Cover Story
Orgy of Excess
The Pima County Office of Court Appointed Counsel—in other words, you, the taxpayer—paid more than $800,000 to unsuccessfully defend Maryanne Chisholm against fraud charges. As far as anybody knows, that’s a local record. Veteran defense attorney Brick Storts—Chisholm’s current attorney, hired by her family after scrounging up the funds to secure his services—does not understand…
Earth 6,000 Years Old?
You probably don’t need to be reminded why we and the beautiful state of Arizona are in trouble. But just in case you do feel you need a reminder, check out this video of Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen (R) saying Earth is 6,000 years old. But it’s even more frightening how eager she is…
The Plot Thins
It’s bad enough that the Internet is killing off newspapers and the music industry. But now The New York Times brings us the news that it’s also wiping out porn films with a veneer of plot: The actress known as Savanna Samson once relished preparing for a role. “I couldn’t wait to get my next…
Bikes vs. Boards: Didn’t Your Mother Teach You to Share?
BMX activist Mike Hines reported back to The Range that the BMX protest at the new Albert Gallego Skate Park at Santa Rita Park on Sunday, June 28 didn’t exactly change any minds about allowing BMX to share the concrete with skateboarders—but the turnout was encouraging. “We counted well over 100 people,” Hines says. For…
Bob Grimm Gushes Over David Wain
The following is an expanded version of an interview with David Wain that’s running in the June 9 issue. Since the early ’90s, writer-director-actor David Wain has been one of the premier ambassadors of absurdist, intelligent, and wonderfully random comedy on TV and in feature films. A founding member of The State, whose comedy show…
Stuff the Bus
The Tucson Association of Realtors starts its “Stuff the Bus” school-supply drive today. Donations of back-to-school essentials (backbacks, notebooks, binders, etc.) can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Friday, Aug. 7, at the Tucson Association of Realtors Building at 2445 N. Tucson Blvd. Donations can also be dropped off at the…
Rock The Council: Save The Rialto!
Ladies and gentlemen: It is time to rock the Tucson City Council. If the council does not act this Tuesday, July 7, to save the Rialto Theatre from the developers who are taking the first steps to driving it out of business, then the theatre could be facing the final curtain. We here at the…
Watching Wimbledon
What could be better than the usual July 4th shtick of brats and beer? Watching Venus and Serena Williams in their fourth sister-vs.-sister Wimbledon final in eight years, that’s what. Sit back with a bowl of strawberries and whipped cream, and start taking bets. Serena won in 2002 and 2003, while Venus won in 2008.…
Centennial Celebration
A mining company built the Warren Ballpark in Bisbee to give its workers and their families a chance to watch baseball on lazy summer nights. The tab was $3,600. The return on that investment has been coming in for 100 years now, and this weekend, the semi-pro Bisbee Copper Kings, the team that currently plays…
ADD Misery
Michael Bay was on a bit of a roll with his last three films. I liked Bad Boys II, and The Island was pretty cool. While I didn’t like the first Transformers all that much, it didn’t make me want to tear off my face while watching it, which had become my normal reaction to…
Danehy
After all these years, I finally know what Jim Croce meant when he sang about “the night that I fell in love with a roller derby queen.” I went to the season-ending Tucson Roller Derby matches over at Bladeworld on Grant Road, and it was nothing short of magnificent. The main reason I went was…
Now Showing at Home
Friday the 13th: Killer Cut (Blu-Ray) NEW LINE MOVIE B- SPECIAL FEATURES B DVD GEEK FACTOR 6 (OUT OF 10) As far as slasher-film remake/relaunches go, this is one of the better ones. I never was a big fan of Jason—I preferred Michael Myers—but Marcus Nispel did a better job with this than Rob Zombie…
Our Happening Burg
When I found out about 14 months ago that the Tucson Weekly would be hosting the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies—and therefore bringing hundreds of alternative-newspaper folks to our hot, dusty burg—I panicked a little, I must admit. My fear, posed as a question: How in the hell could we manage to…
Mailbag
Claim: Scoville’s Commentary Was Divisive, Inaccurate Regarding the Guest Commentary by Ken Scoville (June 18): In addition to misrepresenting my words and actions, Mr. Scoville demonstrates an incomplete understanding of the application of national standards for historic preservation. Perhaps more troubling, he fails to comprehend the very different roles of a city historic-preservation officer and…
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Messina
Tucsonan John Brown II doesn’t believe in God. He used to, but the former Jehovah’s Witness has closed the good book. Brown is now a Satanist. You might think that all Satanists worship a Satan figure, but that’s not the case. While there are indeed those who worship a Satan deity, Brown does not. He…
Guest Commentary
It’s exactly 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning as I begin this, and the sun is about to appear behind Whale Mountain. My neighbors’ roosters are doing their thing, and the slight breeze jostles the wind chimes on the porch. It’s another day in paradise, as people around here are fond of saying. “Here” is…
Indie-Pendence
Chances are you’ve already been challenged to buy more local goods. It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do; you might have to do a bit of research or travel a little out of your way—and we all know convenient chain stores can be tempting. But the thing is, says Lisette DeMars, “buying local really…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Looking back on my distant youth in northwest Ohio, I came to the realization that the sweetest, most beautiful girl this gabacho ever went out with (indeed, in my entire senior class) was the pure-blooded daughter of Mexican immigrants. Am I under the sway of 1) simple nostalgia, 2) racist exoticism, 3) premature…
City Week
Inspirational Surroundings The works of Kim Young Summer hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday On display through Friday, Sept. 25 University of Arizona Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen St. 626-3765; poetrycenter.arizona.edu For Kim Young, the University of Arizona Poetry Center is more than…
Police Dispatch
WISHFUL DRINKING? EAST SUNRISE DRIVE JUNE 3, 4:28 A.M. A drunk man broke into the nicer apartment of a neighbor when he allegedly mistook the residence for his own, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The victim said he woke up to find a stranger standing in his apartment. The stranger was standing…
A Nonsound Sound
For the four girls in Atlanta’s the Coathangers, starting a band wasn’t about paying homage to any sort of musical deity, nor was it about some kind of artistic/musical vision. For Julia Kugel, Stephanie Luke, Candice Jones and Meredith Franco, it was just about doing something with friends that sounded fun. “We all went to…
Media Watch
Tucson Medical Center yanks advertising after ‘Star’ story
Soundbites
O TUCSON! MY TUCSON! In the nearly 22 years since I first moved to Tucson, I’ve seen a whole lot of changes and a whole lot of ups and downs. But I can’t think of a time when I felt more divergent feelings about the city than I did last week. At the start of…
The Skinny
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN TRIUMPH: HELP THE RICH, SCREW THE POOR The end is nigh—but since we’re going to press before the state’s budget deal has been hammered out, we’re not sure if it’s the end of the legislative session, the end of nonvital state services, or the end of the world as we know it. We…
The Church: Untitled #23 (Second Motion)
Cosmic-tinged alternative rock never sounded better than Australia’s the Church during their late-’80s heyday. Albums like Starfish and Gold Afternoon Fix were oases of beauty amidst the ugly yet vital cynicism that inspired the band’s American peers (Jane’s Addiction, NIN). After these watersheds, though, and in the aftermath of losing drummer Richard Ploog, the Church…
T Q&A
Todd Fletcher, an associate professor of special education rehabilitation and school psychology at the UA since 1985, was recently in the town of Cajones, in Guanajuato, Mexico, to open the Resplandor International Cultural and Education Center. The community-development center is a UA-sponsored project focused on literacy, technology and health-education training. The next step is a…
Wilco: Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch)
Full of radiance and subtleties, Wilco (The Album) is an ambitious yet confident record from a band at its peak, an 11-song odyssey that trades skillfully between tension and elation. The preposterous album cover (a camel wearing a party hat) and sly title represent the fun side, but the album also holds shadow-cloaked songs, soaked…
Deadly Developments
After composing seven Jake Hines mysteries set in Minnesota, her former home, novelist Elizabeth Gunn got herself a new heroine in her current hometown of Tucson: hard-line homicide detective Sarah Burke. Burke came onto the scene in last year’s Cool in Tucson; she forges ahead in Gunn’s latest police procedural, New River Blues. And so…
Gary Bonnett: The Long Road Home (Self-Released)
When Johnny Cash first sang, “I shot a man in Reno / just to watch him die,” it sounded downright menacing, because it sounded as if he might mean it. When Gary Bonnett sings, “Killed a girl down in Texas, down in San Angelo / She broke my heart, so I took her soul,” on…
Top Ten in Books
Antigone Books best-sellers for the week
Live
The B-52s
A Different Beat
Karen Falkenstrom has just gotten back from a gig in Arcosanti, playing Japanese drums for famed architect Paolo Soleri at his 90th birthday party. Now all she has to do is get her giant taiko drum out of the van and into the warehouse studio she and her band, Odaiko Sonora, bought almost three years…
Nine Questions
Kevin Byrd
Noshing Around
Rail Pints Train whistles used to conjure up thoughts of hobos, but that was before I discovered “rail pints” on a recent visit to Barrio Brewing Company (800 E. 16th St.; 791-2739). If you’re at Barrio and you hear a train whistle, you get a pint for $3 as long as the road blocks are…
Top Ten in Music
Toxic Ranch Records top sales for the week
Taste of the Tropics
Kon Tiki has been serving up tropical mixes in classic tiki-lounge style since 1963. But when I told friends I’d be dining there, the unanimous reaction was: “They serve food?” Though Kon Tiki is famous for fruity but lethal libations, the food can be equally deserving of attention. My first visit to Kon Tiki was…
Tables Turned
When the Hermitage Cat Shelter imploded last year, Mary Jo Spring went on a rampage. Before it was over, Spring, the executive director, had banned most of the shelter’s 70 or so volunteers and fired much of its staff. Some she accused of theft, others of plotting against her. These actions culminated in lawsuits targeting…
Sentiment Sans Schmaltz
O’Horten is one of the most beautifully photographed films I’ve seen all year, and it’s ceaselessly entertaining as well—which is a bit of a shock, considering it’s a Norwegian movie about a reticent, 67-year-old railroad engineer. I mean, don’t get me wrong; listening to Norwegians not talk about the railroad is one of my favorite…
Feed Need
The noisy chatter of almost 100 children filled the cafeteria of midtown’s Jefferson Park Elementary School on a recent morning. They were a diverse, well-behaved bunch, sitting together in groups under the watchful eyes of a few adults. But these kids weren’t at school to learn. Instead, they were there for a free breakfast that…
Greatest American Heroes
Writer-director Peter Van Slyke assembled his latest Gaslight Theatre show as a prefabricated unit from his Spoofs ‘R’ Us factory. The Adventures of the Freedom League of America, or Tights Make Right, follows Gaslight’s 30-year format of taking the template of some pop-culture genre, twisting it to the point of ridiculousness, pockmarking it with terrible…
Coming Soon to Oro Valley
Remember Torino Ristorante Italiano in Oro Valley? It was a well-reviewed eatery that occupied the space at 10355 N. La Cañada Drive that eventually became Harvest Restaurant. One of Torino’s ex-owners, Daniela Borella, dropped me an e-mail this week to announce that she is combining her adjoined restaurants, Spice Bistro and Caffe Torino (10325 N.…
