Pic Hits for the week

thursday
september 12
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men: Former Blaster and X man Alvin and his Guilty collective have been on a trip that's spanned three years and the majority of America's highways. The journey is reflected in the band's new HighTone release, Interstate City, a paean to the road, to rock and to the smoky pit stops where the two collide. Interstate was recorded live at one of those places, the Continental Club in Austin, Texas. The disc kicks off with the wonderful "So Long, Baby, Goodbye"; now, Alvin's a fine guitarist, but he's no singer, which makes his surprisingly effective vocal on the track all the sweeter. The album also includes covers of Tom Russell's "Out in California" and Jim Ringer's "Waiting for the Hard Times to Go" and a medley of Alvin's "Jubilee Train," Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" and Chuck Berry's "Promised Land." Dave and the Guilty Men perform on Thursday, September 12, at the Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School. Flathead opens at 9 p.m. The cover is $9. Call 265-4842.

"In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms": Photographer Adrienne Salinger, an associate professor at Syracuse University, opens the new "ARTiculations" lecture series at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street, with "Teen Dreams," billed as a grown-up "insider's look at the ambiguous world of children." The program starts at 8 p.m. Thursday, September 12, and is followed by a reception; tickets are $7, available at the center and Ticketmaster (784-4444). The event provides a preview of the opening of Salinger's exhibit "In My Room" on Friday, September 13. Based on the book of the same name, which was based on Salinger's seven years of hanging out with teens in their typically grungy sanctum sanctorums and at malls and gyms, the candid, sometimes disturbing installation continues through Sunday, December 1, in the Mezzanine Gallery. Viewing is free; regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays (to 8 p.m. Thursdays), noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. For details about the related, though diametrical, exhibit "I Can Fly," see "Young at Art" in Kid Pics. For general information, call 994-2787.

Guv: The Emperor Strikes Back: Guv: The Musical, the Star Wars: A New Hope of Arizona musiopolitical revues and one of the Valley's biggest hits of the early '90s, has given way to this sequel by the original Guv collaborators: Candice St. Jacques Miles (book/lyrics), Bruce Miles (executive producer) and Ben Tyler (director). The main target of the team's melodic barbs remains our fair-haired and now federally indicted governor, J. Fife Symington III, but the rest of the state's loony-tunes political/crime-fightin' crew gets plenty of satirical scraps. As Bruce Miles says, "What rhymes with 'Arpaio'?" This week's performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday, September 12; 8 p.m. Friday, September 13; 8 p.m. Saturday, September 14; 2 p.m. Sunday, September 15; 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 17; and 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 18, at the Scottsdale Playhouse, 7219 East Main. The Theatre League production continues through Sunday, November 10. Tickets are $20 and $22.50, available at Dillard's. Call 952-2881 or 678-2222.

"Strange Rencounters": Arizona State University theatre professor Bill Akins joined forces with stage designer Douglas-Scott Goheen and artist Steve Gompf for this interactive exhibit about the "death force and our comic rage against it." (P.S. The trio's preferred definition of the little-used word "rencounters" is "a hostile meeting.") The exhibit continues through Saturday, October 26, in the Experimental Gallery at ASU Art Museum at Matthews Center, located at the intersection of Cady and Tyler malls on the ASU campus in Tempe. Viewing is free; hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call 965-2787.

friday
september 13
The Tempest: Planet Earth Multi-Cultural Theatre, 909 North Third Street, has opened its season with Shakespeare's storm-lashed drama about magic and revenge. This week's performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, September 13; 8 p.m. Saturday, September 14; and 3 p.m. Sunday, September 15. The production continues through Saturday, October 5. Tickets are $9, $7 for students and seniors, $2 less on Sundays. For reservations and details, call 241-1828.

David Kranes: The director of creative writing at the University of Utah is also a playwright and the author of a dozen books, including the new Low Tide in the Desert: Nevada Stories. Kranes reads from and signs copies of the work from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 13, at Books, etc. . . , 901 South Mill in Tempe. Admission is free. Call 967-1111.

Guv: The Emperor Strikes Back: See Thursday.
"In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms": See Thursday.
"Strange Rencounters": See Thursday.

saturday
september 14
AirZONa '96 featuring the Spin Doctors, dada, Marry Me Jane, Bang featuring Dave Wakeling, and Mysteries of Life: Rock critic Chuck Eddy went way out on a limb in the September '96 issue of Request, mentioning this year's AirZONa headliner, the "propulsive" Spin Doctors, in the same breath as Bob Dylan, comparing the Doctors' tune "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" to Dylan's "Positively 4th Street" and opining that "frat boys have always had better taste than they're given credit for." Well, Eddy's right about one thing: The Docs are pretty propulsive. The show, sponsored by KZON-FM 101.5, starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, September 14, at Desert Sky Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd Avenue. Tickets are $15, available at Ticketmaster. For details call 254-7599 or 784-4444.