Cover Story
Separate but Equal?
Perhaps the latest politicking over Tucson Unified School District’s ongoing desegregation battle is just part of its $300,000 public relations campaign. After all, this is a district that’s been in and out of a federal desegregation court order and legal battle going back to 1978. Plus, the former administration spent much of the past few…
2014 Arizona Football Schedule Released
Seven of my late summer and fall 2014 weekends just got filled up. If you’re a Wildcat fan, the same goes for you. The University of Arizona announced its 2014 football schedule this afternoon, along with the entirety of the Pac-12 Conference. And while the slate doesn’t feature many surprises—since the Pac-12 notes ahead of…
Big Bucks in Gov Race
If there’s one safe prediction about this year’s race for governor (besides the absence of action star Steven Seagal as a candidate), it’s that more money will be spent than any previous contest. We got a hint of that this week, as Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey released a peek at his numbers: Ducey, who is…
An Open Letter to Gabe Zimmerman From a Friend
< Photo from Degas Magdalena Lopez. Degas Magdalena Lopez remembers Gabe Zimmerman, the congressional aide who was among those killed three years ago at Gabby Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner: Dear Gabe, Hey. I miss you. It’s been too long. I used to love unexpectedly seeing your handsome face at the bar. I swear, I…
Pima County Shuts Down Its Speed Cameras
The Pima County Board of Supervisors has pulled the plug on the 11 speed cameras scattered around town. (A full list of them is after the jump). The supes followed the advice of Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, who said the cameras were ineffective because were just slowing down for the cameras and then speeding…
Talking Comics Crew Have Mixed Feelings For ‘Alex + Ada’
Every Wednesday is new comic book day, so you should go to your nearest comic book shop and buy some funny books. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Gerriets. This week Jenny (left) and Cynthia (right) do the robot and review “Alex + Ada.” This week Jenny and Cynthia reviewed Image Comics’ latest title Alex + Ada.…
D-Backs Offers Half Off Spring Training Tix for Tucson
The Arizona Diamondbacks may have gone off to the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (a bigger, better stadium complex) near Scottsdale, but they haven’t forgot about their fans in the Old Pueblo. The 2014 Spring Training tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, Jan. 11, but Tucson D-Back fans are eligible…
Clowns In the Park! A Circus is Coming to Town
While the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus might be the most famous act around, it’s not the oldest. Or, for that matter, the oddest. That distinction might go to the Zoppe´Family Circus, which traces its roots back to 1842 Europe and was borne from a French street clown and a Hungarian ballerina stealing…
Neko Case Is Coming to Tucson
Neko Case might not have left Tucson on the best terms in 2009, but she’s riding the wave of another critically adored album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (released in September of last year and up for a Grammy in the Best Alternative…
‘Muppets Most Wanted’ Quotes Tweets in Latest Trailer
The latest Muppets Most Wanted Trailer beats the actual trailer that’s showing in theaters. Instead of quoting pretentious critics, who haven’t seen the movie, the trailer quotes tweets by young tweets that were probably written by teens. The Muppets are always pretty topical, but they ‘totes’ nailed the internet jargon in this one: I'm worried…
Lightning Records Hits Last Day of Kickstarter Campaign
A new record label with strong Tucson ties is in the works. Proclaiming “We believe in the transcendent power of rock ‘n’ roll,” Seth Olinsky (from the experimental folk-rock band Akron/Family) introduces us to Lightning Records, more of an arts and music collective than a traditional record label. Olinsky and conceptual artist Ali Beletic started…
Jacob Acosta Launches Indiegogo to Fund His ‘Play and Stay Tour’
After touring the nation and experiencing the life as a traveling musician, Jacob Acosta has decided to stay home and make a difference. The local musician launched a indiegogo to fund his next album titled For the People, By The People. Acosta is trying to crowdfund $15,000 with stewardship and his music. The Tucson singer songwriter is…
Video: Michael Bay Abandons Samsung’s Press Conference
Big time Hollywood director Michael Bay was invited to Samsung’s Consumer Electronics Show to promote some of their products on Monday, but something went horribly awry. Bay started answering simple questions about his work, but stage fright set in when his teleprompter shuts off less than a minute into the interview. You can see the…
Larry D. Mann, ‘Rudolph’ Voice Actor, Dies at 91
Legendary Canadian born actor Larry D. Mann passed away due age-related causes Monday in Los Angeles. Mann was best known for voicing Yukon Cornelius in the timeless Christmas animated film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The veteran actor started his career in the 1950s. Mann also starred in Howdy Doody, The Green Hornet, Bewitched and The…
Go to The Switch Comedy Show at Plush Tonight
Jacob Breckenridge and Pauly Casillas are hosting an extra special Switch comedy show tonight at Plush, 340 East 6th St. Phoenix comedians Matt Storrs and Eric Biez are the special guest headliners. I’m going to perform some improve comedy with fellow local comedians Michael Cheli, Amanda Hurley, Michael Dean, Justin Tietjin, Josiah Osego and Ryan…
Take Genghis Grill’s Health Kwest to Win $10K
Image courtesy of Genghis Grill. Do you want to lose weight and win $10,000? Genghis Grill, home of the build your own stir fry, is issuing a nationwide challenge called Healthy Kwest. The chain restaurant’s appointed judges will pick 110 finalist by noon on Monday, Jan. 27, and one of those lucky applicants could be…
Recall Effort Brewing Against Pima Community College Board Members
A recall effort is in the works to unseat three members of the Pima Community College governing board. Former state lawmaker Phil Lopes tells The Range that paperwork was filed today to begin the process of gathering signatures to knock Scott Stewart and Marty Cortez. A recall effort against a third board member, David A.…
Watch Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ ‘Stranger to My Happiness’ Music Video
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are going to Give the People What They Want next Tuesday, Jan. 14, where ever you buy your music. You can listen to the entire album thanks to NPR or wait until the the 11-piece band comes to Tucson on Thursday, March 20, at the Rialto Theatre. Jones and the Dap-Kings released the music…
Hard To Buy: Action Star Steven Seagal Threatens To Run for AZ Gov
Action star Steven Seagal, who is promoting his latest reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman Maricopa County (The Lost Episodes), suggested to TV station KNXV that he might run for governor this year. While the 2014 GOP gubernatorial primary is already shaping up as a somewhat bizarre farce thanks to the million-to-one-shot candidacies of Andrew Thomas…
Brunch at 5 Points Market and Restaurant
I’m a sucker for breakfast food, so I have been looking forward to this day since I talked to Beth Jones about the 5 Points Market and Restaurant opening next door to Cafe Desta in the Armory Park neighborhood. I noticed that no one was taking advantage of the patio seating in the courtyard in…
Plane Crashes in Aspen After Departing From Tucson
Photo by Roger Adams – Aspen Public Radio Aspen emergency crew responding to the scorched jet plane on the runway. A private jet crashed while landing at the Aspen—Pitkin County Airport. The 1994 Canadair Challenger twin-engine business jet had flown from Toluca, Mex., to Tucson Sunday morning, sat at Tucson International Airport for over an…
Arizona Women’s Hoops Coach Named in Sexual Harrassment Suit
Arizona’s women’s basketball team is 4-7 heading into tonight’s Pac-12 Conference opener at Washington. It’s been a rough season to this point for the Wildcats, and it sounds like it’s going to get even rougher. Deadspin is reporting on a lawsuit filed in Texas that alleges current UA assistant Sean LeBeauf, who is in his…
70 New Must See Movies and Shows Netflix Recently Added
Last week Netflix pull a ton of movies and television shows due to licensing deals expiring with some major film companies. I shared a list of content that was going to vanish from the Netflix digital streaming library, and some Netflix subscribers weren’t happy about the news. Fortunately, a Reddit user created a new list of movies…
Go See Four Local Metal Bands For Free at Congress Tonight
Image courtesy of the Facebook event page. Tonight North, GODHUNTER, Anakim and Territory are playing a free show at Club Congress. Local metal band North is commencing their tour tonight at Club Congress, 311 East Congress. The opening acts include GODHUNTER, Anakim and Territory. You can windmill your long hair and throw the devil horns…
The Kinks May Reunite in 2014
Photo from shutterstock.com ATLANTIC CITY – FEB 26: Ray Davies (L) founding member of The Kinks, performs with Bill Shanley at the Borgata Casino February 26, 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ. The remaining members of The Kinks might reunite this year, according to Uncut magazine. Ray and David Davies caught up in London last summer…
What to Expect When You Buy Retail Marijuana in Colorado
The world has been living vicariously through Colorado’s cannabis users while they purchase retail marijuana during these exciting times. Colorado became first state in the nation to allow retail ganja sales. This must be what alcohol drinkers felt during the prohibition days. Reddit user 007pizzaman posted some pictures of what came with his retail marijuana…
So, There’s This Guy with Two Penises
So, maybe you missed this recent Reddit AMA “I am the guy with two penises,”, DoubleDickDude. It could have been an internet freak show, OK maybe it was just a little, but going through the questions and answers, it was as educational and informative as the internets were saying. My favorite comment that gets to…
Happy New Year, Colorado and Willy Wonka Dude
Some of us in the Moldy Pueblo sought menudo in the morning, tried to find a coffee shop that decided to open for the off-from-work masses, and some who stayed home. Others shuffled around the house in their pajamas and stood over the stove to make the post-holiday tamale season scrabbled eggs with those old…
191 Toole Grand Opening on Jan. 11
Image courtesy of Tom Collins. 191 Toole, formerly Skrappy’s, is hosting its first concert next Saturday, Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. There are 11 bands scheduled to play at the Second Saturday all ages show. San Francisco band Cool Ghouls will join The Resonars, Lenguas Largas, Dream Sick, Discos, Best Dog Award, Otherly Love, Hermanitos,…
Talking Comics Crew Reviews Avengers #24.NOW
Photo courtesy of Cynthia Gerriets. Bobby and Cynthia review the first issue of “Marvel Now! Avengers: Rogue Planet” in this week’s episode of Talking Comics. Your New Years resolution should involve reading more comic books, but there are so many to choose from. That’s why should keep up with Heroes and Villains’ Bobby Acosta and…
Never to be Forgotten
The tragic events of Jan. 8, 2011, still echo throughout the Tucson community, which may never be the same after six people were killed and 13 others—including U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords—were wounded in a mass shooting at an informal political gathering on the northwest side. As with all such incidents, the anniversary conjures painful memories…
A Very Good Year
It was a big year in the cannabis world, to be sure. We saw a wave of support for marijuana on almost every front in 2013—opinion polls, politicians, voters, science. It’s hard to imagine a better year for cannabis. Let’s take a look at a couple of reasons: Public support Since the 1960s, Gallup has…
City Week for January 2-8, 2014
Paying the Plumber Conrad Wilde Gallery Fundraiser Auction 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 4 Steinfeld Warehouse 101 W. Sixth St., Suite 300 622-8997; conradwildegallery.com Artists Miles Conrad and Ryan Wilde have had their gallery in various locations since 2005, but now they’ve found what they hope is a permanent location in the historic Steinfeld…
Ask a Mexican
Dear Mexican: One of my pet peeves are Latinos who pronounce their last names with Anglo accents. For example, Rod-driguez instead of Roh-driguez. Would love it if you address this. Personally, I believe we Latinos should educate Anglos on correct pronunciation. Gomez the Groper Dear Wab: Before you start correcting Anglos and pochos on how…
TQ&A
LuAnn Haley is the co-chair of International Friends of Tucson, a 25-year-old community-based organization that pairs international students attending the UA with local hosts for camaraderie and an introduction to Old Pueblo culture. How does the process work? We greet all the incoming international students at orientation. They have a separate orientation on campus every…
Editor’s Note
There’s a great article on Esquire’s website right now titled “We Broke the Internet.” You should probably go read it, but the basic premise is that we should learn something from the seemingly endless stream of hoaxes and faux news that flooded the Internet over the last year. Think of Elan Gale’s imaginary argument with…
Out, Out, Brief Candle
Downtown Tucson is undergoing dramatic changes. But one dramatic change is the loss of actual drama—and comedy and farce and original scripts and various experimental takes on what it means to be a theater company. November saw the last flash of Beowulf Alley Theatre Company on South Sixth Avenue. The remaining shows of the 2013-2014…
Danehy
Questions I’d love to have answered in 2014: • Is it true that for the upcoming congressional elections, the Tea Party has settled on the battle cry “Defund Obamacare!” because “We want poor people (who tend to vote for Democrats) to get sick and die!” doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker? • During the week…
The Good, the Bad and the Crappy
While the 2014 film year hasn’t fully formed yet, there are enough release dates to give you, the fearless reader, a sampling of things to come in the next 12 months. There are a lot of movies coming your way, and I couldn’t fit every announced film into this story. Get off my back, will…
Downing
We are at the very crux of the weirdest time of year. Although I write this in what Keats called “drear-nighted December” you, dear reader, will read it in January, the double-faced month that looks to the past and the future. Nothing creepy there. (I should acknowledge that Keats was talking about December in England.…
True TV
Community Thursday, Jan. 2 (NBC) One-Hour Season Premiere: No, series creator and once-deposed-now-returning show-runner Dan Harmon isn’t going to ignore Season 4, last year’s not-quite-right 13 Community episodes that NBC figured would work without him. They didn’t—but they also weren’t as terrible as everyone’s making them out to be in hindsight (the Inspector Spacetime convention…
Now Showing at Home
American Joyride A drug dealer and his girlfriend, on the run from a murderous loan shark, drive to Mississippi to make one last big-money deal, all the while videotaping it because, of course, they’re going to become reality TV stars. TLC already has the rights. (ANconnect) Big Ass Spider! An exterminator (Greg Grunberg) and a…
Media Watch
When Tucson OASIS recently announced it was discontinuing its Lifelong Learning program because of financial restraints, it may have in the process ended the media career of a Southern Arizona television pioneer. Larry Schnebly’s near 40-year TV run officially came to an end in 1994, although he continued to work with the media during his…
Between the Buns
Let’s get one thing straight off of the bat: I love hot dogs. Growing up, they were the highlight of my local spring training games (though God knows that there was nothing else interesting about watching the Mariners and/or Padres during much of that time); I have a tendency to buy a QuikTrip dog when…
The Skinny
REMEMBERING JAN. 8 Nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Judge John Roll. Congressional staffer Gabe Zimmerman. Retirees Dorothy Morris, Phyllis Schneck and Dorwan Stoddard. Three years ago, all six were at Gabby Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner when a deranged gunman ended their lives in a hail of gunfire that lasted less than 20 seconds. Thirteen others, including…
Noshing Around
Mobile Mangia I was downtown for Second Saturdays last month and saw a massive motor home being used as a food truck, with a custom paint job that read “Jozarelli’s Italian Street Food.” Being a constant consumer of food and being of Italian-American heritage, it piqued my interest, to say the least. At any other…
Congressional Compromising
Congressman Ron Barber sat down with editors and reporters from the Tucson Weekly, Inside Tucson Business and the Green Valley News in late December to discuss issues affecting Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 8. Here is an edited and condensed portion of the interview, in which Barber, a Democrat, discusses immigration reform and the recent budget…
Top Releases in ’13
SEAN BOTTAI (in order of preference) Chvrches, The Bones of What You Believe (Glassnote) Chvrches seamlessly blend irresistible dance music (“Lungs,” “The Mother We Share”) with oxygen-rich dream-pop (“By the Throat,” “Under the Tide”). The most re-listenable album of the year, hands down. Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold [LP] and Tally All the Things That…
Guest Commentary
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, we will pause to remember the tragedy that struck Tucson three years ago. That day we became a small town again and in many ways Tucson drew upon its pioneer roots. We took care of each other. I still find myself occasionally thinking back to the day before the morning of…
Soundbites
Remember last week? When I mentioned it was the drab season for live music? How I said it was one of the slowest weeks of the year? Well, I lied. Not intentionally, but I just hadn’t looked ahead yet to this week, which will from here on out be called Death Week, since it really…
SOL on SROs
As a school resource officer at Amphitheater School District’s Canyon del Oro High School, Dan Horetski has faced challenges ranging from breaking up fights to dealing with a homemade bomb. But one of his most important jobs is establishing relationships with students. If he’s successful in doing that, he’s more likely to get tips from…
Nine Questions
Just in case Isaac Reyes needs an introduction, here it is: He’s the primary songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for Tucson punk rockers Shark Pants and for Lenguas Largas, who defy description. Reyes also plays guitar and sings harmony in the Resonars, who recently came home from a rapturously received European tour. You can see both…
Loss in Space?
Within the next three years, local space development company Paragon intends to take six passengers at a time into near space from a launch site in Page, Ariz., via a high-altitude balloon and enclosed capsule combination called the World View Project. Paragon CEO Taber MacCallum says that this will be the luxurious version of space…
Live
A few weeks back, I saw a performance by Denver folk punks Blind Man Deaf Boy at the late, great Tucson Live Music Space, and gave it a less than stellar (but certainly not scathing) review. Their reaction was a very public and embarrassing meltdown, which brings us to Tucson-based Sun Bones. Last summer, I…
Police Dispatch
SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER CATALINA BEAT DEC. 5, 6 A.M. A man roused his neighbors at 3:30 a.m. by yelling that someone had killed his wife and daughter. Then he threatened to shoot his neighbors, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. A neighbor told deputies the man had been standing outside his home shirtless…
Andrew Collberg: Minds Hits
Andrew Collberg’s songwriting voice has found plenty of comparisons to John Lennon, but on his latest effort, Collberg grows a bit more idiosyncratic, backing away from perfection in favor of songs that sound a little more lived in. With an album that’s warm, live and carefree, Collberg nods more to Lennon’s famous drinking buddy, Harry…
Pedersen on Sports
Sean Miller gets paid roughly $2.3 million to run what many people in this region believe is the most important thing outside of sunlight, water and, maybe, Sonoran hot dogs. I got a snazzy blue T-shirt that said “Coach” over the right breast to help my 9-year-old and seven of his neighbors and classmates play…
On the Corner: Stuck on Stupid
When Tucson-based Monitors frontman Vikas Pawa sent me Stuck on Stupid, a solo album under the moniker On the Corner (Miles Davis reference?), my first reaction was in regard to the uniform excellence of the material and arrangements, my second the complete departure from the Pixies-spiked rock ‘n’ roll that is at the foundation of…
Sutcliffe Catering Co.: Sedentary Life
Although Sedentary Life contains a mere seven songs, most of them brief, Sutcliffe Catering Co. mastermind Michael Hayes has said that it is the group’s first full-length album. And he’s right—it plays as a complete statement and as a suite made of fragments of texture and mood. That’s not to say the individual tracks don’t…
Go See Dobie “Mr. Lucky” Maxwell at Laffs Tonight
Almost two hundred Tucsonans are going to laugh their way in to the New Year. “Laughing is the cheapest form of therapy,” Dobie Maxwell said in a early Sunday morning interview. Maxwell is performing two shows tonight at Laffs Comedy Cafe, 2900 East Broadway. Maxwell, 50, was performing at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago last…
