may 7
One of the state's largest amateur sporting events, the 1998 Arizona Special Olympics Summer Games showcases the athletic prowess of some 2,000 developmentally disabled adults and children in a variety of Olympic-style competitions, held on Arizona State University campus in Tempe, mostly in and around Sun Angel Stadium and ASU Activity Center. Events are scheduled Thursday, May 7, through Saturday, May 9; opening ceremony is at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, in the stadium. Competitions are held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, May 8; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 9. Sports clinics, demonstrations and refreshments are offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and the same hours Sunday, at the Olympic Village, around the Whitman Tennis Center just south of the stadium. The closing ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by a dance until 9:30 p.m., in the activity center. Spectators are welcome; admission is free. 230-1200.
friday
may 8
You've seen Rude Boy, the scowling juvie who stares out from tee shirts and the back windows of pickup trucks--a cartoon character without a cartoon. Valley artist Jim Cherry, whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Esquire and GQ, is attempting to market his own doodle, Bad Kitty, as a similar star of the merchandising-in-a-vacuum world. Why should we care? Because to this end, Cherry is promoting Bad Kitty's Night Out With the Girls, a show of hot girl groups that--in addition to promoting the Bad Kitty tee line--benefits Arizona Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. On the bill is Doll's Head--fronted by 19-year-old Sierra Swan, daughter of Billy "I Can Help" Swan--and Tempe faves Mad At 'Em, as well as a Bad Kitty fashion show and other amusements. The party runs from 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, to 1 a.m. Saturday, at the Bash on Ash, 230 West Fifth Street in Tempe. Admission is $6. 966-5600.
"Moliere really pumps my nads!" asserts Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club. Anthony Michael Hall deadpans agreement: "I love his work." Those of us who share their enthusiasm for Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673)--the French dramatist whose professional name towers above any other comedy writer's in that language--should find ourselves thoroughly pumped by Scapin, Arizona Theatre Company's mounting of his masterpiece, adapted by Mark O'Donnell and the mime Bill Irwin, and directed by David Ira Goldstein. Bob Sorensen stars as the resourceful title character, a servant who schemes to help two young men marry the women they love without losing their inheritance. Theater trivia: Moliere died onstage, performing in his own play The Imaginary Invalid. Opening performances of Scapin are at 8 p.m. Friday, May 8; 8 p.m. Saturday, May 9; 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 10; and 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 13. The last show is audio-described for the visually impaired. Tickets range from $19.50 to $32.50. Center Stage at Herberger Theater Center, 222 East Monroe. 252-8497 (Herberger), 503-5555 (Dillard's).
The organization with the splendid name Phoenix Friends of C.G. Jung hosts two events: first, a lecture, slide show and book signing by David Rosen, M.D., author of The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8, in which the famed head shrinker/philosopher/visionary's life and work are interpreted anew. Rosen, a psych prof at Texas A&M, hosts a workshop, this one based on his book Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul Through Creativity, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9. Both are held at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library, 3839 North Civic Center Boulevard. Admission to the lecture is $15, $10 for members; the workshop is $60, $50 for members. There's a $5 discount for those who pay in advance. 336-0400 (Jung chums), 994-2474 (SCCL).
saturday
may 9
Where in this world can one, at a single music event, find Navajo punk, organic funk, blues Americana, hard rock, country-tinged alternative, funk, poetry and performance art, Navajo hoop dancing, political acoustic, "Dead" homage, and Arabic folk music? The ninth annual Earth Mother Mind Jam, that's where. The show features performances by various regional acts, including Big Dumb Love, Memory Motel, H.D. Loudertrain, Polliwog, Flail, Cleopache, Mary McCann "The Bone Mama," Jones Benally, Berta Benally, Agnes Gooch, Connie Fisher, The Noodles, Valerie Sack, and Azuma, among others. Hours are 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9, to 2 a.m. Sunday, at the Baseline Mansion, 2501 East Baseline. Admission to the all-ages bash is $8, $6 with a can of food for St. Mary's Food Bank. 894-9894.
sunday
may 10
As befits the day, moms are paid tribute by Salt River Brass, which performs such works as "Mother MacCree, Beautiful Mother" and "I Want a Girl" at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 10, at Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 North Arizona Avenue; tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors (call 786-2680). Also on the program are such throat-lumpers as "Lament of the Hebrew Slaves" from Verdi's Nabucco, Jerry Biliks' "Civil War Medley" and the "Love Theme" from Titanic. The group also performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 11, at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 West Adams, in a fund raiser for the Salvation Army. Tickets are $15; call 262-7272.
Speaking of Titanic, Harkins Theatres and Paramount Pictures have teamed up with Tripod Captioned Films to present a special "open-captioned" version of James Cameron's Oscar winner for hearing-impaired audiences. Subtitles appear across the bottom of the screen, as in a foreign film, along with icons and descriptions of sound effects, so that every terrifying rumble and whoosh of incoming water may be understood. One of the screens devoted to Titanic will show this version--roughly four times a day--on Sunday, May 10, and Monday, May 11, at Harkins Arizona Mills 24 Luxury Cinemas, Priest and Baseline in Tempe. Call 222-4275 #049 for specific showtimes, or check at the box office.
monday
may 11
In celebration of spring, Herbert Lessell conducts the Scottsdale Community College Chorus in a free program of selections ranging from Mozart to Mendelssohn to, as the finale, the entire score of Show Boat! Could any song seem more ironic than "Old Man River" in the valley of the Rio Salado? Showtime is 8 p.m. Monday, May 11, in the Performing Arts Center at SCC, 9000 East Chaparral. 423-6333.
tuesday
may 12
"Big band" and "teenagers" aren't terms you find in the same sentence too often anymore, but the musicians of Young Sounds of Arizona, all of whom come from Phoenix area schools, are between the ages of 14 and 19. The band plays a "Coffee at Kerr" concert from 10:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, May 12. It's free, but reservations are requested. 965-5377.
wednesday
may 13
Duck, another film festival! The 18th annual Southwest Film and Video Festival kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at Harkins Camelview 5, located on Goldwater Boulevard north of Camelback in Scottsdale, with a screening of Karl T. Hirsch's 16mm feature Green (a.k.a. Whatever). The film, an engaging, well-acted slackerbabble comedy that "dares to call 'Generation X' exactly what it is--glorified, self-centered whining about bad times that, in reality, are hardly worth complaint"--includes a long, visually arresting animated sequence by Hirsch and cinematographer D. Evan Long that is worth the $3 admission price in itself. The festival continues with other screenings of, and award presentations for, student works from around the state at Camelview and at Scottsdale Community College, through Saturday, May 16. 423-6366.
Rappers Black Thought and Malik B., who front The Roots, don't go in for samples--they jam to the live beats of drummer B.R.O. the R.? and bassist Hub. The Philadelphia crew takes the stage for an all-ages show at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at Club Rio, 430 North Scottsdale Road in Tempe. Goodie Mob shares the bill, as do special guests Parental Advisory and the Bombshelter DJs. Tickets, available at Dillard's, are $18 in advance, $20 the day of the show. 894-0533, 503-5555.
