Davis Dominguez, a long-running gallery of contemporary art and a respected venue that shows many local artists, will close its doors at the end of June.

After that, the gallery’s elegant warehouse space at 154 E. Sixth St. may house the popular Mexican restaurant Lerua’s, which lost its own longtime space to the Broadway widening, Lerua’s is in negotiations, says building owner Mark Berman, but no contract has been signed.

Wife and husband gallerists, Candice Davis, age 72, and Mike Dominguez, age 73, say that they had been considering closing the gallery for some time.

“Candy and I have been semi-retired for the last couple of years,” Dominguez said Wednesday afternoon, with painter Juan Enriquez(cq) running the gallery several days a week. The two owners are devoted hikers and, Davis added, “We’re in good shape. There are lots of things we can do.”

Berman said that their current lease actually ends March 1, but he’s allowing the pair to keep the gallery going until June 30, when Davis Dominquez typically ends its season.

The gallery will stage three more shows, including Pure Abstract: Paintings by Joanne Kerrihard, collage and paintings by Amy Metier and sculpture by Steve Murphy, which opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday night. (See info on all three shows below.)

It will be a scramble to clear out the gallery in the short time after the final exhibition ends June 13. Among the many tasks, the owners will have to ship years of artworks back to the artists.

“I’m nervous about getting it all done,” Davis says.

Dominguez and Davis have rented the space from Berman for some 20 years, and they say they’ve had a productive relationship.

“Mark is the finest landlord and a great supporter of the arts,” Dominguez said.

Most funny for your money

Laff’s Comedy Caffe is the place for the that New Year’s date: fancy dinner, champagne and a show to help count down the old year, then home in time to cuddle up and watch the fireworks around the world. Or hit the late show for champagne and sweets with your sweetie. Or your Meetup Group or your homies or BFFs. Entertainer Ron Feingold couldn’t be a better choice for an evening everybody wants to leave happy.

A Feingold show is literally all things to all people. He has movie-star looks and swagger but can sing like Kermit the Frog with a vocal technique that makes it sound like a duet. All his impressions are spot on, and his observations craftily twisted.

He can mix things up with intelligent innuendo and a remarkably sophisticated dick joke, when the occasion permits. His website includes clips of his original songs, F-You Button and Prostate. And yet, his career cornerstone is as a comedian and emcee for squeaky clean conference formats. He also offers his own conference presentation, The Power of the Smile, which combines his music and comedy with an almost scholarly grasp of how smiling affects life and work.

Feingold has been acting since he was 10, mostly in musical comedies. By the time he was in college, he was leveraging his comedy theatre experience into a standup career. He became a licensed pilot and earned a psychology degree, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. His life since then has been a steady stream of comedy clubs, cruise ships and corporate events.

Showtimes are 7:30 for the dinner show and 9 p.m. for the dessert bar. Admission is $30 plus drinks, tax and gratuities. Visit laffstucson.com/newyears or call for information and reservations.

TIM’s Year-End Laugh Out

Wear your ugly holiday sweater one last time at Tucson Improv Movement on New Year’s Eve. It’s good for $1 off beer, wine and White Claw all night, and the theater has stocked champagne for the occasion.

TIM’s intimate, 45-seat theater can be cozy like a party with friends. Its New Year’s events have sold out in years past. Tickets are $10 for two shows, 7:30 and 9 p.m., or $7 each. Advance reservations are via squareup.com or tucsonimprov.com.

The evening’s entertainment, New Year, Who ‘Dis, features a 7:30 extravaganza of 16 ugly-sweater-clad, top TIM improvisers playing for audience interaction and laughs-per-minute. At 9 p.m., TIM’s premier team, The Soapbox, will riff on stories told by five of the most popular monologists who performed with them in 2019.

To help give the year a laugh-loaded send-off, the team welcomes back TIM member and producer of Keep Tucson Sketchy Rich Gary, Unscrewed Theatre member and standup comedian Allana Erickson-Lopez, fashion designer Carmen Melero, founder of the Tucson Fringe Festival Maryann Green and journalist, crime reporter and author, AJ Flick.

Last laughs for 2019 at Hotel McCoy

Hotel McCoy’s popular free monthly comedy showcase, Last Friday, Last Laughs, wraps up its first year with a great local lineup from 8 to 9:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 27. Full houses have been the rule lately, so plan to arrive early for seating. Pinche’s food truck will be on hand for dinner.

The lineup includes Autumn Horvat, Kev Lee, Dom DiTolla, David Ross, Eli Turner, Paul Fox, Andrea Salazar and Monte Benjamin. Visiting former Tucsonan Noah Copfer rounds out the bill. Copfer now plies his comedy and acting skills in L.A., but apparently returns for holidays. He also stopped in for The Mint open mic over Thanksgiving weekend.

After the show at Hotel McCoy, you can head on over to SkyBar for …

What Really Happened?

Josiah Osego and Alex Kack return to SkyBar for another edition of What Really Happened from 9:30 to 11 p.m., Friday, December 27. The original show invites standup comedians to tell five short stories each, and then let the audience decide which one is not true. Winning audience members get prizes and discounts with their bragging rights.

This month’s comedians include Bisbee comic and open mic host Maggie O’Shea, newcomer Abigail Chesney and up and comers Jesus Otamendi, Tim Maggard and Nick Chant.

Even More Laughs

Friday, Dec. 27, Standup with Ron Feingold at 8 and 10:30 p.m. ($12.50 and $17.50), Laffs Comedy Caffe. Improv with The Riveters, Portmansplain and Choice Cut at 7:30 p.m., and The Soapbox at 9 p.m. ($5), Tucson Improv Movement (TIM). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m. ($5 and $8) and Free Form Friday Fight Night, 9 p.m.(free), Unscrewed Theater.

Saturday, Dec. 28, Standup with Ron Feingold at 7 and 9:30 p.m. ($12.50 and $17.50), Laffs Comedy Caffe, and comedian-magician Rod Wayne at 8 p.m. ($10 via Eventbrite, $15 at the door), The O. Improv with Laugh Tracks and The Game Show Show at 7:30 p.m., and The Dating Scene and Pilot Season at 9 p.m. ($5) TIM. Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m. Uncensored improv with NBOJU at 9 p.m. ($5 and $8), Unscrewed Theater.

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Dec. 29, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 7 p.m., The Screening Room.
Thursday, Jan. 2, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe, and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Kristine Levine heads up an anniversary bash

Almost any comedy club in the country would welcome the lineup for Brew Ha Ha’s fourth-anniversary show. Kristine Levine headlines a bill that includes Jamie Kilstein, who just co-headlined with Ian Harris at 191 Toole; perennially popular regional headliner Pauly Casillas; and Michael Longfellow, who headlines at The O on Tuesday, December 21.

After four years of getting better almost monthly, Tucson’s longest-running independent comedy show is also its best value. Incredibly, tickets are still just $5. The celebration is at 8 p.m., Friday, December 20 at Borderlands Brewery. Make reservations on squareup.com or pay at the door. Dogs are always welcome.

According to her biography at kristinelevine.com, “Kristine is best known for her role on the hit Netflix series Portlandia, and her starring role in the recently re-released film, 'The Unbookables'."
The Unbookables, produced by comedian Doug Stanhope, introduced the world to what’s been called The Doug Stanhope Family. Often recognized as one of America’s top comedians, Stanhope is cursed, or blessed, with a blazing intellect and unique cultural fluency in the midnight realms of human opportunity.

For The Unbookables, first released in 2012, Stanhope loaded an unreliable van with hand-picked acolytes and dispatched them on a tour of sleazy midwestern comedy clubs. The results, hilarious, provocative and defiant, were re-released last year on Amazon Prime Video.

Levine also appeared in Welcome to Bridgetown, a documentary about the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, starring Patton Oswalt; Stanhope’s TV special documentary, Beer Hall Putsch; and the TV series, Permanent Comedy with Todd Armstrong.

In 2018 she released a popular recording of her explicit spoken word and comedy performance, “Hey Sailor,” on the Stand Up! Records label. It’s available via Amazon.com Music and other online outlets.

Levine’s comedy endearingly and alarmingly revolves around more than a decade working in a porn store and raising three children. By all accounts, she did an exceptional job at both.

Since moving from her Portland home town, she has become a local standup icon and radio star in Tucson, co-hosting The Frank Show on 96.1 KLPX from 6 to 10 a.m., weekdays. The show can be heard streaming live at klpx.com.

Her bio says it best, “A mother of three, married four times, with stories of love, disaster and 14 years clerking in a porn store, this woman has lived to see it all.” She also is the first female comedian to have toured all 50 states.

Casillas is the only local in the lineup. He’s the devoted, hometown-bound dad of two very young daughters. The nationwide popularity of his Twitter account launched him into standup when his wife was pregnant with their first daughter. His stage range has since extended primarily to Phoenix, where he is as popular as he is here. He founded The Switch, a combination improv, and standup show, that still runs at The Hut, hosted by Matt Ziemak. Casillas now hosts it periodically in Phoenix’s trendy Crescent Ballroom.

We wrote about new Tucsonan-via-Los Angeles Jamie Kilstein last week when he co-headlined with Ian Harris at 191 Toole. It was a festival of nerdish comedy and the people who love it. Kilstein’s laugh lines come in a rush of bemusement about paradoxes the rest of us take for granted.

A late addition to the bill is Michael Longfellow, about whom you’ll find more, below. He also headlines at The O on Saturday, December 21.

Michael Longfellow at The O

At the age of 25, Michael Longfellow has a solid grounding for a successful comedy career. He's placed second in Atlanta’s storied Laughing Skull Comedy Festival. He also has performed on Conan and was tapped by Turner Broadcasting (TBS) as one of its Comics to Watch. Fans now can follow him on Hidden America with Jonah Ray and Bring The Funny on NBC.

It just shows how far good looks, ambition, talent and hard work can take some people. Longfellow started comedy and college at the same time in his home town of Phoenix. He performed regularly at the Tempe Improv and Stand Up Live. Importantly, he also helped run The Big Pine Comedy Festival in Flagstaff, where he met comedians and producers from all over the country.

Longfellow headlines at The O at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 21. Reservations are $7 via Eventbrite and $10 at the door. The club has a two-drink minimum. The O encourages audience members to enjoy its new, free after-show tradition of karaoke with the comedians.

More Laughs!

Friday, Dec. 20, Standup with Michael Malone, 8 and 10:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50) and Beginners and Veterans Comedy at 10:30 p.m. at Tucson Improv Movement (TIM)($5) Long-form improv with Choice Cut, Improv 401 and Como Se Dice at 7:30 p.m. and The Soapbox at 9 p.m., at Tucson Improv Movement (TIM) ($5). Family-friendly improv with Completely Unscrewed (NBOJU full cast) at 7:30 p.m., Unscrewed Theatre ($5 and $8).

Saturday, Dec. 21: Standup with Michael Malone at 7 and 9:30 p.m., at Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv with The Ugly Sweater Show and Harold Alpha at 7:30 p.m., and another Ugly Sweater Show with The Dating Scene at 9 p.m., TIM ($5). Family-friendly improv with Elves Gone Bad: A Pirate’s Christmas at 1 p.m., Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., and Unscrewed Double Feature at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8)

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Dec. 22, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Dec. 23, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Dec. 24, 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy at The Music Box Lounge.
Thursday, Dec. 26, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Giving a whole new meaning to punch line

“I feel like, as opposed to LA, everyone in Arizona can actually defend me in a fight,” says comedian Jamie Kilstein. He likes it here. That’s a lucky thing because five months ago he moved here on a whim. “I have actually grown more (here) artistically than in my life in L.A. and New York,” he says.

Not that those great comedy cities treated him badly. He debuted on Conan. He’s been on MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Showtime, The Joe Rogan Experience and BBC America. He launched two podcasts, and he earned a national reputation for smart, edgy political comedy, joking about arcana that actually matters. He’s lately joking about other facts of life, but all the high-speed punches arise from the same energy.

Kilstein performs with fellow cult favorite Ian Harris and Albuquerque up and comer Ron Swallow at 8 p.m. Sunday, December 15 at 191 Toole.

Kilstein and Harris became friends in Los Angeles. “We kind of clicked because we both have political material. Oddly enough, we also train and coach Mixed Martial Arts.

“I think people who fight oftentimes don’t have much of an ego because we get our ass kicked a lot,” he says. “So, the idea of splitting a bill was more exciting to us. I just want to make art with people I like.”

Ian Harris started both fighting and doing impressions at age 6, inspired by the movie, Rocky. “As a kid I’d watch all the boxing matches,” Harris says, “and I would do all the play by plays and the interviews after the fight for my parents. I would be Muhammed Ali being interviewed by Howard Cosell.”
He says his whole family were really funny, so it’s not surprising that he would find jokes everywhere, even in taboo subjects. “I can’t avoid it. Even on accident I talk about religion or politics. Those are the things that interest me. Bur I personally steer away from (drug humor). I don’t do a lot of alcohol or relationships.” Nor do either he or Kilstein do jokes about martial arts.

“I think a lot of my stuff comes from a very nerdy kind of scientific background,” Harris says. “Like ‘Look at these weird beliefs. Conspiracy theories, religion, and why do we believe in these things when the evidence so clearly is the other way.”

Of the show, he says, “It’s going to be nerdy and edgy. I think it’s going to be really fun.” Tickets are $12 and $15 via Rialtotheatre.com. Doors open at 7.

Mega Lineup at Casa Marana

Dave Margolis presents a blockbuster lineup at the December 12 edition of his free semi-monthly Casa de Comedy Show at Casa Marana. Featured are Andrea Salazar, Nick Chant, Dominic DiTolla, Ashley Anna Tappan, Stephanie Lyonga, Monte Benjamin Roxy Merrari and Charles Ludwig. Most have headlined bigger shows in Tucson. Hear Margolis co-hosting the weekly Is This On comedy radio show at 9 p.m. Wednesdays at xerocraft.org/listen.php .

Applause for the Paws!

Sarah Kennedy headlines at The O to benefit the Humane Society of Southern Arizona at 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 13. A 6:30 cocktail hour features an adoption event to make the day a lucky one for some shelter pets.

Kennedy started performing comedy in 2009 a few blocks from her Albuquerque home. After producing many shows, and sweeping her hometown papers’ Best Comedian awards, she left for the bright lights of NYC.

There, she appeared on the Today Show and MTV, wrote for The Advocate and Reductress and was a finalist in a national, NBC Stand-Up for Diversity competition.

Now back in Albuquerque she’s been a welcome guest on Tucson stages. Also performing are a hometown favorite drag queen, Miss Nature, and Autumn Horvat, creator and host of Comedians Who Aren’t Men. Eli Turner hosts. Tickets are $10 via support.hssaz.org/event/applause-for-paws/e255190.

Free Centenary Retro Game Show!

The longest-running live show in Tucson just keeps growing as its lascivious send-ups of mid-century TV game shows pack trendy Club Congress month after month.

The ensemble’s 100th show, and 8th-year anniversary, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14, welcomes back six popular “celebrity guests” from shows gone by to play an anniversary round of The Mismatch Game. The towering and authoritative host Chatty Kathee presides with her sassy executive assistant Swish Marley.

To celebrate, the show is free with a donation to Toys for Tots. Seating is first come, first served, and there will be no splash zone.

The Pirates Who (almost) Stole Christmas

Kids from the audience help improvise the storyline of Elves Gone Bad: A Pirate’s Christmas at 1 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, through December 22. Reservations are $5 at unscrewedtheater.org/events/

The story is that Santa and the missus have retired to Tucson, leaving the North Pole elves unemployed. What with the melting Polar Ice Cap, apparently, an evil pirate captain sails to Santa’s workshop to recruit the elves as pirates. Pirates, of course, steal presents instead of giving them. Mayhem ensues, and only audience members can put things back right, somehow.

We think all the elves and reindeer should move to Tucson, form a union and put Jeff Bezos out of business. How about you?

Lots More Comedy

Friday, Dec. 13: Standup with Keith Carey featuring Matt Holt at 8 and 10:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv with Beefeaters and Improv 501 Showcase at 7:30 p.m. and The Soapbox at 9 p.m. at TIM Comedy Theatre (TIM)($5). Improv Blox student showcase at 6 p.m., Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m. and Freeform Friday at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8). Burlesque with The Manly Manlesque Show: Silent Night, Deadly Night at 10 p.m., Surly Wench Pub ($10 to $20)

Saturday, Dec. 14: Kids improv, F.O.M.P. (Friends of Make Pretends) at 2 p.m. at TIM Comedy Theatre ($5) Standup with Keith Carey featuring Matt Holt at 7 and 9:30 p.m., at Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv with the Ugly Sweater Show and Harold Omega at 7:30 p.m., and The Family of Things and The Dating Scene at 9 p.m. at TIM ($5). Family-friendly Elves Gone Bad: A Pirate’s Christmas at 1 p.m., Unscrewed Family Hour at 6 p.m., and NBOJU: Uncensored at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Dec. 15, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Dec. 16, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Dec. 17, 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy, The Music Box Lounge.
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m., The Screening Room and 8:30 p.m., The Mint.
Thursday, Dec.19, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

CBCTAC presents Anna Valenzuela

“Latinas make 54 cents to every white male dollar, which is why I have to take a roll of toilet paper from every business I enter for rest of my life.”

So tweeted Anna Valenzuela recently, making us spew our coffee while holding up a mirror to the privilege in our white feminism. We can expect a whole set of such darkly colorful insights, delivered with authentic warmth and much laughter, at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 7 at The O. Tickets are $5 via Eventbrite.

A legit black belt in karate, Valenzuela slayed the field with snaps on a recent Comedy Central Roast Battle. She appears regularly at the Comedy Store and The Improv and was a favorite at Second City’s Los Angeles Diversity in Comedy Festival. She also hosts two podcasts: 12 Questions, an in-depth look at sobriety, and Bruja-ja, where three Latinas dish on all things Latinx.

A Los Angelean, Valenzuela will be the first touring headliner featured in the cheekily titled comedy show series Cunts Being Cunts Taking About Cunts. Organizers Mo Urban and Steena Salido have lately shortened it to CBCTAC in print, presumably for convenience, because: Why else?

The show opens with an improv set by AllReddy, comprising Allana Erickson-Lopez of Unscrewed Theatre and Katherine Morter. The lineup also includes Phoenician Alice Valpey and Tucson comics Andrea Salazar, Chinna Garza, Em Bowen and Kathie Hedrick.

As at every CBCTAC show, feminine hygiene products will be collected for Project Period, a program of the YWCA of Southern Arizona.

Cristela Alonzo: My Affordable Care Act

Cristela Alonza performs at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 7, at the Rialto Theatre. Tickets are $19 to $36 at rialtotheatre.com.

Alonzo is comedy’s answer to Dolores Huerta, her idol. Her website, cristelaalonzo.com, devotes as much space to her causes as to her comedy. She writes, “I am a first-generation American born to an undocumented mother that taught me to love this country. I believe it is my duty to give back and fight so that everyone can get the same thing my family got: a chance.”

And then she quotes Huerta. “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”

Alonzo created her own bully pulpit five years ago with Cristela, a network sitcom that she wrote, produced and starred in herself. Soon after, she began guest-hosting the daytime roundtable show, The View. In 2017, she became the first Latina lead in a Pixar film, voicing the part of Cruz Ramirez in Cars 3. Lower Classy, her first standup special, is streaming on Netflix.

Last month a Simon & Shuster imprint published her book, Music to My Years: A Mixtape Memoir of Growing Up and Standing Up. The stories reveal her vulnerability and her challenges, like the tap shoes she made for herself with bottle caps, and how standup comedy helped her process her grief when her mother died.

When not doing comedy, Alonzo devotes her time to activism around immigration, universal healthcare, social justice, HIV AIDS awareness and prevention, reproductive rights, Special Olympics and LUPE, La Union del Pueblo Entero, founded by Huerta with César Chávez. She’s on their board.

From the struggles she sees in others and in her own life, Alonzo crafts comedy that welcomes us into her world with the light of her humanity.

Mishka Shubaly at The Wench

Comedy at the Wench breaks its open-mic format at 7 p.m. Monday, December 9, to bring us comedian and pan-genius Mishka Shubaly.

Best known as a writer and musician, Shubaly has the wits and the wit to have turned a self-made disaster of a life into a livelihood. His childhood broke his heart, youth was a struggle and he was an alcoholic by the time he graduated college at 15. Yet at 22, he received the Dean’s Fellowship from the Master’s Writing Program at Columbia.

A dissolute life ensued, yielding six record albums, one with Brooklyn’s goth, post-punk band, Freshkills. Shubaly’s six Kindle Singles all have been best sellers. In 2016, Public Affairs published his memoir, I Swear I’ll Make It Up To You: A Life on the Low Road. He also teaches writing at the Yale Writers Conference. Luckily, he got sober at 32, inspired by marathon running.

The Wench show also features Jake Flores. Not to be reductive but we’re running out of space. Flores’ website URL says it all: feraljokes.com Reservations are $5, or $10 for preferred seating in the show room. These special shows at The Surly Wench have been selling out, so we recommend reservations via [email protected] on PayPal or @wenchcomedy on Venmo.

Arroyo Café Radio

David Fitzsimmons is having a busy weekend. Last week we wrote about his project for fellow old folks, Still Standing up. Featuring five comedians over 60, the show makes fun of things only old people know about. Take that, millennial smarty-pantses.

To recap, Still Standing Up is at 6 p.m., Sunday, December 8, at Laffs Comedy Caffe. Reservations are $10 via Eventbrite.com.

On December 7, though, at 1 p.m., Fitzsimmons hosts another epic production of his annual Arroyo Café Holiday Radio Show at the Rialto Theatre. More than 20 local celebrities perform a loosely scripted radio play around musical guests and other entertainments and surprises, Including Wilbur Wildcat.

It’s all staged in an old-time radio show format with an iconic reconstruction of a ‘40s microphone. Comedians in the cast include KXCI’s Bridgitte Thum, Mike Sterner, Josiah Osego, Elliot Glicksman, Jay Taylor, Priscilla Fernandez, David Membrila and Bobby Rich. Tickets are $20 via Eventbrite.com. Proceeds benefit three local organizations that help immigrants and Arizona Public Media, which broadcasts the show on Christmas Eve.

Lots More Comedy

Friday, Dec. 6: Standup with Geoff Asmus featuring Brian Mollica at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv with Improv 201 and 301 Student showcases at 7:30 p.m. and The Soapbox featuring rugby captain Kristin Pope at 9 p.m. at TIM Comedy Theatre (TIM)($5). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).
Saturday, Dec. 7: Standup with Michael Carbonara at 7 p.m. at Desert Diamond Casino ($27.50 to $47.50) Geoff Asmus featuring Brian Mollica at 7 and 9:30 p.m., at Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv with Ugly Sweater Improv and Pilot Season at 7:30 p.m., and the 101 Student Showcase and The Dating Scene at 9 p.m. at TIM ($5). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m. and musical improv with From the Top at 9 p.m. at Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).
Monday, Dec. 9: Standup with John Waters at 8 p.m. at the Rialto Theatre ($33 to $110) and Mishka Shubaly with Jake Flores at The Surly Wench.

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy at The Music Box Lounge.
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m., The Screening Room and 8:30 p.m. at The Mint.
Thursday, Dec.12, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Very Good #4

After a lot of publicity surrounding the digital de-aging or Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for the project, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman arrives on Netflix, and it’s a typically very good offering from the auteur. It has a few problems, but the opportunity to see the likes of De Niro, Pacino and Joe Pesci in a movie together under the Great One’s tutelage more than overrides the shortfalls.

The film is based on the book about Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (De Niro) called I Heard You Paint Houses (which is actually the name of the film in the opening credits). Sheeran was a labor union and occasional hitman who had ties to Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). The film, like the book, claims that he was the actual triggerman in the assassination of Hoffa.

The film covers a long timespan. We see Sheeran from his thirties up until shortly before his death in his eighties. All ages are played by De Niro, and the much ballyhooed digital de-aging of De Niro (along with Pacino and Pesci) is mostly a bust. There are moments where De Niro looks perhaps a tad younger than his 76 years (he might pass for 58), but it always looks like bad makeup, dye jobs and funky lighting rather than high tech effects masterfully at work. Plus, these are old voices coming out of digitally enhanced, oddly smooth faces. Not to mention obviously stiffer postures.

Distracting effects aside, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci are priceless in their parts, no matter what age they are depicting. Scorsese has made a nice companion piece to his gangster epic Goodfellas (as a Scorsese fan, I consider Casino one of his few missteps), an ugly depiction of the loneliness and alienation that results from things like shooting your friends in the head.

While Goodfellas had a rather likeable, and unintentionally funny, antihero in Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill, none of the main guys in this movie are likeable, especially Sheeran. De Niro depicts the guy as a meathead, a lackey who takes orders from the likes of Pesci’s Russell Bufalino and Pacino’s Hoffa. Sheeran provides few excuses for even uncomfortable laughter; he is quietly despicable and evil at his core.

Pacino is the film’s most fun as a blustering, ice cream obsessed Hoffa. He’s also the angriest guy in the movie, with Pacino sinking his teeth into many an opportunity to go from zero to one hundred in mere screen seconds. Pacino shares a couple of scenes with Stephen Graham as Anthony Provenzano, one of the men suspected of participating in Hoffa’s eventual disappearance in ’75. Pacino and Graham square off in a way that goes right into the “Best Pacino Moments” time capsule.

The film has an epic scope at over 3 ½ hours. I suspect there will be a lot of pausing for bathroom and snack breaks in one’s household due to its presence on Netflix, and that’s too bad. I think Scorsese should’ve put an intermission in the middle, perhaps choosing his preferred moment for the viewer to gather themselves up for the finale, a fine finale at that.

For Scorsese fans, seeing De Niro and Pesci sharing scenes again, talking Italian and dipping bread in wine, is a holiday season cinematic gift like no other. This is De Niro’s best work in years, and Pesci gets a chance to play subdued in a Scorsese flick, which pays major dividends. He depicts Bufalino as a quiet, polite, extremely dangerous man, and it’s mesmerizing.

With the decade coming to a close, The Wolf of Wall Street remains champ as Scorsese’s best effort in the last ten years. That’s more high praise for Wolf than a putdown of The Irishman, which is a fine film in its own right, if something short of a masterpiece. It’s a movie that fits comfortably in the gangster genre, while perhaps firmly shutting the lid on it as far as Scorsese and De Niro are concerned. If it’s their last film together, they are going out on a high note.

The City of Tucson is opening its inaugural outdoor ice skating rink on Friday, located at 45 N. 5th Ave., across the street from Hotel Congress.

The rink, which will open at 4 p.m., will operate from Nov. 29 to Jan. 5, and will be open seven days a week, except for Christmas Day.

The rink will be available to the public and for private events during off-hours, with the facility operating from 4-10 p.m. on Monday-Friday, noon-10 p.m. on Saturday and noon-7 p.m. on Sunday.

Open skate will cost $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under, with skate rental included in that cost. Socks are required and gloves are highly recommended.

All purchases must be made at the rink, with no discounts given out for bringing your own skates. For more information on the rink and to make a reservation, call (520)-791-4101.

The Tucson Museum of Art is celebrating the local launch of The Queen Next Door: An Intimate Portrait of Aretha Franklin by photojournalist Linda Solomon. The event features Solomon in person, plus a pop-up photo installation, book signing and conversation with the author.

Solomon wrote and photographed for The Queen Next Door over the course of four decades. The book features more than 200 exclusive photographs, plus a foreword by composer Burt Bacharach and an afterword by Aretha’s niece.

“I met Aretha in 1983. At this time I was a columnist with the Detroit News. I arranged with a producer of a local talk show in Detroit to come down and take one photograph of Aretha,” Solomon says. “I did a column about this first meeting and shortly after I received a message from Aretha inviting me to a private reception with her family at the Mayor’s residence in Detroit . She continued to invite me to private rehearsals with The Rolling Stones, James Brown and others.”

Solomon, a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, has written and photographed for multiple books. She also founded the Pictures of Hope program, which supports homeless children, including those in Tucson, through the power of photography.

“My book shows Aretha’s realness and the photographs shows how she gave her heart and her soul to everything she did,” Solomon says. “The photographs are intimate, fun and express the heart of an international treasure.”

A Night With Aretha at the Tucson Museum of Art. Tuesday, Dec. 3. 6 to 8 p.m. 140 North Main Avenue. Free. For more information, visit tucsonmuseumofart.org/event/a-night-with-aretha

“We’re here in Manchester and just got news that Years to Burn (Sub Pop, 2019) has received two Grammy nominations,” Calexico proudly announced via Facebook, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, after having received the fortuitous news.  

“Thank you to all at The Recording Academy and everyone who has supported this collaboration. Thanks also to Sub Pop Records, City Slang, [record producer] Matt Ross-Spang and everyone involved in the making of this record.”

Calexico are in the running for two awards for their collaboration with Iron & Wine: Best Americana Album for Years To Burn and Best American Roots Performance for “Father Mountain.”

Quite a distinction. Calexico, along with Iron & Wine, are shining bright in the “Midnight Sun.”

The 2020 Grammy's will be presented on Sunday, Jan. 26. CBS will broadcast the ceremony live.

The Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance and the Town of Oro Valley are once again partnering to bring the largest celebration of the arts and culture in the region back to town in the form of the Oro Valley Holiday Festival of the Arts & Tree Lighting Celebration.

The creative place making event returns Saturday, Dec. 7 and Sunday, Dec. 8 to the Oro Valley Marketplace (12155 N. Oracle Road). The two-day festival includes more than 150 artisans, 30 performances by student and local musicians, family arts activities, food trucks, the TUBACHRISTMAS holiday play-along, an appearance by Santa and plenty opportunities to make some memories with your loved ones.
 
Festivities culminate in the lighting of the 35-foot Oro Valley holiday tree at 6 p.m. on Dec. 7. A community favorite, TUBACHRISTMAS takes place Dec. 7 at 2 p.m.

Entertainment Schedule


Saturday, Dec. 7

10 to 10:30 a.m.: Oro Valley Jazz Band
10:40 to 11:10 a.m.: SASO Flute Ensemble
11:15 to 11:40 a.m.: Maguire Academy of Irish Dance
11:50 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.: One Rehearsal Short
12:10 to 12:40 p.m.: Sons of Orpheus
12:50 to 1:05 p.m.: Wilson Elementary Choir
1:10 to 1:30 p.m.: Wilson Middle School Choir
2:00 to 2:45 p.m.: Tuba Christmas
3:00 p.m.: Santa Arrival Procession with Ironwood Marching Band 
3:10 p.m.: Opening Remarks by Andrew Capasso
3:30 to 3:50 p.m.: Painted Sky Elementary Chorus
4:00 to 4:15 p.m.: Oro Valley Team Dance
4:20 to 5:00 p.m.: Kids Unlimited
5:10 to 5:30 p.m.: Tucson Girls Chorus Northwest Choir
5:00 p.m.: Lauren Lawson performing at Tree
5:30 p.m.: Carolyn’s Carolers performing at Tree 
6:00 p.m.: Tree Lighting Celebration with Santa at Tree

Carolyn’s Carolers will play music through the event from 4 to 5:50 p.m.

Sunday, December 8

10:15 to 10:45 a.m.: Lauren Lawson (Oro Valley Singer-Songwriter)
11 to 11:45 a.m.: Absinthe Beat Cats (Jazz and Holiday)
Noon to 12:45 p.m.: Nossa Bossa Nova (Brazilian Holiday Songs)
1 to 1:45 p.m.: Desert Melodies (Holiday Favorites)
2 to 2:30 p.m.: Coronado Middle School Singers
3 to 3:45 p.m.: The Nazarene Band 

Havin’ a Blast A Capella Quartet will perform music through the event from noon to 2 p.m.

Innovation Station

At this year’s Innovation Station, presented by Pima Federal Credit Union, The University of Arizona Center for Digital Humanities will present a virtual reality station utilizing Oculus VR to display 3D art designs. Attendees can also paint in a “3D immersive landscape” with Google’s TiltBrush software.

Bookman’s will also host a literary pop up where children can hear stories from local authors, or enjoy a superhero adventure with the Comic Bookmobile, hosted by Frank Powers.

Chalk Art

Sponsored by the Town of Oro Valley, the festival will also feature holiday-themed murals from local artists Wesley Creigh and Alex Jimenez in front of the Walmart and Century Theaters.