Broadway in Tucson is bringing Blue Man Group to the Tucson Music Hall in two weeks.

The group has become popular for its musical performances that involve comedy, audience interaction and sometimes toilet paper being thrown into the crowd. At least that's what Mario Divetta experienced three years ago when he saw them in Las Vegas.

"You're in Vegas already," Divetta said, "you got a drink in your hand and you're just watching this really interesting, unique, multimedia show ... I had a blast when I was watching it."

Divetta, marketing and sales manager for Broadway in Tucson, said they had to jump on the opportunity of bringing the group to Tucson again. Blue Man Group performed five shows about two years ago in Tucson.

The group will hold eight performances this time around, giving more Tucsonans the opportunity to watch the "worldwide phenomena," Divetta said. Tickets have been on sale since November and have been selling strong but there are still some tickets left, he added.

The performances involve unusual instruments such as pipes and oil barrels.

"They kind of bring out these oil barrel looking things and put something on the top and then when they start drumming it, it's almost like a water/light show," Divetta said. "You see the splash of these color pieces. It's really cool."

Because of these messy materials, Broadway in Tucson advises that people who attend wear "casual attire" such as sneakers and jeans to the show.

Blue Man Group shows are appropriate for all ages and the fact that the group doesn't talk at all throughout the show makes it so that anyone can understands what's going on.

"This is a show you have to experience live," Divetta said. "You can't go off of video or things that you've heard. You have to experience it live to really get the full effect of it."

The show opens April 23 and the last performance is on April 28. Tickets range from $29- $69 and can be purchased here.

I have to admit there were some surprises in the second round of the Tucson Weekly Celebrity Showdown. Amanda Beard (64%) over Sean Miller (36%)? Chuck George over Lute Olson in a close one? But most of all, I was stunned to see that Janos Wilder took Mark Kelly in a blowout. You never know, I suppose.

The quarterfinals are live now. Cast your votes to determine who will advance to our final four. Will it be ex-pat singer Linda Ronstadt or swimmer/model/memoirist Amanda Beard? Morning show star Savannah Guthrie or superchef Janos Wilder? Hero Gabrielle Giffords or weather predictor Chuck George? Surgeon Richard Carmona or unicorn-maven Lisa Frank? This round won't last long, so vote now.

Most weeks, La Cocina runs an event called Tuesdays for Tucson. It's a really solid deal for non-profits in this town: You bring the people, La Cocina provides the place, and your charity gets 10% of the net profits for the night.

On April 30, the Loft Cinema is the non-profit of the night and they're pulling out all the stops to raise some money for their renovations and improvements, bringing a lineup of music, comedy and other stuff that's impressive for a Tuesday night somewhere with no cover. Howe Gelb, Al Perry and Pork Torta on one night? What a deal, plus you can feel like you're doing something positive while eating nachos and drinking a cocktail, which is always nice. See you there.

(From We Got Cactus)

Check out this amazing video from the Latin Grammy nominated La Santa Cecilia. This Los Angeles band will be at the Rialto, Tuesday, April 9. Tickets are $10 presale or $15 at the door. They'll be playing with Santa Pachita, Vox Urbana, Salavdor Duran and Conjunto Imperial.

The video, sponsored by the the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON), is for the group's new single "El Hielo" (I.C.E.). It was made in collaboration with director Alex Rivera, NDLON and La Santa Cecilia.

That's right, Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live fame is heading to the stage on Monday, April 15 at UA's Centennial Hall in an event being promoted by the University's student body association, ASUA.

Tickets aren't on sale quite yet, though UA students will have the first crack at them on Monday, April 8 at 10 a.m., where they can purchase seats for $7 each.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public the next day, April 9, at 10 a.m., where prices will start at $10 per ticket.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Meyer's work — the guy is whip-smart and as the head writer for SNL deserves more credit than he's getting for the show's recent resurgence back into "actually funny" territory.

Check out his work at the show's Weekend Update desk (with Bill Hader's "Stefon" character) below.

I really couldn't be more excited for the Tucson debut of FELA!, the Tony-award winning musical about the life of Nigerian funk-master/musical genius/political revolutionary Fela Kuti. I feel somewhat responsible for the success of this show for UApresents, since I campaigned for them to book it in the first place, so we're throwing a party Wednesday night to introduce Tucson to the man and his music.

So, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Borderlands Brewing, I'll be playing a selection of Fela tracks (off a laptop, don't expect actual quality DJing or anything), UApresents will be giving stuff away, MaFooCo will selling food, and yes, there will be delicious, local beer. Plus, you can buy tickets for the shows Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th (and you should, because you'll have a great time and UApresents will be encouraged to bring more shows like this in the future).

See you there!

The set-up is underway for today's Festival en el Barrio, which starts at 1 p.m. in downtown's El Presidio Neighborhood. The bands include Calexico, the Heartless Bastards, the Rebirth Brass Band of New Orleans, Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta and a whole bunch more.

The weather is beautiful, the music will be great, food trucks will be serving tasty food and you even get free admission to the Tucson Museum of Art. Plus, you're helping raise money for radio station KXCI.

Seriously, is there some reason you wouldn't do this? Get on down there this afternoon. More details here.

I walk up Tumamoc Hill regularly. It's like a cross between a church and gym for me, so yeah, I take it a bit seriously and I can testify it's gotten me through a few interesting times in my life. Which is why, Tucson, we need to have a heart to heart.

I am not one for rules. People can usually figure stuff out on their own and don't always need to be told what to do — but man, lately, I keep thinking that a few rules for walking/running up Tuma might be in order.

Don't take it the wrong way. This isn't personal. And this isn't a top-10 list, just two items. Only two. I could talk about how the runners bug the crap out of me or the folks with the poles, but really, it's OK. We get along. When I have more you'll be the first to know:

1) I understand why some people need flashlights when they go up at night. But frankly, when the moon is out, flashlights aren't needed. Your eyes get acclimated. But if you insist, could you do me just one big favor, could you not shine them in my face. I'm not stalking you. There are no bears up in Tuma. Keep them on the ground. It's the snakes and tarantula's that worry you most, not me. Please.

2) If you're carrying some tunes up with you or a radio to listen to a game, I think that's cool. Sometimes I listen to music on the way up, too. But sometimes I just want to listen to the birds I hear along the path. At night there are some interesting sounds and even birds doing their best to serenade those palo verde and saguaros. Have you also paid attention to that pack of coyote who seem pretty close, but probably live in that area between Tuma and A Mountain. They love to yip and sing too. There have been frogs and of course, the cicadas during monsoon. When you play your stuff without using earbuds or headphones, I can't hear what's going on up there. And that sucks. Buy a pair of earbuds. Thanks.

Thursday, for a $5 suggested donation, you're in for some outstanding poetry and word love from the good folks at Casa Libre. Imogene Binnie will read from her new novel, Nevada, and will be joined by Sarah Gonzales, Rocket and T.C. Tolbert.

This gets going at 7 p.m. and Casa Libre is at 228 N. 4th Ave.

Here's some info from Casa Libre on Binnie and the new book:

About Nevada: Nevada is the darkly comedic story of Maria Griffiths, a young trans woman living in New York City and trying to stay true to her punk values while working retail. When she finds out her girlfriend has lied to her, the world she thought she’d carefully built for herself begins to unravel, and Maria sets out on a journey that will most certainly change her forever.

Imogen Binnie is the author of the zines The Fact That It’s Funny Doesn’t Make It A Joke and Stereotype Threat. Additionally, her work has been anthologized in The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard, released in Fall 2012. She is currently a monthly contributor to Maximum Rocknroll and has previously written for Aorta Magazine, The Skinny and PrettyQueer.com. She writes about books at www.keepyourbridgesburning.com. Nevada is her first novel.

A belated congratulations also goes out to Tolbert, who has been amazingly prolific as of late. An anthology he's been co-editing with Tim Trace Peterson the last couple of years, Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics, was recently been published by Nightboat Books.

Undocumented immigrants around the nation are organizing marches demanding a stop to deportation and asking for immigration reform inclusive of all 11 million undocumented people in the U.S.

Raul Alcaraz Ochoa, organizer of the local march, said the Tucson community will also request that Tucson Police Department use the loopholes they have available to not fully enforce SB1070, as calling Border Patrol is left up to the officer's discretion.

"There's loopholes that they can use to not have to call Border Patrol," Alcaraz Ochoa said. "We've had over 20 workers in the last year be taken where police calls Border Patrol and then they're separated from their families."

Because undocumented immigrants can't vote or run for office and directly change the discussion on illegal immigration, they are using other methods such as rallies, political protests, marches and civil disobedience to pressure politicians to talk about and vote on immigration reform that takes into account all members of a family affected by the reform.

"So we're bringing attention to all these issues at a local, at a statewide and at a national level," Alcaraz Ochoa said.

After seeing that relying on others to make those changes didn't solve anything, undocumented immigrants have decided to come out of the shadows in a nationwide campaign called Ni Una Deportacion Mas (Not One More Deportation). Alcaraz Ochoa said undocumented people in the U.S. are realizing they need to find ways to stand up for themselves, since they're the ones being directly affected by anti-immigration laws, in order to truly see a change in immigration reform.

"If we don't do things for ourselves nothing is going to save us," Alcaraz Ochoa said. "We've tried everything else. We've called politicians, we do letter writing, we do rallies, we do protests, we do marches and we're still getting people deported at the biggest levels we've seen in the history of this country."

The marches across the U.S., according to Alcaraz Ochoa, show how serious undocumented immigrants are about immigration reform and about putting a stop to deportations which separates families. A recent video of an 11-year-old in Phoenix went viral, serving as an example to the effects of anti-immigration laws and drawing attention to the issue.

Despite anti immigration laws directly affecting those who are undocumented, Alcaraz Ochoa emphasized that an entire community is affected when some of the people in it are deprived of human rights. Those marching in Tucson will ask TPD to change their enforcement policies and ask Tucson to truly become the the immigrant-welcoming city it declared last August.

The march will start at the Southside Presbyterian Church at 317 W. 23rd Street at noon and ends at the TPD downtown station at 270 S. Stone Ave.