november 9
Bob Dylan: The living legend, who was mumbling brilliantly while R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe was still in knickers, performs on Thursday at Symphony Hall, 225 East Adams; see Coda on page 106. Ian Moore Band shares the bill. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $26.50 and $30.50, available at the scene and Dillard's. More information: 262-7272 or 678-2222.
Pam Houston: The Oakland, California-based author's resume includes stints as a hunting guide, a creative-writing instructor, a horse trainer, a bartender, a ski instructor and ahighway-crew flagperson. She reads from and signs copies of her fine short-story collection, Cowboys Are My Weakness, at 8 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at Phoenix College, 1202 West Thomas. Admission is $5, $3 for students, seniors and those with limited incomes. For details call 922-5467.
Southern Culture on the Skids: SCOTS is a great name for a pretty good band from the Carolina sticks that plays ... well, let guitarist/vocalist Rick Miller sum it up: "Ours is a sound that reeks of swamp gas and watermelon seeds. Of amphetamine-crazed long-haulers and cicadas in heat. Of three-dollar thrift-store shoes and fresh-outta-the-oven biscuits." Touring in support of its new DGC album, Dirt Track Date, the trio performs on Thursday at the Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School. Flathead opens at 9p.m. Cover is $6. Call 265-4842.
friday
november 10
Billy Taylor Trio: Pianist Taylor has shared the stage with Dizzy Gillespie, Stuff Smith and Eddie South, but he's probably best known as a broadcaster. Taylor's a longtime correspondent for CBS-TV's Sunday Morning and host of National Public Radio's weekly Jazz at the Kennedy Center show. Taylor and his cohorts, bassist Charles "Chip" Jackson and drummer Steve Johns, perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Symphony Hall, 225East Adams. The program includes Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" and "Lush Life" and Gershwin's "The Man I Love." Tickets range from $12 to $36, available at the symphony box office and Dillard's. Call 264-6363.
Ruff and Tumble: Desert Hills Cluster All-Breed Dog Show and Sahuaro State Kennel Club's Harvest of Champions: The best breeds in the world are put through their paces in these canine competitions sanctioned by the American Kennel Club. The DHC show is slated for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at WestWorld, 16601 North Pima Road in Scottsdale. Admission is free; call 948-9002. The SSKC pup-off is scheduled for 7a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday in exhibit halls C through E at Phoenix Civic Plaza, Second Street and Adams. It includes the 1995 ALPO National Grand Championship Finals and a performance by the Friskies ALPO Canine Frisbee Disc Demonstration Team. Admission is $5, free for kids under 12; call 262-7272 or 263-0575.
Jodeci, and Mary J. Blige: The brother act and the soul sister co-headline one of the most promising urban-contemporary bills in recent memory on Friday at America West Arena, First Street and Jefferson; see the review of Jodeci's The Show, the After Party, theHotel on page 102. Sharing the marquee: the Notorious B.I.G., Bad Boy Family, Faith, Total, Craig Mack, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Puff Daddy, Naughty by Nature, Luniz, and Adina Howard. Showtime is 7 p.m. Tickets are $30, available at the arena and Dillard's. Call 379-7800 or 678-2222.
Phoenix Roadrunners: Arizona's International Hockey Leaguers host the Atlanta Knights on Friday, the Chicago Wolves on Saturday and the Las Vegas Thunder on Wednesday at Veterans' Memorial Coliseum, 19th Avenue and McDowell; all of the games start at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the Coliseum and Ticketmaster. Call 340-0001 or 784-4444.
saturday
november 11
Rita Dove: The Pulitzer Prize winner and poet laureate of the U.S. speaks on "Poetry in the Modern World" at 8p.m. Saturday atRadisson Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, 60 East Fifth Street, as part of Arizona Humanities Council's Arizona Humanities Day celebration. Dove autographs copies of her works after the lecture. A nohost bar precedes at 5:30, and dinner follows that at6:30. Tickets are $10 for the lecture only, $50for the package deal. Call 257-0335.
"Sheep to Shawl" Guild Wool Festival and Sheep Drive: Heard Museum hosts this celebration of wool and weaving in conjunction with the opening of "Classics and Dazzlers: Textiles From the Fred Harvey Company Collection" (see Art Exhibits listing). The festivities kick off with a sheep drive at 10 a.m. Saturday. The drive--a rare sight in modern Phoenix, though fairly common in the past--begins at the intersection of Central Avenue and Palm Lane, proceeding north on Central to Scott L. Libby Jr. Amphitheater on the Heard grounds, 22 East Monte Vista. The free, outdoor festival continues until 4:30 p.m. Saturday, resuming from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday; along with Navajo Churro sheep, it includes goats, llamas and lambs, shearing and weaving seminars, herding demonstrations by sheep dogs, crafts, lectures and Native American, Mexican and Basque cuisine. Regular admission prices are in effect at the museum proper. Call 252-8840.
Jurys Irish Cabaret: The house act at Dublin's Jurys Hotel makes its first stop in the Valley in more than a decade. The group performs its traditional blend of singing, dancing and sentimental humor at 8 p.m. Saturday at Gammage Auditorium, Mill and Apache inTempe, and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Sundome, 19403 R.H. Johnson Boulevard in SunCity West. Tickets range from $7 to $22, available at Gammage, Sundome and Dillard's. Call 965-3434, 975-1900 or 678-2222.
Halley's Comet: John Amos' roles have ranged from Jimmie "J.J." Walker's dad in the Seventies sitcom Good Times to Kunta Kinte inRoots to Sir Toby Belch in Joseph Papp's production of Twelfth Night. His latest project is this one-man show, a short oral history of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of an 87-year-old man who witnesses the return of the title heavenly body for the second time. Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7p.m. Sunday at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street. Tickets are $20 and $24, available at the center and Ticketmaster. Call 994-2787 or 784-4444.
Beers and Waters of the World Festival: At this ninth annual fund raiser, participants fill their souvenir mugs with brews from around the world to benefit Sun Sounds Radio Reading Service, which broadcasts to those unable to read. The fest's slated for 6 to 9p.m. Saturday at Arizona Historical Society Museum, 1300 North College in Tempe. Jazz musician Sherry Roberson provides live entertainment. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. For details call 231-0500.
sunday
november 12
New Times Phoenix 10K: The 20th annual running of the newsprint classic begins with warm-up activities at 7:15a.m. Sunday at Margaret T. Hance Deck Park, Third Avenue and McDowell. The new Kids' Dash starts at 7:45, followed by a 5K run and 5K Corporate Challenge at 8, 5K Fitness Walk at 8:05, 5KStroller Stroll at 8:07, Wheelchair Athletes' 10K at 8:43, Citizens' 10K at 8:45 and Invited Athletes' 10K at 9:45; two waves of in-line skaters hit the streets at 10:20 and 10:22. For details about this year's prerace pasta party, see Events listing. For general information, call 238-4801.
Sergio Mendes and Brazil '95: The South American equivalent of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Mendes' Brazil '66 brought a world beat to American pop in the Sixties. The bossa nova baby and his '95-model boys from Brazil perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at Gammage Auditorium, Mill and Apache inTempe, continuing the venue's South NoBorders series. Tickets are $19, $23 and $27, available at Gammage and Dillard's. Call 965-3434 or 678-2222.
Phoenix Suns: Charles Barkley and company host the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. Sunday and the Denver Nuggets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at America West Arena, First Street and Jefferson. If tickets are available, they're at the arena and Dillard's. For details call 379-7867, 379-7800 or 678-2222.
Phoenix R&B Tribute Featuring Ray Sharpe: Phoenix Blues Society salutes the Valley soul, blues and R&B musicians of the Fifties and Sixties in this show, which starts at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School. Fort Worth, Texas, guitarist Sharpe, who recorded "Linda Lu" at Phoenix's Audio Recorders in '58, headlines a bill that includes Roosevelt Nettles, Duke Draper, Big Pete Pearson, Ronnie Whitehead, Maxine Johnson, Small Paul Hamilton, Al Casey, Delmar Stewart, Lucius Parr, Henry "Mojo" Thompson, Bobby Soul, Emerson "Sleepy" Carrethers, and the LaChords. Cover is $6. Call 265-4842 or 252-0599.
Arizona Cardinals: Buddy Ryan's birds host the Minnesota Vikings at 2 p.m. Sunday at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Tickets are $29, $39 and $54, available at Dillard's. For details call 379-0102 or 678-2222.
monday
november 13
Sonic Youth: Guitarist Thurston Moore, bassist Kim Gordon and their New York noise crew play allthe antihits--"Expressway to YrSkull," "Teen Age Riot," "Kool Thing"--and new ones from their DGC release Washing Machine on Monday in a relocated show at Electric Ballroom, 1216 East Apache in Tempe. Tucson's DooRag, which uses old washing-machine parts and similar detritus to make noise of another kind, shares the bill. For showtime, tickets and other information, call 894-0707.
tuesday
november 14
Wanda Jackson, and Rosie Flores: She-rockabilly Jackson is a welcome blast from the past; her first solo hit, 1960's "Let's Have a Party," came thanks to Elvis Presley, who suggested that she mate a rock beat to her Oklahoma twang. L.A.-based, San Antonio-born Flores is Jackson's Nineties equivalent. The two collaborated on the songs "His Rockin' Little Angel" and "Rock Your Baby," both of which are included on Flores' latest HighTone album, Rockabilly Filly. The singers join forces again on Tuesday at the Rockin' Horse, 7000 East Indian School in Scottsdale. Russell Scott and the Red Hots share the bill. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 the day of the show, available at the scene and Ticketmaster. For details call 949-0992 or 784-4444.
Damn Yankees: Jerry Lewis made his Broadway debut as Mr. Applegate (a.k.a. the Devil) in the revival of the mid-Fifties musical, based on Douglas Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, and he anchors the touring version, which comes to Gammage Auditorium, Mill and Apache in Tempe, for performances at 8 p.m. Tuesday through November 17, 2 and 8 p.m. November 18 and 2and 7 p.m. November 19. Tickets range from $28 to $42, available at Gammage and Dillard's. Call 965-3434 or 678-2222.
Everything but the Girl: The English haute-jazz duo, consisting of vocalist Tracey Thorn andguitarist Ben Watt, sold out its local premiere last year at Valley Art Theatre in a flash, so hump to it. While their material hasbeen somewhat erratic, Thorn and Watt have developed a signature sound, and they've come within a heartbeat of brilliance on a couple of memorable occasions. American Music Club's Mark Eitzel, performing a solo set, opens at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Red River Opry, Mill and Washington in Tempe. Tickets are $17.25 in advance, $19.25 the day of the show, available at the scene and Dillard's. For details call 829-6779 or 678-2222.
wednesday
november 15
Stormchasers: Lugging 70mm, high-definition IMAX cameras out on thefront lines in search of severe weather phenomena, the title characters in this new film have delivered some of the grandest, scariest storm footage imaginable. Highlights include a trip into the eerie calm of a hurricane's eye wall and a turbulent game of tag with an oncoming killer tornado--all on the six-story-high screen at IMAX Theatre, Civic Center Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale. The 38-minute film, directed by Greg MacGillivray, opens Wednesday and plays daily at noon, 2 and 4 p.m., through March 12, 1996. The Secret of Life on Earth screens at 1 and 3p.m. daily, and double features of the unrated movies are scheduled at 7 and 9 nightly. Tickets range from $4.50 to $8.50. For details call 945-4629 or 949-3105.
Cage Heat: Sun Devils and Hoop Dreams: Bill Frieder's Arizona State University roundballers take the court for the first time this season at 7 p.m. Wednesday in an exhibition match against New City Sports Federation. The scene is ASU Activity Center in Tempe. For details call 965-3434. Meanwhile, back at the ranch house, PBS hosts the national broadcast debut of Hoop Dreams on Wednesday. The film by Steve James, Fred Marx and Peter Gilbert, which got the shaft last year from those documentary doofuses at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, airs at 7 p.m. on KAET-TV, Channel 8. The three-hour show repeats at 10:30 p.m.
