Info from 2ndsaturdaysdowntown.com website. I’ve listed a few of the events below, but go to that website for the full schedule.

Friday, Feb. 10:

4pm: GRAND OPENING, hosted by KOLD Channel 13 and Chuck George. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will open the festivities to an antique airplane fly-by and the raising of the 1912 American Flag originally flown over the Arizona Capitol. This event will take place at the main stage on 6th Ave., just south of Pennington.

Plus lots of musical entertainment on two stages (6th Ave x Pennington, and Scott Avenue Stage x Broadway), 4:15 pm. to 9:30 p.m.

…and more events along Congress Street including Cinema La Placita’s 6 p.m. showing of 1963 movie “McLintock!” (starring John Wayne) filmed at Old Tucson Studios.

Saturday Feb. 11:

2nd Saturdays Downtown usual excitement & events, plus music starting at 12 noon at 6th Ave. x Pennington stage. Scott Avenue/Broadway stage starts up at 1 p.m. with puppet shows for the kids, plus more exciting groups like Brazilian Batucaxe at 4 p.m. and Japanese Odaiko Sonora (taiko drums) at 5:15 p.m.

AND don’t miss the events over at the Joel D Valdez Main Library , 101 N Stone (11 to 5 p.m.), or at UA Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. for an “AZ 100 & Counting” free event (3 to 5 p.m.)

Over at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street:

1:30pm-3:30pm: “A Special Chat with Noted Tucsonans of the Past,” presented by the Downtown Centennial Committee. This historic event will present reenacted interviews with a few of the famous men and women who helped create the State of Arizona and build The Old Pueblo, from 1912 to present. After the historic re-enactments the audience will enjoy films of Southern Arizona life in the early part of the twentieth century. This film is a composite of several travel logs gathered from 1920-30 by the “The Sunshine Climate Club,” an early Tucson tourist promotion group.

Cinema La Placita will be showing at 6 p.m. the classic 1940 movie “Arizona” (starring William Holden), also filmed at Old Tucson Studios.

Sunday Feb. 12:

Several events starting with an early 9 a.m. downtown bike ride, ending up with an 8 p.m. Dweezil Zappa (son of Frank) Concert at the Rialto Theatre (see below)

9 a.m.Celebrate the Centennial with a 1.5 hour bike ride, discovering Sonoran Desert street trees. Learn to identify different low water native trees in the Downtown streetscape, planted by volunteers, neighborhoods, the City of Tucson and the Downtown Tucson Partnership as part of the 1,000 Trees Please campaign. This easy bike ride through downtown and neighborhoods meets at the SE corner of Broadway Blvd. and Scott Ave

Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Avenue:
2pm-4:30pm: ACLU presents “Arizona Civil Rights Memories”, a panel discussion moderated by former Tucson mayor, George Miller. Retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Stanley Feldman, retired UA Law School Dean, Professor Emeritus Charles Ares will be on the panel, as well as ACLU of Arizona Founding Board Member Cornelius Steelink.

Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street:

8pm: Zappa Plays Zappa All Ages. After taking more than three years off to study the physical performance and technical compositional techniques of his father, Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa began his search to create a combo that could, according to Dweezil, “accurately execute Frank’s music in the most authentic way humanly possible.” Rather than creating what he called a “circus” of Frank’s former bandmates, Dweezil’s focus was on providing an avenue for the elder Zappa’s music to new generations of listeners. (Tickets: $26-$56)

Enjoy the many festivities downtown and around town, all birthday celebrations for Arizona.

book cover

Here are some examples of humor from the book’s chapters: Chapter 4 Real Men’s Quiz #2 (Q: “How many real men does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. Real Men aren’t afraid of the dark”), Chapter 10 Three Things You Won’t Find in a Real Man’s Pocket (“1. Lip balm 2. Breath freshener 3. Opera tickets), Chapter 16 Great Lines from Real Man’s Movies (“I stick my neck out for nobody” –Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” – Robert Duvall in Apocaplypse Now.)

Author Feirstein says in Chapter 4, “Essentially, the world today can be divided into two categories of men: those who eat quiche and those who don’t. The famous line from the book (which caused me to purchase it back then) was “Could John Wayne ever have taken Normandy, Iwo Jima, Korea, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the entire Wild West on a diet of quiche and salad?” (Chapter 2)

It is 28 years later, and a decade into the 21st century. What are “real men” like now? Do any still exist? Are they the guys who drive 4 x4 trucks out into this Southwest desert looking for rattlesnakes, with their rifles concealed safely under their seats?

I bet they still don’t eat the quiche & salad at Bentley’s House of Coffee and Tea on Speedway (which serves delicious quiche by the way.) Or do they?

Let me know ladies and gentlemen, what you think about “real men” nowadays. Is President Barack Obama (a smoker) a real man? Is champion snowmobile racer Todd Palin (married to former Governor Sarah Palin)? Does this label have any relevance today?

And if you’re not sure of the definition of a real man, I recommend you hunt down this humorous book and read it. I actually own my own (blue) copy.

Note: I confess I do eat quiche, but author Feirstein says in Chapter 26 (A Few Words About Real Women) that “Real women are not afraid to eat quiche.”