Old Tucson Studios opens for '12-'13 season
Old Tucson Studios is coming off its summer hiatus.
The park officially kicks off its 2012-13 season Friday with fall park hours - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. The hours extend to 5 p.m. in November.
Old Tucson's haunted Western town Nightfall at Old Tucson opened last Friday and runs through Oct. 28. Hours are from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays and from 6 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is $25 for adults 12 and older and $20 for children 4 to 11.
There's a Heritage & Harvest Festival on Nov. 23-25, the same weekend that a Christmas musical debuts; it will run through year's end.
Other highlights include the Shootout at the Chaparral Feb. 16-17, Wild Wild West Con Steampunk Festival March 8-10, Wild West Days (including High Chaparral Reunion activities) March 22-24, the Wild West Performing Arts Society Convention and National Championships April 13-14, and the Cowboy Music Festival and Western Art Show April 27-28.
Old Tucson closed for the summer in June, adopting a seasonal operating calendar that kept the park dark except for private events through September. Officials last spring said they were going to the seasonal calendar because the park's peak attendance was from October through Memorial Day and attendance dropped dramatically during the hot summer months.
During the summer, workers completed upgrades and improvements throughout the park, 201 S. Kinney Road, and got ready for Nightfall, arguably its most popular event.
For a schedule of events and more information, visit OldTucson.com or call 883-0100.
Rappers invade AVA
Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller is bringing his Macadelic Tour to Casino del Sol's AVA tonight.
The tour includes the Georgia rap trio Travis Porter and California rapper YG - shorthand for Kennan Jackson's stage name Young Gangsta. The 22-year-old YG made Arizona headlines in August after he and his entourage were involved in a shouting match and melee with hecklers at a show at Phoenix's Celebrity Theater. No one was injured. The situation apparently escalated after YG was an hour late getting on stage, according to media reports.
Tonight's concert starts at 7 at the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road. Tickets are $22 to $37 at tickets.solcasinos.com
Helio Sequence plays Club Congress
Oregon alternative rock duo The Helio Sequence recorded its just-released fifth album "Negotiations" the old-fashioned way - on low-fi vintage analog gear.
The result is a warmer, deeper sound. It's dreamy and seductive, and unpolished in a refreshing way. The sound is much as you would expect when the band plays Monday at Club Congress.
According to liner notes, a 2009 flood in singer-guitarist Brandon Summers and drummer-keyboardist Benjamin Weikel's Portland studio led the pair to seek drier ground. The self-professed gearheads, buoyed by the financial and critical success of their 2008 CD "Keep Your Eyes Ahead," splurged on a vast collection of vintage analog gear to record "Negotiations" for Seattle's Sub Pop Records.
The pair wrote the album through a series of improvisations and abstract sketching that, according to the liner notes, are connected by synth loops and jams to create a collection of "shimmering, reverb-heavy songs."
Slowdance opens for Helio Sequence at 6 p.m Monday at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Tickets are $12 at hotelcongress.com or at the door.
Just announced: Steve Winwood heads gala
Legendary R&B, jazz and pop singer-songwriter Steve Winwood will headline Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation's second annual "Chasing Rainbows Gala" on Nov. 18.
Proceeds from ticket sales -$75, $150 for VIP - will benefit the non-profit theater. Tickets are available at the Fox Theatre Box Office, 17 W. Congress St., or online at foxtucson.com
Cathalena E. Burch
