Sunday, February 28, 2016
Watch Lady Gaga perform Til It Happens to you at the #Oscars here https://t.co/ptBYEAIKqq
— Lady Gaga Facts (@LGMonsterFacts) February 29, 2016
Tonight at the Academy Awards, Oscar-nominated performer, Lady Gaga, took the stage in support of the millions of victims of sexual violence. In an incredibly passionate performance of her song "Til it Happens to You," Lady Gaga laid it all on the table and it was spectacular. I was moved to tears by her conviction, courage, vulnerability and, of course, her beautiful voice.
Lady Gaga, a victim of sexual violence herself, was joined on stage by several dozen survivors who each had their own statement written on their arm. Those included sentiments like "unbreakable," "not your fault," and "it happened to me."
The song was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden who represented the White House's It's On Us campaign to end sexual assault.
Every day, I become more disillusioned with our society's unwillingness to end the abuse experienced by one in five women and one in 71 men. In the light of these feelings, I was so happy to see this years' Oscars would be used as a platform to discuss important issues as well as glamour, talent and fame.
Tags: sexual violence , sexual assault , lady gaga , music , rape , survivor , oscars , academy awards , joe biden
Monday, February 22, 2016
Finally.
I grew up in Death Valley and don’t do well with cold. Seeing 2016 on my calendar means that I’d been on the road for 18 months now, shifting between hemispheres every six months and staying in perpetual winter. 18 months of cold nights and stuffy clothes. But not now. The warm and humid air that stuck to me after I exited the airplane in Kenya was a long awaited hug.
After a quick wait in the immigration line, I made my way out of the airport and was quickly met by Eric and Vivian. Eric is the founder and leader of Mathare Foundation, the organization where I would be working for the next month. Vivian was an assistant who coaches the soccer team and counsels children in writing. We grabbed a cab that was too small for the three of us plus my backpack, so I went with my bag on my lap and Vivian offered to take Hobbes on hers. These were good people.
We were headed to Mathare Slum, a slum of 500,000 people with a 30 percent HIV infection rate and no free education past 8th grade. I would work at Mathare Foundation, a non-profit that offered children free classes in soccer, performing arts, and photography. The pragmatic hopes are that the photography program can be self sustaining and offer the children real work, while the soccer and performing arts programs were meant to assist children in getting scholarships to continue their studies. The immediate results are that the kids can display and take pride in their accomplishments, have positive role models outside of the home, and have productive work to do in the time when they are most vulnerable to drugs and crime.
Tags: into the mild , kenya , poverty , slums , altruism
Friday, February 19, 2016
Dressed as a '40s-wartime Bob Hope, MC Lynn "Win" Roberts will host the evening's festivities, which include live music from Big Band Express, a local jazz group; vaudeville entertainment from Cirque Roots, a "grassroots artist collective" specializing in all things circus. Expect appearances from a slew of special guests, auctions for original band art/memorabilia and raffles. The Rialto also promises attendees delicious culinary libations from local eateries including Elliot's, Hub, Proper, Cup Café, Maynard's and more.
Tags: rialto , the rialto theatre , downtown tucson , Stage Canteen: A Swingin' 1940s USO Party , fundraising , the rialto theatre foundation , music
I was thinking about The Book of Mormon, which had bowled me over the night before in Tucson, when I looked into the sky in La Jolla, Calif., and damned if I didn’t see a glowing golden statue that looked a whole lot like the angel Moroni.
It couldn’t be, I thought, freaking out a little bit as I walked a few more blocks and saw that Moroni, every Mormon kid’s favorite angel, was standing on top of a dramatic, white, impossibly clean building as is his wont. As I walked over the freeway on my way from the Hyatt Regency to the CVS, I couldn’t quit staring at the gleaming twin spires that dominated the sky.
Surely that can’t be a Mormon temple, I thought. I’m tripping cause of that damn musical. That fairy tale edifice on the hill, illuminated to within an inch of its life, is probably just a civic center with delusions of grandeur.
Still, I had to ask the lady unlocking her car in the Whole Foods parking lot.
“Excuse me, but do you know what that building is?” I asked.
“That’s the Mormon temple,” she said. “They like to put them next to freeways.”
“I knew that was Moroni,” I said. “It’s funny ’cause I saw The Book of Mormon last night in Tucson.”
“Oh, how was it?”
“Fantastic,” I said. “So sweet, so funny and so generous in spirit. One of the best things I’ve ever seen.”
Walking back to the hotel, I thought back to when I was about 12 years old and a whole bunch of us Safford kids piled into vans for a trip to the temple in Mesa. Once inside, we changed into exquisite white outfits before getting baptized (over and over again) in a huge golden tub for a bunch of dead people.
But that’s a whole different story. I hurried up to my room to write something about The Book of Mormon, a most benevolent Broadway musical. Take it from me, a good Mormon boy gone bad, it’s a marvelous work and a wonder.
And, if you don't have tickets to one of the performances of the sold out, five-day run at UA Centennial Hall, you're just going to have to believe me.
Tags: book of mormon , tucson , theatre , moroni , temple
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Afrikweer is the brainchild of Bev Tumelo and Javetta Laster. Initially conceived of as a photo project, it has grown into a uniting force for people of African descent in Tucson who identify somewhere on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.
Tumelo and Laster met three years ago when Laster moved to Tucson from New York. Laster had only planned to stay in Tucson for a few months, but she fell in love with the desert. Sticking around, for Laster, meant contributing.
“If a place is somewhere you can really take root, then you should also do things to uplift and give back to the community that’s helped you,” she says.
Tags: afrikweer , tucson , black , lgbt , queer , community info , art , photography , documentary , opening , exhibit , bev tumelo , javetta laster
Friday, February 12, 2016
The show ends its run on Sunday, Feb. 14. All the info you need to visit the museum is here.
Here's TMA's description of the show:
Bang! Bang! To children and adults alike, the imagined West of shoot outs and damsels in distress has been ingrained into the American psyche. This exhibition examines how dime novels, pulp fiction art, comic books, and other forms of visual art created these fictional, often sensational, versions of people, places, and historical events of the West.Next up at TMA: Into the Night: Modern and Contemporary Art and the Nocturne Tradition opens on Saturday, Feb. 27.
Beginning with dime novel covers in the mid-19th century, the wild, fictional West served as the perfect backdrop for stories that captivated imaginations and built legends. Pulp fiction magazines and comic books, which emerged in the early-20th century, continued this trend. Illustrators created cover images of stories in Wild West Weekly, New Western Magazine, and Western Story, among hundreds of other publications available to mass audiences.
These images portrayed stereotypes of Native Americans, cowboys, gunslingers, “delicate women”, and outlaws, but also perpetuated ideas of violence and prejudice. Along with original Western pulp art and illustrations, the exhibition includes works of today’s artists who look at these materials and incorporate them into their art.
Monday, February 8, 2016
Busy Wednesday night? Playground Bar & Lounge is hosting a free preview of the upcoming Barrio Stories performances by Borderlands Theater. The performances will feature “actors bringing to life the oral histories of the residents whose homes were lost to the construction of the convention center,” according to the event’s Facebook page.
In the late 1960s, a culturally diverse, 80 acre residential and business district in downtown Tucson was demolished as a consequence of urban renewal and the construction of the Tucson Convention Center complex. Over 100 years of historically significant and irreplaceable cultural spaces, shops, homes, restaurants and entertainment venues, notably La Plaza Theatre, were wiped out.
However, through the work of University of Arizona faculty, Borderlands Theater and the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, the Barrio Stories Project is reviving the history of this neighborhood by sharing the stories of its residents.
The preview will take place Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E Congress St.
Tags: theater , art , performance , borderlands theater , barrio , barrio stories , barrio stories project , university of arizona , drama
Friday, February 5, 2016
1) Mount Lemmon SkyCenter SkyNights Program
Check out the largest public viewing telescope in the Southwest any night this weekend. A five hour "tour of the universe" up on Mount Lemmon is $60.
The event is held nightly at the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter (9800 Ski Run Road) from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are required through skycenter.arizona.edu.
Tags: fun , outside , outdoors , weather , fair , art , renaissance , food , stars , astronomy , gifts , weekend
On Wednesday, Feb. 10, Club Camera landscape and nature photographer James Capo will offer tips for taking "Better Backyard Bird Photography." The workshop runs from 9:30 until 11:30 a.m.
Then, on Thursday, Feb. 18 from 10 a.m. 'til noon, Capo will be teaching the "Shoot Better Landscapes" workshop, with an emphasis on composition and light in natural settings.
Finally, on Wednesday, Feb. 24, you can learn the "Top Tips for Better Travel Photos" from the club's president Steve Dell. The final workshop, which begins at 10 a.m., will teach how to shoot pictures worthy of travel magazines on your own vacation.
The workshops are open to all skill levels with tips that work for almost any camera, with both classroom and hands-on instruction. All workshops are free to Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation (NRPR) annual passholders or $5 for non-passholders, with free entry to the park and gallery included. Registration is required in advance, and can be made through Pima County's website by clicking "Register Now."
The workshops are sponsored in conjunction with an fine art photography exhibit titled “Lensmasters: Life and Landscapes of the Southwest,” which is on display at the Ranch House Art Gallery at the park from Feb. 6 through March 2. A "Meet the Artists" reception will take place on Sunday, Feb. 14 from 1 until 3 p.m.
Tags: club camera , tucson , photography , outdoor , travel , birding , workshops , pima county , agua caliente park
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Radziner, who took on architectural projects for celebrities and designers including Tom Ford, Demi Moore and Oliver Peoples, will speak about craft's role in contemporary architectural practices. His talk also explains Marmol Radziner's "architect-led design-build" approach, as well as shows the process through a visual tour of the Kaufmann house restoration, among other design-build endeavors.
The talk kicks off at 6 p.m. at 140 N. Main Ave. Check out more of Marmol Radziner's projects here.
Tags: ron radziner , marmol radziner , university of arizona school of architecture , university of arizona , ua , craft lecture series , kaufmann house
