Dance party alert! A Sunny Day In Glasgow and ...Music Video? will be playing tonight at Solar Culture Gallery. Get the details here.

Local marriage equality activist Buck Bannister happens to be an amazing baker. On his blog Sugar Pies, he recently posted a recipe for Irish soda bread and put up his first how-to video on YouTube. I happen to be a fan of currants in my Irish soda bread served with a healthy schmear of real butter. Happy St. Patty's Day.

The Water Project Festival organizers recently announced a change in the weekend festival's schedule and a cool new partnership with Solar Rock - the Tucson solar-powered music and community festival. On Saturday, March 27, the festival teams up with Solar Rock at Himmel Park at Tucson Boulevard and First Street. The enviro-vendor fair will be there just as planned, along with music, food and entertainment. City Councilman Rodney Glassman will speak about the city's commercial rainwater harvesting ordinance, and there will be art activities. Water-themed costumes are encouraged. At the Himmel Park Library next door there will be a film program for adults and kids called "Messages of Water."

Performance events are still part of the festival weekend and you can continue to be part of that by helping to make puppets and props or participating in performance rehearsals. Go to Skrappy's tomorrow (Saturday, March 12 and March 20) at 191 E. Toole Ave. Make puppets, props and costumes from noon to 4 p.m., and movement and theater rehearsals are from 1 to 3 p.m.

Next weekend you can also get involved in helping with fundraising for the project at the Fourth Avenue Street Fair, March 19-21. Volunteer to help sell Spike/Jones soda, tea and water (funds benefit the festival, so you should probably buy some, too). The festival organizers also need help distributing postcards to folks passing buy and you can also create sculptures and costumes out of recycled plastic bottles during the street fair.

Make puppets, move your butt and push some Jones soda on folks (you won't feel too bad, since it's made with sugar and not corn syrup - vanilla bean is my fav), e-mail [email protected] to get involved.

I tried to find a sexual euphemism similar to tea bagging, but for coffee. This was just to be fair, considering the first time the Range poked fun of the local Tea Party folks we found some nice artwork of golden bull balls (you know, a nice alternative to photos of real tea bagging). Coffee filtering? Coffee circle... OK, forget it.

Look, there's a new game in town, actually all over the country slowly percolating through social networking, such as Facebook. Coffee Party USA. It's the kinder, gentler, and OK, it's hopefully more like the sensible, inclusive, saner alternative to the Tea Party movement. I'm thinking it's the kind of gathering you can join with your mainstream Republican relatives you have more in common with than ever before.

The Tea Party folks have been attacking these guys as FCINO's (how do you pronounce this?) - Fiscal Conservatives in Name Only. I'm thinking FCINO's are just politicians who realized it's stupid to sign agreements with ridiculous national anti-tax groups saying they won't raise taxes under any circumstances despite constituent needs. These days, I'm thinking those contracts may come to haunt a few Republicans that usually take the middle road, but decided the far-right appealed to the Tea Party masses.

If you're interested in getting involved locally, there's a Coffee Party Tucson chapter taking root. Their first meeting is tomorrow (Saturday, March 13), noon at Coffee Exchange at Campbell Boulevard and Grant Road. Visit their national Web site here, and get connected to the local chapter on Facebook here. If this doesn't work and bring everyone together, I'm thinking the Hot Chocolate Party, with a Southwest chapter called Abuelita Partido.

Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Friday Roundtable: We say what we can about the state budget. What has happened this week is far, far bigger than most people yet realize.

Watch it after the jump.

District 8 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on health-care reform: Changes necessary before she can support it.

As Congress nears a final vote on health insurance reform, let me be completely clear about where I stand: I strongly and enthusiastically support reform.

After hearing from thousands of my constituents on this topic over the past year, I am convinced that something must be done to hold insurance companies accountable, give Southern Arizonans greater health care choices and bring down medical costs.

The legislation before us, while far from perfect, represents a needed step forward.

Last fall, I was proud to support legislation that included a public option. My constituents know that I am a former small business owner who believes

The state budget is all but done—and it's pretty devastating to every aspect of state government except for the prisons.

We'll have details in next week's print edition, but Senate President Bob Burns defended the budget on the Friday Roundtable on tonight's Arizona Illustrated on KUAT-TV, Channel 6. You can watch it after the jump.

Little Dragon looks like a fun band to see Saturday night at Club Congress. Details here.

It's an early show, so then you can go across the street for the indie-mambo madness of Sergio Mendoza y La Orkestra at downtown's Rialto Theatre. Details here.

And there's some great stuff going on all weekend at Solar Culture, too. Details here.