Cover Story
Eye of the Storm
Your first checkpoint will be just north of Tombstone, on a grinding slope where Border Patrol agents break their chitchat to give you a bored once-over and nod you past. Folks aren’t exactly clamoring to smuggle drugs or illegal immigrants southbound into Cochise County these days. Just beyond that checkpoint, as the desert hardens into…
Colbert’s Newest Difference-Maker: Stephen Keith of Tombstone
Stephen Colbert visits Southern Arizona to find his latest Difference-Maker. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Difference Makers – Stephen Keith colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage
Is She Back?
We hear a certain former state lawmaker/city councilwoman might be returning to Tucson after leaving for Prescott a few years ago…. Details to follow….
At Long Last, the ‘Citizen’ Can R.I.P.—We Hope
The Tucson Citizen can rest at last. U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins ruled today against state AG Terry Goddard’s request that the Tucson Citizen print version be lurched back to life. You can read the ruling here.
Rankin: Pole Tax Unconstitutional
It looks as if Ward 6 Councilwoman Nina Trasoff’s proposal for a tax on strip-club admissions is petering out. In a memo to Trasoff and her fellow council members, City Attorney Mike Rankin reports that singling out adult-oriented businesses for a specific tax would not likely stand up to constitutional challenge. As for Trasoff’s suggestion…
Meghan McCain on Colbert
Should Meghan McCain have licked Stephen Colbert’s face? The daughter of Arizona’s senior senator visits the Colbert Nation. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Meghan McCain colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage
‘Citizen’ Debacle Update: Ruling Tomorrow
Mari Herreras just called in to say that U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins says he will rule tomorrow morning on the whole Citizen mess. (If you don’t know what in the hell I am talking about, keep on reading The Range.) So, yeah. Tomorrow. More as things develop.
Hair-Raising stuff
Hats off to the guys at Dezign-N-Fades at 2618 N. First Ave. for making my Monday just a little more awesome. I was just checking their Web site to make sure I had it correct for a listing in next week’s issue when I came across their slide show at the site, and I nearly…
Farewell, Red Sky
I just got off the phone with Steven Schultz, owner of Red Sky New American Cuisine and Catering at 2900 N. Swan Road, Suite 100, and he confirmed that he closed the eatery Sunday. Schultz had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for Red Sky months ago, and he said today that it recently became…
Artistic Range: Lazlo Layton, Holly Roberts and Elizabeth Ernst At Etherton Gallery
These are photographs of Lazlo Layton’s Deardorff studio camera, which he used to shoot the work he’s now showing at Etherton Gallery alongside works by Holly Roberts and Elizabeth Ernst. “Well Told Tales” continues through June 6. Etherton’s Hannah Glasston tells The Range: Laszlo Layton restored this gorgeous mahogany Deardorff studio view camera (it has…
Prospective ‘Citizen’ Buyer Says Showdown Is Set for Monday Morn
We just received this from Stephen Hadland, the CEO of the Santa Monica Media Company, the company whose offer to buy the Tucson Citizen was turned down by Gannett: The Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed suit in Federal Court against Lee Enterprises and Gannett Corporation just before 5 PM Friday afternoon. The Attorney General…
Police Story: Karaoke at Woody’s
In this week’s Skinny, Nintzel wrote about what really boils down to the power of karaoke. Most of the time, a karaoke experience is about how much everyone in the bar, including the singer, has had to drink. This karaoke tale, however, is about two local politician pals going to a local gay bar for…
Friday Roundtable: Interviewing UA Provost Meredith Hay
Q&A with UA Provost Meredith Hay from last night’s Arizona Illustrated, after the jump. Her most terrifying comment: After losing more than $900,000 a couple of weeks ago with Jay-Z and company, ASUA may be allowed to do another stadium show!
Friday Roundtable
We talk about the state budget, the new border e-fence, and Nina’s proposed pole tax, after the jump.
‘Citizen’ Debacle Update: Goddard Intervenes!
The Citizen debacle just got loonier, with the news that state Attorney General Terry Goddard is seeking a court order to keep the paper publishing. A jilted prospective buyer thinks Gannett is acting inappropriately by turning down his offer and choosing to (mostly) shutter the paper instead. So he asked Goddard to intervene … and…
Congratulations, Dr. Smith
The Range made it out to Biosphere 2 last night for a reception to honor Peter Smith of the Lunar and Planetary Lab, who will be receiving his doctorate this weekend. Joaquin Ruiz, Dean of the UA College of Science, said that Smith, who was the principal investigator on the Phoenix Mars Mission, may have…
VinTabla Grill Closes for the Summer
VinTabla (2890 E. Skyline Drive) — which was recently renamed VinTabla Grill — will close for the summer, says executive chef Bruce Yim. “The economy is a big part of it and we’re coming up to the slow part of the season,” said Yim, who also heads up the eatery’s sister restaurant in Marana, Dove…
Citizen Closing
The Tucson Citizen will be printing its final edition tomorrow, according to the soon-to-be-ex newspaper. More details as they come. Update: Here’s the Gannett statement. No word on job fates yet. We’ve bolded some interesting parts. McLEAN, VA — Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) today said it will cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen.…
War and Pieces: Grijalva on Afghanistan Strategy
Congressman Raul Grijalva released a statement today on a supplemental appropriations bill to fund the Afghanistan war. Grijalva has problems with Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan: “For the past several weeks, I, along with other Members of the Progressive Caucus, have held a series of conversations on the security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The six-part…
Congrats to UA Press Authors: Awards Time!
The UA Press brought home a half-dozen awards from the Arizona Book Awards. Here’s the press release from UA Press: (May 13, 2009. Tucson, AZ) From poetry collections to outdoor recreation titles, University of Arizona Press books were a big hit with judges at the eighth annual Arizona Book Awards, sponsored by the Arizona Book…
“A” to “B” and back again
The downtown branch of the Pima County Public Library has made some changes: The circulation desk has been moved 10 feet over to where the computers were, and the computers have been moved 10 feet over to where the circulation desk was. Also, the book drop is now twice as far from the entrance. Are…
Beauty in the Muck
Almost two years ago, Nanette Robinson of ZUZI! Dance Company received an unexpected visit from Hoshin Gupta, a UA professor of hydrology. Science not being Robinson’s usual line, she was puzzled that he sought her out. Gupta’s research, after all, tends toward creating mathematical models that predict flash floods. But he’s also a musician. He…
Peaches: I Feel Cream (XL)
Sometimes when a musician is included in a film soundtrack, the confluence of scene and song becomes an indelible cultural reference point—like that moment in Lost in Translation when Bill Murray and Scar-Jo are in the Japanese strip club while Peaches’ “Fuck the Pain Away” blares. It was a perfect context for Peaches—who is all…
T Q&A
T Q&A with LuisCarlos Romero-Davis
Melting Ice, Ravaged Forests
When Gwyneth Scally got an artist’s residency in Newfoundland two summers ago, she was mesmerized by the stark white icebergs off the coast. Each year, in late spring and early summer, building-sized icebergs “calve”—break off—from the gigantic ice sheet encircling Greenland and drift west toward Canada’s eastern shores. Anywhere from 400 to 800 icebergs turn…
Bob Dylan: Together Through Life (Columbia)
The AARP stage of Bob Dylan’s career has developed into a period as consistent, purposeful and excellent as any other phase of his twisting path. Together Through Life, Dylan’s third studio album of this decade, continues his streak of top-quality records with new flourishes—in this case, the Tex-Mex accordion from Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo. This…
Cautious but Competent
Hong Kong Restaurant opened about six months ago, as far as I can tell (the restaurant has no Web site I can find, and it’s gotten almost no press) in what could be an unwise location: a couple of doors down from the well-established Seri Melaka, in a strip mall near the northwest corner of…
Live
Carrie Rodriguez, Romantica
Chain and the Gang: Down With Liberty … Up With Chains! (K)
Calling underground music icon Ian Svenonius a political creature is an understatement, as is the description “musical chameleon.” Past Svenonius-fronted bands during the last 20 years include Nation of Ulysses, Scene Creamers and Weird War; Svenonius’ latest celebration of the absurd is Chain and the Gang. Chain and the Gang’s introductory manifesto, Down With Liberty…
9 Questions
Katie Rogers
Trials of the Road
An adept finger-style guitarist, natural singer and expressive songwriter, acoustic blues artist Paul Geremia has spent the last 40 years playing folk- and country-blues, creating a personal style influenced by his heroes, such as Howlin’ Wolf, Son House and Skip James. Geremia’s a true journeyman, too, spending about six months out of the year driving…
Top Ten in Music
Zia Records top sales for the week
Voices: Clinical Addiction
This is a story from 110º: Tucson’s Youth Tell Tucson’s Stories, an annual publication that features the best work by the youth participating in VOICES Community Stories Past and Present Inc. For more information, visit www.voicesinc.org. For nearly eight years, my mom has been going to methadone clinics in different locations around Tucson. About four…
Guest Commentary
According to a recent headline in The Wall Street Journal, “There’s No Pill for This Kind of Depression.” The New York Times adds, “Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived?” The Globe and Mail admits 10 of the 11 recessions since 1941 have been preceded by a spike in the price of oil, and the cover of…
The Skinny
A HUNDRED MILLION HERE, A HUNDRED MILLION THERE … Arizona got one step closer to a budget last week, when the House Appropriations Committee approved a Republican spending proposal on a party-line vote. Some of the Republicans who supported the budget—we’re looking your way, Rep. Vic Williams—say they want to see significant changes before a…
Media Watch
‘STAR’ DEPARTURES LEAD TO REASSIGNMENT OF VILLARREAL The latest casualty of the daily-newspaper death spiral: local movie reviews in the Arizona Daily Star. On the same day that Phil Villarreal’s summer-movie preview graced the cover of Caliente (the Star’s weekly entertainment tabloid), word broke that Villarreal had been moved from the cinema beat to general-assignment…
Out of the Park
I totally get why drunk people watch baseball, but it’s not my favorite sport. So I look forward to watching a baseball-themed movie like I look forward to the third Wednesday in April. I mean, I don’t have anything particularly against it; it’s just not a big event for me. But Sugar exceeded my low…
Soundbites
STAND BY TO DEBAUCHE Another week in the Old Pueblo, another couple of local CDs being released. Calle Debauche began life as a trio in 2006, and released an album, Potemkin Carnival, in that formation. Since then, they’ve lost one member and gained three more. This week, they release their second album, this one self-titled,…
Ask a Mexican!
My wife is from Michoacán state. We’ve bought a home in the small town of her birth. I love everything about the quiet little place. Even her mother is kind to me, as if I were her son. The food is incredibly good. The puerco is killed that morning, and the taste is like nothing…
O’Sullivan
Summer is here. Well, it’s spring, really, but in this perverse climate, real spring only lasts one month—it’s called April. By May, the temperatures start inching up; everyone goes into instant denial that it’s this friggin hot already; and people gird their loins in fear of the whopping electric bills they’re anticipating from those pirates…
Noshing Around
Desert Rain Café The Tohono O’odham Community Action project has opened an eatery called Desert Rain Café in Tohono Plaza on Main Street in Sells. Much of the menu takes its inspiration from ancient cooking traditions, and a number of the ingredients help naturally control diabetes, a disease especially prevalent among the Tohono O’odham. How…
Not-So-Special Delivery
Next Day Air is one of those types of movies I dread writing about. It’s not all that bad, but it isn’t anything all that special, so it’s a bit of a task to piece together a full-length review. However, since it was the only major release opposite Star Trek, I have no choice. Warning:…
Danehy
It has been shown, through scientific study and real-life observation, that intelligence doesn’t automatically correspond to excellence in other areas, including such diverse disciplines as spelling, writing and, for that matter, common sense. That first part keeps me from screaming every time I hear about some home-schooled kid winning a spelling bee. That doesn’t mean…
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Indigenous Works
According to scholars, the original denizens of the Americas migrated from Asia, possibly as far back as 40,000 years ago. Over the millennia, they fanned out across the New World, forming a panoply of cultures and, in parts of what are now Mexico, Central America and Peru, sophisticated urban civilizations. These societies built monumental palaces,…
City Week
Stuffing the Food Bank International Museum Day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, May 18 International Wildlife Museum 4800 W. Gates Pass Road 629-0100; thewildlifemuseum.org One of the latest fads for rich pet owners is stuffing a beloved pooch or kitty after death. To the International Wildlife Museum, it’s neither new nor a fad: It’s…
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books best-sellers for the week ending May 8, 2009
Quick Kicks
It’s a scene we’ve all seen: “GOOOAAAAL!” shouts the TV announcer as the soccer player scores, rips off his or her shirt and runs around the field. While the Kick It 3v3 National Soccer Tour may not include TV announcers and overly excited shirtless athletes, there will be plenty of excitement to be had when…
Police Dispatch
SENIOR STALKER? NORTHWEST SIDE APRIL 19, 3:59 P.M. An elderly woman’s unrequited love for a younger man may have driven her to unlawfully enter his residence, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The victim explained he was not positive that someone had actually entered his residence, but the house key formerly hidden on…
That’s What She Said
As Tucson City Council members wrestle with a troublesome budget, Ward 6 City Councilwoman Nina Trasoff has her eye on a sexy new revenue enhancement: A fee on cover charges at local strip clubs. In a memo fired off to City Manager Mike Letcher last week, Trasoff asked the city staff to probe whether a…
Now Showing at Home
Wendy and Lucy OSCILLOSCOPE MOVIE B SPECIAL FEATURES C DVD GEEK FACTOR 6 (OUT OF 10) BusinessWeek recently ranked Portland, Ore., as the unhappiest city in America. The protagonist of this film probably wouldn’t disagree. Wendy (Michelle Williams), a young woman en route to a new home in Alaska, stops in Portland for some rest…
Free Passes
Parking at the airport is part of the curse and cost of traveling. But if you’re one of 115 members of the Tucson Airport Authority, you never have to worry about paying for parking—because it’s always free. In reaction to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Tucson Weekly asking who receives free parking…
Feel the Heat
Some items worth noting this week: • If you’re a local music fan, and you have not yet filled out your Tucson Area Music Awards (TAMMIES) ballot, stop what you’re doing, and head on over to TAMMIES.com to do so! This round of voting ends on Wednesday, May 20. Also, keep your eyes open for…
Not So Wise
Items placed on the Tucson City Council consent agenda are typically routine matters lumped together and adopted simultaneously without discussio Therefore, it was somewhat unusual when on May 5, an issue concerning ParkWise, the city’s financially troubled parking-management program, was pulled off the consent agenda and postponed for two weeks. The delayed item involves a…
Mailbag
Send letters to P. O. Box 27087, Tucson, AZ 85726. Or e-mail to mailbag@tucsonweekly.com. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number. Letters must include signature. We reserve the right to edit letters. Please limit letters to 250 words. Mankind Is Doomed Because of Overpopulation Catherine O’Sullivan nailed it (April 30). I have been…
