Tucson Music Hall

Tucson Music Hall at TCC

Tucson Music Hall

“There are still like 15 spots left.”

We were a few cars back in a long line for a parking lot that attendants were debating whether to declare full.

Fortunately, we made it in before they closed the lot.

When Caitie from Arizona Opera had warned me to get there early, I thought maybe she was joking about my tardy arrival to the lunch hour concert.

Turns out, Tucson Convention Center parking is no joke.

Tucson

Even though the world premiere of the Riders of the Purple Sage opera was a big event, it wasn’t the only thing backing up traffic at Tucson Convention Center that night.

After we’d parked, I asked a security guard the quickest way to Tucson Music Hall.

He replied with “Oh! Are you looking for the rap thing?”

I was wearing a long velvet dress and heels.

“No, not the rap thing…”

A few minutes later, someone asked if we were looking for the game.

Apparently, in Tucson, no one bats an eye if you decide to don formalwear to see hip hop or hockey. And we noticed several people wearing cowboy hats to the opera.

 

Riders of the Purple Sage

What to know about Tucson Music Hall

  • Tucson Music Hall is the site of Arizona Opera’s Tucson performances.
  • It’s located on the Tucson Convention Center campus, along with the Leo Rich Theater and the Tucson Arena (which the locals confusingly kept referring to as “TCC”).
  • Tucson Convention Center is not the same place as the Tucson Expo Center.
  • Sun Link Streetcar Stop: Congress Street/Granada Avenue (6E or 6W)

 

Tucson MOCA view

Nearby:

285 ft – Museum of Contemporary Art

.4 mi – Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block

.5 mi – Hotel Congress and Maynard’s (lodging + dining)

.7 mi – Mercado San Agustín (dining + shopping)

.9 mi – Mission Garden

 

Riders of the Purple Sage - Tucson Music Hall Lobby

Parking:

  • Tucson Music Hall shares parking with other convention center venues.
  • Event parking rates vary. We paid $10.
  • We parked in Parking Lot A, but Lot C may be closer.

Shopera at the Opera

Performances in Tucson also have a lobby full of shopping and refreshments for sale – wine, snacks, delicious-smelling coffee, and old school west-coast favorite Thrifty ice cream!

There’s also “Shopera at the Opera” with booths of Local artists and vendors, who give part of their proceeds to support Arizona Opera.

Riders of the Purple Sage crafter

We enjoyed seeing the inventive ways that Southern Arizona Artists’ Guild member Betty Harris found to upcycle fabric scraps and thrift store pieces. Next to her was a Barefoot Books booth with a selection of really neat-looking kids books, including the very fitting Stories from the Opera.

The Southwest’s Indigenous Food and Films

I don’t think I’ve shared this video of a cooking demonstration from Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson here yet.

It seemed fitting to post this on Indigenous People’s Day (which I’m glad is gaining traction over Columbus Day!), since the recipe includes several local ingredients originally used by the Native American tribes in this area.

Also, unrelated to the video, we went to an IPD screening of two documentaries by Diné (Navajo) filmmakers at the Heard Museum yesterday. Both films were really great!

Heard Museum

You may get a chance to see them too, since they’re traveling around on a Navajo Films Documentary Tour starting in November, and one of the films, The Mayors of Shiprock, will air on the World Channel November 6.

Heard Museum

If I can track down tour dates, I’ll put them on the next Happenings List.

 




 

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

May 2017 Photo: Ramada

There was sliver of the moon over the ramada at Mission Garden in Tucson.

Pergola at Mission Garden, Tucson

The spiny “branches” across the top of the roof come from the ocotillo plant. You can see what they look like growing in the desert in the photo below.

Ocotillo

 

Runner up:

I loved colors and shading in this handpainted parasol at Phoenix Comicon!

Unikornis Art parasol at phxcc

Side note: I wasn’t sure how widely the word “ramada” was used outside the Southwestern U.S. for describing the type of covering supported by posts you see over picnic tables etc., like a roof without walls. In the U.K., I thought they might call this a “shelter.” My Twitter poll on the topic only received a few votes – all in favor of ramada – but my friend Kelli did mention that she thinks of a ramada as made of brick and of this as a “pergola”.

Ramada in tucson

Perhaps the thing itself is just more common here in the Southwest, where you need shade more than protection from rain or snow and desert trees may be too sparse to provide it.

Anyway, if you use a word besides ramada, the language geek in me would love to know!




Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space