Cover Story
Never Forgotten Brother
There isn’t much we know about the man who murdered 24-year-old Brian Leigh Davis more than 30 years ago. We know there was party and a fight. There are a collection of witness interviews with a couple of different stories on how it all went down. Evidence: some clothing, a matchbook from the Wooden Nickel…
A conversation With Diane Ravitch At UA Sunday, December 14
Diane Ravitch, education historian, author, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, co-founder of Network for Public Education, will be speaking at University of Arizona, College of Education—KIVA room, 1430 E. Second Street, Tucson (parking available for free at 2nd street parking garage), 2:30-4:00 p.m. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about the current state of…
Cashew Cow is Bringing Dairy-Free Desserts to Broadway Boulevard and Country Club Road
If you’ve been patiently waiting for the Cashew Cow Dessert Parlor to open its doors between tastes of their wares at the Heirloom Farmers Market, the wait is nearly over. On Monday, Dec. 15, the ice cream like dessert purveyor will start serving up scoops of the cashew-based iced dessert at their new storefront. The…
Let’s Watch a Fennec Fox Chase Bubbles at Reid Park Zoo
I was hoping to find a fresh video of Nandi, the Reid Park Zoo’s cute baby elephant, but had to settle for this clip of a Fennec Fox chasing after soap bubbles. But after the jump, you can see an older clip of Nandi splashing around in a pool, in case you missed it when…
Grijalva on CROmnibus: GOP Is “Using a Potential Crisis With the Federal Government To Hurt Working Families”
Don’t look for Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva to vote in favor of the CROmnibus deal that is supposed to stop the government from running out of money in a couple of days. Grijalva and his Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Keith Ellison (D-MN) denounced the bill today: We support a government funding bill that invests…
Is Congress Now Incapabable of Handling Immigration Reform?
The Skinny noted last week that President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration had helped him approval rating among Latino voters.But a new survey shows that Obama’s move—using prosecutorial discretion to defer deportation of up to 4 million undocumented immigrants now in the United States—has also hardened Republican attitudes toward immigration reform. Polling numbers from…
Party for MOCA to Sell Snazzy Jackets and Local Art for a Good Cause
You might think it’s a little bit early to start planning what you’re doing on Friday, Dec. 19, but hear me out. The Party for MOCA is that night and you’ll want to hop on the event train now so you can get your raffle tickets for your chance to snag a hand-embellished jean jacket by…
McCain: “I Know the Use of Torture Compromises That Which Distinguishes Us From Our Enemies”
Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor to denounce the torturous methods laid out in yesterday’s Senate Intelligence Committee’s report. Talking Points Memo reports: McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on the Senate floor that his personal experience has shown abused prisoners offer up more bad than good, or even…
Mike Hess Takes Over Tap & Bottle and Dragoon Expands
It seems like every week is a good week to be a beer geek in Tucson, but I have to say that this week is shaping up to be a particularly good one. First off, Dragoon Brewing Company is expanding today and they’re inviting fans of their craft brews to drop in from 3 until…
Indie/Alternative rock bands to perform at Club Congress Dec. 17
If you enjoy indie/alternative rock music and want to support a few of your local bands then head on over to Club Congress next Wednesday, Dec. 17, for performances by Indian Lakes, Signals, The New Classic and Spider Cider. Indian Lakes is the only band that isn’t local – having originated out of California, but…
Ladies And Gentleman, I Give You, Our Republican Legislators. (Or, Why Do They Love Tax Cuts More Than They Love Children?)
Want to know why Republican legislators think they don’t have to pay up the billion dollars they owe our school kids because they illegally ignored the voters’ demand back in 2000 that school funding has to keep up with inflation? Howard Fischer covers the story in detail, but for your reading pleasure, I’ll paraphrase, loosely,…
Tucson’s Own Tempest DuJour to Compete in RuPaul’s Drag Race
If you haven’t followed RuPaul’s Drag Race in the past, you probably hate entertainment or you have yet to realize the error of your ways. No worries, though, the multi-faceted talent competition is coming back and this time we all have a local queen to cheer on. The show’s network, Logo TV, announced a full…
Is the Guggenheim Coming to Sixth Street and Stone? We’re Guessing No
Passing by the intersection of Sixth Street and Stone Avenue, you may have noticed recently that a mysterious sign went up advertising the “Solomon P. Guggenheim Art Museum” coming to the corner Fall 2017. While that would be really great news if it were true, something seems off about the whole thing. First of all,…
New Census Analytics Reveal Poverty in Tucson is Up For Young Adults, But At Least We Aren’t Living with Our Parents
The United States Census Bureau is offering an analytic tool called “Social Explorer,” which gives insight on demographic information for 18 to 34 year olds in major metropolitan areas. According to the tool, there’s some good news for Tucson and some not so good news. Starting off with the good stuff, Tucson, when compared to…
Win Tickets to See Bebel Gilberto at Rialto Theatre on December 13
It’s that time again where Tucson Weekly and the Rialto Theatre are joining forces to offer you free concert tickets. This time, bossa nova singer Bebel Gilberto is coming to town on Saturday, Dec. 13 and we have two pairs of tickets to give away. Gilberto, who is the daughter of Brazilian musician João Gilberto…
Prison Policy: A Crime Against Our Community. Panel Discussion Wednesday, 6pm
You can attend a panel discussion, Prison Policy: A Crime Against Our Community, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 6 to 8 p.m., YWCA Frances McClelland Center, 525 N. Bonita Ave. Join us for a panel discussion on the history of incarceration policies in the US and Arizona. Learn how current policies impact and oppress our community and…
“Zona Politics” Catches Up With the Non-Profit World
Zona Politics Eps.8 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo. On this week’s “Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel”: In the spirit of the season, we talk with representatives from various local non-profits: Michael McDonald of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona; Demion Clinco from the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation; Jeff Yanc of the…
Will the Wildcats eat the Ducks alive for the third time?
The Arizona football team is playing what is arguably their biggest game in school history when they take on Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game tonight. Game 13 » No. 8 Arizona (10-2, 7-2 Pac-12) vs. No. 3 Oregon (11-1, 8-1) Date…………………………………… Friday, Dec. 5 Time……………………………………. 6 p.m. (PST) Location……………………….Santa Clara, Calif. Stadium……………….Levi’s Stadium (68,500)…
Proper’s Monthly Community Dinner Offers a Peek into the Mind of a Chef
Sometimes it might seem like chefs can be rigid with their menu, not allowing for substitutions or subtractions that would compromise the integrity of their dish. Regardless of how you feel about that aspect of dining, you at least have options if you’re looking for a little more creativity and you’re willing to leave everything…
Don’t Miss Jess Matsen Solo at EXO Roast Co. on December 7
Before you head out to the Sunday Funday Vinyl Swap Meet at La Cocina to drink and thumb through stacks of vinyl, grab a cuppa over at EXO Roast Co. and watch Jess Matsen play a solo acoustic set. Matsen’s delicate, melodic music is perfectly set in an intimate venue where you can see every…
Sunday Funday Vinyl Swap Meet Returns with Monthly Events
You might have made it out to the inaugural Sunday Funday Vinyl Swap Meet at Che’s in September, seeing as how 4th Avenue Delicatessen’s Austin Counts says the event had a pretty good turn out. However, if you missed out that month, the event is returning on Sunday, Dec. 7— this time at La Cocina…
Herreras named managing editor of Tucson Weekly
Tucson Local Media is proud to announce that Mari Herreras has been named managing editor of the Tucson Weekly. Herreras has been with the Weekly since 2007. In her seven years at the paper, the Tucson native has gotten to the heart of Tucson with compelling features and investigative pieces on everything from various controversies…
Why Is An “American Enterprise Institute” Writer Pissed Off At Blog For Arizona?
The question is, why should Mark J. Perry care what a Blog for Arizona writer has to say? Perry is an econ prof at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus, and he writes on the policy blog of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the longest standing conservative think tanks in the country. (Yeah, it…
BICAS’ Art Auction Brings Unique Bike Art, Beer, and More to Drawing Studio
For the bike and art and beer lovers in town— and there’s definitely a few, BICAS’ annual art auction will fill the Drawing Studio this year with art, raffles, live music, puppet shows, circus acts, and more. The two-day event will feature over 200 one-of-a-kind pieces of art up for bidding in Saturday’s silent auction.…
A Charity Gift Wrap for Youth on Their Own
If you haven’t been to the newest sex toy store in Tucson, Jellywink Boutique, then you are missing out, people. The store, owned by Ally Booker, is off Fourth Avenue at 418 E. 7th St. and is a great community, sex positive, queer friendly resource for everyone. I’ve been there twice and have yet to…
Cinema Showdown
STAGE TO SCREEN Carey Mulligan (“Drive,” “An Education”) and Bill Nighy (“Love Actually,” “Hot Fuzz”) rekindle old flames in this recorded performance of the play “Skylight.” When two former lovers come together again after the death of Tom Sergeant’s (Nighy) wife, passions heat up, despite obvious differences between the two leads. With all of that…
The Skinny
Latin Swing Obama’s executive action on immigration results in a big boost in approval rating among Hispanic voters. While Republicans are busily trying to figure out a way to block President Barack Obama’s recent executive action on immigration, the move to shield up roughly four million undocumented immigrants has led to a big boost in…
Covered-Wagon Calamity
When we think about how we came to conquer and inhabit the American West, there is usually an image of a covered wagon creaking along in a losing race against the sun toward the shores of California. Seldom, if ever, do we picture those pioneers going east. “The Homesman” is a story of one such…
Progress, Derailed?
On June 27, the two federal agencies that list endangered species—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Services—published a 140-page policy document about the five-word phrase “significant portion of its range.” It purports to be the final word in a long battle over that phrase, a fight that has kept lawyers on…
Unexpected Asian
Brother’s Noodles is not your typical Tucson Asian restaurant. Yes, you’ll find egg rolls and General Tso’s chicken, but you’ll also find fried biscuits (see Roy Choi’s recipe) and a full slate of noodle dishes as well an assortment of soups and some the best dumplings I’ve has in this city. The menu is also…
Danehy
If you’re still driving around in a VW bus with a “Kill Your Television” bumper sticker on it, this column isn’t for you. If you spend time figuring out how to procure medical (or even non-medical) marijuana, it’s probably not for you. And if you’re one of those people who lament the fact that Downtown…
Noshing Around
HEAD NORTH FOR THE HOLIDAY North Italia’s Holiday Dinner, created by Executive Chef Carlos Calderon as part of the Fall Community Dinners series, will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m. You may have heard me rave about these before, but that’s because Chef Calderon’s community dinners are that sensational! The dinner will…
Media Watch
TOM MCNAMARA LOOKS FORWARD TO NEXT CHALLENGE Tom McNamara spent nearly 18 years as the familiar face of KVOA TV’s evening newscast. It’s remarkable stability in a business known for being anything but, yet it was that aspect about Tucson and the market that lured McNamara to the Old Pueblo in the first place. “I…
Nine on the Line
Brian Metzger is the owner behind the Metzger Family Restaurant Group and Ginny Wooters is the executive chef for all of the MFRG locations. The pair has been busy as of late designing Jackson Tavern and its New England comfort food menu getting ready for opening day on Monday, Dec. 15. They have also launched…
This Week in Craft Beer
Working behind a bar as a craft beer server, I get asked what my favorite beer is all the time. Unless I’m enamored with a particular beer at the moment, it is a difficult question to answer, with more factors weighing into my response than there are beer styles in the world. To choose a…
Living Sonoran Strange
There are many faces to Logan Phillips that Tucson has huge love for, from his work with youth in the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam to his love of cumbia and filling the dancefloor as DJ DirtyVerbs. This past year, we’ve been exceptionally blessed to revel in Phillips’ poetry and performance work with Sonoran Strange, a…
Music Counts
Last year, friends of Nowhere Man and a Whisky Girl found themselves between Bisbee and Tucson carefully carrying around their broken hearts in one hand while trying to figure out how to keep the memory of their friends alive. The band, husband and wife Amy and Derrick Ross, played regularly in Tucson venues like Delectables…
Viva Bike Art!
The 19th BICAS Art Auction preview party and auction weekend starts Dec. 5 at the Drawing Studio, 33 S. 6th Ave., from 6 to 10 p.m. For bike lovers and those who love downtown, this is always a special way to celebrate the good deeds of BICAS, the 25 year old bicycle collective that teaches…
Soundbites
LOOSE DEVILS Local hotshots Sun Bones will be closing out an eventful, albeit short but successful summer tour, the introduction of new member Laura Kepney-Adner (Silver Thread Trio, the Cordials) and somewhat an amicable, but still unfortunate departure of multi-instrumentalist Evan John Casler. They are also getting around to filming their first official music video…
Art Punk Border: Gabriel Ruiz Villegas’ Illegal Aliens
Artist Gabriel Ruiz Villegas, born and raised in Ambos Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona, explores the dynamics of being raised in a border town through his art show, “Illegal Aliens,” open Saturday, Dec. 6 at Studio ONE, 197 E. Toole Ave., from 6 to 11 p.m., also features live music from Lenguas Largas and Free…
Wide-Ranging Sound
On a wide-ranging debut album, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas bring together gripping soul ballads, new wave sheen, throwback Motown vibes, gypsy punk and an amped-up rockabilly. It’s all by design, presenting “Secret Evil” as a collection of the singer-songwriter’s Detroit roots and ever-evolving influences. “I wanted it to be a really versatile record. I…
Mapping Q Youth Exhibition
Mapping Q, a program in collaboration with the UA Museum of Art and the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation’s ALLY suicide prevention program, will exhibit the work of youth who’ve investigated language, symbols and images, and explored how to express their personal identities. The exhibit opened Wednesday, Dec. 3, but continues through Jan. 4, 2015 at…
Rhythm & Views
Those most enthralled with Tucson’s—or any city, for that matter—underground homegrown music community usually fall into two camps: Young musicians discovering their own voice or people who just moved here. Topaz—both the record label and recently-deceased venue—has had both going for it. The first two editions of its Dune Drift compilations were prime documents of…
Trails of Hope and Terror
There are some lovely familiar faces in the documentary, “Trails of Hope and Terror,” which screens on Thursday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m. at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. as a benefit for Tucson Samaritans and No More Deaths. Admission is $15. VIP admission is available for $30 which includes a prescreening reception to…
Nine Questions
Punk rock legends from Heroica Nogales, Sonora, La Merma, started playing its own particular style of “Desierto Sonorense Punk Rock” more than 20 years ago. Ivan Merma, guitarist and vocalist, and the other band members, Jairo, Luis and Claudio, have managed to be outspoken about border issues with their music reflecting what it means to…
Whodunit on Christmas Eve?
Live Theatre Workshop’s latest is a lively whodunit by Ken Ludwig that makes the most of various mystery conventions, from its dark-and-stormy setting to its dead bodies that don’t stay dead. “The Game’s Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays” will keep you guessing about who is killing whom, and why. But more than that, it…
Ask the Mexican
Dear Mexican: I teach writing at a local community college. My students are writing their final essays on a local problem; I have one student who has decided to write about illegal immigration (specifically Mexican). We were discussing, as a class, each student’s project, and this student made a comment that I wish I had…
Crafting Vision
Perhaps it’s the UA Museum of Art’s unassuming red brick exterior that’s misleading, sandwiched between the university’s art school and music and theater buildings on the northwest edge of campus. However, inside it holds a striking collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture from hundreds of significant 20th Century American, European and modern artists. Yet that…
Primer X
WHO ARE THEY Of all the first-wave west coast punk bands that emerged in the late-’70s, X was among the longest-lived and most influential, while significantly broadening the parameters of the genre. X was formed in Los Angeles in early 1977, when bassist/vocalist John Doe (born John Duchac) and vocalist Exene Cervenka (born Christine Cerankova)–both…
Editor’s Note
After writing a hundred of these editor’s notes, you’d think they’d get a bit easier, so in a way, I’m sort of thankful this is my last one. By the time this issue hit stands, I’ll have packed up my stuff on Mona Lisa Rd., off for new opportunities at Visit Tucson. If you’re wanting…
Looking at the Land
Up in the Mojave, beyond the mountains, three giant towers rise up from the flat desert floor, piercing the cloudless sky. Thousands of mirrors are set up on the ground. The five square miles of remote wilderness these structures occupy were still unmolested when photographer Jamey Stillings first arrived. But over the next two years,…
Police dispatch
BAD HAIR NIGHT SAN XAVIER BEAT OCT. 31, 8:54 A.M. A woman complained that someone was coming into her residence at night and cutting her hair while she slept, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. Sheriff’s deputies went to the woman’s trailer, where she showed them the left side of her head and…
The Return of the Vamp
Thanks to a cinematic franchise featuring a couple of pouting teens, the vampire genre took a beating over the last six years. Sparkly vampires with shirtless werewolf hunk buddies managed to make a Dracula movie about as appetizing as low-grade supermarket steak half cooked and marinated in peanut butter. That’s changed this year, and with…
Ron and the recount
A federal judge last week rejected an effort by Congressman Ron Barber’s campaign to include an additional 133 votes that were disqualified for administrative reasons in the 2014 election. The decision cleared the way for Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett to certify the results of the Nov. 4 election, in which Republican challenger Martha…
Remembering Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl
In this week’s deadtree issue of the Tucson Weekly, we did an an interview with Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl friends Bryan Sanders, Jimi Giannatti and Keli Carpenter. The interview was from a Day Drinking video we did with this NMWG crew about the ongoing online auction and the benefit concerts happening this weekend…
