may 14
Can you handle cowboy charm first thing in the morning? My hat's off to you, pardner. You'll probably want to check out Marshall Trimble at the Scottsdale Mayor and City Council Breakfast. The "Will Rogers of Arizona" spins yarns following a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, May 14, at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street. The Maule Sisters, joined by their mother, will also be on hand to sing big-band and traditional patriotic numbers. It's free, and no reservations are required. 994-2335.
The 18th annual Southwest Film and Video Festival continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at Harkins Camelview 5, located on Goldwater Boulevard north of Camelback in Scottsdale, with a competition of 16mm shorts, student works from around the state. Super 8 shorts will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 15, at Recital Hall MB115 at Scottsdale Community College, 9000 East Chaparral. The festival wraps up video screenings in the SCC Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16. Award presentations will be made each evening. Admission is $3 per night. 423-6366.
friday
may 15
An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are thrown in jail together in Beirut. It sounds like the setup line for some grim joke, but it's the plot of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, a Frank McGuinnis play presented by the Ensemble Theatre. Directed by Kay Kirby, the play stars David Vining, Tim Hart and Mike Prindiville. Opening performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, May 15; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 17, in the Cinema Theatre at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street. Tickets are $14, $8 for students and seniors. 994-2787 (SCA), 784-4444 (Ticketmaster).
So, you think that the Greeks' greatest contribution to world culture was Periclean democracy? Sapphic poetry? Aristophanic comedy? Aristotelian philosophy? It can only mean you haven't tried the food. Get thee to the "Taste of Greece" West Valley Greek Festival, the 10th annual celebration of things Hellenic--music, dancing, tastings, door prizes and kids' activities are featured from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, May 15; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 16; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at St. Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church, 10320 North 84th Avenue in Peoria. Admission is $2; kids under 12 get in free. Proceeds benefit the church. 486-8665.
Mark Scott Zicree, sci-fi authority and creator of the TV show Sliders, is the guest of honor at LepreCon 24. The 24th annual sci-fi/fantasy lovers' convention is slated for Friday, May 15, through Sunday, May 17, at Francisco Grande Resort, 26000 Gila Bend Highway in Casa Grande. Planned fun includes a couple of masquerade parties, autograph sessions with various authors and artists, role-playing games, videos, Japanese animation and "filking," the peculiar practice of singing folk songs on science-fiction themes. Memberships cost $35 at the door. 968-0308, 1-800-237-4238.
saturday
may 16
The Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Hospice Foundation collaborated on "Hospice: A Photographic Inquiry," which opens Saturday, May 16, at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central. The touring show, an exploration of the movement toward pain management and life-quality affirmation for the terminally ill and their families, features commissioned works by five major American photographers--Jim Goldberg, Nan Goldin, Sally Mann, Jack Radcliffe and Kathy Vargas--as well as regular screenings of an HBO documentary on the subject of hospice care by Deborah Dickson and the veteran nonfiction filmmaker Albert Maysles. Opening the same day is "Heroic Painting," an exhibition of paintings on the theme of heroism. "Hospice" runs through Sunday, July 26; "Heroic Painting" is displayed through Sunday, July 5. 257-1880, 257-1222.
The development of Zuni jewelry throughout the 20th century is the theme of "Blue Gem, White Metal: Carvings and Jewelry From the C.G. Wallace Collection," an exhibit that opens Saturday, May 16, at the Heard Museum, 22 East Monte Vista. Wallace, a longtime trader at Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, donated the 200-plus pieces in this exhibit to the Heard in 1975. The show will continue through October of 1999. Regular hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission: $6, $5 for seniors, $3 for those ages 4 to 12, free for younger kids. 252-8840.
sunday
may 17
Work out those familial rivalries! The fifth annual Family Golf Tournament offers father/son, father/daughter, mother/son, mother/daughter or grandparent/grandkid categories in a two-person scramble. Tee time for the nine-hole tourney is noon Sunday, May 17, at Glen Lakes Golf Course, 5450 West Northern in Glendale. The fee is $30; call for registration availability. 930-2833.
Elvis is scheduled to appear Sunday at Scottsdale Airport. No big deal, you say? Ah, but he's to be joined by Stevie Wonder, Ritchie Valens and Little Richard. The pop greats--that is to say, physical and vocal ringers for them--perform "Legends in Concert" from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at the airport, 15000 North Airport Drive. The free show is part of a day of festivities for invited special-needs kids sponsored by Scenic Airlines; the public is welcome at the performance. 991-8252.
monday
may 18
Check out the title of author John Izzo's new book: Awakening Corporate Soul. Stopped giggling yet? Izzo himself is aware of the incongruity; the talk he's giving on the subject--at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18, at Borders Books & Music at Biltmore Fashion Park, 24th Street and Camelback, Suite 200--is called "Corporate Soul: An Oxymoron?" Admission to the talk, in a decidedly corporate-soulful fashion, is free. 957-6660.
tuesday
may 19
In 1994, at the tender age of 60, Don Walser retired from the Texas National Guard to pursue, at last, his lifelong dream of country singing. His style is as old-fashioned as it gets: He twangs and yodels like he's at a country dance in the 1940s. Against all probability, the results, as demonstrated on his Watermelon CD Down at the Sky-Vue Drive-In, are marvelous--a gutsy country neoclassicism that shows up most of the stuff that now passes for country on the radio for the thinly disguised pop pablum that it is. Walser performs at 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, at the Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School. The cover is $5. 265-4842.
It's just the way some of us would most like to see Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance: without Michael Flatley. The Flatmeister's 19-year-old understudy John Carey stars in this tour of the colossally popular folk-dance show. Opening performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 19; and the same time Wednesday, May 20, at Gammage Auditorium, Mill and Apache in Tempe. The run continues through Saturday, May 30. Tickets, if any remain, range from $40 to $65. 965-3434 (Gammage), 503-5555 (Dillard's).
wednesday
may 20
Even though the country rockers of The Marshall Tucker Band have more than a half-dozen gold records to their credit and have been covered by the likes of Waylon Jennings, it's just possible that their greatest claim to fame is Butt-head's hypothesis that Beavis was sired by one of their roadies (the movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America, however, seemed to suggest that both lads were the fruit of Mstley CrYe-roadie loins). Anyway, the Tuckers--who take their collective name from the owner of a rehearsal hall where they used to jam--take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, at the Red River Music Hall, Mill and Washington in Tempe. Tickets are $18 and $22.50. 829-6779 (Red River), 503-5555 (Dillard's).
Portland, Oregon-based bluesmen Curtis Salgado and Terry Robb, touring behind their Lucky CD Hit It and Quit It, perform at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, at the Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School. Singer-harmonica player Salgado, who has worked with Roomful of Blues and Robert Cray Band, is reputed to have been John Belushi's inspiration for The Blues Brothers act, and Robb, a guitarist, has both produced and played the albums of John Fahey. 265-4842.
