Cover Story
The Summer Movie Preview!
In the pre-Obama days, a summer movie season seemed like a wonderful thing. But some signs I read at the local teabagging event made it clear to me that the multimillionaire cokeheads who run Hollywood have actually been planning to institute a strict Islamist/Marxist regime under our foreign-born “president” so that they can abort all…
Hey Hey, It’s Water Day: June 1
The great folks of the Empire Fagin Coalition and Save the Scenic Santa Ritas have organized a day of activities on Monday, June 1, to focus public attention on the important role the Davidson Canyon/Las Cienegas watershed plays in our ecology. It’s called Water Day 2009. This fragile and indispensable network of streams, riparian zones,…
Therizinosaur: The Mysterious Sickle-Clawed Dinosaur
While up in the Flagstaff over the holiday weekend, I stopped by the Museum of Northern Arizona to finally see “Therizinosaur: Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur.” A few years back, fossil hunters in southern Utah stumbled across a nearly complete skeleton of a 13-foot-tall clawed and feathered dinosaur that lived 93 million years ago. This…
Condolences to State Treasurer Dean Martin
Our condolences to Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin, whose wife Kerry Martin, 34, died due to complications from childbirth last night. His newborn son, Austin, is fighting for his life.
Tuesday Night Music Club
Tuesday night live music shows are the Ferris Bueller to my Cameron: I know I’m going to have fun and see things I’ve never seen before, but my motivation just isn’t there. Plus, it just feels wrong. I’m content at home on Tuesday night after a nice workout, but it keeps calling me, and calling…
Once Again, Idiocy Prevails
Well, isn’t that fucked up? This morning, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. However, there was a silver lining to ruling: The 18,000 LBGT couples who married in California can stay married. The court, in a 6-1 decision, said Californians have a right, through the ballot box, to change their Constitution—even at the expense…
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm: Mary Roach at TED
In “Riveting Reads” this week, Loft Cinema program director Jeff Yanc recommends a few books, including Bonk by Mary Roach. Yanc says: “This is a highly entertaining (and even educational) survey of sex research around the world. Some of my favorite topics explored include Danish pig insemination, pornography for pandas, arousometers, vaginal upsuck and womb…
Marriage Zealots
If marriage is so sacred, how come Jesus didn’t do it?
Separated at Birth?
Caught the Red Elvises at Plush last night in their new formation—Igor and the Red Elvises—sans the other lead singer and his gigantic balalyka (which I missed). But as I was standing there, I couldn’t help but look at Igor twice and notice an odd resemblance to Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll. Separated at birth?…
Cross Your Fingers, Kill a Chicken or Pray: Prop 8 Ruling Tuesday
The California Supreme Court’s decision on Prop 8 is expected Tuesday, May 26, around 10 a.m. Day of Decision rallies planned in about 100 cities across the country on Tuesday, including Tucson, organized by Rainbow Foot Soldiers and Wingspan. The Tucson rally is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Catalina Park, 309 E. First St.…
Sierra Club Bulletin: Lawmakers Move to Strip Away Environmental Protection
Sandy Bahr, lobbyist for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, does a fine job of tracking environmental legislation and writing a weekly update of goings-on. Here’s her latest weekly update on the budget and other anti-environmental legislation that’s beginning to move through the sluggish Legislature: Hi all! The Senate Appropriations Committee heard and…
Evidently Some Media Got It All Wrong: Citizen Alive
In the Tucson Citi … I mean tucsoncitizen.com, Mark Evans tried to set the record straight on exactly what’s going on at the publication that used to be in a printed format, but is now on a computer-only format, but without all that news stuff … Oh boy. The lawyers claimed at the hearing on…
Local Dogs Taking on Snakes—and Losing
The Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson informs us they just recently treated six dogs in a 12-hour period for snakebite. Yikes. Not good. They asked us to post these tips: What to Watch For:• Puncture marks oozing blood• Rapid swelling and pain at the site of the bite• Rapid breathing, weakness, collapse• Pale gums, drooling…
Congrats, Grads!
Just don’t take MY job!
Space Hot Dogs
In a bad economy, everyone needs more creative advertising, even the good folks at NASA who just wrapped up their You Control the Hubble Contest. With national moods waxing on personal survival, and waning on space high jinks, NASA knows it must woo the Public for more moolah. (The following transcript may have been supplied…
Arizona Veteran Wins Franchise
In this day and age of reduced veteran benefits, it’s good to see one company providing veterans with a little help. Cruise Planners/American Express, a home-based travel agent franchise network, launched their Corps Care veterans program in November. The program provides veterans with more than $2,500 in discounts toward purchasing a franchise. The company also…
Talkin’ Dirty
Some say that cleanliness will get you closer to godliness, but it’s filthiness that’ll score you a new grill thanks to a contest being put on by Barbecue World. The contest—which ends Saturday, July 4—offers a bulletproof excuse to not have to clean up after one’s self, which is a secret desire of any barbecue…
Opening Day for the Tucson Toros! Plus: Bad Bugs Bunny!
It’s quite a night out there! First, provided this rain lets up by then, the Tucson Toros will be playing at Hi Corbett Field for the first time in more than a decade. Sure, it’s Golden League Baseball instead of the Pacific Coast League, but who cares? It’s the Toros at Hi Corbett. Details here.…
T Q&A
After learning to produce video and audio media at KXCI FM 91.3 and Access Tucson, Quynn Elizabeth started passing on the skills. Last year, she founded Girls Making Media, a program teaching young girls to produce public-service announcements which have played on KXCI and can be found at youtube.com/user/womankraft. Girls Making Media was recently awarded…
Voices: No Impact
It’s 8:45 p.m., and I’m pretty sure my mom’s already asleep. The house is quiet, except for the mix CD we’re bumping. Outside, there’s a cool breeze, but it’s dead silent: no cars, no music, no shootings. Guero, my homeboy since I was 12, is falling asleep on my cousin Joann’s bed. One of my…
Media Watch
‘TUCSON CITIZEN’: 1870-2009 It’s over: The Saturday, May 16, 2009, edition of the Tucson Citizen is indeed the last issue of the 138-year-old newspaper. Hopes for a revival ended on Tuesday, May 19, when U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins denied a request by state Attorney General Terry Goddard for a temporary restraining order…
Blackwood and Co.: Bald as Love (Self-Released)
Tucson locals Clif Taylor and Lucas Moseley, veterans of everything from The Pork Torta (where Moseley plays drums and sings) to Chick Cashman (Taylor’s loungy alter-ego), have teamed up for Blackwood and Co., a combo dedicated to putting some rock in their funk, and some funk in their rock. And on their new CD, Bald…
Please Come to Mexico!
When Carlos Leon offered me a shot of tequila, I don’t think he was expecting me to say yes—because then he had to take a closer look at the shot glass that sat next to the cash register. The inside of the glass was coated with dust. “Hold on,” he said. “Let me go wash…
Police Dispatch
DON’T TOUCH MY BITCH, BITCH NORTH SHANNON ROAD APRIL 26, 6:18 P.M. Two female canine owners got into a serious catfight over a dog toy, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The reportee—a woman with a puppy prone to chasing any toy in its vicinity—told deputies that when she took her pet to…
Jarvis Cocker: Further Complications (Rough Trade)
The 1990s are over, which means it’s now possible for something to sound “so ’90s” (in which said appellation means dated, stale and unappetizingly familiar). Since I was never excited by the mid-’90s Britpop resurgence (spearheaded by bands like Oasis, Suede, Blur and, of course, Pulp), I feel no guilt about calling Jarvis Cocker out…
Riveting Reads
When summer rolls around, my mind drifts to pulp fiction: tough-guy lit by Jim Thompson, the zany mystery satires of Carl Hiaasen and the tight crime thrillers of Elmore Leonard. This year, I’ve got my eye on Leonard’s new release, Road Dogs, which catches up with bank robber Jack Foley, last seen headed for a…
Music Top Ten
Toxic Ranch Records top sales for the week
Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing (Favorite Gentleman/Canvasback)
Manchester Orchestra is neither from Manchester, nor is it an orchestra—although many of this Atlanta band’s confessional alternative-rock tunes feature strings, keyboards and bells as ingredients in a broad, symphonic sound. On its second full-length album, Manchester Orchestra layers guitars and more guitars, like flights of angels or squadrons of fighter planes, over dense compositions…
Borrowed Landscapes
It is the colonist’s default position to import his culture rather than give in and go native. I learned this early, growing up in Prescott, a town that for most of its history has tried to be more Midwestern than the Midwest. For several generations, Anglo Arizonans tried their best to grow green lawns and…
Torture Porn
Movies based on the books of Dan Brown suck. I put them right alongside the Alien vs. Predator movies, the American Pie monstrosities and those horrendous Beethoven flicks. Tom Hanks … Ron Howard … please stop, NOW!!! Angels and Demons starts dumb and gets dumber as it plods along. This is a movie where you…
Now Showing at Home
Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (Blu-Ray) PARAMOUNT MOVIES SEE BELOW SPECIAL FEATURES A DVD GEEK FACTOR 8.5 (OUT OF 10) The first six Star Trek films come to Blu-Ray in grand fashion, complete with new features and a shiny look. When it comes to my vote for the best Star Trek film, I have…
Top Ten in Books
Antigone Books best-sellers for the week
City Week
Let’s Go to the Hop! Tucson Lindy Hop 7 p.m., Saturday, May 23 Armory Park 220 S. Sixth Ave. 990-0834 For more than 10 years, Armory Park has been the place to get your lindy on at the Tucson Lindy Hop, and this Saturday, that monthly tradition continues with big-band grooves provided by Tucson Swings!,…
Strange Love
I enjoyed Gigantic in spite of it containing seven elements that I hate. So I guess I was either in a good mood when I saw it, or, I don’t know, perhaps I drink too much. This is one of those indie movies about a strange and affectless young man (Paul Dano) who meets a…
Reverb Revelry
Almost 20 years ago, the Flat Duo Jets pulled off a neat trick: The duo from Chapel Hill, N.C., emerged with a debut album in 1990 that established it as one of the few bands helping to make primal roots-rock a mainstay within the alternative-rock community. Rumbling through breakneck surf-abilly and super-charged country blues, guitarist-vocalist…
Out of Dallas
Great, just what I need: a good barbecue joint just across the parking lot from the gym. But that’s exactly what I have in the form of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a fast-casual chain that has opened in the same shopping center as LA Fitness on First Avenue and Limberlost Drive. Dickey’s got its start in…
The Skinny
PISTOL WHIPPED National Rifle Association members must have been pleased with the turnout at their annual convention last weekend in Phoenix, where roughly 60,000 gun owners celebrated their Second Amendment rights. Firearms enthusiasts appear particularly concerned that the Democrats in Washington, D.C., are eager to take away all of their guns as part of the…
Noshing Around
Summertime Blues VinTabla (2890 E. Skyline Drive; 577-6210)—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 Mountain…
Shameless Self-Promotion
The Tucson Weekly earned seven prizes in the 2008 Arizona Press Club Awards. The winners were announced at a ceremony on Saturday, May 16, at the Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. All of the awards came in “any publication” categories, meaning the Weekly was competing with all…
Danehy
Sonny Vaccaro is one of the most despicable people in the world of sports today, and that’s really saying something, considering the incredible variety of hustlers, bloodsuckers and thugs who permeate and poison the athletic scene. Vaccaro is a long-time athletic-shoe-company pimp who went from Nike to Adidas and then to Reebok. He is best-known…
‘Citizen’ R.I.P.
My friend and colleague James Reel noted on Facebook that he “sheds no tears over the demise of the Tucson Citizen. It should’ve been taken off life support years ago.” I agree with the second part of that statement. Heck, in our very first Get Out of Town! issue back in December 2003, I wrote…
Messina
GiGi Farley says she knows what her future holds. GiGi, the 10-year-old daughter of state Rep. Steve Farley, won’t need to take career-aptitude tests when she gets older. Her career choice is already crystal clear: president of the United States. While it sounds endearing that a young girl wants to be president, GiGi—a self-proclaimed “Earth-saving,…
Sleeping Soundly
It’s the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, and Gary Mackender, the creative force behind the Carnivaleros, is alone in his car, driving on autopilot. Beneath his trancelike demeanor, however, creative synapses are firing in all directions. At some point, he’ll click on a portable tape recorder that will capture newly created…
Guest Opinion
The cover of the April 8, 1966, issue of Time magazine posed the question, “Is God Dead?” More recently, The April 13, 2009, issue of Newsweek magazine boasted a cover story entitled, “The End of Christian America.” Well, the answer to Time’s question in 1966 was certainly no … but what of Newsweek’s claim? Are…
Live
Cloud Cult, Say Hi, Ice Palace
Ask a Mexican!
My wife and I have an argument going on about pirates. And since you are the source for all things Mexican, I thought I’d ask: While I know there were Spanish and Portuguese pirates back in the early 1600s and 1700s, were there ever any Mexican pirates? Not pirates from Spain who pirated in Mexico,…
Soundbites
A COMPILATION WORTH ROPIN’ A busy album-release season marches on this week, with two new local discs being feted with requisite live shows. You can read all about the Carnivaleros’ new one in Jim Lipson’s profile on Gary Mackender on this very page. The other album dropping this week is a compilation. Tucson has a…
Mailbag
A Letter From Someone Who Has Issues With Arizona Public Media I just got over a bout of nausea from reading the gushing self-compliments you repeated from a KUAT Channel 6 bureaucrat regarding their TV shutdown (“KUAT Experience Indicates the Digital Transition May Not Be So Bad,” Media Watch, April 23). Once I was clear…
9 Questions
Matt Rendon
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
From Trials to Weddings
As she anxiously waited for her extreme DUI case to be heard, a fashionably dressed 22-year old woman covered her face fearfully with her hands. Near her in the courtroom, an older woman fidgeted nervously with a notebook as her husband talked about his DUI case with an attorney. At the same time, a 70-year-old…
Hilarious Catastrophe
Backstage comedies—the epitome of the genre being Michael Frayn’s Noises Off—usually document the self-destruction of a show during a performance. Tom Dudzick’s Don’t Talk to the Actors hilariously chronicles a collapse way before the curtain rises. The show in question is so doomed that it begins to fall apart the minute the actors show up…
Winged Invader
David Wrench reaches into a palo verde tree and loosens a cardboard trap wired to its lower branches. He does this quite gingerly, because directly below the trap spreads a prickly pear cactus, Opuntia wilcoxii to be exact, and its thorns look truly unforgiving. The proximity of plant to trap is not a coincidence. Rather,…
More From Mars
This week’s new batch of Mars photos taken by the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab’s HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been posted, including this shot of Martian dunes. Photo by NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.
Poor Arizona
Great video I found on Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. The comments bring it all home, too. From Rex: All of the above is apparently too much for Bruce Ash, Al Melvin, Vic Williams and other anti-education activists to fathom. They would rather posture and preen, screaming about bloated bureaucracies and the supposed wonder cures of…
‘Weeds’ Brings Me Back to Cable
I was doing just fine without cable movie channels. When gas hit the roof last year, I cut all those extra channels and decided I could wait, rent the seasons I missed or catch them on the Internet. But the new season of Weeds on Showtime has lured me back, so I can get plugged…
Are You Ready for the Summer?
This is a shoutout to parents as thrilled as I am that summer has arrived. This is the last day of school for the 2008-2009 TUSD school year. Whew. We survived. I’m going to take advantage of this space and thank Ms. Quaranta and her team once again at Rogers Elementary. Ms. Q, as we…
Flandrau Closing
The UA’s Flandrau Science Center will close its doors on Monday, June 1, after fueling imaginations of all ages for more than 30 years. I try not to chime in with my opinion very often, but this totally sucks. I know the economy is a cruel mistress, and that no one is immune, but when…
It’s Funny Because It’s True
Given some of the court documents that suggested that Lee Enterprises was helping Gannett plot the end of the Citizen last summer, I thought this week’s “Random Shots” was right on the money. Nice job, Rand Carlson!
