Cover Story
An Excerpt From Simple Dreams
I don’t remember when there wasn’t music going on in our house: my father whistling while he was figuring out how to fix something; my brother Pete practicing the “Ave Maria” for his performance with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus; my sister, Suzy, sobbing a Hank Williams song with her hands in the dishwater; my…
Border Crosser Deaths on the Rise
Cronkite News reports that border crosser deaths are up this year from 2012: As of Sept. 11, 146 bodies had been found, up from 125 through that date in 2012, Dr. Gregory Hess said. His office reported 29 deaths in June and 36 in July, though he said deaths decreased during cooler weather in August.…
“Cross Border Killings” Now on YouTube for Limited Time
\ The Al Jazeera America documentary, Cross Border Killings, which recently aired on new channel’s Fault Lines series, is now available for a limited time on YouTube: Fault Lines travels to the border town of Nogales – currently the nexus for this increasingly lawless law enforcement – to meet the Mexican families who have lost…
Your Opportunity to Experience “The Electro-Rave Scene” Circa 1993
The early nineties were a strange time for us all, but while I was trying to be cool, checking out indie rock and punk bands at the DPC, there was an entire rave scene that I was aware of, but blissfully unexposed to. Thankfully, two U of A students at the time had the wisdom…
You Should Check out the 2nd Annual Born & Brewed: Tucson’s Beer Cup
The second annual Born & Brewed Tucson Beer Cup is happening this Friday at Hotel Congress, from 7-10 p.m. Part beer festival, part competition, it’s a great excuse to get out and try some of the best local brews. The hotel also offers special packages that include a room for the night in case you…
The Return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor
C. Elliott Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Rialto Theatre, Sept. 16 Following a seven-year hiatus, Montreal mystics Godspeed You! Black Emperor rediscovered their tribe as curators of the 2010 All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK. They visited Tucson at the Rialto Monday night, Sept. 16, on tour in support of their first release of new music…
No Ferrets for You!
Arizona lawmakers. Just stop. Stop holding your breath waiting for Arizona lawmakers to adequately fund education or make job development a priority. Laugh. Maybe that’s it. Maybe they realize that what’s better than a job or education is a good belly laugh and having the rest of the country laugh at, er, with us because…
Oops: Turns Out the Fly Agaric Mushroom Is Not for Steaks and Salads
From Arizona Highways On Friday, Sept. 13, Arizona Highways magazine announced its October 2013 edition would not be available on newsstands because the magazine mistakenly identified the fly agaric mushroom as edible. From our home state publication: The fly agaric mushroom should not be consumed in its raw form because of its unpredictable psychotropic and…
Late-Summer and the Downhill Potted Garden
The Potted Desert Potted Rudbeckia and Pentas Are your summer flowers in your desert pots looking really sad right now? With a little effort, many can be pruned back to encourage new growth and prolific blooms for the next couple of months while we wait for the cooling temperatures of late October and November. Flowers…
Chad Campbell’s Out of the Governor’s Race
From his campaign website Chad Campbell While Chad Campbell has been both entertaining and competent as an Arizona legislator, his prospective run for the Democratic nomination to succeed Jan Brewer never seemed to get off the ground, partially because he doesn’t have great name recognition outside of Phoenix. However, he announced on Facebook that he’s…
Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Viva La Viral at The Loft
Courtesy of The Loft Cinema Local comedians Mike Sterner and Bridgette Thum joined forces with the The Loft Cinema to create a free weekly comedy night. Thus, Happy Tuesdays was born. Every Tuesday a local comedian or comedy group hosts different hour long variety shows in Mooney’s Back Lot (behind the new digital theater three).…
Tonight on PBS 6: “Latino Americans”
My colleagues over at Arizona Public Media are presenting the first part of Latino Americans, a six-episode documentary about the experience of Latinos in the Americas. From AZPM: This six-part documentary chronicles the lives and experiences of Latinos in the United States from 1500 to the 21st century. Through its people, politics and culture, Latino…
Hi Fi Kitchen and Cocktails is Opening a Tucson Location
Hi Fi Kitchen and Cocktails, a restaurant concept that debuted in Scottsdale back in late March, is opening a location in Tucson early next year. Looking at the menu one can reasonably prepare to shell out around $15 per burger or $10 per salad. One will also find a selection of alcohol-spiked milkshakes with various…
Get ‘Buck Wild’ with the AZ Underground Film Festival
From the AZ Underground Film Festival site If you like zombie comedies, I mean, if you really like zombie comedies. The Arizona Film Festival is screening Buck Wild tonight at 8 p.m. in the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St. Craig Thompson’s idyllic hunting trip with his two buddies and unstable cousin is wrecked after…
R.I.P. Ken Brazzle
Ken Brazzle attended most of the biggest sports events in Tucson during the last 20 or so years that the print version of the Tucson Citizen existed. But you’d never know it unless you read the paper the next day. Brazz, as most everyone knew him, was one of those blend-into-the-background media types. He was…
Navy Yard Shooting Suspect Does Things Regular People Do, Media Reports
Last night, in the wake of yesterday’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that resulted in the death of 13 people, members of the media went all in on trying to understand the suspected shooter, Aaron Alexis (partially because of requests from authorities for more information on Alexis and partially because web traffic), resulting in…
Watch Out, Eagles Fans: Your Time of Judgment Begins Now
Yes, they’re one of the most successful rock bands of all time, but I think most sane people can agree that The Eagles are a scourge upon humanity. Not just musically, but in general. Someone should have done something to stop them when there was still time to nip things in the bud, but now…
Another Stretch of the Crystal Frontier
Calexico performs a stripped-down version of “Crystal Frontier” in the rich environs of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, courtesy of Wired.
Looking Back at Biosphere 2
The Retro Report, a journalism site that reexamines science reporting in hindsight, takes a look back at Biosphere 2.
Is It Basketball Season Yet? 14,000+ People Think So
It's official! The #RedBlue Game is sold out! Fastest R/B sellout ever and third in a row! Thanks to our great fans! pic.twitter.com/TttnRpe2T4— Arizona Basketball (@APlayersProgram) September 16, 2013 Arizona’s football team is off to its second straight 3-0 start, albeit against a lineup of opponents this year’s Salpointe Catholic varsity team might contend with.…
Startup Weekend Tucson Kids this Weekend
We have talent in Tucson and possibly a future Steve Jobs in our midst (but of course a nicer desert variety). The good folks at Startup Tucson celebrate and develop that entrepreneurial spirit with Tucson youngsters at Startup Weekend Tucson Kids. There’s only space for 10 to 15 kids ages 5 to 12 at this…
El Mezon del Cobre to Close
From Mezon del Cobre’s Facebook page Unfortunate news for diners in (what I’m guessing we’d call) the North Central part of town: El Mezón del Cobre, a seafood-heavy Mexican restaurant, is closing at the end of the month after 23 years in business. The announcement: Unfortunately, after twenty-three incredible years, El Mezon del Cobre will…
A Nice Video About Helping Your Fellow Man (with Jude Law)
I like this short film called Connections, but it’s not because of Jude Law. Really. Besides showing two folks sharing some whiskey together from the same bottle in the middle of the London airport, it has a cool message about taking care of each other and being nice and taking some time once in a…
Mark Kelly on Navy Yard Shootings: Attack “Did Not Occur in a War Overseas—But in a Mass Shooting Here at Home”
Mark Kelly issues a statement on today’s shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard: Gabby and I are holding the victims of today’s massacre at the Washington Navy Yard in our thoughts and prayers, and we know that nothing will bring solace to the families who lost loved ones. As the hours and days pass,…
MaFooCo For Sale, Again
From MaFooCo Facebook page MaFooCo, local Korean barbecue and Mexican food truck, is currently up for grabs. José Merino, 42, posted on the MaFooCo Facebook page that the franchise or the brand is for sale. Merino has threatened to close the business before, but partnered up with the owners of the Red Pepper food truck…
Welcome to the Weekly, Henry Barajas
New Tucson Weekly online editor Henry Barajas, on the right, I think EXCITING NEWS, EVERYONE! Henry Barajas joins the Tucson Weekly team today as our new online editor, taking over for David Mendez, who went back to school but will continue to be around writing stuff. Henry, who we stole away from the Star, will…
Tap & Bottle Basically the Best Place to Get Craft Beer in Arizona, Apparently
Congrats to Tap & Bottle, who made the top three in CraftBeer.com’s Great American Beer Bars poll for 2013. While T&B couldn’t beat out two entrants from Colorado (and to be fair, Falling Rock in Denver is a spectacular bar), the best news is that the still-quite-new establishment beat out Papago Brewing Company in Scottsdale.…
Drink More Wine Tonight and Every Night
When I first read about the new Spanish study on how drinking wine can conquer the blues I misread and through it recommended up to seven glasses a day to defeat depression. I thought, “Finally, a reason to love the Spanish.” But no. No. Sorry to report the study shows that those prone to depression…
Reliving Marc Anthony at AVA
Noelle Haro-Gomez Marc Anthony Marc Anthony performed to a full house at Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater, Saturday, Sept. 14. Opening up for Anthony was comedian, Joey Vega. Vega had the fans laughing as they waited for Anthony to perform. Vega completed his stand-up and the lights went out; the crowd went wild. A video began…
Grab a Tissue with that Beer
A new Guinness beer commercial roaming mad through the internets is getting lots of praise for not having babes in bikinis. Instead, the clip shows a group of guys playing basketball in wheelchairs with a surprise ending that could make you reach for the tissue along with the beer. But all this talk about bikini…
Want to See ‘Importance of Being Earnest’?
Thanks to the fine people of Arizona Theatre Company, we have passes good for two tickets to any show remaining in the run of Importance of Being Earnest, which runs at the Temple of Music and Art until October 5. Want to win one? Just enter at our Free Stuff page and cross your fingers.…
AZ Illustrated Politics: Election-Law Referendum, Medicaid Expansion Lawsuit, Path To Citizenship & More
On tonight’s AZ Illustrated Politics: Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Lea Marquez-Peterson, National Republican Committeeman Bruce Ash and Pima County Latino Democratic Caucus chairman Vince Rabago predicted the next steps with the election-overhaul referendum that voters may decide in November 2014; unpacked the Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit to reverse Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion because…
If Only Our City Election Was Going To Be This Interesting
With the pension-reform initiative apparently off the November ballot, this year’s city election is looking very sleepy. Only two of three incumbents up for reelection are being challenged and the props are essentially technical mumbo-jumbo that aren’t likely to arouse a lot of passion among voters. And we can be pretty sure we’re not going…
“Price Is Right Live” Is Coming to Centennial Hall Sunday
From “Price Is Right Live” I’m sort of an obsessive game show fan (last night at dinner, I surely bored an audience of my friends discussing my year or so of trying out for and appearing on game shows in LA), so just the mention of a live stage version of Price Is Right coming…
Let’s Contribute Some Money for a Documentary on Tucson’s Homeless
This week, three Tucsonans kicked off a new Kickstarter campaign for a documentary to challenge and dispel stereotypes we tend to have of the homeless. About the Project: In this documentary we wish to dispel the typical stereotypes people have of the homeless. The homeless are homeless for a variety of reasons, just as they…
Greetings From Camp Crystal Lake: A Look Back at the Friday The 13th Franchise
Today is the day Warner Brothers is releasing the entire blood-splattered slasher-saga of Jason Vorhees in a glorious Blu-ray box set. Included with the initial Friday the 13th films are the one-offs Jason X, Freddy Vs. Jason, and even the horrendous 2009 remake. A 40-page booklet and a Camp Crystal Lake counselor patch round out…
The Buena Vista Social Club Returns to Tucson
Buena Vista Social Club alumni Omara Portuondo, Guajiro Mirabal, Barbarito Torres and Eliades Ochoa return to the stage to perform with La Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club, a 13-piece group including a new generation of musicians, will perform Saturday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. in Centennial Hall. Fans will be able to hear some of…
AZ Illustrated Politics: Referendum Fever, Pension Prop, Immigration Reform & More
Tonight on AZ Illustrated Politics: Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Lea Marquez-Peterson, Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash and attorney Vince Rabago discuss the successful delivery of 146,000 signatures to block the state’s new election law, the fizzle of former state lawmaker Frank Antenori’s effort to block the Medicaid expansion, the Goldwater Institute’s new lawsuit…
McCain: “I Don’t Want To Be One of These Old Guys That Should’ve Shoved Off”
John McCain drops a hint that he’s thinking that he’s ready for retirement: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hinted that he may be serving his last term in office, admitting that he does not want to become “one of these old guys that should’ve shoved off.” McCain, a 27-year veteran of the senate and former presidential…
Check Out Lance’s Brewery Tour Today
Beer lovers, here’s a cool event at Borderlands (119 E. Toole Ave.) today. Lance Rice, a beer expert with autism, is traveling across the country with his cousin Lance (a director) filming a documentary and gathering information for a book about his life and experiences with the American craft beer movement in every state. Brewers…
Cable Sports Networks Think There’s Only One College Football Team in Arizona
And it ain’t good ol’ Girls Gone Wild University and Casino, our good friends to the north. Twice in the past week, when meaning to reference Arizona State, either the Pac-12 Network (really, boys?!?!?) and ESPN has instead written or shown Arizona on screen. The first instance was rather innocuous, something I happened to catch…
Reax: Pension Initiative Booted From Ballot
As The Range reported earlier, the initiative that would have scrapped the city’s pension program has been knocked off the November ballot by the Arizona Court of Appeals. Art Flagg, who is the local front man for the out-of-town interests that are funding the initiative, tells The Range he expects to appeal the decision. “While…
ZZ Ward: “Dirty Blues and Beats”
ZZ Ward brought her amalgam of soulful songcraft, blues grit and hip-hop energy to Club Congress on Tuesday, Sept. 10 — a stop on her “The Down and Dirty Shine Tour,” supporting her album, Til the Casket Drops on Hollywood Records. C. Elliott ZZ Ward and her band at Hotel Congress, Sept. 10 C. Elliott…
Children’s Action Alliance: Arizona Has Seen Some of the Deepest Education Cuts in the Nation
The Children’s Action Alliance sent out a bulletin today taking stock of the impact of the Arizona Legislature’s education cuts since fiscal year 2008: Repeated cuts to Arizona classrooms have been so severe that even with last year’s $82 million increase in state K-12 funding, Arizona has the third highest state funding cuts per student…
The Arizona Underground Film Festival Kicks Off Tomorrow Night!
Tomorrow night is the first night of the Arizona Underground Film Festival, a week-long festival chock-full of new and exciting films! The fest is opening the proceedings with two horror films, it being Friday the 13th after all. At 7 p.m. is the U.S. premiere of Discopath, which the AZUFF website declares is a “salute…
Pension Initiative Might Be Off the City Ballot After All
This just in: The initiative to scrap the city of Tucson’s pension system might not make the November ballot after all. The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that “the trial court erred in rejecting the plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees’ challenge as the validity of certain signatures obtained by circulators of the City of Tucson’s Initiative Petition 2013-1004.”…
Pedersen Prep Football Preview (Special Religion-Affected Thursday Edition)
If you check out fellow Weekly columnist Tom Danehy’s latest cry for help rant in this week’s issue, you’ll see his topics include displeasure at how football games don’t seem to stick to their traditional days anymore. College football, specifically. But I doubt even Danehy can find fault with the reason that the majority of…
Watch Other People Be Funny Adjacent to Dan Gibson Tonight
For some reason, I’ve been invited to perform (?) some brief monologues tonight at Beowulf Alley as part of the Tucson Improv Movement’s show Shoe Box tonight at 7 pm, if that’s the sort of thing that might interest you. Somewhat more seriously, I’m certain the other people involved (including Mishell Livio from KFMA) will…
City Week
Flavor of Spain 5th Annual Tucson Flamenco Festival 8:30 to 10:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 19; 8 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20 and 21; 2 to 4 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 22 Casa Vicente 375 S. Stone Ave. 884-5253; tucsonflamencofestival.com “Flamenco is a folk music that comes from inside;…
True TV
Robocroc Saturday, Sept. 14 (Syfy) Movie: It may be a summer leftover, but this cheese-saster flick has the best title after Sharknado: In Robocroc—see what I mean?—a minding-its-own-business crocodile accidentally becomes infected with military nanobots, transforming it into a “metal killing machine” (note to self: future band name) bent on chomping bikini babes at a…
Sandwich Solace
Many of my favorite regular restaurants are neighborhood hangouts—comfy little cafes where you can get a cold drink and consistently good food and service. I’m not looking for five-star dining, just a comfortable place to hang out and have some tasty grub. Sam-Witches and Such, on Tanque Verde Road between Pima Street and Grant Road,…
Editor’s Note
Last week, following up on a blogpost we ran responding to a list somewhere declaring that Tucson is an up-and-coming city for hipsters, someone from Arizona Public Media came by the Weekly’s office to discuss Tucson’s future as a hub for those with handlebar mustaches and skinny jeans. It’s a little strange for me to…
Now Showing at Home
Bates Motel: Season 1 Mom Norma (Vera Farmiga) and son Norman (Freddie Highmore) open the Bates Motel, and it’s soon apparent from where the kid will eventually get his Psycho motivation (spoiler: Mom is batshit loony). One of the best series of 2013. (Universal) The Bling Ring The true-ish story of Hollywood teens (including one…
Noshing Around
A Tucson Legend Has Closed Anthony’s in the Catalinas has closed. The fine dining establishment well known and acclaimed locally for its five-star service and astonishing view and nationally recognized for its extensive and prestigious wine list has shut its doors for good, according to their website and phone number. I was unable to reach…
Danehy
There oughta be a law (or at least a rule) … • Back when Morris King Udall represented Southern Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives, he considered proposing a bill that would have made it illegal for Major League Baseball to televise playoff games on Friday nights during high-school football season. Udall was heated…
Past the Pain
Alan Anderson’s long road to releasing his debut record as a singer, songwriter and bandleader began nearly two decades ago, his first songwriting efforts emerging as his way of working through some tough times. A longtime drummer with some of Tucson’s best bands—including Greyhound Soul, Rich Hopkins’ Luminarios and the Wyatts—Anderson stepped out from behind…
Downing
So. My column last month was a rant against Arizona Public Service and other electric utilities across the country that are going to regulators and proposing punitive fees on owners of commercial and residential renewable-energy systems, of which I am one. Needless to say, the utilities’ tactics are provoking outrage among people who have forked…
Soundbites
HUNG UP ON A DREAM Each spring and fall concert season, there is always That Week. In the spring, it’s pulling out of the doldrums of the holiday break, when bands start realizing Santa won’t be around for another year, all the greatest hits comps have been bought, and it’s safe to hit the road…
Media Watch
EVANS TAKES OVER REINS AT INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS Mark B. Evans, called upon by Gannett to help maintain tucsoncitizen.com after the closure of the company’s afternoon paper more than four years ago, has been tabbed by Wick Communications to handle the editorial responsibilities for Inside Tucson Business. “I read and know business journalism, but I…
Ascend!
There is nothing ordinary about Godspeed You! Black Emperor. From their name (taken from a psychotronic black-and-white documentary about Japanese biker gangs) to their reluctance to indulge in media relations (“No singer, no leader, no interviews, no press photos”) and most importantly, to their uncompromising music, GY!BE seem almost monolithic in their refusal to toe…
Border Alert
The Nogales Wash is born at the border, meandering among oaks and squat warehouses on its languid journey north. And most times, the drainage is little more than a dry concrete ribbon, marked by steep walls and rancid clumps of flotsam desiccating in the desert heat. But like so many things here in Nogales, Ariz.,…
Nine Questions
When Laura Adams-Reese moved back to Tucson, she started volunteering at the best radio station in the world–KXCI. When she’s not at the station, she’s running Storyteller Public Relations, a restaurant and food PR firm. She enjoys living in downtown, listening to Salvador Duran at Congress on Thursdays, and eating frozen taquitos from Trader Joe’s.…
The Skinny
DEADLINE WEEK This week is the moment of truth for a pair of referendum efforts designed to block two big pieces of legislation passed earlier this year. Both efforts need nearly 87,000 valid signatures from Arizona voters to make the ballot. If they have enough sigs, the laws would be on hold until voters decide…
Live
Seattle’s Night Cadet answers the inevitable question of what is post-post-rock? What comes out of a band that has completely absorbed the icy textures of Sigur Rós and attempts to go past it? In Night Cadet’s case, the answer is nonrock. No tension, no release, no climax. No ebb, just flow. To be clear, this…
Police Dispatch
TRAILER CRASH GREEN VALLEY AUG. 6, 10:42 P.M. A wasted driver crashed into a trailer, flipped off the law and screamed for hours, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report stated. Deputies were called by the tenants of a trailer and a house on property they shared with the drunken woman, whom deputies located sitting shoeless…
Why Linda Ronstadt Still Matters to Tucson
Linda Ronstadt’s singing days are over but her hometown’s love affair with the storied singer is anything but. And that love affair goes both ways. She still owns a home in Tucson, keeps in touch with her childhood friends and remains inquisitive about goings-on in her hometown. Part of Tucson’s attachment to Ronstadt is that…
Borrowing Trouble
When Joi N. Stirrup went to her company’s corporate office to ask for help, the college registrar thought she was doing the right thing, after all her employee handbook was clear – take your concern to your manager and if that doesn’t remedy the situation take your concern to corporate. On Aug. 29, Stirrup, represented…
Arctic Monkeys: AM
Every couple of months, the British press finds a new band that will “save rock.” In the summer, or maybe early autumn, of 2005, Arctic Monkeys saved rock, but on a scale unprecedented at that time, even by Oasis. Their first single, released on indie label Domino, debuted at the top of the U.K. pop…
Pedersen on Sports
The 40-inch flat screen in my living room was ready for the experience. Given a fresh dusting and baby-wipe cleaning the night before, my main portal—along with laptop, Android phone and the screams of exultation/despair from my neighbor—to the full-fledged start of the 2013 NFL season was prepared for the months-long journey with me. Alas,…
Janelle Monáe: The Electric Lady
Janelle Monáe swung for the fences on 2010’s hyper-ambitious The ArchAndroid, hustling between musical styles and sidestepping pop star shenanigans in order to announce the arrival of a serious artiste. The Electric Lady doesn’t represent a reimagining of Monáe’s project. It is just as genre-hopping, just as postmodern, just as puckish, and just as earnest…
TQ&A
Martin Pepper first gained local fame in the 1990s when, as a member of the University of Arizona swim team, he won an NCAA title. Ironically, it was the same event his brother Seth won a few years earlier, making them the first brothers to ever win the same championship. Nowadays Pepper, 40, has moved…
Shifted Shakespeare
In William Shakespeare’s Othello, first staged about 410 years ago, Desdemona is a pretty picture of unsullied innocence, a vision of wifely devotion and not much else. While some have suggested that Shakespeare might rightly have titled his tragedy “Iago”—the hateful ensign has the most lines and it’s his scheming that drives the action—it’s doubtful…
The Love Language: Ruby Red
The third album by this North Carolina pop-rock collective, fronted by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stuart McLamb, opens with big-beat rhythms on first single “Calm Down,” the drums and bass rumbling like a song by the The Cure. With easy entry points and the framework of infectious melodies, McLamb reels us in – the über-catchy Franz…
Life, the Universe and Everything
Here we are standing on the corner of ‘Walk, Don’t Walk,’ waiting for these aliens to show up . . . you’re thinking I’m crazy. You think I give a hoot? You people look at my shopping bags, call me crazy ’cause I save this junk. What should we call the ones who buy it?”…
Good and Grown-Up
It seems there’s a dispensary out there for every taste these days, and if you’re looking for an upscale experience in a good neighborhood with high security, you should check out the Apothecary, off Interstate 10 just south of Orange Grove Road. It seems like a very grown-up place. From the outside, the Apothecary looks…
A Dry Heat
Before tromping through Gary Nabhan’s new book, Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land, you must finally acknowledge this creepy truth: Our planet is getting toastier. If that’s overwhelming to you, it was for Nabhan, too. The MacArthur Fellow and longtime ethnobotanist had tried dry-farming in Northern Arizona, only to be driven out by drought.…
Ask a Mexican
Dear Mexican: I have a Mexican friend at work, and we happened to get in a discussion that started off fine—but I believe that I offended her as the discussion progressed. My intention, of course, was not to do such. We were talking about an upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration, and I asked if she…
Nowhere to Turn
So, here it is: the best movie of the year so far. Usually by this point, we have more to work with before the flood of festival films that emerge from Toronto and Venice fight for a strategically placed opening in November or December, wresting all the momentum from the year’s earlier successes. But 2013…
Desert Pride
Wingspan’s Puertas Abiertas has become more than a social and outreach project for Tucson’s LGBT Latin community. For the past four years, through special projects and its annual Latin@ LGBT Pride Week, Puertas Abiertas has brought immigration and other issues involving Latinos front and center in the LGBT community. Longtime community volunteer Jerry Che Diaz…
Vin Diesel’s Dreams
Vin Diesel returns, growling more than ever, as Riddick, the character that made him a star, in the creatively titled Riddick. The third movie in the shiny-eyed franchise is a decent enough return to form for the series, and much better than those vroom-vroom movies Diesel has been hanging around lately. Director David Twohy gave…
