This week we give the gift of Los Esplifs! On Nov 21, Arizona Arts Live teamed up with the MSA Annex to present local psyche-desert rockers XIXA to a sold-out audience, and with the assistance of local video/audio presenters No Audience we captured it all on video. Only XIXA’s performance was live-streamed that evening, but after witnessing the wonder of the opening act, Los Esplifs, we couldn’t bear the thought of so many missing out on this incredible experience. Los Esplifs are a local up-and-coming cumbia group, featuring some of Arizona’s best musicians hailing from across the sonic map. With experts in folk, punk, reggae, cumbia, and jazz, and a lineup consisting of members from such beloved bands as Mesquite, Vox Urbana, and Afrocuban Allstars, Los Esplifs is cumbia for the modern era and the masses. Together, the band embodies a mischievous, joyful, and unquestionably fun spirit. Los Esplifs wanted their performance to feel like a celebration, and even in these times of distance and limited capacity, they managed to do just that. You could feel the camaraderie, the joy of the crowd, and the general sense of release their set evoked. And this Thursday on The Tucson Studio you’ll finally get the chance to join us for this unquestionably joyful performance as well! Check out Los Esplifs bandcamp ahead of time, and enjoy the grooves on their excellent EP. Don’t forget to follow them on instagram.

Manual Cinema broadcasts holiday cheer directly to your home with this world premiere of a special live-streamed adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless A Christmas Carol. The ever-inventive company that specializes in “vivacious hybrids of film and theater” (The New York Times) is creating a new production tailored for home viewing, one that’s poignantly resonant with our current lives. An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been tasked with presenting her family’s annual Christmas Carol puppet show from the isolation of her studio apartment—over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s holiday call transforms into a stunning cinematic adaptation of Dickens’ classic ghost story. Manual Cinema’s vivid production features hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and an original music score performed live. In signature Manual Cinema fashion, hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and a live original score will come together to tell an imaginative re-invention of this cherished holiday classic. Each show will be performed live in Manual Cinema’s Chicago studio and live-streamed to you at home. 

Manual Cinema broadcasts holiday cheer directly to your home with this world premiere of a special live-streamed adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless A Christmas Carol. The ever-inventive company that specializes in “vivacious hybrids of film and theater” (The New York Times) is creating a new production tailored for home viewing, one that’s poignantly resonant with our current lives. An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been tasked with presenting her family’s annual Christmas Carol puppet show from the isolation of her studio apartment—over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s holiday call transforms into a stunning cinematic adaptation of Dickens’ classic ghost story. Manual Cinema’s vivid production features hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and an original music score performed live. In signature Manual Cinema fashion, hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and a live original score will come together to tell an imaginative re-invention of this cherished holiday classic. Each show will be performed live in Manual Cinema’s Chicago studio and live-streamed to you at home.