Cover Story
Stop This Mine
Thin clouds settled above the Santa Rita Mountains, casting the northern slopes in languid gray shadows. A small plane hummed overhead, shimmering occasionally with brilliant glints of sunlight, before disappearing once more in the billowing haze. Far below and several miles north, the final public hashing of the U.S. Forest Service’s draft analysis on the…
Talking Comics: Conan Surrounded by Breasts Edition
This sounds like a very strange comic, including a scene Eric describes as Conan having a wet dream in the ocean. Barbarians certainly have changed.
The Trailer for “Piranha 3-DD” Marks the End of Civilization
That’s it. Right when David Hasslehoff shows up at the one minute mark of the trailer for Piranha 3-DD (the sequel to the film our Bob Grimm called “too good, and beautifully disgusting, to be ignored”), there’s officially no turning back from our certain cultural and sociological doom. Hopefully this bit of media will be…
Prepare for a 12.5% Chance of Total Sun Induced Chaos
Don’t mind me, I’ll just be hiding under my desk, caressing my iPhone and calling it “precious” while simultaneously cursing our giant solar enemy: The Earth has a roughly 12 percent chance of experiencing an enormous megaflare erupting from the sun in the next decade. This event could potentially cause trillions of dollars’ worth of…
What’s With Leap Year Anyway?
Perhaps you find yourself confused by seeing February 29th on the calendar. Personally as a devout Protestant, I don’t trust the Gregorian calendar due to its origins as a papal decree, but for the rest of you that care about such things, here is a helpful video explaining the whole extra day escapade.
Celebrate a Long Spring in Tucson
Photo by Martha of The Contained Gardener Potted Petunias and Kale at Pastiche We had a great run of weather last week and except for the wind on Monday and Tuesday, another can be expected this week! A few thoughts concerning your potted gardens as we roll into March: 1. You want your winter flowers…
Sarah Gonzales, Currently Sixth in the Arizona Primary
Romney’s beating Santorum, which is what most pundits will take away from the Arizona Presidential Preference Primary tonight, but the real news is the success Tucson Weekly endorsed Project White House candidate Sarah Gonzales is having so far. Currently, with 244 of 722 precincts reporting, she already has 1,095 votes, putting her in sixth place,…
Examining the TPD Reports on Patterson/Escobar Incidents
This morning the Tucson Weekly requested the Tucson Police Department report on the Friday, Feb. 24, incident between state Rep. Daniel Patterson and his ex-girlfriend and ex-campaign manager, Georgette Escobar, but was told by a public-records clerk that the report was not available, because the case was assigned to a TPD detective for further investigation.…
Tucson Researcher, Photographer Documentary Project
ALETRIS NEILS Namibian Caracals are being eradicated for lack of awareness. Aletris Neils, a burgeoning researcher in mammalian conservation and PhD student at the University of Arizona, has been working in southern Namibia, South Africa, for the last several years to raise awareness for the Namibian Caracal. The caracal, a medium-sized predatory cat, are being…
The Day Gabby Went Skydiving With a Navy SEAL
Mike McGowan via Daily Beast The Daily Beast’s Michael Daly tells the story behind this remarkable photo of Gabby Giffords skydiving with a Navy SEAL—and the challenges both faced since: A friend of Giffords’s happened to mention the photo to The Daily Beast last week—and it becomes only more powerful these three years later, with…
Flake On Border Security and Presidential Primary
Congressman Jeff Flake, who wants to win the retiring Sen. Jon Kyl’s seat this year, stopped by Arizona Illustrated to talk with Andrea Kelly about the Arizona presidential primary, his shift on border security and his Senate campaign. In a February Public Policy Polling survey, Flake led potential Democrat opponents Richard Carmona and Don Bivens…
Thanks, Wyoming Legislature!
I’m not feeling great about Arizona lawmaking so far this week, between Lori Klein and her attacks on public educators who might accidentally swear or teach something with a partisan slant and the Daniel Patterson story in general. However, even though the amendment was removed, I have to thank the Wyoming House of Representatives for…
A Short (Exceptionally Clever) Film About Sustainable Fishing
According to Bamboo Sushi, the sustainable fishing focused Portland restaurant, this four minute film took seven months to create, using 100% handcrafted miniatures. However, I probably wouldn’t have been inclined to watch a video about the ethics of sushi that wasn’t so beautifully made (I’m bored easily, it’s a problem), so the work was worth…
The Great Bacon Project Of 2012 Yields Mind-Boggling Results
The results of the Great Bacon Project of 2012 are in, and mouths are watering. It turns out making your own bacon is easy as pie and the product is far, far superior to what’s found at the grocery store. So here’s what it boils down to: Buy pork belly, cover it in equal parts…
Farley Makes It Official: Entering Congressional District 2 Race
As we reported last week, state Rep. Steve Farley is the next Democrat to get into the Congressional District 2 race in the hope of representing the turf formerly represented by Gabrielle Giffords, who stepped down from Congress last week to focus on her recovery from gunshot wounds suffered on Jan. 8, 2011. Farley is…
Urkel on Dancing With the Stars!?!?!?! Programming DVR Now…
Okay, I admit it: I watch Dancing With the Stars. Rather, I sit there while my daughter and wife watch it, mostly criticizing the cheesiness of it all. But I still do pay attention to who gets voted off and who moves on, secretly hoping that train wrecks (read: Bristol Palin, Kirstie Alley, Nancy Grace)…
Arizona Is Slightly Less Happy Than Average
I don’t know if there’s necessarily a way to measure happiness, but the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index makes some effort every year to do so. Big surprise, Hawaii is on top, scoring 70.2 out of 100. Slide down the chart and you get to Arizona, which comes in as the 26th happiest state this year, slightly…
Let’s Watch Videos by Allo Darlin’ and Bon Iver
It’s an exciting time to be a music fan here in Tucson, with an intimidating number of bands coming through town over the next few months. Two of those forthcoming acts have new videos out, Grammy winning mopsters Bon Iver (TCC Arena, Apr. 3), with the above video for “Towers”, and chipper Australian/English indie-popsters Allo…
The St. Maarten’s Airport Is Frightening
Something I did not know until today: there are hundreds of YouTube videos of planes landing at the airport in St. Maarten’s. Watch the above video (and if you’re like me, you’ll end up watching five or six more of the like) and you’ll see why.
Patterson: “I’m Not Going to Listen to These Cutthroat, Throw-’Em-Under-the-Bus Politicians From Phoenix”
State Rep. Daniel Patterson called us to deny the accusations that he hit his now ex-girlfriend and campaign manager, Georgette Escobar, saying she has serious mental problems and a history of felonies—and is trying to blackmail him. He also said he will not step down from the Legislature, despite calls from his own party’s leadership…
Win Tickets to See Boz Scaggs!
Thanks to the fine people at Casino Del Sol, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the Boz Scaggs show there on March 9th. It’s super easy to enter, just head to our contest page, press a button (assuming you’re a member of our website), and we’ll let you know if you…
Patterson Denies Domestic Violence Allegations Via Twitter
Rep. Daniel Patterson has taken to Twitter to deny allegations of abuse from his now ex-girlfriend: Allegations are lies from person w bad mental problems & violent criminal history trying to blackmail me. I will not resign. Meanwhile, Patterson’s support at the Capitol continues to collapse as Democrats in the Arizona Senate, including seatmate Linda…
Arizona Democratic Party Exec Director Calls on Patterson To Resign
Luis Heredia, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, has followed up the call by Arizona House Democratic leaders for Rep. Daniel Patterson to resign after allegation surfaced this weekend that he had beaten his girlfriend, kicked her out of the home they shared, and stolen her dog.Heredia’s statement: The impending legal issues that Rep.…
House Democrats Call on Patterson To Resign
Democrats are asking state Rep. Daniel Patterson to step down from the Legislature today after Patterson allegedly beat and bruised his girlfriend and stole her dog over the weekend.House Minority leader Chad Campbell this afternoon called for Patterson to resign. Campbell said he hoped that Patterson, D-Tucson, would take the advice and leave the easy…
State Rep. Daniel Patterson Accused of Violence
The last time the Tucson Weekly wrote about state Rep. Daniel Patterson’s issues on the home front (“The Family Man,” Sept. 30, 2010), Patterson was in the middle of a re-election campaign while apparently evading service for an order of protection filed by his then-estranged wife, Jeneiene Schaffer. The couple had filed for divorce on…
Super Amazing Freestyle Concert Coming to Tucson
I freely admit to having a severe pro-freestyle critical bias. I grew up listening to the 808-heavy Latin influenced dance music sub-genre and I still listen to the stuff relatively frequently, so I can’t really distance myself enough to think about the music in any other way than absolutely positive. I will love this music…
The Culinary Stage at This Year’s Festival of Books
Amazing things happen on the culinary stage at the annual Tucson Festival of Books. Last year Janos Wilder gave a speech that led to a change in local food policy that allowed restaurants to legally use produce from backyard gardeners. Who knows what could happen this year? This year’s line up looks promising: Ryan Clark…
Now Open: How Do You Roll? and Josie’s Yogurt
It looks like the new sushi spot How Do You Roll?, which is located in half of the old Pizza Plus #1 spot at 914 E. Speedway Blvd., is open. It sells a sort of fast-food, design-it-yourself sushi deal. More on that here. Next door, in the other half of the building, the new shop…
New MMJ Collective Offers Meds
Medical marijuana patients will have a new place to get meds starting Monday. The Green Halo Caregiver Collective is the brainchild of Ken Sobel, who has practiced law in Arizona and California since 1980. The collective will offer patients a variety of meds from a group of local patients and caregivers. The city approved the…
Poll: Romney Headed for Landslide in Arizona Presidential Primary
Edward M. Pio Roda/CNN It appears that Rick Santorum’s weak debate performance last week was a game-changer for him—in the wrong direction. Public Policy Polling’s latest numbers have Mitt Romney crushing Rick Santorum: Mitt Romney is headed for an overwhelming victory in Arizona’s primary on Tuesday. He’s at 43% to 26% for Rick Santorum, 18%…
I Just Realized Who Jan Brewer Reminds Me Of
While watching another embarrassing media appearance by Governor Jan Brewer on Meet the Press this morning, it finally hit me: Jan Brewer is a doppelgänger for Rexella Van Impe, wife of Chicken Little end-times televangelist Jack Van Impe. Seriously, can you tell the difference? Also, Brewer endorsed Romney, which is awfully convenient since he’s winning.…
Idiot Boksen – The Showrunner As Cult Figure
Protestants don’t have things like Bar Mitzvahs, so the concept of becoming a man for me was less a specific day than a nebulous array of benchmarks. There was the day I became a member of Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church. There was the day I earned my driver’s license. There was the day I joined…
Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Photos
ROXANA VASQUEZ A bull rider takes a moment to himself seconds before he rides the bull into the arena at the Tucson Rodeo Friday Feb. 24, 2012. La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo rode into Tucson again this year for its 87th run. Thousands of attendees came from all over the country to participate,…
Political Roundtable: Presidential Primary, Border Fence, Paul Babeu’s Political Future & the Race to Finish Gabby’s Term
Tonight’s Political Roundtable: Pima County Republican Party chairwoman Carolyn Cox and Pima County Democratic Chairman Jeff Rogers hash out next week’s GOP presidential primary election, the idea of a double fence along the entire border, the political future of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, the race to finish Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term, the budget fight…
Food Truck Action Tonight and Tomorrow
Animal Farm will be at Bookmans tonight. In case you haven’t caught up with the relatively new batch of food trucks hitting the town, you have two chances this weekend. Tonight, the Bookmans on Grant will host a food fest from 6 to 9 p.m. The trucks and other mobile food vendors scheduled to be…
Hear What Club Congress Will Sound Like Saturday
Hades 2 will be guest djing Bang Bang! on Saturday night (along with regulars Matt McCoy and Weekly contributor/krautrock aficionado Dewtron). I always wonder what the music will sound like at any given dance night, whether it’ll be non-stop electro/techno pounding or tweaked versions of songs I already know or whatever, so whenever a DJ…
Coming Soon: The Sawmill Run Restaurant
It looks like work is finishing up on the new Sawmill Run Restaurant up in Summerhaven on Mt. Lemmon. The restaurant is going in where the well-known Mount Lemmon Café stood for many years before closing several years ago. Initial estimates were that Sawmill Run would open last fall, but that date was pushed back…
A Purse Lover’s Museum-Sized Dream
A purse is more than a functional carryall at The Purse Museum, a personal collection of Details Art & Design Gallery owner Vicki Schwager. Schwager says of her purses: The collection includes purses/handbags that represent extraordinary style and design. They are antique to contemporary, elegant to functional, humorous to serious, plain and jeweled. Each is…
Coming Soon: Elliott’s on Congress
A new restaurant named Elliott’s on Congress is going in at the former home of A Steak in the Neighborhood at 135 E. Congress St. The sign on the door says it will be a restaurant and vodka bar and that it is expected to open in March of this year. No word on if…
‘We’ve Had People Cry When They Eat the Carrot Cake’
Ever shed tears of joy over baked goods? Customers at the newish restaurant Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery and Bistro have. Susan Fulton, who owns the bakery and restaurant at 5845 N. Oracle Road with her business partner Mary Gibson, said people can get emotional when experiencing edibles previously prohibited by a sensitivity to gluten,…
High Stakes, Dark Horses: Republican Presidential Debate Highlights
In case you don’t have time to sit through the entire, one-hour Project White House Dark Horse Republican presidential debate (or the one-hour unofficial debate), here’s a clip of highlights. And if that whets your appetite, you can watch the whole thing here.
Let’s Watch a WREX Records TV Commercial
A sincere thank you to Chris Wagganer’s YouTube page for reminding me of WREX Records on Sixth Street. No joke, if someone will reprint their t-shirts, I would gladly buy one (maybe two).
New Poll: Romney Blows Out Santorum in Wake of AZ Debate
Edward M. Pio Roda/CNN Rasmussen has a new poll out in the wake of the Arizona debate that shows Mitt Romney taking big lead over Rick Santorum in next week’s presidential primary: Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has widened his lead over leading challenger Rick Santorum in the Arizona Republican Primary race with the vote…
Political Roundtable Tonight: Presidential Primary, the Race To Complete Gabby’s Term & Babeu’s Political Future
Tonight on Arizona Illustrated’s Political Roundtable: We welcome Pima County Republican Party chairwoman to the Roundtable to join Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers for a discussion on presidential politics in Arizona before next week’s primary election. We’ll also talk about the latest in the race to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ term, size up Pinal…
This Week in Tucson Bicycling
Mike McKisson The Tucson City Council voted to implement a texting ban. No joke, it goes into effect on April 1. Check out our extensive coverage of the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race this weekend. Here’s our story. Share your own. There was a record breaking performance at the race. Check…
Sights and Sounds: Tea Part & The Tucson Tea Party
Tucson Weekly contributors Joshua Morgan and Keith Hickman-Perfetti take us to the Tea Party event that hosted GOP candidates last week, including presidential candidate Rick Santorum (photos to come).
Let’s Watch a Bridge Explode
What’s not to like? It’s the demolition of a bridge. Explosives are involved. I’m going to keep a window on my browser open with this video ready to play and the next time I’m frustrated by the general irritations of my existence…BOOM! EXPLODING BRIDGE! I might need a hobby.
Photos From the First Night of the Desert Diamond Cup
Major League Soccer’s second year of preseason soccer in Tucson kicked off with a bang as David Beckham, possibly the world’s most recognizable sports personality, took the field with the defending MLS champions, the LA Galaxy, against the New England Revolution at Kino Stadium last night. Three additional doubleheaders are still to come as part…
New Poll: Voters Split on Brewer Approval But Love Gabby Giffords
Public Policy Polling delivers a variety of new survey findings about Arizonans: -Arizona voters are pretty evenly divided in their feelings about Governor Jan Brewer. 46% approve of her to 47% who disapprove. Her numbers are up a little bit from November when she was at 42/49. The effort to recall her is a non…
Art Out in the Open: Ed Muren III
While there’s more and more happening these days up and down Toole Avenue between Sixth Avenue and Stone Avenue, that part of the downtown area hasn’t received the same attention as the revitalization of Congress, bookended by the Fox and Rialto. One would be sorely mistaken, however, to ignore the curved road by the railroad…
Janos Wilder Named a Semifinalist for This Year’s James Beard Award
Local chef, restaurateur, author and all around decent fellow Janos Wilder has been named a semifinalist in the Outstanding Chef category of this year’s James Beard Foundation awards. Wilder has made this list many times in the past and the foundation named him the top chef in the Southwest back in 2000. I’ve never met…
The Arizona GOP Debate: Takeaways
Edward M. Pio Roda/CNN Takeaways from last night’s debate: • Rick Santorum needed to score a knock-out blow to turn things around for him in Arizona. He didn’t. Baring something completely nutty over the weekend, Mitt’s gonna win the Grand Canyon State next week; Nate Silver is now giving him an 89 percent chance of…
Jon Wayne and The Pain Coming to Tucson
Jon Wayne and The Pain, playing The Hut this Saturday, may not be at celebrity status just yet, but they certainly seem to be gaining popularity with reggae-rock lovers, with fans often referring to their music as “redemption reggae.” They operate in a similar musical genre as Sublime (and people like Sublime) with an island-style…
The Wreck Is Open
What was going to be called the Trainwreck Saloon at 213 N. Fourth Ave. is now known simply as The Wreck, and it’s open. I received a strangely brief e-mail this week that said the original name would not be used, which sort of explained why the Trainwreck Saloon’s Facebook was abruptly pulled from the…
Devilishly Lame
Five years ago, when the original Ghost Rider came out, I gave the milquetoast film a somewhat fair review, asking Marvel to “get sicker with the sequel.” Now we have the sequel—and, not surprisingly, the folks at Marvel didn’t follow my “get sicker” suggestion. If the original was milquetoast, this one is more like Melba…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’ve tried and failed to learn the Spanish language for the last two years. During high school and college, I took both Spanish I and Spanish II, but nothing really stuck with me. Last year, I visited a Spanish-speaking church to help immerse myself in the language, but only understood about 10 percent…
Dollars Delivered
To say the residents of Five Points have waited a while to get this wish granted would be an understatement. “A lot of people who started this process were in their 60s, and some of them have (since) died,” said John Burr, president of the Armory Park Neighborhood Association. “I’ve been working on this since…
Top Ten in Movies
1. Drive Sony 2. The Rum Diary FilmDistrict 3. In Time 20th Century Fox 4. 50/50 Summit 5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 Summit 6. Take Shelter Sony 7. Anonymous Sony 8. The Thing Universal 9. A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas Warner Bros. 10. Dream House Universal
Gargulinski
Surgery involves getting cut open; having something taken out, put in or tinkered with; and then being sewn back up. That happened to be the full extent of the details provided for a recent surgery at a Tucson hospital. “What are they doing?” “Fixing his neck.” We were not exactly sure how this neck fix…
Top Ten in Books
1. Arizona: A History (Revised Edition) Thomas E. Sheridan, University of Arizona ($26.95) 2. A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America Tom Zoellner, Viking ($26.95) 3. Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet Bill McKibben, St. Martin’s Griffin ($14.99) 4.…
Loud and Silent
For Penn and Teller, the combination of comedy, mind-boggling magic tricks, and the debunking of political, religious and scientific “facts” has led to a partnership that’s lasted more than 35 years. The 6-foot-7 Penn Jillette is known as the talker, while the 5-foot-10 Teller is known as the silent partner. Together, the pair has received…
Dangerous Love
There would be no crime in Rango winning Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. It has a cool, distinctive visual style, weird characters and a subversive nature. A Rango win would actually do animation in general a spot of good, because it would advance the notion that Hollywood doesn’t need to tailor every cartoon…
City Week
Bikes and beer; Tucson dance icon Barbea Williams; Mexican film; and more!
Now Showing at Home
Woody Allen: A Documentary; Beavis and Butt-head: Volume 4 (Blu-ray); Take Shelter (Blu-ray)
TQ&A
A three-bus caravan will leave Houston on Monday, March 12, and head to Tucson, carrying a group of Latino writers and hundreds of copies of the books removed from the Tucson Unified School District’s former Mexican-American studies classrooms. Houston novelist Tony Diaz came up with the idea for the project, Librotraficante, along with other writers…
Casino Cuisine
A new era of dining has come to Southern Arizona. The finest cuts of meats, fresh seafood, and a wine list second to none, coupled with outstanding service in an elegant dining room create an evening unlike any other. The Tucson culinary scene starts here and so does your perfect dining experience. —PY Steakhouse website…
Editor’s Note
When Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said during his press conference on Saturday, Feb. 18, that a lot of politicians and members of the media had already known that he was gay, he’s correct: I’ve had several discussions in recent months with politically in-the-know people who mentioned Babeu’s sexuality. So, yeah, it was out there.…
Hibernian Happenings
The musicians in the traditional Irish band Goitse are young—so young that they had to miss their college graduation last summer to go on their first American tour. “It was great fun anyway,” accordion player Tadhg Ó Meachair said by phone from Maine last week. In Peoria, Ill., on their graduation day, “We rang our…
Noshing Around
More food truck festivals; Chocolate downtown; And more!
Danehy
A few things I need to get off my chest before the red-hot Arizona Republican presidential primary grabs our full attention: • Is it just me, or did the long-awaited Arizona Centennial have all the emotional payoff of Halley’s Comet circa 1986? I know budgets were tight and all, but gee whiz. It was a…
Bored Housewife No More
Live Theatre Workshop produced Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine in the summer of 2009. It was so popular that the company has revived the one-woman show for a full run, bringing back Carlisle Ellis in the title role. At first blush, Shirley Valentine might seem like more of a hard sell than a crowd-pleaser. Russell’s play…
Fresh and Compelling
At first, it was just a summer thing for Reptar. A bunch of college students from different schools shared a house in Athens, Ga., through the hot and carefree months of 2009, playing music just for fun. Just two summers later, mere days after releasing an EP on Vagrant Records, the band performed at Lollapalooza.…
Mailbag
One reader wants to take over the Medical MJ column; Way to go, Danehy!
Soundbites
Punk legends in town; RIP, Mike Davis; And more!
Guest Commentary
I have been involved in Tucson Unified School District issues for about 30 years. I am a former TUSD teacher, parent and citizens’ desegregation oversight committee member. I had hoped that my first communication with you would be to congratulate you on your appointment to the board, but the circumstances make that impossible. I could…
Top Ten in Music
1. Sabra Faulk Acoustic Angel (self-released) 2. Ron Pandy Truth and Other Lies (self-released) 3. Ron Doering The Balladeer (self-released) 4. Stefan George and Tom Walbank My Old Friend the Blues (self-released) 5. Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin So Long Arizona (Dog Boy) 6. Key Ingredients of African Soul Abidjan to Bulawayo (self-released) 7. Nancy…
The Fighter Pilot
Martha McSally, the first female American Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, and the first female to command an Air Force fighter squadron (here at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base), is one of the Republicans seeking the Congressional District 8 seat that opened up with the resignation of Gabrielle Giffords. McSally also plans to…
Nine Questions
A Tucson native, Sara Habib is one of the two co-founders (with Yassi Jahanmir) of the Tucson Fringe Theater Festival. Back for its second year, Fringe runs Thursday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Beowulf Alley Theatre and Solar Culture Gallery. Check out tucsonfringe.org for the details. What was the first concert you…
The Skinny
The scramble to replace Gabrielle Giffords continues; Paul Babeu’s outing
Live
This latest in a series of Dusty Chaps reunions packed the house for a show that was as much a celebration of a time long past as it was about the music. Fronted by singer and button-accordion-player Peter Gierlach (aka Petey Mesquitey), the Chaps were a local institution in the mid-to-late 1970s, holding court at…
Media Watch
Should KVOA have handled Vazquez differently?; Raguse and Guggenmos leave for Buffalo; and more!
The Einweck Brothers: Beautiful Lonesome (One Bun)
Siblings Bob (vocals) and John (piano) are longtime local musicians who’ve arranged some familiar rock and country tunes—as well as one original—for this mellow jazz outing. It’s not the most-challenging listen, but it contains moments of quiet pleasure. Tucson music vets Rene Camacho and “Uncle” Dave Jeffrey sit in on bass and drums, respectively. Perhaps…
No Disclosure
If Arizona’s prison population is on the decline, why does the state continue to waste money on private prisons? That’s one question the American Friends Service Committee is asking in a report it issued last week that examines Arizona’s relationship with the private-prison industry. The report also documents the industry’s abuses, safety issues, costs and…
Behold! The Monolith: Defender, Redeemist (Arctic Forest)
The gatefold by horror painter and illustrator Dusty Peterson (whose gorgeously deranged artworks have dripped viscera from the album covers of grindcore bands like Cattle Decapitation) tells you everything you need to know about Los Angeles sludge-masters Behold! The Monolith’s new self-released full-length. The image that defines Defender, Redeemist is at once futuristic (sci-fi warrior)…
Police Dispatch
He just wanted to call his mom; Bringing inside-out clothes back in style
Glorious Guns
Earlier this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderón made a showy stop in Ciudad Juárez, the violent city just south of the Texas border. Calderón stood next to the international line and made a plea in English to his neighbors al norte, begging them to stop the flow of American guns south into Mexico. “Dear friends…
Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory (Carpark)
Attack on Memory is exciting for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it’s the sound of a band finding its ambition. The group’s last album was a solid, if unremarkable, affair—brief, propulsive garage rock with a bedroom-pop sensibility. Its guitars were clouds of bees swarming, not out of anger, but to churn out honey.…
Weekly Wide Web
I assume most people who have iPhones are at least somewhat like me: I generally download apps on a whim, try them out for a bit, and then forget why I thought I’d want that particular collection of kilobytes in the first place. I have a stack of apps collected in a folder called “Productivity,”…
Tough Truths
It’s been 100 years since Arizona joined the union, a fact celebrated with all the memorials, speeches and birthday parties that one would expect from the proud population that hacked this grand civilization out of an arid wilderness formerly inhabited by nothing but wolves and brown people. Well done! The far right in Phoenix is…
Learnin’ Time
Just like many of you, I have struggled with the new onslaught of medical information about cannabis. There’s a lot of data out there to parse, and it’s hard to get past the fusillade of unsourced bloggers and marketing mavens who seem like they’re giving you information, but are actually just telling you what they…
Severely Awesome
We’ve had many people ask us over the last few months whether Project White House 2012 is serious, or just a big joke. We find ourselves asking: Is Newt Gingrich’s moon base a big joke? Is Ron Paul serious when he says that medical care for seniors was better before Medicare? Is Rick Santorum serious…
Stop Google From Knowing Too Much About You
Maybe you’re ok with Google combining all the information its gathered about you into one database of knowledge that certainly won’t be used to take over the world, but certainly will be used for goodness and for the benefit of humanity. Maybe you don’t have weird items in your Google web search history. Maybe you…
