Cover Story
Summer Survival
Raspado Paradise Although they are available pretty much all-year long, there’s nothing like a raspado at the height of summer. Just looking at one of these treats—with shaved ice, syrups, ice cream, fruits, nuts and more—cools the body down (at least that’s my experience). An Internet search will show you more than a dozen places…
Fire Closes Guadalajara Original Grill Temporarily
Sad news in the local Mexican restaurant world, the Guadalajara Original Grill located at 1220 E. Prince Road will be closed indefinitely due to a small fire in its storage room on Thursday morning. The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation, according to the press release. Guadalajara Original Grill originally opened in 2002, and has won Best…
Calexico is Recording Their New Album As We Speak
Calexico has been posting photos from Mexico, and it looks like they’re back in the Old Pueblo to start recording their follow-up to Algiers. Here’s a photo from their Facebook page:
Help Levar Burton Kickstart ‘Reading Rainbow’ For The Children
The world hasn’t been the same since Reading Rainbow was cancelled. The critically acclaimed children’s television series last aired in 2006, but was revitalized as an educational interactive book reading and video field trip app for the Kindle and iPad. That might change. Levar Burton and his Reading Rainbow team need your help to bring the…
Baseball Fan Catches Bat With One Hand, Saves Baby in The Process
Your browser does not support iframes. Tyler Flowers accidently lost his bat during Monday’s game against Cleveland Indians. Fortunately for Flowers, White Sox fan reached for the bat as it bounced off the dugout and zeroed in for someone’s baby. If she doesn’t get recruited by the team and a movie starring Christopher Lloyd based…
Poet Maya Angelou Dead at 86: ‘Love Liberates’
Maybe my fondness and love for Maya Angelou was because the poet’s words always came into my life at the right moment. Her words and life story have always inspired me, my life and the life of other women I know. Everything that came out of her mouth seemed like a lesson we better listen…
Strange Education Bedfellows
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com Here’s a line you rarely see, from a New York Times article, Unlikely Allies Uniting to Fight School Changes: “Conservative lawmakers also sponsored a bill, co-written by the teachers union . . .” Things are getting weird in Education Land. The article should be required reading for journalists who write about…
This $8 Air Conditioner Could Drastically Improve Your Tucson Summer
It’s 104 degrees outside and your air conditioner is broken. What do you do? Luckily, the innovative folks at HouseholdHacker have devised an AC that will save you some money and give the kids something to do this summer vacation. This $8 AC is so crafty it would make Macgyver jealous. All you’re going to need is a…
Check Out This Jenga-Playing Cat
Cats posse many talents that involving knocking object off surfaces. Alan Palesko has 34 videos of his cat Joe doing nothing. But this latest video of Joe playing a mean game of Jenga takes the cake.
Help Fix Judy Fox’s Grill, Y’all
Accidents happen all the time, and sometimes we aren’t that lucky. Fortunately, Judy Fox is one of the lucky bicycle accident victims. But she didn’t escape death without a few battle scars. Fox, 22, was t-boned on her bicycle at approximately 2 p.m., Thursday, May 22, near East 17th Street and South Fifth Avenue. The…
Did Linkin Park Snitch on Sublime With Rome at KFMA Day?
It’s not a KFMA Day Festival if there isn’t a controversy before the headliner hits the stage. My news feed was full of friends and family snapping selfies and grumbling about weather conditions on Saturday, May 24, at the outdoor music Fest in the Kino Stadium. The enthusiastic tone took an abrupt turn when Rome…
Backyard Bobcat
I’ve had the occasional bobcat visit my backyard before, but never a leisurely 20 minute stay, complete with the cat watching me as I took multiple photos from a safe vantage point behind a window. I first sighted her (I think it was a her) as a quick vertical blur in my peripheral vision, followed…
The NEPC 2103 Education Bunkum Awards
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) is a treasure for those of us who see “educational studies” touted in the media, often by reporters who don’t know enough to evaluate the quality of the research. NEPC scholars take a careful look at those reports and point out what are often sloppy research practices, sometimes intentional,…
AZ Illustrated Politics: Miranda’s Retirement, Judge Slaps City of Tucson for Withholding Docs, Sunnyside Recall & More
On this week’s penultimate episode of AZ Illustrated Politics: Andrea Kelly sat down with former California congressman Frank Riggs to talk about why he’s joining the crowded field of Republicans seeking the governor’s seat. Then Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Lea Marquez Peterson and Arizona Education Network President Ann-Eve Pedersen sat down…
Neko Case Shuts Down MTV After Sexist Tweet
Here’s another example of why you shouldn’t mess with Neko Case. The official Playboy Dot Com Twitter page mentioned Case to Tim Grierson’s album review. The tweet referred Case “is breaking the mold of what women in the music industry should be.” Thanks to Carly G Marie, here’s a screen grab of their conversation: Unfortunately, the review wasn’t any better: For…
Desert Museum Dessert Night
The Desert Museum is hosting their first ever Desert Dessert Night from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 24. The Museum partners with Tucson Originals restaurants and KOLD to bring a sweet (pun intended) cook-off using Sonoran Desert ingredients. Fifteen Tucson Original restaurant chefs will be concocting their original dessert offerings and the Museum will…
Keyboard Cat Covers ’96 Tears’
Thank Keyboard Cat it’s Friday, ladies and germs. The immortal orange tabby covers Question Mark & The Mysterians’ 96 Tears, and it’s glorious. I wonder if we can book Keyboard Cat for Mari’s son’s Bar Mitzvah on Saturday?
City Manager Miranda’s Resignation: Council Reaction
Tucson City Council members say they are not surprised to hear that City Manager Richard Miranda is stepping down on July 31, so Miranda’s departure appears to have been in the works for a while. Miranda’s resignation comes as the city is wrapping up yet another tough budget year. The city had a budget shortfall…
Could It Be True? Public Schools Outperform Private Schools?
A couple of education profs out of University of Illinois maintain that math achievement of students in public schools, meaning schools run by school districts, is higher than the achievement of similar students in private schools. (Note: The article is in Education Week which is subscription only, so the link may not bring up the…
City Manager Richard Miranda to Resign July 31
City Manager Richard Miranda announced today that he’s going to leave the position effective July 31. Miranda, following time as the city’s Chief of Police, became Assistant City Manager in 2008, then ascended to City Manager on an interim basis in 2011, taking the job permanently in 2012. The text of his memo to the…
Adam Sandler Confesses That ‘Blended’ Was a Paid Vacation
Photo courtesy of YouTube. Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler co-star in their third romantic comedy together. We are all guilty of enjoying Adam Sandler’s movies, and there’s no shame in that. Sandler’s latest film debuts this weekend, so most of you will go see this film out of habit or because of your undying loyalty…
Tucson vs. Sierra Vista on Food Newtwork
FoodNetwork.com Last night Food Network’s – Food Court Wars, featured some hometown food truck folks. Tucson’s own, Costa Rican food truck, Kadooks, took on Sierra Vista’s, Asian fusion – food truck, J’s Kitchens, to earn a year rent free spot in the food court in Sierra Vista’s mall. I am a food freak, so I…
Cinema Showdown: Evil HAL and Poor Torgo Edition
According to the weather forecast, there’s not one day this week that’ll spill over into triple-digit territory. That’s good news for those of you that enjoy outdoor cinema screenings, like tonight’s presentation of the 1963 Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant film Charade at Cinema La Placita, 110 S. Church Ave. The charming combo of Grant…
Another Rosemont Snag: Ocelot Trouble?
In this week’s print edition, I reported on Rosemont’s Copper’s problems with acquiring a Section 404 permit under the Clean Water Act, which is key to getting approval for its plans for an open-pit mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson. More bad news for Rosemont today: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…
Throwback Viral Thursday: Neil deGrasse Tyson on Bill Gates’ Wealth
Neil deGrasse Tyson is wealthy when it comes to knowledge, and I’m sure he’s rolling in that Cosmos money. But he’s not below bending over and picking up a quarter. Who isn’t? Here’s three minutes of Tyson explaining how wealthy Bill Gates actually is. Considering it’s Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d share this excerpt that has…
Let’s Play CharterLand!
How do “open enrollment” charter schools end up with selective student bodies? Watch the CharterLand video and find out. (You can download the game board here.)
Did Jennifer Lawrence Get Life Advice From Miley Cyrus?
The Internet’s beloved Jennifer Lawrence has been gracing late night talk shows with her presence to promote the latest film opening soon. The 23-year-old actor shared drunken stories from her last Oscar appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Lawrences admits to getting so drunk she puked on some rich person’s balcony, and she felt…
National Park Service Encourages Saguaro Wilderness Movement
The NPS Harpers Ferry Center published this Youtube video encouraging Tucsonans to join the revolution … a stewardship revolution. The video includes narrations by the late, great Mardy “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement” Murie. There are great shots of our desert wildlife and local busy intersections. Join the residents of Tucson as they mobilize to protect their neighboring community,…
Time to Start Paying Attention to the TUSD School Board Election
With the contentious Sunnyside Unified School District governing board recall election behind us, the next school board election to pay attention to is Tucson Unified School District. If it’s anything like the TUSD 2012 election, voters will have another cast of characters to choose from (See “The District’s Dozen,” Sept. 20, 2012). Ten potential candidates…
Bizarre Republican Congressional Twist On Free Meals For Kids
I know the heartland is filled with self sufficient, rural folk who don’t believe in government handouts. At least that’s what Republicans tell me, so it must be as true, as true as their contention that urban dwellers just want to live on the dole. So why this? In the House Republicans’ proposed agriculture and…
Wills Meets Reinhardt
When he formed Cow Bop a little more than 10 years ago, guitarist Bruce Forman saw it as an opportunity to bring together two of his passions: jazz and Western music. “I’ve always been a straight ahead jazz and bebop player throughout my career. And, not a lot of my musician friends knew it at…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’m a half-mexicana, half-gabacha working as an appointment scheduler in a medical office. I’m one of a handful of schedulers there that speak Spanish. I’ve noticed in the years I’ve been working in this field that about seven to eight times out of 10, when a Spanish-speaking patient calls, gets one of the…
Editor’s Note
I’m assuming you’re actually able to read this column this time around, despite last week’s minor printing fiasco in this space, which left this page an unrecognizable haiku-like mess. While I’m sure most readers could still find what they were looking for in the issue and no one really missed out on much in the…
Fun for All
You will not believe this, but the current show at the Gaslight Theatre is a jaw-dropping departure for the eastside melodrama house. Instead of free popcorn at every table, there’s free beer. The nuanced original script, an Ibsen spoof, is laced with cutting political commentary. The main character is a towering drag queen with a…
Cecilia on Congress
It’s an interesting coincidence that St. Cecilia Studios is located right next door to the Chicago Music Store on West Congress Street, because the famed retailer is where it all began for St. Cecilia owner Steven Tracy. “I bought my first guitar from Chicago Store when I was a teenager and within a few months…
The Skinny
KIEHNE’S MISFIRE Republican congressional candidate Gary Kiehne, a rough-around-the-edges rancher who is one of three candidates in the GOP primary that will decide who will face incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick this November, got national attention this week after he repeated a right-wing Internet myth about mass shooters and Democrats. Becky Pallack of the…
Now on Shelves
Glorious By Jeff Guinn G. P. Putnam’s Sons $26.95; 416 pages; fiction OK, so since he’s already written about Wyatt Earp (The Last Gunfight), Bonnie and Clyde (Go Down Together) and Charles Manson (Manson), former Fort Worth Star-Telegraph investigative journalist and book editor Jeff Guinn might as well create his own attractive bad boy. He’s done…
Twin Trouble
In 2014, we have already seen three doppelganger movies. There was the beautiful, paranoiac Enemy, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal playing two guys who may or may not be the same man. Then there was Ed Harris playing the exact double of somebody’s dead husband in the dreary The Face of Love. Finally, there was Kermit the…
Media Watch
Jess DeVaney can stack the accomplishments from his radio career favorably next to pretty much anyone in this market. He was a fixture in Phoenix radio in the ’70s and ’80s, had successful stints in markets such as Kansas City and San Diego, received recognition for his work from the Country Music Hall of Fame,…
On the Rise
With the subculture surrounding Fullerton, California’s, Burger Records, and its mainstream exposure reaching critical mass last week with a feature in The New York Times, it makes sense that Burger act Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel’s profile within the underground music community is exponentially higher than ever. But the band’s growing success has as…
Primer
Greg Brown WHO IS HE? Greg Brown’s winding career has earned him a couple of Grammy nominations, but his singular style—earnest, humorous and gorgeously poetic—has never been for the mainstream. A songwriter’s songwriter and a musician’s musician, Brown was born in the Hacklebarney section of southeastern Iowa to a guitar-playing mother and Pentecostal preacher father.…
Miming to the Music
The artistry of mime and the beauty of piano come together for an improvisational duet that must be seen and heard to fully comprehend. That’s the best way to describe “The Inner Journey: Mime, Music and Story,” a two-man show set for this weekend at the University of Arizona’s Eller Dance Theatre. Longtime mime Rick…
Live
One of the greatest thrills from watching a band like the Pork Torta at a venue like Che’s Lounge is the aspect of subversion. Sure, the band’s been around forever and its fans were in attendance, but as Johnny Rotten once said regarding the Sex Pistols’ sole American tour (which bypassed punk hot spots like…
Water Pressure
The proposed Rosemont Mine suffered another setback last week when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the plans for the open-pit mine do not properly compensate for the potential environmental damage it would cause to fragile Southern Arizona waterways. As a result, Rosemont Copper’s ability to obtain a key water permit to begin mining…
Nine Questions
Stephanie Fries has been a voice on the local radio scene for more than two decades. Fries has deejayed for Power 1490 Tucson and 94.9 MixFM and is currently at 96.1 KLPX. The Pennsylvania native hosts KLPX’s half-hour public access show, Lifestyle Tucson, at 8 a.m. on Sundays. Fries’ interview subjects have ranged from famous…
Foothills Flavors
There are two general schools of thought when it comes to “theming” restaurants and menus. Either you decide on a defined theme, say, Korean-Mexican fusion, and you build a solid collection of dishes around that idea. Or you select your ideal clientele—casual, upscale, super-fancy, etc.—and build a menu around price points, borrowing from different cuisines.…
Noshing Around
Bad Day to Be a Cow Wednesday, May 28, is National Burger Day and local restaurants are jumping on the celebration bandwagon. Zinburger, 6390 E. Grant Road and 1865 E. River Road, will feature a “Beef and Brie” burger with truffled aioli. And 47 Scott, 47 N. Scott Ave., is running a special with beer…
Soundbites
A STRANGE KIND OF LOVE Apparently, it’s “write about shows happening on Friday the 23rd” week here at Soundbites, since three of the events mentioned in this space this edition fall that night (one of which is being held at a waterpark, more on that later), but hey, sometimes that’s how it goes. Life is…
Police Dispatch
THAT’S BULL FOOTHILLS AREA APRIL 28, 12:40 A.M. A local couple found a fully grown bull on their front porch in the middle of the night, and it apparently tried to attack the deputies who were sent to investigate, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The couple said they had been awakened by…
Danehy
I don’t get it. I just don’t. I was watching the late local news the other night; they had a segment apparently aimed at my heart, but it hit somewhat lower and around the back. (Pardon the quick detour, but I have to mention that we sometimes watch the Channel 9 news at 10 p.m.,…
Pedersen on Sports
Like a kid with Christmas or a fanboy with Comic Con, each year I hope upon hope that the World Series of Poker will get here just a little bit sooner than the year before. Same goes with me writing about my infatuation, make that obsession, with this festival of flops, flushes and folded bluffs.…
Racism Reference Point
In Scone Palace in Scotland hangs a portrait of two young women. Painted in 1779, it features Elizabeth Murray and her cousin, Dido Elizabeth Belle. What is uncommon about it is that the mixed-race Dido is depicted on even ground with her white cousin, not at her feet or placed in the background. If these…
Jump in the Poole
Marijuana is a messy business these days. It’s growing very, very fast, and with that comes confusion. Across the nation, there is a need for medical marijuana information on every front. Patients, doctors, business owners, investors, lawmakers, city and state and county officials, advocates and many other subsets of our society crave solid, credible information…
Crash! Bang!
The resurrection of one of Tucson’s great sporting venues took a huge step in late April when the racetrack now known as Tucson Speedway entered into a deal with NASCAR to have its paved oval be part of a national competition circuit. Starting in July, races each weekend at Tucson Speedway will award points that…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’m a half-mexicana, half-gabacha working as an appointment scheduler in a medical office. I’m one of a handful of schedulers there that speak Spanish. I’ve noticed in the years I’ve been working in this field that about seven to eight times out of 10, when a Spanish-speaking patient calls, gets one of the…
