Calendar for the week

thursday
march 27
"It's Only Rock and Roll: Rock and Roll Currents in Contemporary Art": David Rubin, Phoenix Art Museum's curator of 20th-century art, organized this exhibit, billed as an exploration of "rock as a social force in [contemporary] art" and including pieces by Annie Leibovitz, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, William Wegman, Laurie Anderson and others; see the review on page 63. The installation continues through Sunday, June 15, in the Steele Gallery at PAM, 1625 North Central. Rubin hosts gallery talks, titled "'It's Only Rock and Roll': An Exhibition Overview," at 12:15 and 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27. (A related film festival begins Friday, March 28; see the Film listing.) Viewing hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays (to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays). "Rock and Roll" admission: $5, $4 for seniors, $2 for students and children age 6 and up, free for younger kids and members; entry is free to all from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays. For details call 257-1880 or 257-1222.

Cactus League Baseball: The boys of spring wrap up this year's slate of preseason games on Thursday, March 27; and Friday, March 28. On Thursday, the San Francisco Giants host the Milwaukee Brewers at noon at Scottsdale Stadium, 7408 East Osborn; the Seattle Mariners play the San Diego Padres at 1:05 p.m. at Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 North 83rd Avenue; and the Colorado Rockies host the Chicago Cubs at 1:05 p.m. at Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, 3400 East Camino Campestre. Friday's miniseason swan song features the Rockies versus the Cubs at noon at HoHoKam Park, 1235 North Center in Mesa. For ticket info, call 784-4444 (Ticketmaster), 503-5555 (Dillard's) or 1-800-388-7625 (the Rockies).

Elizabeth Streb and Streb/Ringside: The choreographer and her ensemble practice a muscular, circus-acrobatics-inspired form of movement, and they've displayed it in unorthodox locales like Coney Island's boardwalk and at a squash match at New York's Wintergarden. Streb terms the group's oeuvre "pop action," and describes it as "an attempt to expose movement's true nature by harnessing it, without debilitating it, within a confined space." She continues the "ARTiculations: Evenings With Contemporary Artists" series at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street, at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, with a presentation titled "Ready, Set, Pop Action!"; a reception follows. Streb/Ringside is scheduled to perform at the center at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28; and the same time Saturday, March 29. Tickets are $7 for the "ARTiculations" program, $22 and $26 for the concerts, available at the scene and Ticketmaster; call 994-2787 or 784-4444.

Arthur Caplan: The self-termed "hands-on philosopher" and director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics presents the fifth annual Marshall Lecture, a timely address about cloning and other scientific gray areas, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, at Arizona State University Music Theatre, Mill and Gammage Parkway in Tempe. Admission is free, but tickets must be picked up in advance; call 727-6186.

friday
march 28
The Illusion: Tony Kushner penned the near-great, Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America, and the playwright loosely adapted this update of L'Illusion Comique by 17th-century French scribe Pierre Corneille. The tragicomedy centers on a father's search for his estranged son and, on a metaphorical level, the meaning of love--a quest that leads to the mountain lair of a sorcerer named Alcandre. Arizona Theatre Company continues its 30th-anniversary season with the work. The run opens with a preview at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, in Center Stage at Herberger Theater Center, 222 East Monroe. The press opening is at the same time Saturday, March 29. The rest of this week's performances are at 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 30; and 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 2. A discussion follows Sunday's matinee; Wednesday's show is "audio described" for the visually impaired. The production continues through Sunday, April 13. Tickets range from $19 to $32, available at Herberger and Dillard's; call 252-8497 or 503-5555.

This Is Spinal Tap: Director Rob Reiner's 1984 parody of the rockumentary is one of the more memorable--some would say one of the best--movies of the last 15 years. Spinal Tap features Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest (the latter who's currently starring in his own parody, a swipe at amateur theater titled Waiting for Guffman) as three-quarters of the title quartet, a British band whose drummers keep meeting with violent accidents. The R-rated movie screens at 7 p.m. Friday, March 28, in Room 3 at Mesa Arts Center, 155 North Center, continuing the MAC Movies 3 series. Admission is a donation of $2. Call 644-2242.

Cactus League Baseball: See Thursday.
"It's Only Rock and Roll": See Thursday.
Elizabeth Streb and Streb/Ringside: See Thursday.

saturday
march 29
RatDog: The San Francisco blues/rock band includes Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, bassist and studio sideman supreme Rob Wasserman and the great boogie-woogie piano man Johnnie Johnson, who scorched the keys on most of Chuck Berry's classic sides (Berry purportedly dedicated "Johnny B. Goode" to Johnson). Bay Area acoustician Susan James opens. Showtime is 7 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Hayden Square Amphitheatre, Fourth Street and Mill in Tempe. Tickets are $21 in advance, $22 the day of the show, available at Dillard's; call 503-5555.

Pro Beach Volleyball Tour: Sand kings Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh are scheduled to play at this stop on the two-man tour, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 29; and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at a site at the intersection of Rural Road and Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe. Tickets are available at Dillard's; call 503-5555.