Around Tucson - Events

SAAF’s FESTIVAL FOR LIFE - NOVEMBER 23

TUCSON (Observer Update) - “As human beings, we should all care for one another. Someway, somehow, we should all do something that falls within our capacity to reach out and give a small token of love, compassion, and understanding to those who need it.” - Karen Riggs, Festival for Life Artist. Long Realty Cares Foundation (Title Sponsor) and The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF), proudly announce that the 20th Annual Jerôme Beillard Festival for Life will take place on Sunday, November 23, 2008 from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m., at The University of Arizona® Student Union Grand Ballroom, 1303 E. University Drive in Tucson.

Festival for Life is an annual live and silent auction featuring fine artwork, unique experiences, exciting travel opportunities, striking jewelry, and one-of-a-kind gifts. The event will also include hors d’oeuvres, a chocolate fountain, no-host bar, and entertainment from the Sons of Orpheus and Namoli Brennet. The 2008 Featured Gallery, Old Pueblo Frameworks and Gallery will be presenting several local and national recognized artists such as Frank B. Walsh, Domingo Cheleuitte, and Jay W. Smith, all in support of the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation. This year, many of the auction items can be previewed on the Festival website, www.festivalforlife.org. Featured items at this year’s event include: a Week Stay in a Overwater or Beachfront Bungalow in Cooks Bay, Tahiti, a Spa Renewal Day for 2 at Canyon Ranch, a Private Party for 14 at Pastiche, Tickets to HAIR at the Arizona Theatre Company, and an 18K Rose Gold Diamond "Hope" Pendant with .07tw Diamonds SI-G/H Quality by Italian Designer Roberto Coin. Festival for Life is supported by Title Sponsor Long Realty Cares Foundation, Title Media Sponsors Cox Communications, Cox Media, 97.5 BOB FM, and 1400 KTUC. Festival for Life also is supported by El Rio Health Center and Dex Media.

Tickets are $60 in advance and $75 at the door. Please call Jess at (520) 628-7223 for tickets or visit the Festival for Life website at festivalforlife.org for more information. Festival for Life raises funds for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation to support programs and services for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation’s mission is to create and sustain a healthier community through a compassionate, comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT ANTIGONE BOOKS

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Please join us for an event at Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Avenue, on Wednesday, November 19, 7:00 p.m., for Flavors Without Borders / Sabores Sin Fronteras and join us for a gala reading about local food, water, and ranching by four renowned writers!

Gary Nabhan, Tucson’s well-known nature writer, ethnobotanist and social scientist will discuss his newest book, Where Our Food Comes From (Island Press, $24.95). Betty Fussell, celebrated food writer for the New York Times & The New Yorker and author of eleven books on food, will discuss her newest: Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef (Harcourt, $26.00). Juan Arellano, Spanish folklorist and cultural activist, and Enrique Lamadrid, writer and agronomist, will discuss their beautiful children’s book, Juan the Bear and the Water of Life/La Acequia de Juan del Oso (U. New Mexico, $17.95). The reading will be followed by a question and answer period. Refreshments will be served.

Join us for an event on Friday, November 21, 7:00 p.m., when Lori Girshick will discuss her book, Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men (Univ. Press of New England, $26.00). Lori Girshick's helpful, provocative book is a real contribution to the science and sociology of Transgender people. Her many luminous interviews allow Trans people to speak for themselves; her uncanny and cutting-edge criticism provides both the theory and the compassion in order to further illuminate these voices. Transgender Voices speaks with wisdom, complexity, and insight on a topic key to our understanding of the spectrum of gender identity. This event is co-sponsored by Wingspan, the U. of A. Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the U. of A. Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.

A COLORFUL LIFE FEATURING ALTA FLY, NOVEMBER 16

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Come and hear about the fascinated true life story of Alta Fly: born in a small Oklahoma town in the middle of the depression; lived in the San Francisco Bay area for over 50 years; painter, ceramic artist, photographer, school psychologist, political activist, out Lesbian.

She says “Tucson seemed like a good place from which to observe the downfall of western civilization. Now old and tired and crippled, but still full of the life force and spirit”

Be there on Sunday, Nov 16 at Himmel Park Library, 1035 N Treat Ave, and help celebrate Alta’s life. For more information, contact Penelope Starr, (520) 624-1779, ext. 122.

FRONT PORCH SERIES WELCOMES PASSIONATE SOUL ARTIST LEILA LOPEZ

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Wingspan's Front Porch welcomes Tucson musician Leila Lopez. You've seen her at Plush. You've seen her at Delectables. You've seen her at the 4th Avenue Fair and the Folk Music Festival.

Leila Lopez is a gentle, passionate soul whose inner rhythms manifest an assumingly gorgeous grace. In broad sweeping colors of folk, jazz and latin influence, Leila's mellifluous voice and quiet chords articulate a prayerful, joyful love of life, as if to remind us, "The universe is not made up of atoms, but of music." Leila has been recording, producing and distributing her albums independently for three years. She has had the honor to open for national performances of Joanna Newsom, Tim Reynolds, The Mountain Goats, Amos Lee, Brandi Carlile, Keaton Simons and the Hot Buttered Rum String Band.

On Friday, November 14 Lopez will be performing in La Placita after the rally that is taking place there. For more information contact Geovanna De La Ree at Wingspan, (520) 624-1779.