Cover Story
Smugglers’ Paradise
From the idyllic shelter of Peck Canyon outside of Nogales, Edith Lowell reflects on what it’s like to share her beloved ranch with violent drug-smugglers, illegal aliens and automatic-weapon-toting bandits. Her opinion might surprise. “We actually feel safe here at the house, I guess because anybody who is a bad egg has always gone on…
Latkes for Gaza; New Beyond Bread; Nordic Food; and More!
Irony, unlike revenge, is apparently a dish best served hot … and with a side of sour cream: Several local groups will be selling traditional Jewish potato pancakes this weekend to raise funds for efforts by the Middle East Children’s Alliance to help Palestinian children. More information here. Jasmine Market, the awesome little Mediterranean grocery…
Shadegg Embraces Dumb GOP Tax Talking Points
TNR’s Jonathan Chait works over Rep. John Shadegg on unemployment benefits: Shadegg is expressing — I was about to call it an “idea” but it’s more of an impulse or a prejudice — common among conservatives, which is that rich people having more money is always good for the economy. Rich people use their money…
Artistic Range: Judy O’Toole-Freel
“Casino Diva,” by Judy O’Toole-Freel, is on display in her one-person exhibit continuing through Dec. 18 at the Oro Valley Council Chambers, 11000 N. La Canada Drive.
‘Epic Meal Time’ Take on Breakfast (Featuring Jack Daniel’s Syrup)
This series of videos seems likely to end with one of the cast members choking on some sort of cured-pork product, but seeing as everyone is still alive and able to ingest a large number of calories, Epic Meal Time are making a “Breakfast Fortress” this week, including a bacon plate and a Bailey’s whipped…
The Future of Immigration Reform
The Daily Beast forecasts immigration politics in the GOP-controlled Congress: If the GOP votes as expected this month, Steve King will be in charge of immigration legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. For proof that a meteor hit D.C. on November 2, listen to the ideas running through the head of the likely next…
From the “Absurdly Talented” Files: Synchronized Swimmers
It turns out that Cirque du Soleil’s water-based shows in Las Vegas have upped the ante for the rest of the synchronized swimming world. Many credit the Las Vegas shows for influencing the new direction of the sport to include more daring acrobatic moves. Using jumps, double back flips and handstands, choreographers are spicing up…
Tucson’s Everyday People: Downhill Skateboarding
Produced by Joey Silvestri Tommy Noble and Ian Fitzpatrick discuss downhill skateboarding in the Tucson area, touching upon the precautions taken by skaters and the way they view their role in the community. Joey Silvestri is a professional downhill skateboarder who races internationally.
Picture This: TED Talk ‘Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work’
Jason Fried has a radical theory of working: that the office isn’t a good place to do it. At TEDxMidwest, he lays out the main problems (call them the M&Ms) and offers three suggestions to make work wor
Apparently, Ruth McClung Decided to Finally Concede
The political tradition of conceding is a little strange to me, especially considering there’s no particular consequence to conceding or not conceding. The vote-counting goes on regardless, so the standard “I called my opponent …” bit ends up being the equivalent of the “good game” handshake at the end of a Little League game. We…
Arizona Democrats Call on Brewer to Restore Transplant Funding
Arizona legislative Democrats are keeping up the pressure on transplant funding after a man denied a bone-marrow transplant died this week. The press release: Mark Price, the first AHCCCS patient to come forward after he was denied a bone marrow transplant due to Republican budget cuts has died. “We are heartbroken at the loss of…
You Might Want to Check Your Friends’ Credit Reports
Let’s say something terrible happens, and one of your close friends passes away. According to some experts on the debt-collection industry referenced in The Washington Post, you might be getting a few unpleasant phone calls: The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to revise the protocol surrounding two of life’s touchiest subjects: debt and death. The…
A Very Bieber Christmas
A gift idea for all of the Justin Bieber fans out there: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (in 3-D) will open as a sneak preview at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Tickets to see the film and receive a gift pack are on sale now. Each gift pack includes a ticket to the movie…
New START: Tea Party Targets Lugar? And Could GOP Be “Beyond Redemption”?
The New York Times profiles Sen. Dick Lugar, whose support for the New START treaty with Russia has him in the sights of the Tea Party: … the New Start treaty, under which the United States and Russia would pare their nuclear arsenals and resume lapsed mutual inspections, [is] a signature foreign policy goal of…
New Microroastery and Café Opens in South Tucson
A new coffee roaster and café named Café Aqui has opened at 1317 S. Sixth Ave. The café is owned and operated by Oliver Ray, who played guitar for Patti Smith’s band for a decade and currently plays with local band Greyhound Soul. He discovered a passion for coffee while living in Guatemala, where he…
What’s Sen. Jon Kyl’s Future?
Roll Call looks at whether Sen. Jon Kyl is running for reelection in 2012: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl has repeatedly demurred when pushed to reveal whether he will run for re-election in 2012. The Arizona Republican appears amused by rumors that he is considering retirement and perplexed at being questioned about his political plans…
‘The Simpsons’ Bite Harder on the Hand That Feeds Them
Last week, the Internet was abuzz over a brief visual joke on “The Simpsons” poking fun at another division of their corporate parent, Fox: This week, they went back to the same well for another joke, albeit this time in a slightly less-inflammatory manner: While I was a somewhat obsessive Simpsons fan for a stretch,…
Should the Government Provide Non-Emergency Health Care to Illegals?
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 7 a.m., the Arizona Inn will welcome Dr. Richard Carmona, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States. Carmona will host a debate on whether the government should proivde nonemergency health care to illegal immigrants who cannot afford it. For: Kavita Patel, Director of Policy for the White House Office…
HUB Restaurant and Creamery Coming to Downtown
This place is opening at 266 E. Congress St. early next year. I just spoke with Kade Mislinski, who’s opening it with his girlfriend, Jenny Rice, and he didn’t need to go much further than mentioning the bourbon-cornflake ice cream to grab my attention. Or perhaps you’re more of the strawberry-balsamic-vinegar ice cream type? He’ll…
Stop Being So Selfish, and Drink Some Wine Already
You can refrain from drinking wine and help no one, or you can drink wine at dozens of local restaurants while helping the Tucson Community Food Bank feed the hungry. We think you know what to do. More information here.
Review: Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria at the TCC Arena
If you read the press material or listen to the people in charge of “Alegria”, which will be at the TCC Arena through Sunday the 28th, the show is about the conflict between generations or something like that. Why there has to be a plot at all is a little mystifying to me, since it…
Dark Chapter
The cinematic adventures of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 improve slightly over the previous installment, but the film is not anything resembling a triumph. It ekes by on the strength of its cast while serving as a transition to what looks to be a powerful conclusion. This chapter is…
Welcome to Brewercare
Flor Felix still finds it hard to believe that her husband was denied a liver transplant last week. Francisco Felix, a Laveen resident who suffers from hepatitis C, was prepped for surgery after a family friend passed away and earmarked the liver for Felix—but the family discovered that AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program, had cut…
City Week
$#!@ JUST GOT REAL; Conversations With Arizona Leaders: UA President Robert Shelton; Experimental and Innovative Works in Water Media; 2010 World AIDS Day Celebration
Tale of Endurance
In 2003, thrillseeker Aron Ralston bolted out on his own to explore Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah. It wasn’t his first time canyoneering in Bluejohn; in fact, as he told two travelers he encountered that weekend, he considered it his second home. But this trip was different. Ralston put all of his weight on a…
The Skinny
Why doesn’t Sen. Jon Kyl want to keep an eye on Russian nukes? … State Sen. Al Melvin doesn’t want you to read this story … Saying goodbye to Libertarian David Nolan and attorney Art Chapa … and more!
T Q&A
Sara Trowbridge
Now Showing at Home
The Kids Are All Right (Blu-ray); Metalocalypse: Season 3 (Blu-ray); The Twilight Zone: Season 2 (Blu-ray); The Expendables (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)
Police Dispatch
No property, no propriety; That’s not how it works; Great pretender
Ho Ho Ho! Oh No!
Hold on to your holly berries, folks: The holiday season is officially upon us. If you’re looking for a little festive entertainment that doesn’t traffic in dancing nutcrackers or miraculously repentant old misers, then put down that turkey and pay a visit to The Santaland Diaries and Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!, now…
Smokin’ Good
When it comes to barbecue, there are many schools of thought. Dry? Rubbed? Sauced? Chopped? Pulled? The list goes on forever. Since Tucson isn’t exactly in the heart of traditional barbecue country, barbecue shops here have a little more leeway to find their own signature style. R&R Bar-B-Que Company does a little bit of everything,…
Mini Mansions: Mini Mansions (Rekords/Ipecac)
The psychedelic power pop of Mini Mansions can be likened to homemade bread. While some music is like store-bought white bread—uniform in shape and taste—Mini Mansions make music that’s thick and delicious, if sometimes chewy, lumpy and unpredictable. Miniature pop symphonies issue from this album, the band’s full-length debut—an under-the-radar, eight-song EP came out last…
Noshing Around
A Few Thanksgiving Options; Black Food on Black Friday; Nur Restaurant; Kegs and Eggs; Open and Closed
Howe Gelb and a Band of Gypsies: Alegrias (import) (Eureka) and Giant Sand: Blurry Blue Mountain (deluxe edition including Valley of Rain) (Fire)
For a guy who always seems to move slowly and deliberately, Howe Gelb sure gets around this old world, creating and re-creating himself with a shifting cast of cohorts and collaborators that befits a restless creative spirit. Case in point: these two new releases (three, counting the reissue). Recorded largely in Spain (as well as…
Electronic Auteur
Some of today’s underground electronic artists are not simply DJs, musicians, MCs or producers. To define what they do, we turn to the world of filmmaking to borrow the term “auteur,” which in French means “author” and is used to describe a movie director whose creative vision encompasses everything, from direction and scriptwriting to overseeing…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I am a mutt. My father’s father was an illegal immigrant from Mexico. My mother’s father was an illegal immigrant from Ireland. My surname is Mexican and is usually mispronounced by gabachos and pendejos alike. I look more Irish than Mexican. As my father never spoke it at home, the only Spanish I…
Soundbites
Welcome to Thanksgiving in Tucson; Mixing it up; The return of disco; Benefit, old-west style; Tiny universe, huge sounds; Short takes;On the bandwagon
Top Ten in Music
Toxic Ranch Records’ top sales for the week ending Nov. 21, 2010
Nine Questions
Laura Kepner-Adney
Live
Social Distortion, Lucero, Frank Turner: Rialto Theatre, Monday, Nov. 22
Weekly Wide Web
Tiger Woods, Get Off Twitter!; The week on The Range; Comment of the week; Best of WWW; and more!
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week ending Nov. 21, 2010
Southside Showdown
By night, kennels at Tucson Greyhound Park are alive with clanking cages, as trainers trot their dogs out to the track. But by day, this complex of squat buildings becomes a chain-link fortress, barricaded against unwanted outsiders. With good reason. For nearly two years, the track has been breaking the law. And for at least…
Happy Happy Joy Joy
It’s Thanksgiving! Here’s the stuff for which I am thankful: • Leo W. Banks’ cover story! “Smugglers’ Paradise” is a startling look at an area rather close to metro Tucson that is suffering from violence and lawlessness due to drug-smugglers. Check it out here. • Commenters at TucsonWeekly.com! Our last two cover stories—”Your Tax Dollars…
Media Watch
Media outlets gear up for donation drives
Danehy
Whatever happened to truth in advertising? People and institutions say and do odd things these days, and they try to cloak them in such obvious euphemisms. While it is certainly their right to do so, it is also the responsibility of everybody else to recognize and point out that behind the lipstick is a pig.…
Inside Ethnic Studies
These two facts have always bothered filmmaker Eren McGinnis: Fewer than six in 10 Latino adults have a high school diploma, and Latinos constitute one of the fastest-growing prison populations in the United States. So when McGinnis heard about the success of TUSD’s Mexican-American Studies Department at sending Latino students onto college—and that Arizona legislators…
Marks on the Soul
George Welch is in a gallery at Pima Community College West doing what he’s been doing for the last 40 years: teaching students how to paint. Twenty large Welch works are on the walls, part of the two-gallery exhibition Retrospective: George Welch. (Raices Taller is showing his small works on paper.) So for this class,…
Serraglio
A few months ago, in a quixotic effort to ward off the evils of procrastination, I conscientiously brainstormed a possible schedule for upcoming column topics. In the process, I discovered that I would have a column published on Thanksgiving Day. Almost immediately, I was struck with dual compulsions: First, I felt a strong urge to…
Damage Control
We all know the drill: A javelina or a bobcat or an angry rattler pops up in somebody’s suburban yard, and holy hell breaks loose. Law enforcement swoops in; TV crews pump the hysterical homeowner; and our nonhuman perp is trucked off to parts unknown and—odds are—an unhappy fate. These animal removals are sometimes conducted…
Cadence of His Words
Two weekends ago, Steve Orlen presided under the ramada in his backyard. The noted poet and longtime UA writing professor had been diagnosed with lung cancer just a short time before, and he’d been sent home to die. The weather was balmy and bright, and for three days, a stream of poets, friends and family…
Mailbag
What About Some Tucson Turkeys?; Danehy’s Opposition to Medical Marijuana Proves He’s a Jerk!; A Comment From a Reader at TucsonWeekly.com
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books’ best-sellers for the week ending Nov. 19, 2010
Guest Commentary
These are some pretty heady times for primary education. The Obama administration rolled out its “Race to the Top” program to improve primary education, while, along with Congress, he virtually terminated a promising voucher program in Washington, D.C. The citizens of Arizona voted to keep the “First Things First” program. The state Legislature has outlawed…
Jazzy Classics
No more denial: The season for celebration has arrived, and dozens of concerts and special musical events—offering a plethora of playlists and styles—will populate our dusty burg and sweeten our dry desert air for the next five or so weeks. But before your dance card gets filled, you might want to check out this weekend’s…
Tucson Weekly TV Goes Backstage at “Alegria”
We went backstage and watched rehearsals for “Alegria”, the Cirque du Soleil production at the TCC Arena starting tonight and running through Sunday the 28th.
The Secret Behind the Honey Lick Martini
In the second installment of our Secrets of Tucson Bartenders series, Amber of Harvest Restaurant shows you how to make their Honey Lick Martini. Harvest is located at 10355 N. La Canada #141.
Tucson’s Everyday People: Cutting Through the Stigma
Produced by Joshua Morgan Rollerblading is oftentimes stigmatized in the action sports community, and because of its lack of media exposure, the general public doesn’t understand what it is to the extent of what they know skateboarding, bmx, and other action sports to be. In this video produced by UA journalism student Joshua Morgan, four…
Tucson’s Everyday People: Art is Life
Produced by Diana Sokolova Erin Wilson is a young artist and photographer here in Tucson, Ariz. Wilson talks about how art influences her life in this audio slideshow.
