Meet Me Downtown

All right, the headline is misleading.  There is no official designation of “Heavy-Metal and Wine-tasting Week”, that I know of.   It’s actually coincidental event planning and marketing, coming soon to Downtown Tucson.

This week, two downtown venues will test the validity of stereotypes of the heavy-metal music demographic and stereotypes of the wine-drinking demographic in Tucson.  Well, no, they’re not actually testing anything.  They’re merely finding new and clever ways to draw customers to their businesses, but the upcoming heavy-metal and wine-tasting events at Old Town Artisans and Club Congress will give at least anecdotal evidence of the compatibility of these cultural phenomena.

More perplexing than the idea of an event pairing heavy-metal music with wine-tasting, perhaps, is the fact that two entertainment programmers in Downtown Tucson had the same idea for this unusual combination, booking them within a week of one another!

Neither David Slutes, the entertainment director at Club Congress, nor Beverly Bethel, the entertainment coordinator at Old Town Artisans, knew the other was planning such an event;  nonetheless, within five days, Downtown has two such fiestas.

Bethel has scheduled “For Earth Below”, a Black Sabbath cover band, to perform Friday, July 24 in the courtyard at Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave., at the same time she’s booked Frank-Lin Beverage’s wine-tasting, a flight of five wines for $5.  The event runs from 7 to 10pm, with a $2 cover, $6 more for a La Cocina buffet. 

But wait, there’s more!  Someone named Cliff will be creating body-art painting at 6pm, and Hippy Dippy Ice Cream Co. will be serving in the Old Town breezeway. 

Meanwhile, Slutes of Club Congress has brought together the Gods of Metal and the Gods of Wine on Tuesday, July 28, with a show by The Metal Shakespeare Company, a band out of Oregon, and a wine-tasting event hosted by Peltier Station Winery of Acampo, California.

The wine-tasting will set you back $13, but the Metal Shakespeare show afterward is free.  Wine-tasting starts at 6:00pm, and doors for the show open at 8:00.  Drink specials will be offered to those wearing their metal best attire.

So bring your leather and enjoy the bouquet.

It’s not often that a benefit event is held in one city to support an institution or facility located over 100 miles away, but the Saturday, July 25 Veterans Benefit Concert at Hotel Congress is just that.  The concert features Tucson’s own classic rock band Still Cruisin’ and the 60’s-style “girl group”, The Shear DeLites, and benefits the Merritt Center and Lodge in the cool Mogollon pines of Payson, Arizona. 

The Tucson connection to Merritt?  Local veterans often attend retreats at Merritt, in a special program series designed to help returning combat veterans “learn to recognize the triggers of negative combat experience and learn ways to release negativity and reorder their personal priorities” (www.merrittcenter.org).  You will undoubtedly hear more about the Merritt Center and this event by fellow TucsonCitizen.com blogger Mike Brewer of Veteran Veritas.  Brewer has brought several veterans up to retreats and other programs at Merritt.

Hotel Congress’ entertainment director David Slutes says that planning for the event has inspired him to host a veterans event every year.  “It’s so great to be honoring those who’ve served and to do something tangible to help them get back some of what they left overseas for us,” said Slutes.  “This is a great way for us at the Hotel Congress to fulfill our mission of community outreach.” Classic rock isn’t the usual Club Congress musical niche, but there is an All-American appeal to that type of music that crosses generational boundaries.

The cover charge for the 6-10pm event is a requested $5 donation to Merritt, a 501c3 organization.  Veterans get in free, and several program graduates will be in attendance to answer questions about the program. 

For more information, call Brewer at 520.808.3907, or the Concert Message Line at 520.540.7000.

Throughout what seems to have become an annual ritual in the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July–wondering if the City can afford to host a fireworks display on “A” Mountain–the Hotel Congress was planning an Independence Day event that would make the trip downtown on this night worth it, with or without the sparkly lights in the sky.

Hotel Congress has teamed up with the Tucson chapter of Local First! Arizona to host “Indie-pendence Day Extravaganza” from 5pm until Midnight tonight.

The pre- and post-fireworks outdoor party features local favorites Al Foul, Tom Walbank, Pork Torta, The Tryst, Right on John, and the “Cool DJ Stylings” of Carl Hanni.

Only $5 gets you in to the party, which features the 6 live acts, BBQ, and raffle prizes from local merchants.

Proceeds go to Local First! Arizona, which is capping off its 7th Annual Independents Week.

For more information on Local First! Arizona, visit their site:
http://localfirstaz.com/index.php

And, for information on the local economic benefits of supporting local businesses, check out this article in the magazine that taught me the use of the semi-colon:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1903632,00.html

Some of the downtown merchants who are active in the Tucson chapter of Local First! Arizona are David Slutes of Hotel Congress, Deanna Chevas of Perri Jewelers (13 N. Stone Ave.), and Chris Early of Chris’ Cafe in La Placita.

And yes, there are fireworks downtown tonight, thanks to local businesses stepping up to fund the display.  But you knew that already.

Happy 4th of July!