Cover Stories
Rebirth of the Cool
Back for its third year, the Tucson Jazz Festival has locked down big-name artists yet again, delivering a packed 11 days of music for locals and visitors alike.
The Self-Evidence of Kamasi Washington
Culled from hours of sessions, most from 2011, the album represented Washington’s life work.
Laughing Stock: Safe Space for Dirty Comedy
“Safe Space Comedy” is a newish thing in U.S. comedy clubs. By proclaiming “safe space comedy,” a club or event hopes to assure women that they can enjoy a trigger-free show without fear of harassment. The idea originated from high-profile harassment complaints in revered Los Angeles and Chicago improv theatres. Recent growth in the trend…
Hidden Figures: A Captivating Story of Incredible Women
Katherine Johnson, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the last century—and still going at age 98—gets the movie she deserves with Hidden Figures, an entertaining, enlightening and educational look at the contributions of her and her cohorts to NASA and space flight in the late 1950s and after. Johnson was part of a segregated…
Cinema Clips: The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch deliver a strong acting combo in this creepy horror film from director Andre Ovredal (Trollhunter). Down in their basement mortuary on a stormy night, father and son coroners (Cox and Hirsch) are going through their routine. A local policeman rolls in a new corpse, a Jane Doe (Olwen Kelly, doing…
Ticket Giveaway: Brujeria with The Casualties, Pinata Protest, Flying Donkey Punch, Maldad, Napalm Strike
Brujeria is a frighteningly punchy all-star death metal/grindcore combo that passes itself off as a murderous, truly evil drug cartel, one into Satan worship and Donald Trump. (Brujeria is Spanish for “witchcraft.”) Yes, they’re lampooning the form, but the music absolutely holds up as some of the heaviest shit ever recorded this side of Scandinavia.…
The Weekly List: 23 Things To Do In the Next 10 Days
Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo. Pick of the Week: Tucson Jazz Festival All That Jazz: The third annual Tucson Jazz Festival kicks off this week with young phenom Kamasi Washington, whose debut album The Epic was described in these pages last week as “steeped in spiritual jazz traditions of John and…
Ducey ‘Next Step’ Watch: Day 237—Talk Is Cheap Edition. Ducey’s Funding-Lite, Destructive Education Proposals.
A few days ago I wrote that I’d try to suspend my disbelief and cynicism regarding the education proposals in Ducey’s State of the State address until Friday when he releases some budget numbers. Couldn’t do it. The generally positive reception of his ideas in the press has left a major hole in the analysis…
Rusty Needs a Home
Hi, I’m Rusty! I’m a 1.5 year old year old boy and I need a new home. I was found as a “stray” when a Hume Society of Southern Arizona employee found me tied to the fence at the shelter. I’m looking for a home where I can get ample exercise, play time and lots…
Cinema Clips: A Monster Calls
This is a well-meaning movie with good heart, but it was better when it was called The Iron Giant. J.A. Bayona’s film of the Patrick Ness book tells the tale of Conor (Lewis MacDougall), a young boy whose mother (Felicity Jones) is dying. Conor is, understandably, having issues, not just with the impending loss of…
Three (Maybe Four) Energy Stories From the News
If you go to to Friday’s New York Times and AZ Star, you’ll find these three energy-related articles: Sensing Gains Ahead Under Trump, the Kochs Court Minorities. The Koch Brothers have begun a well-funded, new nonprofit business association, Fueling U.S. Forward, which is spreading the fossil fuels gospel to minority communities — almost literally, by funding…
Cinema Clips: Passengers
Two of Hollywood’s biggest, most lovable stars labor away in the pretty but kind of dumb Passengers, a movie that doesn’t have the guts to be as ugly as it should be. Chris Pratt plays Jim Preston, a mechanic dedicated to starting a life on a distant planet. He and 5,000 other passengers are in…
Casa Video Top 10
Your weekly look at Casa Video’s current most popular rentals. Magnificent Seven Sully Snowden Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Jason Bourne The Dressmaker Suicide Squad The Secret Life of Pets 31 In a Valley of Violence
Ducey ‘Next Step’ Watch: Day 235 — State of the State Edition. Great Ideas! Terrific Ideas! Wallet Still Safely Stowed in Back Pocket.
Loved the education part of Gov. Ducey’s State of the State address—with a few exceptions, of course. Great stuff, mostly. Unfortunately, it’ll take lots of money to accomplish even half of what Ducey proposed. Lots and lots of money. And he didn’t commit dollar one. My understanding is, the state is expecting to see about $24…
United We Dream National Educators Week
United We Dream has asked educators to “come out this January 9 as an unafraid educator and pledge to protect immigrants in your classrooms and community.” Sign this pledge to commit to taking action the week of January 9th – just a few days before the regime of terror of Donald Trump begins. You can declare…
Laughing Stock: Becoming a Female Storyteller and Enjoying Local-Comedy Showcases
The new Female Storytellers prompts are up! Pick one and kick off the new year by creating a story to share! All the information you need to get started is on their website. We all have stories to tell, and much to learn about our characters, including our own, in the telling. Invariably we reveal…
Lip Needs a Home
Hi, I’m Lip! I’m a handsome 1-year-old boy and I need a new home! I was transferred to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona from a different shelter, so they don’t know very much about my history. What they do know is that I’m a big boy and I love to play! I’ve gotten along…
Cinema Clips: Elle
Paul Verhoeven, who never really recovered from the delicious calamity that was Showgirls (although Starship Troopers was pretty good), tries his hand again at a female empowerment movie (Yes, Showgirls was supposed to be a female empowerment movie) and he fails miserably. Isabelle Huppert labors away as Michele, owner of a company that makes terrible…
Gabby Giffords: My Pledge
January is a time for new beginnings and new pledges. But it is also the time of year that I think most about the shooting that killed six of my constituents, injured 12 others, and put a bullet through my head. Six years ago, on a bright Saturday morning, our community was forever altered by…
TUSD Magnet Schools, Desegregation, and the Next Step
It’s no surprise that a number of TUSD schools lost their magnet status. A magnet school is supposed to have something special about it to attract students who are outside the neighborhood, with the purpose of improving the school’s ethnic balance, and the district has failed to meet the court’s required goals for the schools. The…
You Can Now Avoid the Grant/Kolb/Tanque Verde Intersection
With the opening of Airmen Memorial Bridge, eastsiders now have an option to avoid the fustercluck intersection of Grant/Kolb/Tanque Verde roads: A direct link between Kolb and Sabino Canyon roads. The $12.3 million RTA project was controversial—some of the neighbors living west of Udall Park were fiercely opposed to plan—but the idea was to reduce traffic…
Ward 3 Tucson City Council Candidate Pool Is Filling Up
Today brings not just one, but two candidates into the race for the seat now held by retiring Tucson City Councilwoman. Karin Uhlich. Business owner Tom Tronsdal and attorney Paul Durham both announced bids for the north-central Ward 3 seat. The two Democrats join property manager Morgan Abraham and teacher Felicia Chew as in August’s Democratic primary…
Vintage Vinyl
If you tuned in to KTKT radio 50 years ago, in December ’67, you were treated to a slew of soon-to-become classics such as The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye,” The Animals “Monterey,” The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer,” Beach Boys’ “Darlin’,” Strawberry Alarm Clock “Incense & Peppermints,” Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park” and many others.
Know Your Product
In a modern world seemingly overrun with bland and insipid singer/songwriters, staring blankly.
Noise Annoys
At the present in Tucson, you’d be hard pressed to find an artist more visionary than Louise Le Hir.
High Gear
More good news out of the courts this week as the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the presence of marijuana in one’s system may not constitute driving under the influence nor merit subsequent charges.
Editor’s Note
All of us going on another ride on this planet for another year is, well, arbitrary, isn’t it?
Dust Devil
Boots, laced, hit hard vibram soles upon gravel
Honor and Remember
We lost so much that day, but also saw how our community rallied together. People who had never met before suddenly had an unexplainable connection. Everyone wanted to help and everyone needed their neighbors, families and friends to start the healing process.
The Skinny
Newly elected TUSD board member asks, “Do you know who I am?”
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the use of Loteria cards as decorative elements, specifically when used by people without Mexican heritage.
Danehy
One last look at last year.
Keeping It Reel
So, this wasn’t the worst movie year ever, but it wasn’t a particularly great one, either.
