Cover Story
Project Censored
This year’s annual Project Censored list of the most underreported news stories includes the widening wealth gap, the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning for leaking classified documents and President Obama’s War on Whistleblowers — all stories that actually received considerable news coverage. So how exactly were they “censored” and what does that say of this…
Word Odyssey: Santa Comes from Turkey?!
Image courtesy of Shutterstock It’s that jolly time of year, so today I’ll feed your inner nerd with the origins of Santa Claus. Santa Claus is the Americanized name for St. Nicholas, a 4th Century bishop in what is now modern day Turkey. (More on that in a minute). When the Dutch settled New Amsterdam—today’s…
Word Odyssey: Sheep’s Feet in White Sauce
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock It’s time to feed your inner nerd. Restaurant. Here in the 21st century we take restaurants for granted. But restaurants didn’t exist in the Western world until the late 1700’s. There were taverns and inns that served food and drink to travelers, and you could take out baked goods from a…
5 Points Market Opening in January
The historic Armory Park neighborhood is getting a new breakfast, music venue and farmers market in the New Year. The 5 Point Market is opening up next door to Café Desta on 758 South Stone Ave. “We love the neighborhood,” co-owner Beth Jones said in a late phone interview today. “We asked ourselves, ‘What would…
Catch Calexico and Friends on ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ Tonight
Calexico, 2013 Best of Tucson Best Local Performing Artists, announced on their Facebook page that they will performing The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York tonight on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The band will share the stage with Iron & Wine, Kathleen Edwards Page and Glen Hansard. The band posted this Instagram photo from the…
Win 4 Free Tickets to See the Nutcracker at Centennial Hall
I have never seen the Nutcracker, but I really want to. Here’s our chance to win four free tickets to see the Nutcracker at Centennial Hall, 1020 E University Blvd. 4 Free tickets to Dec.15 show of Nutcracker at Centennial Hall are up for grabs! Follow & RT for your chance to win! pic.twitter.com/YJ0Qmrylbf— Ballet…
Mama’s Hawaiian Bar-b-cue Opens Newest Location a Month Early
As previously reported in Noshing Around, Mama’s Hawaiian BBQ had a third location in the works, but the Hawaiian resturant wasn’t scheduled to open until sometime around mid-January. They finished ahead of schedule and opened their doors today. Check out the new location on 8300 N. Thornydale Road. Mahalo, Mai `ai!
Bruce Campbell is Coming to the Phoenix Comicon
Bruce Campbell, Phoenix Comicon, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead, Groovy
You Should Check Out The ‘Trees For Cars’ App
Leo Grand, lost his job and was forced out of his home, has been homeless on the streets of New York City since 2011. In August of this year a man named Patrick McConlogue, made Leo an offer. He would give the man $100 or teach him how to code. Leo chose the coding lessons.…
Meteor Shower Lights up Tucson Sky
Last night there was a reverberating boom over the Old Pueblo and a large meteor shower that lit up the night sky. The meteor shower took place around 7:11 p.m. NASA is referring to it as the 900-pound gorilla of meteor showers. Everyone started freaking out on Twitter: #tucson I saw the meteor and heard…
Evan Rachel Wood Wants To See More Oral Sex on the Big Screen
The movie Charlie Countryman has been getting a little more attention because of some recent tweets by actress Evan Rachel Wood, who has been chiding the Motion Picture Association of America, the mysterious organization that determines how movies are rated. In order to go from an NC-17 rating to an R-rating, film director Frederik Bond…
DeConcini Law Firm is Off Desegregation Case? Well …
Between reading a local blog and the local daily this morning, I’m kinda wondering what all the celebrating is all about. According to both, the law firm DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy is no longer representing the Tucson Unified School District. The law firm has received a share of criticism from deseg and Mexican-American studies…
The Countdown Is On: T Minus 999 Days To OSIRIS-REx Launch
At 5:43 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, UA Professor of Planetary Science Dante Lauretta unveiled the countdown clock for the OSIRIS-Rex mission. At that point, exactly 999 days remained until the launch window opened for the UA’s latest foray into the final frontier: A robotic space probe designed to swing up next to an asteroid,…
Agustin Kitchen to Reopen December 17th
Agustin Kitchen is reopening after renovations, with Bad-Ass Iron Chef Ryan Clark at the helm in the new open kitchen. It will be fun to see the rock star chef at work on a new menu and in a fresh environment, considering he has accomplished just about every possible culinary feat in town. Noelle Haro-Gomez…
Tips For Jesus
So, I guess there is a thing going on right now, TIPS FOR JESUS. Extravagant tips are being left on restaurant tabs around the map, marked with a stamp that reads @tipsforjesus or simply signed “Tips For Jesus”. I knew the god good old ol bearded one was a man of the peoples, I just…
Comic Book Review Show ‘Talking Comics’ is Back
Enthusiastic comic book fans Cynthia, Jenny and James Alvarez are bringing back ‘Talking Comics’ after a long hiatus. The show was originally created by Boom! Studios author Eric Esquivel (Smell Ya Later) and Weekly cartoonist Arnie Bermudez (Fish Wrap). Cynthia is a well rounded Heroes & Villains employee and Jenny was this year’s Tucson Comic-Con program director. They…
Vero Amore Opens New Digs
Vero Amore, known for its Neapolitan Pizza and comfy, homemade, Italian dishes, has officially opened its doors in its new, larger, Plaza Palamino on 2920 N. Swan Road #114. http://veroamorepizza.com/ The new locale offers much more seating, both indoor and outdoors, and features a new pizza bar, cooler for their beer and wine kegs, and…
UofA Student Protest Against State Cutting Education Funding and Tuition Increase
There will be a protest against rising tuition costs and the falling quality of education in Arizona in front of the University of Arizona Administration Building tomorrow at noon. The Atlantic reported that the state of Arizona has cut higher education funding by 50% and increased tuition costs by 78.4% from 2008 to 2013. In…
Treat Yo Self to Some Aziz Ansari Tickets
In last-minute super-surprising news, Aziz Ansari is coming to Casino Del Sol’s Event Center on December 27. Yes, this December 27. In an era where it seems like most big shows are announced six months or more ahead of time, you’ve got a little more than two weeks (well, depending on when you read this)…
New Travel Channel Show Gives Bashful Bandit a Facelift
The Bashful Bandit has been remodeled and will be featured on a new Travel Channel reality show called American Road House. It’s like Bar Rescue but for biker bars. The episode won’t air until early 2014. We hear that the bar has been redesigned to attract a wider audience. The bar is famous for being a gritty biker…
Win 2 Tickets to See The The Nutcracker ‘El Cascanueces’ at The Fox Theatre
Dancing in the Streets Az & Civic Orchestra of Tucson are hosting the sixth annual The Nutcracker (El Cascanueces) this weekend at the Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress St. The Mayor and his wife are apart of the performance, according to the Facebook event page. We are giving away two pairs of tickets for both days.…
Congrats to Photog Samantha Sais
Samantha Sais for The New York Times Congratulations to freelance photographer and occasional TW contributor Samantha Sais for having one of her photos included on Buzzfeed’s list of most powerful images of the year. Sais’ photo appeared on the front page of The New York Times for a story about how immigration laws were splitting…
Update – Sheriff Arpaio Won’t Lower Flags To Honor Mandela’s Death
Earlier this morning I shared news from KTAR.com that Sheriff Arpaio refused to lower the flags in honor of Nelson Mandela’s death. Here’s the original post that I accidently removed instead of unpublished: Guess who’s ignoring President Obama’s order to lower all the flags in the memory of former South African President Nelson Mandela? A…
Gio Taco Announces Its Opening Date and Menu
GIO TACO, the unsuspecting face of the Weekly’s “Keep Tucson Shitty” debate from a while back, has finally announced its opening date. It will be open to the public 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. “When we were first inspired by the idea of doing tacos in Tucson a little differently, we knew they had…
AZ Illustrated Politics: CPS Crisis, City Council Budget Troubles, TUSD Challenges & More!
Arizona Education Network President Ann-Eve Pedersen, Tucson Metro Chamber President & CEO Mike Varney and Inside Tucson Business editor Mark Evans talk about the uproar over more than 6,000 uninvestigated CPS reports, the budget challenges facing the city of Tucson, the important of downtown revitalization and turning around TUSD’s tarnished reputation.
Saturday Afternoon is Calling You: LumiNight! 2013
Jhon Sanders, one of the amazing volunteers behind the All Souls Procession, particularly the Procession of Little Angels, is starting what could end up an equally meaningful Tucson tradition. LumiNight! 2013 on Saturday, Dec. 21, from 5 to 9 p.m., evening of the winter solstice. Makes complete sense—bring some light and make some light the…
Local Rappers Join Murs’ New Record Label
Hip-Hop DX reported that Tucson’s very own Marley B and Cash Lansky have an album debuting on Jan. 7 with Murs’ new label. “I wanted to create a platform for hard-working musicians with good hearts,” Murs says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “All the artists I have lined up are good people who want…
We Have Entries for the Color Run to Give Away
The Color Run is coming back to Tucson on Dec. 21 at the Pima County Fairgrounds and the Weekly is teaming up with the people from KIND Healthy Snacks (and while I generally dislike anything involving the world “healthy” especially considering I just ate an entire bag of gummy watermelon sour somethings, HAVE YOU TRIED…
The Point Behind ‘Community Day’
Attending City High School is a much different experience than if I had chosen to go to a public school. Charter schools in general have a different agenda, and being located in downtown Tucson provides even more of a chance to stand out among most high schools. Whether its by calling our teachers by their…
Food Truck Diaries, Volume 36: Cheesy Rider
I feel like food trucks are following me everywhere I go. I was walking to the Gangplank/Tucson Weekly HQ and there was a giant orange truck parked in on the south side of the Pioneer building. The truck reads “Cheesy Rider” in cursive. I was intrigued by the smell of toasty bread and downtown pollution. It…
Coming Soon: Ice Cream and Alcohol at Broadway Village
There’s word that a new drinking and eating spot is setting up shop in a spot at Broadway Village, the ages-old shopping center that has taken up the corner of Broadway and Country Club since 1939. A liquor license application has been filed for the place under the name Sidecar Bar and Lounge. A representative…
Franzi: Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller’s Claims Are “Often False and Even Bizarre”
Longtime Republican political operative Emil Franzi takes aim at Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller in his new Inside Tucson Business column: Since her election, Miller has combined the delusions of Moore and the cluelessness of Marsh without the personal charm of either. She seems driven by a pathological dislike of fellow GOP Supervisor Ray Carroll.…
Surprise ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Reunion on Graham Norton Show
Now, this is a story all about how Will Smith, Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribeiro (AKA Carlton) reunited for a special moment on the UK’s Graham Norton Show. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired its final episode 17 years ago this week. The video starts off with Will and Jaden doing some freestyle, and then Will brings…
Grijalva: Obama Should Stop Deportations Now
Congressman Raul Grijalva joined 27 other Democrats to urge President Barack Obama to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to all undocumented immigrants now in the United States. Obama established the DACA program, which allows potential DREAM Act kids to be safe from prosecution and deportation, last year. But in a November speech…
Go to the CABARET Preview Performance at The Temple of Music & Art
Here’s a last minute date night idea. You should check out John Kander and Fred Ebb’s CABARET preview performance at The Temple of Music & Art, 330 S. Scott Avenue. At the dawn of the 1930s in Berlin, the Nazi party quietly grows stronger. Set in the seedy underbelly of the infamous Kit Kat Klub, CABARET revolves around…
Get Yourself a Drink in Honor of the Anniversary of Prohibition’s Repeal
It’s the 80th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition today, honoring the end of one of the more absurd moments in American history when an amendment was added to the Constitution to try to keep people from doing something they were going to do regardless of its legality. But hey, it brought us the premise…
Nelson Mandela, World Humanitarian, Dies at 95
Nelson Mandela, world humanitarian and former South African President, has died. The news came from South African President Jacob Zuma during a press conference late Thursday. “He is now resting. He is now at peace,” Zuma said. “Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.” “What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely…
As If The Arizona Cardinals Weren’t Picked On Enough
Okay, One Direction, we get it: you’re coming to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale next year (Sept. 16, to be exact). But did you really need to drag our professional football franchise down into the muck with you? I’m just glad no member of the Arizona Cardinals currently wears jersey No. 1, or else…
Day Drinking With Henry: The Buffet Bar & Crock Pot
I walk in to the Buffet and there’s already 15 men slouching at the bar. The joint smells like hot dogs and day old whiskey breath. The jukebox is streaming Walking on The Moon by The Police. I take the closest available wobbly bar stool and order my first drink at 10:30 a.m. Day drinking and writing…
Cinema Showdown: Get Yer Ya-Yas Out
Welcome to Cinema Showdown, a new column spotlighting cinematic special events, reparatory screenings and other miscellaneous film presentations around town and under the radar. If you’re a Rolling Stones fan, prepare to get yer ya-yas out on Thursday, Dec. 5. The Rolling Stones Sweet Summer Sun — Hyde Park Live is playing one night only…
Juicy J, Lil Jon, Dj Sliink at Slaughterhouse this Friday
It’s time to dust of those CRUNK cups, glow sticks and fur coats because the Fre$hest winter is coming. There’s going to be a huge rap show this Friday at the Slaughterhouse, 1102 West Grant Road. There will be live DJ sets and performances by Juicy J, Lil Jon, Dj Sliink, Sid Vicious and Mako. $35…
Cool, Branded
“It started off with my obsession with nostalgia,” says “Slobby Robby” Hall, co-owner of Fourth Avenue’s newest boutique shop, Generation Cool (404 N. Fourth Ave.). Hall and his partner, J.R. “Sid the Kid” Harrison, have been fixtures in Tucson’s downtown culture for years now, assuming roles as club promoters, DJs, artists, clothing designers and generally…
Sports
Just as there are few things more sacred in this world than another man’s fries, there aren’t many things that bring Tucsonans together to tackle a common goal. A collective distaste of all things Maricopa County is one of them, though. If it involves Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale or any of those other overpopulated burbs, and…
Hellenic Hiccups
When reviewing a restaurant like Greek House, things such as décor, service and music don’t play a big part (although the room is comfortable, the service friendly and knowledgeable, and the music pleasant). This is an eatery designed with the college crowd in mind, so inexpensive and serviceable food served quickly is what it’s all…
Police Dispatch
PHANTOM PUNCH? NORTH THORNYDALE ROADNOV. 6, 6:28 P.M. A boy said he took a punch in the face from a strange adult while trying to raise money by selling candy door-to-door, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. A deputy was sent to meet a supervisor with a group called Youth Education Service. The…
Brave New World
When I called Black Joe Lewis for an interview, he didn’t answer because he had gone on an errand and simply left his cellphone behind. He called me back later, but the incident stood as a clear, though maybe unconscious, example of Lewis’ refusal to be chained to technology. Our willingness to be bound to…
Soundbites
COVER ME The musical institution known as The Great Cover-Up celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, kicking off next Thursday, Dec. 12, at Plush (then continuing on Friday, Dec. 13, at Club Congress, and the Rialto Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 14 – more on that next week). A refresher for the newbies: The Great Cover-Up…
Pick of The Week
Most of us residing between the age of 21 and Social Security eligibility would agree that among the things making life worthwhile are good food, good music—and good beer. And that’s what the Tucson Museum of Art is banking on Saturday night, Dec. 7, for Art on Tap, which may be the largest-ever arts and-craft…
Nine Questions
A high school teacher by day, Big Meridox is one of Tucson’s most ferocious MCs. He’s shared the stage with Lauryn Hill and Big Boi, to drop a few big names, and just finished a minitour with KRS-One. He’s working on his fourth album and his previous efforts can be found on iTunes. Joshua Levine,…
Live
LIILA, OF THE PAINTED CHOIR, LADYLIKE, SHUDDER KONG PLUSH Saturday, Nov. 30 Shudder Kong is a one-man singer/songwriter who accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. While his passion is unquestionable, his confessionals lacked a dashboard, memorable melodies, interesting songs and penetrable lyrics. The Dashboard Confessional analogy isn’t a cheap shot—Shudder Kong completely left rapport with his…
City Week
Let it Snow Irving Berlin’s White Christmas 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 Loft Cinema3233 E. Speedway Blvd. firstgiving.com/igbo/igbo-2014-presents-irving-berlins-white-christmas Thanksgiving has passed and the Christmas season is fully upon us. What better way to kick off the holiday merriment than to watch a holiday classic while helping those in need at the same time? The International…
Steff and the Articles: Why It Was So
The new EP from Steff and the Articles is a pleasure, showing one of Tucson’s most promising young bands reaching a higher plane, its unique pop-jazz blend filled with memorable hooks. Why It Was So draws strength from Steff Koeppen’s sophisticated arrangements that make the most of her band’s unusual instrumentation, giving focus to both…
T Q & A
Jesse “Buck” Bannister and his partner, Michael Koch, share their home with an assortment of dogs they’ve rescued and one they currently foster. Rescuing man’s best buds has become so important to the couple that in September they started Tucson Rescue Pack, a dog rescue group with a mission to help people keep their pets…
Radkey: Devil Fruit
The fruit of the devil, in the case of Radkey’s second EP, is aggressive punk rock, and from the enthusiastic and already skilled approach Radkey take, they know full well which path it’s taking them down. Biblical allusion aside, this trio of small-town Missouri brothers—the oldest is just 20—have recorded an EP that has the…
Two Tales of Christmas
“Oh, the weather outside is”—delightful. This, of course, is one of the many blessings of celebrating the holidays in Tucson. But if you find that you’re thinking Christmas needs to be situated someplace where it snows (even if the snow is fake) and where people prepare geese and plum pudding for Christmas dinner, take a look…
Jess Matsen: Sun Stain
The usual problem with singer/songwriter solo albums from a member of an active band is that it’s typically a disc’s worth of self-important, self-aggrandizing narratives on the plight of the misunderstood artiste. Additionally, the music is usually stripped of all the collaborative aspects that made the parent band exciting by relying on a hackneyed back-to-basics…
Centennial Goes Punk(ish)
Rock musicals have been a thing on Broadway since the hippies in Hair raised the roof and dropped their clothes in 1968. With its anti-war theme, nudity, desecration of the flag and songs celebrating sodomy and LSD, Hair was shunned by the theater establishment but became a huge hit anyway and changed what was acceptable…
Weed Writing
In a perfect world, there would be a job where you could just sit around all day, looking up things about pot on the Internet and reading about pot and deciding what aspects of the pot world get coverage in a major newspaper. You would get paid a mad salary to think only about pot,…
Editor’s Note
So, a friend of a friend might have said the smartest thing ever about life in the online world: “Never have feelings on the Internet.” Of course, that’s easier said than done. In the case of what I’ve for some reason chosen to do professionally, the same thing that makes for compelling, interesting writing (relateable…
Nutcracker by the Numbers
BY MARGARET REGAN, mregan@tucsonweekly.com Taking a page from the Harper’s Index, let’s take a numerical look at the Nutcrackers that will unfold on Arizona stages this month: Gazillion—number of snowflakes that fall in this Christmas tale of a young girl who is magically transported to the Land of Sweets. 700—number of Nutcrackers Ballet Tucson dance…
Ask A Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I find myself at odds with my peers because I don’t like coffee or coffee drinks. I need to find a substitute beverage that will be tasty yet somehow hip. I’ve heard that Mexicans have magical chocolate drinks called atole, champurrado, and chocolate, but I don’t know what is in them or what…
Danehy
Remember when your English or history teacher back in high school figured out which side of an issue you leaned toward and then, out of sheer spite and/or teaching acumen, had you take the opposite side in the debate? You’d end up scratching together a few gray-area points and then arguing the heck out of…
Drugs ‘R’ Us
Nonfiction accounts explaining the shared interests and collusion between drug barons, U.S. agencies and the Mexican government seem to be published every few months. Yet not every book is written by an investigative journalist working under threats of death and under the constant protection of armed bodyguards. Mexican newspaper reporter Anabel Hernández won’t keep quiet.…
Downing
There’s a lot to know about living well, but most of it’s right there in Montaigne’s Essays, which I cannot recommend too highly. One of the great Frenchman’s themes is how to think about death and, specifically, how not to fear it so much that you lose the joy of living. Montaigne, in turn, got…
Into the Fire
Spoiler alert: Out of the Furnace has a bad ending. On second thought, can you spoil a bad ending? After two hours of watching Christian Bale and Casey Affleck tear themselves apart emotionally, you deserve a better conclusion than what this film offers. Actually, the trouble starts earlier than that, though you may not recognize…
Media Watch
JEANES IS KOLD’S NEW CHIEF METEOROLOGIST KOLD Channel 13 has named a replacement for Chuck George, whose tumultuous tenure at the station came to an end over the summer. The Raycom-owned CBS affiliate has named Kevin Jeanes to the position. He starts in early January. “I’m not trying to take anybody’s place. I’m not trying…
Juxtapositions in Juarez
If you don’t know how to speak Spanish, a listen to a narcocorrido song might have you thinking it was harmless enough. It would feature a relatively jovial singer over some tuba and accordion background, which hardly equates to anything threatening to unknowing ears. As it turns out, narcocorrido is a superviolent form of music…
The Skinny
WILL THERE BE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? One of the trauma surgeons who saved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ life is considering a career in politics. Dr. Randall Friese is preparing to launch a campaign for the House of Representatives in Legislative District 9 as a Democrat, which includes central Tucson and the Catalina Foothills. Friese,…
True TV
No Depression The Sound of Music Live! Thursday, Dec. 5 (NBC) Special: So what if Parks & Recreation, Parenthood, The Michael J. Fox Show and the rest of Must-Flee Thursday are doomed to cancellation? NBC has the ratings answer: a three-hour(!) musical stage reproduction of a 1,000-year-old book/play/movie starring an American Idol (Carrie Underwood) and…
In Sickness and in Health
Republican congressional candidate Martha McSally, who hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Ron Barber next year, talked to the Weekly recently about a range of issues. Last week, we presented her thoughts on immigration. This week, she talks about gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act. This interview has been edited and condensed; you’ll find the…
Now Showing at Home
Adore Two Australian BFFs (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) begin having sex with each other’s hot young sons—and yet none of them end up on the Aussie version of Maury, thus negating any sense of realism. Music by Pink Freud. (Paramount) Fast & Furious 6 Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker, RIP) are back-er…
