Longtime arts writer Margaret Regan returns to our pages this week with a look at Etherton Gallery's latest show, El Sueño, an exhibit of photographs by Tom Kiefer. An Ajo resident, Kiefer worked as a janitor at a Border Patrol station and collected migrant belongings that had been tossed in the trash by agents. The objects formed the basis of Kiefer's work in El Sueño, a haunting show that also includes work by Alejandro Cartigena and a selection of Mexican folk retablos. Regan will also moderate a virtual talk with Kiefer, author Francisco Cantú, migrant rights advocate Dora Rodriquez and poet and author Jose Javier Zamora on Saturday night. See her story for details about how you can tune in.
In this week's Tucson Salvage, columnist Brian Smith remembers the late Lawrence Zubia, leader of the Phoenix-based band The Pistoleros. It's a touching look at a man gone far too soon. In that same vein many years ago, Brian wrote a remembrance for the Detroit Metro Times after his friend Doug Hopkins of the Gin Blossoms killed himself in Tempe in 1993. Brian and his wife, Maggie Smith, recently sold a screenplay based on that column. Congratulations to Brian and Maggie on the movie deal—and on that baby they've got coming this spring!
Elsewhere in the book this week: Staff reporter Nicole Ludden serves up a look at the lawsuit that some bars have filed against the county over the COVID curfew; managing editor Austin Counts looks into whether your boss can fire you for smoking weed now that recreational use is legal in Arizona; associate editor Jeff Gardner serves as carnival barker for the Zoppé Family Circus as it returns to town with a drive-in version of its classic Italian big top; calendar editor Emily Dieckman scratches the surface of a fascinating art technique that's having a moment at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; and there's more about COVID's uncontrollable spread in Arizona, a debut release from the Keith Robinson Band, efforts to save flamingos at Reid Park Zoo, linguistical twists in Savage Love and the usual collection of comics, puzzles, horoscopes and more.
Stay well!
— Jim Nintzel Executive Editor
Hear Nintz talk about the latest on the outbreak and other news at 8:30 Wednesday mornings on The Frank Show on KLPX, 91.1 FM.