june 4
Touring in a VW van in the company of her cat, Tosca, Seattle-based thrush Jill Cohn plays two free shows this week in the Valley. Supported by her delicate piano playing, Cohn's Lilith Fair-bait voice--soft yet rich and soulful--is a great vehicle for the self-composed laments of emotional turbulence and longing on her new Matrix CD Songs From the Blue Bus. She performs at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at Java Road, 11 East Seventh Street in Tempe; and again at 8 p.m. Friday, June 5, at Borders Books & Music at 7320 West Bell in Glendale. 829-3797 (Java Road), 487-9110 (Borders).
Of Edward Albee's two undisputedly classic plays, one is The Zoo Story. Arizona Performing Arts presents the other, his hard-edged domestic tragicomedy Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which received its New York premiere in 1962. It's a complex verbal sparring match between middle-aged married couple George and Martha, witnessed by the younger couple Nick and Honey. The twisted head games they play on each other throughout the evening slowly reveal the sad secret at the heart of their relationship. This production stars Alan and Marney Austin as George and Martha--they previously played the roles at the Drama Center in Singapore. Larry Krask plays Nick, and Marcia Ashenfelter plays Honey. The play opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, and continues at the same time Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6. Tickets are $15, $10 for students and seniors and for the Thursday-night (preview) show. The run continues through Saturday, June 13. On the Spot Theater, 4700 North Central. 844-8520.
friday
june 5
Governor Jane Hull invites the men of Arizona to bend over! The Gov issues a proclamation declaring June Prostate Cancer Awareness Month here in Arizona, with a signing ceremony at 9:15 a.m. Friday, June 5, at the Arizona State Capitol building, 17th Avenue and Washington. Prostate-oriented screenings, lectures and--no joke--luncheons are scheduled throughout June in the Valley, Flagstaff and Tucson. 488-4446.
"In olden days a glimpse of stocking/Was looked on as something shocking. . . ." Yes, and in olden days the wonderful Cole Porter musical Anything Goes might have been considered just a tad risque for a kids' theater. But now, Heaven knows, it's perfectly acceptable fare for a Teen Broadway Production by Greasepaint Scottsdale Youtheatre. What the heck, maybe next they'll do a teen production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. We can hope. Anything Goes opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 5; and continues at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6; and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 7. Tickets are $8, $6 for students and seniors. The run continues through Sunday, June 14. Stagebrush Theater, 7020 East Second Street in Scottsdale. 990-7646.
Two events wrap up this year's Mainly Mozart Festival, the 13th annual tribute to the great Salzburger. "Mozart and the Theater," a talk on the subject of the composer as a specifically theatrical artist, begins at 8 p.m. Friday, June 5, at Kiva Hall on the Arizona State University West campus, 4701 West Thunderbird. Pianist and "Keyboard Conversations" star Jeffrey Siegel leads the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra in a concert called "Mozart Goes to the Movies" at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at La Sala, located in the University Center Building on the ASU West campus. The bill includes Mozart selections familiar from such films as Elvira Madigan and, of course, Amadeus, as well as overtures from operas that have been made into movies: Don Giovanni (filmed in 1979 by Joseph Losey), The Magic Flute (filmed by Ingmar Bergman in 1974) and The Marriage of Figaro (seen in Amadeus). Tickets for the lecture are $5; for the concert, they're $20 and $23. 543-6064, 503-5555.
saturday
june 6
Art you can sit on--that's the theme of Chairity, a fund raiser held at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Vision Gallery, 80 South San Marcos Place in Chandler. Twenty-five area artists have fashioned chairs into works of art by embellishing them with painting, sculpture, printing or collage. These works will be auctioned off at the event, with proceeds benefiting the gallery. Also on display that evening is "Makin Furniture," featuring unique works of functional art by Arizona Artisan Furniture. Other planned festivities include live steel drum music, a buffet and door prizes. Tickets are $25 per person, $40 per couple. 917-6859.
More functional art: The saddlebag as objet is the subject of a demonstration by San Carlos artisan Ken Duncan, who fashions Apache saddlebags before your eyes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 6; and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at the Heard Museum, 22 East Monte Vista. It's free with regular museum admission. 252-8840.
sunday
june 7
The Arizona Open, proudly plugging itself as "Arizona's 2nd Oldest Professional Golf Tournament" (isn't that a Maxwell Smart line?) takes to the links from Sunday, June 7, through Friday, June 12, at two Scottsdale clubs: Legend Trail, 9462 Legendary Lane, and Troon North, 10320 East Dynamite. Danny Briggs will defend his championship. Tee times for the $100,000, 54-hole PGA stop are at 7 a.m. daily. Admission is free. 443-9002.
The latter half of the singing-sibling duo of Francine and Margo Reed belts out jazz from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at VFW Post 1710, 1629 East Jackson, backed up by Dave Cook & Intensity. Admission is a $4 donation. 262-9221.
monday
june 8
For more jazz, look no farther than Steven Von Wald and the ASU Jazz Express, who take the stage at 8 p.m. Monday, June 8, at Kerr Cultural Center, 6110 North Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale. Clarinetist/saxophonist Von Wald, who has performed with the likes of Steve Allen, Maynard Ferguson, Jack Jones, Rita Moreno, Della Reese, John Davidson, Rosemary Clooney and the great Dave Brubeck, is a doctoral candidate in saxophone at ASU. The Jazz Express is made up of teachers from that school's music faculty. Tickets for the show, part of Jazz in AZ's "Jazz in Concert" series, are $12, $9 for seniors, $6 for students. 965-5377 (Kerr), 503-5555 (Dillard's).
Women in treatment for, recovering from, or otherwise coping with breast cancer are invited to Reaching Out, a self-help group that meets at 7 p.m. Monday, June 8--and the second Monday of every month--at the American Cancer Society, 2929 East Thomas. 553-7129.
tuesday
june 9
Swordplay, music and archery are among the attractions when the "Atenveldt Barony" of the Society for Creative Anachronism presents a quick Medieval Faire from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, at the Maricopa County Library Center, 17811 North 32nd Street. All are invited to the free event, but space is limited; admission stickers are available at the Youth Services desk. 506-4790.
wednesday
june 10
The spirit of the late Louis Jordan inhabits The Royal Crown Revue, a neo-jumpin'-jive crew from the City of the Angels--so-called "Kings of Gangster Bop" and undisputed rulers of the New Hot Swing. The Revue returns to the Valley on Wednesday, June 10, for a show at Club Rio, 430 North Scottsdale Road in Tempe. The all-ages concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets, available at the club and Dillard's, are $17. 894-0533, 503-5555.
Writer Debra Waterhouse, plugging her book Outsmarting the Mid-Life Fat Cell, claims that "mid-life weight gain" is what a majority of women between 35 and 55 cite as their biggest concern. Depressing as that priority may be, it's the topic of a talk by Waterhouse, whose program attempts to lower middle-aged fat safely and naturally. The author speaks and signs her book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 10, at Borders Books & Music at Biltmore Fashion Park, 24th Street and Camelback, Suite 200. 957-6660.
