Cover Story
Who Gives a Crap?
If history is any guide, most Tucsonans are not going to give a crap about this year’s city elections. In the two most recent city elections (in 2007 and 2005), roughly one in four Tucsonans came out to vote in the November general election. In 2003, it got all the way up to four out…
Have It Your Way
Here’s a print ad that is running for a limited time in Singapore. Draw your own conclusion! I found the full story here.
Minnesota Supreme Court: Senator Franken
The Supreme Court of Minnesota has ruled that Al Franken is now Senator Al Franken. Here are five reasons we should all be happy Franken starts midsession from change.org. In its final line of the ruling, the state Supreme Court said Franken is “entitled” under Minnesota law to “receive the certificate election as United States…
Al Perry Goes Comix
Artist Howard Salmon just finished a comic series on legendary Tucson rocker Al Perry. Salmon, no stranger to the Tucson music scene, was drummer for the legendary Phantom Limbs on the band’s first two albums, and has played with Al Perry and the Cattle, as well as Rainer and Das Combo. From 1980 to 1983,…
Budget View
In case you want a break from watching Michael Jackson tribute shows or updates on his funeral arrangements, try the Arizona State Legislature’s live media service at azleg.gov. Look to the left, and click on Live Proceedings to see if our hardworking legislators are working on the budget. After all, they have until midnight to…
Stumbling Toward Shutdown
The budget battle at the Arizona Legislature seems to be going off track, with the Arizona Republic reporting that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate Appropriations Committee have blocked a proposal that GOP leadership and Gov. Jan Brewer have agreed on. Since it strikes us as a stinky compromise—cutting taxes for Arizonans wealthiest citizens while…
Roundtable: State Breakdown and Rialto Wrangling
KUAT-TV’s Roundtable gang talks about the state budget troubles and the Rialto Theatre’s troubles, after the jump…
Attention All Daves
If your name is Dave or David, I’ve got a hot tip that’ll get you a free meal tomorrow. Famous Dave’s barbecue restaurant at 4565 N. Oracle Road is giving away a free entrée to all Daves from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 30. All you have to do to claim the special…
Cat Food Needed
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona has run out of cat food, which is bad timing, because it’s litter season, and the shelter is currently caring for more than 200 kittens. Food donations—paté-style and ground food are preferred—can be dropped off at the shelter at 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.,…
Death Comes In Threes
First Ed McMahon, and then Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson the same day. Ed was old, Farrah had cancer, and Michael … what will happen to his kids?
Rolling Up Those Sleeves
It’s no secret that those canned quotes in press releases are usually an invention of PR agents rather than words that flowed from the mouths of those getting quoted. An particularly amusing example landed in our mailbox today, in separate releases from Senate President Bob Burns and Speaker of the House Kirk Adams, who were…
A Little-Noticed Side Effect: Pederson Decision Really Screws Up Bradley’s Gubernatorial Ambitions
Real-estate developer, former Arizona Democratic Party chairman and unsuccessful Senate candidate Jim Pederson announced yesterday that he would not be running for governor. That’s good news for Attorney General Terry Goddard, who also wants the job. But it’s bad news for Dave Bradley, the state lawmaker from midtown Tucson who was mulling a gubernatorial run.…
City Week
Comics Gone Wild! Presentation by Max Cannon and Ted Rall 7 p.m., Friday, June 26 Antigone Books 411 N. Fourth Ave. 792-3715; antigonebooks.com You might never guess what happens behind the scenes at alternative newsweeklies like the Tucson Weekly—but you can get a rare glimpse behind the print this Friday, when cartoonists Max Cannon and…
T Q&A
Scott Calhoun
Street Smarts
Ron Austin, 67, knows firsthand what it’s like to live on the streets and be shunned from society. The recovering addict says he remembers experiences like being shooed out of a restaurant during a sweltering summer day in Tucson while asking for a drink of water, being cursed at while digging through a trashcan for…
O’Sullivan
I’ve been so impressed by all the photos coming out of Iran. All those people upset about the recent election fraud, yelling, throwing stones, running right into the breach of whatever the authorities throw at them. I can’t imagine Americans doing that. Yeah, some brave souls congregate on the White House lawn when something really…
Literary Love
Dave Eggers may be the most important figure in contemporary literature, if not for writing the stuff (which he’s awful at), then at least for deciding on an annoying style (a combination of children’s-book rhythms and 19th-century vocabulary used to tell Raymond Carver-esque stories) that he’s pushed down America’s collective throat with his McSweeney’s literary…
Guest Commentary
The federal government is behaving like a bunch of children in an elementary school class who are learning about the legislative process by putting together a make-believe budget. Unfortunately, there is no adult around to interrupt them and explain that in the real world, people can’t spend twice as much as they take in, and…
Ripped Romance
Putting Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in a movie together was a good idea. They have great chemistry, are quite charming and can get some good laughs, even with meager material. Hopefully, The Proposal won’t be the only time they share the screen—because the movie isn’t half as good as the stars occupying it. I…
Danehy
This weekend, the Tucson Weekly is hosting the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Yes, for all you haters out there, Tucson has shown itself capable of attracting somebody other than the Jehovah’s Witnesses during the summer. You’re probably wondering what such a gathering would look like. If you see a bunch of…
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Lovably Prickly
People love their saguaros. Just ask the Arizona electric utility that was recently pilloried in the media and on the Web as the result of a YouTube video showing what’s really involved in keeping the lights on. A big machine called a mower, used to manage overgrown vegetation in right-of-way corridors, is shown taking out…
Now Showing at Home
Ghostbusters (Blu-Ray), Thrilla in Manila, Fatal Attraction (Blu-Ray)
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books best-sellers for the week
Arizonan Bandstand
Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, a Latin-jazz big band now just reaching the age of six months, came together as an ad-hoc group to play The Great Cover-Up. However, it has grown to become an increasingly popular draw in Tucson nightclubs and around the Southwest. “We were definitely a Cover-Up thing,” says bandleader and composer…
Soundbites
A DROUGHT, OF SORTS Just as the monsoon is about to arrive, summer has left us a bit high and dry this week in another department: live music. Nonetheless, there are still some shows worth your time and money. Here are some of them. FROM THE SOULLESS NORTH There’s always been something of a rivalry…
Off and Running
As we note in “Who Gives a Crap?” most Tucsonans aren’t going to show much interest in this year’s City Council races. But if you’re among those rare political junkies who have an interest in the management of this baked burg, here are a few points to keep in mind. Tucson remains a Democratic stronghold.…
Live
Wilco, Grizzly Bear
Q&A With Elections Expert David Schleicher
David Schleicher, a law professor at George Mason University, talks about rational ignorance, partisan branding and why voters don’t know much about politics. Explain what you mean by rational ignorance. Voters have very little reason or incentive to learn very much about politics. It doesn’t affect your day-to-day life. The odds that your vote is…
Metric: Fantasies (Self-released)
The cover image of a single light bulb is stark and effective, a wordless introduction to the electrifying dance music on Fantasies, the fourth album from Canada’s Metric. Amid the surging guitars, keyboards, heavy bass and relentless dance beats is frontwoman Emily Haines, whose vocals rise clean and clear above the mix, stamping the record…
Artist Provocateur
Tucson’s most critically acclaimed artist was laid to rest in Sierra Vista last weekend. Internationally known for explosive paintings that audaciously examined racial stereotypes, Robert Colescott, 83, died at his home on June 4. He had been in declining health for several years, said painter Alfred Quiroz, his friend and former student. In 1997, Colescott…
Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan (Downtown)
“Life is especially hard / When no one trusts you with a credit card / I love the taste of cereal / I have it for almost every meal.” These are the opening lines from “DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshakes,” delivered by Eddie Argos in his typical spoken-rant fashion. The song, a thrilling ode to…
Rent Control
The spat between Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage—better known as BICAS—and landlord David Aguirre has taken yet another turn. It now appears that the Arizona Department of Transportation is maneuvering to keep the bike nonprofit in its current, ADOT-owned basement digs on East Sixth Street. Meanwhile, the city is also angling to take over that…
Things to Do
Some housekeeping this week … • Mark your calendars: The Tucson Area Music Awards, aka the TAMMIES, will be going down this year on Thursday, Sept. 3. Details to come. • Several weeks back, we announced that Adam Borowitz, our City Week listings coordinator/Noshing Around scribe, was going to be leaving us to move to…
Heaven and Hell: The Devil You Know (Rhino)
Ozzy Osbourne-era Black Sabbath were doom-metal pioneers, specializing in dark, apocalyptic blues at a time when peace and love reigned. Upon Ozzy’s departure and Ronnie James Dio’s arrival, the band’s sound moved deeper into mainstream hard-rock territory. It was only after Dio embarked on a solo career that the baddest little man in metal nurtured…
Time’s Up
Dolores Fair has heard it numerous times before: “You should have known better.” When she looks at the last three years of her life, she says that part of her agrees with that statement—but another part of her can’t help but think she was misled into a no-win situation. Fair will most likely lose her…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: You once asked why Mexican bands don’t hit it big in the good old U.S. of A. I think the simple answer is that there are no Mexican Mouseketeers. You don’t get to be Justin Timberlake by picking a guitarrón. Slater from Saved by the Bell doesn’t count. The real question is: Why…
Nine Questions
Sean Ruse
Boost in Your Bills
Confusion surrounds the utility-tax increase recently adopted by the City Council—and that confusion over the apparent doubling of the present 2 percent levy, to 4 percent, extends to some in the local media. The Arizona Daily Star wrote on June 10 that the increase “includes 2 percent more on home phone bills, cell-phone bills, electric…
Mailbag
We Have Possible Term Limits Every Election Day A response to a response (“An … Interesting Response to ‘You Screwed Up,'” Mailbag, June 11) to “You Screwed Up” (May 28): Start with this premise: We, the electorate, choose people to represent us in the Legislature after ascertaining that they have knowledge of how our government…
Cubans and Semites
Summer is comedy season on Tucson stages, but comedy isn’t necessarily frivolous. Well, sometimes it is, as in the entertaining Jewtopia, a send-up of all things Jewish, courtesy of Arizona Onstage Productions. (More information later.) But there are other kinds of comedy as well, including the fairy romance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, reviewed…
Police Dispatch
CLERK WITH CLOUT WEST LOS REALES ROAD MAY 27, 7:41 P.M. A convenience-store clerk’s firm but blasé attitude apparently deterred a would-be beer thief, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The clerk at the Circle K at 2840 W. Los Reales Road met with deputies about an attempted theft. He said three intoxicated…
Slabs o’ Flesh
Outposts usually move farther and farther away from civilization, but The Steak Out Restaurant and Saloon has established a satellite location that’s actually closer to Tucson than the original. A little. The Steak Out has been a fixture in Sonoita for about a half-century. Its second location is more convenient for Tucsonans, but it’s not…
Fluid Capabilities
Watercolor painter Chris Larsen of Tucson has a mantra that he diligently drums into all of his students. “You need to get the first 100 bad watercolors out of the way,” he tells them, “the sooner the better.” Clearly, John Marin’s 100 bad paintings were well in his past by the time he dashed off…
The Skinny
THE BIG FOLD With a unanimous vote, the Tucson City Council last week asked developers Scott Stiteler and Don Martin for a few more weeks to work out details in the complex downtown-development agreement they’ve been hammering out for the last six months. In response, Stiteler and Martin walked away from the deal, which would…
Noshing Around
Acacia Meets Tohono Chul Albert Hall and his wife, Lila Yamashiro—the gastronomical geniuses behind Acacia at St. Philip’s—will begin overseeing the Tohono Chul Park Tea Room (7366 N. Paseo del Norte) on Wednesday, July 1. The new menu will meld Tea Room favorites and some of Hall’s signature dishes. Hall will also hold cooking classes…
Top Ten in Music
Zia Records top sales for the week
Media Watch
‘Tucson Weekly’ hosts alternative newsweekly convention
Lost in FOUND
The guys from FOUND magazine will make a stop at the Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress St.) at 8 p.m., Friday, June 26. Haven’t heard of FOUND? Well you may want to check it out at their Web site to make sure that love note you penned, delivered and never saw again hasn’t become your…
Honoring Steve Emerine
Ward 2 City Councilman Rodney Glassman is gathering signatures to support naming a ballfield after the late Steve Emerine, a longtime journalist and political activist who died earlier this year at age 73 following complications from surgery. Besides working as a reporter and editor at the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen, serving as county…
