Looking for a fresh start in a new town, rapper Johnny Redd moved to Tucson a year and a half ago from his hometown, Chicago. He moved to the Old Pueblo to be a film student at the Art Institute of Tucson, but quickly found himself invested in a solo music project.

Not long after moving to the Southwest, Redd began to perform at venues around town. His music, Redd says, always sends the message of positivity, as he tries to be optimistic through his music and in life.

"If you just put your mind to it and you feel like you can do it," Redd says, "It might not come like the next day but if you just keep trying and keep saying that it's going to happen, eventually it will."

Not knowing anyone in Tucson when he first moved here and having seen others start collaborative groups before, Redd, with the help of a few friends, started the Honor Roll Gang in January 2013. But Honor Roll Gang isn’t like other collaborative groups. Most people in the groups he had seen have something in common, according to Redd.

The Honor Roll Gang is a group of people from Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and California with a diverse set of career choices, from MMA, to visual and performing arts and even the medical field. The one thing they have in common is their goal to succeed in education. The group supports each other by working together on projects and supporting each other.

"I do a video ... it's from one of our songs that he produced , that he did the illustration on," Redd says as he points at his fellow Honor Roll Gang members. "So it's all of us in the project. Nobody else really."

The Honor Roll Gang will be performing at Club Congress tonight at 9 p.m. and at Mr. Heads on Saturday night.

• vans.com
• TMHS's entries into the Vans Custom Culture Contest

Tucson Magnet High School's art programs are in line for a $50,000 prize — but they'll need your help to get there.

Tucson High students are participants in the Vans Custom Culture contest, which sends out four pairs of shoes to various high schools around the country. There, arts students create custom designs for said shoes in any way they see fit, and are then pitted against the best designs from their region.

TMHS happens to be part of the Southwest region, competing against schools from the Phoenix area, Hawai'i, Colorado and Texas (the state of California is its own separate region, apparently).

From Vans.com:

Custom Culture is a national high school shoe customization contest where schools from all over the United States compete for a chance to win money for their art programs. Registered schools will receive four pairs of blank Vans sneakers to be customized in four themes: Art, Music, Action Sports and Local Flavor.

...

The Top Five finalists will be flown to New York City for an exclusive final event where the winner will be selected. The grand prize winning school will receive a $50,000 prize for their art program and the chance for their shoes to be produced and sold in Vans' retail stores. The four runner up schools will also receive money for their art programs.

Now, all of the shoes in TMHS's entry are pretty great in their own right, but I would buy a pair of those wood-grain Vans right now. Those things are spectacular, and I'd love to have them on my feet.

To see the other participants, and vote for Tucson High's entry, head to Vans Custom Culture. Voting ends May 13, so get cracking.

Nothing against our friends over at Heroes and Villains, but our Free Comic Book Day pick in this issue's City Week section unfortunately overlooked many of the other great shops around town.

So to correct that injustice, we're taking a look at the events that other comic book shops around town are running for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 4.

First off is a look at Fantasy Comics, one of the longest-running shops in town, over at 2595 N. First Ave., where they'll be giving away copies of books such as The Walking Dead, Star Wars, Superman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sesame Street, Spongebob Squarepants, Adventure Time and more all day long, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Fantasy will be bringing out a collection of local comic writers and artists, including Ben Truman, Eric Shock, Matt Howard, Conor Mahoney and Tim Champion. The Tucson Police Department Association will also be on hand to fingerprint children, and Baja Dogs will be serving up Sonoran hot dogs. For more, check out their website at fantasycomics2595.com

Next, Charlie's Comic Books, 5460 E. Speedway Blvd., will be giving away comics all day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and by all day, I mean all day. Word from owner Charlie Harris is that he's ordered quite a bit of stock for Free Comic Book Day so he'll have plenty on hand to give out "even when all of the other shops have run out of comics to give away," he said.

Charlie's is going to have 14 writers and artists at his shop throughout the day, including the husband and wife team of Ernesto and Bea Romero, Santino Castaneda, Ian Snyder, Jon Proudstar, Jenn Corella and Henry Barajas, among others. The shop is also going to hold a silent auction and a raffle, and will have catered sandwiches from Jimmy John's. For more, including the lengthy list of comics that will be given away, head to charliescomics.com.

Finally, Free Comic Book Day is going to be a big one for Campbell Avenue stalwart R-Galaxy, as the shop will be running a Grand Reopening in honor of its move one door south, to 2406 N. Campbell Ave. They'll be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., giving away comics, gifting door prizes to customers and holding comic book trivia contests. R-Galaxy also plans on scattering random auctions throughout the day for rare comics and figurines.

Also, as a result of the move, R-Galaxy will be running a clearance sale on their back stock, with some items selling for as much as 80% off. For more information on R-Galaxy and their Free Comic Book Day/Grand Re-Opening event, head to r-galaxy.com.

As a final note, Fantasy Comics and Charlie's Comic Books will both be accepting donations and running a canned food drive for the Community Food Bank, so if you head to those stores, make sure to bring some canned goods along with — it's for a good cause, after all.

If you know of any other comics shops or Free Comic Book Day events we've overlooked, please send us a note!

UApresents announced its 2013-2014 season on Tuesday night and there's a lot of stuff to like (Chris Thile from Nickel Creek on February 8! A run of shows at Club Congress by jazz pianist Jonathan Batiste in November! The rescheduled Lang Lang show on October 22! Other stuff I'm not really sophisticated enough to be into!), but the Red Baraat show scheduled for the Rialto on October 4 sounds particularly entertaining. I can't say I ever thought I'd want to hear a New Orleans-style brass band influenced by Bollywood jams, but it works, as you can hear in the NPR Tiny Desk show above.

Subscription renewals start today, with new season subscriptions kicking off on May 20, but individual tickets will be on sale starting June 10.

Hey folks, if you haven't yet submitted your ballot for the magical Best of Tucson® 2013 yet, what're you waiting for?

Voting ends on May 31, meaning you've got one month to tell us what your favorite Tucson hangouts, stores, restaurants and watering holes are.

Hit the link below for the ballot — and as a bonus bit of inspiration, I can think of nothing better than Arrested Development's resident illusionist, a Magician Named G.O.B.!

Vote Here!

From 6 to 10 p.m. (and most likely a little later), you can take in some great bands for a good reason. Whiskey Tango, 140 S. Kolb Road, hosts a benefit for AmoSphere drummer James Hunt, who was recently diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer.

Hunt's news arrived around the same time his mother passed away. To help him get home to see her, AmoSphere held a fundraiser for their drummer at a Chicago Bar gig on Friday, April 12. Band leader AmoChip Dabney told The Range the band raised about $3,000 to travel and funeral expenses.

The fundraiser tonight is for Hunt's medical treatment with one goal in mind—helping the drummer with med expenses that can possibly shrink his tumor, which is too large for Hunt to have surgery. The goal tonight: $7,000.

Thirteen bands are scheduled to play tonight, including AmoSphere, known for getting a crowd on the dance floor. Other bands include Neon Prophet, Crosscut Saw, Railbirdz, Bryan Dean Trio, Corey Spector, Nod Squad, Top Dead Center, AC Greenlaw and Lodestar, Midnight Blues Band, Tall Paul Band, Chilli Willi, and Heart to Heart. Comic Dan Wilkins and belly dancers will be on hand, along with a few surprises.

"We plan to squeeze out every dollar like a Jerry Lewis Telethon thing," Dabney said. "What's wonderful is that the bar is open until 2 a.m., so we'll be playing into the night. I think the even will easily run until 11:30 (p.m.)."

Dabney added that the number of bands who stepped forward to help out didn't surprise him. First, "Tucson is a very empathetic city."

"But James is also a very loved friend and musician. He's a good guy and one of the top six drummers in town and people really just like the guy," Dabney added.

Dabney said he Hunt began playing together around 2004. His drummer at the time had passed away, and he asked Hunt if he wanted to play with him.

"He wasn't playing around that much," Dabney said. "That sure changed once we started playing together. A lot of bands would have him. He's a profession and a great person."

AmoSphere plays a variety of reggae, blues, rock and zydeco. Dabney said Hunt easily moved from style to style.

While Hunt is unable to work while receiving treatment, he still wants to play with the band as much as possible.

"He said to me, 'It's one of the very few things I have left that I really enjoy,'" Dabney said.

So a few drummers are read to give him breaks as needed, and Dabney said he's happy to keep his friend playing with them as long as Hunt wants to be at every gig.

Can't make it to the show tonight? Would be a shame, but there's the James Hunt Fund via a PayPal account. It's posted on Dabney's web page, but only accessed by Dabney's partner.

Cyclovia clears traffic off five miles of city streets so people can ride their bikes, then offers 120 reasons to dismount and do something else. Here's a map that shows the route, and what's happening where along its path.

www.cycloviatucson.org_wp-content_uploads_2010_02_Map_28_letter_print.pdf

You don't have a ton of opportunities to attend a live game show hosted by someone named "Tempest DuJour" but this Saturday at 7 pm, Retro Game Show Night returns to Club Congress this Saturday night with a likely bawdy take on the classic show, the Match Game. Plus, if this sort of thing interests you, you'll have the opportunity to see this church-raised editor blush repeatedly as part of the "celebrity" panel (along with "Judith Stench, Editor of Je M'aime magazine and heir to the Stench Fish & Chips fortune" and "Big Gay Al," naturally). Tickets are $5.

After the game show festivities, I'll be playing pushing some buttons on my laptop so music comes out on the Congress patio. That part is free, I'm pretty sure.

Should be a fun night. Come by and say hello.

Are you a bully, or a bully-ee? Most of us, thankfully, are neither. But a showcase of 30-second PSAs by Tucson kids could make the rest of us the most powerful people of all in bringing about an end to bullying.

The auction is Saturday, June 8, 6:30 p.m. at Fluxx Studio and Gallery, 414 E 9th Street. The deadline for entries to Fluxx is 5 p.m., Monday June 3. What's cool about this project is that it's not just another request for donations that many local artists get every day — this time all artists who enter will receive 25 percent of the winning bid.

Here are the rules for participants:

(1) Only one entry per artist
(2) Piñatas must be fully functional with a hollow interior, to fill with objects and breakable
(3) Piñatas can be no bigger than 6 feet in either direction & must fit a 30-inch wide doorway
(4) Piñatas may not weigh more than 30 lbs.
(5) Piñatas must be ready to hang with a built-in, secured sturdy loop
(6) 50% of the piñata must be constructed out of newspaper (traditional paper maché is optional)
(7) No Pottery, glass, plaster, metal or ceramic can be used on the piñata
(8) The palito or stick must accompany the piñata
(9) The palito cannot exceed 4 feet in length & be fully functional to break the piñata
(10) All entries must be delivered to Fluxx no later than 5pm on Monday June 3, 2013
(11) Piñata & palito may be of any artistic theme of the artist’s choosing

For more info, email Ruben Romero at [email protected] or check out the event's Facebook page right here. And yeah, maybe start putting that list together of your favorite Tucson artists and ask them to enter a pinata. The possibilities go beyond Dora and super heroes, and maybe something you'd buy and not dare take to a birthday party.