On Saturday, May 28, a Harry Houdini-esque illusionist will perform at the Screening Room, 137 E. Congress St.

Michael Howell takes the stage from 7 to 9 p.m., with a night of magic and illusion. Howell is the 2006 runner-up as Arizona State Magician of the Year. The show is $17 for adults, and $7 for children 12 and younger. See the flier below for more details.

Dragon's Spark, a temporary store selling crafts by local artisans, products made of recycled materials, fair trade merchandise, and combinations thereof, is celebrating its grand opening tonight from 6 to 8 p.m., featuring many of the artisans with items at the store.

Dragon's Spark is located at 4280 N Oracle Road, Suite 130.

• Beatrice Nielsen of University High School and her winning entry, “Stools

We mentioned in this week's Skinny that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' office hosted a reception for the winners of the Congressional Art Contest at Tohono Chul Park last weekend.

The Range would like to extend congratulations to Beatrice Nielsen of University High School, whose ink-and-watercolor work, “Stools,” will be hanging in the Capitol building in D.C. for the next year.

There’s an impressive collection of runners-up in the competition, which was open to high schools throughout Congressional District 8. A total of 65 students won 74 prizes in the contest.

Some of their work remains on display in the gallery at Tohono Chul Park through mid-May, so if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to check it out.

We caught up with CD8 community-outreach staffer Pam Simon, who oversaw the contest, at the reception. Simon, who was shot twice on Jan. 8, says she’s got a lot more energy these days. But as she looked over the entries for the contest, she missed having a chance to share them with Giffords.

Here's complete list of the winners of 8th Congressional District's 2011 Art Competition

Grand Prize: Beatrice Nielsen, University High School, Stools

On Sunday, May 1, Laura Milkins will begin her 2,000 mile walk home to her mother's house in Grand Rapids, Mich. The walk will be broadcast online 24 hours a day as she treks across the country and talks with people along the way. That footage will also be edited into a weekly online TV show.

Originally from Michigan, Milkins has lived in Tucson for the past six years and is a performance artist. She has done numerous other projects, including one focusing on people in Mexico City, which Milkins titled Walking Stories: Mexico City.

Walking Home: Stories from the Desert to the Great Lakes will focus on community and social interactions.

To learn more about Milkins' Walking Home project, or to watch the live-streaming video, visit the Walking Home website.

The Berger Performing Arts Center raised $6,000 from about 200 spectators at its benefit concert on April 16, bringing the center that much closer to keeping a piano in its halls, says Brandon Howell, manager of the performing arts center.

The money will go toward the $35,000 needed for the center to buy a piano to replace its 7 1/2-foot grand piano, which is being reclaimed by Yamaha and Hachenberg and Sons.

Loaned to the performing arts center, on the campus of the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind, the piano was originally offered as an artist-placement piano to further Yamaha's name and reputation with performers and spectators at the Berger Performing Arts Center, says Paul Calvin, general manager of the keyboard division of Yamaha.

Yamaha has taken and replaced two other pianos at the center over the last 13 years without charge—but if the center wants to keep a piano at its location, it must now come up with the discounted price of $35,000 to either buy the grand piano back or purchase a similar one. The center's current piano has a retail value of about $65,000, says Mark Hachenberg, owner of Hachenberg and Sons, the local distributor of the piano.

Although the money raised through the benefit concert is only a small fraction of what's needed, Howell says the concert has generated interest among the community and possible private donors.

The center will begin contacting potential donors and exploring additional avenues of revenue this week.

"It was successful," Howell says of the concert. "It really was our jumping-off point."

Howell says he received notice from Yamaha in January that the company would be reclaiming the performing arts center's piano and selling it, due to financial issues as a result of the national economy.

While Yamaha originally gave Berger officials until April to come up with the money for the piano, the company extended its deadline, then told Howell last week that it would not reclaim the piano until the center had raised the necessary funds.

While Yamaha's indefinite deadline extention takes a load of stress off, Howell says he is not sure how long it will take to raise the $35,000 needed.

"I would love to say it will be in one or two months, but it's hard to tell at this point," he says. "We want it to happen sooner rather than later."

Spike Jonze films Los Angeles dancer Lil Buck improvising to Yo Yo Ma's performance of Mikhail Fokine’s "The Dying Swan", and the world is for a second a better, more beautiful place.

[HT: Daily What]

This is a video of a cat dressed up as a hot dog eating a hot dog his owner made by pressing together chicken and vegetables. While the hot dogs look like something my cats wouldn't even touch, you have to say "Yay to hot dog cannibalism."

From a roadside gift shop called Boomland in Charleston, Missouri.

[HT: Reddit]

• Michael Hillman

Michael Hillman didn’t always know that photography would be his passion. Since he was young, Hillman would flip through the pages of surfing magazines to look at the photographs. The vivid colors and exotic locations captured his attention. Since he was young, Hillman has been engrossed in visuals.