Creative Juice Art Bar (6530 E. Tanque Verde Road) and Gifted Custom Art will team up on Saturday, Oct. 1 to raise money for the local Boys and Girls Clubs in Tucson. You don't have to be a modern Monet to attend this painting philanthropy event.

The concept is simple: Gifted provides a photo for you and your friends to convert into a painted masterpiece and Creative Juice gives you a place to do it. Registration to the Gifted Giving event is $55 per person and every registration gives one painting experience to a child at the Boys and Girls Club of Tucson - Frank and Edith Morton Clubhouse.    

For more information on how to register, click here. 

It's National Library Card Month! The Pima County Public Library is teaming up with the American Library Association to ensure that everyone in the community gets their hands on a library card. The best part about the library is that it's free, but you have to have a library card. If you are on the fence about getting a card, the county library has recruited the help of the Peanuts characters like Snoopy to help convince you. 

To learn more about how you can get a library card to one of the 27 libraries in the county visit: www.library.pima.gov

If you're not sure what to use your new library card for, check out book recommendations from Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Lucy and Schroeder. 

Your weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo.

Pick of the Week

Downtown Radio One-Year Anniversary Bash: The fight-the-good-fight, anti-corporate folks over at Downtown Radio (99.1 FM) have been on-air for a glorious 12 months. That’s right, a whole damn year in an impoverished city. By our (or any) calculation, that’s a feat worth lifting toast or ten to. Five premier Tucson bands are tapped to celebrate said feat, including Katterwaul, Golden BooTs, Adara Rae and the Homewreckers, Louise Le Hir, and 8 Minutes to Burn. Friday, Sept. 16. 8 p.m. The Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St. $7. 21+.

Food & Booze

15th Annual Roasted Chile Festival: Green corn tamales. Pork tacos. Salsa. Green Chile Cornbread. Green enchilada sauce. Challenge yourself to make your favorite green chile delights this fall (and even try some new ones), after you stock up on peppers at the Roasted Chile Festival. Don't be afraid to get a big bag: Internet wisdom says these chilies freeze for up to six months, but we know a Nana who would stretch her green chile harvest out all year long. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Rincon Valley Farmers Market, 12500 E. Old Spanish Trail. Free to attend, but don't forget your wallet!

Tucson 5th Annual Beer Cup: It is a battle royal as Tucson's top 10 breweries compete to determine who has the best beers in the categories of Best Flagship Beer, Best Specialty Beer, and People's Choice. Along with the breweries, other beer loving organizations will be in attendance as well, including: Local First Arizona, Living Street Alliance, Tucson Homebrew Club, Yelp Tucson, and Girls Pint Out. The event takes place on Saturday, Sep. 17 from 6-9 p.m., tickets can be bought on the event website. 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.  Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street. $25 before $30 at the door. 

Tucson is full of outdoor attractions that go unseen and under appreciated. With its beautiful saguaro forests, incredible mountain ranges surrounding the city and unforgettable sunsets, it is most definitely an alluring destination. 

Here are 3 places any Tucson local or tourist should visit if they are searching for a new adventure and want to learn more about the history of this beautiful city.


SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK 

Saguaro National Park is a must see destination if you are new to the area, or want to understand Tucson's history on a new level. This large park is separated by the city with the Rincon Mountain District to the East and the Tucson Mountain Ranges to the West. Both places offer a variety of hiking and biking trails along with horseback riding and breathtaking desert views. The Rincon district is the most visited area of the two, and offers visitors the opportunity to experience both desert and country forest in the same day. The Tucson district, on the other hand, has more historical meaning behind it. Visitors can see hundreds of petroglyphs left by ancient Native tribes, which can be seen from the Signal Hill picnic area or from neighboring hiking trails!

Address: 
- Rincon Mountain District (East), 3693 S. Old Spanish Trail
- Tucson Mountain District (West), 2700 N. Kinney Road

Your weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo.

Pick of the Week

It's another Second Saturday Downtown, which means all manner of fun in the heart of our community. On the art front, you won't want to miss Etherton Gallery's opening of Shadowlands, featuring new prints by Alice Leora Briggs and selected photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin and Roger Ballen. All three artists do dark, challenging and provocative work that's not for the easily offended. The opening is from 7 to 10 p.m. at Etherton, 135 S. Sixth Ave. More info here. Over at the Rialto Theatre, legendary British psychedelic pop rockers The Zombies will take the stage, along with local opener Brian Lopez. Doors at 7 p.m. at Rialto, 318 E. Congress St. Across the street at Hotel Congress, Crystal Radio is hosting a record-release party for the band's debut release, Ghost in You. Doors at 7 p.m. at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. You'll find more music at the Scott Avenue Stage between Congress and Broadway, where  Belinda Esquer plays from 6 to 7 p.m., Los Guapos play from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Haboob plays from 9 to 10 p.m. Plenty more is going on all day and a lot of it is free, as you can see from this schedule.

OSIRIS-REx

As you should have learned in last week's cover story, the UA has teamed up with NASA to send a spacecraft on an asteroid hunt. The launch is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 8, at 4:05 p.m. Cool, right? So, how can you best celebrate the launch? You've got a few options. The UA and Time in Cosmology Center will be partying at Hotel Congress with extraterrestrials from planet, stargazing, live music and (of course) watching the launch live. The event is free, and festivities start at 4 p.m. Or, head over to Borderlands Brewing Company for Brews for Bennu: OSIRIS-REx Launch Watching Party to watch live as the mission begins. They reccomend showing up around 3:30 p.m. so you don't miss out. Borderlands Brewing Company, 119 E. Toole Ave.  

OSIRIS-REx, the asteroid-hunting space probe designed by the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab in partnership with NASA and Lockheed Martin, is scheduled for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center at 4:05 Tucson time today.

The plucky space probe will spend two years chasing down the near-earth asteroid Bennu and then spend another two years studying the asteroid before flying right up next to it to gather a few ounces of asteroid dust. Then it will fly on back to Earth and send the sample back to the Utah desert.

You can read all about the seven-year mission here.

Watch the liftoff at a launch party at Hotel Congress this afternoon. And the gang at downtown's Borderland Brewing is throwing a Brews for Bennu bash.

Hey, kids! Stay in school! Say no to drugs! Get involved in your community!
Seriously—we hope you do all those things.

But if you’re a young person reading this particular blurb in this particular alternative newspaper, you’re probably pretty precocious, so you already do them. Since this is the Chow section, you’re probably interested in food, and since this is a progressive paper, you’re probably cool with conservation. And since you took the initiative to read this, maybe you’re a take-action kind of person. (If you’re a parent of such a person, read on—pretend we’re addressing your kid[s].)

So let’s switch tactics and ask some questions:

Are you between the ages of 12 and 18? Self-driven? Outdoorsy? Passionate about food, health, sustainability, adventure and other wholesome-but-exciting stuff like that?

In that case, we have a great opportunity for you: Join Tucson Village Farm’s award-winning 4-H Healthy Living Ambassadors program, which promotes healthy living, leadership, sustainability, outdoor adventures and more. You can get in on projects revolving around nutrition, cooking, local food production—even beekeeping.

Not only will your participation in this program look amazing on your college application—you’ll also have fun, since it involves meeting new people, traveling and getting trained in new skill s… for free.

Tucson Village Farm is a “seed-to-table” urban farm that helps connect young people (you!) to a healthy food system, and teaches them (you!) how to grow and prepare your own food. It’s an empowerment thing. Who doesn’t want to be thusly empowered? (Hint: The adult writing this column does … and she wishes this program were around when she was 12–18.) Don’t waste this chance!

Apply by Saturday, Sept. 24. 

Lucky you! We've still got tickets to give away for the last three Beach Blanket Be-Bop shows. Want to check it out? Enter below. We'll pick winners when we get back from our long Labor Day weekend. 

Pick of the Week

HOCO Fest: Get the weekend started on Thursday with a massive dance party with Zackey Force Funk taking over Optimist Club with help from DJ PHATSOUL and long time Opti Resident A SHUTA. Friday is dedicated to performances by acts that are, in a word, Tucson: Howe Gelb, Giant Sand, Gabe Sullivan and Vox Urbana will all be there and you should, too. Saturday brings us a celebration of Tucson's musical past and future with Dusty Chaps, John Coinman, Lando Chill and Combine Vibes all taking the stage. You can even take a piece of the event home with you if you stop by during HOCO Vinyl, the event's record festival. Sunday's events promise a glorious end to a weekend of musical celebration with performances from Sergio Mendoza, Y La Bamba and a musical remembrance of Michael Ronstadt. Some events are free and some are ticketed. Check Hotel Congress' website for details. Sept. 1-4. Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street. 

If you didn't think Tucson was cool enough already, the UA Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium is giving you yet another reason. The planetarium opened on the UA campus in 1975, but has recently been completely renovated from its original digs.

Flandrau is a big deal: It's one of only two planetariums in the entire sate, and it's one of only a few nationwide that is part of a university. Considering the UA is world renowned for its studies in astronomy and planetary science, its planetarium should be equally as impressive. 

About two years ago the university decided to begin the renovation process by installing a full dome digital projection system “which is the current state of the art in planetarium projection,” said Shipherd Reed, Marketing and Communications Manager for the Flandarau Science Center. After the technological systems were updated, it became very evident that the rest of the establishment was outdated, prompting an entire building remodel. The remodel includes better acoustics, lighting, and most importantly seating that takes advantage of the cutting edge projection system.
The Planetarium opened its renovated doors on Saturday, Aug. 27. Go check out the interactive exhibits and the IMAX-esque full dome show. The Planetarium is open seven days a week and offers shows every day except Monday. For more information on specific hours and times of shows visit http://flandrau.org/.