You can sit in the open seating or get the “dinner and a show” ticket to get a table reserved and treat yourself to some eats from the Cup Café. 8 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4. Club Congress Plaza, 311 E. Congress St. $15 to $25. Cactus Drive In. Have you been to the drive in lately? It’s the quintessential summertime activity, if you ask me. So, before pumpkin spice lattes and decorative gourds take over completely, swing by Cactus Drive In to see a film. This week, they’re playing Godzilla vs Kong on Friday, Sept. 3, which, face it, sounds really cool. Even if you don’t really like

Tori West: Medley of Miniatures in Creative Paperclay. Have you made it over to the local miniatures museum lately? They’ve always got something new and exciting going on, and the next few months are no exception. One of their newest exhibits features the work of Tucsonan Tori West, who carves and sculpts Creative Paperclay into a wide variety of sweet little scenes, from adobe casitas to skeletons to fairytale-inspired scenes. West’s work is truly lovely, and so diverse. Your eyes will have many visual courses on which to feast. Exhibit is open through Jan. 9, 2022, at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. $11.50 adults, $9.50 seniors and military, $8 students and youth ages 4 to 17, free for kids 3 and under. (Save $1 per ticket if you buy them online in advance). From the Top! First Fridays are now “From the Top” night over at Unscrewed Theater. This new musical improv troupe will create a family-friendly, fun-filled, fully improvised musical right before your eyes. Every local comedy group needs an in-house musical improv team, after all, right? You can either join in-person or via Zoom, depending on what you’re most comfortable with. And if the group totally captures your heart, then you should audition! They’re looking for new members. 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3. Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Blvd. In-person tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for kids. Or, $8 per household for a virtual ticket.

by Emily Dieckman Tucson Pops Orchestra Performance. I know I personally tend to take things for granted once I get used to them. So sometimes I forget how awesome it is that the Tucson Pops Orchestra just… performs for us at the park? For free?? I mean… that’s so nice! László Veres is conducting, and Jack Neubeck is a special guest, in to sing some theatre classics. You’ll hear classical pieces like Lady of Spain and the overture to Beautiful Galatea. And you’ll hear pieces by Gershwin and Rogers & Hammerstein as well. There’s also a Twentiana, which is not the name of your daughter’s preschool classmate, but rather a really cool montage of songs from the 1920s. Bring a picnic, sit back and enjoy. 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5. DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way.

action movies, I mean, come on. We have to find out who wins, right? And on Sept. 4, they’re showing Grown Ups, a perfectly silly Saturday night movie. Both films start at 7:30 p.m. Cactus Drive In, 6201 S. Wilmot Road. $8 adults, $2 kids 4 to 14 and free for kids under 4. Trivia Night at Crooked Tooth. Blessed be the winners of trivia night, for they shall have Crooked Tooth Brewing gift cards and bragging rights that shan’t ever expire. Gather up your smartest groups of friends for a night of brews, laughter and cutthroat competition. First-place winners get a $50 gift card, second place wins a $25 gift card and third place wins a $15 gift card. 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. Crooked Tooth Brewing Co., 228 E. Sixth St. No entry fee, but there is a two-purchase minimum per person, so you’ll just have to treat yourself to some delicious beverages. First Sunday Antique & Vintage Fair at Medella Vina Ranch. We love a good weekend morning spent at an antique fair. Especially a dual indoor-outdoor antique fair! Come take a stroll through the dozens of antique and retro vendor booths to see what strikes your fancy. Maybe you’re looking for something to spice up the house you’ve been spending 95% of your time in for the last year and a half, maybe you’re looking for a gift, or maybe you just like pretty things. Whoever you are, this is for you. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5. Medella Vina Ranch, 4450 S. Houghton Road. Free. Jittercat Jive. Have you ever been interested in learning to Lindy Hop? This dance style was born in Harlem’s Savoy ballrooms in the late 1920s, and skyrocketed in popularity during the swing era of the 1930s and 40s. And, man, is it fun! The Arizona Swing Cats are teaching this class, and no experience or partners are required. But do wear comfy shoes with smooth soles! Proof of vaccination is required. This class takes place every Saturday except the fourth each month. There’s a lesson from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and then social dancing until 11 p.m. Movement Culture, 435 E. Ninth St. $7 for just the dance, or $10 for the dance and lesson—but free if you bring someone who’s never danced with them before!

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is struggling as an artist. The story of the Candyman, and the mental collapse of Helen Lyle (the character played by Virginia Madsen in the original—she makes a voice cameo) leads him to investigate. He meets William Burke, a friendly neighborhood man (Colman Domingo), while poking around and immediately helps him with his laundry. It’s a little odd how he just up and helps the guy. Just go with it. William tells him the story of Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove), a homeless man suspected of giving candy with razor blades to kids. He was murdered by the police, and it’s believed that Sherman’s ghost began haunting and killing residents of Cabrini Green. Sherman had a harmless hook for a hand, but legend has it that hook got sharper after death and he joined forces with Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd…in the original and here as well). So, there might be more than one Candyman carving people up. After hearing the story and getting stung by a bee because those play a big part in Candyman lore, Anthony starts to go through strange physical and mental changes as friends of his are murdered Candyman style. The killing scenes are where DaCosta truly excels in that they are genuinely scary to take in. She stages one PARRISH LEWIS/UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND MGM PICTURES through a window (no further details…don’t want to ruin it) that got the hairs on the back of my neck not only standing up but trying to disembark and head for the parking lot. This is DaCosta’s first legit take on horror, Candyman is back to frighten the tootsie rolls out of you and it’s fair to say she’s an expert already. A good portion of this film’s (albeit short) running time is major freakout territory. By Bob Grimm Something rich is being explored here, but it almost tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com seems like DaCosta and Peele either run out of ideas or want to save something for the films that will surely THE ORIGINAL CANDYMAN (1992), WAS A TRIPPY follow. Just as things appear to really be getting started, horror delight, a fun and nasty thriller that was willing to the film stops. What looks like a fantastic opening salvo go the distance and remain dark and disturbing from its to the final act actually turns out to be the ending. When first frame until its last. The killer concept was birthed the “Candyman” closing credit pops up on the screen, it’s from the mind of nutball Clive Barker, and director almost as shocking as some of the film’s kills. Bernard Rose did that nasty brute justice. As a fan of After re-watching the original film as research for this the original, I never did watch the sequels. They looked one, it’s fair to say the new Candyman is almost as good awful. as the original, but not quite. Watching Mateen II deteNearly 30 years later, the original terror gem gets a diriorate is disconcerting, but Helen Lyle’s tragic ending rect sequel, ignoring the poorly received franchise films still stands as a franchise high point. Helen got a super that came after the original, and getting on with a story raw deal, as does Mateen II. Let’s just say the Candyman directly tied to the original’s ending made three decades movies don’t consider a happy ending something of ago. It’s very much like the new sequel Halloween got a importance. few years ago from director David Gordon Green, and The church hymn vibe of Philip Glass’s stellar original the results are pretty good by horror sequel standards. soundtrack is replaced by something a little more unDirector Nia DaCosta (this is her second feature after derstated from Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. This is one of the very good Little Woods), who co-wrote the screenplay the year’s best scores, giving the film a pulsing, somber with, among others, Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us), goes for underbelly that really ties the movie together. something quietly sinister rather than grandiose. Peele And with this, a franchise is reborn. Peele furthers also produced the film, and this one fits in comfortably himself as the modern purveyor of horror with heart and next to his recent stylized, deep horror offerings. soul, and DaCosta proves that she has it in her to scare The action returns to Chicago’s former Cabrini the living piss out of you. ■ Greens, now a gentrified Chicago neighborhood where

CINEMA

SWEET SCARES

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK… Celebrating the return of live music—safely! By Xavier Otero tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

WITH TREPIDATION AND A childlike sense of awe that is felt viscerally—say, like when an exotic Eastern dish of fried scorpions is placed upon an American dinner table—we take our first hopeful steps forward through the darkness and uncertainty of pandemia. As such, a statewide group of independent venues (including Fox Tucson Theatre, Hotel Congress, The Rialto Theater, and 191 Toole in Tucson) banded together— with a sense of shared responsibility and following CDC as well as local health guidelines to provide safe environments “for those about to rock”—to sign an accord requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination (or negative test results) and a mask to attend an indoor concert event. Masks may not be required for outdoor events. It is advised to contact the venue as public health guidelines, specific artist requests, and events unfold. In the spirit of hedonism (tempered with proper prophylactic use), XOXO returns with a curated list of musical happenings around town. Read on...

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FRIDAY, SEPT. 3 Chaka Khan has had a turbulent past— recruited by the Black Panthers at 14, landing a record deal at 17, marrying thereafter (and feigning pregnancy when her mother refused to sign the contract on her behalf), earning her first Grammy with Rufus’ 1974 platinum-selling album, Rags to Rufus, sowing the early seeds of a lengthy addiction, withstanding “rip-off artist” managers and shady record deals, persevering through the death of her confidante and collaborator Prince.

Having tread “Through the Fire,” the now teetotaling vegan superstar blurs the borders between R&B, jazz, pop, and funk. At AVA Amphitheater. With special guest Sheila E.... This 19 year old rapper’s academic background— studying classical music, theory and performance at Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts— is equally as rich as having blossomed in East L.A., raised on a diet of vintage reggae and old school funk, secretly writing and rapping in her bathroom mirror at age 12. A few years later, at 19, she was opening for Tyga and received a game-changing co-sign from Cardi B, who reposted her standout “Money” remix (swapping in empowering lyrics about the importance of intelligence) on social media, making it go viral. “That Bitch” Malaynah brings her latest release, Evolution, to 191 Toole... “Wading through the jaded surrender of nihilism and the painful vulnerability of hope,” Moonblind chronicles recent years of reflection and creation by this Tucson-based indie-pop duo. When nighttime comes, haunted by the moon’s light, Night Weather celebrates the release of their new album. At Club Congress. Dirt Friends join in the festivities... As their latest single, “Rodeo Girls,” tops the charts on Radio Texas LIVE, surpassing Aaron Watson’s smash “Boots,” Micky and The Motorcars bring their plainspoken, alt-country grit to The Rock. With the red dirt country of Drew Cooper…

SATURDAY, SEPT. 4 For the uninitiated, this musical street riot led by frenetic frontman Eugene Hütz (a Chernobyl nuclear disaster survivor) formed in New York in 1999, by musicians hailing from Ukraine, Ecuador, Russia and Ethiopia. Imbued with acts of musical theater, chaos and sorcery, the musical alchemy of these

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

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Gogol Bordello brings their signature blend of punk to the Rialto on Saturday, Sept. 4 with NuFolk Rebel Alliance.

“superpowered immigrant vampires” coalesced when they injected a strong dose of punk rock into traditional Gypsy music, setting out to confront the death of irony. Their seventh studio album, Seekers and Finders, issues a decree. “People think you explore the world with the latest phone in your hand,” says Hütz. “That’s the antithesis of living for us. My focus is always on staying experiential. Go for firsthand information, transmute it into wisdom, and share it with the people in a communal celebration.” Gogol Bordello works their Trans-Continental Hustle at The Rialto Theater. Bordercrossing, folk/dub/punk duo, NuFolk Rebel Alliance opens... These SoCal garage rockers’ latest single, “Nervous,” was recently tapped by Rolling Stone Australia as a “song you need to know.” Set to appear on their forthcoming fifth album DYE, which is described as “an upbeat, undeniable collection of hooks, anthems, and power-pop garage-rock catchiness.” Known for their brash, booze-addled shows, like cocksure Bulls and Roosters, Together Pangea strut onto the stage. At 191 Toole. Locals Sad Park and Stripes rev things up...

SUNDAY, SEPT. 5 Small wonder. This raconteur remembers growing up in a little ranch house crammed with 10,000 books. Weaned on a steady diet of Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff records, he received his first guitar at age 7 from his novelist father Larry McMurtry. “My mother taught me three chords and the rest I just stole as I went along,” he remembers. Much like his old man, he’s grown to be a fiction writer, of sorts, who employs music as a vehicle for his character-based sto-

rytelling: “Moving tales of downtrodden fishermen, lusty late middle-age loners, and stubborn ‘equestrian women.’” In an interview with Rolling Stone, the Texan scoffs, “I don’t do autobiography. My songs are made up.” Of his latest album, The Horses and The Hounds, he says, “There’s a definite Los Angeles vibe to this record.” He quips, “The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don’t know how he got in there. He never signed on for work for hire.” Acclaimed singer-songwriter James McMurtry performs on the plaza at Hotel Congress...

TUESDAY, SEPT. 7 During the 1980s, guitarist/songwriter Rich Hopkins’ work with the Sidewinders (RCA/Mammoth), progenitors of the desert rock sound, and with the Sand Rubies (Polydor/Atlas) is at once a success story that lives on in Tucson lore and a cautionary tale. In 1989, “Witch Doctor” climbed the rock charts to #18 followed by a second radio hit, “We Don’t Do That Anymore,” before legal entanglements and record industry cuacha exacerbated a break-up. Today, Rich Hopkins & the Luminarios, like Mexican jumping cactus, will attach themselves to your skin. On the plaza at Hotel Congress. Genre hopping, Mexi-Americana singer-songwriters FebboFuentes get the evening under way... Until next week, XOXO... Send your show tips to tucsoneditor@ tucsonlocalmedia.com

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

REC’ING BALL

Recreational cannabis filling state coffers as weed sales get higher By David Abbott tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com DESPITE AN INDUSTRY-WIDE whiplash start to adult-use recreational sales in January, the marijauna market in Arizona is righting itself and filling state tax coffers with infusions of cannabis cash that will only continue to rise as the recreational market matures. The preliminary numbers are likely to adjust upwards as dispensary owners learn the ropes of the new system, but at first blush, tax revenues collected by the Arizona Department of

Revenue are quickly accruing as sales continue to rise. Through July, ADOR received more than $95 million in tax revenues from overall pot sales, based on a preliminary report posted to a new webpage on the department’s website. That total comes from a 22% sales tax on recreational purchases, compared to a 6% sales tax on medicinal. (Recreational customers pay an additional 16% sales tax on top of the 6% that medical customers pay, in Prime Leaf owner Brian Warde addition to local taxes.) Broken down, the recreational sales tax brought in nearly $25 million while the state’s ary to June the total was about $363 medical program generated nearly million. $30.5 million overall during that time. According to Prime Leaf CEO Brian Adult-use sales for the first six Warde, once dispensary owners learn months of the year—sales that began to navigate the new tax system, those on Jan. 28—totaled nearly $248 million, numbers should only increase in the while on the medical side from Janulast two quarters of the year.

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COURTESY PHOTO

“Something that’s kind of lost is that Arizona was the fastest rec market rollout of any state that’s [legalized adultuse],” he said. “I think those numbers are actually going to go up substantially over the third and fourth quarter CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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just because you had a January turn date, and most dispensaries didn’t [start recreational sales right away]. The other side of that is, it takes time for people to understand how the state wanted those tax dollars reported.” Warde, who has been in the business since 2014 and opened his second Prime Leaf location on Park Avenue about a year ago, has seen 10% to 15% growth on the recreational side, but thinks that will level out and patients will remain in or return to the medical side due to possession limits, as senior citizens and veterans are more likely to remain in the medical program. Warde also believes there will be growth in the target demographic, 25- to 30-year-old males, entering the MMJ program to allow them access to higher THC concentrates. “A core group of the medical patients will stick around,” he said. “A third of our patients prefer concentrates, and it’s much more cost effective. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away: It might actually grow a little

bit on the medical side and probably hold, but you’re definitely going to see there’s going to be a transition.” According to the ADHS, as of the end of July there were 313,906 qualified medical marijuana patients, with 1,857 new applications and 740 renewals in July. Year-to-date, more than 19,000 people applied for the first time and nearly 1,000 had renewed in 2021, as the first round of two-year certifications expired. In July alone, medical patients purchased nearly 12,000 pounds of cannabis, with 10,418 pounds in leaf, 193 pounds in edibles and 1,373 pounds in other types of cannabis. Medical cannabis sales for the year through July totaled 96,923 pounds of various types of weed. As to the future of the market in Arizona, Warde is preparing for more growth as his organization gears up to do more marketing on the recreational side and works to streamline the process to continue to provide a steady supply of weed to both medical patients and adults who enter his dispensaries. “I think Arizona is set to be one of the quickest to the $1 billion [in annu-

al] sales mark,” he said. “It took Colorado two or three years to get there, if anybody wants to put it into historical perspective. This is a fast-growing market and it’s going to continue to go up for quite some time.” As the calendar turns to the end of 2021, Prime Leaf will continue its work within the community, sponsoring events and working with the Tucson Symphony, preparing to compete in an industry that will not allow anyone to rest on their laurels. “It’s been one of the most chaotic years in history, at least in my history,” he said. “But we had lived through that and to make the switch [to adult-use] was pretty impressive. I was impressed by my team.” In addition to his work with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Warde throws in his support for several other nonprofits, including the Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids, the Crohns and Colitis Foundation and several other music and festival nonprofits. Warde is also president of the board of directors for the Tucson Heirloom Farmers Markets. ■

NEWS NUGGETS Weedly mea culpa: The Aug. 26 edition of the Weedly (High and Low: UA doctor set to study how stress, pain and depression can drive nurses to medicate with cannabis) reported that there are an estimated 67% of nurses with substance abuse issues who are not in treatment. That estimate is actually 6-7%. EXPUNGEMENT CLINICS CONTINUE On Saturday, Sept. 4, Southern Arizona NORML at G’s Barbershop, located at 1722 E Speedway Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The process should only take 15-20 minutes. It is SOAZ NORML’s 15th clinic so far this year. On Saturday, Oct. 9, the Prime Leaf will partner with Southern Arizona NORML to host an expungement clinic at Steve Kozachik’s Ward 6 office, located at 3202 E First St. in midtown from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

TUCSON AREA DISPENSARIES Bloom Tucson. 4695 N. Oracle Road, Ste. 117 293-3315; bloomdispensary.com Open: Sunday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Hana Green Valley. 1732 W. Duval Commerce Point Place 289-8030 Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Botanica. 6205 N. Travel Center Drive 395-0230; botanica.us Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily

Harvest of Tucson . 2734 East Grant Road 314-9420; askme@harvestinc.com; Harvestofaz. com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily

Desert Bloom Re-Leaf Center. 8060 E. 22nd St., Ste. 108 886-1760; dbloomtucson.com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily Offering delivery Downtown Dispensary. 221 E. 6th St., Ste. 105 838-0492; thedowntowndispensary.com Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily D2 Dispensary. 7105 E 22nd St. 214-3232; d2dispensary.com/ Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily Earth’s Healing. Two locations: North: 78 W. River Road 253-7198 South: 2075 E. Benson Highway 373-5779 earthshealing.org Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Offering delivery The Green Halo. 7710 S. Wilmot Road 664-2251; thegreenhalo.org Open: Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Nature Med. 5390 W. Ina Road 620-9123; naturemedaz.com Open: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily The Prime Leaf Two locations: 4220 E. Speedway Blvd. 1525 N. Park Ave. 44-PRIME; theprimeleaf.com Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Purple Med Healing Center. 1010 S. Freeway, Ste. 130 398-7338; www.facebook.com/PurpleMedHealingCenter Open: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Southern Arizona Integrated Therapies. 112 S. Kolb Road 886-1003; medicalmarijuanaoftucson.com Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily

Green Med Wellness Center. 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road 520-281-1587; facebook.com/GreenMedWellnessCenter Open: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “We need to become more unreasonable but in an intelligent way,” says Aries politician Jerry Brown. Yes! I agree! And that’s especially true for you right now, Aries. To Brown’s advice, I will add this message from Aries fashion designer Vivienne Westwood: “Intelligence is composed mostly of imagination, insight—things that have nothing to do with reason.” Here’s one further suggestion to help you take maximum advantage of cosmic rhythms, courtesy of Aries historian Arnold J. Toynbee: “The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I have become whole and complete, like a thundering cloudburst in summer,” wrote Taurus poet Miklós Radnóti. I love that metaphor for fullness: not an immaculate icon of shiny, sterile perfection, but rather a primal, vigorous force of nature in all of its rumbling glory. I hope you like this symbol as much as I do, and I hope you use it to fuel your creative spirit in the coming weeks. PS: Keep in mind that many indigenous people welcome rainstorms as a source of fertility and growth. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Pandiculation” is a word that refers to when you stretch and yawn at the same time. According to my understanding of the astrological omens, you will benefit from doing a lot of pandiculations in the coming days. I also recommend gazing lazily out the window and looking at the sky a lot. Keep your shoes off as much as possible, get a massage or three, and let yourself sleep more than you customarily do. Did you know that sighing deeply is good for your lungs’ health? Here’s your homework: Dream up all the things you can do to relax and renew yourself. It’s prime time to indulge in generous acts of self-healing. CANCER (June 21-July 22): The ancient Roman author Pliny’s 10-volume Natural History, written

in the first century, was a monumental encyclopedia of the natural world, unprecedented in its own time and for centuries afterward. It offered compilations of facts about astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, and many other subjects. There was one big problem with it, however. It contained a great deal of erroneous information. For example, Pliny described in detail many non-existent animals, including dragons, flying horses, and giant serpents that swallowed bulls and snatched birds out of the sky. My reason for telling you this is to inspire you to be extra discerning in the coming weeks. Be especially skeptical of authorities, experts, and other know-it-alls who are very confident despite being inaccurate or erroneous. It’s time for you to increase your trust in your own authority. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “There are those fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a poem,” writes Leo poet Mark Doty. That’s great for a poet. But what about for everyone else? My variation on Doty’s comment is this: There are fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a holy revelation or a lyrical breakthrough or a marvelous feeling that changes our lives forever. I expect events like those to come your way at least twice in the immediate future. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Between 37 and 41 BCE, Virgo-born Caligula served as third Emperor of Rome. To do so, he had to disprove the prophecy of a renowned astrologer, Thrasyllus of Mendes. Years earlier, Thrasyllus had predicted that Caligula, despite being well-connected, “had no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae”—a distance of two miles. Once in power, Caligula arranged to have a series of pontoon boats arrayed across the bay, enabling him to ride his favorite horse Incitatus from one shore to the other across the Bay of Baiae. I foresee the possibility of a comparable

SAVAGE LOVE COUNSELED CULTURE

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

Hello! I am a heterosexual man! My wife came out as a lesbian after thirty years of marriage. We have children together and we love each other. Therefore, we’ve decided not to divorce. We visited some therapists and they all coerced us to divorce, even though we really do not want that. We believe that an open relationship would satisfy both of us. I’ve always wanted a threesome anyway! We read some books about opening up a relationship and we feel like we could make an open marriage work. And we know there are others out there, so we know it’s possible! Divorce is not in our plan.

My questions are… 1. Is it normal for therapists to force a couple to divorce when the couple does not want that? 2. Can open relationships be awesome relationships? Shrinks Hereabouts Revel In Not Knowing Shit Hello! I am a gay man! My answers are… 1. Calm down. Only your wife can force you to get a divorce, SHRINKS, and you’re still married. Which means you haven’t been coerced into doing

turn of events for you, Virgo. Is there a curse you want to undo? A false prophecy you’d like to cancel? Someone’s low expectation you would love to debunk? The coming weeks will be a favorable time. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): College student Amelia Hamrick studied the right panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th-century painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. It depicts a hellish scene. Cities are on fire. Weird beasts devour sinful humans. There are demons and torture chambers. Hamrick did what no one in the history of art had ever done: She transcribed the musical score that the artist had written on a man’s naked hindquarters. Her work inspired a composer to create a recording entitled “500-Year-Old Butt Song from Hell.” In the coming weeks, I invite you to perform feats comparable to Hamrick: 1. Explore the past for useful, overlooked clues. 2. Find or create redemptive transformations out of stressful situations. 3. Have fun telling stories about your past misadventures. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Born on one of the Galapagos Islands, Diego is a giant tortoise who has lived for more than 100 years. He’s a member of the Hood Island species, which had dwindled to a population of 15 by 1977. That’s when he and his tortoise colleague, whose name is E5, became part of a breeding program with 12 female tortoises. E5 was reserved in his behavior, but Diego was a showboat who vocalized loudly as he enjoyed public mating rituals. Together the two males saved their species—producing over 2,000 offspring in subsequent years. According to my astrological analysis, you could be as metaphorically fertile as Diego and E5 in the coming months—even if you prefer to adopt an approach more akin to E5’s. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The meaning of my existence is that life has addressed a question to me,” wrote psychologist Carl Jung. “Or, conversely, I myself am a question that is addressed to the world, and I must communicate my answer, for otherwise, I am dependent upon the world’s answer.” These are superb meditations for you Sagittarians during the coming weeks. Between now and October 1, I invite you to keep a journal

anything. And while I wouldn’t describe what you encountered as normal, SHRINKS, there are a lot of therapists and counselors out there who regard preserving and protecting monogamy— its practice by individual couples, its position as a sacrosanct norm—as their chief responsibility. Now I don’t know whereabouts you live, SHRINKS, but a married couple that sees more than one therapist or counselor in a big city like mine is gonna encounter at least one open to helping married couples negotiate the transition to non-monogamy. But there’s a really simple way for couples like you to make sure you’re not wasting your time on anti-open and/or sex-negative counselors, SHRINK, and that’s to ask

where you write about two subjects: 1. What is the main question that life asks you? 2. What is the main question that your life asks the world? CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): North Korea’s Capricorn leader Kim Jong-un has an amazing résumé. Official reports say he learned to drive at age 3 and was an accomplished sailor at 9. As an adult, he developed the power to control the weather. He’s a skilled musician and artist, as well as a scientist who developed a miracle drug to cure AIDs, Ebola, cancer, heart disease and the common cold. Most impressively, Kim is an archaeologist who discovered a lair where magical unicorns live. Is it possible you have unexpressed powers like these, Capricorn? If so, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to identify them and start tapping into their potential. It’s time to develop your dormant talents. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Toni Morrison testified, “I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence. It’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for.” I urge you to adopt her perspective during the next four weeks, Aquarius. In my astrological opinion, a devoted quest for beauty will heal exactly what most needs to be healed in you. It will teach you everything you most need to know. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Poet and translator Anne Carson periodically joins with her husband Robert Currie to teach a workshop called “EgoCircus.” It’s an ironic title, because the subject they teach is the art of collaboration. To develop skills as a collaborator, of course, people must lay aside at least some of their egos’ needs and demands. In accordance with current astrological potentials, I encourage you to stage your own version of EgoCircus in the coming weeks. The time is ripe for you to hone your creative togetherness and synergistic intimacy. ■ Homework: Tell me the most important lesson you’ve learned since 2021 began. Newsletter@FreeWillAstrology.com

the therapist or counselor what their positions are on open relationships before making your first appointment. Zooming way out for a second: It’s flabbergasting that so many couples counselors think a marriage that isn’t monogamous—or one that has to become non-monogamous for both parties to remain happy in it—isn’t worth saving. The bias against non-monogamous relationships is so insidious that even people whose job it is to help couples that wanna stay together figure out how they can do that will urge couples to divorce, instead of exploring non-monogamy. Never mind suggesting non-monogamy to a couple that is clearly being failed by—not failing at— monogamy.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

Okay, now let’s talk about those threesomes… Your wife came out as a lesbian, SHRINKS, she didn’t come out as bisexual, so it doesn’t follow that you’re in line to have a bunch of threesomes. Even if your wife had come out as bisexual, SHRINKS, that doesn’t mean you hit the pussy lottery and you’re going to be having a lot of threesomes now. Or any threesomes. Maybe you and the wife discussed this, and she wants to have sex with you despite being a lesbian—maybe she’s willing and/or able to grandfather in your dick (grandmother in your dick?) and is looking forward to having threesomes with you and a girlfriend to be named later—but if you haven’t heard that from your wife’s mouth, SHRINKS, you might wanna tamp down those expectations. And if you haven’t heard that from your wife and you’ve been excitedly telling every couples counselor you see about all the threesomes you’re looking forward to having now that your wife is a dyke, SHRINKS, it’s possible that all those couples counselors urged you to get divorced because your wife was sitting next to you on the couch blinking out distress signals. 2. Open relationships can be awesome! They can also suck! If you’re happy and the wife’s happy and her future girlfriends and/or your thirds are happy, that’s awesome. But if you and/ or the wife are unhappy after opening the marriage up, SHRINKS, then you’ll either have to close it again or you’ll end up having to take the advice of all those shrinks and end it. I’m a 36-year-old woman from the UK who currently resides in the Middle East. I’ve been seeing a man my same age who is also from Western Europe. The relationship is rather new and we are still getting to know each other, but we have grown very close. However, he has only managed to come inside me once. He is a fit and healthy man who exercises regularly and does not have any underlying health conditions. So why does he lose his erection every other

time and have to finish himself off when he doesn’t? He said he doesn’t know why this keeps happening, but he thinks it might be because he is “too in his own head” to come when he’s inside me and often loses his erection because of it. I brought up the fact that we reside in the Middle East because, as an unmarried couple, it is impossible for us to seek professional help here. I have tried reassuring him and prolonging foreplay and we have an open dialogue over what we like sexually, all to no avail. Should I give it more time? Are there any toys we could use that would help? Should I advise him to seek professional help when he travels home for his holiday? I feel helpless when he gets more frustrated with every unsuccessful attempt. Having A Realistic Discussion On Needs This is going to sound weird, HARDON, but you need to watch some gay porn with your boyfriend. (If you can safely view it where you happen to be living right now.) In gay porn you’ll also see a lot of tops “finishing themselves off.” The top fucks the bottom for a while—sometimes for a long while— and then the top pulls out and strokes himself until he comes. Sometimes you’ll see tops pull out, give their dicks a few pumps, and shove back in. Right now your boyfriend he has it in his head that he’s disappointing you when he does what most guys in gay porn seem to enjoy doing—stroking themselves a little during sex, sometimes finishing themselves off at the end—and he’s got that in his head because you put it there, HARDON, or it was already there and you’ve been reinforcing it. Here’s how you can help: stop pathologizing the way his dick works. Tell him it’s fine: tell him the sex is still a success if he wants to stroke himself now and then during sex; tell him the sex is still a success if he wants to “finish himself off ” at the end like all the gay porn stars and many women do; and tell him it’s fine if he wants to bail on vaginal intercourse for whatever reason—including going

soft—and eat your pussy instead. Take the pressure off his dick and his dick is likelier to come through. After a decade of celibacy, I started a strictly sexual tryst with a much younger man. He is lovely. We both agreed on terms: no strings. This is the first time I’ve ever had sex with a relative stranger for such an extended period. It has been two months. This is also the first time I’ve been honest about what I wanted sexually. So, it’s a good thing. There is no possessive neediness, I have more freedom, etc. But because I have more time on my hands and a proclivity for fantasizing, I have started to resent the fact that we always follow his schedule. It’s understandable, as he works hard and shares custody with an ex, and is younger than I am. Intellectually, I know and accept that. I just need help reconciling myself to these limitations. I like the sex a lot. It’s what I want. Somehow This Resentment Is Not Good I think you need to ask yourself why you’re sabotaging a good thing here. There are limitations you’ve placed on this relationship (no strings, the sex you

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TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 17

want) for what I assume are emotional reasons, STRING, and there are limitations he’s placed on this relationship (not when he’s parenting, not what he’s working) for purely logistical reasons. If your decade of celibacy and your aversion to possessive neediness were reactions to negative experiences you had with past sexual partners—with men who were controlling or abusive—then you might be reacting to the limitations your fuck buddy needs to set as if he were attempting to control you, like past sex partners may have. In reality, of course, it’s not him who’s controlling you here, but circumstances beyond his control. When you feel resentful of him, STRING, go look in a mirror and say, “My reaction, while understandable given my history and potentially helpful, isn’t entirely rational in this instance, it isn’t fair to him, and I’m not going to let it cheat me out of sex I enjoy with someone I like.” Repeat as necessary. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

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Fall Arts 2021

“Evening Storm,” by Martha Saudek, 1995, oil on linen, is on display at the Tucson Museum of Art through Aug. 21, 2022.

The Arts are Back! Margaret Regan

Special to Tucson Local Media

s we move into our second pandemic autumn, the big news on the cultural calendar is that that nearly every arts enterprise is open. Galleries are swinging their doors wide, theaters are pulling up their curtains, and ballerinas are preparing to dance

once more. Some groups went back to business eons ago. The Tucson Museum of Art, for one, re-opened in the summer of 2020 and seems to have done well with timed tickets, limited entry, required masks and social distancing. Others opened up bit by bit. And, this spring, as millions got their shots and COVID waned, arts groups of all

sorts cheerfully planned for normal fall seasons. Now, of course, the nation – and Tucson – are struggling against the Delta variant, which has pushed the death toll to terrifying new heights. If you’re going out to shows, follow the venue’s COVID protocols and if you haven’t yet been vaccinated, consider getting your shot to protect yourself and others.

On the Cover: “Queen Mary,” photograph by Alanna Airitam, will be part of American Renaissance, opening Oct. 25 at Pima Community College’s Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery.

Fall Arts 2021

A Visual Feast: Museums and Galleries museum world, the UA has reopened two of its excellent museums. The Arizona State Museum and the Center for Creative Photography came out of their long moratoriums in late August, 18 months since the pandemic hit. The University of Arizona Museum of Art will follow suit, opening in late October. The opening show at the Arizona State Museum dazzles with the hues of the Mexican Saltillo sarape. The brilliant textiles in Wrapped in Color: Legacies of the Mexican Sarape are outright joyful. Woven in red, orange, black, yellow and white, the sarape shawl “expresses Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican hisART MUSEUMS tory, traditions and textile techniques.” Curated In happy news in the jointly by museum staff

and Zapotec textile artist Porfirio Gutiérrez, the show exhibits historic pieces as well as the work of a new generation of weavers like Gutiérrez. He created six new serapes for the show. Through July 2022. statemuseum. arizona.edu Also on view is Pahko’ora/Pahko’ola: Mayo and Yaqui Masks from the James S. Griffith Collection. The show began before the pandemic and has been extended so fans can still these marvelous Indigenous masks. While the U.S. rages over wearing fabric on the face, visitors will see how other cultures revere the mask and its power. And don’t miss the collection’s Indigenous clay pots and woven baskets from the U.S. southwest and northwest Mexico. Statemuseum.arizona.edu The Center for Creative Photography, a jewel in the campus crown, is a treasure trove of some 90,000 photographs. Now, after a long wait, the reopening show examines Journalism 20/20: A Think Tank for an Unimaginable Present. The exhibition occupies the CCP’s brand new Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery, a space that housed the photography library years ago. The new show is up through January 2022. An open house on Japan, Meiji Period, Pair of Vases with Brid Motif, ca. 1880, cloisonne on Satsuma Thurs., Sept. 23, with porcelain., on display in Place, Time, and Identity: Asian Art from the Permanent extended hours from noon to 7 p.m., promises Collection, continuing through Aug. 31, 2022, at the Tucson Museum of Art “pop-up installations, art Here are some tips for safely visiting galleries and museum. Call before you go. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Not all of the venues require masks, but wear yours. You don’t want to spread anything, right? Most of the arts spaces are not crowded. But if there’s a bottleneck in front of, say, an Olivier Mosset painting, step aside and return to the canvas when the coast is clear. And keep in mind that the pandemic could easily quash another season of the arts if the variants get even worse. Curators are already considering virtual alternatives in the event of more shutdowns. Virtual art, anyone?

A portrait of Frederick Douglass by Patrick Martinez, who has an exhibit at the Tucson Museum of Art.

making, food, music and more.” ccp.arizona.edu The University of Arizona Museum of Art will be closed for another two months, while a construction project in the School of Art finishes up. But when is does open on Oct. 24, it will host an enticing exhibition on the intersection of food and art. Borrowed entirely from the private collection

of Jorden D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, the show features 37 artists and 109 artworks from the 20th century to the present day. Look for Andy Warhol’s big yellow banana, native artist Neal Ambrose-Smiths’ critiques of Monsanto’s seed ownership and the gorgeous colors of Katherine Ace’s combos of lush fabric and food.

A community opening on Oct. 24 will feature poetry, music and—of course—food. Through March 22. Lectures will be held throughout the fall. Artmuseum.arizona.edu The Tucson Museum of Art’s big fall show, Olivier Mosset, runs Oct. 14 to Feb. 27. Mosset, Swiss-born and Tucson based, is known See Visual Arts, P6

Fall Arts 2021

Visual arts Continued from P4

internationally for his conceptual abstractions and large-scale shaped paintings. A second major exhibition, Patrick Martinez: Look What You Created, runs Nov. 4 to April 4. An LA artist, born in 1980, Martinez “uses mixed media works, neon signs and cake paintings to explore discrimination and loss in communities of color.” You can still catch 4x4, the great summer show that highlights four artists in four different cultural communities in Tucson. Don’t miss Willie Bonner’s color-drenched paintings that honor “what it means to be Black in America.” Through Sept. 26. tucsonmuseumofart.org Over at Moca-Tucson, the city’s longtime contemporary museum, Olivier Mosset has another show, The Things We Keep. The painter displays works from his art archive along with his books and ephemera. But hurry. The show ends soon, on Sept. 5. Moca’s Pia Camil: Three Works will also shut down soon, on Sept. 19. The Mexican artist has hung discarded T-shirts from the ceiling of the Great Hall to highlight the problems of out-of-control consumerism. Visitors are invited to donate their own worn clothes and get the chance to see them blowing in the breeze outside.

Mujeres Nourishing Fronterizx Bodies: Resistance in the Time of COVID-19 opens Sept. 18 in Moca’s small East Gallery and runs through January 30. Two women’s collectives, one in the U.S. and the other in Agua Prieta, Sonora, joined forces to “interrogate” the militarized border that separates them. With an emphasis on food insecurity, they cultivate communal gardens, raise livestock, make clothing and construct adobe building bricks. mocatucson.org The Tucson Desert Art Museum, on the East Side, took a break over the summer and plans to go back to work Sept. 18. Three shows that were still up in the spring have had their runs extended. The Dirty Thirties: New Deal Photography Frames the Migrants’ Stories is a riveting look at the impoverished Dust Bowl farming families who temporarily stopped to work in Arizona on their way to California. The show uses extraordinary photos by the likes of Dorothea Lang to illustrate the horrors they met in the Arizona cotton fields. All the Single Ladies: Women Pioneers of the American West is a refreshing look at the feisty unmarried women who found their own way on the frontier. Their lives as entrepreneurs, teachers, waiters and madams are remembered in news clips and photos. Buffalo Soldiers: The 10th

“La Belle et La Bete,” by Joel-Peter Witkin, is on display as part of Joel-Peter Witkin: Journeys of the Soul, opening Sept. 14 at Etherton Gallery, 341 S. Convent Ave.

Cavalry Regiment Told Through the Art of David Laughlin (1928 - 2020) also resurrects forgotten western denizens. The so-called Buffalo Soldiers were African Americans who served in the West after the Civil War. Their story is told in deft paintings, drawings and prints by Laughlin, who died last year. tucsondart.org GALLERIES Etherton Gallery has a host of things to celebrate this fall: a cool new gallery space in Barrio Viejo, a major retrospective exhibition of the revered photographer JoelPeter Witkin and the

40th anniversary of the gallery. Over those four decades, from his original digs on Fourth Ave., to the Odd Fellows Hall downtown and now in the Barrio, gallerist Terry Etherton has stayed in the urban core and helped the city revive. Now known internationally in the photo world, Etherton opens up his third chapter with the retrospective show JoelPeter Witkin: Journeys of the Soul. Witkin, a revered photographer now in his eighties, is known for his elaborate tableaux of people of all kinds, including the disabled and transexuals, the nude and the dressed, the living and the dead.

Fall Arts 2021

The new gallery is at 341 S. Convent Ave. Opening day is scheduled to be Sept. 14. Call before you go. 624-7370. The Witkin show opens with a reception on Sat., Sept. 18, 7 to 10 p.m. Witkin himself makes an appearance. The exhibition runs through Nov. 27. ethertongallery.com. On Sunday, Sept. 19th, at 2 p.m., the film Witkin & Witkin will be screened at The Loft Cinema. The film chronicles the lives the identical Witkin twins, photographer Joel-Peter and figurative painter Jerome. Etherton is not the only gallery that has decamped to Barrio Viejo. A second photography enterprise, Andrew

Smith Gallery, is setting up shop right next door to Etherton, perhaps fomenting an art explosion in the neighborhood. Smith moved from the Arts Warehouse district to a historic adobe at the corner of Convent and W. Simpson. The high end gallery trades in works of the 19th century West; the photos of renowned 20th century photogs like Laura Gilpin and Ansel Adams; and plenty of contemporary artists. andrewsmithgallery.com Philabaum Glass Gallery is just a few blocks to the southwest of what we can now call the new photography district. Alison Harvey, the longtime manager of the gallery, and her husband, Dylan Harvey, bought the

business last year. Like the former owners, glass artist Tom Philabaum and Dabney Philabaum, the young couple offers up glowing glass works made by more than 50 artists from around the country. They boast that the gallery is the only all-glass gallery in southern Arizona. Philabaumglass.com Up in the Arts Warehouse District around Sixth Ave. and Sixth St., some feisty small galleries are keeping art alive. If you visit, keep in mind that major roadwork there is ongoing. Untitled Gallery, an artist-run enterprise, was closed for the summer but will reopen Saturday Sept. 4, with a new show See Visual Arts, P8

Courtesy Photo

A painting by Jack Busby at Gallery 2 Sun.

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FALL ARTS 2021

Visual arts Continued from P7

that you can see from 4 to 9 p.m. The exhibition, Reflections, will highlight three new members as well as the galleries founding crew, Inna Rohr, Jessie Shinn, Momoko Okada and Nicola Marshall. Here’s a look at the newbies: Russell Recchion is an award-winning portrait painter who also takes on plein air landscapes. Katrina Lasko uses recycled materials, paint and plaster to make contemporary work that “often merges social, psychological and/or political observations.” Thaddeus Camp’s art is “heavily in“Butterfly Angel,” oil painting by Francisco Franklin, is on display at Jane fluenced by nature… as Hamilton Fine Arts.

either an overwhelming presence or an aching absence.” Untitledgallery tucson.com. Contreras Gallery opened up this summer after a long pandemic closure. Its first in-person show in a year and a half, Chicharra, is running through Sept. 25. The nine Tucson artists, all women, include Carolyn King and Neda Contreras. Michael Contreras also is showing, as always, his extraordary handmade silver and turquoise jewelry. Contrerashousefineart.com Athena A. Roesler, proprietor of Gallery 2 Sun, next door to Contreras on Sixth St., experimented opening the gallery earlier this year, but with little traffic shut down again when the

summer hit. But fans can still see her cache of artists, ranging from the likes of abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell to modernist Tucson artists like Howard Kline and Jack Busby. Roseler invites visitors to call for an appointment. 520-360-8074. gallery2sun.com Raices Taller Gallery has been closed to visitors since March 2020, and gallery operator John Saldado has become a master of virtual exhibitions. Next up is All Things Paper, running from Sept. 4 to Oct. 16, online at the gallery’s website. Dozens of artists will present works on paper, one of the world’s oldest and most versatile art materials, using it for drawings, paintings, prints, photos, sculp-

tures and mixed media. Saldado is hoping that by November, Covid 19 will be on the wane and he’ll be able to stage the annual Día de los Muertos in person. May the sprits make it so. Raicestaller222.com The arts at Pima College West have mostly been dark since Covid hit, but a recent press release from the community college trumpeted in big letters: Live Performances Are Back! Plays, music and dance will return to the stage, and visual art will take its place once again in the college’s respected Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery. Curator David Andres created some exSee VISUAL ARTS, P10

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Fall Arts 2021

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cellent virtual shows during the interlude, especially the one on the work of Allison Miller, but now he’s concocted a whole season of in-person exhibitions. First up is Egress -Works on Paper, coincidentally complementing Raices’s virtual paper show. The artists are three young London painters, Alice Browne, Anthony Banks and George Little, who have exhibited in the UK, Europe and the US. The show runs through Oct. 8. (It opens Sept. 1, before the article is published,) Courtesy Photo Reception 5 to 7 on Thurs. “Arizona Birder,” by Diane Ganski, mixed media, is part of Visionary Revisions, Sept 9. continuing through Nov. 7 at Tohono Chul Park.

Tucson photographers Alanna Airitam and Wayne Martin Belger, will show their international work in American Renaissance, opening Oct. 25. Airitam, an African American artist, creates portraits and still lives that reflect the black experience. Belger specializes in political documentation; he has covered the battle of Standing Rock, Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico, and refugee camps in Lesbos, Greece. A reception will be on Nov. 4, from 5 to 7; a lecture in the nearby CFA Recital Hall will be held Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. The show ends Dec. 10. Up in the Northwest, Tohono Chul is hosting Visionary Revisions, a show of local artists whose art,

is, well, visionary. Royce Davenport, formerly with the Tucson Weekly, Patrick Hynes, Ed Larson, Ralph Prata and the late Mary Bohan, all have the “spark of intuition.” Using reclaimed, repurposed and recycled materials, they make work reminiscent of outsider and folk art. Through Nov. 7. The annual Día de los Muertos exhibition, honoring the Mexican festival that remembers love ones who have passed, begins on Sept. 9. Manuel Fontes, an Arizona anthropologist and artist, this year joined the Tohono Chul’s curatorial team to select artworks for the show. Growing up with the holiday and celebrating it with family, he makes work focusing on the lifeways of the Hispanic

southwest. Besides Fontes, some 42 other artists contribute imaginative pieces inspired by the traditional altars, saints and sugar skulls. tohonochul.org Down in Nogales, AZ., at Hilltop Gallery, 730 Hilltop Dr., an exhibition of 12 artists from both sides of the border examine the tragedy of migrant deaths. Called Donde mueren los sueños/Where dreams die, the show will feature painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, mixed media and narrative poetry. It opens on Sunday, Sept. 12, from noon to 4 p.m. For the reception, Pablo Peregrina will perform music and song. Speakers include activist artist Alvaro Enciso, and authors Todd Miller and

FALL ARTS 2021

Margaret Regan (yours truly), who will read from their books. Organizer and artist Michele Maggiora reads poetry. Beverage and botanas provided. The show runs until Oct. 14, 12:30 to 430, Tues. to Sat. 520-287-5515. The long-running Jane Hamilton Fine Art venue in Plaza Colonial specializes in southwest, western and contemporary art. Hamilton has some 45 artists on her roster, and the space is always bursting with artworks. Right now, the gallery is featuring landscape paintings by Greg Heil. A reception on Sept. 25 from 4 to 7 will honor the work of a number of local artists. With the benefit of an outdoor space adjacent to the gallery, proprietor Hamilton

can extend the opening into outdoors. janehamiltonfineart.com Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery features “cowboy and western imagery by historical and contemporary artists.” Sublette has created a museum within the gallery housing a treasure trove of work by the late, great Maynard Dixon (1875-1946). Inside the museum, you can see 150 pieces of his art and ephemera. The gallery also deals in Native artists. Currently, among other pieces, Sublette has an extraordinary 1890’s Zuni Redware pot, and a cache of 1960s Navajo paintings. medicinemangallery.com Settlers West Fine American Art represents dozens of artists who make fine realist

and romantic paintings and sculptures of the old and new west. When you walk in the door, you’ll find the gallery filled with works picturing cowboys, native people, landscapes, animals and more. settlerswest.com Diane Madaras, owner of the eponymous Madaras Gallery, always displays her own brightly colored desert paintings. But she also shows are plenty of work by other artists. Tucson’s Chuck Albanese is showing his cool paintings of old trucks. “End of the Trail” pictures an old jalopy stuck in a lovely patch of pale green desert, below a lavender-tinted mountain and a big blue western sky. madaras.com

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FALL ARTS 2021

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Fall Arts 2021

Stepping Up: Dance companies are back on their feet Margaret Regan

Special to Tucson Local Media

e have fewer dance companies than before the pandemic, but Ballet Tucson, Tucson Regional Ballet and Dancing in the Streets all have shows planned this fall. Ballet Tucson reNEW Fall Concert October 22-24, Leo Rich Theater

Amazingly, after a year away from the stage, Ballet Tucson opens the new season with the beautiful and difficult Concerto

Barocco by the eminent Balanchine. Set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, the piece was originally to be performed in March 2020. But the troupe danced it only once before COVID shut it down. Now the dancers will perform the lovely 1948 work three times over the weekend. The concert includes three more dances. A Piece in P_I_E_C_E_S, choreographed by Kiyon C. Ross of Pacific Northwest Ballet, is a dynamic work for 10 dancers. Sleeping Beauty Grand Pas de Deux, choreographed after Petipa by Ballet Tucson’s assistant

director Chieko Imada, winners get a cash prize. is a classical pas de deux drawn from the third act The Nutcracker of The Sleeping Beauty. For December 23-26, the finale, Masquerade, a Tucson Music Hall light-hearted work by artistic director Mary Beth CaThe much-missed Nutbana and Imada, welcomes dance back to its rightful cracker makes a triumphal return to the stage, after place. a year when the beloved ballet went dark. Now fans Footprints at the Fox can delight once more in New Works Concert swirling snow, a magical Nov. 14 at the Fox tree and a young girl who This fun annual show journeys to the Kingdom gives the young dancers of of Sweets, not to mention the company the chance the Tchaikovsky score and to choreograph their own the dancers performing the original work—and have gorgeous classical ballet. their colleagues dance it. Ballet Tucson Audience members vote Continued on P14 for their favorite pieces and

Photo by Ed Flores

Fall Arts 2021

Photo by Ed Flores

Jared Kelly with Ballet Tucson

Dance

Continued from P13

Tucson Regional Ballet A Southwest Nutcracker Dec. 4-5, Music Hall A local favorite is coming back to the stage this year. Set in 19th century Tucson, the charming Southwest Nutcracker has coyotes taking the place of mice, a family rancho

instead of a city house, and a Zorro replacing Drosselmeyer. The Tucson Symphony will play Tchaikovsky’s music live. The dancers range from little kids to advanced teenagers, and guest pros handle many of the top roles. Dancing in the Streets The Nutcracker Leo Rich, Dec. 2021, date to come

The popular school and performing group in South Tucson brings ballet to many kids for the first time. The troupe’s Nutcracker is blessed each year by live music courtesy of the Civic Orchestra of Tucson. The company is mostly made up of teens and children; guest artists will perform the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier.

Fall Arts 2021

Acting Up: The post-pandemic curtain rises Emily Dieckman

Special to Tucson Local Media

hh, there’s really nothing like a live theater show, is there? If you’re a theater fan who’s been itching to watch a curtain go up and transport you to another world, then to feel all blissed out and grateful for artists in general for several hours afterward, then get excited! The Tucson theater community is delivering this year. This by-no-means-exhaustive list of fall shows is a good place to start, whether you’re looking for a way to

spend a couple of nights out this fall or hoping to fill every weekend with live theater. Arizona Theatre Company ATC shows are performed in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend. ATC is starting off this season with a musical! This story is about what happens when a Broadway actress in her twenties crosses paths with a classically-minded man in his eighties. Hint: It is charming. And it’s also based on

the true story of Broadway performer Charissa Bertels (who also stars in this production)! Winner of the Kleban award for best new libretto, this show is an absolute pleasure. Previews are Sept.25 to Sept. 30, and the show runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16. Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly. FINALLY. A sequel to Pride and Prejudice, and for the stage, no less! Truly a perfect gift for the holiday season, this show picks up two years after the close of the book. When the family gets together for Christmas at Pemberly, Mary Bennet, who is still unmarried and

After much delay, Hamilton is set to premiere at Broadway in Tucson on Nov. 17

Courtesy Photo

kind of sick of being the Nov. 6 through Dec. 4. goody-two-shoes middle Babel. Did someone say sister, connects with an Scoundrel and Scamp dark sci-fi comedy starunexpected guest. This Scoundrel and Scamp ring a man-sized stork show is full of energy, wit is located at the Historic Y, with a cigar? Sign us up. and enchantment. Runs 738 N. Fifth Ave. See Theatre, P18

Fall Arts 2021

Theatre Continued from P16

This play by Jacqueline Goldfinger, set in the near future, is the winner of the 2018 Generations Award and the 2017 Smith Prize for Political Theatre. And it’s absolutely fascinating, telling the story of the lengths two couples go to in order to get pregnant and raising questions about eugenics, the social value of a child and the risks people are willing to take for love. Sept. 16 through Oct. 3. Mary’s Wedding. The night before her wedding in 1914, Mary has a dream about a thunderstorm, and about meeting Charlie, a man taking

Fall Arts 2021

shelter in a barn with his horse. They fall in love, but the world around them is erupting into war. Epic, hopeful and romantic, this show won the Alberta Literary Award for Drama in 2003, the Alberta Playwrighting Competition 2000, and the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Play in 2002. Showing Oct. 21 through Nov. 7. A Sonoran Desert Carol. So, we’re all a little bit tired of the classic rendition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, right? This one will redeem your weary theatergoing eyes! Adapted by the Scoundrel and Scamp’s associate artistic director Claire Marie Mannle, this rendition has a borderlands twist, complete with Mexican

hot cocoa! Settle in for a night of delightful physical theater with this show. Shows Dec. 9 through Dec. 19. Broadway in Tucson Hamilton. You might not have heard of this li’l ol’ play, written by an obscure playwright, but it’s worth at least giving a hopeful artist a chance, right? Just kidding, of course. Hamilton is only one of the most popular pieces of media to come out in the last 10 years or so. So it’s really exciting that, after being delayed by COVID-19, this show is finally coming to Tucson! It’s won a million awards, it’s about Alexander Hamilton, you probably already know the

*Entrance to the exhibit is included in museum admission or memberships.

entire plot, so we’ll just leave it at that. Plays Nov. 17 through Dec. 5 (but get your tickets ASAP!) Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. The Gaslight Theatre The Gaslight Theatre is located at 7010 E. Broadway Blvd. Frankenstein. Frankenstein is one of those shows the Gaslight likes to bring back every few years, because it’s just that fun. The silliness and excitement of the Halloween season, sprinkled with just a little bit of spookiness, sets the mood perfectly for a trip to the Gaslight. Come scream and laugh your way through this show. Showing Sept. 2 through Nov. 7.

Elf’d. This hilarious parody of a holiday movie with a remarkably similar name is sure to get you in the holiday spirit. Join

Dudley the Elf as he journeys from the North Pole all the way to New York City in search of some Christmas spirit—which,

Fall Arts 2021

as we all know, makes the world go ’round. Runs Nov. 17 through Jan. 1, so if you’re the kind of person who likes to make Christmas last into the following year, the Gaslight has got you covered. Invisible Theatre The Invisible Theatre is located at 1400 N. First Ave. Looped! If you haven’t heard of Tallulah Bankhead, the Hollywood Golden Age actress, you’re in for a treat with this show. If you have heard of her, it just might be because you heard the story about how it once took her EIGHT HOURS to record a single line of dialogue. The whole show, which had a Broadway run in

2010, is based around this scene, and around Bankhead’s enormous personality. You’ll be cracking up at this portrayal of an infamous Hollywood incident. Showing Sept. 15 to Sept. 26. 50th Anniversary Retro-Spectacular Cabaret. The Invisible Theatre is celebrating 50 years this year! Come party with them at this show, featuring some of your favorite stars from over the years, from Randy “Cher” Roberts and Richard Glazier to Crystal Stark, Samantha Cormier and Will Clipman. Directed by Betsy Kruse Craig, the show runs only on Oct. 30-31, at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.

Pima Arts (Pima Community College) Little Shop of Horrors. Did you know that Alan Menken did the music for this beautifully bizarre show, featuring a human-eating plant, an evil dentist and some totally sick harmonizing? I mean, Alan Menken did the scores for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled. The range! In the Pima Theatre adaptation, Arts Division Dean Steven James Higginbotham is making his directorial debut and telling the story to the lens of a 1960s comic book. You’ll be singing, laughing, and screaming in terror along throughout this show

about Seymour, Audrey and the bloodthirsty Audrey II. Showing Nov. 11 to Nov. 21. Elf Elegies: Essential Workers of the North Pole. The pandemic had us all thinking a lot about the people who keep our world running. Like, the people who stock grocery stores. What would we do without them? Retail workers? Maintenance people? Holding this place together! One group we might not have thought of were Santa’s elves. This show, written and performed by PCC students, tells the story of the North Pole elves who actually DON’T specialize in making toys. Come see a holiday show told through the eyes of an essential elf. Dec. 4-5. Free, but

donations accepted! Live Theatre Workshop Live Theatre Workshop is located at 3322 E. Fort Lowell Road. Bloomsday. This sweet, extremely Irish story tells the story of Robbie and Caithleen, who fell in love many years ago during a James Joyce literary tour in Dublin. (Told you it was extremely Irish). When they reunite after 35 years apart, they travel back in time to relive the unlikely, unstoppable events that brought them together. This show is by Steven Dietz, one of America’s most prolific playwrights. Showing Thursdays through Sundays from Sept. 2 to Oct. 9

Southern Arizona Performing Arts Company Nunsense. This hilarious show is about the misadventures of five nuns— Sister Leo, Sister Robert Anne, Sister Mary Amnesia, Mother Superior Sister Regina, and Mary Hubert. Tragically, it is the story of ONLY five nuns, because the rest of the sisterhood died after eating poisoned vichyssoise prepared by Sister Julia Child of God. And so, they are left to stage a talent show to raise the money needed to bury the dearly departed. This show runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 3 at Desert View High School, 4101 E. Valencia Road.

BISBEE is FALL ARTS 2021

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