Cover Story
Immigration 101
The young woman sitting at a kitchen table with her father looks like any other Arizona teenager. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with a large silver peace sign. Moments ago she was running around her family’s house in slippers being chased by a little…
CD8: Is It a Toss-Up? The NRCC Isn’t Spending Money—Yet
Some tea leaves to read in the race between Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Jesse Kelly in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 8: Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report, who is now projecting that the GOP will pick up at least 40 seats in the midterms, has kept CD8 in the “Leans Democrat” column,…
CD8: About That Conservatives For Congress Ad
The Conservatives for Congress Ad The actual exchange between Congresswoman Giffords and Gen. David PetraeusThe Conservatives for Congress Committee that helped carry Republican Jesse Kelly to victory in Congressional District 8 in last month’s primary has stopped airing a TV ad attacking Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The ad pulled short snippets from an exchange between…
Rasmussen: Brewer’s Debate Performance Leads To Surge Among Voters!
OK, now we’re really skeptical about Rasmussen surveys. The latest report shows that Brewer actually picked up points after her disastrous debate performance and now leads Democrat Terry Goddard by 22 percentage points: Despite her halting debate performance last week, Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer now earns 60% of the vote in her bid for…
Jon Stewart: “Gov. Brewer, What Happened? Did a Mexican Drug Cartel Sneak Across the Border and Kidnap Your Tongue?”
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c <td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'Indecision 2010 – Are You Ready for Some Midterms? www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party The Daily Show returns from vacation and tackles Gov. Jan Brewer’s meltdown in last week’s debate, at the end of…
Day of the Dead
The Arizona Democratic Party does an homage to 28 Days Later. We’d just like to mention that we had the first Arizona Pol/Zombie mash-up during the primary. Is this the start of a meme?
CD8: Giffords Rolls Out New Ad Hammering Kelly on Social Security and Medicare
Team Giffords rolls out a new campaign ad today that continues to hammer the theme that Republican Jesse Kelly wants to invest Social Security dollars in the stock market. The spot also focuses on Kelly’s proposal to eliminate Medicare for future recipients, with a mention of Kelly’s comments to Tucson Weekly that he believes Medicare…
Let Loose the Brewer Pause Parody Videos!
It was the pause hear round the world during last week’s Arizona gubernatorial debate when Jan Brewer fumbled her way through her prepared opening remarks. (Current YouTube viewer count: 1.7 million) It wasn’t long until the parody videos started rolling in. Here’s a roundup:
May’s Counter Chicken and Waffles Opens Tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 7)
The wait is almost over! Ryan Field of May’s Counter Chicken and Waffles tells us the restaurant opens at 11 a.m., tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 7. Want a peek at what’s on the menu? Check out the restaurant’s Facebook page for photos of the chicken-fried steak, “tot-chos” and bacon-wrapped peppers served at the soft opening over…
Planet of the Crepes
We’ve been hearing good things about a local food truck called Planet of the Crepes. There are reports of fillings ranging from smoked duck to Nutella, with many sweet and savory stops in between. Planet of the Crepes will be parked up on Mount Lemmon every Thursday through Sunday through the end of October, according…
Friday Roundtable: Brewer’s Brain Freeze, the AG Race and the City Sales Tax
Arizona Illustrated’s Friday Roundtable gang reviews the week.
U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke: SB 1070 Has “Unconstitional Stench”
U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke makes his first visit to the Friday Roundtable to talk about the Obama administration’s lawsuit against SB 1070, the ongoing efforts to combat illegal immigration and the new lawsuit against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
CD8: Gov. Brewer Done Has Did Endorsed Jesse Kelly
Gov. Jan Brewer is taking advantage of her week in the national spotlight to endorse Republican Jesse Kelly, who hopes to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Congressional District 8. In a press release, Brewer said: “There is no question that Jesse Kelly is the best candidate—a dynamic leader with business and military experience who…
“How Can We Trust Jan Brewer?”
Released today from the Goddard campaign:
Jan Brewer’s Defining Moment
The current home page of YouTube. ETA: Inception Cat is pretty fun to watch, too!
Barbra Seville as Jan Brewer
Phoenix performer Richard Stevens, aka Barbra Seville, gives us another take on the governor and the debate. Thank the gods for drag.
Upcoming Legislative Debates
If you liked the bickering you saw in the Clean Elections Governor’s debate, you’ll love southern Arizona’s legislative debates. We posted the schedule for you after the jump, but first a little bickering of our own… Senator Al Melvin and Cheryl Cage, his Democratic challenger in LD26, repeatedly promised to attend a Clean Elections debate…
Get Yer Brewer-Goddard Debate
In case you missed it, Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic challenger Terry Goddard traded punches and talked over the third-party candidates earlier this week in their only debate this election season. There are a lot of highlights for the politically-inclined, but one of our favorites is the long awkward silence in Brewer’s opening statement -…
C’mon Jan, What About Those Headless Bodies?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy While it seems Rachel Maddow is getting great pleasure torturing the nation and progressive Arizonanas with more clips of Gov. Jan Brewer’s opening debate debacle, watch this one till the end. After the debate, Brewer had to answer to a group of reporters…
CD8: Kelly Flip Flops on Support of 23 Percent National Sales Tax
Politico detects a change in Republican Jesse Kelly’s rhetoric as he prepares to face Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the November general election: In a Monday e-mail to supporters, his campaign had one message: “Jesse Kelly wants to protect Social Security.” The same message appeared as a note on his Facebook page, and he reiterated…
More Brewer Craziness
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Forget about the shame from: “I have really did the very best anyone could do.” Rachel Maddow pointed out last night that Gov. Jan Brewer pulled campaign advertising from the Phoenix CBS TV station because of a continuing investigation reporter Morgan Loew is…
Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro Update
We let you know about Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro yesterday, and found their website today. Looks like Tucson could be in for a treat.
Tucson Meet Yourself: Big Jim Griffith
Here’s a recent video interview with Big Jim Griffith, one of the founders of the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival. The 2010 festival takes place Oct. 8, 9 and 10. See our interview with folklorist Maribel Alvarez here. The festival will continue to have multi-cultural offerings of music, dance, food and traditional crafts, but this year…
Brewer’s Silent Treatment
Democrats are thrilled to share Gov. Jan Brewer’s meltdown in her opening statements in last night’s debate. It’s pretty obvious why Brewer doesn’t want any more debates with Democrat Terry Goddard.
CD8 Poll: Tight Race Between Giffords and Kelly
A new poll commissioned by the American Action Forum shows that Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is in a tight race with Republican challenger Jesse Kelly in Congressional District 8. The poll of 400 CD8 likely voters, with a margin of error of 4.9 percent, shows that 46 percent of voters were supporting Giffords and 46…
City Week
Tucson Motor Show; Reception for Once5 Exhibition What Keeps Me Radicalized; Blues Brothers Concert; IMAX 3-D Experience Theatre Screening of Inception
Come to the TAMMIES!
Please consider this a personal invitation from me to you to attend the 17th Annual Tucson Area Music Awards (aka the TAMMIES) at the Rialto Theatre next Wednesday, Sept. 8. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m., when you’ll be able to enjoy food from our sponsors (including BrushFire BBQ Co., eegee’s, Tucson Tamale Company…
T Q&A
Bonnie Kampa
Danehy
More (mostly) bad news for all you bad drivers out there. (You know who you are … and the poor souls whose bad luck it is to be driving next to, behind, or in front of you know who you are, too.) While the governor and some people in the state Legislature are looking out…
Unsustainable Eats
“Organic,” “local” and “sustainable” are the latest buzzwords in food, but can a restaurant really live up to those standards? Primo at the JW Marriott Starr Pass gives it a half-hearted effort, but pales in comparison to the original Primo in Rockland, Maine, which I had the pleasure of visiting last week while attending a…
But Does It Suck?
The Gaslight Theatre has just raised the curtain on its annual salute to Halloween—this year with the ghoulish melodrama The Vampire, or He Loved in Vein! The appearance of a Halloween treat so early in the year is likely to elicit one of two reactions. For some there’s delight, because the Gaslight is such a…
Serraglio
When I saw a flurry of e-mails among fellow bicycle commuters a few weeks ago warning of police stakeouts and mass citations, I muttered to myself, here we go again. Then a news item announced a $45,000 grant from the governor’s office to the Tucson Police Department for bicycle enforcement. Nice to know that a…
Noshing Around
Metropolitan Grill: America’s Kitchen; Mini’s Cupcakes and Cakes by Ambrosia; Dogfish Head Brewery Beer Dinner; Last Chance
An Art Less Ephemeral
Vonn Sumner’s painting “TOTEM” is on exhibit at the Tucson Museum of Art right now, but it had its Tucson debut six months ago. The oil on canvas—picturing a man with a paper bag over his head—had a starring role in “The Parakeet Chronicles,” a multimedia dance performed in February at a UA School of…
Mailbag
A Gun-Toting Father May Be Teaching His Son About Safety; Danehy Is Right: Obama Has Been a Disappointment
Vintage Premier Crew
From time to time, we ask two of our senior music scribes to chat about a significant occasion in Tucson music. This is one of those times: Club Congress’ 25th Anniversary shindig this weekend. Here’s what they had to say. Stephen Seigel: Well, Gene, once again we find ourselves having a little sit-down to discuss…
Imagination Building
Hopefully Tucsonans who enjoy poetry will never take the University of Arizona Press for granted. Through its Camino del Sol Latino and Latina series and Sun Tracks American Indian literary series, the press publishes at least six poetry collections annually (in addition to dozens of titles in every field). The books are powerful; look no…
Guest Commentary
Ask most people about how the environmental laws in this country get implemented, and you’re likely to be met with a blank stare. No one really knows the details, but the BP spill—combined with less-publicized leaks from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant—signal to most people that the system isn’t working. I’m a practicing environmental…
Soundbites
AUTUMN COLOR It’s finally starting to feel like fall in the Old Pueblo: Club Congress’ annual Labor Day shindig—which you can read all about in a conversation I had with Weekly music writer Gene Armstrong on this very page—rolls in this weekend; the winners of our own TAMMIES are being announced this week at an…
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books best-sellers for the week ending Aug. 27, 2010
Hidden Habitat
Until recently, when people thought about biodiversity along midtown’s Arroyo Chico, they might have pictured neighborhood kids on mountain bikes, or bedraggled souls in homeless camps. They might want to think again. Today, from Kino Boulevard to Campbell Avenue, biologists are busily cataloguing the flora and fauna of this overgrown drainage. And their work is…
Nine Questions
Donald Murray
Left Turn at the Equator
Documentaries are sometimes incorrectly elevated to the status of “non-fiction films.” That’s the aim, certainly, but many documentaries have no interest in chronicling any subject in an objective way. To be fair, it’s impossible to be objective when reporting on anything. When an interview is cut for time or a fact is omitted in pursuit…
The Skinny
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords comes out swinging against Republican Jesse Kelly … Will Ted Downing help elect a Republican to the Legislature in midtown Tucson? … Arizonans hate partisan primaries … and more!
Top Ten in Music
Toxic Ranch Records top sales for the week ending Aug. 29, 2010
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week ending Aug. 29, 2010
Downtown Hotel Hell
While Tucson leaders ponder the wisdom of building a Sheraton convention center hotel, Phoenix opened one in October 2008. But its occupancy rates have fallen significantly short of expectations. In 2005 the consulting firm HVS International prepared a market study for the proposed Phoenix hotel. It predicted in the first nine months of operation there…
Live
The Tubes
Cue the Green Puke
From the school of “Hey kids, let’s pool our milk money together, turn a camera on and make a movie!” comes another low-budget horror picture that is all gimmick and no guts. While I gave mildly passing reviews to the likes of Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, I’m drawing the line at The Last Exorcism.…
Primary Observations
How did Republican Jesse Kelly pull off his victory over former state lawmaker Jonathan Paton in the GOP primary in Congressional District 8? We’ve talked to a number of folks about that one and here’s the consensus: Paton, who was the favorite of the GOP establishment, made a number of crucial mistakes, including focusing on…
Early Black Life: Love :: Love:Murder (Self-Released)
Forget Interpol. Tucson’s Early Black lets loose a sonic flood of darkly epic and soul-crushing gothic shoegaze that will leave you cowering at the foot of your mama’s bed, begging for her to hold you tight and keep you safe from the big, bad world—or at least from the desperate sphere delineated by the 10…
Now Showing at Home
House: Season Six (Blu-ray); The Long Good Friday (Blu-ray); Time Bandits (Blu-ray); The Evil Dead (Blu-ray)
Weekly Wide Web
Rental Market Over; The week on the Range; Comment of the week; Best of WWW
Jivin Scientists/Defacedproperty: Autumn (Strapped for Cash)
If this album is any evidence, Tucson’s hip-hop underground is thriving. These 16 tracks are the result of a collaboration by MC Runt (aka James Owens, of Jivin Scientists) and producer Defacedproperty. Throughout, Autumn is a refreshing blend of influences from Wu-Tang to Gang Starr to Rakim. More often than not, Runt proves a master…
Media Watch
Clear Channel phone app takes radio on the road
The Static Session: Lovelife (Self-Released)
The Static Session is the latest band from the O’Gorman brothers—bassist Scott (whose nom de rock is The Senator) and singer-guitarist Christopher. The two are Tucson music stalwarts: In the late ’90s they were tucking Christian messages into the arena-sized, British-inspired rock of White Chrome Splendor, but by the time The Year of Acceleration started…
Police Dispatch
JUST USE A LITTLE RESTRAINT West Palm Vista Street Aug. 4, 12:56 a.m. An out-of-control youth turned instantly compliant with the buckle of a strap, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report stated. A domestic-violence call reported a young male yelling and tearing up the trailer where his family lived. The caller alleged he was not…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’m a naturalized citizen born in Ciudad Juárez (the most dangerous city in the world, thanks to the drug cartels) but I work for la migra. I get a lot of shit from some of my family members because they feel I shouldn’t be doing this job. I always tell them that it’s…
Fight Night
Lucha Libre, matadors and bullfighting … oh my! Pero, no te precupes … no actual bulls will be harmed in Matadors and Luchadors—an art show devoted to the culture, spirit and passion behind traditional Spanish bullfighting and Mexican wrestling held at Candelabra Gallery. Colleena Hake, who owns the art space, came up with the idea…
Republican No Shows Part II
To follow up yesterday’s Range regarding the Republican no shows at last night’s campaign forum sponsored by the NAACP, the Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce and the Urban League, we talked earlier today with Chamber Executive Director Clarence Boykins, who helped organize the event. Boykins said e-mail invites went out to Republican and Democratic…
New Peruvian Bistro Coming to Southside
It looks like a new eatery called Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro is setting up shop in the Southgate Shopping Center, on the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and I-10. If you haven’t tried Peruvian food yet, Candela and Inca’s can help. The chicha morada at both places is out of sight. The new Peruvian bistro…
Brewer Vs. Goddard: Watch the Debate Tonight!
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer goes toe-to-toe with Democratic challenger Terry Goddard tonight in the Clean Elections debate. It might be the only one we get, so politicos will want to tune in. If you feel like staying home, our friends at KUAT-TV will be carrying the debate on Channel 6 from 7 to 8 p.m.…
