Cover Story
A Letter From Dogpatch
The animal cops call it Dogpatch. This is not said with malevolence, nor to demean the humans who reside in this stretch of unincorporated Pima County for a variety of reasons, ranging from poverty to streaks of ramshackle independence. Rather, it is said simply because Dogpatch is filled with free-roaming canines. The corrective ways of…
George Zoritch, 1917-2009: Reflections of a Post-Diaghilev Star
I had the pleasure of interviewing famed ballet dancer George Zoritch in his Tucson home in August 2008. My piece on the native Russian appeared on Dance Magazine’s online site in February 2009. Zoritch, who died Nov. 1 at St. Mary’s Hospital, will be memorialized at a service at the UA Ina Gittings Building, at…
Congratulations, Carolyn
The Nature Conservancy recently honored several Arizonans for their conservation efforts. Our own Carolyn Campbell was recognized for her work. Congratulations! From the press release: Carolyn Campbell, executive director of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection in Pima County, received The Joseph Wood Krutch Conservation Award for outstanding conservation achievement in the private sector. Under…
You Can Keep Him
Sheriff Joe showed up Monday night as part of the Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism’s “First Amendment Forum.” The Phoenix New Times’ Feathered Bastard Stephen Lemons did a great write-up of the event here. I still can’t figure out what was more odd—Arpaio putting on a Wilbur Wildcat hat as soon as students…
Councilman-Elect Kozachik Brings Donovan Durband Back Downtown
Democrat Nina Trasoff’s term as the midtown Ward 6 councilwoman comes to an end next Monday, Dec. 7, as Republican Steve Kozachik is sworn into office. Kozachik, who doesn’t plan to quit his day job managing the facilities over at the UA Athletics Department, says a prime focus will be the city’s ailing budget, which…
Tucson Episode of Man V. Food Airs This Week
The episode of the Travel Channel’s Man V. Food that takes place in Tucson airs this Wednesday, Dec. 2. Check the show schedule here. I can’t wait to see the show’s star, Adam Richman, take on the O.M.F.G. burger—a 12-patty behemoth—at Lindy’s on 4th. It looks like he made stops at El Güero Canelo and…
World AIDS Day Events
Tuesday, Dec. 1 is the 21st anniversary of World AIDS Day. There are several local events taking place to mark the day. First off, tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 28), BOBFEST 2 takes place at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. This World AIDS Day warm-up is a benefit show for Positively Beautiful, a nonprofit which “exists…
‘Explorer’ Owner Bids for EV Tribune
Could the owner of the Explorer really be the East Valley Tribune’s savior? Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times has some thoughts. My thought? Randy Miller, the Explorer’s main owner dude, may indeed save the Trib in some form, but it’s worth noting that when he arrived in metro Tucson, the Explorer had somewhere…
Fumble!
A remarkable story gets bags of sugar and saccharin dumped all over it in The Blind Side. Numerous sports-film clichés show up in this one, and you can see every turn coming. That’s too bad, because it’s directed by John Lee Hancock, who did a fine job of signing the Declaration of Independence … excuse…
Acoustic Alchemy
Although British band Fanfarlo is named after an autobiographical novella by French writer Charles Baudelaire, all that Fanfarlo’s music really has in common with the 19th-century French symbolist are a love of language and a heightened sense of form. Fanfarlo’s lyrics may be poetic, obtuse and fanciful, but the focus is less on thematic lyrical…
Now Showing at Home
Fight Club: 10th Anniversary Edition (Blu-Ray); Star Trek (Blu-Ray); Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America—A Final Night With George W. Bush
Soundbites
INFORMATION, PLEASE In the Tucson Weekly’s Dec. 24 issue, we’ll feature our annual New Year’s Guide, a handy go-to resource to help you plan how you’ll usher in 2010. But in order to inform our readers of their options, we need to know exactly what in the heck is going on. That’s where you come…
Media Watch
‘Wildcat’ reporter cited for being a bad fan; Parisi leaves KNST for KVOI; Former ‘Citizen’ employee sues Gannett
Live
Tori Sparks, The Sugar Thieves
Canine Common Sense
Each installment of The Dog Whisperer begins with the caution, “Don’t try this at home.” From there, Cesar Millan proceeds to get heavy with animals plagued by a variety of disorders. Some are vicious; others are shy, and many are afflicted with bizarre phobias, such as Kane, the Great Dane who grew terrified of linoleum…
Nine Questions
Connor Woods
Top Ten in Books
Mostly Books best-sellers for the week
Extracting Art
On a winter’s day in 1927, Ansel Adams and a party of friends were hiking in Yosemite National Park. The young man from San Francisco was just 25, but he had started photographing Yosemite at the age of 14, and he was already experienced in the ways of the lens. In his satchel, he had…
Stefan George: Cloth (Self-Released)
In a recent conversation, Stefan George said he’s tried to avoid having his recordings serve as some kind of audio journal. “But that’s pretty much what this has turned out to be,” he continued, reflecting on the intense personal nature of Cloth, much of which focuses on the recent loss of family and friends. While…
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Not-So-Sweet Dreams
You’ll watch with rapt fascination. You’ll laugh at the most improbable things and the most unlikely circumstances. However, you may tire of sitting through a production that runs almost three hours. But if you do go to The Pillowman, the dark and provocative play that’s E+A Productions’ first offering, you’ll exit the theater having had…
Police Dispatch
SECOND BLOW TO HIS MANHOOD WEST CURTIS ROAD OCT. 26, 12:38 A.M. A female aggressor was arrested after assaulting her husband below the belt, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report stated. The man’s wife, who had reported that her husband had assaulted her, said they had gotten into a fight because her husband had just…
Culinarily Diverse
If I could pick one U.S. city in which to take an eating tour, it would be Chicago. From the cheesy, saucy, deep-dish Chicago-style pizza, to the unique Chicago dog, to the controversy over high-brow foie gras (it was banned for a period in the city), it’s one culinarily diverse place. Luckily, you don’t have…
Rammstein: Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (Vagrant/Universal)
With its sixth studio album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Berlin’s Rammstein once again delves into a morbid sonic realm of disaffection, chaos and torture with 11 industrial-metal tracks. The lyrics are in German, thank God, so you can’t understand what sadistic acts vocalist Till Lindemann plans on inflicting upon female anatomy. Packaged with a…
T Q&A
Kelly Griffith
Noshing Around
Monkey Burger Monkey Burger has opened in the old Intermezzo location at 5350 E. Broadway Blvd., Suite 128. It was going to be a second Burger City, but the owners instead nixed their affiliation with that eatery’s parent company, ArtFare. Monkey Burger will, however, donate a portion of its profits to local art programs. Hours…
Weezer: Raditude (DGC/Interscope)
I’ve always found Weezer irksome, but I can’t deny the pleasures of Raditude. Take “Can’t Stop Partying,” one of the tracks destined to be a single and make appearances on soundtracks galore for future teen comedies and hour-long dramas on the CW (if they can shoehorn it in under Leighton Meester’s stranglehold). The song is…
The Theme of the Week
Things for which we should all be thankful: • Tim Vanderpool’s impressive reporting. Be sure to check out his story on the Pima Animal Care Center on Page 18. It’s a heartbreaking piece examining the successes and failures of PACC—and our society as well. The bottom line: We’re letting many, many thousands of animals per…
Top Ten in Music
Toxic Ranch Records top sales for the week
Danehy
This Thanksgiving, I would like to point out that I’m thankful for Guilty White Liberals. It’s nice to have a big, fat, hairy example to help you stay on the path of true open-mindedness and not have to go through life with a stick up your butt. Guilty White Liberals are everywhere these days, making…
City Week
Opera Sampler Plate “Scenes of Myth and Fantasy” 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 1 UA Crowder Hall UA School of Music Speedway Boulevard and Park Avenue 621-1162; www.music.arizona.edu When you jump from a magical fairyland to a giant dragon to a little boy being attacked by math and a vengeful chorus of numbers, chances are you’re…
Super Savings!
Looking to save some money? A little-known window of opportunity is about to open to lower the cost of monthly sewer bills. The savings may not be great, but in this depressed economy, every little bit helps. Earlier this year, Pima County imposed a 45 percent rate increase on sewer charges. (See “Holy Crap!” Jan.…
Pleasure Tech
What came first: The vacuum cleaner, or the vibrator? Hint: The answer may surprise you. In fact, during the Victorian era, doctors used vibrators to assuage women exhibiting signs of “hysteria,” perhaps proving that there is no better cure for neurosis than an old-fashioned orgasm. The film Passion and Power: The Technology of Orgasm reveals…
Serraglio
I first met Irena and her husband, Gene, years ago at the Polish booth at Tucson Meet Yourself, our fair city’s annual celebration of cultural (and culinary!) diversity. My partner had taken Irena’s Polish class in a desire to connect with a Polish-speaking grandfather. Sadly, my partner’s dziadziu died before she could put her new…
Noise Matters
The more Robin Muller thinks about her nightclub getting red-tagged twice since May, the angrier she gets, as she wonders how the city can allow a policy—originally developed to discourage rowdy college parties—to affect a 15-year-old business based on the complaints of one person. Muller and Lisa Oberstar are co-owners of Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness, aka…
Weekly Wide Web
Now that I have your attention, here’s what’s new on the Web. We here at the Weekly Wide Web don’t often deal in “final scores” or “facts,” so we were happy to shut off the UA-Oregon football game while the Wildcats were ahead in the fourth quarter. Needless to say, the double-overtime loss was frustrating…
Guest Opinion
In the early part of the 20th century, the University of Arizona occupied a quaint, two story brick building now referred to as Old Main. Meanwhile, not far away, a number of “sanatoriums” were being built for tuberculosis patients arriving in Tucson from all around the country. The neighborhood north of Speedway Boulevard was nicknamed…
Skrappy’s Revisited
A freight train roars past the open backdoor, barely 50 feet away, on the other side of a graveyard for old wooden pallets. The nearby tracks and abandoned loading dock attest to a colorful past for this old warehouse at 191 E. Toole Ave., built in 1923, but the train can’t drown out the boombox…
Mailbag
Don’t Whitewash the Matter: Americans Are Ignorant! I want to address the Bob Benzinger interview; he is doing a horrible disservice (TQ&A, Nov. 5). When asked, “Do you think Americans lack a good, basic knowledge of foreign policy?” he answered, “Yeah, but a lot of it is cultural, and cultural isolation. But other countries are…
The Skinny
A CITY DIVIDED We’ve been poring over the ward-by-ward breakdown of the Tucson City Council election and have a few takeaways to share. • The most obvious: We live in a divided city. As we suspected as the results came in, Republican Steve Kozachik pulled off his upset of Democratic incumbent Nina Trasoff by driving…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I live in a little village in England in a house that’s 200 years old, just down the hill from a tiny church that’s so old, it was actually built before God said, “Let there be light,” thus proving that Stephen Hawking is a blowhard. The only industry around here, apart from digging…
Abs vs. Eyebrows
Somebody needs to buy Kristen Stewart an ice cream cone with sprinkles to cheer her somber ass up. The young actress, who has turned in good work elsewhere, is killing the Twilight movies with her sullen, hyperventilating lovesick routine. The Twilight Saga: New Moon is much better than its predecessor, Twilight: Suck Ass!, but it…
Shop Local on Black Friday
Twenty nine businesses and restaurants on Fourth Avenue between University Boulevard and Ninth Street are coming together to provide sales and promote local shopping Friday, Nov. 27, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, other shopping areas with specials are Campbell Village, La Placita and Maynard’s Market. All are part of Local First Arizona,…
