Cover Story
When Everything You Care About is Gone
Ebtesam Awad was a stay at home mom in Damascus, Syria. She took care of her three children while her husband, Ahmad Alradi, drove a taxi all over Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. He made a good living. They owned two cars and two houses with picture windows, animal-print couches and soft beds. They were friends…
Getting Real: Breaking Into Reality TV
Recently, the Hanson Film Institute at the UA partnered with Film Tucson to discuss Film and TV. They’ve talked about everything from how to fund and independent film, to how to get an agent. In their next panel they will finally be tackling the beast that is reality TV. In light of recent news, it…
Casa Video Top 10
Is anyone else in complete shock that it’s already mid November? Maybe it was the election hubbub, or perhaps the workload that falls into our newsroom in the Fall, but both my internal clock and the temperature reading in my car have me feeling like it’s actually late August. If you have time for a…
Laughing Stock: Laugh at the Patriarchy
“I don’t want to be disrespectful,” said Alisha Ratan recently in a Phoenix New Times interview, “but a lot of misogynistic humor gets a free pass. I think we felt more and more like, ‘I feel less safe as a woman onstage, and in the audience.'” In response, Ratan and a colleague, Meredith D. Howell,…
T.H.R.E.A.T. Watch: Lock Harry Reid Up! Lock Him Up! Lock Him Up!
A post-election shot across the bow of the First Amendment. Kellyanne Conway: “I find Harry Reid’s public comments and insults about Donald Trump and other Republicans to be beyond the pale. . . . And he should be very careful about characterizing somebody in a legal sense. He thinks — he thinks he’s just being some…
Quick Bites: Five-Star Thanksgiving at Four Palms
OK, we’re just gonna say it: If we possessed the financial means to have gourmet chefs cook a scrumptious, high-end, three-course meal for us this Thanksgiving, especially in an incredibly luxurious setting like a breezy, second-story patio overlooking Tucson from the foothills, or a spacious, wood-paneled, indoor dining room with high, painted ceilings—we’d, um, do…
The Weekly List: 29 Things To Do in Tucson in the Next 10 Days
Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo. Pick of the Week: Slut Walk Slut Walk: Fight rape culture, victim blaming and street harassment at the annual Slut Walk! Curious about the name? As organizers put it on their Facebook event, “In using the word ‘slut,’ we are not dehumanizing ourselves, but rather humanizing…
In The Flesh: Joey Peña’s Birthday Party with Greyhound Soul and Naked Prey Last Saturday Night
Pabst Blue Ribbon flowed with the steady stream of drunken humanity that moved through Tucson’s Che’s Lounge last Saturday night. Others stood close to the band to watch and listen, and some danced. It was a birthday party for storied Tucson musician and treasure Joey Peña (his 50th!). Spirits were high. The even more storied…
Send Some Love to Your Local Library
Now, you no longer have to adore your local library in private. You can send a love letter to the your favorite library about anything that swoons you—the old book smell, the never-ending shelves or the cool librarian that always helps you out. After four years of Love Letters to Tucson, a project started by…
Anti-Trump Rally at UA
I’m a day late writing about the rally against Trump on the UA Mall Monday night, and four decades too old to be an age-appropriate witness to the student-organized, student-led and student-centered gathering, but that won’t stop me from saying a few words about the event which, for me, ranged from positive to inspiring. I…
Nine Questions: Pike Romero
Tucson DJ and hip hop enthusiast Pike Romero has been doing a lot with Tucson’s hip hop community, focusing on local artists and for some time. From B-Boys and B-Girls to producers and DJs, Romero likes to curate interesting, and at times off beat, events and hip hop shows in Tucson. Romero is also creator…
Cinema Clips: Hacksaw Ridge
Mel Gibson directs his first movie in a decade and—surprise—the sucker bleeds. It bleeds a lot. As a director, Gibson stands alongside the likes of Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg and Peter Jackson as a master of body horror. Yes, I will go so far as to say his latest, Hacksaw Ridge, is an all out…
Quick Bites: Beer Garden of Eden
NEW INFUSION- Nacho Pilsner! We hit our German Pilsner with a mixture of peppers and we kid you not, it tastes like convenience store nacho cheese! On tap at 4PM today! . We will also have the U of A basketball game on the TVs starting at 8PM…Cheers! A photo posted by Pueblo Vida Brewing…
Song of the Day: ‘Going Home’ by Leonard Cohen
I came to Leonard Cohen admittedly late. It seems we took a long break from each other … But I first heard heard his Songs of Leonard Cohen LP in 1969. It was a youth group from my church and the leader put on “Suzanne” twice as we wrote on a legal pad how we…
Trump Human Rights Erosion And Termination Watch (THREAT Watch)
I can’t just sit by and do nothing. As worried as I am about the fate of this country under a President Trump, I have to do something. Actually, I have to do a number of somethings. The question is, what? This post is a start. It’s the beginning of what I plan as a…
Laughing Stock: The Switch, Laughing Liberally, Kathleen Madigan and You
THE SWITCH, REBOOTEDThe Switch, our Best of Tucson™ Staff Pick for “Unique Comedy Show Format,” returns on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 8:30 p.m., after a brief hiatus to change venues and regroup accordingly. Fans will benefit from “the switch” to the Screening Room. Now they can enjoy comfy theater seating, great acoustics and direct-to-your-seat delivery…
Bella Needs a Home
Hi, I’m Bella! I’m a pretty 1.5-year-old girl and I need a new home. I was transferred to HSSA from a different shelter so they don’t know a lot about my history, but what they do know is that I love to play, run and jump! I’m looking for an active home where I can…
Over, Under, Around, and Through LOVE
As life would have it, on election night I celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my husband, a white Jewish man whose mother lost much of her family in the Holocaust. My husband, because he loves me, refused to let me look at any news websites or social media that night. Instead, we gorged ourselves…
Cinema Clips: The Monster
This minimalist horror film mixes elements of Cujo, Alien and Ghostbusters. I include Ghostbusters because the title monster looks a lot like a greasier version of the demon dog Rick Moranis transformed into in the comedy classic. There’s nothing funny about how badly a road trip goes for Kathy (Zoe Kazan) and daughter Lizzy (Ella…
Quick Bites: The Scoop on The Scoop
In almost any other city, it’d be crazy to plan the grand opening of your awesome new ice-cream shop in November. But this is Tucson, the land of the 70-degree [insert winter holiday of choice], where maybe it’s actually a good strategy to debut your shop now, when you’ll probably have the ice-creamery-opening market cornered.…
Casa Video Top 10
What a week it’s been. While it’s true that I advocate for downtime every weekend, I think a lot of people could benefit from a little R&R this weekend. Go on a hike (it’s finally cool enough!), grab some tacos and hit up Casa Video for some popcorn and a little escapist entertainment. Here’s your weekly…
A 2nd Act: A Story of Survival
When cancer strikes it can seem like the end of the world. With a mother that has been diagnosed with cancer not only once, but twice I completely understand the effects that it can have not only on the person, but on the families as well. With cancer, times can seem rough, at some of…
Quick Bites: Stay Away From Denny’s This Thanksgiving
There are plenty of reasons you might not have a big, home-cooked Thanksgiving meal planned with your loved ones this year. But if you’re going to dine out, do not become one of those holiday-themed Hollywood movie characters who’s supposed to epitomize “depressing and/or pathetic and/or quirky” by patronizing a 24-hour chain restaurant or Chinese…
Police Dispatch
Foothills Area 10:24, 5:25 p.m. A woman’s ex-boyfriend (and her son’s father) broke into her trailer and stole a bunch of her son’s clothing, possibly angry that she’d kept his speakers after their breakup—and effectively seeking to hold the son’s clothing “hostage” till he got his stuff, a PCSD report stated. The reportee called the Sheriff’s…
The Skinny
A Tale of Two Taxes Tucson voters may be asked to raise sales taxes for roads, cops, firefighters and rugrats next year County officials are still counting votes in this week’s election, so it might be a wee bit early to start talking about 2017. Nonetheless, the Tucson City Council is already looking at asking…
Ask a Mexican
Dear Mexican: I found your column about Mexican men and spousal abuse, and my question is: Is there any help for this ever ending? I’ve been with a Mexican man, who is also an abuser of alcohol, although it has slimmed down some. He gets angry out of the blue and starts hitting on me…
Total Makeover
Lots of people, especially bar regulars, don’t usually embrace a big change, but when it comes to Putney’s Pit Stop out on 6090 N. Oracle, well it’s more than just accepting change, it’s about celebrating change, too.
The Sounds of the Saguaro
Kimi Eisele swears that a saguaro speaks. Or at least whispers. She should know. She’s spent much of the last year or two standing with saguaros and listening quietly to the whispers that float through their spines. “These are the voices of the desert,” Eisele says. In the spring, during an artistic project called Standing…
Vanya and Vodka
If you go—and you really should go—you might want to fortify yourself with a neat shot of vodka. You’ll be both more and less comfortable in the presence of the sometimes ridiculous, sometimes maddening, sometimes just really, really sad, gaggle of folks featured in the Rogue Theatre’s fine production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. They…
Cinema Q&A: Director Alex Cox
Director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy) will be on hand at this week’s Loft Film Fest for the world premiere of his new film, Tombstone Rashomon, which tells the story of the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral from multiple perspectives. Cox, who shot the film at Old Tucson Studios, spoke to the…
Full-Blown War
Mel Gibson directs his first movie in a decade and surprise the sucker bleeds. It bleeds a lot. As a director Gibson stands alongside the likes of Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg and Peter Jackson as a master of body horror. Yes, I will go so far as to say his latest, Hacksaw Ridge, is an…
Smells Like Teen Spirit
On Oct. 27, Atlanta rapper Miles Park McCollum—better known as Lil Yachty—sent out a fairly typical missive to his 588.2 K (or so) Twitter followers: “Everyday I wake up it’s a new old person giving there [sic] comments on me in an interview nobody will watch lol.” Among the vanguard of young rappers, few have…
Dance Away
Bank Notes is shorthand for one of Tucson’s most exciting new music scenes. The name is shorthand for a community of electronic acts, a DJ night, a promoter of ongoing events—including a rave-like show this week—and a cassette-only Tucson-based record label. Bank Notes was conceived by Club Congress employees Michael Hayes, 26, and Otis Baldwin,…
Noise Annoys
Tucson has been in a kind of psychedelic wave in the last few years. After the garage rock revival of the 2000s—with bands like The Resonars and The Okmoniks, with the former signing to (and influencing) the mighty California label Burger Records toward the end of the decade—the next natural stop in that evolution was…
Know Your Product
There’s a ton of beauty in Darlingside’s melodies. There’s so much autumnal melancholy in there too, that when slivers of joy happen to slip through the strings and vocals it’s almost unwelcome. That’s crazy sounding, we know, but it’s that same quality that made, say, Simon and Garfunkel or Nick Drake so incredible and timeless. So,…
Editor’s Note
Last Thursday, I found myself at Sue Johnson’s house with two take-out boxes of nachos from La Cocina and a bottle of red wine. The food landed in the kitchen with other pot-luck items, and the wine on the table outside with a small crowd of almost 20 other friends and family. This was a…
High Cost
Another marijuana lawsuit lit up last week as plaintiffs sued the state and the Arizona Department of Health Services for the cost of obtaining a medical marijuana and caregiver card. First time applicants must pay a $150 fee for a medical marijuana card and caregivers pay $200 in addition to the cost of a doctor…
Danehy
Bobby Chacon was a winner and a loser and I loved him dearly. He was a winner and a loser of many things—of world boxing championships, of untold millions of dollars, and, worst of all, of his beloved wife, Valorie. Despite being maybe 5′ 6″ and maybe 125 pounds, he was a street fighter as…
Police Dispatch
San Xavier Beat Oct. 24, 2:50 a.m. Right in the middle of brazenly shoplifting hundreds of dollars worth of cigarettes from a convenience store, a man casually told the store’s clerk he’d share a few of them—apparently presuming his pathetic bribe was so generous that the clerk wouldn’t call the cops, according to a Pima…
