Cover Stories
Tucson Turns 238
August 20 marks Tucson’s 238th birthday and the Tucson-Pima Historical Commission thinks a celebration is in order. The party will celebrate Tucson years of history with a flag ceremony, a canon salute, a traditional Tohono O’odham blessing, signing/reading a proclamation from local governments, and a reading of the letter from Hugo O’Connor designating Tucson as…
Ballad of a Broken World
Justin St. Germain calls Sept. 20, 2001, the last day his heart was whole. A 20-year-old UA student worried about flunking out, St. Germain rode his bike home that afternoon, the mile ride from campus whizzing by in the late summer sun. His brother took the call, and was still hanging onto the phone when…
Here’s the First Track from the New Howe Gelb Album
Because he is a terrible person, former Phoenix New Times music editor/current something-or-other at Zia Jason Woodbury has been bragging on Facebook about how much he’s been enjoying the new Howe Gelb record, The Coincidentalist, which the rest of us suckers have to wait until November to hear. This doesn’t quite soothe my deep jealous…
You Can Watch a Movie We Liked on Netflix Now
The 2011 documentary Samsara is newly available on Netflix Instant and since you’ve probably already worked your way through Orange Is the New Black, you probably need something to watch. Here’s what Colin Boyd said about the film upon its release, even though Netflix loses something on IMAX front: Rarely has a film come along…
The Dolly Parton Story on ‘Drunk History’ Was Television at Its Finest
Comedy Central While the whole “Drunk History” concept isn’t all that new – Funny or Die has been doing these skits online since 2007 – and it might just be the slightly higher production values at work, but the recent run of episodes on Comedy Central have become must see television at the Gibson house.…
You Can Listen to the New Black Joe Lewis Album Now
While it’ll still be awhile before Black Joe Lewis hits Club Congress on December 7, you can preview the soul/blues/R&B-stylings of his new album Electric Slave on Soundcloud now. Enjoy!
I Learned Something From the U of A’s Facebook Feed Today
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’)); Post by The University of Arizona. Thanks to the University of Arizona’s Facebook feed, I learned today is Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu festival celebrated in India, Mauritius, Nepal and…
We Have Someone to Cheer for on This Season’s ‘Top Chef’
The eleventh season of Top Chef debuts on Bravo on October 2, and while there aren’t any chefs currently working in Arizona on the roster, there is one chef with a (more-or-less) local connection, Ramon Bojorquez, from Rio Rico: Ramon Bojorquez is the Sous Chef at Nine-Ten, an upscale farm to table restaurant in downtown…
Let’s Watch a Baby Giraffe Hang Out
Unfortunately, I can’t embed the viewer (highlights are above), but the Seattle Zoo has provided the universe a delightful service by pointing a live webcam at the baby giraffe born there on August 6th. The six-foot-tall male calf has access to areas off-camera, but when he’s on screen, it’s a nice counter-point to the rest…
There’s a Pinball Place Opening Soon
From D&D Pinball’s website The next time someone tells you Tucson (and particularly the downtown area) isn’t on the upswing, that things aren’t improving, tell them a pinball place is opening in September. Located at 331 E. 7th St., right off Fourth Avenue, D&D Pinball is hosting 30 machines, including the world’s most popular game,…
Heated Up – Simple Might Be Better
Marylee, The Potted Desert Better Dirt Than Dead! Sometimes we decide to just give up the ghost when gardening in the sauna heat of the desert monsoon season. But do we really want to be greeted by a dead pot every time we come home this summer? If you were to look at this first…
Reminder: Support Prescott’s Fallen Firefighters at Tap & Bottle Tonight
Arizona Craft Brewers Guild If you’re looking to drink good beer this evening, and wouldn’t mind if your money went to a good cause in the process, we recommend you head down to Tap & Bottle, 403 N. Sixth Ave., where they’ve tapped the state-wide brewery collaboration Heroes 19. Heroes 19, as we wrote about…
ASU Football: Brought to You By LivingSocial
No matter how many times I update the settings, both on the main site and my mobile app, discounted-things-you-didn’t-know-you-needed pusher LivingSocial keeps thinking my location is Phoenix. Whatever, it just usually means I hit delete on the emails without ever opening them. Until I saw this in my inbox: While yes, I admit I was…
Let’s Watch Other People’s Wives Wear Swimsuits
Promotion in Tucson is impossible to predict. Some events are bandied about through press releases, billboards and other attempts to reach the public far in advance of the actual event itself. Then there are those that seem to swoop into town completely unannounced considering the lack of pimping that’s done to get people interested in…
Tucson Made It to That Craft Beer Poll, Now Vote Again
Look! We’re not covered up by the logo now! Thanks to you, Tucson Weekly readers (and maybe some other people too, but I doubt it), Tap & Bottle made the finals of CraftBeer.com’s Great American Beer Bar competition. However, the battle is not over yet, as there are seven Colorado bars, one in Nevada and…
KXCI Put 1973 Behind Us Aug. 17 at the Rialto
Thank yourself, Tucson, for making it possible to listen to awesome original programming by real DJs playing one song at a time on Community Radio KXCI. We love them so much that we don’t even mind that they keep bringing back the ’70s like a lost cat. After last Saturday at the Rialto we relived…
Go to a Baby Shower, Get Stabbed With a Stiletto
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock I think we can all agree that baby showers are terrible events that no one should be forced to suffer through (leave your gifts at the door and move on, people), but being forced to look at melted candy bars in diapers is far better than a baby-related event that ends…
Kids Can Use LinkedIn Now; Childhood Ruined
Courtesy of Shutterstock Apparently, it’s designed to allow kids to pick colleges or something, but for some reason, the people behind LinkedIn, the social network I usually refer to as “Oh right, that,” are expanding their reach to include kids starting at 13. Now, you might ask, why on earth would a 13-year-old want to…
RIP, Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard, one of literature’s best-known and frequently adapted crime authors and father of Tucsonan Chris Leonard, died today at his home in Bloomfield Village, Mich. Leonard, who was working on his 46th novel before suffering a stroke earlier this month, was a mainstay on the bestseller list, but also known for providing the source…
Gov. Brewer Makes Less Money Running Arizona Than 37 State Administrators Do
Next time you’re wandering the 99 cent store for irregular Jelly Bellies and Larry the Cable Guy beer bread, make sure to keep an eye out for our fair governor, Janice K. Brewer — apparently, the commoners of this state aren’t the only folks whose annual salary could use a bit of sprucing up. According…
Ducey Grabs Kyl As Part of 2014 Gubernatorial Campaign Team
Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey announced today that he had wrangled Jon Kyl, who stepped down from the Senate after three terms representing Arizona, into leading a group of policy advisors who are helping him with his exploratory committee for next year’s governor’s race. Ducey’s press release can be read after the jump, but we are…
Sean Miller, King of The Pac-12 Tweeters
With an amazing recruiting class coming in for this season, and likely another big one shaping up for the following year, University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Sean Miller is slowly but surely getting some of us Tucsonans to forget how to spell Olson. But Miller is doing it more than just on the recruiting…
Your Non-Local Radio Morning Shows Are Getting Shuffled Around
If you tuned into My 92.9 this morning excited to hear what morning show host Valentine had to say, you were in for a surprise, as the station dumped the LA-based personality, replacing him with Mojo of Mojo in the Morning, a Detroit-based show formerly on Hot 98.3 (full disclosure: I worked at Clear Channel,…
Lots of Signatures Tossed on City Pension Initiative, But It Still May Make the November Ballot
Looks like the fate of the proposed initiative to scrap the city of Tucson’s pension system and replace it with a 401(k)-style retirement plan remains up in the air. Pima County Superior Court Judge James E. Marner ruled this morning that thousands of signatures must be tossed from the petitions, but the exact number remains…
The Remix of That Song You Like Might Be Better Than the Original
New Zealand 12th grader Lorde has jumped from releasing her debut EP in March to topping the Billboard Alternative chart this month (the first woman to do so since Tracy Bonham did with “Mother Mother” in 1996, which says a lot about the gender makeup of alternative music) and now her song “Royals” has even…
The ‘Dead in the Desert’ Documentary Is Online
It’s definitely not a pleasant watch, but the Dead in the Desert documentary by Austin Counts and Devlin Houser is now on YouTube. From Hope Miller’s article on the documentary’s release party: Dead in the Desert documents how Pima County medical investigators attempted to identify and repatriate the bodies of two migrants found in June…
How Did a Trampoline Park Open Here Without Someone Telling Me?
From Get Air Tucson’s Facebook page I blame myself more than anything, but somehow I managed to miss entirely that A TRAMPOLINE PARK OPENED OVER THE WEEKEND. Get Air Tucson is located at 330 S. Toole Ave, near to Rocks and Ropes and Premises Park, and features, well, a bunch of trampolines, apparently of competition…
Willie Nelson Brought a Smokin’ Set to AVA Aug. 14
Willie Nelson played a full set of what his fans wanted to hear at AVA last Wednesday, but not a minute more. Although he could have been days singing through his catalog of favorites, there was no encore. Still, the fans heard plenty to keep them happy. He even made time for covers of other…
Another Day, Another Meh Ranking for Wildcat Football
Expectations — at least on the local level — were high for Arizona football this year after Rich Rodriguez’s initial Wildcat team went a surprising 8-5 last season. The college coaches (or, rather, their sports information directors) didn’t share those lofty thoughts when the USA Today preseason Top 25 poll came out two weeks ago,…
Buster Needs a Home
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona presents Buster, a 9-month-old great dane/lab/pit mix. Reference no: 753068 No Buster in your life? You don’t know what you’re missing! This goofy love sponge is the world’s greatest sidekick! Buster loves to trot right next to you, collect as many toys as he can in his mouth and…
Let’s Give Away the Rest of These Padres Tickets Already
Note: This photo does not include the sight of my hideous hands. We gave away most of our tickets for the remainder of the Tucson Padres’ season/existence, but there are still six sets of four here at the Tucson Weekly office that I’d like to get in the hands of people who enjoy such things.…
AZ Illustrated Politcs Tonight: Talking With Mayor Rothschild and Pima County Supervisor Elias
Tune in for a chance-of-page episode of AZ Illustrated Politics tonight: We talk with Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías about what’s happening with the city of Tucson and Pima County. The show airs at 6:30 p.m. on PBS 6.
You Should Get a Pint of Heroes 19 Tonight
You’ll be able to pick up a glass of Heroes 19, a collaborative-effort brown ale created to raise money for the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crews, a few places in Tucson now-to-soonish (Barrio, Gentle Ben’s, Tap & Bottle, Thunder Canyon), but if you want to start your drinking/donating today, Barrio is hosting a…
R. Kelly! Phoenix (The Band)! Dan Gibson’s Head Explodes!
As it stands today, if I made a list of my favorite active musical acts, the French band Phoenix (who performed at AVA earlier this year) and R. Kelly (who hasn’t played Tucson to my knowledge, but was involved in a bit of drama involving a cruise cancellation here) would like both be on it.…
Here’s Five Reasons Why You Should Go See Escape From New York This Weekend at The Loft
(art by Chris Weston) If you’ve never seen John Carpenter’s 1981 post-apocalyptic, sci-fi masterpiece Escape From New York, or if it’s been awhile, here’s five reasons why you need to hustle over to The Loft Cinema this weekend. 1. The plot is simple. The year is 1997, and Manhattan has been turned into a maximum…
U.S. Rep. Barber on “Outrageous” Cost of Ajo Homes for Border Patrol: “This Type of Spending Is Irresponsible”
In the wake of a scandalous story earlier this week in the Arizona Republic, Congressman Ron Barber calls for an investigation into why the Department of Homeland Security paid a staggering $600,000 per home for housing for Border Patrol agents in Ajo. The press release from Barber’s office: U.S. Rep. Ron Barber has asked the…
Grijalva and Barber: There’s No Rush on Rosemont EIS
Representatives Ron Barber and Raul Grijalva sent a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack yesterday urging the Forest Service to not release a final Environmental Impact Statement on the Rosemont Mine project without addressing several shortcoming. You can read the letter here. Joint statement issued from offices of Grijalva and Barber: Tucson, Ariz.…
Phoenix Suns’ New Uniforms Prove Tanking Involves More Than Just Bad Players
Like many NBA teams with no shot at being successful anytime soon, the Phoenix Suns have taken it upon itself to do whatever it can to get lined up for one of the expected plethora of top prospects available in the 2014 draft. For most of the league’s also-rans, this just means dumping any players…
The Underestimated City Streetwear Shop Is Closed, But Not Out of the Game
The streetwear brand and proud Tucsonans over at The Underestimated City have pulled up stakes and closed down their downtown shop at 115 E. Broadway Boulevard. TUC (see what they did there?) actually announced the closure via their social media avenues on July 16, with this post from Israel Zavala, owner at TUC: As this…
A Look Inside Maker House
Blake Collins The newly-planted grass is just beginning to sprout in Maker House’s courtyard. Inside, the Salon has a gleaming new floor and 8 lights shine from every pillar. There’s the beginnings of a bar in the Cafe and copper ceiling tiles have been installed. It’s clear that Maker House is moving right along on…
Hard to Believe, But People Are Upset About the “Harriet Tubman Sex Tape” Skit
Russell Simmons, who has provided the world with a fair amount of entertainment in the past (I still miss Def Poetry Jam, not that anyone asked), has a new YouTube channel, All Def Digital, ostensibly designed to showcase comedy…I think? So far, there’s a show highlighting the antics of the hiphop collective Odd Future, a…
There’s a Newish Polyphonic Spree Video
The Polyphonic Spree, who are coming to test the capacity limits of the Club Congress stage on August 26, released a video this week for “You Don’t Know Me” from their new album Yes, It’s True. It’s a charming song with a somewhat less charming video, especially when there’s a kid limo driver. Then a…
Lessons on Immigration Policy Changes from the Deep South … Wow
Maybe in Tucson, getting the Pima County Sheriff’s Department or the Tucson Police Department to change its policies calling Border Patrol/ICE when stopping undocumented folks will take lawsuits and a city council with some guts—not just laying under Border Patrol vehicles to call attention to detention and separating families. Let’s look at Monday’s decision by…
Twilight Thursdays at Tucson Botanical Gardens: C.J. Shane and the Cordials
School has started and families are starting to get into that after-school groove, but it’s hard to give up those city summer excursions with the kiddos. At least that’s what I’m experiencing right now, even though my kiddo is happy to be lugging a heavy backpack around all day. (What he sees in this school…
City Week
Steampunk Afternoon A Tucson Steampunk Society Gathering 2 to 7 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 18 Amazing Discoveries 2410 E. Broadway Blvd. 982-0556; meetup.com/Tucson-Steampunk-Society In the spring of 2011, the Tucson Steampunk Society formed not long after the local Wild Wild West convention. Now, the TSS hosts social gatherings and workshops every month, and a steampunk book…
TQ&A
A 15-year-old junior at University High School, Ariana Parrish was recently selected as one of 17 teens in the nation to serve on the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s Youth Leadership Team. According to its website, the campaign “seeks to improve the lives and future prospects of children and families and, in…
Everything Is Ruined
Through a series of stark, slowly suffocating scenes, Lukas (Mads Mikkelsen) loses nearly everything that he treasures. When we meet him, he’s already wrestling with a recent divorce, but that’s a cakewalk compared to what follows. He works at a local kindergarten, which is not his chosen profession, but he is good with the children.…
Space Is the Place
Writer-director Neill Blomkamp follows up his strong feature-directing debut, District 9, with another solid sci-fi effort in Elysium, a film that delivers terrific action along with a reasonable amount of smarts. Now, I know this will sound a bit confusing, but Elysium is also a little on the stupid and illogical side, especially when considering…
Really Reliable
Viv’s Café is tucked into a far corner of a shopping center at Tanque Verde Road and Catalina Highway. Despite its hidden location, plenty of people have discovered this tiny, neighborhood diner. No doubt they come for the inexpensive, decent meals and the camaraderie we witnessed during our breakfast and lunch visits. The servers knew…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: This pregunta has been simmering in my brain for a while, like slow cooking birria, and the recent question about whether saying “Viva la Raza” is racist reminded me to ask you. According to José Vasconcelos, the Mexican people are La Raza Cósmica (Cosmic Race); which, to myself at least, seems like a…
Noshing Around
Keep On Truckin’ Fall is around the corner, which means the weather will be perfect for food trucks, and a few new trucks have emerged around town just in time. The theme at Cheesy Riders is that great American classic, grilled cheese. I had the opportunity to sample the menu, and it includes many incarnations…
As Seen on TV
Two things happened last week that could help change the way America thinks about cannabis. Kinda sorta. Sanjay Gupta, who seems like a TV star but plays a doctor in real life, changed his mind about cannabis in front of the nation, and Eric Holder told NPR that he thinks too many people convicted of…
Doing New Things
Close to finishing the band’s fourth album, Cold War Kids found themselves working a new song, a peppy blast of a single with layered meanings for songwriter Nathan Willett. “Miracle Mile” begins with the line, “I was supposed to do great things,” a notion that reflects on the band’s own history and direction as well…
Live
Peter Buck of R.E.M. said in 1984 that he had bought more albums released in 1984 than from any other year. What he was referring to was R.E.M. touring the U.S. and him finding gems from underground or unknown bands as they traveled. Twenty-nine years later, Buck’s statement is still relevant. Similarly, in 2013, I…
Soundbites
R.I.P., JAMES HUNT Tucson lost another beloved local musician last week when James Hunt passed away on Sunday, Aug. 11, surrounded by family at home in Michigan. Hunt, who had played drums for The AmoSphere for the last eight years, had been valiantly fighting inoperable pancreatic cancer. He had been the beneficiary of several benefit…
Red Temple Spirits: Red Temple Spirits
Among the largely unsung alternative bands of the 1980s was this brooding, psychedelic and vaguely spiritual post-punk group from Los Angeles, led by singer William Faircloth. The group released two amazing albums before it disbanded in 1992; it reportedly reformed a few years back. Now its long-out-of-print music is available again, as the first installment…
Editor’s Note
This week’s issue is a little off our normal format, with basically two features instead of the Currents/cover story combo we usually run with. We had previously scheduled Eric Swedlund’s great profile of author Justin St. Germain as his memoir, Son of a Gun, hits bookshelves this week for the cover this week, but as…
Downing
Full disclosure: I had solar panels installed on my roof last summer. The whole thing cost upward of $23,000, with TEP picking up nearly $2,700 of the up-front cost. I got more than 30 percent of the rest back in various government incentives. Did I deserve this help? Did the solar industry? I don’t know.…
Danehy
Far too many times, Jeff Smith and I butted heads. It was just his way; he was most in his element when trying to get other people out of theirs. I always liked him and respected the hell out of his writing. I think he liked me, too, but I was never quite certain. Someone…
Media Watch
SITTON WAS PILLAR IN TUCSON MEDIA, COUNTLESS OTHER ENDEAVORS If you wanted the definition of community involvement, you had to look no further than Dave Sitton. From a media standpoint, there are figures in every town who take on almost iconic status. In Tucson, you’d have to put Sitton on that list. But pigeonholing him…
Tales of Twos
Live Theatre Workshop continues to impress with its selection of plays that are well written, have enough substance to make us a bit thoughtful and utilize the theater’s resources well. The latest effort is a very traditionally imagined script by Jeff Baron called Visiting Mr. Green, featuring two very likable characters who meet each other…
Police Dispatch
A CHICK AND AN EGG SITUATION RINCON BEATJUNE 28, 9:42 P.M. A woman almost got egg on her face, but it turned out that her husband’s aim wasn’t so great, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. Deputies went to the couple’s house, where an elderly woman told them she had gotten into an…
Compelling Character
There are benefits,” observes the narrator in this new thriller, cramming her white hair into a bun—but her gun into her waistband—”to being small and faded.” And she walks armed and unchallenged into an accused killer’s hospital room. That her appearance belies reality is just one of decommissioned FBI Special Agent Brigid Quinn’s investigator’s tools.…
Jeff Smith 1946-2013
I blundered into the newspaper racket at a time when practically anybody with a pulse and a vocabulary in triple digits could get a job. I barely could type my name, never had taken a journalism course, but I was willing to work for $120 a week (pretax) as long as they let me write…
Van Christian: Party of One
After their initial nihilistic shock reaches its logical dead end, aging punks start defining themselves as who they are, not by what they hate. Van Christian, already a couple of generations removed from Green on Red and Naked Prey (neither of which’s attitude was especially negative to begin with), comes back with Party of One,…
An Excerpt From “Son of a Gun”
Soon after we learned that our mother was dead, my brother and I went to a bar. We’d already worked the phones. Josh had called our grandparents, who’d been divorced for forty years but both still lived in Philadelphia. Grandpop said he’d book the first flight he could, but air travel was snarled from the…
KT Tunstall: Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon
The Scottish singer-songwriter—famous for the 2006 hit “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”—starts her fifth album with an urge to purge, fantasizing about burning down her house and jumping into the fire. But in that opening track, “Invisible Empire,” she decides it’s not yet her time. Still, the emotions swell dramatically throughout this subtly melodic…
