• You'll find several mentions of George Carlin's death in this week's newspaper; he died last Sunday, June 22, of heart failure at the age of 71.
While Carlin was first and foremost a comedian, he was also amazingly adept at speaking truth to power--he's a hero of mine. Carlin is probably most famous for his "Seven Dirty Words" routine (which was actually not one of his funnier bits, IMHO), because it made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his humor was consistently edgy and biting while hitting the nail squarely on the head.
I badly wanted to see Carlin perform in person before he died; I didn't get that chance, in part because I was out of town during what would become his final Tucson-area performance last October. It's something I truly regret.
• We're looking for a new City Week Listings Master. If you're interested in the gig, check out the details on Page 26 (next to TQ&A), and get back to me by Independence Day. Thanks to Tina Alvarez for all of her work, and to Jason Shults for helping out in the interim.
• Coming next week: our list of Tucson Area Music Awards (TAMMIES) finalists. And as a reminder, save the date for the always-free, always-fantastic TAMMIES show: Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Rialto Theatre. See you there.
