Thursday, December 13, 2018
alternative stand-up comedy show celebrates its third anniversary this month.
On Dec. 17, from 8 to 10 p.m., Brew Ha-Ha marks three years of third-Monday showcases at Borderlands Brewery.
The shows feature emerging and professional Tucson comedians and regional or national touring comedians with open dates on their travel schedules.
The lineup for the anniversary show includes three of the Tucson comedy scene’s favorite Phoenix-area comics, Adam Bathe, Mike Enders and Leslie Barton, plus nationally known Tucson comedians Kristine Levine and, as headliner, Pauly Casillas.
Popular local Matt Ziemak originated the Brew Ha-Ha concept with Borderlands co-owner Mike Mallozzi.
“A lot of comedians in our scene were growing and getting better but had no place to really show it,” says Ziemak, “so we wanted to give our friends a place to get even better. When we brought Brew Ha-Ha to Borderlands, Mike was right on board with helping local scenes any way possible.”
Luckily, Mallozzi is a patient business owner. Asked what factors contributed to Brew Ha-Ha’s durability, he says it takes time for any ongoing show to gain traction. “My view on all recurring events is that you must really believe in them, and in the case of monthly events, give them the better part of a year.”
The patience paid off. “The show always got a good response,” says Ziemak, “but it seems like over the last year and a half, it has gained an audience of its own. Having familiar faces in the crowd each show is an amazing feeling. These people come out to see comics they might not know by name because they’ve been to our shows before.”
Over the past year comedian Rory Monserrat has partnered with Ziemak in producing and hosting the show. “I think consistency is the most important thing,” Monserrat says. “We make a show we want to see. I went to every Brew Ha-Ha because they were already the best independent shows in Tucson. A compliment that really stuck with me came from one of our Tucson colleagues when she said ‘This is a show by people who just really love stand-up comedy.’”
Like Brew Ha-Ha Comedy Showcase at Borderlands on Facebook for monthly updates.
Tags: Matt Ziemak , Rory Monserrat , Borderlands Brewing , Brew Ha-Ha , Mike Mallozzi , Pauly Casillas , Adam Bathe , Mike Enders , Leslie Barton , Kristine Levine , Image
Congratulations to Maggie and Brian Smith for their win at the 2018 Culver City Film Festival!
Their entry, a documentary on five stories from Brian’s award-winning Tucson Weekly column “Tucson Salvage” won the grand prize for Best Documentary Short.
Maggie directed the Tucson Salvage documentary in conjunction with the release of Tucson Salvage: Tales and Recollections from La Frontera, a new book of collected articles from Brian’s column.
"I always loved Brain's really strong sense of place and his portrayal of characters, and those are also two crucial aspects in filmmaking," Maggie said. "I think there's something very powerful about having these marginalized voices tell their own stories."
View the trailer for the Tucson Salvage documentary here:
Tags: Tucson Salvage , Brian Smith , movie , film , short , documentary , award , Image
The Very Merry Holiday Sing-A-long Spectacular. Get your holiday spirit in high gear at the Loft Cinema with a sing-along series including clips from movies, T.V. shows and music videos. When else will you get the chance to sing with Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Nat King Cole, ’NSYNC, Kelly Clarkson, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Grinch and more? Admission includes a “Very Merry Goodie Bag” filled with props, and if you bring a new unwrapped toy for donating to Casa de los Niños, you will receive half-off admission. 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13. 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $12 GA, $10 for members and children under 10. Details here.
Reel Tucson Christmas. The Screening Room and Strada Company are teaming up to host a local short film festival, and it’s holiday themed! The evening is only five dollars, and for those daring, it’s free to enter your film. And to the joy of Tucson filmmakers who’ve submitted their pieces to other local short film festivals, this one is “gong free.” Send films to [email protected]. 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13. 127 E. Congress St. $5. Details here.
Send Us Your Photos:
If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and message it to us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.
Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: things to do , Tucson events , Thursday , Winterhaven , holidays , bike ride , cinema , film , singing , music , Image
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Pima Animal Care Center and No Kill Pima County are teaming up to offer a microchip clinic for the last week of December. The free clinic will help reunite pet owners with lost pets following New Year's.
On average, PACC takes in 470 pets the week after New Year's Eve that are scared from fireworks displays and loud parties. Microchipped pets stand a much better chance of being reunited with their families.
The dates of the clinic are:
• Wed. Dec. 26, noon to 3 p.m.
• Thurs. Dec. 27, noon to 3 p.m.
• Fri., Dec. 28, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Sat., Dec. 29, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Sun., Dec. 30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Mon., Dec. 31, noon to 3 p.m.
All microchip clinics will take place in PACC’s Community Room.
Along microchipping your pet, PACC recommends making sure they have a collar with up-to-date address and phone number.
The shelter is also running promotions for the holidays. For the 12 days leading up to Dec. 25, all pets over four months old are only $12 to adopt. Then from Dec. 26 to Jan 1. PACC will have "name your own fee" events for pets over four months.
PACC is open noon to 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. On New Year’s Day, PACC will be open at noon and will close at 5:00 p.m.
Tags: pets and beasts , pets , animals , dogs , cats , PACC , shelter , holidays , microchip , specials , adopt , Image
The New York Times reported Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader of the Senate, made an unusual move and promised to push the bill to the floor quickly so Congress could vote on it before the end of the year.
The First Step Act, pushed heavily by criminal justice advocates on both sides of the political spectrum, calls for investments in drug treatment and mental health programs to reduce recidivism, an expansion of early release credits, rolling back 90s-era minimum sentencing laws and changing laws that disproportionately impacted Black communities.
It was written by Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Sen. Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. The Times reported that the bill is being expedited now because of a fear that "the deal would have fallen apart in the new Congress because Democrats would demand more liberal changes to sentencing laws."
There are more than two million people incarcerated in the United States, which is the highest amount out of any other country, according to a study from the World Prison Brief. The second largest number comes from China, where roughly 1.6 million people are incarcerated.
Within the U.S., Arizona has the sixth highest rate for imprisoning people out of all 50 states. The Sentencing Project's data states Arizona incarcerates 593 out of every 100,000 individuals. It is likely that the state legislature will see some criminal justice reform bills in the upcoming legislative session.
Tags: criminal justice , prison , reform , vote , bill , congress , legislature , incarceration , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , number one , Trump , felonies , Image
Casa de los Niños Toy Drive at Club Congress. When you think of collecting toys for children, you might not automatically think of a night of live music at Club Congress at the same time. But, for one night only, these two great things are coming together! Elyzian, Douglas Beat Market, and The Electric Delirium are playing and you can get in for either $5 or a new, unwrapped toy. Help make the holidays a little brighter this season for a local child in need while spending a night out on the town. Sounds like a win-win to us! The event is 21+. Hotel Congress, 311 Congress St. Details here.
Uranium Mining Film Festival. Our local chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility is hosting a short film series on—you guessed it—uranium mining. The short films include: Too Precious to Mine, Half-Life and Crying Earth Rise Up. These films tell the story of the “resistance largely on Native American lands to uranium extraction industries.” This event is free and also includes panel discussions by filmmakers. 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12. 525 N. Bonita Ave. Free (donations accepted). Details here.
FST! Female Storytellers. "Rebel, Rebel" is the theme of the show this week, and make the most of it because this is the last ever Female Story Tellers at CANS Venue & Lounge! CANS recently announced they will be closing their doors for good Jan. 1. Described in Female Story Tellers' Best of Tucson win, "Tucson has a few great, regular storytelling events, but there's something about honoring and holding space for women brave enough to take the stage and talk about their challenges, traumas and triumphs that just inspires you to own your shit and face life head on." That about sums it up. All ages welcome, 18+ recommended. Details here.
Wee Winter Wonderland. Each holiday season, the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures transforms itself into the littlest holiday wonderland around. This means not only decorating the lobby and galleries, but decorating more than a dozen of the miniature fixtures from the permanent collection. The scenes will be decorated to match the style and era that the miniature is depicting, which means twinkly light-strung cacti in the Southwest miniature, Hanukkah decorations in the Kupjack Georgian Dining Room, bamboo and pine decorations for Japanese New Year (aka Shogatsu) and a very traditional Christmas look in the German dollhouse. Happy teeny-tiny holidays! Through Sunday, Jan. 6. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays and major holidays. Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive. $9 GA, $8 senior, $6 students/youth 4 to 17 and free for kids 3 and under. Details Here.
Tags: things to do , Wednesday events , Tucson events , hockey , toys , film , cinema , movies , storytelling , miniatures , Image
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
The Oro Valley location, at 11107 N. Oracle Road, opened in 2017, and is the only store of Native's five Tucson locations to close.
The employee could not state a reason for the store's closure, and no one at the Oro Valley location could be reached, as the store's phone line has been turned off.
Native moved into Tucson a decade ago, and maintains its locations at 8225 N. Courtney Page Way in Marana; as well as 3100 E. Speedway Blvd., 5421 S. Calle Santa Cruz, and 10255 E. Old Vail Road in Tucson.
Tags: Native Grill , closure , closed , restaurant , bar , grill , Oro Valley , Image
Formed in 1946, as the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School, this lauded assemblage perdures. The present incarnation consists of cellist Astrid Schween, violist Roger Tapping, second violinist Ronald Copes and Areta Zhulla, the most recent violinist to occupy the first chair. Its forebearers’ intent: “To play new works as if they were established masterpieces and established masterpieces as if they were new.” These descendants stayed true to the mission statement.
Composed circa 1798, the Juilliard String Quartet executed Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet in D major, Opus 18, No. 3 with striking aplomb. Despite its numbering, it's actually the first quartet Beethoven composed. With gentleness and a sense of wonder the ostinato delighted throughout the composition until the fourth movement. During the presto the Juilliard String Quartet shifted the centre of gravity attacking the motif in dramatic ways driving headlong to a breathtaking resolution.
Teetering between consonant and dissonant harmonic intervals, creating tension that leaves the ears of a Western audience longing for resolve, the Juilliard String Quartet explored during Lembit Beecher’s One Hundred Years Grows Shorter Over Time.
“The movements of this quartet are like successive generations retelling the same story. As I wrote, a melody kept coming into mind: A waltz written by my Estonian grand-uncle in the 1950s. I first played this music with my brother when we were teenagers. Over the years we kept returning to it. The waltz appears fully realized, as if an old recording,” Beecher said of his piece.
Schween provided contrapuntal anecdotes while Tapping and Copes sautilléd their bows off the strings in powerful unison leaving Zhulla free to soar.
After the intermission, the Juilliard String Quartet returned for Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 77, No. 2. It seemed fitting to close the program as Haydn is widely considered the creator of the genre. Achieving delicate equilibrium, they masterfully created sublime contrast between the galant style of the 18th century and the dignified seriousness of the Baroque.
Executed as by the unfailing hands of surgeons, over the course of the evening, the Juilliard String Quartet performed with barely containable ardor—that at moments impelled their bodies to rise upward from the benches and chairs they sat upon—displaying unparalleled artistry, effortlessly laying claim to a shared sovereignty as one of the world’s finest.
Tags: Julliard String Quartet , XOXO , Live music , In the Flesh , Leo Rich Theater , Image
