When an artistic entity brings an experience some dignity, something beautiful happens. A dance becomes more than just a dance. It becomes an affirmation of a lifestyle and history of a people.

It affirms what society has attempted to degrade. It normalizes an experience that is stigmatized. Alvin Ailey does that for the black experience, and he's valued for that reason.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been performing since its inception in 1958. What started as a small black group has transformed into a culturally integrated company. The unique blend of culture and modern dance has made it one of the most elite companies in the world. [Read article]

Metallica made a stop in Tucson last week for the first time in more than a decade. Anyone who knows rock 'n' roll knows Metallica. And anyone who knows Metallica, or worships guitar players in general, knows lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The Wildcat got a chance to catch up with him backstage before the show to find out what he thinks of fame, touring and playing in Tucson.

"Tucson has always been about a bunch of cactus, some dirt and, occasionally, cool baseball players," Hammett said. [Read article]

A few cities come to mind when someone says the word "jazz." New Orleans (birthplace of jazz), Kansas City (where Charlie Parker got his start) and New York City (jazz mecca for nearly a century). Nobody would put Tucson on that list. But Jeff Haskell, the UA director of jazz studies, would like that to change.

"Arizona Jazz Week has got a lot of people interested (in jazz)," said Haskell. "Between the Tucson Jazz Society and around 300 people enrolled in the jazz history class at the UA, we're in pretty good shape." [Read article]

Music will demonstrate that it's the universal language ÷ somebody tell Chomsky to stop looking ÷ when Citrus hits the Old Pueblo today.

Citrus, a Southern California band fronted by former UA student Jesper Andreasson, will perform today on the UA Mall stage to promote its newest album, io. The show starts at noon.

None of the Los Angeles group's members was born in the United States. Andreasson (lead vocals/guitar) was born and raised in Sweden, Thomas Hjorth (lead guitar) and Mikkel Heimburger (bass) in Denmark, and Franck Fiser (drums) in France. [Read article]

Give anyone three chords and they can write you the chorus and verse to a pop song. Give 'em four and you'll get the bridge as well. That's what makes pop music so good and so bad: You'll remember a good pop song after the first time you hear it, but you'll also swear you've heard it a million times before.

The Unicorns are a pop band. But they're a really strange pop band. Take the songs on their album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone. It's like no one ever told them pop songs had to have a verse, the chorus, then another verse. [Read article]

I am the World Trade Center's Dan Geller and Amy Dykes have a life together that plays out like a classic love story:

Boy meets girl. Boy and girl form band. Boy starts indie music label. Girl gets master's degree in costume design (the boy's is in environmental engineering. Band tours. Label gets taken over by evil conspirators. Boy and girl break up, write new album and go back out on tour.

OK, so it sounds nothing like a regular romance. It sounds even less so once you toss in Geller's book deal (about his research into biodiesel), the huge label lawsuit and the unfair criticism the band got for keeping its name (which, by the way, it had for a while before Sept. 11, 2001). But in the midst of the lawsuit, the touring and the name controversy, they were still just two people who were ending a long-term relationship. It sounds like terrible circumstances under which to write an album. But Geller says it was good for them, even when he had to read Dykes' sometimes-painful lyrics. [Read article]

It seems like the only thing I found not to do in Tucson this week was write this column. Every time I thought I had found something really ridiculous, it turned out to be a total letdown in one way or another.

When I get stuck, I ask for suggestions; usually people suggest something like, "Why don't you go get addicted to crack?" The only problem with getting addicted to crack is that you don't have to be in Tucson to do it. I could get addicted to crack anywhere, so what's the fun in that? It's hard to find something not to do that's Tucson-specific. [Read article]

In the mood to be all-American? Want to exercise your patriotism? Well, first register to vote. Then, pile in for a trip to Costco! Forget burgers, apple pie and Coca-Cola, Costco is the way to go to get lunch the way Americans like it: convenient, in bulk and FREE.

OK, so maybe it is true: "There's no free lunch." But Costco, the mecca for bargain-hunters, families of 40 and die-hard shoppers (think anything from Movado watches and Coach bags to Cheerios and toilet paper), offers the closest thing to a free lunch, and it's in the form of free samples. [Read article]

Hidalgo
Buena Vista
Rated: PG-13
136 min.
Now playing

"Hidalgo" is the story of an amazing horse with an amazing bond with Frank Hopkins, whose facial structure is equally amazing.

Set in 1890, the film ÷ supposedly based on a true story ÷ lacks fluidity. When Hopkins, played by Viggo Mortensen, and Hidalgo enter the dangerous, high-stakes, long-distance horse race in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, it's assumed the majority of the movie will focus on that plot. [Read article]

Polysics

Sounds Like: a Japanese scientist joins a Swedish indie band

See Also: Devo, Kraftwerk, Astroman

NEU

Yeah, this record was released in the United States almost a year ago. But chances are you still haven't heard this band. So it's new to you, right? Plus, Polysics will be playing Solar Culture tomorrow. Frenetic, noisy and occasionally adorable, the songs from NEU are the sound of a surf band that traded in its boards for analog keyboards. Splotches of indeterminate electronic noise bleed through tight, fuzzed-out guitar structures, or else drone and pulse on the verses until dissolving into the chorus. The vocoded vocals on the song "What" are either in gibberish or Japanese, but it hardly matters. That just goes to prove that the Polysics speak the only truly universal language: rock. [Read article]

Today

Art Tour ÷ UA Museum of Art. Contemporary curator Albert Stewart will present tour of prints by pop artist Jasper Johns. 2 p.m. 621-7567

Vocal Jazz Ensembles Concert ÷ Music building, Crowder Hall. Will feature UA a cappella groups Vocal Ease and Everyman Jack and Jill. 7:30 p.m. 621-1162 $8 general/$6 seniors and UA employees/$4 students. 621-1163

UApresents: "The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music" ÷ Centennial Hall. Annual festival of world music from Fes, Morocco, comes to Centennial Hall. Features an all-trombone shout band The McCollough Sons of Thunder and others. 7:30 p.m. $14 ÷ $36. 621-3341 [Read article]