NUTS ABOUT SCHUMANN

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    Every year, cellist Harry Clark and I mastermind the Arizona Cultural Forum, which will be occupying my attention this weekend. Read about it here (but note that it’s Harry’s photo next to my bio). Our topic this time is Robert Schumann, Creativity and Mental Illness. We’ll have mental health professionals talking about Schumann’s malady and treatment, and how he would be treated today, probably with greater success (he starved himself to death in an asylum). We’ll have musicians, including Tucson Symphony oboist Lindabeth Binkley, soprano Jennifer Nagy and pianist Sanda Schuldmann, performing Schumann’s music. We’ll have artist Chris Rush talking about insanity and visual artists (Chris—you’ve got to get me those images to scan!). We’ll have a reading of David Rabe’s play Good for Otto, about life at a mental health clinic, featuring yours truly and a group of real actors, including Bill Epstein, Julia Matias, Carlisle Ellis and an excellent young actress who’s new to me, Veronica Blanco. And speaking of actresses, Margot Kidder (Lois Lane from the Superman movies some 30 years ago) is coming to town to be featured in Harry’s Schumann-oriented theater-and-music piece A Rare Pattern. We’re holding forth Friday and Sunday at Academy Village and Saturday at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, with evening performances at Hotel Congress Friday and the Tucson Botanical Gardens on Saturday. Here’s the schedule. I hope to see you there.

UNASKED QUESTIONS 4

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    Both the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen today report on the University of Arizona’s computer security breach, as detailed in a memo e-mailed to the campus community yesterday by UA executive VP and provost George Davis. Wrote the provost, in part:

    Last week, The University of Arizona detected unauthorized access into computer systems on campus, which temporarily has affected some services in three areas. Those areas include Procurement and Contracting Services (PACS), the Student Union and University Libraries.
    So far, no additional breaches have been confirmed, although we continue to scan systems throughout campus. The University first confirmed the unauthorized access January 2, 2007; some servers and computers appear to have been illegally breached at different times in November and December. Hackers installed software to store files (such as movies or games) on the systems, and may have attempted to access other information. At this point, no evidence exists that data actually were accessed in any way and no evidence exists of theft, including data theft, money theft or other.

After 5 years of service, Professor Sally Jackson has asked to be relieved of her duties as Vice President for Learning and Information Technologies and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of The University of Arizona. In consultation with Sally and with President Shelton, I have decided to make this change effective immediately. From now until June 30, 2007, Sally will be serving as Senior Associate to me on core projects in Academic Affairs, following which she will return to her faculty position as Professor in the Department of Communications.

CHINESE LEFTOVERS

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    For weeks, I've been forgetting to post this, but here we go now. Tucson Guide asked me to write an article about the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, and the history of Chinese immigrants in Tucson. That article appears in the current issue (not available online). Now, the rule of writing for magazines is that when you don't offer a sidebar, the editor will request one, and when you volunteer a sidebar, the editors won't be able to squeeze it in. With this article I submitted two sidebars on notable Tucson residents of Chinese heritage, and of course there was no space for them. I hate to let anything go to waste, though, so here they are.

ESTHER TANG
    Community leader Esther Tang was born here in 1917. Her father, Don Wah, had arrived before the turn of the century, and worked his way up to owning a bakery by the time Esther was born. She evoked Tucson’s Chinatown in Abe and Mildred Chanin’s oral history, This Land, These Voices:
    “I can recall they had a complex of … dilapidated little apartments. They were mostly single men who came from China, living by themselves and sending their slim earnings back. And their families in China thought, gee, we have to send all our sons and husbands to the United States. Literally they called it the ‘Gold Mountain.’ They didn’t realize their poor husbands and sons were really struggling. They didn’t know of the prejudices.”
    The Don household in which Esther grew up was hardly luxurious. “The store itself was small, perhaps twelve feet by twelve feet,” she told the Chanins, “and immediately at the back of the store there was a cloth curtain and, as you went in, there was a bedroom. We didn’t have many rooms and there were about three of us, I remember, in one bed … And, of course, we used chamber pots during the night, because we didn’t have any toilet facilities in the house.”
    Esther Don grew up, earned a degree from the University of Arizona, married David Tang, bought various commercial properties with her husband, and became one of the city’s leading community service volunteers. She was named Tucson’s Woman of the Year in 1955, and her name graces a plaza at the U of A.

SOLENG TOM
    Perhaps the greatest Chinese success story in Tucson is that of Soleng Tom, who arrived in America in 1929 at age 18 with no English and no money. He joined an uncle in Tucson, worked in laundries and restaurants, then in a market his uncle set up for him. He began to learn English by sitting in the back row of a second-grade classroom.
    Before long he’d earned a pilot’s license and been trained in aviation engineering. Tom served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In the late 1940s he began to open a series of supermarkets—no more little neighborhood store for him. Eventually he expanded his flagship South Tucson store into one of Tucson’s first shopping centers, and developed many other business interests over the years,
    Soleng Tom won the race for mayor of South Tucson in 1955 until a “lost” ballot box turned up and handed the election to his opponent. Next he headed an anti-corruption campaign that led to the removal of four South Tucson officials (including the mayor), but then woke up one night to learn that his store had been torched, probably in retaliation.
    Beginning in the 1960s, he ultimately served five terms as president of the school district where, decades before, he’d sat in on that second-grade class. Soleng Tom died in 2000, a much-honored Tucsonan.

DOWN BY THE RIVER

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    Jessica Duchen goes to Vienna for New Year’s and reports that “the strangest thing is that you can spend a happy holiday in Vienna without setting eyes on that famous river even once. If you want to see the Beautiful Blue Danube at its finest, go to Budapest.” Yes, it’s strange but true, and not just because the Danube cuts through a part of the city at some distance from the old walled town and the equally touristed Ringstrasse. Because of a combination of geography (Vienna is built on low rolling hills that obscure the view of the river below), topography (trees galore as you approach the Danube!) and architecture (the buildings are just barely tall enough to block any view that might otherwise be available), you can’t even see the Danube well from a cabin atop the giant ferris wheel at the Prater. The good news is that you can see the Vienna Woods from all over the city, since the hills gain elevation as they head toward the Alps.
    In Budapest, in contrast, the Danube flows right through a heavily trafficked part of the city (formerly three towns, two of which were separated by the river, which for centuries was crossed only with some difficulty). But note: The Danube is not a beautiful blue; it’s more a greenish gray. So much for the romance of Johann Strauss Jr.

BITTEN BY THE OPERA BUG

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    We in Tucson have long held that Phoenix is Arizona’s own Hellmouth, and here’s further evidence: A soprano engaged by the Phoenix Symphony for a concert opera is savaged by an army of bedbugs at the Hilton, no less. This is no place for entomologists; time to call in a slayer. The soprano's lawyer says, “She looks like a piece of wood that has been attacked by termites.” Which means she now resembles the average tenor trying to act.

TWO HAMLETS, OUT OF JOINT

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

    One review and a two-in-one preview from me in the current Tucson Weekly:

    Here's the secret to an effective portrayal of Hamlet: Put a potato in your codpiece.
    Or so claims John Barrymore. Of course, he's been dead for decades, and his notions are rather old-fashioned. Then again, Barrymore has recently materialized to coach the sort of contemporary actor who is probably beyond remediation: a television star. A well-placed potato may be the only possible improvement to this thespian's equipment.
    Such is the acting class that is Paul Rudnick's I Hate Hamlet, which is enjoying a lovable production at Live Theatre Workshop.

    Had your fill of wholesome entertainment over the holidays? Well, a new year has arrived, and theater producer Kevin Johnson hopes you've got enough of an appetite left to sample his own special kind of fruitcake.
    Here's what Johnson is serving up this week, from the test kitchens of his Arizona Onstage Productions:
    First, there's Talk of the Town, a Paul Bonin-Rodriguez comedy about a self-described "sissy boy" coming to terms with his sexuality in a small Texas town.
    Then, there's a special two-performance fundraiser featuring live music and a screening of a heady 2005 musical film called Reefer Madness, inspired by the famously campy 1936 anti-marijuana movie of the same name. This event is designed to pay off bills from earlier Arizona Onstage shows and help fund the rest of this season.