Cover Story
2009 TAMMIES Winners!
The Big Stuff Band/Musician of the Year Ryanhood (R), 39.3 percent Runners up: 2. Golden Boots (C), 25.4 percent 3. Cosmic Slop (R), 21.6 percent 4. Fourkiller Flats (C), 13.6 percent Up-and-Coming Artist(s) of the Year Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta (C), 33.1 percent Runners up: 2. Race You There (R), 24.9 percent 3. Triple…
Daily Show Visits Phoenix
Well, Democrats Linda Lopez and Dave Bradley did their best to play along, but the segment isn’t up to Daily Show standards, especially considering the wealth of material the Arizona Legislature generates. And what’s with the establishing shot of Tucson? The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c <td style='padding:2px 1px…
Serenity Now!
We may not have the Buffy the Vampire Slayer sing-along to look forward to anymore, but Joss Whedon fans can get their fix Thursday night at The Loft Cinema, which will be hosting Can’t Stop The Serenity 2009, a fundraiser for Equality Now! and the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona. Besides a showing of Whedon’s…
Following The Money: City Council Fundraising
It appears that Ward 6 Councilwoman Nina Trasoff has been hitting the fundraising trail. Trasoff, who had been trailing Republican opponent Steve Kozachik in the money chase, has closed the gap, according to campaign-finance reports filed last week. Trasoff reported raising a total of $47,351 as of Sept. 8 and had $33,002 left in the…
We Suspect This “University” May Have Been Joe Sweeney’s Alexander Hamilton Evening Law School
Glenn Beck makes up more bullshit.
Now Obama Is Gonna Have To Invite Kanye and Taylor Over For a Beer
ABC News tweets the news that Obama called Kanye West a “jackass” for his ass-clownish behavior at the VMA awards! And then reports that it was an off-the-record comment. Politico reports: Now, an ABC spokesperson explains to POLITICO what happened: In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a…
C’mon, Trust Us
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports that just 29 percent of Americans believe the media generally get the facts straight.Note: An earlier version of this post reported that a new Pew Research Center poll showed that 92 percent of the public believe the media always get the facts straight.
PCIC Comes Out Against Public Safety First Initiative
The Pima County Interfaith Council formally announced that it would be opposing Prop 200, the Public Safety that cops, firefighters, developers and real-estate agents are pushing on the November ballot in the city of Tucson. City officials say the initiative, which forces the city to hire more cops and firefighters, would cost at least $50…
Planned Parenthood Sues State Over New Abortion Restrictions
Planned Parenthood Arizona has filed suit over a new set of abortion restrictions passed by the Arizona Legislature earlier this year, which included specific instructions regarding what a physician has to tell women seeking abortions and specific criteria that a judge must consider before allowing a minor to have an abortion without parental consent, as…
Nothing Special
When Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed some portions of the GOP budget earlier this month, she said she wanted lawmakers to come back for a special session to fix elements of the spending plan. But we’re hearing that Republicans, who are increasing frustrated with Brewer, are balking at coming back to fix anything before the next…
E.L.F. Topples Towers
The Earth Liberation Front has toppled two radio towers in the Seattle area. Reaction to the “vandalism” is predictably silly, with right-wingers saying, “Hang those damn hippies from the nearest still-standing radio tower!” and, wishy-washy left-wingers saying, “Oh, we all hate those horrible towers, but we condemn violence against radio towers.” If right-wing activists are…
Who’s The Liar?, Con’t
Several readers have made comments—some more lucid than others—in response to my earlier post about illegal immigration and health care. The gist of the more understandable disagreements: There’s no system in place to verify citizenship, so illegal immigrants will be lining up to get MRIs and prostate exams and whatnot. As usual, the truth is…
Friday Roundtable: State Budget (Part 392) & Resign To Run
The Roundtable gang reviews the week in politics on KUAT-TV’s Arizona Illustrated, after the jump. Head’s up, political junkies: City Council debates are coming soon. Details to follow…
Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin: “We’re Still Broke”
State Treasurer Dean Martin visits the Friday Roundtable on KUAT-TV’s Arizona Illustrated, after the jump.
Man Vs. Food, Meet Lindy’s on Fourth
Lindy’s on Fourth, a burger joint at 431 N. Fourth Ave. that is co-owned by and named after former Che’s Lounge doorman Lindy Reilly, will be the focus of an upcoming episode of the Travel Network’s Man Vs. Food. The taping is scheduled to take place Friday, Sept. 25. “I almost cried,” Reilly said about…
Who’s The Liar?
I suppose it’s no surprise to those of us in Arizona that the most talked-about moment in President Barack Obama’s health-care address revolved around illegal immigration. Congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst—yelling out “You lie!”—came after Obama said that “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” Now there’s a big debate…
Blue Roses: Blue Roses (Beggars/XL)
If Tori Amos stole Harriet Wheeler’s larynx and used it to make a baroque folk album with Rufus Wainwright’s cabaret sensibility, you’d get Blue Roses, the eponymous debut of Yorkshire vocalist/guitarist Laura Groves. To call this atmospheric would be a vast understatement. At times, it’s so overly lush and steeped in theatrics that you’ll be…
Top Ten in Books
Antigone Books best-sellers for the week
Investment Issues
As economic experiments go, Science Foundation Arizona was showing promising results. Created by the Arizona Legislature in 2006, Science Foundation Arizona was designed to help the state create high-tech—and high-paying—jobs. The nonprofit organization got off to a quick start. Public dollars were matched by private dollars. University researchers were finding new ways to bring their…
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs (Matador)
Yo La Tengo’s latest album neatly falls into two halves: the tightly woven first nine songs, and the three endlessly mesmerizing jams that stretch across the album’s final 37 minutes. Those indulgent, mostly instrumental epics could form a mini-album of their own—but rather than seeming tacked on, they’re pure headphone escapism, and some of the…
Pretty People
We humans love prettiness. It’s the only reason most supermodels aren’t homeless, and it’s why we pay attention to TV anchors and don’t generally murder kittens. Mike Judge’s new movie, Extract, is acutely aware and vaguely resentful of this fact. Its sympathetic leads (Jason Bateman and Kristen Wiig) are average-looking, but they are bedeviled by…
Missing Links
When he left a citizens’ advisory committee meeting regarding the Downtown Links roadway a few weeks ago, Mark Berman thought his Benjamin Plumbing Supply business was doomed to a forced relocation. The $76 million Links project (www.downtownlinks.info) will slice across the northern edge of downtown, connecting the Barraza-Aviation Parkway with Interstate 10. Based on what…
Mount Eerie: Wind’s Poem (P.W. Elverum and Sun)
Fans of Phil Elverum, mastermind behind Mount Eerie (as well as the now-defunct Microphones), probably found it odd when he claimed black metal as the inspiration for his group’s latest album, the dense, enthralling and rewarding Wind’s Poem. As the dust settles on opener “Wind’s Dark Poem,” with pulsating distortion, cacophonous thumping and wicked, bellowing…
That Lovable Stalker!
Before I went to see All About Steve, I caught a glimpse of its rating on RottenTomatoes.com. It was at 5 percent, which makes it one of the worst-reviewed films … ever. As I watched the movie, which stars Sandra Bullock as an insane stalker, I couldn’t understand why it was so hated. It wasn’t…
Risky Bet
In 2002, Arizona voters rejected slot-machine gambling at dog and horse tracks by a 4-to-1 margin. But racing-industry honchos—true experts at gauging the odds—now see opportunity in repackaging that old idea as a cash cow for strained state coffers. Nor are they content this time to gamble on sentiments of the citizenry, but instead are…
Live
Blondie, Venus Infers
Prepare to Succeed
The portfolio that sits on the Rev. Anne Sawyer’s desk is a different kind of testament, one that contains the success stories that have taken place in the two-story gray building on the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street. As the co-founder and head of the Imago Dei Middle School flips the pages,…
Top Ten in Music
Zia Records top sales for the week
The Skinny
CIVICS LESSON The sheer absurdity of the modern-day Republican Party was on full display last week, when conservatives came unglued at the notion that President Barack Obama was going to address schoolchildren, because they were worried he was going to indoctrinate them in socialism and turn them against American values. Yes, this is what it’s…
Nine Questions
Kristina Stevens
Danehy
In defense of Regina Romero (yeah, you read that right): A couple of weeks back, I chided our loquacious, yet seldom-compelling member of the City Council for having used the term “creative class.” In her defense, she did not make up that stupid-ass term; she obviously just heard it from someone else and was passing…
Noshing Around
Sausage Feast Jonathan’s Cork (6320 E. Tanque Verde Road; 296-1631) is hosting a sausage feast from 3 p.m. to midnight, every Thursday in September. On the menu are homemade Italian sausages, bratwurst with sauerkraut and Sonoran hot dogs made with jalapeño bacon. All offerings come with coleslaw or potato salad for $15, and although it’s…
Messina
Major league sports have taken a beating recently. Dozens of professional baseball players, including stars like Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Manny Ramirez, have used performance-enhancing drugs. This summer, NBA player LeBron James and Dunkgate hit the headlines. And there’s talk of a possible NFL strike in 2011. As the song asks, “Where have you…
TAMMIES: Community Connections
It was about 13 years ago when Joey Burns and John Convertino, then the rhythm section for influential local act Giant Sand, put together a quiet little album of home recordings under the name Spoke. That self-titled album was released by a small German label. Soon, though, the group changed its name to Calexico—and a…
Calling All Robots!
Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are as follows: 1. A robot may not harm or allow harm to a human being. 2. A robot must obey any human’s orders unless doing so conflicts with the first law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as doing so doesn’t conflict with the…
Guest Opinion
Exceptional People, Exceptional Care” reads the impressive Web site for a local nursing home, adorned with photos of palm trees and a plate of “fine cuisine served with a Tucson touch,” along with assurances to prospective guests and their families that the facility is “comfortable, safe, modern and convenient.” My friend who resides in this…
TAMMIES: About the Bigness
Ponder for a moment what might have happened had Sergio Mendoza’s band performed a Steely Dan set last December at The Great Cover-Up. Or Earth, Wind and Fire. Those were the contenders before the band settled on the King of Mambo, Perez Prado. The rest is racing into history. The Prado choice led to an…
Wilde Thing
This is a walk on the Wilde side. And a Wilde ride it is. It’s Etcetera’s wild re-imagining of Oscar Wilde’s best-known work, The Importance of Being Earnest. The risk-taking Etcetera, the late-night branch of the often-impressive Live Theatre Workshop, embraces Wilde’s comedy with enthusiasm, irreverence and not a shred of remorse about taking great—and…
Wrapping Up the TAMMIES
Thanks to everyone involved with last week’s Tucson Area Music Awards (aka TAMMIES) show and ceremony. I must confess: I missed the event. (Please forgive me; I’d made out-of-town plans before the TAMMIES date was set, and I’m pretty sure it was the first TAMMIES I’ve missed out of the seven I’ve been around for—I…
TAMMIES: Where the Music Takes Them
These days, you’re more likely to find Ryan Green and Cameron Hood, aka Ryanhood, performing in music halls, cafés and bars—and even occasionally on a stadium stage with performers like Jay-Z and Kelly Clarkson—than busking in an open market or in the corners of a local instrument shop. But Ryanhood’s journey to the 2009 TAMMIES…
Sea Change
Ever since she was a small girl, artist Heather Green has scavenged on the beach of the Sea of Cortez, picking up bits of net and fish bones and crispy seaweed leaves. “My grandpa built a cabin in the early ’60s in Cholla Bay, north of Puerto Peñasco,” says Green, a Tucson native. “It’s a…
Police Dispatch
ORANGE JUMPSUIT AWAITS EAST YVON DRIVE AUG. 13, 11:56 P.M. A man decided to run naked through the streets, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. The reporting deputy arrived in the subject’s neighborhood to find him entirely naked—”not wearing shoes or anything”—and cupping his genitalia in his hands as he stood in front…
TAMMIES: The Year in Local Music
The period of time covered in voting for the 2009 TAMMIES was May 1, 2008, through April 30, 2009. Here’s a look back at some significant events from that time span. May 2008 The Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association presents the 23rd annual Tucson Folk Festival, featuring more than 100 acts, including a slew of local…
City Week
Art Across the Line The Border Project 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday, Friday, Sept. 11, through Friday, Nov. 6 Arizona State Museum 1013 E. University Blvd. 621-6302; www.statemuseum.arizona.edu The Tohono O’odham people lived in the Sonoran Desert countless centuries before it was divided into Arizona and Mexico. When the U.S.-Mexico border came, it sliced…
Mailbag
It’s Time to Give Republicans What They Deserve Tom Danehy’s criticism of the Cash for Clunkers program (Aug. 20) is politically naïve. The cash should have gone to those who voted Democratic or didn’t vote at all. That’s rewarding your core constituency. Similarly, people who voted Republican shouldn’t be allowed to enroll in the public…
Ask a Mexican!
Why do Mexicans make the sign of mucho dinero with a gap between their thumb and index fingers, as if holding an imaginary wad of bills between both fingers? El Zorro Chupagringos Dear Gabacho-Sucking Fox: Because if a pendejo like you can get what the gesture means, imagine us normal folks. Why do Mexicans who…
Now Showing at Home
An American Werewolf in London (Blu-Ray), Army of Darkness: Screwhead Edition (Blu-Ray), The Office: Season Five (Blu-Ray)
T Q&A
Ciara Meyer
Top Ten in Movies
Casa Video’s top rentals for the week
Media Watch
KVOA Strikes Up The One-Man News Band
Extremely Old-School
The story of the band Fishtank Ensemble starts out as a love story, according to singer and multi-instrumentalist Ursula Knudson. “I went to Venice for Carnival one year, and I met this violinist, Fabrice (Martinez), and he came to visit me in Oakland later that year, and just stayed.” Knudson, who spoke to the Weekly…
Home Cookin’
Like all good neighborhood diners, the two Jethro’s Little Cafés have developed loyal followings. People really like diners, those iconic American institutions, thanks to friendly service, decent prices and reliable food. But Jethro’s offers a little more. The folks here make most items from scratch, and it shows. Plus, the portions, as expected from a…
Soundbites
GET THE DEVIL HORNS READY A year or so ago, some locals started rumbling about a new band called Brohammer. Based on its membership, the prospect was interesting: The band includes Jim Vancza, who is one of the owners of Che’s Lounge and a beast of a guitarist in Spacefish; former Hellride and Whiskey Bitch…
Marked Survivor
Ray Wylie Hubbard, on his album Delirium Tremolos, describes a woman with a tribal tattoo above her hips, a woman who “wears her ink well.” Whenever I hear that phrase, I think of Olive Oatman. She was 14 when she and her family found themselves stuck thigh-deep in a flooded Gila River. It was February…
Sonic Youth Concert Rescheduled
Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo fractured his wrist while playing tennis, so their show in Tucson has been postponed. Originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2, at the Rialto Theatre, the new date is Monday, Jan. 4, 2010. Tickets already purchased will be be honored. Call the Rialto box office at 740-1000 with any questions.
Have You Listened to White Knuckle Driver Lately?
This is a great opportunity for Weekly World Central to change the blog category “Weird Stuff” to “Holy Shit!” If you didn’t feel comfortable at the HocoFest at Congress last weekend, perhaps you need to make plans to travel to the beeeuutiful town of Tonopah, Ariz., on Saturday, Oct. 24 for Oi Fest II 2009…
In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team Thanks to some nifty—and dangerous—repair work, the Hubble Space Telescope is working again. Here’s a press release from NASA: Astronomers declared NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release Wednesday of observations from four of its six operating science instruments. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski,…
