Cover Story
My Heart Can’t Even Believe It
Amy Silverman, the long-time managing editor of the Phoenix New Times and a regular NPR contributor, is the author of My Heart Can’t Even Believe It, which recounts Silverman’s journey as the mother of a child with Down syndrome.
Win Wildcat Baseball Tickets
Already looking for ways to keep busy this summer? We’re giving away a pair of tickets to two Wildcat Baseball games this week. The Wildcats are playing Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. on both Tuesday, May 24 and Wednesday May 25. Want to go? Enter below. We’ll call the winners mid day on Tuesday, and…
3rd Annual Sour Beer Fest at Tap & Bottle Showcases More Than 20 Tart Brews
The art of brewing beer sour has taken hold of the craft beer world and no event showcases this more in town than Tap & Bottle’s (403 N. Sixth Ave., #135) annual Sour Fest. Now in it’s third year, the two-day tap takeover of all things tart will showcase more than 20 different sour beers…
Fill Up on Peruvian Seafood Specialties During Don Pedro’s Día de Mariscos
By now, you’re likely feeling that summer heat hit pretty hard. You might not be able to actually get out of town, but you can certainly mimic some seaside eats on Sunday, May 22. Peruvian food truck Don Pedro’s (4101 S. 12th Ave.) will be hosting a Día de Mariscos from 9 a.m. to 4…
Team McCain Dismisses Public Policy Polling Survey
Team McCain spokeswoman Lorna Romero responds to the Public Policy Polling survey that the Range posted yesterday: We put zero stock in a partisan Democrat poll that is obviously aimed at boosting John McCain’s opponents in the primary and general elections. And even if you took this bogus poll at face value, it actually shows…
Check Out Tucson Psych Band The Myrrors’ New Album on Vice’s Noisey
Vice’s Noisey is calling out Arizona psych in a big way right now. To quote their most recent article, which features an interview with The Myrrors’ Nik Rayne: Arizona seems to have a particular quality that creates inspired rock bands with slightly fried edges or more, whether it’s long-running stalwarts like the Meat Puppets or…
Presta Coffee Roasters Hosts Barista Olympics for First Anniversary
You’ve watched your favorite barista in town pour works of caffeine-laced art into a demitasse morning after morning and surely you’ve thought the act could be turned into competition. Well, latte art is just a small part of how baristas from Tucson and Phoenix will vie for Barista Olympics titles at the second-ever event hosted…
With Prop 123 Hanging in the Balance, the Push For Education Funding Begins. #nowitstarts
I would have preferred a cleaner, clearer outcome, a two or three point spread on Prop 123 no matter whether it went up or down, but here we are, stuck in the middle. We’ll know, maybe by Friday, maybe next week, if it squeaked by or just fell short. Meanwhile . . . The next…
Cinema Clips: Tale of Tales
This is one oddball movie. Tale of Tales sort of comes off like David Lynch’s Princess Bride. Italian director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) adapts three fairytales and sort of mixes them together, creating one semi-consistent and relatively cohesive narrative. In one of the stories, John C. Reilly plays a king (he actually looks like the…
Prop 123 Hanging on by a Thread
Prop 123, the controversial school-funding initiative, was narrowly passing when the vote counters went to bed last night—and when I say narrowly, I mean it: Just 8,789 votes separated the Yes votes from the No votes. The measure, which would add $3.5 billion to education funding over the next decade, was the brainchild of Gov.…
Pollster: “McCain in Deep Trouble”
Public Policy Polling has a new survey of Arizona voters out today. Big takeaways: Kelli Ward could give Sen. John McCain a run for his money in the GOP primary, especially if it’s just a race between the two of them; McCain’s approval rating stands at 34 percent, while disapproval is at 52 percent. Despite…
Catch ‘My Heart Can’t Even Believe It’ Author Amy Silverman at Antigone This Friday
Enjoyed last week’s cover story? Author Amy Silverman will be at Antigone Books this Friday, May 20 at 7 p.m. A short excerpt from Silverman’s book: Some of my earliest childhood memories are of walking through the sliding doors of Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Phoenix, feeling a whoosh as the hot outside air mixed…
Kick Off Cool Summer Nights at the Desert Museum With the Full Moon Festival
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s annual Cool Summer Nights program is getting started this Saturday, May 21. This weekend’s festivities include live music by the Napskippers and Mr. Nature’s Music Garden, a free “How to Take Great Animal Photos” workshop, crafts and access to the International Society of Scratchboard Artists 5th Annual Exhibition. This Saturday also marks…
Immigration Rights Group Wants Joe Arpaio Arrested for Contempt of Court in Racial Profiling Case
Migrant justice organization Puente Human Rights Movement is demanding a federal judge to charge Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt of court in a case that proved the sheriff’s office racially profiled and unlawfully apprehended Latinos in immigration enforcement operations. On Friday, U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found Arpaio and three of his top…
Talk Derby To Me
Looking for something fun, new and exciting? Then get your derby on and become a Renegade! Renegade Rollergirls of Tucson, a free roller-derby league, is looking for their next generation of roller girls. Starting Monday May 16, there will be free skills and drills practices every Friday and Monday throughout the summer for those interested,…
Cassandra Needs a Home
We have a very special cat looking for a home! Meet Cassandra. This cutie had a litter of kittens and was fostered by one of our long-time supporters. All of her kittens have found their forever homes and we want sweet Cassandra to spend as little time as possible looking for hers! Her adoption fees…
Cinema Clips: The Meddler
Susan Sarandon gets a fun vehicle she deserves with this fine directorial effort from Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend at the End of the World), who also wrote the clever and sweet screenplay. Sarandon plays Marnie, a New Jersey widow who has moved to L.A. to be near her daughter, Lorie (Rose Byrne), a screenwriter…
Girl Scouts Dedicate Mobile Library at Jacinto Park
Family, friends and community members gathered at Jacinto Park when Girl Scout Troop 108 and Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association leaders to dedicated the new Mobile Library at Jacinto Park on 2626 N. 15th Ave. on Sunday, May 15. “The [troop] selected our neighborhood because of the number of kids that live so close to an…
Impactful
Apropos of nothing—no social or educational import whatever—I have to say I hate the word “impactful.” Even when it sits silently on paper, it hurts my ears. Impactful. Ugh. This isn’t a case of word snobbery. I’m not a card carrying member of the word police. I agree with the statement I first read as…
Zona Politics: A Prop 123 Debate and a Review of the Legislative Session
May 15, 2016 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo. On this week’s episode of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Ahead of next week’s vote on Proposition 123, we have Jason Freed, president of the Tucson Education Association, and Morgan Abraham, the chair of the opposition campaign to Prop 123, debating the pros and…
Something Pro-Education-Funding Folks Agree on, Whether They’re For or Against Prop 123
The battle over Prop 123 rages on in the MSM, on Facebook . . . everywhere. No need to re-argue the issue here. It’s been argued nearly to death by me and others, and by now most people have made up their minds. So far as I know, there’s no polling available to predict the…
Casa Video Top 10
So, what are we watching this weekend? The Revenant Joy Ride Along 2 Krampus The 5th Wave The Lady in the Van The Forrest Point Break Jane Got a Gun Backtrack
‘Happy Payday’ From Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper, eighth wonder of the world, stopped by the Late Late Show earlier in the week to bless us with a new song about what Girls Just Wanna Have. I’m in love.
Guest Opinion: Vote No on Prop 123
This week I resigned from the Arizona Education Association, Retired Chapter. I have been a member of AEA since I began teaching in Arizona in 1980. The reason for this resignation was their support for the deceptively worded and band aid proposition 123. I’ve read it thoroughly and it changes the state’s responsibility for funding…
Letter to the Editor: Support Education, Not Prop 123
Dear Tucson Weekly: As a concerned parent/grandparent, public education advocate and TUSD board candidate, I am very worried that the YES campaign on Prop 123 will dominate the media landscape and push through a dangerous and divisive proposition. How, you may ask, can a public education advocate vote AGAINST school funding? My answer is that…
Best of Tucson: It’s the Final Countdown
Your Best of Tucson ballot is due at the end of the day this Sunday. We know, we know. Procrastination is easy. The survey is long. It can be tough to decide who deserves each award. Celebrating the mom and pop shops that make Tucson is worth the effort. Vote.
Win Tickets to See the Music of the Blues Brothers Live and The Rise of the Sheik
Want to go to the theater this weekend? We’re giving away tickets to two events. First up: The Music of the Blues Brothers Live at the Gaslight Music Hall (13005 N. Oracle Road) We’re giving away tickets to a 3 p.m. showing, though there is also a show at 7 p.m. Next: Rise of the Sheik…
B-Sides: Lil Bobby Jr
Need plans for Friday the 13th?
Border Journey
Experience Amuletos Through the Frontera a project commemorating the journeys of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico Border through the sacred mementos and objects they carry along the perilous crossing.
Editor’s Note
Will they or won’t they?
Rebuilding
On days that are sadder than usual, Cecilia Blurton walks across the street and waters the plants in her old garden. Only a few of them survived the fire that completely destroyed her five-decades-old home this past February.
Dust Devil
In the quiet house on a quiet street after midnight came his unworldly bark.
Art About Town
Positioned in a studio in a bright corner of the old Steinfeld Warehouse, Nancy Charak paints watercolor abstractions.
Record Time: Vince Staples
At some point in the mid-2010s, discussion about the album as a cohesive statement took a turn toward fatalistic: the emergence of streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and YouTube forecasting a future of infinite playlists drawn from infinite sources.
Mirror, Mirror
Check out the Carport Theater’s latest production, The Idea of Beauty.
Police Dispatch
Two Tucsonans were way beyond “inconvenienced” when their housemate—apparently either on drugs or mentally unstable—decided to lock them out (because he thought they were “stealing his teeth”) while wreaking havoc inside.
Letter to the Editor
A reader writes in to say Prop 123, in essence, is Governor Ducey’s compromise proposal with the AZ Education Association (and others) to begin to correct this deficit.
Omitted Aromatics: Jasmine Restaurant and Market
Overall, it seems Jasmine tones down its spices, though for whom, we do not know.
Deliver Us
It seemed director Kevin Johnson, usually quite dependable in his choices of plays and staging, had finally fallen over the edge of reliable producer, plummeting to the dreaded plateau of bad director. Nothing like a technical malfunction to remind us of the importance of all those designers and techies who make a show, well, a…
We All Need African Soul
Join Uzo Nkem Nwankpa and Key Ingredients of African Soul on Saturday.
Cinema Heroes
You must stay through the damn credits until that blue ratings thing shows at the end. It’s a Marvel movie!
Salsa Moves
Get your dance on at Movement Culture
A New Worship: Armon Bizman
Even in religious traditions that stretch back millennia, there’s still room for modern voices.
Police Dispatch
A co-ed walking around in a bathing suit got away with propositioning a male cop—twice—when picked up off the street late at night.
B-Sides: Sister Solace
There’s something quite unique that happens when you get a number of voices working in unison to the same end.
Art of Our Time
Enjoy a provocative and playful discussion on Post Abstract Expressionist painting with Dr. Paul Ivey at Art Now.
B-Sides: Missy Andersen Band
With a powerful voice that lends seamlessly to slow bluesy crooning as much as it does upbeat gospel and soul songs, singer Missy Andersen captivates audiences with a sound influenced by Billie and Ray as much as Ann Peebles.
Refuge for Refugees
A local expressive arts program for refugee teenagers completed its first semester in style last week with a sold-out film screening at downtown’s The Screening Room.
B-Sides: Old Paint Opening
Old Paint might not be the biggest record store in town, but with a tightly curated selection, you’re sure to find something special in the crates.
The Skinny
U.S. Rep. McSally is still not #ReadyForTrump and the Weekly says goodbye to Former Pima County Supervisor Ann Day, who was killed in car crash
Media Watch
This week in media news: Bobbie Jo Buel says goodbye to the Star and Lee Enterprises sees its stock price jump significantly following news of Gannett’s interest in purchasing Tribune Publishing Company.
Danehy
Since Tom is only around these parts every other week, stuff seems to just pile up in his head and then gush forth.
