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In three decades as a person for whom tears come easy, the hardest I’ve ever wept is the day I moved away from Tucson. I’ve lived through heartbreaks, layoffs, deaths, my parents’ divorce, a couple of thrashings, an arrest in Mexico and sundry other traumas and disappointments. Yet none of the crying bouts stemming from…
Students Should Be Banned For Life From The MBA
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com My headline is facetious, of course. It would be ridiculous to get rid of the Master of Business Administration degree. But it’s not ridiculous to be concerned about the enormous intellectual brain drain caused by so many top students opting for careers in finance and business. Lots of people complain that…
Surly Wench to Host ‘Star Wars’ May The 4th Party
Good news for those of you that were disappointed by the Star Wars casting news. Nerd culture has claimed the fourth of May and turned it into a eccentric day of worshiping George Lucas and all things Star Wars. The Surly Wench is hosting a May The 4th party on Sunday, May 4. Typically, the…
D-Backs Fans Need Love, Too
It’s been a rough 2014 season so far for Arizona Diamondbacks fans. I’m a casual one, at best, but even in that respect it’s been painful to watch a team that seemed like it was going to be good faceplant its way to a Major League Baseball-worst 8-22 record. That’s including an abysmal 2-15 mark…
Last Day For Best of Tucson® Nominations
Do you have a favorite pizzeria? Is there a particular marijuana dispensary that satisfies your needs? Is there a local sex toy shop because they get you? One way to show your support is by nominating your favorite local icons, retailers, musicians, public servants for Best of Tucson®. Today is the absolute last day for…
Italian Horror Film Composers Goblin Play Tempe on Thursday
If you’re a fan of horror-movie soundtracks and/or spooky prog rock, you’ll want to be at the Marquee Theater in Tempe this Thursday night. Legendary Italian soundtrack maestros Goblin are playing an ultra-rare gig that you’re not likely to witness again. Get ready for some scorching renditions of tunes from the cult classic horror films…
Star Wars: Episode VII Cast Announced
Star Wars fans haven’t been happy since 1983. The highly anticipated Star Wars casting was finally released on Tuesday. The casting features some great actors and no name up-and-comers, and some fan favorites. The biggest flags raised is that there’s only one female lead in the sea of male actors, and Billy Dee Williams was…
Kaiju Update: New ‘Godzilla’ Trailer
The latest Asian Godzilla is the best one yet. Less Brian “Heisenberg” Cranston yelling, but more Godzilla cries. We’re just grateful that Matthew Broderick has nothing to do with this reboot.
Tucson Favorites Los Lobos Dissolve the Age Barrier
From the get-go, the crowd was all-ages, meaning just about every last age. Kids already hung onto the stage barrier or clung to their moms and dads when Chicha dust took the stage in spicy Latino garb and began leading the crowd in their trademark chicha side-stepping. The six-man crew made the stage feel full…
Levar Burton Advocates Free Comic Book Day
When the USS Enterprise’s helmsman Lieutenant Geordi La Forge says read, you say, “Which comic book?” The Reading Rainbow’s Levar Burton has always been an advocate for reading. But did you know his love of the written word started from comic books? Burton discuss the importance of the sequiental art form and why you and…
The Peter Dinklage Version of the ‘Game of Thrones’ Theme Song
The theme song for the wildly popular (and offensive) Game of Thrones HBO series could use some lyrics, and Dan Barham delivers. Barham created this video of a miniature Peter Dinklage figure spinning counter clockwise while he chants “Peter Dinklage” over Ramin Djawadi’s score. It’s hilarious and a chore to listen to for the entire…
Watershed Improvement Program Aimed to Remove Non-Native Plants
PAULDEN — Sawdust flies as Tarl Norman lowers his chainsaw into the moist wood of a scrub tree growing along the Verde River. It topples into a growing pile of water-hungry tamarisks that Norman and the Lake Mead Exotic Plant Management Team are paid to remove here. Another team member bends over to spray the…
There’s A Mammal Penis Museum in Iceland, and There’s a Documentary About It
“My dad has been collecting penises for a long time,” says Sigurour “Siggi” Hjartarson’s son. Hjartarson is the owner and curator of the Icelandic Phallological Museum, located a half-hour from the Arctic Circle. Welcome to The Final Member, a new documentary about a museum of dicks. Hjartarson’s museum is dedicated to the preservation of mammalian…
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Recruiting Innovators for Summer Programming
The world renowned Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is gearing up for the summer season. The Museum is recruiting young professionals and families a.k.a. “Desert Lab Rats” to join its crew in developing innovative summer programs. There will be two originative workshops from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, at the Museum, 2021 N.…
Photos: Barrio Hollywood Fiesta Grande
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Google Cars Can Detect Cyclists and Road Construction
The gnomes behind the Self-Driving Google Project released a video updating the Google car’s new tricks. In Mountain View, Calif., Google cars drive better than you. We’ve improved our software so it can detect hundreds of distinct objects simultaneously—pedestrians, buses, a stop sign held up by a crossing guard, or a cyclist making gestures that…
FXX Plans to Show All 552 ‘Simpsons’ Episodes This Summer
Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com ¡Ay, caramba! FXX recently acquired exclusive rights to broadcast Simpsons reruns, and will stream all 552 episodes on their app FXNow. The FX subsidiary will show 12-hour marathons starting Aug. 21 through Labor Day. FXX won a bidding war for the Simpsons rights and will have to pay $1 million dollars…
Ed Shorts: End Of April Edition
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com Today’s edition of Ed Shorts is pot luck, an assortment of stories which caught my eye but I haven’t had time to post about. The stories link to articles where you can learn more. • The Weekly tells Tucson’s Opt Out story. In case you missed it, Mari Herreras wrote about…
Beck! The Best Show You May Have Missed This Year
In theory, a balcony seat is much to be prized at the Rialto Theatre, and is priced accordingly. On Wednesday, April 23, Beck showed seat-holders the limitations of that benefit, as dozens of balcony denizens responded to the star’s magnetism by flooding the already packed floor. The plus side of balcony seats, it turns out, is…
Aussie Cantina Sold
Photo by Yoohyung Jung. Aussie Cantina will close its doors tonight, so no more Aussie meat pies. Tucson’s only Australian restaurant will close its doors tonight. The names of the new restaurant owners haven’t been disclosed yet. But they intend on reopening the space in the fall, according to the former Aussie Cantina owners Glenn…
Fluxx Studio Announces Closure
Fluxx, Tucson’s LGBT community performance space, will close its doors at the end of June 2014, according to an email announcement from Executive Director and co-founder Dante Celeiro. Celeiro wrote that the space will honor all commitments through the end of June. There will be a fundraiser party announced soon to help pay remaining bills,…
Word Odyssey: Gilding Shakespeare’s Lily
I’ll warn you up front that this column has neither rhyme nor reason. In fact, it’s much ado about nothing. But I don’t care, because the world’s my oyster. Some foolosopher once said that he didn’t care for that Shakespeare fella because his plays were just a bunch of clichés. Of course they’re full of…
Frisbee Needs a Home
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona presents Frisbee, a 16-year-old, male, domestic, long-hair. Reference no: 779158. It would be hard to find a more gentle and charming cat than Frisbee. This sweet senior would love to find someone willing to let his big, beautiful personality fill their home. Frisbee would do best in a relaxed,…
Heroes and Villains’ Free Comic Book Day Video is Strangely Fun
Free Comic Book Day is coming. Comic book retailers all around the world hand out free funny books. The holiday was initially started in 2002 to get more people reading comics and help local retailers. Heroes and Villains created this very strange video for FCBD. There will be cosplay contests, coloring for kids, photo booths…
Hero of the Week: Swedish Flight Passengers
While the news is usually focused on hate, corruption, and crime, not all is lost. While your favorite actress was caught on film belittling a young girl with cancer for asking for her autograph, or as her publicist puts it, “No comment,” everyday heroes were at work. Ghader Ghalamerev Our story begins in Östersund, Sweden.…
Audio: CoLab Innovation Talk on Journalism
Photo courtesy of CoLab Workspace. Associated Blog Editor Scott Stanley rounded up four of the local reporters to talk about the ever changing local media in the Old Pueblo at Colab in the downtown Pioneer Building on Wednesday, April 25. The panel consisted of Arizona Daily Star’s columnist Tim Steller, Tucson Sentinel mastermind Dylan Smith,…
Is Ethan Orr Growing Weary Of The Moderate/Not-A-Moderate Debate?
Tim Steller has a column in today’s Star putting a “Moderatometer” to LD-9 Republican Rep. Ethan Orr. When Steller covered the Moderate/Not-A-Moderate debate before, he leaned toward thinking Orr was more moderate than not. This time, though, Steller isn’t taking sides. He’s letting Orr, his legislative record and Democratic candidate Randy Friese duke it out…
Former Tucson Newsman Walt Nett Dead at 59
Sad news for many in Tucson’s journalism community who learned the recent passing of former Tucson newsman, teacher and mentor Walt Nett. Nett’s Facebook page was filled with heartfelt goodbyes and reminiscences. Nett’s last gig was covering courts for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Many of us who followed him on Facebook enjoyed his posts…
Avril Lavigne’s ‘Hello Kitty’ Video Attracts the Wrong Attention
Middle age pop-punk rocker Avril Lavigne is struggling to stay relevant with the kids these days. The 29-year-old artist didn’t intend on debuting her latest music video Hello Kitty on Tuesday. According to her rep, the video was “leaked” a day early, and the response wasn’t pretty. The overwhelming consensus is that it was racist…
McSally Poll: McSally Leads Barber By 3 Percentage Points in Congressional District 2 Race
Republican congressional candidate Martha McSally’s campaign has released a poll showing her leading Democratic Congressman Ron Barber by 3 percentage point in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 2. The survey, done by polling firm OnMessage, shows McSally at 45 percent and Barber at 42 percent. That margin is within the poll’s margin of error of plus/minus…
Cinema Showdown: The Spice Must Flow and Video Anarchy From the U.K. Edition
In the “Say, Where’s The Promotion?” department, there’s a special “Pre-Screening” of Nicholas Stoller’s (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) latest film, Neighbors. Starring Seth Rogen and current cuddly bad-boy Zac Efron as two warring neighbors (as far as I can tell, this is not a remake of the bizarre John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd film of the…
Help Arizona’s Athletic Department Take Over the State
You’ve seen the billboards along the freeway, the ones that say Arizona is Wildcat Country. Those exist all over the state, part of a UA athletics department campaign to ensure the Grand Canyon State aligns more with the red and blue in the state flag than the gold associated with a certain school up north.…
Stephen Colbert Finally Bids Farewell to The Daily Show
The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,Daily Show Video Archive “It’s become clear to me that I’ve won television,” Stephen Colbert said on Comedy Central’s Daily Show last night. Colbert made an appearance on Jon Stewart’s show to personally inform him the Colbert Report is coming to an end. The…
Giffords: “When I think about what I want the rest of my life to be, I think about Judge Roll”
Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will honor the late Judge John M. Roll at a ceremony in Yuma today naming the new Federal Courthouse after her friend. A snippet from yesterday’s editorial Arizona Republic by Giffords on Roll, Jan. 8 and why it’s important to honor her friend: After attending Mass on the morning of Jan.…
Prince Fans Rejoice: Purple Rain Re-Release for 30th Anniversary
According to ColorLines via Billboard, now that Prince regained control of his musical catalogue from Warner Bros, a re-release of Purple Rain is in the works for it’s 30th anniversary and more new Prince magic: In a major move, Prince has regained control of his musical catalogue from Warner Bros after a bitter separation from…
Prom Body / Weed: Live
Prom Body’s March 18 set at Topaz in Tucson fills up Side A of this limited edition cassette. The band began as a vanity solo recording project of Sleep Like Trees’ drummer Mike Fay but immediately became an underground sensation after releasing the debut album Creep the Strange last summer. Since then, Prom Body has…
Now on Shelves
Border Insecurity: Why Big Money, Fences, and Drones Aren’t Making Us Safer By Sylvia Longmire Palgrave Macmillan $27; 256 pages; nonfiction Given Sylvia Longmire’s bio, it’s easy to be skeptical of Publishers Weekly’s characterization of this border-issues book as nonpartisan. However, this daughter of Cuban refugees, former Air Force special agent, writer for Homeland Security…
Sentence Struggles
Editor’s Note: J.M. Smith has improved greatly. He is breathing on his own, but remains unable to move anything but his eyes and his right middle finger. His doctors see a long, arduous road ahead. When Dick Cheney saw what Mr. Smith was tapping out for you this week, he flew into a rage and…
Brit Brilliance
Steve Coogan delivers one of his very best screen performances in Alan Partridge, the long rumored big-screen debut of the notoriously British title character that has been part of Coogan’s repertoire on TV and radio for years. The film proves well worth the wait. Coogan’s Partridge is an acid-tongued buffoon, a self-serving coward who gladly…
Ask A Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Our grandparents came from Mexico. The entire next generation spoke Spanish. However, in my generation, pretty much none of us do. One cousin’s daughter does because the cousin married a fluently bilingual spouse. Most white people I know have long ago lost both, generally, awareness of what their actual ethnic roots are and…
Punk and Protest
Marc Oxborrow’s voice is shot. The night before was he was scheduled to be interviewed by the Tucson Weekly, the upright bass player and vocalist for the Phoenix-based punkgrass and folk band The Haymarket Squares strained his voice at a Planned Parenthood benefit in Yuma. “We did two sets last night, and because of a…
Police Dispatch
A BLOODY MESS SOUTH BLUEEYES DRIVE MARCH 12, 2:37 A.M. A drunken, shirtless and belligerent man who was covered in blood tried to evade the law, but when a deputy detained the man at gunpoint, he begged not to be arrested because he had to go to work the next morning, according to a Pima…
Soundbites
WAYS TO GO Great shows all over this week, including Grouplove (we wrote them last week, if you’re interested) with the spectacular MS MR opening and the Wild Wild West Fest, Mono, and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (all covered elsewhere in this section). But there’s more, which is convenient because I have to…
Media Watch
RECENT PURCHASES BOOST 10/13’S REACH At the beginning of April, 10/13 Communications’ media presence in Southern Arizona was limited to the Explorer, the long-operating publication that covers happenings northwest of Tucson along the Oro Valley corridor. Its market penetration has since changed dramatically. The company last week announced a preliminary agreement to buy two significant…
Budget Battle
Congressman Ron Barber’s campaign team and his Democratic allies have been hammering away at likely Republican challenger Martha McSally over a budget proposal approved by House Republicans earlier this month. Team Barber—along with other Democratic organizations and political committees—have pounced on the GOP budget proposal, which was authored by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the party’s…
The Skinny
BIG BUCKS IN CD2 When Republican GOP congressional candidate Martha McSally spoke in front of the Pima County Republican Club last week, she was solidly on message. She hammered incumbent Democratic Congressman Ron Barber for his support of Obamacare and for being “asleep at the switch” when it came to protecting the A-10 fighter jet…
Hurray for Hollywood
It all started with a sinkhole. A massive opening in the road a dozen years ago turned neighborhoods around West Speedway Boulevard into a sewer. Literally. Sewage from a sinkhole on Speedway spewed into the Santa Cruz River, shutting down area businesses and homes because of the smell. People soon moved back into their houses,…
Pouring Light on Everything
For the first time in Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra’s 15-year, seven-album run, the band came up with the latest album title before finishing the songs. Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything is a mouthful, and cryptic, but comes with an air of defiance and pride, both a mission statement and…
Sun-Seared Sustenance
Citizens for Solar’s Potluck and Exhibition 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 26 Catalina State Park11570 N. Oracle Road 258-8540; citizensforsolar.org The fact that Arizona doesn’t lead the world in solar power production and use is one of life’s great mysteries. But that doesn’t mean the sun isn’t employed in creative ways around here.…
Utility Futility
Melissa Owen is the first to admit it’s not an easy life living in the desert grasslands of the Altar Valley, but as she looks at the view from her Sierra Vista Ranch home porch she sees the Baboquivari Mountains and that makes the difficulties worth every moment. Owen says since the purchase of their ranch…
Glass: More Than Something to Look Through
Tucson Glass Festival 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, April 26 Sonoran Glass School633 W. 18th St. 884-7814; sonoranglass.org Since 2001, the Sonoran Glass School has provided instruction in a variety of glass-related activities, including glass art and glass blowing. For the past four years the school has showcased its offerings through the Tucson Glass…
Nine Questions
If you’re wandering downtown Tucson, you can’t miss Eleanor Leon’s vintage boutique La Fashionista on 45 S. Sixth Ave. Leon is usually humming along with The Police or Duran Duran behind the worn out register from the sorely missed Red Room that sits promptly on her 70’s-era counter. If Leon isn’t too busy with customers…
Circus on the Moon
Spring Circus 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, April 26 Valley of the Moon2544 E. Allen Road allsoulsprocession.org Tucson’s All Souls Procession has gained national attention over the years as one of the best events of its kind. But did you know there was a smaller version of the parade, one that caters specifically to kids…
Editor’s Note
This is the part of the paper where I talk about the sale, right? Well, sort of. Yes, the Tucson Weekly was part of a sale to 10/13 Communications along with Inside Tucson Business that will be complete on May 1. So, something is definitely going to happen. However, while there’s a lot of chatter…
The Universe, in Book Form
Starstruck! Fact and Fiction in the Universe 5:30 p.m., Sunday, April 27 Flandrau Science Center1601 E. University Blvd. 621-7827;library.pima.gov There are two things many book clubs are synonymous with: literature and wine. The Pima Library Foundation’s Circle of Book Clubs group fits these requirements, but then ramps up the involvement a few levels by turning…
Live
JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION AND SHOCKWAVE RIDERZ CLUB CONGRESS Saturday, April 19 It’s very unusual for the opening act on an established band’s tour to get an encore. It goes against rock protocol. (Yeah, I wrote “rock protocol” and am just as embarrassed as you.) It’s even more unusual when the encore is requested from…
Fête of Femininity
Malala Yousafzai is the young Pakistani teen who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for her advocacy of education for girls. “Voices” is a dance that honors her courage in speaking out. César Degollado is the choreographer who created the work. Performed by no fewer than 18 dancers, “Voices” will be…
Danehy
For the three in 10 current Arizonans who weren’t with us in the year 2000, please allow me to offer a brief lesson in the all-too-recent history of our state Legislature. During a late-night conference committee meeting in April of that year, the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Jeff Groscost, managed to slip…
Olive and One-Liners
If you can broaden the standing rule for theater audiences to willingly suspend their disbelief, you’ll have a good time at the Invisible Theatre’s last show of a rather tumultuous season. (It had to cancel the entire run of one of its shows—simply unheard of—due to illness within the cast.) Charles Busch’s Olive and the…
Pedersen on Sports
The list has gotten too long again. My tireless search for the best, most informative and most polarizing sports-related topics to write about in Tucson leads me to jot down a bunch of items in a notebook, with that list helping to foster a longer commentary on the subjects that are most deserving. Others just…
From Top to Bottom
Corned beef is OK in a pinch, but I’d sooner die than eat rye bread, Thousand Island dressing, Swiss cheese or sauerkraut. Put all that nasty stuff together, though, and, voilà, you’ve got yourself a scrumptious sandwich. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s many Reubens. Created about 420 years ago, it combines…
Law and Little Else
After 12 years behind bars, Dom (Jude Law) is a little pent-up. That explains his simmering anger, his frequent outbursts and his graphic Shakespearean ode to the sexual powers of his own endowment. The monologue on manhood, an infinitely quotable scene, comprises the first two or three minutes of Dom Hemingway, and it’s an effective…
Mexico, Muddled
Reviewing a place like Mexico in Season is difficult because it’s obvious that the owners are working hard and are passionate about the idea of serving healthful Mexican food. But after trying most of the items on the menu, I’ve come to the conclusion that there really isn’t a whole lot of variety and that…
Jade Beall’s Mother’s Day Book Launch (Video Possibly NSFW, but Cool)
Jade Beall’s book, The Bodies of Mothers: The Beautiful Body Project, is ready for readers and supporters of the Tucson photographer’s body-positive work. From Weekly contributor Chelo Grubb’s interview with Beall in “Body Revolution,” (March 20, 2014): Because she grew up in a small Mexican village without electricity, you’d think that local photographer and dance…
Noshing Around
Buon Compleanno, Michelangelo Michelangelo Risorante Italiano, 420 W. Magee Rd., is celebrating their 25th anniversary in May. They will be partying in honor of the quarter-century milestone from May 12 through 31 offering things like roll back pricing, free tiramisu, live music, Italian lessons as well as a giveaway with a grand prize of a…
Primer
Mono is an experimental quartet from Japan who made their recording debut in 2001 with Under the Pipal Tree. The instrumental group has been celebrated in post-rock circles for their challenging, uncompromising, and beautifully morose compositions which owe far more to avant-garde classical and ambient music than any recognizable rock sub-genre. Throughout the aughts, the…
Mark Kelly Reacts to Brewer’s Vetoes of HB 2517 and HB 2339
Captain Mark Kelly, Co-Founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions, issued the following statement after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed H.B. 2517 and H.B. 2339: “As Arizona residents and gun owners, Gabby and I applaud Governor Brewer for vetoing these two misguided bills that would have made our communities less safe. By taking away the power…
Tucson Justice League (AKA American Friends Service Committee) Need Our Help
Our own version of the Justice League is asking for help renaming a beer served at the Rialto Theatre. The American Friends Service Committee’s annual fundraiser, Justice On Tap, is at the Rialto this year, Saturday, May 10. The theme: Justice on Tap. Your Mission: The Rialto will rename one of its beers on tap…
Wednesday Night Out Part 2: Joe Ely
A girl needs a hand fan to occasionally stir the charisma in the air, or she might swoon at a Joe Ely show. One can only guess what tools of self-preservation the attending poet or story-teller might employ. It’s likely that the temptation to retire their pens is nearly overwhelming. Ely seems to have more…
