Mark your calendars: On Tuesday September 17th, there will be a special benefit for Southern Arizona Greyhound Rescue at Feast. Thanks to the generosity of Chef Doug Levy and his team, 20% of all food & beverage purchases will be donated to this most-worthy cause. Doug is unarguably one of Tucson's most creative chefs and the SA Greyhound Adoption folks are thrilled to be working with him.

It should be a fun event for all involved, especially the lovely dogs that will be rescued. The event goes all day (11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.) and you must have a flyer to participate (here's a link to a PDF version).

Feast is located at 3719 E. Speedway Blvd.; call 326-9363 for reservations.

Al Jazeera America debuts the latest in the Faultlines documentary series, Cross Border Killings, about the recent spate of Border Patrol agent-involved shootings, at 7 p.m. tonight. The screening will be followed by an informal conversation the situation on the U.S./Mexico border.

The UA School of Journalism is hosting a community viewing of the documentary following by an informal conversation about the film and the border issues, from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. in room 312 on the third floor of the Marshall Building. (That's on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and Second Street; there will be someone at the east entrance to let you into the building.)

From Al Jazeera America:

In October 2012, a US Border Patrol agent fired through the 20 foot steel fence separating Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Mexico and killed an unarmed 16-year-old Mexican boy with 10 bullets through his body. This was not an isolated incident by a rogue agent, but just the latest in a string of cross-border shootings that raise serious questions about oversight and accountability of the Border Patrol. In the last three years, Border Patrol agents have killed 6 Mexican citizens on their native soil, firing through the border to threaten and injure even more. One man was shot while picnicking with his family on the banks of the Rio Grande. Another 15 year-old-boy was hit between the eyes with a bullet for allegedly throwing rocks. None of these cases has led to any known disciplinary action or criminal charges against the border police, and US courts have rejected claims made by victims’ families, asserting that Mexican citizens do not have the same constitutional protections as US citizens, effectively giving the agents carte blanche to act with impunity. In this episode, Fault Lines travels to the border town of Nogales — presently the nexus for this increasingly lawless law enforcement — to meet the Mexican families who have lost their young sons at the hands of US agents who many accuse of being immune from the law.

The Tucson Slutwalk and friends will gather from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at the Fourth Avenue Plaza, 318 N Fourth Ave., for the International Day of Action to end slut shaming, victim blaming and rape culture. There will be spoken word and other performances, along with a "This Is What A Slut Looks Like" photo booth. For more info on the International Day of Action go to their Facebook page here.

Fashionable cool people of Tucson! Friday night, Playground's rooftop is scheduled to taken over by the Playboi Party, the first in a series of quarterly open-air dance parties with "celebrity DJs, live Go-Go dancing and prominent Drag Queens." Based on the event's website, I feel like my distinct-lack-of-ripped-abs might be somewhat out of place at Playboi, but if you've been looking for a more fashionably chic take on gay nightlife, the party starts at 10 pm with Phoenix's Austin Head and Tucson's Bob Felix DJing and $4 Fireball and Ultimat Vodka drink specials. Cover is $5 before 11, $7 after.

Tucson Weekly readers, so far you've done your part in defending Tucson's craft beer-loving honor by voting the new-but-excellent establishment Tap & Bottle as a finalist in CraftBeer.com's Best American Beer Bar competition — what say we keep it going?

Today's the last day for you to vote for Tucson's beer bar representative to win the title of Best Beer Bar in the Mountain West Region (a mouthful, but still an honor), so why not help the rest of the country realize that we've got a damn good thing going here?

Sure, T&B will have to beat out the likes of that place in Scottsdale, along with a Nevada bar and a bunch of places in Colorado, but I've got a feeling that our combined beer-loving (and spite-generating) powers will be able to carry Tap & Bottle and Tucson over the hump and into the arms of victory.

So go, vote: it'll only take a few seconds, and you'll help Tucson get a well-deserved win. Everybody's happy!

Tucson's very own Santa Theresa Tile Works is in the running to potentially win a fairly nice amount of cash and adulation from Martha Stewart, and all they need to help with that is your votes.

Right now, Santa Theresa is in the nomination round of the contest, and is competing to be one of six finalists in the craft category of the Martha Stewart American Made competition. If they're able to make it all the way, garnering enough votes from around the country, they'll pull down $10,000 and get some rub from MarthaStewart.com, which isn't too shabby.

From the Santa Theresa Tile Works nomination page:

With my first public art commission for the Tucson International Airport in 1987, Santa Theresa Tile Works was born. A woman-owned, small business specializing in an art form that I wasn't too familiar with, was definitely a daunting venture - but I was up for the challenge. Due to my ceramics background, I began to hand-cut and glaze my clay tiles in the shapes and colors I needed from slabs of wet clay. Combining tile shapes inspired by nature, and the vibrant colors of Arizona's Southwestern/Mexican heritage, our handmade clay tiles became increasingly popular. With a new website and online shop, I am looking forward to expanding our audience and introducing them to the Santa Theresa-style of handmade tile.

Torta de huevo, Sonoran-style tepary beans, homemade tortillas, fruit salad, pan dulce, coffee and horchata are on the menu for a Tucson's Birthday breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 25, and a short walk takes you to the place where the Old Pueblo's earliest residents made their home.

• Note: This photo does not include the sight of my hideous hands.

We gave away most of our tickets for the remainder of the Tucson Padres' season/existence, but there are still six sets of four here at the Tucson Weekly office that I'd like to get in the hands of people who enjoy such things.

So, here's what we have left:

Wednesday, August 21
Saturday, August 24
Sunday, August 25
Monday, August 26
Tuesday, August 27
Wednesday, August 28

If you'd like these tickets, email us at [email protected] and say which game you'd like to go to (don't say any of them, because you probably don't mean it). On Monday, I'll email the lucky winners. You'll need to come pick up the tickets during normal business hours at 3280 E. Hemisphere Loop in the glamorous Airport Heights district, so keep that in mind.

Good luck!

(art by Chris Weston)

If you've never seen John Carpenter's 1981 post-apocalyptic, sci-fi masterpiece Escape From New York, or if it's been awhile, here's five reasons why you need to hustle over to The Loft Cinema this weekend.

1. The plot is simple. The year is 1997, and Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison. There's a wall around the island, and all the bridges are laced with bombs. There's no getting out of the Big Apple. The President of the United States, on his way to a peace summit, is taken hostage by the prisoners when Air Force One goes down near the World Trade Center. Snake Plissken, an eye-patched soldier of fortune recently sentenced to NYC, must go in and rescue him before the summit is over.

2. The cast is incredible. Veteran British actor Donald Pleasence, best known for playing the Van Helsing-like Dr. Loomis in Carpenter's groundbreaking Halloween, plays the president. Kurt Russell is Snake Plissken (more on this in reason #3). Soul singer, funk machine, and Blaxploitation star Issac Hayes is great fun as the villain, The Duke of New York. Spaghetti Western veteran Lee Van Cleef is rock-solid as Police Commissioner Bob Hauk, the man who sends Plissken inside with his mission. Rounding out the cast are Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau and Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine.

3. John Carpenter helped Kurt Russell shed his Disney image. Originally the studio wanted Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones for the lead, but Carpenter balked. Carpenter had cast Russell as Elvis Presley a few years previous in the TV-movie biopic Elvis, a role that landed Russell an Emmy nomination. Carpenter wanted to work with him again, and Russell wanted to shake his Disney-movie past. I'd say he succeeded. You wouldn't think the lead in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes could pull off the eye-patch wearin', no time for talkin' and Uzi totin' Plissken, but it cemented Russell's career as a bankable star. Maybe there's hope for Zac Efron yet.

4. The score. Since his debut film Dark Star, Carpenter had been composing his own scores. His trademark pulsating, monotone synthesizer drones are used to great effect in this. It brilliantly captures the urban decay and moral rot of the city and re-enforces the feeling of isolation and dread. The score ranks among one of Carpenter's best.

5. Escape from New York was highly influential... in Italy. Carpenter's film was a smash success overseas, and it opened the floodgates to a sea of imitators. Escape from New York was essentially remade over and over again as 1990: The Bronx Warriors, 2019: After the Fall of New York and Escape from The Bronx. They're each a pale slice of extra-cheese pizza compared to the original, but they're also pretty fun on their own merit.

Escape from New York is part of The Loft's Late Night Cult Classic series, and it's playing tonight and tomorrow at 10 p.m. More information can be found on their website.

School has started and families are starting to get into that after-school groove, but it's hard to give up those city summer excursions with the kiddos. At least that's what I'm experiencing right now, even though my kiddo is happy to be lugging a heavy backpack around all day. (What he sees in this school business, I'll never know.)

But rejoice, dear Tucson families, I've stumbled on something cool to do before that rush, rush, rush about town starts and we won't be able to take a deep breath until Thanksgiving: Twilight Thursdays at Tucson Botanical Gardens. Think of it as your end of summer celebration because you and the kids can boogie down in the middle of the gardens with Tucson's Cordials and take in some art by Tucson artist C.J. Shane. Can't think of anything better.

Tonight, Thursday, Aug. 15, from 5 to 8 p.m., adults $9, children $5, and there's a cash bar, food and ice cream. For members adults $5 and children $3. Next month (third Thursday) is music by Mustang Corners and an art show by 85712, a group show by artists living and working in this Tucson zip code.