Thursday, January 06, 2005

Winter Events are kicking into gear... Here's a rundown

Scottsdale will host P.F. Chang's ArtWalk: "SCOTTSDALE - Before marathon runners race through downtown Scottsdale on Sunday, they might travel some of those same streets at a slower pace tonight. The Scottsdale Gallery Association will host the first P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon ArtWalk from 7 to 9 p.m. today along Main Street and Marshall Way, west of Scottsdale Road, north and south of Indian School Road. The art walk will give racing fans and participants in Sunday's marathon the chance to stretch before their big run. " Arts festival this weekend in Anthem: "ANTHEM - Donna Kublin loves art and loves living in Anthem, so that made creating the area's first fine arts festival a labor of love. More than 50 Arizona artists will set up displays for this weekend's juried show, including photographs, paintings, sculptures and jewelry. 'It's a very diverse show,' Kublin said. 'I think people are going to be very pleased with what they see.' " Theater troupe restores bar with lively 'Ain't Misbehavin' ': "A tribute to Thomas 'Fats' Waller's foot-stompin', toe-tapping music is Ain't Misbehavin's raison d'etre, and the Black Theatre Troupe's jumpin' and jivin' rendition is loaded with high-voltage energy from the talented five performers who sell 30 song hits with gusto. Musical revues have little plot, and that's the case here. You'll learn little about Waller, who penned his songs in the 1930s and 1940s, and if there's a theme to them, it's that they all explode with hot sexual innuendo. Creative director/choreographer Charles E. Bullock uses that invitation to not let his cast rest on their vocals but to keep them dancing. The composer created such classics as Honeysuckle Rose, The Joint Is Jumpin', The Viper's Drag and Your Feet's Too Big, and he wrote them for the honky-tonk heydays of the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom. That's exactly the atmosphere Bullock and his designers create here, a smoky dive with cramped tables where this wonderful music gets its airing. "

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