O TUCSON! MY TUCSON!

In the nearly 22 years since I first moved to Tucson, I’ve seen a
whole lot of changes and a whole lot of ups and downs. But I can’t
think of a time when I felt more divergent feelings about the city than
I did last week.

At the start of my week, I was feeling really down on Tucson. I am
infuriated by the fact that the Rialto Theatre—run by people who
honestly care about bringing a variety of great live music to the
citizens of Tucson, and who do it for the love of it—is being
threatened by a pair of developers who seem to care more about their
egos and making money than the greater good of downtown Tucson. Why
should people who appear to care so little about what’s best for
downtown Tucson have so much control over it? (The answer, of course,
is because they have the property and the money, if not the vision, to
wield such power. The vision belonged to the Portland, Ore., planners
who were fired by the developers.) It’s been frustrating, at the least,
to watch unfold. (If you’d like a summary of what I’m talking about
here, let me refer you to last week’s Skinny, in which Jim Nintzel
succinctly summarizes the situation.)

Then came word, as reported by the Arizona Daily Star, that
10 buildings in the Warehouse District had been inspected by the Tucson
Fire Department, and 63 code violations were found. Violations at six
of the buildings, including Steven Eye’s Solar Culture Gallery—a
combination arts venue/studio/gallery—were deemed so severe that
they received a “dangerous buildings” designation. If the necessary
repairs aren’t made within two months, the buildings will have to be
evacuated and, likely, eventually demolished.

The problem is this: The Arizona Department of Transportation, not
the tenants, owns the buildings. But the lease agreements put the
burden of the repairs on the tenants, which leads to this question: Why
would renters dump a bunch of money into buildings they don’t even own?
In the long run, there’s nothing to be gained by spending the money
when they have no real stake in the property, no ownership. (For the
record, Eye says that the report is exaggerated and that he’ll be able
to bring his building up to code within the designated time frame.)

I couldn’t help but feel that greed and red tape and unfavorable
lease agreements were destroying the very things I hold so dear in my
beloved Tucson. Or, as Tucson Weekly contributor Kristine
Peashock put it, “Why is Tucson making it so hard for me to love
it?”

Then the weekend rolled around, and my mood improved
considerably.

Last weekend, the Weekly hosted the annual convention of the
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which brought to town more
than 200 luminaries of our trade. The Weekly folks who organized
it were justly worried: How do we make Tucson seem cool at the end of
June, and with a downtown that is rather difficult to show off at the
moment? Long story short, the Weekly organizers succeeded (and
props to them for doing so). They did it by emphasizing the natural
beauty of the desert—the conventioneers stayed at the JW Marriott
Starr Pass Resort and Spa, the surroundings of which are gorgeous. (One
attendee was downright giddy while describing the roadrunner he’d just
seen. “They’re so much smaller than I thought they’d be!” he
enthused.)

They did it by utilizing the abundance of talent in our town.
Desert-rock royalty the Sand Rubies killed at one party, and the Sergio
Mendoza y la Orkesta show at the Rialto pretty much blew away everyone
who saw it, including the AAN folks who attended. (If Sergio and
company hire a good manager and are able to coordinate the schedules of
the dozen or so ultra-talented members of the band, the sky’s the
limit. Quick: Name another mambo band in the United States. I can’t
think of one, and it’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better than
them, anyway.)

On Friday night, I skipped out of the AAN proceedings for a couple
of hours to attend “Atomic #10,” a party thrown by the Parasol Project,
which describes itself as “a community-based arts and performance
organization,” at the old Flamingo Hotel, on North Stone Avenue. The
party was inspired by the notion of kitsch in its many
forms—starting with the building itself, which seemed to be
projected from a completely different time. There were people enjoying
a DJ on the hotel’s balcony, low-fi musicians playing outside, and jazz
and blues performers in the hotel’s lounge. A small ballroom with a
wooden dance floor played host to everything from burlesque shows to a
Michael Jackson tribute; there were even tricked-out themed hotel rooms
and a pool for those so inclined. If you were there, you’d likely
agree: It was one of the best parties I’ve attended in recent memory,
and it was damn inspiring. The undertaking was extremely ambitious and
was pulled off without a hitch. Kudos to the Parasol Project for
putting on such a successful (tickets sold out) and fantastic event.
I’ll attend just about any event they organize from now on, based on
the experience.

It’s probably worth noting that Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, who
impressively drew about 700 people to the Rialto, have only existed for
about seven months, and that the Parasol Project has been around for
even less time. These people—and many other local
talents—are contributing immensely to the arts and music scene in
town, and doing it in a completely grassroots fashion. They’ve taken
matters into their own hands to make Tucson a better, more interesting
and enjoyable place to live. The version of Tucson they’re working hard
to advance is the Tucson I love, and the one that I hope trumps all the
bullshit.

It would seem, then, that the things that are making it so hard for
me to love Tucson are really mostly bureaucratic forces and people who
don’t seem to have its best interests in mind; it’s not Tucson
itself.

It’s the true heart and soul of Tucson, and the people who provide
it, that make me love it so much. And make me care about its
future.

PICK O’ THE WEEK

The prolific and economical singer-songwriter Bill Callahan,
who has also recorded under the names Smog and (Smog), has throughout
the course of his career progressed from being a creator of
experimental, low-fi, pastiche-style song fragments to being one of
America’s finest songwriters. A tour in support of his latest Drag City
release, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009), will bring
him to Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on Friday, July 3. The
show starts at 9:45 p.m., with an opening set by Austin’s Follow
That Bird! $12; 798-1298.

ON THE BANDWAGON

The Reverend Horton Heat and Nekromantix at Club
Congress on Friday, July 3; the Child Help Benefit featuring the Howling Coyote Tour at Nimbus Brewing
Company on Sunday, July 5; Junior Reid at Twelve
Tribes on Saturday, July 4; KIIM 99.5 FM’s Freedom
Festival featuring Tracy Lawrence, Pat Green,
Gloriana, the Gary Bonnett Band and Cindy Standage at Rillito Park on Saturday, July 4; Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald at the Diamond Center at Desert Diamond
Casino on Wednesday, July 8; the Indie-Pendence Day
Extravaganza at Hotel Congress on Saturday, July 4 (see this week’s City Week section for more info); the Egadz Is Dead
Tour/DJ Grapla Shelf Life Mixtape Release at Vaudeville on
Wednesday, July 8; the Triple Double Band tour kickoff at
Club Congress on Wednesday, July 8; Gabriel
Sullivan tour kickoff on the patio at Hotel Congress on
Tuesday, July 7; Nick Colionne at Loews Ventana Canyon
Resort on Saturday, July 4; the Impossible Ones,
Bricktop and Desolate Graves at Vaudeville on
Saturday, July 4; the Cocker Spaniels at The
HangArt next Thursday, July 9; Mary Jane Girls at
Monsoon Night Club at Desert Diamond Casino Hotel on Friday,
July 3; Greyhound Soul at The Hut on Saturday,
July 4.

R.I.P., Michael Jackson and Sky Saxon.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, everyone.

This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2009.