Cover Story
The Mayor of Fourth Avenue
An afternoon calm falls across the backyard of a modest home on East Waverly Street. Only sporadic footsteps are heard from within a yellow school bus, circa 1952. Faded, peeling and somehow glorious, the huge machine rises like a challenge just beyond the low fence. A single gate in that fence leads to its beckoning…
Mmmmmm … Potatoes Cooked in Duck Fat
Many places have been adding Sunday brunches lately. This is something that’s sort of commonplace in larger cities, but is just beginning to truly gain steam around here, and that’s a good thing because starting Sunday with a mimosa and an omelet is just this side of heavenly. The most recent place to start offering…
Scottish (Entertainer) Pride Week in Tucson!
Next week will be a good one to be a Scot in Tucson. Or, at least, a fan of the fruits of Scottish lyrical and comedic labor. In a four-day span you can see two acts spotlighting a well-known Scot. First up, on Monday (4/16) night, is Garbage, which plays the Rialto Theatre. Garbage, which…
Housse de Racket Plays Club Congress Tomorrow Night
Housse de Racket combines the danceable sounds of modern techno with the electro-pop of ’80s New Wave, with vocals that closely resemble that of modern alt-rock star Mark Foster of Foster the People. Their song, “Discobelle” reminds me of something that would have fit perfectly into John Hughes’s ’80s-era movie soundtracks like Breakfast Club or…
Let’s Watch a Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta Video
One problem with the first music video from Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, directed by Marianne Dissard…it’s not long enough. Otherwise, it’s a nice charming bit of what the band has to offer. Enjoy!
More From the Daniel Patterson TPD Report
A few weeks ago, we obtained the Tucson Police Department investigation file for Feb. 24 — the day that Daniel Patterson and Georgette Escobar were witnessed having a “domestic dispute” at Escobar’s home. With all that’s going on today regarding Patterson’s hearing with the Ethics committee (Rep. McCune Davis quoted from the report), now seems…
Daniel Patterson Resigns
House Speaker Andy Tobin has just announced that he has accepted the resignation of state Rep. Daniel Patterson. So that’s over. The text of the letter, below the cut. April 11, 2012Rep. Andy Tobin, Speaker, Arizona House of Representatives Hon. Speaker Tobin & House Members – With this letter, I reluctantly resign now under strong…
Coming Soon: Kimchi Time Korean Restaurant
Charles and Bok Kim’s new restaurant Kimchi Time Korean Restaurant will soon be serving traditional Korean food out of a space at 2900 E. Broadway Blvd. “It’s going to be traditional Korean food, but a lot of people think Korean food is really spicy, so we’re trying to show that only certain things are spicy,”…
Let’s Watch the New Feist Video
Feist’s latest video, “Bittersweet Melodies”, from her 2011 album Metals, uses Irina Werning’s somewhat famous “Back to the Future” series of photographs as the visual to go with her quite pleasant song. Be forewarned, the video is somewhat NSFW due to topless women, although I suppose that depends on where you work. A reminder: Feist…
Desert Dwellers, It’s Time to Plant!
Potted Garden by The Contained Gardener Tucson gardeners — it is time to celebrate as we are now freed from our winter frost alerts!! Here is a huge list of what you can do this month!! PLANTING Warm-season annuals such as cosmos, globe amaranth, gloriosa daisy, marigold, and zinnia. Be sure to check that the…
TUSD Meeting Tonight: Come for the Burritos, Stay For the Vote
Just in case it didn’t strike you as offensive when Tucson Unified School District governing board member Michael Hicks shared his concerns during a recent interview on The Daily Show that Mexican-American studies teachers feed their students burritos in order to create a strong bond (because, you know, that’s the power burritos have over Mexican-Americans)…
Fitz and Mac Celebrate Free Speech, Access Tucson
Arizona Daily Star cartoonist Dave Fitzsimmons and comedian Robert Mac are headlining a Free Speech Benefit on behalf of Access Tucson, the plucky public-access TV station that’s dedicated to helping Tucsonans get themselves on TV. Access Tucson has seen its funding slashed in recent years and has had to do some major cutbacks in the…
Your Daniel Patterson Afternoon Update
Hank Stephenson, TW’s man at the Capitol, tells us that the House Ethics Committee had two brief meetings today to consider Rep. Daniel Patterson’s response to the recent ethics report and will once again convene tomorrow to decide how to proceed. Patterson himself held a curious press conference to defend himself. Details to come via…
Arguments I Would Not Have Expected to Hear Today
This is totally happening right now. Daniel Patterson’s argument (made by proxy via Rev. Jarrett Maupin, I guess) is that he’s being discriminated against by the Arizona Legislature because he’s middle aged and white. Wow. Just…wow.
Today in Collapsing Political Careers
There’s a lot going on out there today in the world of troubled politicians: • State Sen. Frank Antenori has finally turned in his campaign-finance report—and his numbers are pathetic: $37K. Given that Team Antenori had earlier claimed that he had could have qualified for the NRCC’s Young Guns program, which requires candidates to have…
Daniel Patterson by the Numbers: Daniel’s Favorite Words
For the short-form version of Daniel Patterson’s reply to the ethics investigation against him, here goes: He found every claim against him to be “not subsantiated.” In fact, he used that phrase, “not substantiated” 50 times, with one instance of “claims” (96 times) against him being “unsubstantiated.” Also, he wants to “discuss” (62 times) the…
This Is as Close to Pulp’s Reunion as I’m Going to Get, Sadly
Britpop legends Pulp will be performing at Coachella the next two weekends, but sadly, I won’t be there for either show, since real world responsibilities like paying bills and such emerged ahead of buying tickets for a three day concert festival in the desert. However, the group did play two songs on Jimmy Fallon last…
Daniel Patterson Has Submitted His Response
Well, here it is. Rep. Patterson might not be a member of the Arizona Legislature by the end of the day (although we’ve certainly heard that before), but here’s his response to the extensive accusations detailed by the Ethics Committee report. To summarize, he feels nearly all of the charges are “not substantiated”. More surely…
RIP, Jack Tramiel
Image courtesy of Shutterstock It feels a little strange that I didn’t know the name of one of the people who deeply influenced my life until today, but thanks for bringing home computing into my life, Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore: Tramiel was born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1928. During World War…
An Unquenchable Thirst
It seems Tucson has an unquenchable thirst when it comes to the beer down at Borderlands Brewing Company. We stopped by on a recent Saturday to talk with the owners and they said they simply can’t keep up with the demand, so they’ve put together a plan to expand. This is all the more impressive…
You Should Vote for the Humane Society Often
Rachael Ray and the ASPCA are giving away a hundred thousand dollars as part of some sort of populist voting thing, the rules of which are quite confusing to me (apparently there are stages and regions involved), but the Humane Society of Southern Arizona are involved and I’m sure they could use the money, so…
Polish Your Ass-Shaking Skills Before Big Freedia Comes to Town
Big Freedia is coming back to Club Congress on April 20th and any time the New Orleans Bounce musician comes to town, it really is an event. While I don’t know if it’ll help in real life, you can pass some time with NSFW digital fun playing a game of Booty Battle on her website,…
Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson Draws Republican Opponent: Tanner Bell
Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson, a Democrat seeking a fifth term on the Pima County Board of Supervisors this year, has drawn a Republican opponent: Former UA football player Tanner Bell, who now works in the UA athletics department as an academic counselor.
Joe Arpaio Can’t Find Republican Support For His Birther Lunacy
And apparently, it’s tearing him up inside. From Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini’s blog: Arpaio said, “I’ve had presidential candidates visit me in my office. I’ve talked to every one of them. I don’t see anybody talking about this. I don’t see any senators talking about it.” . . . When the host asked Arpaio…
Coming Soon: Buddha’s Dog House
The new Buddha’s Dog House going in at 425 N. Fourth Ave. is painted a lovely shade of blue. The narrow space inside has been outfitted with high-to tables and it looks like the kitchen is being stocked with snack items and other things, although no opening date has been posted. I often wonder how…
Get Well Soon, Jon Justice
Looks like our favorite Depeche Mode aficianado/talk show host Jon Justice will be undergoing open-heart surgery tomorrow to fix a tiny hole in his aorta. While he manages to make the procedure seem like not a terribly big deal in the above YouTube clip (and of course, he manages to sneak in a quip about…
Your Guide to Trying to Get Around Tucson This Week
This week kicks off the “wait, how I am supposed to get there again?” stage of Tucson Modern Streetcar construction, so if you’re planning on heading downtown or to Fourth Avenue this week, you might want to re-strategize your normal route to get where you’re going. The main points: Congress will be closed to traffic,…
James DiGiovanna Would Like You to Consider Buying His E-Book
Former Tucson Weekly Film Critic James DiGiovanna here: I’ve got a new ebook single available at Amazon.com. You can read it on the web, offline on your computer, on iOs or Android, or, if you don’t have any of those, just call me and I’ll read it to you over the phone. It’s a longish…
Food Trucks Head South Tomorrow
The traveling street-food extravaganza knows as the Tucson Food Truck Round-Up heads east this week to the Lazydays RV Park at 3200 E. Irvington Road. The action kicks off at 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 10, and there will be music, live art performances and, for the first time ever at one of these events, beer…
A Guide to Halfway Decent Places to Eat Around Coachella
If you were fortunate enough to have picked up tickets for one of Coachella’s two weekends during their brief onsale window early this year (or are have the expendable income needed to purchase tickets on the expensive-borderlining-on-absurd resale market), the LA edition of food blog Eater has a helpful guide to places worth eating close-ish…
Three Sonorans Is Back Online
David Abie Morales is back online with his Three Sonorans’ blog. See for yourself at threesonorans.com. The header at the top of the Three Sonorans’ new home is a mantra that many have repeated and others dismissed—History is being made today. What side will you be on? It’s a good question and reminder—despite the criticism…
An Easter Contemplation From Ricky Gelb
The last time Weekly World Central talked to Ricky Gelb, it wasn’t about being Tucson musician Howe Gelb’s brother, but about his own music career and starting a business. Gelb was the frontman for the band Low Max from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and during his career, he’s recorded with the late Vic Chesnutt;…
The Club Crawl Lineup Is Here!
Want to know who’s playing the twenty five stages of Spring Club Crawl 2012? The details are below the cut. Wristbands for the Tucson Weekly’s Fall Club Crawl are now available at both Tucson Zia Records locations. Wristbands are $8 in advance and $10 at the gate. VIP passes are also available. Bud Light/My 92.9…
Chinese Dissident Fang Lizhi Dies in Tucson
Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi, who helped lead the way for the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989 and lived in Tucson in exile, died here yesterday. The New York Times reports: Fang Lizhi, whose advocacy of economic and democratic freedoms shaped China’s brief era of student dissent that ended with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and…
Political Roundtable: Republicans Vie for Gabby’s Seat, Patterson vs. the Ethics Committee, Ethnic Studies & More!
Pima County Republican Party chairwoman Carolyn Cox and Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers join Arizona Public Media reporter Andrea Kelly and host Jim Nintzel to discuss the week in review, including the fundraising in the special election to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term, the effort to oust Democratic state lawmaker Daniel Patterson following…
The Original Pitch for “The Muppet Show” Is Amazing
If you have 2 minutes and 42 seconds to kill today (and who are we kidding, you do), you really should watch this clip, apparently created by Jim Henson, intended to convince the executives at CBS that they should air The Muppet Show. Enthusiastic consumer patriotism…there’s just not enough of that going around these days.…
Happy 75th Birthday, Merle Haggard
I could watch classic country clips all day long, so basically this post was an excuse to celebrate the songs of Merle Haggard for a moment and to drift through a series of a YouTube links on company time. Totally worth it. “Mama Tried”: Two additional tracks by the legendary country and western singer below…
Let’s Watch the New Rockin’ Gourmet Episode
Tucson music from Amy Rude and Loveland, plus you can get some instruction on how to make hobo pies (which I did know previously know was a thing people made). What more could you ask for?
Padres Lose Home Opener. Game 2 Tonight!
Jim Nintzel The Tucson Padres opened the season by getting shut out by the Fresno Grizzlies. A tough first game! The ball clubs meet again tonight at Kino Stadium at 7:05 p.m. Details from the Padres’ Tim Hagerty: The Tucson Padres were shut out on Opening Night, falling to the Fresno Grizzlies, 3-0 Thursday at…
Japan, Your Sushi Making Robot Doesn’t Impress Me
Usually, I find robots deeply frightening, assuming they exist to first comfort us with their helpfulness, then rise as one to destroy or enslave the human race, but if this sushi making robot is the best our future electronic overlords have to offer, I think we might have another decade left of societal dominance. After…
Political Roundtable: Republicans Battle for Gabby’s Seat, Steve K Wants To Fix Tucson’s Streets with RTA Money, Patterson’s Political Problems & More!
On Arizona Illustrated’s Political Roundtable tonight: Election Day is near for the Republicans in the race to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term and a Tucson City Councilman has a new idea about where to find money to fix Tucson’s streets. Plus, the latest from the Arizona Legislature, including the effort to oust a Tucson lawmaker…
You Could Travel the Country and Win a Food Truck
Eater has the info for the third season of Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race, but this year, there’s a TWIST! Instead of casting people who actually have food trucks, experience, and some sense of how to sell food on the run, they’re taking foodies and culinary types who have mobile dining aspirations. I have…
I Don’t Know What State Insurance Is, but I Want It Now
I like funny things and 80’s one hit wonders, so this commercial from New Zealand is right up my alley. If someone sold something to the tune of Dan Hartman’s “I Can Dream About You,” I’d be powerless to resist. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that. Oops. [Buzzfeed]
Maybe Stacey Q Will Play This May 19th
I’ve already discussed my deep, nearly unbearable excitement for May 19th’s Freestyle Explosion show, so I’ll spare you an extended essay on why you should go, but I did want to share this delightful take on the national anthem by Stacey Q, who is scheduled to perform that one song you know live as part…
This Week in Tucson Bicycling
Photo by Karilyn Roach Tucson’s first Kidical Mass ride was a success. Check out the photos and story to find out what it is all about. Construction on the 3.9-mile streetcar starts this week. Motorists and bicyclists alike are in for traffic headaches. Check the construction update and learn which roads are off limits. We…
Sen. Prez Pierce: King of Civility
After the tyrannical reign of Senate President Russell Pearce ended, many people thought the new Senate President, Sen. Steve Pierce, would be a breath of civility in the Arizona Senate. Turns out he’s about as petty as the last guy the people ousted. In an email exchange with a Republican voter from Tucson who was…
Mr. Patterson, Please Just Go Away
No one cares, please just go away. You don’t even have to resign, just stop showing up and ride out the term. There’s nothing you can say on Tuesday that’s going to make anyone think any better of you at this point. Just make it stop.
Vote for Tamale Innovation Today
Democracy is a wonderful thing, especially when combined with delicious tamales, so why not take a moment and vote on Tucson Tamale Company’s Facebook page for the newest addition to their menu. The creator of the winning dish wins two dozen free tamales to make things more exciting. My vote was for the paella tamale,…
Pugs and Bone Thugs, Best Internet Combination Ever
I really should just quit blogging now. This parody (?) of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s “1st of tha Month” featuring a cast of pugs is the pinnacle of what online media can offer. I don’t understand what’s happening or why, but it’s five minutes of pure magic. Enjoy.
Festival en el Barrio: The Very Best Thing You Can Do With Your Saturday!
Eric Swedlund inteviews the members of Megafaun, who will be among the acts at this weekend’s Festival en el Barrio: Megafaun began after the breakup of DeYarmond Edison, formed in Eau Claire, Wis., and including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Chris Porterfield. Porterfield’s first album as Field Report will be released later this year.…
Let’s Listen to a Song Masquerading as a Shoe Ad
Despite my general dislike for Converse shoes (VANS 4EVER), the newest installment in their “3 Artists, 1 Song” series is a ridiculously hooky track featuring Kimbra (the female voice on “Somebody I Used to Know”), Mark Foster of Foster the People, and A-Trak (former world DJ champion and half of Duck Sauce of “Barbara Streisand”…
The Best of Tucson 2012 Ballot Is Live!
Every year, we put out our gigantic Best of Tucson® issue and every year, the complaints start rolling in. “How did Jon Justice win Best Talk Show Host?” “My favorite restaurant is better than [fill in the blank]!” “Seriously, Jon Justice?” Well, since most of the awards are based on reader voting and reader voting…
Tucson Padres: Play Ball!
Samantha Sais It’s opening night for the Tucson Padres! Why not get out to the ballpark to start the season off right? We’ve got a Q&A with Padres general manager Mike Feder that will fill you in on all the details in this week’s print edition, but the first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.…
CD8: Congressional Candidate Ron Barber Raises Over a Half-Million Dollars in Race To Complete Giffords’ Term
It’s a cards-on-the-table day as candidates in the special election to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term have to file campaign-finance reports. Democrat Ron Barber, the longtime aide to Giffords, sent out a bulletin this morning revealing that he had raised $549,132 in the first seven weeks of the campaign—an impressive haul for someone who has…
The Things You Find on Kickstarter
If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, here’s a brief synopsis: Someone who needs funding for a creative venture posts it to Kickstarter. People interested in funding the project donate money in exchange for donation rewards. If the project doesn’t get the minimum amount of funding that they requested, no money changes hands. If the project…
Mailbag
How to get a unpaid job with very few benefits.
Greek Nonsense
Bad beards, an especially drab actor and a whole lot of messed-up Greek-mythology nonsense return in Wrath of the Titans, a bad film that is nonetheless a marked improvement over 2010’s inexcusable Clash of the Titans. There are enjoyable—and even exciting—stretches in this film, when the action and pyrotechnics overwhelm the fact that the film…
Guest Commentary
Hello, Mr. Wray. This is John from the National Rifle Association. How are you doing tonight?” Fine, thanks. Mr. Wray, as a life member of the NRA, I know you are concerned with our right to bear arms. Are you aware of Obama’s under-the-radar effort to destroy our Second Amendment rights? You mean President Obama?…
Top Ten in Movies
1. The Descendants 20th Century Fox 2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Sony 3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Universal 4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Warner Bros. 5. The Muppets Disney 6. The Sitter 20th Century Fox 7. A Dangerous Method Sony 8. My Week With Marilyn Anchor Bay 9. Hop Universal 10. Melancholia…
The Skinny
The ethics report is out on Rep. Daniel Patterson—and it’s a doozy … The candidates who want to finish Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term spar over the Ryan plan … and more!
More Dwarves, Please
Deep Impact and Armageddon. Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. Braveheart and Rob Roy. How is it that two movies about similar things trip over each other at the multiplex? For whatever reason, Snow White is launching her movie comeback in 2012, with two separate takes on the legendary tale: newly released Mirror Mirror, and Snow White…
Bumpy Roads
As anyone who has swerved to dodge a pothole knows, the city of Tucson has significant problems with its streets. City officials estimate that 17 percent of residential streets are in failing or poor condition, with another 20 percent in fair condition. Just 10 percent are in excellent condition, with the remainder falling into the…
Now Showing at Home
Absentia; The Iron Lady (Blu-ray); The Chemical Brothers: Don’t Think (Blu-ray)
Weekly Wide Web
Business Week recently ran an article about the popular website BuzzFeed, asking in the title if we should be thinking of the site as the “ad model for the Facebook era.” BuzzFeed has seemingly found a way to be successful while peddling the same stuff that thousands of other sites (including ours) offer—a mix of…
Media Watch
RIP, Dale Walton; Jennie Grabel off the radio again
Heat Would Help
It has always been my belief that good service can somewhat make up for bad food, but bad service can ruin even the best of meals. When mediocre service is combined with mediocre food, well, it’s no surprise that the whole experience comes off as mediocre. The Bisbee Breakfast Club, near the intersection of Ina…
Sudden Shots
It was a party like any other party—at least by teenager and college-kid standards. Loud music was blaring; beverages were flowing; attendees were scoping each other out. One thing the party, at an apartment complex near Pima Community College West, did not have was tension. “It was not a rowdy party,” recalled Amanda Gurgone, who…
Noshing Around
The Onyx Room moving, not closing; New restaurants; More local beer!
Police Dispatch
Strange times on campus; Extra stuff in the shed
Adaptable Gents
Megafaun’s first Tucson show was a quiet affair. In August 2009, a delayed flight for the singer of tour mates Bowerbirds forced the band from the Club Congress mainstage into the banquet room, where the North Carolina trio performed completely unamplified, with spare instrumentation holding their glorious harmonies aloft for the small but attentive crowd.…
Delivering Aid
After she was laid off from a radiology-technology development firm in Tucson in 1996, Lisa Hopper jumped into her car and drove aimlessly into the desert. She eventually parked, got out of the car, and began to sob. There in the desert, Hopper wrestled with her life’s calling. A vision of her destiny had appeared…
Soundbites
A great Saturday for music in Tucson; Sitcom rapper hits the Rialto; and more!
Top Ten in Music
1. Greg Morton When Pigs Fly (self-released) 2. Rich Hopkins and Luminarios Buried Treasures (San Jacinto) 3. Heather “Lil’ Mama” Hardy Get Out of the Road (Lil’ Mama) 4. Bryan Dean Trio Sobriety Checkpoint (self-released) 5. Mitzi Cowell Love’s So … (self-released) 6. The Tangelos Greatest Hits (self-released) 7. 17th Street Band Positively 17th Street…
Rowdy Readings
A fascinating group of literary spitfires will roll into town on Saturday as part of the touring Sister Spit show. The free performance is a sort of literary variety show, said Sister Spit co-founder and host Michelle Tea. “It’s not like a serene reading.” The six performers include Erin Markey, who does one-woman musicals; Dorothy…
Live
For more than three decades, I’d waited to see Todd Rundgren, the gifted singer, songwriter, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and record-producer. My time finally came Sunday night. Although the 63-year-old Rundgren was bedeviled by a nasty cold (which led to some vocal roughness throughout), he gave a charming, impassioned and energetic performance, playing for almost two hours…
Editor’s Note
If you have not yet read the state House Ethics Committee’s investigative report on Rep. Daniel Patterson, I recommend you take some time to do so. (We have it posted on The Range for your convenience, of course.) It’s pretty damning, and makes the case that Democrats and Republicans alike have—for quite some time—had serious…
City Week
Take Back the Night; Art takes on climate change; Tucson Poetry Festival; Darwinism on trial (still)
Nine Questions
Jennifer Donofrio works for the city of Tucson’s Department of Transportation. She enjoys the fact that her dog, Greta Jr., loves singing along to Greyhound Soul’s “Angelina.” What was the first concert you ever saw? The Beach Boys in 1987 at the Hilton El Conquistador. I can still remember lying on a blanket, thinking, “Yep,…
TQ&A
Mike Feder is the general manager of baseball’s Triple-A Tucson Padres, who start the 2012 season at 7:05 p.m., Thursday, April 5, at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way. This is the Padres’ second season in Tucson. For information on tickets, promotions and more, call 434-1367; visit their webpage; or like ’em on…
Jay Farrar, Anders Parker, Will Johnson and Yim Yames: New Multitudes (Rounder)
The complex and sometimes mythical legacy of Woody Guthrie remains unsettled because of the thousands of scraps of paper he left behind: songs, or at least lyrics, that touch on every subject he ever cared to address. The latest project to dig into the rich possibility of Woody’s left-behind writings comes from Jay Farrar, Anders…
Feel of the Unfinished
Painter Tim Murphy is too little-known in Tucson. One of the town’s best colorists, he’s experimented with all manner of subjects, delicately painting images as varied as human figures, stacks of cubes and, in one memorable small work, abstracted swimmers elbowing their way through a lake. But these subjects are nearly always simplified, reduced to…
Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (Young Money/Universal Republic)
The politics of Roman Reloaded are fascinating and bewildering. On the cover, Minaj dons birthday-cake-frosted whiteface. She’s Paris Hilton by way of FLCL. But the alter ego Minaj adopts for much of the record is Roman Zolanski—not, as one might assume, a girl-raping Eurotrash movie director, but the gay boy who lives inside of Minaj,…
Monument to Fear
I was offended when I first picked up Maurice Sherif’s The American Wall. I hated its size (12 1/2 by 15 by 3 inches), its weight (15 pounds on my bathroom scale), and its ugliness (dirty white, dirty black and dirty gray). It was a two-volume, slip-cased monstrosity—heavy, unwieldy, expensive, impractical. If this wasn’t awful…
Whirr: Pipe Dreams (Tee Pee)
Guitarist Nick Bassett of San Francisco black-metal band Deafheaven has a new, wildly different project, a shoegaze-revivalist sextet called Whirr. This mysterious Bay Area band ambitiously seeks to return rock ‘n’ roll to the year 1991, when My Bloody Valentine pushed miasmic guitar-pop to its outer limits with the acclaimed Loveless. Instead of MBV becoming…
Danehy
With the Final Four just finishing up, I feel obligated to report on a trend that, like many things, probably started out as good, clean, innocent fun, and then got taken to extremes. Every year, tens of millions of people fill out their NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket sheets in the hope that, by some…
Top Ten in Books
1. Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir Donna M. Johnson, Gotham ($26) 2. An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life Mary Johnson, Spiegel and Grau ($27) 3. The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins, Scholastic ($8.99) 4. Tucson Oddities, Too Arizona Daily Star ($14.99) 5. Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, Scholastic…
The Law Says …
Lawsuits are flying again in the Arizona medical-marijuana world—or at least requests for writs of mandamus and notices of claims are flying. Three former MMJ club owners have put the state on notice that they want $18 million in compensation for an October raid that closed their 2811 Club near Bell Road and Interstate 17…
Messina
Suppose you could lose weight with only five minutes of effort each day. There would be no calories to count, no StairMasters to climb, and no pills to swallow. All you would need is a pen and a sheet of paper. More than 25 years ago, Joan Belzer heard a graphologist on television say, “You…
Brave Digital World
Imagine a movie made in downtown Tucson. Think about local actors inhabiting the historic MacArthur Building—Tucson’s cool triangle-shaped answer to New York’s Flatiron Building—and acting out a recession-era comedy about the dismal job market. And visualize a local production team, from producers to the director to the editor to the camera operator, putting it all…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers: Talk about a lazy Mexican—nearly four years after promising ustedes that I was going to write a book about the history of Mexican food in the United States, my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America is getting released this week! April 10! It has 300-plus pages of astounding history (Did you know…
Don’t Mess With Gannett? Three Sonorans Booted from TucsonCitizen.com
Last night, the Range had a story on tucsoncitizen.com’s owner, Gannett, ordering Three Sonorans’ blogger David Abie Morales to pull (and rewrite) a post after the blog-hosting site received lawsuit threats from state Rep. Daniel Patterson. As of this morning, the Three Sonorans is no longer on the Citizen site, a decision reportedly made by…
McCain Finds Idea of Sarah Palin as VP Hilarious!
Judging from Sen. John McCain’s appearance on CBS, we’ve reached the point where we can all look back on the pick of Sarah Palin as vice-president and have a good laugh over it.
Patterson, Unable to Pick Fights in House, Moves to Twitter
If you weren’t minding your Twitter feed between midnight and 1 a.m. last night, you missed a good old fashioned Twitter-fight between Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, and Rep. Daniel Patterson, D Lonewolf-Tucson. We say missed it, because Patterson deleted his tweets. But we here at the Weekly are watching Patterson like bad re-runs. And we’re…
