Cover Story
And They’re Off!
The political season is officially underway. Considering all of the debates, TV ads and accusations that have been flying around in recent months, you might have thought that it had started long ago. But it was just last week that candidates faced the deadline to file for the Aug. 24 primary ballot, in the hopes…
D and D Island Grill JA
D and D Island Grill JA is a food truck parked in a parking lot at 6245 E. Broadway Blvd. Owners Duwayne Hall and Danny Heath serve fried fish, curried goat, jerk chicken, oxtail, beef patties and delicious fruit-juice concoctions. We stopped in last weekend and found Hall working away in the kitchen as his…
Stephen Colbert Won’t Like This News
Trouble with black bears in Tucson.
The Ugliest House in Tucson
The “Ugliest House in Tucson” contest is underway, through Friday, July 2. Vote here. The contest is sponsored by HomeVestors of America, known as the “We Buy Ugly Houses®” company. Here’s more info from a press release: “The contest is a fun way to bring the community together to celebrate ugly houses and their potential…
Picture This: Make a Wish!
RYAN SHEEHY Ben Ray looks into a wishing pond at the Park Place Mall where his family enjoyed live music.
More Oil Trouble in the Gulf of Mexico
Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, lets us know that a shallow-water well is also leaking in the Gulf of Mexico—and that shallow-water drilling has its share of problems: On May 6, 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior placed a partial moratorium on shallow and deepwater drilling in response to…
Bruce Ash’s Pants Burst Into Flame on Arizona Illustrated
Here’s the Political Face-Off from last night’s Arizona Illustrated. Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash tells a whopper: “Most Hispanics favor 1070. Here in Arizona, as well as nationally. It polls well among Hispanics.” We’d love to see that poll. We’ve seen plenty of surveys that show support for SB 1070, but we haven’t seen a…
Supreme Court Cuts Off Matching Funds
The Supreme Court has reversed itself and declared that matching funds will not be available for candidates who use Arizona’s Clean Elections system. But there’s a chance the ruling could be reversed yet again. John Munger, who blamed his decision to get out of the governor’s race last week on the Supreme Court’s decision to…
The Price of Playing Ball
The Arizona Republic lets us know that Glendale might be having trouble paying for that baseball palace they built for the White Sox when they stole them from Pima County: The success in growing the Cactus League is indisputable. But when the economy cratered, tax revenues fell, crippling the long-term outlook for crucial funding for…
No Can Do
Hall and Oates cancels a Phoenix appearance to protest SB 1070. Wait: Hall and Oates are still performing?
SB 1070: FactCheck Separates Truth from Fiction
FactCheck.org tackles SB 1070: We’ll leave it to others to decide whether Arizona’s new immigration law is a good thing or a bad thing — but here we try to straighten out some of the confusing factual claims. First, a quick summary. Contrary to what the law’s defenders often say, the new statute does more…
SB 1070 Follow-Up: Sen. Russell Pearce’s Next Plans
State Sen. Russell Pearce, fresh from his SB 1070 victory, has two new bills in mind: Blocking children born to illegal immigrants in the United States from automatically becoming U.S. citizens and forcing the children who are undocumented to pay tuition to attend public schools. The Arizona Capitol Times has details here.
Picture This: More Hotdogs, Please
TAYLOR MEDEIROS Patrick Barthe waits for his dinner at El Guero Canelo Monday night, May 31.
Firestone Conquers East Hampton
Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali, 1978, one of four screenprints on Bristol Strathmore paper (c) 2009 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York The name, image, and likeness of Muhammad Ali appears courtesy of Muhammad Ali Enterprises, LLC. Bank of America Collection Eric Firestone may have had to shut down…
Painted Hills Annexation?
Two years ago, Painted Hills neighbors were fighting a subdivision proposal with the potential to destroy about half of the saguaros that dot those beautiful hills you drive past on your way to Gates Pass. On Tuesday, June 8, those same neighbors are asking for lots of bodies to show up at a Tucson City…
Tucson’s Everyday People: Horsing around
UA journalism student Chen Ziniu introduces us to Steve Temple, the owner of 4 Ropin Ranch in Marana. Temple coaches and practices team roping at his ranch.
Another Nail in Arizona’s National-Image Coffin
From New York Daily News: Artists who painted a mural at an elementary school in Prescott depicting four students, with the most prominent being a Hispanic boy, were asked to lighten the faces amid taunts and tensions. You can find the whole story here. It also ran in the Boston Herald and God knows how…
J.D. Hits McCain on Taxes & Spending
After being hammered as a porker by Sen. John McCain, Republican opponent J.D. Hayworth strikes back with a new ad.
Skinny 2010: Campaign Preview on KUAZ-FM’s Arizona Spotlight
Arizona Spotlight’s Mark McLemore and Christopher Conover were kind enough to invite me to talk about the upcoming political season on KUAZ radio today. Listen to it here.
They Didn’t Like Our Suggestion of The Arizona Blunderbus
Democrat Rodney Glassman, the former Tucson City Council member who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican John McCain, has announced the name of his bus: Your votes have been tallied, and the RV Naming Contest has a winner: RVive Arizona The winning entry was submitted by Andrew Feldman from Phoenix. Andrew…
Life Mag: Flagstaff Makes “Most Underrated Cities” List
Cricket on Flagstaff’s Schultz Creek Trail I was just telling y’all about how cool Flagstaff is the other day. Now Life magazine names it No. 5 on its list of underrated cities in the Western U.S.: “People think Arizona is desert and cactus. Flagstaff is mountains and forests and clear skies,” Tamony says. Here: “the…
Get Rid of That Broken TV in the Shed
Get rid of some old crap and help the planet: Tucson Clean and Beautiful and the Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, et al, are teaming up to recycle your old TVs, CD players and whatnot. Details after the jump: Date: Saturday, June 26th, 2010Time: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.Place: 1000 S Randolph Way in the…
Don’s Bayou is Out of Oysters; All Other Food Is Good to Go
This NPR story got me thinking: If one-eighth of the seafood consumed in this country comes from the now-tainted waters of the Gulf of Mexico, would the effects of the spill be felt in Tucson anytime soon? According to Don Garrot, the owner of Don’s Bayou – Cajun Cookin’ at 8991 E. Tanque Verde Road,…
Nimbus to Open a West Side Location
Nimbus Brewing Company is opening a new location called Nimbus Ice House in the old My Big Fat Greek restaurant building at 95 W. River Road. Kevin Brown, a manager at Nimbus Bistro and Brewpub, a joint venture with Metro Restaurants that opened last September at 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road, said he expected the…
‘Who is Arturo Peralta?’ Well, Michael Goodman
Political blog PocoBravo (Luke Knipe) filed an interesting report yesterday on mini-dorm housing czar Michael Goodman. Evidently, a recent purchase Goodman made in December is now under the limited liability corporation name Arturo Peralta LLC. According to Knipe’s report, Goodman told him he made up the name and the names of 14 other LLC’s for…
Just Another Band That Won’t Play Arizona
Los Lobos has canceled a scheduled Phoenix-area performance, and you’ll never guess why! Here’s an excerpt from the press release we received: Grammy Award winning roots-rock band Los Lobos has decided to cancel their scheduled performance at The Talking Stick Resort on June 10th, 2010. The band has made this decision based on the current…
Writer’s Block: D.R. Wise
Oro Valley resident D.R. Wise has won the 2010 national Indie Excellence Awards in the gift-book category for The Dreamzappers, $19.95, hardcover, 36 pages, Golden Impact Press. Per a press release: The Dreamzappers is the first in a series of gift books to be released one per year. The second book, The Fine Arts of…
But Can You Be His Friend on Facebook?
Sweeney discovers YouTube. His slogan this year: “Elect Yourself….Elect Joseph Sweeney!!!”
NRA Endorses Sen. John McCain
The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund announces an endorsement of John McCain. That can’t help J.D. Hayworth’s insurgent campaign. From the release: The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is endorsing U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the August 24 Republican primary. “John McCain has steadfastly voted against every gun and ammunition ban…
Do CD8 Voters Hate Nancy Pelosi?
If there’s one thing that the four Republicans who have been campaigning for the chance to take on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords have in common, it’s their attacks on Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. They really, really hate Washington under Democratic control. Tom Dollar over at fivethirtyeight.com notes that similar efforts to turn races into referendums…
Congressional District 7: Republicans Gang Up on Grijalva—Including Sweeney!
Democrat Raúl Grijalva has no primary challenge in this heavily Democratic district, but there is no shortage of Republicans who want to take him on. Perennial candidate Joe Sweeney is back, along with political newcomers Ruth McClung, Christopher Flowers, Terry Myers and Robert Wilson. The winner of the Libertarian primary between Andrew Ibarra and George…
Tucson Toros: Buck-Beer Night at Hi Corbett Field
It’s buck-beer night at Hi Corbett Field! Plus, you can see Toros baseball. Details here.
Skinny 2010: Meet Your Democratic Senate Candidates
Investigative reporter John Dougherty wants to introduce himself to Southern Arizona voters. Meet him from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at Hotel Congress. Details here. Democrat Rodney Glassman, who resigned from the Tucson City Council earlier this year to launch his Senate campaign, is opening his Tucson campaign offices, 2900 E. Broadway Blvd., from 1…
Skinny 2010: LD26: The Melvin-Cage Rematch! Plus, Bonus House Races!
Sen. Al Melvin (R) SenateRepublican state Sen. Al Melvin, a retired merchant marine and captain in the Naval Reserve who served as chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and vice chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee in his freshman term, is seeking a second term in Legislative District 26. Democrat Cheryl Cage, who…
Skinny 2010: LD 25 = Big Ol’ Swing District
Sen. Alvarez (D) Efrida SenateDemocratic incumbent Sen. Manuel “Manny” Alvarez, a pistachio farmer from Efrida who has represented Legislative District 25 since winning a House seat in 2002, will fight to keep his seat in this humungous, five-county swing district stretching along the Arizona/Mexico border from east of Yuma to the southeast corner of the…
Planes, Planes and More Planes
I thought I’d share some photos I recently took at my favorite Tucson museum: The Pima Air and Space Museum. Sorry, art world, but in my opinion this place has you beat, hands-down. PASM has got it all: history, science, technology, a huge array of rare and amazingly surreal things to look at (and even…
Arizona Campaign Video Mashup
This week’s cover story details all the candidates running for office in Arizona. While there aren’t that many TV ads (yet) for races for state mine inspector, but we were able to find a couple of candidates who are already out there spreading their video messages across the Internets. Instead of watching each one, we’ve…
Now Showing at Home
Spartacus (Blu-ray); Walkabout; David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer; True Blood: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
Crisis Management
Joseph Mucenski Sr. understands that encounters between police and mentally distraught folks can end badly. That’s because his son experienced that kind of confrontation firsthand. Joseph Mucenski Jr. was a chef at the now-defunct Café Terra Cotta back in 2000. The restaurant was relocating, and the pressure was fierce. There were also girlfriend problems. He…
Guest Opinion
Having lived in Colorado for all of my 59 years, I’ve certainly suffered from immigration. It’s cost me a job or two because immigrants from the East Coast went to better schools and boasted more impressive résumés. I’ve had to compete against well-heeled California immigrants for housing. After these immigrants settle in, they assault our…
The Skinny
What can the National Guard do on the border? … More musicians join Arizona boycott … The state finally hits bottom … Meet investigative reporter and U.S. Senate candidate John Dougherty … and more!
Politics and Open Pits
God help us, ’cause political season is here. In the wake of last week’s filing deadline for political candidates, this week’s cover story offers breakdowns of all the races pertinent to Southern Arizona voters. Check that out here. Over the next five months, we’ll continue to bring you the latest news from the campaign trail,…
Open Doors
Thanks to Sept. 11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, anti-Muslim sentiments remain a reality that members of the Islamic Center of Tucson have to deal with. But Maqsood Ahmad, chairman of the center’s board of trustees, says he and other members of the Muslim community want to change those perceptions with a June…
Soundbites
R.I.P.; from vocals to guitar and back; Nas time; short takes; on the bandwagon
Police Dispatch
Name-calling name-dropper; hope she saved some money for the shrink
Media Watch
UA prof: Al Jazeera an option for those who want the whole story
Time to (Art) Cruise
The Summer Art Cruise on Saturday night will be the final port of call for Platform Gallery. “We’re shutting down,” says Jason Williamson, manager of the 6-year-old gallery, prominently located at the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue. “Not a lot of people are buying art.” For the Summer Art Cruise—when a dozen…
Live
Deadbolt, the Mission Creeps
Animation With Style
While reviewing a film, I like to point out that only a certain subset of the population will enjoy it. For example, if it’s something like Saw or Hostel, then I assume that John Yoo and Jay Bybee will want to see it; if it’s Sex and the City 2, then I urge paleontologists to…
Danehy
One of the most disappointing aspects of the Obama administration is the president’s almost-giddy support for charter schools. It is a head-scratcher on par with his predecessor George W. Bush’s backing of No Child Left Behind. And, based on a mountain of data, it is support that is largely unwarranted. A new Stanford University study—one…
Top Ten in Music
The 17th Street Guitar and World Music Store top sales for the week
Women Scorned
From a sadistic man who haunts young teens’ dreams, to a machete-wielding juggernaut wearing a hockey mask, scary figures have played a vital role in folk tales and horror stories for centuries. Witness La Llorona (Weeping Woman), a Spanish story that has been a part of the culture dating back to the days of the…
Tools ‘n’ Tacos
Don’t be surprised if you see Sir Veza’s Taco Garage locations popping up all over the place within the next few years. I don’t know whether the Flores family—who closed their El Charro Café at Speedway Boulevard and Swan Road to open Sir Veza’s last year—plans on turning the Sir Veza’s concept into a chain…
Top Ten in Books
Antigone Books bestsellers for the week
Musical Spectacle
John Averill, bass player and leader of the MarchFourth Marching Band, says the group’s joyous, freewheeling and funky performances are designed with both adults and children in mind. I’ll go a step further: When I saw MarchFourth, it made this adult feel like a kid again. Named for the date on which it formed, MarchFourth…
Messina
Imagine for a moment that a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Southern California. In its wake, 90 are dead, and 2,300 people are injured. It would be the top story on news channels and in newspapers for days. Imagine that the next day, another tragedy hits the country, with 90 dead and 2,300 injured—but this time,…
Ask a Mexican!
I work at a high school where a significant number of our students are without papers. Two students who I had worked with for four years graduated last June (one from Mexico, the other from Paraguay), and they are now attending community college. They have both read your books. My questions are: What do you…
Ecotopian Bubble
I blame Pauly Shore and his execrable 1996 comedy Bio-Dome for nearly sealing off my curiosity about Biosphere 2, the grandly designed and once-privately funded closed-ecology facility in Oracle. The dome became the butt of many jokes, making me dismiss out of hand the notion that a giant terrarium could teach us anything about human…
‘Sex’ Sucks
The filmmakers behind Sex and the City 2 want you to think the movie is about female empowerment, and how to wield it. It’s actually about totally vacuous assholes wearing clothes that will look idiotic in 10 years. The first film adapted from the HBO series, a show I enjoyed, was a mixed bag. It…
Nine Questions
Mark Ryan
War Stories
Just in time for Memorial Day, Beowulf Alley Theatre has delivered Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart, a peek at the women who found themselves caught up in the controversial conundrum that was the Vietnam War. These stories are certainly worthy of respectful examination and recognition. The play, in fact, is based on true…
Weekly Wide Web
About a month ago, I wrote about Facebook’s new “like” button, which is part of an effort to catalog the most popular content on the Internet. This Facebook tweak grabbed a lot of attention (as did recent concerns over privacy)—but the social-networking site has also made quieter changes regarding how it groups people and their…
Mailbag
Sex-Crime Denial and Disbelief Are Bigger Problems Than False Accusations No one should be ostracized and hounded for the rest of their life for mooning someone, peeing in public or some other minor offense (“Predators and Prey,” May 20). And some of the “stranger danger” warnings and fears are red herrings, a way to feel…
T Q&A
Joe Cox
Amber Norgaard: Long Way Home (Fireweed)
On her fourth release, Amber Norgaard shows a depth and maturity—as both a songwriter and recording artist—only partially realized on previous CDs. It would be easy to file this away as another independent female singer/songwriter project, especially considering the echoes of the Indigo Girls and Sarah McLachlan throughout. But these songs are strong, standing ably…
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Noshing Around
New: Contigo; Dogmales!; A New Beyond Bread; Dry River Company; Nicky’s Week
Band of Horses: Infinite Arms (Brown/Fat Possum/Columbia)
A label change and a long, labored recording process left Band of Horses just about where it started—with an instantly compelling indie Americana sound. Infinite Arms has such a promising start—with the dreamy “Factory,” “Compliments” (the album’s first single) and the fuzzy guitar riff and sing-along chorus of “Laredo”—that Band of Horses’ third album sounds…
The Fall: Your Future Our Clutter (Domino)
I am not one of those rock critics who love everything The Fall does. Over the years, the somewhat-legendary English punk act has vacillated between captivating and irrelevant. The same is true of antihero frontman Mark E. Smith. But the band’s new album sounds as dynamic and engaging as anything they’ve done in the last…
City Week
Le Petit Carnaval; Rockin’ Cinderella; Old Blind Dogs in concert; Bill Carter book-signing and reading
Distrust Thy Neighbor
A wound that healed almost 15 years ago—thanks to the adoption of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the UA and residents of nearby neighborhoods—has been split wide open. “They’re horrible neighbors,” declares Rincon Heights resident Chris Wilke about the university administration. “There’s no reason they have to be bullies.” J.T. Fey, of the university’s…
Road Trip With Kingfisher
The chefs at Kingfisher have embarked on their annual summer roadtrip. First stop: Right here in the Southwest. I popped in last night for the tortilla lasagna, which features roasted red peppers, poblanos, avocado, and herbed goat cheese layered in flour tortillas and topped with salsa fresca. It’s a delight. I’m eager to try the…
