Laura Latzko

The Bee Gees are known for their disco hits, but the brothers’ music was so much more — which is why it continues to resonate. : Stayin’ Alive: One Night of the Bee Gees pays tribute to the band with a cross-section of hits from the act’s career. The group visits the Rialto Theatre on Saturday, April 20. : The production features songs such as “Stayin’ Alive,” “Jive Talkin,’” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “You Should Be Dancing,” “Nights on Broadway,” “I Started a Joke,” “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love),” “Massachusetts” and “Night Fever.” : The Bee Gees contributed four No. 1 singles to the soundtrack for 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever.” : The brothers Gibb also wrote tracks for other artists, like Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and Dionne Warwick. : In the tribute show, the three Gibb brothers — Barry, Robin and Maurice — are played by guitarist/lead singer Tony Mattina, lead/backup vocalist Todd Sharman and keyboardist/backing vocalist Joseph Janisse, respectively. They are supported by other musicians on the guitar, bass and drums. : Sharman said they try to honor the Bee Gees while also bringing a piece of themselves to the show. : “We try to stay as true as we can to the recordings,” Sharman said. : “Obviously, over the years, you put your imprint on it. I will often go back, relisten to songs and see where I’ve fallen off the top a little bit. … As far as us imitating the Bee Gees, we do the best to emulate them and sound as close as we can. … Sometimes I find when people try to sound too much like someone, it becomes cartoonish, and they aren’t believable. While we do try to stay true to the music, we also try to make it personal to us. : “I will put my hand to my ear once in a while to tip my hat to Robin, but that’s as far as it goes. And Tony sings like Barry Gibb. He does sound like him. That’s natural.” : The performers don ’70s-era clothing, but they aren’t trying to look exactly like the Gibb brothers. : Along with music, the production incorporates video clips and images that help to tell the Bee Gees’ story. The videos are often synched to the performances onstage. : The trio talks a bit about the Bee Gees’ music and achievements throughout the show. : Sharman said there aren’t many Bee Gees tribute bands because the music is difficult. : “It’s tight harmonies,” Sharman said. : “A lot of it has to do with the range that they can sing. Barry Gibb has a strong falsetto, and it’s used in some of the most popular songs. If you can’t sing that stuff, you really can’t do it.” : Sharman said although the show performs the Bee Gees’ disco hits, the show highlights their range as a group. : “They weren’t really a dance music band,” Sharman said. “They just had one album of that genre, and it had some of their biggest hits. They also had huge hits before that, that weren’t disco. I just think they are great songwriters, and that’s why they had so many big hits. They had over 30 No. 1 hits worldwide. It’s a testament to their writing.” : Often, they will perform lesser-known songs such as “Words,” “Too Much Heaven” or “Run to Me,” which Sharman said garner good responses from longtime fans. : He said that some songs such as “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” really speak to audiences. : “I’ve seen people react to that song,” Sharman said. : “I can see them taken back. That song means something to a lot of people. It really pulls at their heartstrings.” : Since joining the tribute, he has become more aware of lesser-known Bee Gees songs such as “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love).” : “The writing is really good, same with the way the song is built,” he said. : “The way it builds and the harmonies are just amazing. That’s one song that I really love that was not on my radar when I started doing this.” : The tribute has additional songs that the group wrote for other artists, such as “Grease” by Frankie Valli. : “They’ve got quite a catalog,” Sharman said. : “When disco started to have the backlash, they started writing songs for other artists and became songwriters. That’s why you can hear a lot of songs and not realize it’s the Bee Gees that wrote it. … The Bee Gees also got a little bit burned out and saturated. It happens to a lot of artists. They get too much airplay, and all of a sudden, people don’t like them anymore.” : Sharman said these days, fans fondly remember the Bee Gees. : Mattina and Sharman started the tribute show in Toronto in 2001. Sharman previously fronted acts that honored Tom Petty and the Tragically Hip. : “We started doing a few venues, doing maybe a half-hour set as an opening act,” Sharman said about Stayin’ Alive’s early years. “We started building on it and started to expand the repertoire, do more music and go out on our own.” : Sharman said that Mattina was important to the group because of his singing abilities. : “He was pivotal to actually getting the thing going. He’s basically the main voice in the band. Without him, you can’t do it,” Sharman said. : Stayin’ Alive: One Night of the Bee Gees : WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20 : WHERE: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, Tucson : COST: Tickets start at $27.50 : INFO: stayinalivetribute

The Bee Gees are known for their disco hits, but the brothers’ music was so much more — which is why it continues to resonate.

The annual Molina Fine Jewelers Scottsdale Jazz, Blues & Brews Festival is taking over a new venue this year. The event, presented by Mercedes-Benz of Scottsdale, kicks off Saturday, April 27, at the Scottsdale Civic Center East Bowl amphitheater, which can accommodate almost 2,800 people.

Get a peek behind the curtain at the Arizona Broadway Theatre (ABT). The beloved venue has recently started offering coffee breaks and tours for audiences to see what goes on backstage.

The Kentucky Derby is as much about elaborate hats and attire as it is about the race. To celebrate the event, the Holland Center will host a two-week open studio

With their music, the Wild Swans’ Mikey and Katie Dunlavey share traditional Irish ballads, sea shanties and Sean Nos Gaelic singing while also educating others about Irish music and culture. : Their upcoming event, “The Wind that Shakes the Corn” — Saturday, April 27, at the Pima County Historic Courthouse — will incorporate Irish folklore, poetry, music and history. : The program features the songs, stories and poems of rebels, blackguards and outlaws and explores themes of love, sorrow, crimes of passion, justice and injustice. : Mikey hosted and organized the Tucson Irish Music Showcase at the Live Theatre Workshop in February. This event highlighted Tucson musicians who play Irish music. : He and Katie have also been putting on a weekly Irish music session at the Hotel McCoy for about a year. : “It has taken a life of its own, and now we have a dozen or more musicians each Tuesday who come out to play,” Mikey said. : “We’ve seen a lot who are highly experienced and others who are brand new, but we’re welcoming to everybody. We just like to share the passion for the music.” : Mikey said that he is trying to bring more music-centric Irish cultural events to Tucson. : “Having been to Ireland a few times, the performances that personally have influenced me were those intimate musical performances where you really got the feel for the Irish music and culture. I did feel that that was something missing here in Tucson,” Mikey said. : Mikey has performed at the Pima County Historic Courthouse as part of its Friday Music in the Courtyard series. : Mikey said the courtroom will provide an intimate concert setting. : “We will be basically playing in front of the judge’s bench, near the jury box,” Mikey said. : The event will feature Mikey on the Irish uilleann pipes and Katie on an Irish drum called the bodhrán. The duo will be joined by fiddler John Parkhurst. : Mikey and Katie have been performing together as the Wild Swans for about a year and a half. They moved to Tucson in 2021 and formed the group in 2023 after attending the Ceol na Coille School of Irish Traditional Music in Ireland. : Mikey performed for a decade with a band in Pennsylvania. : “I have been retired from the Army for going on 12 years now,” Mikey said. “That was just always a dream of mine to follow my passion of Irish music. It’s really wonderful that Katie is now involved with it.” : The Wild Swans recently released their first album “True Gods of Sound and Stone.” Mikey’s Irish friends read his original poetry on this album. : They will play some songs from this album at the event. : Being part of the Wild Swans have pushed Mikey and Katie as musicians. : For the duo, Katie picked up the bodhrán. : Mikey has been learning the Irish uilleann pipes, which are challenging, he said. Mikey said that he is unusual as a uilleann piper because he is left handed. : “They’re a really beautiful sounding instrument, but they’re very technical,” Mikey said. “The adage is that it takes 20 years to learn and play them. I’ve been really enjoying playing them. They’re an instrument that is very iconic for Ireland, along with the harp.” : He said that his instrument is different than Scottish bagpipes because he doesn’t blow into them to create a sound. : “My left arm pumps the bellows, which inflates the bag that is under my arm. … They have more of a haunting sound compared to the Scottish pipes, which can be pretty high-pitched,” Mikey said. : Mikey grew up in a big Irish family and grew a deep appreciation for Irish cultural traditions. : His parents listened to the Clancy Brothers, an Irish group that often incorporated poetry into its music. He said he always appreciated how they used different art forms to tell a story. : He has also been influenced by Luke Kelly and the Dubliners and Tommy Makem. : Mikey has an extensive collection of books on Irish folklore, history and poetry, which he often relates to the music he performs. : “I always earmark passages that I come across, whether an anecdote or a poem that I think have a similarity to one of the songs I learned over the years,” Mikey said. : “I like to introduce a song with a poem or a historical anecdote to give the song even more life than what it already has. A lot of the songs do have a really deep history from where they originated, whether a particular place in Ireland, particular event or person. With a song, you might not get the real full story behind it. I like to bring that out with respect to the poetry and the historical anecdotes that I come across.” : The couple puts on the event with the help of a grant from the American Federation of Musicians. : The couple already has plans for other Irish music events, including a Celtic New Year Celebration at the Sea of Glass Center for the Arts in November. This event will highlight music, fairy tales, legends and ghost stories that tie into the Celtic New Year and Halloween. : “The Wind that Shakes the Corn” : WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 27 : WHERE: Dillinger Courtroom, Pima County Historic Courthouse, 115 N. Church Avenue, Tucson : COST: $20 presale general admission, $25 at the door, supplies limited : INFO: thewildswansmusic

Mindset coach Frankie Kounouho seeks to help others with their challenges, such as depression, self-esteem, grief and major life changes, such as divorce.

Country rock group KC and the Moonshine Band formed in 2020 and started playing live in 2021. (Dylan Scott/Contributor)

In their subversive dark comedy “The Moors,” queer playwright Jen Silverman tells a story about love, desperation and visibility through two sisters and a Mastiff living in a bleak home

SandScript gives PCC students a chance to publish their poetry, prose and visual arts pieces. : The writers will celebrate the release of the new SandScript during a Thursday, May 9, launch party in the Amethyst Room of the PCC Downtown Campus. : During the party, contributors will read their work and share their processes. There will also be an announcement of genre contest winners and a reception. : The student-run publication, which has garnered national recognition, is produced as part of a WRT 162 Literary Magazine Workshop class at PCC. : In 2023, fiction, poetry and visual arts contributors won prizes in the Southwest division of the Community College Humanities Association’s Literary Magazine Competition. : The Sandscript staff has expanded its scope this year, hosting a faculty spoken-word open mic and a book release in addition to assembling the publication. : The annual literary magazine was founded 1990. In 2020 and 2021 during the height of the pandemic, the publication was online only. In 2022 and 2023, it returned to print and digital formats. : Faculty adviser Mariah Young — who teaches English and creative writing at Pima — said this year, SandScript will be online and in print. Exclusive content will no longer be published online. : “There really was a demand to have a physical print edition from contributors and readers,” Young said. “So, that’s where we put most of our energy this year.” : Young said this year, the edition will have a different color scheme, motif and paper type. : “We just focused a lot on quality, making sure we had quality paper, quality printing,” Young said. : “We want readers to have something beautiful when they hold it in their hands.” : As part of SandScript, students judge the entries, edit the publication and assist with marketing and promotion. : Last year’s staff had nine individuals. This year, the 14-person staff put the magazine together. : Editor-in-chief Mackenzie Dougherty was the assistant editor last year. : “I feel like the editor-in-chief role has helped me to learn and get a well-rounded experience in the process of publishing a magazine,” Dougherty said. : Young said many recent contributors are continuing to pursue visual arts and writing, either at PCC or other schools. : During the judging process, the names of the writers and artists are not revealed to the staff. : Staff members were broken into different genre category teams, with a lead in charge of each group. They chose which pieces would appear in the publication, and it was further broken down from there. : “We actually left it up to our genre leads, where they selected the top 10 of what they considered to be the strongest work,” Young said. : “We connected with local artists and local writers and asked them if they could do the evaluation and rank the top three. We wanted to show that the work we are producing here is a really high caliber. So, having working artists and writers who are in the industry donate that time to read and then describe the strengths of these pieces, it’s really rewarding.” : Dougherty said that submissions went through several rounds, and during the process of reading and discussing the pieces, the staff members were very passionate. : “There were so many arguments, and I feel like that is such a good thing,” Dougherty said. : “Whenever we would have those discussions, I would be standing there and feel like the people that submitted would love to see this because it just goes to show how much of a struggle we had choosing the pieces.” : Young added, “We definitely argued, but they were important arguments that made us think more clearly or with more deliberation about what SandScript is supposed to be….There were a lot of pieces that we were like how does this show the complexity of our community and also how are they wrestling with really complex events, emotions and contexts? : “Every piece got a lot of attention, from that first round. Let’s think about what this piece is trying to accomplish and trying to do. And then, it was like how does this piece complement the larger whole?... It became this process of not only thinking of the work on its own terms but also how it fit and how it reflected the particulars of this edition.” : This year, there were around 350 prose, poetry and visual arts submissions, which were received from October to the beginning of March. : Dougherty said many of the submissions were themed around music, which became a central theme. : Dougherty said many of the writers and artists looked inward and outward at the world around them. : “There were a lot of submissions that talked about the world, what we were seeing and how this community was feeling about it. They tried to bring that to themselves,” Dougherty said. : Young said the students who submitted were grappling with larger issues in society, such as transgender identity and legislation, suicide, the Israel-Hamas War and humans’ role and agency in the world. : Visual arts submissions came as digital art, photography, paintings, pen and pencil drawings and charcoal works. : Many of these visual arts pieces were self-portraits. : “We saw the spectrum of how people wanted to show themselves. Some were very artsy and beautiful. Some were defiant. Some really leaned into staring straight at the viewer…It all struck me as the artist trying to see how they can show themselves and what they wanted the world to see in them,” Young said. : Each year, the cover art image represents the content inside of the publication. For the second consecutive year, the front cover will feature artwork by student Aiden Badruddoja. : In his painting “Mr. Miller,” he depicted hands, covered in tattoos and rings, playing the piano. : “You have this grand piano, but then you have hands with gold rings and tattoos…It felt like a reflection of our community, making this beautiful music, this beautiful art, but also bringing our own style to it,” Young said. : Being in the literary magazine is meaningful for students, especially those who are published for the first time. : Some students have had multiple pieces published in SandScript, either during the same or multiple years. : “When they do get accepted for publication, this whole other world opens up for them, or they see their talent in a totally new way. And they are inspired to keep going with that creativity,” Young said. : Young said that with students who publish over multiple years, it is possible to see their growth as artists and writers. : Last year, Dougherty had three pieces accepted for publication into SandScript. She said she and her family were proud of her work. : “When I first saw it printed, it felt surreal,” Dougherty said. : “I remember calling home and telling my mom, and my grandma called and was like, ‘You need to send me a copy.’ Then, she showed all of her students because she’s a teacher. It blew my mind that something as simple as submitting to SandScript opened doors that I connected with family.” : Many faculty members and locals also value SandScript publications. Young said some have been collecting editions of the magazine for years and have all or a large collection of SandScript issues. : “I have started my own little collection now. In going through all the back issues, if I find one from the ’90s, I’m so excited. The oldest issue I have is from 1995, and it’s this beautiful artifact of that time. You can really see how Pima has evolved and changed,” Young said. : Sandscript 2024 Launch Party : WHEN: 6 p.m. Thursday, May 9 : WHERE: Amethyst Room, Downtown Campus, Pima Community College, 1255 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson : COST: Free : INFO: sites.google/pima.edu/pccsandscript