Bowden had been feeling poorly in recent weeks and had been visiting doctors, who were trying to get to the bottom of what ailed him, according to Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, a good friend of Bowden.

Bowden laid down for a nap and passed in his sleep, according to Carroll.

He was 69.

Bowden, a onetime Tucson Citizen reporter, was a hard-edged author whose first books pioneered a sort of environmental noir style but in recent years, he had focused on the dark underbelly of the drug war.

We'd say RIP, but we have a a feeling that wherever Chuck is, he's already raising hell.

More details to follow as we get them.

With the extended (for some people) weekend and the continued temperatures over 100 degrees, you might decide to stay in for a bit and stream something on Netflix. However, as the page turns on the calendar, some movies leave the streaming service, with new ones coming in as replacements.

Here's our top three you should try to catch before they're gone Sunday night, and three you can plan to watch Monday.

LEAVING:

1973's Black Mama, White Mama (Rated R)

Alternately titled Chicks in Chains (I WISH I WERE KIDDING), Pam Grier stars in a film that manages to exploit on gender, sexual and racial lines, but it's an entertaining enough prison break film. Plus, Pam Grier.

If you're a medical marijuana patient or you're interested in becoming one, check out the MMJ for Tucson event at Whistle Stop Depot (127 W. 5th St.) tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m. (partially sponsored by the Weekly).

• Somewhat dated pop culture reference, but it works.

Like Stefon sort of says above, this event's got a lot going for it: prizes, food trucks, music, guest speakers and representatives from all the dispensaries, certification centers and alternative health places you could ask for.

Plus, it's free to attend, and some of the proceeds from booth rental and such go to Worldcare. Everyone wins!

More info at the event's Facebook page.

• Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

In this week's Soundbites, I mentioned tonight's Michael Jackson vs. Prince show at the Flycatcher:

The Flycatcher is having an "official grand opening party" on Friday, Aug. 29 (a little late, but sure, OK) and for the occasion Dan Hernandez and the Keep Tucson Party posse are revisiting their Prince vs. Michael Jackson musical showdown, with a bunch of local musicians assembling Voltron-style to recreate the hits of these pop/R&B icons. Plus, the Facebook event page promises door prizes and drink specials, so for $5, you can enjoy a somewhat one-of-a-kind event, get some cheap drinks and possibly win something. A win/win, I say. The show kicks off at 9 p.m., with a costume contest at midnight. More info at facebook.com/events/1490586751181757.

To get psyched for today's show, why not spend the afternoon listening to recent mixtapes celebrating the Gloved One and the Purple One's extensive catalog. DJ Jaycee's Love Like the KING mix focuses mostly on Michael Jackson's hits, but does so in a really clever listenable way; while Dave Wrangler's Purple Life turns up a few Prince songs that I had forgotten about, but immediately added to my iPhone.

• Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Neil Steinberg's column in the Chicago Sun-Times today is a fascinating and interesting read on the subject of intolerance, making that point that he'd prefer people just get their terrible, ignorant thoughts out there instead of hiding behind made-up facts and odd logic:

You know what I admire about bigots? And I’m not referring to the merely prejudiced, mutter-out-of-the-corner-of-their-mouth bigots, but the real wackos, the warped, scary, neo-Nazi, open Klansman, proudly sign-their-name haters.

You know what’s kinda great about them?

At least they’re candid. No pussyfooting around for them. They state their hate boldly, cast their slurs loudly and only then try to back it up with whatever false theories they believe support their irrational hatreds.

For everyone else, it’s the other way around. They timidly roll out their specious argument first, as if that were the important part, the crucial logic that made up their impartial minds, and led to their subsequent negative opinion, an unfortunate by-product.

Click over and read the whole thing, it's worth the time.

It's Jon Stewart's directorial debut, you know, the one he took a sabbatical for from the Daily Show leaving many of us going through J-Stew withdrawals.

All for good reason. A beautiful film with that amazing Gael Garcia Bernal out in theaters on November 7.

H/T Vanity Fair, who happened to give it some film critic love:

Last summer, Jon Stewart took a sabbatical from his Daily Show hosting duties to direct his first feature film, Rosewater, starring Gael García Bernal. The drama is based on the experiences of Iranian-born Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for more than 100 days after Iran’s controversial 2009 presidential election. The imagery from the first trailer is especially haunting considering the journalists who are currently being held hostage in the Middle East.

...

Variety has already given the film a glowing review. An excerpt of the write-up, from the outlet’s chief film critic, Scott Foundas:

The punishing ordeal of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari — imprisoned for 118 days on charges of espionage — is brought to the screen with impressive tact and intelligence by writer-director Jon Stewart in Rosewater, an alternately somber and darkly funny drama that may occupy the same geographic terrain as Argo (to which it will inevitably be compared), but in most other respects could hardly be more different. Largely a two-hander between Bahari (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) and the interrogator who puts him through a gauntlet of soul-crushing mindgames, Stewart’s confident, superbly acted debut feature works as both a stirring account of human endurance and a topical reminder of the risks faced by journalists in pursuit of the truth, minus the caper antics and flag waving of Ben Affleck’s populist Oscar winner.

Although Namoli Brennet no longer calls Tucson home (she's missed and I hope she misses us too), that's no reason to not throw some love her way.

The popular singer/songwriter just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help her record a new album:

One of my absolute *favorite* things in the world is being in the studio - recording, producing, picking up instruments left and right, losing track of time and sometimes even forgetting to eat or drink for hours on end. I've been doing so much traveling and writing over the past few years and have just been waiting for the right time, for some stillness, to sort through it all and see what jumps out.

As it turns out, a lot of meaningful songs. Some I've had the chance to break in live, like "Gabriel", "Babylon" and "Bleecker Street" - to me, those feel like the kind of songs that I had help with, that reached some kind of depth of meaning that is impossible without a little divine spark. Others, newer ones - they all have some of that. Some of them involve me continuing to beat the bejesus out of my guitar, and others have the most delicate, wispy accompaniment. Lyrically, there is a very poetic thread that connects the album - the potential title track, "Ditch Lilies", was inspired by finding these beautiful flowers proudly growing by the side of a gravel road. And there are a lot of stories on the CD that connect with that idea, finding beauty in unexpected places, in people and places that are often overlooked.

So - I'm so excited to dig into this collection of songs and flesh them out, see what they want and need to feel complete. And I'm beyond excited for them to find their way to your ears and hearts and do what they do best.

Ghostbusters is coming back to theaters this week for the film's 30th anniversary, remastered for the occasion, so, of course, someone asked the question: What are the logistics involved in [SPOILERS AHEAD, IF THAT'S ACTUALLY A THING WHEN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A 30 YEAR OLD MOVIE] a giant marshmallow man wandering around Manhattan?

On the remnants left behind:

But there is a stickier problem: Uptown Manhattan is now covered in melted marshmallow, nearly 2,000 tons of it. I did the math.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is exactly 112.5 feet tall according to Ghostbusters' model shop supervisor. To account for his chubby arms and beer belly marshmallow belly, let's assume he's about one-third wide as he is tall. And for the sake of simplicity, let's assume he's roughly a cylinder, whose volume formula we of course remember from the SATs.

Volume of MM = π(18.75)^2*(112.5) ≈ 124,000 cubic feet

But Marshmallow Man has presumably since melted and congealed, so it's more helpful to think of his mass. Ordinary unmelted marshmallow is light and fluffy, with a density of about 0.5 g/mL. Do a few conversions and we get the total mass of sweet marshmallow guts spilled across Manhattan:

3,870,000 lbs or about 2,000 tons

And what exactly do you do with 2,000 tons of melted marshmallow? To that end, I called up some folks who regularly deal with marshmallow in industrial quantities: Just Born, the makers of beloved Peeps. "This is probably the weirdest question you've ever gotten," I said. "Yeah, it would definitely have to rank up there," Sally, Just Born's customer relations rep replied.

The burly, bearded men of Tucson's Psygoat are performing this weekend, Saturday, Aug. 30 at the District. The show with headliner Rikk Agnew Band (Yes, Andrew of Adolescents, DI, and Christian Death fame) and DeSade is suppose to start at 10, but bet those Psygoats bring their self-described "fun-core, psychedelic dirt rock," on around midnight.

Earplugs and attitude recommended.

Oh Gabby (Mercer, not the other famous Tucsonan with that same nickname), you're such a card. In Facebook news today, the tea-bagger congressional perma-candidate had this to say on her page in a thread that was all about congratulating Ducey, but turned into a call to have her forever opponent excommunicated from the Catholic church:

And yeah, well, U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva was understandably unhappy with her post, especially because it involved her publicly talking about his attendance at a friend's funeral and his accepting communion:

Grijalva's full statement here or after the jump.