Cover Story
Day at the Track
There’s a roar of desperation and delight as a tight pack of neck-and-neck quarter horses race to storm the wire first at the 73-year-old Rillito Racetrack.
Casa Video Top 10
While I assume you’re spending the weekend drinking locally brewed beer and eating fried food at the fair, I always think it’s a good idea to reserve a few hours for snuggling up on the couch with a good movie. Make like a meerkat and grab some popcorn while you’re deciding what to watch this…
Comedians Ian Harris and Ty Barnett Unite Divided Sides in Upcoming Rialto Show
Even over the phone, I can tell acclaimed comics Ian Harris and Ty Barnett have been pretty good pals for a while. The two jokesters will unite at the Rialto this Saturday, April 16, for their “Divided Comedy” stand-up show, which explores their opposing and according opinions on hot-button topics such as politics, race, religion and…
Cinema Clips: The Invitation
Dinner parties tend to suck, don’t they? You bring a stupid bottle of wine nobody will like. You have no small talk for others gathering at the table other than the weather and your stinky feet problem. Your hosts may or may not be trying to kill you. Will (Logan Marshall-Green) is visiting his ex-wife…
Ally Miller Chastises Star for Accurately Quoting Ally Miller
Ally Miller, Pima County’s most unstable supervisor, had a guest column in today’s morning daily complaining that Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry and Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller have accused her of wanting to “damage the brand” of Pima County: During the past few months a flurry of memoranda has been published by Pima…
High School Students Bring Passion to Acting Innocent Theatre Company
Ah, the passion of youth. When the leaden yoke built by dealing with stupid adult stuff has yet to settle its heavy arm around one’s shoulders. I say, thank the heavens for it. That passion, I mean. Nothing is impossible. Everything is not only possible, but likely. Without this passion, the world would be a…
Go to Adopt Love, Adopt Local This Saturday and Bring Home Your New Best Friend
Pet lovers, clear your schedule for Saturday. Every local pet adoption agency you can think of (from the Pima Animal Care Center to Any Rat Rescue) will be at the Tucson Expo Center (3750 E. Irvington Road) for Adopt Love, Adopt Local. More than 30,000 pets enter our local shelters each year, but sadly all may…
Best of Tucson’s Best Actor: You Guys Are Ridiculous
As I explained in my first Best of Tucson blog of the season, we’re changing things up a bit this year and ignoring votes for nonlocal institutions. As “local” is now implied in every category, we removed the descriptor from many of the category titles‚ including Best (Local) Actor. But APPARENTLY the message didn’t quite…
Cinema Clips: Born to Be Blue
Ethan Hawke plays legendary jazz musician Chet Baker in this gritty documentary about the man’s trumpet playing comeback after taking a severe beating to the face. Hawke just keeps adding to his list of great performances, and this one might be his most ambitious. He learned how to play trumpet for the movie, impressively miming…
Swap Meat this Record Store Day Weekend
What goes together better than cheap records and hot dogs? Nothing, apparently. Fill your weird record-hot-dog fix at Tucson Hop Shop and 4th Ave. Deli’s spring record swap meet (more like swap meat, am I right, ladies?) this Sunday, April 15. All jokes aside, the event’s Facebook page promises attendees thousands of various, stupidly low-priced…
Samantha Bee Explains Superdelegates
If you’ve been paying attention to democratic primary results, you may have heard someone say Hillary Clinton’s 220 delegate lead on Bernie Sanders is actually bigger than it looks because of superdelegates. Samantha Bee used last night’s episode of Full Frontal to explain the existence of superdelegates, and question the idea they ensure Clinton’s nomination. Or,…
One of These Things Is Not Like the Other
Governor Doug Ducey and Senate President Andy Biggs must have been deprived of Sesame Street as children. Maybe their parents had something against any broadcasting that labeled itself “public.” “Only free enterprise television for you, Doug and Andy. None of that socialist public TV propaganda!” What a shame. You remember Sesame Street, right? Where children are…
Take Back the Night (and More) for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
It’s April 12, which means Sexual Assault Awareness Month is almost half way over. There are still plenty of opportunities, though, for you to celebrate the month throughout the Tucson community. Here’s one. To commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month, raise awareness and advocate for survivors of sexual assault, the UA’s Students Promoting Empowerment and Consent…
Gowan Caves on BS Background Checks on Reporters
Arizona House Speaker David Gowan caved this morning on his plan to require background checks for reporters before they could go about their business, as they have more than three decades, on the floor of the House of Representatives. Given the ongoing roasting that Gowan was experiencing in press, it was only a matter of…
PSA: Heathers is Playing at the Loft This Weekend
Grab your corn nuts and head over to the Loft (3233 E. Speedway Blvd.) this Sunday because Heathers is showing and I can’t imagine why anyone would want to miss that unless they had a brain tumor for breakfast. Welcome to the jungle of Westerburg High, where the eager-to-fit-in Veronica (‘80s goth dream girl Winona Ryder)…
Cinema Clips: Miles Ahead
Don Cheadle makes an impressive directorial debut with this crazy biopic that is mostly fiction but all fun. Cheadle plays jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, hibernating from public life in the late seventies when a Rolling Stone reporter (Ewan McGregor) shows up at his door looking for a comeback story. The film then turns part comedy…
Guest Opinion: Broaden Your Thinking, Don’t Widen Broadway
I attended the April 5 public hearing on the Broadway project. As I walked the short two blocks from my car to attend the meeting on Tuesday, I passed at least 20 of the brass information plaques that grace our historic sites, as well as countless significant pieces of architecture. I imagined how the immediate…
Pay Tribute to Merle Haggard this 4/20
Celebrate 4/20 the right way—rockin’ and rollin’ to the rough country tunes of the late Merle Haggard. Haggard, who pioneered the signature bluegrass, California-country Bakersfield sound, passed away last Wednesday, April 6, due to pnuemonia-related complications at 79 years old, according to CNN. To say a final goodbye on Tucson’s behalf, local musician Hank Topless and…
Gowan’s Three Attempts to Suppress the Press
The story about House Speaker David Gowan’s ruling that reporters who want to be on the floor with legislators have to submit to extensive background checks has been all over the news. Last I heard the ruling was still in effect Monday, and the reporters have all refused to submit. Gowan said he’s asking for…
Kovu Needs a Home
Hey I’m Kovu! I’m a goofy big boy looking for a home! I’m 2 years old and love to play! I need a family who understands that daily exercise and play time is essential to me living a happy life! If you’re interested in giving me a home bring your whole family over to the…
Best of Tucson: The Closest Races So Far
We’re still early in the Best of Tucson voting process, but we’re seeing some runaway successes already. There are a few categories where I can look at the results and say, “yeah, I bet I can guess who is going to end up in the finals.” However, there are still more than a few categories…
Here, Let John Oliver Make You Feel Even More Anxious About Your Credit Score
As a person relatively new to the world of car loans and credit reports, I’ve recently experienced a lot of credit score related anxiety. Looking into my credit and income history, I found some weird errors (apparently I was working in the construction industry five years after I was born), and apparently that’s pretty common.…
SAACA Chalk Festival At Park Place Mall (SLIDESHOW)
Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance in conjunction with Park Place mall holds their 5th annual Chalk Art Festival on Saturday, April 9. The festival was held both Saturday and Sunday and featured 16 professional artist murals, two community participation murals and two “KidsZones” sprinkled throughout the mall.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You Today’s Republican Party: Part 3
Question: What do these statements have in common? “There had never been an attack on 9/11 either, like that occurred either, before on our shore,” [Rep. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista] said. “But it did.” “The quality of handwriting and the quality of the written text can be detected and seen on MRI imaging,” said Rep.…
A Look at Transphobia, Courtesy of the Daily Show
The Daily Show with Trevor NoahGet More: The Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,The Daily Show Video Archive Jessica Williams, national treasure and feminist superhero, had a segment on Wednesday’s Daily Show highlighting the struggles trans people face on a daily basis. In the segment, Williams interviews trans woman Meagan Taylor, who was once…
A Blog Post That Jumped Out Of A Tree
I was enjoying a quiet moment sitting in the shade of my favorite old tree at Catalina Park earlier this week, blissfully unaware of my surroundings until I felt a small impact ripple across the ground. Mystified, I looked behind me and a young male had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. I stared at him…
Say Goodbye to Creepy Uber Drivers, Ladies
Hey, ladies: Ride sharing is about to become a whole lot less creepy, thanks to the new startup, Chariot for Women. The ride-sharing service, set to go live on April 19, is “driven by women, exclusively for women,” according to the app’s website. It operates similarly to Uber or Lyft, but only women, girls and boys…
High Stakes Testing: High Tech Edition
Three separate stories about high stakes testing, computers, servers and data. 1. Evidence indicates that some students who take high stakes tests on computers do worse than similar students who use pencil and paper versions. Hard numbers from across the consortium are not yet available. But the advantage for paper-and-pencil test-takers appears in some cases…
Learn About the Pros and Cons Behind Prop. 123
The Pima County Interfaith Civic Education Organization will host a debate about the fervently discussed, Gov. Doug Ducey-sponsored Proposition 123 this Saturday, April 9 at St. Odilia Catholic Church parish hall. The proposition, which voters will decide in a state-wide election on May 17, would “increase education funding by $3.5 billion over the course of 10…
B-Sides: Super Duper Kyle
It could be argued that Super Duper Kyle is ushering a new era of West Coast rap.
Tucson Salvage
Foul glances over his shoulder at the grizzled drunk, who sways to and fro in place, and, without skipping a beat, turns back to the two fans paying attention, and grins, “Man, I keep this guy on my left shoulder everywhere I go.”
Slice of Life: Sachiko Sushi
Sushi joints are kind of like dive bars.
Police Dispatch
A man was busted for unloading his groceries in the nude—and then complained that his manner of accomplishing this task was his constitutional right.
Tango Takeover
Do you love Latin music? Performance art? Shaking your hips? If yes, be sure to check out the Tucson Tango Festival.
Police Dispatch
An unknown individual with a shotgun apparently had a grudge against a portable bathroom unit (or maybe a person believed to be inside it), as evidenced by a multitude of pellet holes in its door.
Get back in the Saddle (or Stroller, or Unicycle)
Most Tucsonans know and love Cyclovia. It’s just a fact.
B-Sides: Benoit Pioulard
This multi-instrumentalist plucks and strums at his guitar, layering and looping a host of other elements to create space within sound.
Falstaff comes to Tucson Music Hall
Prepare yourself for some intense use of upper range vocals.
B-Sides: Psych Out
If you have yet to tune into Downtown Radio on 99.1 FM, you’re truly missing out on some of the most diverse, unique and exciting programming on Tucson’s air waves right now.
Editor’s Note
Every year around this time, we release the new ballot for the Best of Tucson reader survey, which will be published in October.
Back Home
Nearly two years after medical marijuana researcher Sue Sisley was fired from the UA, she returned for a special lecture on medical weed in front of a room of more than 50 people at the off-campus entity, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute—an educational program for older adults.
Pups and Pints
Drink beer with your dog for a good cause.
The Pleasure Activist
Mainstream public discourse around sexual consent usually begins only after a reported sexual assault when emotions are raw and personal triggers are set to go off.
Dust Devil
I salute the revolution
Demand Letter
Kat Hermanson says she’s had o drop out of several classes at the UA because her teachers acted homophobic.
Support Local Growers
Support the UA’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and buy your plants locally.
The Skinny
McCain wins endorsement of U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but Dem opponent Kirkpatrick points to a mixed immigration record and Pima County’s wackiest politician draws a primary opponent.
Keeping Tucson Tucson
Love it or hate it, downtown Tucson’s development over the last several years has altered our city.
T Q&A
Justin Lukasewicz, inspired by a Chicago-style improvisational theater thriving in the small town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, returned to his city of choice to start his own unique comedy organization. Tucson Improv Movement began in 2012 with six students and Lukasewicz crammed in the back room of a massage studio.
A Fair Sheik
This is no hoity-toity off-Broadway angst fest where you view the stage through opera glasses with your pinky extended.
Bio Meh
It’s still a little early yet, but I Saw the Light is positioned to be one of the year’s bigger cinematic disappointments.
Dr. Ducey
The ongoing effort by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Doug Ducey to limit access to abortion reached an absurd level last week after Ducey signed a bill that locked in outdated regulations for the abortion pill while suggesting that he’d welcome the chance to reverse the new rules to return to the current status quo.
Sharper and Sharper: Freddie Gibbs
Rapper Freddie Gibbs doesn’t doesn’t have a lane.
Birthday Blues: Boondocks
On March 18, Boondocks Lounge, a locally-beloved bar and grill known for its accepting community, live music and good eats, celebrated 20 years of operation.
