Most of us can’t paint very well—let alone paint very well
using eating utensils. Dale Strong does both.
For her column this week, Irene Messina spoke with the artist and
watched him paint a landscape from start to finish using spoons.
Strong has them flattened and shapes the iced-tea spoons himself. He
once stuck a spoon on a train track to get the perfect shape.
In addition to teaching students how to paint and winning worldwide
artistic accolades, Strong has had art hang in the abodes of Frank
Sinatra and Dean Martin.
In less than an hour, Strong demonstrated to Messina just how
quickly one can paint a convincing landscape using something most
people stick in their mouths.
Our entirely unrelated next video concerns the fate of the Coronado
Hotel, located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street.
If you’ve driven through the new Fourth Avenue underpass, you’ve
passed the 42-unit building that has served as low-income housing for
almost two decades. The building’s owners recently decided to put the
property on the market, which calls into question what sort of
affordable-housing options there will be in downtown Tucson.
Not only that, but the Downtown Tucson Partnership, which receives
public funds and is managing the Coronado sale, has come under fire
from at least one city leader for essentially operating in the dark.
Outgoing City Councilman Steve Leal thinks organizations like the
Downtown Tucson Partnership need to have their relationship with the
city re-evaluated.
Still confused? Try watching our “What’s Going On” segment, where we
break down a complicated issue in two minutes or less—or your
pizza is free.
Oh, and we’re pretty sure there are some spoons at the Coronado
Hotel, so perhaps the videos are related after all.
BEST OF WWW
Earlier this year, Irene Messina took a plane ride with local pilot
Jessica Cox. While this isn’t out of the ordinary, Cox’s flying style
is: She was born without arms, and she is the first pilot in the
country to be licensed to fly using only her feet. See her in action
piloting a 1946 Ercoupe 415C from the San Manuel airport at YouTube.com/TucsonWeeklyTV.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
“Actually, she doesn’t wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving; she says
that ‘they’ will have a happy Thanksgiving. Well, sure, ‘they’ didn’t
get cut out of the budget.”
—Gina Parrish, via Facebook, in reaction to The Range post
“Happy Thanksgiving From Gov. Brewer: Now Forget About Help From the
State” (Nov. 25)
THIS WEEK ON THE RANGE
The Range celebrated Thanksgiving with another of David Kish’s
playful “Hoopleville” illustrations, in which he wishes everyone a
happy holiday.
Before we sank into our feast, we shared the details of a Rasmussen
poll showing that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had the support of
51 percent of Arizona voters in the 2010 governor’s race, even though
he’s not running (yet). Arpaio was the only Republican to outpace the
likely Democratic nominee, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who
led Republican Gov. Jan Brewer by nine percentage points.
Speaking of Brewer: We shared a clip of her pre-holiday press
conference, posted by the Arizona Guardian Web site. Brewer was
celebrating the end of the Legislature’s special session and
encouraging Arizonans to have a happy Thanksgiving, even though
lawmakers had just cut education and welfare budgets by more than $300
million.
We also urged readers to shop local, filled you in on the
Arizona Daily Wildcat editor who was cited for stealing a
sign from an Oregon fan before the Nov. 21 game at Arizona Stadium, and
shared the latest about the potential purchase of Mesa’s East Valley
Tribune by Randy Miller, the owner of the local Explorer newspaper.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.
