Tony award-winning Īdance drama' plays at Centennial Hall this week

It's not a musical and it's not a dance. "Contact" is a "dancical." That is a popular joke among "Contact" audiences because the performance is original and unprecedented among Broadway shows. Directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman and written by John Weidman, there has not been a more talked-about piece since "Contact" won every major award in 2000, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. [Read article]

The Donnas are coming to Tucson and want to ĪSpend the Night' with you

No matter if it's estrogen or testosterone, the Donnas are going to kick your ass. After almost 10 years playing together and being on the road, the female quartet is still going strong and hitting new highs with its music. Last weekend, the group was in New York, performing in front of a live studio audience on "Saturday Night Live" to promote its new album, Spend the Night. [Read article]

Let's face it: Bands that rock as hard as The Bangs are usually full of boys. Not just boys, men÷ long-haired men with names like Izzy or Snake. And they're in bands with names like Metal Angel or Blood Wings or · AC/DC. It's really nice to know, then, that the Bangs are a girl-fronted rock 'n' roll band who make you want to dance, even without the lead singer with exposed chest hair.

The Bangs' bassist Maggie Vail is also the publicity person for Kill Rock Stars ö only the third job she's ever held. A modest girl, she never mentions her own band when working publicity for KRS's other bands. Still, Vail can sometimes be convinced to talk about her own band, the Bangs. [Read article]

There is one on every street corner in Tucson. They blend in with their surroundings, but like a stalker in a crowd, it is difficult to distinguish the harmless from the hazardous. College students need to clothe themselves · with the truth about thrift stores.

We all have a couch from Value Village or a pearl-snap shirt from Goodwill. You weren't number 21 in the Tucson Bowling League ÷ you got that too-snug tee for fifty cents at the Salvation Army. As treasured as thrift stores are to college students, there is a certain hush-hush on the matter. Is it unseen observation? Or perhaps it is major class discrimination. The discrimination is so subtle it is almost imperceptible. But, like carbon monoxide, it is threatening if not detected. I am not aware of any precedent on the matter, but today is the day. Thrift stores need to be officially discussed. In fact, they need to be subpoenaed. The prior belief that thrift stores are helpful to the poor is a white-collar lie. Yes, these establishments provide those in need with affordable clothes, but in actuality, they are doing more of a disservice. [Read article]

Utz: The story goes like this: It's the rip-roaring '20s in Chicago, the city of sex, jazz and murderous women. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is the sexy jazz singer who "plugs" her husband and sister and gets thrown in the can. Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) aspires to be a star with an act like Velma's and when, after a spat with her mean lover, she lands herself in the same place, she finds that being famous may just be easier when you're a killer. And then there's the infamous attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), who puts on the best show in town trying to get the girls out of jail. Life is a circus, he explains. It's all about show business, so razzle-dazzle the audience and you'll win. [Read article]

Going to the movies is fun, inspiring and sometimes even enlightening. We always remember a good movie, and sometimes if it's bad, so bad that it's good, we remember it anyway. And then there's always · dun dun DUN: the brain damage thriller that, instead of really scaring us, simply pierces our eardrums and fries our mind with one excruciatingly loud shrilling sound after the next.

"Darkness Falls" is a brain damage thriller. The BDT is really fascinating when you think about it, for it goes beyond the formulated horror film. Indeed, the BDT is cutting-edge, really pushing those boundaries of convention by exploring new sound techniques that not only cue the audience to be frightened but cause severe hearing damage as well. [Read article]