• C. Elliott
• Andromeda Katz and Kitty Quasar

Hosts Kitty Quazar (Jared McKinley) and his consort Andromeda Katz (Katy Gierlach), both of Uranus, personally spread enough glitter around the Uranian-wanna-bes assembled at the Rialto Theatre Saturday night to make sure everyone complied with the Glitter Ball dress code: "Don't let reality define how you dress for this party." We assume those who appear "normal" in C. Elliott's photos, below, were really shimmering freaks in drag.

Today from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., the Tucson Museum of Art displays The Arts Speak, featuring art from several local artists, including the piece below by Jay Kyle Petersen. Visit the museum at 140 N. Main Ave.

• "Soul Energy of Costa Rica Rainforest" by Jay Kyle Petersen

The Tucson Museum of Art and START present The Arts Speak, a single-night festival that invites local artists and organizations to display and create art that engages in dialogue about the issues that “speak” to them. This unique event will focus on art as a means to discuss consciousness and awareness of the self in society, inspiring a global conversation that begins locally. The Arts Speak will have two major components: art displayed in the Museum’s Margaret E. Mooney lobby and participatory art experiences hosted in the Tucson Museum of Art’s Plaza of the Pioneers courtyard. All art displayed or created at the event is made by local artists and organizations.

In the courtyard, participants may partake in a number of interactive art creation opportunities, such as: a human mural, a “Before I Die” message wall, origami crane folding to decorate a Tree of Life sculpture, live animal sketching, and the creation of life-size photographs.

Rebecca Wilkinson, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT and Sally Markley, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, local art therapists and representative of the Arizona Art Therapy Association, will present informational/experiential workshops introducing art therapy to the general public.

• Photo courtesy of Kitty Quasar.
• Have you ever tasted the hair from Uranus?

There's a happy place where everyone is dancing, drinking and glitter is EVERYWHERE. Kitty Quasar and his motley crew from Uranus are back, and they want to give you free tickets to Glitter Ball. The long awaited extravaganza is taking place on Saturday, March 22 at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. You should watch the Kitty Quasar movie and read the write up in this week's print edition by David Mendez (you can't miss the headline) to get the history behind Glitter Ball.

There are, of course, some deserving Tucson nominees in the mix this year:

Eighty-four nominations from 27 Arizona communities were submitted in six categories for the 33rd annual Governor's Arts Awards for individuals and businesses who have made substantial and outstanding contributions to arts and culture statewide.

The Governor's Arts Awards are presented by Arizona Citizens for the Arts in partnership with the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Office of the Governor.

Since 1981, 158 artists, individuals, arts and cultural organizations, educators and businesses have received Governor's Arts Awards

Nominees, by category, and their hometowns are:

Artist: Eugene D. Anderson, Apache Junction; Jon Bonnell, Phoenix; Daniel Buckley, Tucson; Bobb Cooper, Phoenix; Derrick Suwaima Davis, Hotevilla; Maria Isabel Delgado, Chandler; Michael J. Eddy, Phoenix; Dr. Rose French, Phoenix; Deborah Hodder, Phoenix; Simon Kregar, Tucson; Lia Littlewood, Yuma; Danell Lynn, Phoenix; Joella Jean Mahoney, Sedona; Corinne McAuley, Surprise; Luis Mena, Tucson; Kirk O'Hara, Mesa; Renee Palmer-Jones, Anthem; Joseph Rodgers, Tucson; Michelle Rouch, Vail; Mike Vax, Dewey; Baje Whitethorne Sr., Flagstaff.

Arts in Education - Individual: Dr. Suzette Battan, Tucson; Dr. Robert Benson, Glendale; Chris Donlon, Mesa; Paula Humpage, Phoenix; Gay Kohl, Scottsdale; Kathleen & Selene Kupper, Phoenix; Adrienne Magee, Tucson; Sharon Seder Meko, Gilbert; Claude Pensis, Phoenix; Step Raptis, Mesa; Carolyn Robbins, Scotttsdale Melanie Sainz, Phoenix; Mark Sunkett, Mesa; Morgan Wells, Tucson; Stephen Wrentmore, Tucson.

Arts In Education - Organization: Arizona Artists Guild, Phoenix; Arizona Theatre Company Education Programs, Tucson; Arts Express, Tucson; Ballet Etudes, Gilbert; Copperstar Repertory Company, Chandler; EPIK Dance Company, Phoenix; Gold Canyon Arts Education, Gold Canyon; LDVinci Art Studio, Chandler; Mesa Community College Theatre and Film Program, Mesa; Rosie's House: A Music Academy for Children, Phoenix; Sahuarita High School Summer Youth Art Program, Sahuarita; Scottsdale Artists' School, Scottsdale; Sonoran Glass School, Tucson; The Symphony Women's Association, Tucson; Vitruvius Program at Summit School of Ahwatukee.

Business: BMO Harris Bank, Phoenix; Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale; General Growth Properties, Tucson.

Community: Artlink, Inc., Phoenix; City of Casa Grande Arts & Humanities Commission, Casa Grande; City of Peoria, Peoria; Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library, Flagstaff; Flagstaff Cultural Partners, Flagstaff; Grand Canyon Association Celebration of Art, Grand Canyon; KXCI Community Radio, Tucson; Looney Tooner Kitchen, Scottsdale; Phoenix Women's Chorus, Phoenix; Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra Association, Sierra Vista; University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson; WHAM Art Organization, Surprise; William Eaton, Cottonwood; Young Arts Arizona Ltd., Phoenix.

Individual: Anni Beach, Chandler; Tom and Laurie Carmody, Phoenix; Grace Ann Etchebarria-Jacobs, Lake Havasu City; Sasha and Rodney Glassman, Phoenix; Robert Machiz, Scottsdale; Robert J Miley, Phoenix; Lora Lee Nye, Prescott Valley; Meribeth Reeves, Cave Creek; Monica Saldana, Goodyear; Julie Sasse, PhD, Tucson; Renee Smith, Yuma; Mayor Scott Smith, Mesa; John Wells, Tucson; Phelps & Kay Wilkins, Springerville; Steven Zylstra, Phoenix.

Honorees are selected by an independent panel of judges.

The eighth annual Shelley Award also will be presented to Drs. Helen and John Schaefer of Tucson for their lifelong commitment to advocacy for arts and culture, as well as their role in the creation of the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, and the U of A Poetry Center. The award is named for Shelley Cohn, who spent more than 25 years as executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

It's been awhile since RAW Tucson hosted an event here in town (the last one I see was in November at Club Congress and the organization's website for says our location is currently "coming soon"), but for awhile, every time there was a RAW event, someone in the arts community would ask me what I thought of it. I never could really answer, because it didn't make a lot of sense to me. Why would anyone pay $300 (or sell tickets to make up that charge) to be a part of a one-night-only show that promises to launch your career/build exposure/all the other bullshit people say to artists to take their money?

Well, alt-weekly Cincinnati City Beat looked into RAW's business practices this week and - perhaps not surprisingly - they find the business model is more like Herbalife than an arts organization:

RAW’s claim to have empowered more than 15,000 artists last year suggests the company is looking at millions of dollars in annual revenue, and the income likely doesn’t end there. RAW’s ever-growing audience opens the door for sponsorships of its awards series and classified advertisements on its website, plus additional door and drink sales at dozens of events around the world every month.

If RAW’s revenue potential isn’t enough to pique one’s interest in this emerging international company, its similarities to multi-level marketing operations (MLM) might be. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission frequently sues operators of large-scale pyramid schemes for violating federal securities laws through MLM programs. The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t take kindly to them, either.

Ayla Benjamin, who ran RAW’s Cincinnati chapter for seven months in 2012 through local marketing firm Spotlight 360, compares RAW to Mary Kay and Pure Romance — multi-level marketing firms that allow “consultants” to run their own small businesses using the company’s name and products.

“There are people who decide to get involved with those companies and they are very successful,” Benjamin says.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy details six pyramid scheme warning signs, including “no genuine product or service” and “emphasis on recruiting.”

“In an MLM program, you typically get paid for products or services that you and the distributors in your ‘downline’ (i.e., participants you recruit and their recruits) sell to others,” according to the SEC.

[...]

[RAW founder Heidi] Luerra flatly denies that RAW is a scam.

“My response to anyone that assumes we are a scam or a pyramid scheme is simply that we’re not,” Luerra wrote to CityBeat. “I believe that there is misinformation and miseducation occurring by individuals who simply have an opinion — and in fact were once very enthusiastic about participating in RAW.”

The entire article is worth a read, but another troubling section regards an attempt by RAW to silence their critics:

Luerra asked her directors to email any “stoked-on-RAW artists” who might be willing to write positive testimonials on key sites where each director was supposed to open RAW accounts, including Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and various community government websites. She later updated the staff in a page titled “Stupid Blogs Update,” which detailed plans to employ a search engine optimization (SEO) company to bump positive feedback above stories criticizing the company.

The plan was in full force by last May, when Luerra sent the staff an email introducing “Operation: Dumbo Drop.”

“Welcome to your first edition of our super secret mission, Operation: Dumbo Drop (not to be confused with the Disney movie),” she wrote. “In relation to the blogs we told you about we’re taking some strides to get this off the front page of our Google search. We just met with an SEO specialist and will hopefully be able to bring in the big dawgs soon. In the meantime (since we have a small army involved with RAW), we can really make some headway on our own.”

CityBeat asked Luerra in an email why she started the SEO campaign, and once again she prefaced the response in a litigious tone: “Note: This again references company information that was disseminated illegally and said parties are now in breach of contract.”

She then answered the question: “The SEO campaign was created to simply help others understand who we are and what we do without being clouded by misguided and misinformed individuals.”

[...]

In addition to detailing Operation: Dumbo Drop and the “mucho margaritas” Luerra and the gang planned to consume during a corporate retreat at the Samba Vallarta Resort in Mexico from Jan. 21-25, the documents detailed ticket sale totals for hundreds of events between February and December of 2013. RAW sold more than 30,000 tickets in April and May alone, with Nashville, Phoenix, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Dallas, Austin, Texas, Hartford, Conn., Omaha, Neb., and Riverside, Calif., breaking their own records during the two-month period. Thirty-thousand tickets should have brought in somewhere between $450,000 and $500,000, depending on how many were sold at a higher price at the door.

Things would be simpler in RAW’s world if every location operated as smoothly as Phoenix, where a single event on Oct. 17 sold 852 tickets, totaling $12,915. Because a subcontractor ran the Phoenix chapter, RAW took back $3,300 in upfront costs and a $2,000 franchise fee, leaving $7,615 for showcase director Laura Fischer.

I contacted current Tucson RAW host Chezale Rodriguez-Wells via Facebook message who said that she's waiting to hear from RAW higher-ups about the future of the organization in Tucson.

• Photo courtesy of FemArts.

Eight local female artists will display their work from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight and Saturday, March 8 at the historic Steinfeld Warehouse Community Art Center, 101 W. Sixth Street. Each artist will occupy an entire space in the warehouse with their art.

Each installation invites the viewer to become part of the work by entering the work. Unlike a regular visual exhibition where one approaches art as 'other', to view and observe from the outside, each installation in this exhibit invites the viewer into itself. An observer behind the viewer, sees that first viewer as part of the piece. And so on.

This is NOT an exhibition of one's artwork as if the artist were setting up a mini art exhibition of their work. Instead the exhibit challenges the artist to allow the space to have a substantial say in the direction of the piece. The artist will respond to the space, which is the spark, that brings the installation out from within the artist.

The artist are encouraged to bring their own lighting equipment, video and sound to company their art. BBQ Rush Food Truck will be parked near the event. Click here for information and RSVP on the Facebook event page.

This year's Möda Provŏcateūr 2014 theme was "This isn't your grandmother's fashion show." Our multimedia intern Alan Davis strutted his way into this sold out event so we can all enjoy it vicariously on The Range.

Break Out Studios and Artifact Dance Project performed on the runway, as models in all types of gowns, outfits, swimsuits. The variety of gowns were massive, ranging from a flock of Monarch Butterflies to a line of blood red dresses that had the audience cat calling.

The 11th annual Möda Provŏcateūr was produced entirely by volunteers, six local salons and twelve local boutiques partnered to bring the most over-the-top fashion show to Southern Arizona. Möda Provŏcateūr is an annual benefit for SAAF, the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation. "We're looking to raise about $70,000 this year," said Ethan Cox the director of development for SAAF.

The funds raised helps 1,100 clients that are living with HIV and AIDS and also benefits prevention and outreach programs.

• C. Elliott
• Ginger Sinclair, Black Cherry Burlesque

Founded by Surly Wench owners Kate "Inga Kaboom" and Stephanie "Stephka von Snatch" Johnston, Black Cherry Burlesque has long been the best, if not the best kept, secret on Fourth Avenue. The troupe performs at 8 and 10 p.m., the first Friday of every month, and has generated such a following that their two sets at the Rialto Theatre on Saturday, March 1, filled the seats and a good portion of the floor in front of the stage.

• Danielle Wade as Dorothy and Jamie McKnight as Scarecrow in Broadway in Tucson's "Wizard of Oz"

Oh, sure, you say. We’ve been down that road before. (That would be the yellow brick one.) Been there. Done that. Really, haven’t we’ve been “Wiz”-ed, “Wicked”-ed and Surrender Dorothy-ed to death?

I bet you wouldn’t say that after you’ve laid eyes on the bright and bouncy Tim Rice-ed and Andrew Lloyd Webber-ed version of everyone’s favorite lost and found tale, The Wizard of Oz. Broadway in Tucson has had the good sense to lure it here to Centennial Hall, where it plays through the weekend.

Maybe you’re in a quandary. It’s perfect the way it is. Sure, you’re curious, because you’ve loved the story and Judy Garland and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the segue of black and white into color (and how special was that?!) But, what if they screw it up?

No worries, my pretties. This thing rocks. By some wonderful wizardry they have taken the things we love about this journey of finding home by leaving it, and have made it comfortably familiar, yet charmingly fresh.

Above: A Quartet for the End of Time as performed by a different set of musicians.

The past few weeks, UA Presents at the University of Arizona has presented a "Classical Music Night" at the Crowder Hall at the School of Music on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

This week is no different. This week will feature 'A Quartet for the End of Time." The backstory of how this musical program was composed is made for the movies.

written while the composer was imprisoned in an internment camp. Premiered with the camp’s German officers seated in the first row, the quartet’s unusual instrumentation resulted from the available musicians among Messiaen’s fellow prisoners.

Rarely heard in live performance, this stunning work will be performed by some of chamber music’s most respected artists.

Tickets are available for purchase online or at the box office.