Tim Curry as Frank-N- Furter

Look out, all you creatures of the night … ROCKY HORROR is coming to get you this Halloween! It’s our 32nd annual ROCKY HORROR HALLOWEEN BASH, so help us celebrate by tricking out with Frank-N-Furter, Brad, Janet, Eddie and the whole Rocky Horror gang (not to mention the Heavy Petting shadow cast), and treating yourself to some fabulous pre-show games, a terrifying Virgin Sacrifice and some monstrous prize giveaways! A $100 Grand Prize for Best Costume will also make you “shiver with an…tici….pation.” Other costume contest categories include Best Zombie, Best Horror, Sexiest and best Rocky Horror, so there’s literally something for everyone to lose their head over!
So get ready to do the Time Warp at the stroke of midnight and celebrate the coming of Halloween, Rocky Horror style!

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is back from the grave and ready to party when The Loft Cinema and Heavy Petting present our annual ROCKY HORROR HALLOWEEN BASH, a sexy, scary and scandalous night of tricks, treats and ghoulish surprises guaranteed to “rose tint your world” in a whole new way!
SEE the Heavy Petting shadow cast tighten their feather boas and pull up their fishnets (and perhaps slap on their pumpkin heads???), and unleash their sequined bag of Halloween treats, live and in your face!
HEAR the audience (zombies, ghouls and gender-bending creatures of the night are always welcome) sing along to the blood-curdling ROCKY HORROR songbook as though their very lives depended upon it!
FEEL the excitement as mild-mannered citizens are transformed into frighteningly trashy sweet transvestites for the night … a night of “absolute pleasure!”
Dammit Janet, don’t be a chicken this All Hallow’s Eve, and don’t miss The ROCKY HORROR HALLOWEEN BASH – it just might scare the pants off you!

movie poster

“Let’s do the Time Warp again”….back to 1975 when this movie was first released!

(And if you miss this Halloween bash, The Rocky Horror Picture Show screens at Midnight at the Loft every 3rd Saturday of the month.)

Saturday Aug 7, 2010

Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Admission: no charge

Location: Windmill Suites at St. Philip’s Plaza
Address: 4250 North Campbell Avenue in Tucson (SE corner of River Road)

Wingmill Inn & Suites

“Re-Discover Tucson Expo . . . Where the weather isn’t the only HOT attraction.
Come and enjoy fun, food, discounts and prizes. Find out what is new in Tucson, and at your favorite attractions, entertainment, businesses, and restaurants. There is something for everyone to enjoy. Remember what Tucson is famous for: arts, entertainment, outdoor activities and history.”

If you just moved to Tucson, this may be your chance to discover the wonders of this place, or if you’re lived here (like me) for over 20 years, then it may be “re-discovery” time. There’s always something new happening in Tucson.

Phone: 520-577-0007 or 1-800-547-4747 ext 5
Contact Name: Janelle Holyoak
Email: j.holyoak@windmillinns.com

Open to the public – everyone is welcome! And it’s all FREE.

For more info about fun Tucson Birthday celebrations for the month of August, log onto: www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

For more info about this annual contest, click here for my previous blog article announcing this event last week.

The 2010 winners were:

Category A (1st semester)
1st Place: Amanda Hansen, University of Arizona
2nd Place: Claire Tatman, University of Arizona
3rd Place: Gabriel Williams, PCC West Campus
Special: Emmanuel Aceves, PCC West Campus

Category B (2nd semester)
1st Place: Zhuyan Li, University of Arizona
2nd Place: Kiyono Bernier, PCC Northwest Campus
3rd Place: Michael Cavalier, PCC Northwest Campus

Category C (3rd and 4th semesters)
1st Place: Patrick Murphy, PCC Northwest Campus
2nd Place: Samantha Sharp, University of Arizona
3rd Place: Clinton Wester, PCC Northewest Campus
Special: Alexis Bruce, PCC Northwest Campus
Special: Jared Pettitt, PCC Northwest Campus

The Special awards were given for particularly creative or difficult pieces. All winners received a trophy and a package of prizes. Many contestants spoke of having visited or lived in Japan, with life goals to do so again.

Congratulations to all these winners (and to all who dared to enter), their instructors, and to Chair Yosei Sugawara, for such a well organized, cultural and language art event.

All I can say is that these students put Sansei (3rd generation Japanese Americans) like me, who have studied a little Japanese, to shame. These students had to stand up in front of a large audience and speak memorized Japanese (and many did it fluently). I doubt I could have done that in Spanish while attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Sayonara– till the 9th annual speech contest.

contest poster

Coming up on Saturday April 24, 12 to 5 p.m. at PCC Northwest Campus (7600 N. Shannon Rd.), the 8th Annual Japanese Speech Contest for students enrolled in a Japanese language class. Besides the speech competition, this free event features Japanese cultural exhibitions, taiko performances, prizes, refreshments. The public is invited to participate, to learn more about Japanese language and culture.

Any student may enter as long as that student is currently enrolled in a Japanese class in Tucson. He or she can be taking Japanese in a public or private school, and the school can be elementary, secondary, high school, college, university.

According to Yosei Sugawara, Lead Instructor at PCC Languages Dept. & Chair of the event: “The speeches are written by the students on whatever topic they’d like. Again, we’ve had a wide range. There are personal reminiscences, political essays, jokes, songs … once, even a small puppet show. We don’t screen for content although the committee sees both the Japanese and English versions before the actual event. We provide the English version of each student’s speech to the audience so that friends, families and members of the general public know what’s being said.”

Sponsored by the Southern Arizona Assn. for Japanese Education (SAAJE), this event started in April, 2003 and has grown over the years, to include demonstrations of kendo, judo, karate, aikido, ninjutsu, and iaido by Tucson’s martial arts schools.

The exhibitions will again include Japanese swords, origami by the Tucson Origami Club, ikebana flower arranging, calligraphy, anime, and Urasenke Chado (Japanese tea ceremony) demonstrations, as well as participation by the Southern Arizona Koi Association, and the Tucson Go Club. My brothers and I used to play go with my maternal grandmother. Go is a Japanese board game of strategy played with black and white circular stones (playing pieces).

Tucson based Odaiko Sonora will be performing taiko drumming again for their 8th year.

Judges for the contest in the past have been provided by IBM Japan, the University of Arizona, PCC, The Rotary Club, and Japan-America Society of Tucson, with prizes from local businesses and other sponsors such as the Japanese Consulate General in Los Angeles. This year’s judges are Tom Johnston (Sahuarita Police Dept./FBI & Homeland Security), Fukumi Zapp (Japanese Association of Tucson), Takahiro Masumura (Canon U.S.A.), Hiroko Coates (MUSO/Hiro International).

“SAAJE, a non profit association, was founded to promote Japanese language and culture education in Southern Arizona. Its membership includes professionals and nonprofessionals involved in the Japanese language, in traditional Japanese arts and crafts, and in historical and contemporary Japanese culture.” (from their website)

Being 3rd generation Japanese American, this event sounds attractive to me to re-connect with my culture, though I don’t speak Japanese. I grew up playing go and hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) in Hawaii, and also doing some ikebana, owning koi fish, and drinking green tea. I haven’t had the opportunity to attend in the past, but am looking forward to it this year.

This cultural event is open to all of you interested in “All Things Japanese”, especially the beautiful sounding language.

4/25 article on update of contest winners: http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2010/04/25/winners-of-the-8th-annual-japanese-speech-contest/

Eating of these pies (yum) is from 4 to 7 p.m., once the winners are announced. These delicious pies will be sold for $3 a slice, or $5 for two slices.

For more info: www.pieparty.org (including photos of previous year’s contests). Organizers are Megan “Turtle” Southern and Ian Fritz.

You can eat as much as you like. Here are the prize categories:

Best in Show -
Wins a 4 night stay at a beachside condo in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, and chooses the recipient of the event proceeds from a list of non-profits on the website (also see list below).

Pie contest logo

- First Place -
(one in each category)
Dinner for two at Janos, Maynard’s, The B-Line, or Lovin’ Spoonfuls

- Second Place -
(one in each category)
A whole pie from Bentley’s, Cup Cafe, Pastiche, or Epic Cafe

- Third Place -
(one in each category)
A 2010 edition “Eat More Pie” t-shirt

Ribbons will be awarded to all winning pie bakers, including third place. A prize will also go to the most creative pie.

So, get out that favorite, secret, gourmet pie recipe from your Tante Gunhild, Uncle Toby, or Greatgrandma, and bake it up for this pie contest.

One lucky non-profit from this list will receive the event proceeds:

Center for Biological Diversity
Desert Harvesters (4/15 update: received $3,750 proceeds)
Dunbar Coalition
Earth First! Journal
Gloo Factory
KXCI
No More Deaths (No Mas Muertes)
Nuclear Resister
Owl and Panther Project
Sky Island Alliance
Tucson CARES (Companion Animal Rescue, Education, and Support)

Eat more pie!