Tucson Weekly 02/23/2023

ADMINISTRATION

Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher

Michael Hiatt, Vice President

Tyler Vondrak, Associate Publisher, tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Claudine Sowards, Accounting, claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

EDITORIAL

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski, Executive Editor, christina@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Veronica Kuffel, Staff Reporter, vkuffel@timeslocalmedia.com

Hope Peters, Staff Reporter, hpeter@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Karen Schaffner, Staff Reporter, kschaffner@tucsonlocalmedia.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Brian Box Brown, Rob Brezsny, Clay Jones, Laura Latzko, Andy Mosier, Josh Ortega, Dan Perkins, Linda Ray, Bridgette M. Redman, Will Shortz, Brian Smith, Jen Sorensen

PRODUCTION

Shannon Mead, Production/Design Supervisor, smead@timeslocalmedia.com

Tonya Mildenberg, Graphic Designer, tmildenberg@timeslocalmedia.com

CIRCULATION

Aaron Kolodny, Circulation Director, aaron@phoenix.org

Brian Juhl, Distribution Manager, brian@timeslocalmedia.com

ADVERTISING

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Candace Murray, Account Executive, candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com

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NATIONAL ADVERTISING

Zac Reynolds, Director of National Advertising zac@timeslocalmedia.com

CROSSES, ALEISTER CROWLEY AND A SHOW OF STREET SURVIVAL

The boy shakes his head and sneers: “It’s the Jesus-fuck man.” He is strolling in pricey kicks toward the brand new Starbucks with three other high school kids, two of them girls in makeup too severe for daylight. They laugh, the unsettling kind of laughter that rises from the well-fed with so much luck and safe shelter on their side. A little life experience will go a long way. Will shrugs. “Happens all the time.” It is Will Streit’s loser essence that fuels the kids’ casual cruelty and lazy solidarity. His skin color matters little; he might as well be from Mars. They could never understand — not yet, anyway — the holy-smokes school-to-street vortex of his life, now without a home, and the dumpster excavations and dai-

ly scores for drugs to stay “normal.” The innate inability to establish himself into the acceptable outside world. They could not yet understand how you can take personal inventory on quests for life meanings and self-awareness through music, art, books and drugs, and how you suffer when such studies lead to you giving up on humanity. Sometimes you wind up, as Will said, “out here like a piece of shit every day,” the only intermediary between depression and glory an addiction supported by selling artful little crosses fashioned from whittled oleander wood and thin copper wire unearthed in dumpsters.

He’s on a corner of a major Tucson intersection that is awash in ugly progress-stamped colors, a Walgreen’s and

drive-thrus. He’s dying for a smoke, pops red grapes from an Albertson’s shopping bag.

He talks homelessness, the obvious stuff. How it’s every hell it’s made out to be — all gets stolen so there can be no camp, the elements you taste in your face and feel in your bones, the insults, the starvation, the yearning and depression.

But, he adds, it is a tradeoff. The 36-year-old said he’ll take it over the options. He doesn’t see his lot in life as a problem, more of a negotiation. “I mean I enjoy it [homelessness] to a point. What else can I do? It doesn’t bother me anymore. Even getting upset? Why? All of this,” he adds, waving his arm to the surrounding world, “is so fucking stupid.”

I was startled by the rarity of the sentiment. He elaborates how it is about personal autonomy. “Even having an apartment and mounds of bills can consume you, wreak havoc on your head.”

He is genuinely interested and thankful someone is talking with him about his life. His brain is attuned to the nuances of things. He is very smart, and funny. It is the little things too, the keys to his success, he said, such as there are. He is as dapper as could be imagined in the circumstances, a red pullover sweater, loose-fitting black trousers, a bit threadbare from the miles, road-lived

labor boots. His short hair is combed and parted on the side. He sports a perpetual squint and a slight slouch. High cheekbones, narrow chin, handsome in a ’40s Hollywood noir hobo way — like Tom Neal in Detour — crossed with young Kerouac. I tell him this and he is grateful. He’s a fan of trainhoppers, and old-school hobos and the aforementioned. He sides with that (receded) romance of outlaw American folk heroes. Cars zoom, a siren wails and the crosswalk talks and Will produces from his nearby pile of things a motor from a small vacuum cleaner, which he secured from the trash. He talks the intricacies of it, the turbine, and shows the little copper wire still attached, enough for a few days of new crosses. The entire process of creating the crosses involves hours and hours of work and hustle; the hunt for oleander wood and the copper, the whittling, the wiring.

“I don’t make much for all the effort I put in, know what I mean?”

It’s ingenuity to survive. Like how he’d find framed paintings from thriftstore trash, paint over them white, and sell it on the street. “Upcycling” is how he calls it. “People scrap this stuff and I use if for my art.” If he’s hustling coin on the streets he’s bent to offer something. The cross is a potent symbol for him.

Story & photos by Brian Smith

One cross he holds boasts a chalcedony stone, another obsidian. Others draw on found street rocks with fetching lines. There’s attention to detail and meaning behind the work, which rises from his occult readings and practice. His studies began with a fascination of Christian theology, then mysticism, and next, for example, a raging fandom of Aleister Crowley, the sonics of Genesis P-Orridge and King Crimson.

To drivers on the street he could be some militant Christian, a fanatic peddling homemade Calvary crosses to Believers. The sign he wields to traffic reads, “Local Artist in Need of Art Supplies. God Bless.” It is irony. He needs art supplies, yes, but to Will, he is talking pre-Christianity amulets; the metaphysical, a center-of-the-universe world axis, a crossing of spiritual and physical, an inherently magical symbol. The intricate copper wire holding the crosses together hint too of, he said, Rosicrucianism and masonic orders, and elevated consciousness, which includes aiding others, overcoming obstacles,

manifestation. His ongoing study of gems and minerals fits in. It is about his private personal evolvement. He talks of this with an impressive passion that in the moment turns his squint-eyed street fatigue into bodily animation of hands and limbs.

He’s got a code now, a kind of ethical know-how. Things he’s lived through and read whittled to simple certainties: Don’t hurt anyone, share food, and don’t steal. It wasn’t always this way. He learned hard. In and out of prison and jail for a total of about two years, assault, drugs and stealing. He said he is done with incarceration (“I hated it. A lot of ignorant people who just want to fight”) and cops (“they’ll get you for anything out here”). He won’t sell on street medians, he rolls his pile of things in a wheelchair—with a blanket tossed over the top—because shopping carts are illegal.

The Milwaukee-raised Will said he was a depressed kid. The only child of parents who divorced when he was 14, into music and reading, but soon into selling weed, snorting coke. Moved to Tucson at 18 with his mother for her job

and attended college, moved to Hollywood where he lived in an apartment off the walk of fame to attend the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles. There he got guitar playing on, heavy into music theory. He graduated, and is still on the hook for loans. He does not own a guitar now, and misses it. He once had a mad record collection, filled of punk, folk, prog, soul, sold it all for dope.

Heroin and meth got him and whatever family dynamic fell apart. “All I really ever wanted to feel was normal. But when I started using I felt like I got the owner’s manual to my life. Drugs aren’t bad to help you be well, you’re just not supposed to do it every day.”

Will admits his mother tried to help with the addiction, but eventually washed her hands of him. Said he hasn’t spoken to her since 2019. Much longer for his father, now in an old-folks home somewhere. Nor his aunt, to whom he was close. When his grandmother died, a family bottom fell out. He couldn’t call anyone anyway. “Last time I had a phone it was stolen. I passed out for a

CURRENTS

LOVELY LINDA

New exhibit showcases McCartney’s photography skills

By Katya Mendoza Tucson Local Media Contributing Writer

The land of majestic saguaros attracts many visitors from across the pond each year. The diverse and prickly plant species that stand tall, like guardians that watch over the Sonoran Desert that is home to many resilient creatures. Even the kaleidoscope-colored sunsets are second to none. Many who leave, inevitably get back to where they once belonged.

Perhaps these are just a few reasons why Linda McCartney (nee Eastman) felt a kinship to Tucson.

UA’s Center for Creative Photography is hosting the North American premiere of, “The Linda McCartney Retrospective,” from Saturday, Feb. 25, to Saturday, Aug. 5.

It celebrates McCartney’s barrier-breaking career that spanned across three decades.

“We will have not only the exhibition at the CCP, but also an incredible range of campus and community events and opportunities for engagement,” said Andrew Schulz, dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The exhibition, which will include about 200 pieces, will be divided into three broad groupings including “Artists,” “Family” and “Photographic Exploration.” McCartney’s work opens ave-

nues for investigation and exploration, Schulz said.

ROOTS IN TUCSON

Born and raised in New York state, McCartney was an UA art history student. Her formal photography training extended to just two lessons at a night school.

Once she married Paul McCartney, the two bought land here in Tucson, a ranch in the Tanque Verde area, near the Rincon Mountains.

“In addition to exposing the public to Linda McCartney’s iconic work, this collection will allow our students and faculty throughout the university to learn from her innovative creative process and devotion to important societal issues,” said UA president Robert C. Robbins in a statement.

“The McCartney exhibit is allowing us to really showcase the other extraordinary pieces of the CCP,” added Staci Santa, interim director of the Center for Creative Photography. “A lot of people don’t know that we have a robust archives collection and the breadth of work we have under that little roof, millions of objects and for us to be able to showcase that in a meaningful way while we’re engaging the music scene in Tucson.”

The Center for Creative Photography houses the work of more than 2,200 photographers including co-founder Ansel Adams, David Hume Kennerly, Lola Alvarez Bravo and W. Eugene Smith and houses close to 9 million objects.

Rebecca Senf, chief curator of the Center for Creative Photography, said it has an extensive history with the McCartney family in addition to their long-standing relationship to Tucson.

“I think the landscape here meant a tremendous amount to her and she’s a horsewoman so being in Tucson allowed them to keep horses,” Senf said.

JIMI HENDRIX. LONDON, 1967, © PAUL MCCARTNEY / PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA MCCARTNEY. (PHOTO COURTESY OF UA

attended and taught at Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was a hub for intermedia, cross-medium avant-garde work in the United States for dance or photography for painters, musicians and architects. The “vibrant community” was known for matriculating influential individuals of the latter half of the twentieth century including Willem de Kooning, whose work “Woman-Ochre”’ was recently returned to the UA’s Museum of Art after being stolen in 1985.

In Tucson, Archer worked at Pima Community College and the Tucson Art Center, later known as the Tucson Museum of Art. She also helped found other colleges as a photographer, photo educator and art educator.

A McCartney archive is in London where Paul and their children live. Senf and Megan Jackson Fox, associate curator of the Center for Creative Photography, visited the archive to see primary source documents and talk with the archivist Sarah Brown about McCartney’s work.

“Being in the archive and working with the archivist allowed us to do a kind of research that augmented the retrospective as it was seen in other locations,” Senf said.

In terms of Tucson, Senf said Fox is doing a show about McCartney’s teacher, Hazel Larsen Archer, which expands the discussion about McCartney’s photographic education as it happened in Tucson.

Archer was an American female photographer during the 20th century, who

“She brought all of that knowledge, energy and dynamism with her,” Fox said. “That was really the foundation for Linda McCartney and her education in photography.”

Senf said the Center for Creative Photography wanted to explore McCartney’s work further and look at how she had experimented in photography through her process and practice by analyzing the results she had obtained through various experimentations.

CURATING THE EXHIBIT

To curate the exhibit, Fox said, took

THEME: MONSTERS INC. VS TOY STORY SEE LINDA

CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY)

intensive research. From the McCartney archives to the Archer estate in Tucson. Fox said she worked closely with it and Archer’s daughter.

“We have a really long runway for creating these exhibitions, they can be three to five years if not more,” Fox said.

Additionally, about 50 undergraduate students from the college of humanities are working with the Center for Creative Photography, learning from the Archer images, materials from the McCartney exhibit and El Pueblo Neighborhood Center and building community projects.

“We’ll have the Hazel Larsen Archer exhibition open with the McCartney exhibition and then in May we will put the students’ projects in the center of that exhibition,” Fox said. “So, you have this intergenerational conversation happening.”

As a photo historian, Senf said that one of the center’s strengths is moving from archive to exhibition and using materials so audiences can benefit from the wealth of an archive.

“I think that it was really fun writing

the labels of the musicians’ section because I was imagining various audience members seeing pictures of Neil Young, Jim Morrison or Bob Dylan from the time that they were young and listening to these musicians as young people,” Senf said.

The Center for Creative Photography has been working with students from the Honors College, building audio tour guides for the exhibition. “Sir Paul McCartney has even offered to respond to any of their questions that they have,” Fox said.

McCartney’s photographs include some of the greatest artists and cultural icons of all time such as Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix and, of course, The Beatles.

“These are people who changed the course of American culture and Western culture and so it was really interesting to think about all of that and how to provide the supporting information that would allow different audiences to deeply appreciate the photographs that were there,” Senf said.

The more profound images include

SEE LINDA PAGE 8

DRESS FOR THE FUN SIDE OF LIFE!

intimate family photographs of Paul, Linda and their children. Of Linda McCartney’s level of fame and visibility, Senf said that she displays a level of joy of family life the way anyone else might or playfulness between two romantic partners.

“I think she did a really exceptional job of making people comfortable in the presence of the camera so that you see people in a candid way,” Senf said. “The way she helped people feel at ease and able to be more themselves.”

MCCARTNEY’S TECHNIQUES

McCartney mostly worked with a 35-millimeter handheld camera, which Senf said suits her style and her approach, allowing her to be more spontaneous and less obtrusive.

The exhibition will also include a group of about 60 Polaroids, or facsimiles of Polaroids because Polaroids fade really quickly when exposed to light. This feature of the exhibition can convey to the audience McCartney’s spontaneity and snapshots of casual moments.

“If you think about Linda McCartney as the centerpiece of the project, then everything is kind of coming from and inspired by her right as a photographer, as a person as an activist,” Fox said.

Calling the exhibition the heartbeat of McCartney’s photography, Fox said that

there will be an accompanying lecture series starting on opening day.

“Women’s rights were an important part of her activism and her interests and so we’re going to have two photographers who are also entrepreneurs who are going to come and speak about their projects, on women in photography and what they’re doing to help amplify women in photography and to help steward their careers inside of the larger photographic field,” Fox said.

McCartney who was also a food and animal activist was well known for her vegetarian lifestyle. Fox said that the Center for Creative Photography will have a photographer and artist who works at the intersection of food studies talk about her work inspired by indigenous foods.

In addition to the lecture series, the Center for Creative Photography is planning pop-up community tables at the Children’s Museum, farmers markets and the Phoenix Art Museum to talk about sustainability and food issues, food equity in relation to photography.

“That’s another way for us to build bridges from the institution to your everyday world and I think that’s really important that we break the four walls of a gallery so that we are very open,” Fox said.

The Center for Creative Photography will also have weekly live performances from musicians. “That also harks back to Linda for her love of music and her relationship to music over the context of her life,” Fox said. “We’re trying to create doorways for every interest.”

HIRING NURSES

HIRING NURSES

Fox said that she hopes museum visitors get to know McCartney as an amazing photographer, but also as someone who had a variety of interests.

“You bring all of that life into an image and into a practice,” Fox said. “I hope we as an institution continue to do this for the photographers that we exhibit, that we show this entirety of a person and what that means to the photographs themselves.”

ETHERTON GALLERY:

“AGAIN WITH THE REAL”

“Again with the Real” could be interpreted as an expansive exploration of that instinct we have to take home souvenirs. Recent paintings, drawings and mixed media works by Chris Rush and collages, paintings and mixed media by Ellen McMahon, seem curated to represent ways that material objects can symbolize genuine experiences, aspirations and even identity. Rush is an award-winning artist, designer and author. McMahon is associate dean of research at the University of Arizona School of Art. She is represented here by four recent series and one, “Lost Language,” from 2009.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, April 15, Etherton Gallery, 340 S. Convent Avenue, ethertongallery.com, free

FOUR SHILLINGS SHORT: CELTIC, FOLK AND WORLD MUSIC CONCERT

Imagine mandolins, Renaissance woodwinds, North Indian sitar, hammered and “mountain” dulcimers, a charango, Psaltery, recorders, tin whistles, banjo a Krummhorn, and, of course, guitar. Four Shillings Short introduces a menagerie of instruments in a concert and, the next day, a whimsically titled workshop: “Around the World in 30 Instruments.” We’ve never heard of half of those instruments, let alone heard them — at least not that we know of. But we don’t summer in Ireland like that duo does. Find out more about them at 4shillingsshort.com

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 show, 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, workshop, Tempo Music & Arts Academy, 8555 N. Silverbell Road, Suite 101, eventbrite. com, $15 show, $25 includes the workshop.

“TREASURES AND TRIFLES” SALE

The Fort Lowell Park Neighborhood Association fills a barn each year with unique, useful but above all special finds with an eye to selling them to discerning buyers out for a bargain — a stainedglass window, say, or an antique set of handmade dolls, or a 100-year-old blown-glass vase. Take advantage of the sale to explore the grounds and the storied and charming San Pedro Chapel. Organizers promise that the storage barn is full of waiting furniture, house-

by Linda Ray

IKEBANA FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF YUME GARDENS. (CRISTIANA BERTOLDI/CONTRIBUTOR)

SPRING IKEBANA FESTIVAL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Flower arrangements representing traditional and contemporary Ikebana also represent the five major schools of ikebana — Sogetsu, Ikenobo, Ohara, Sangestu and Shinsei. Known as “The Way of the Flowers,” Ikebana is meditative practice embodying ideals of taste, beauty and oneness with nature. The art gives equal weight to all parts of the plant rather than just its blooms. Strict discipline is used in harmonizing the elements. Classical ikebana dates to the 15th century; This festival celebrates Yume Gardens’ 10th decade.

9:30 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Thursday, Feb. 24, to Sunday, March 6, Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson, 2130 N. Alvernon Way, yumegardens.org, $17 general admission.

“BRONTË”

“BRONTË”

the buses at Himmel Park to celebrate its quarter-century anniversary. There will be fun for all ages including cornhole, board games, hula hoops, giant chess, giant checkers, giant Connect 4, cards, music, Mexican train, dominoes, giant Jenga, giant ring toss and walking sticks. Visit the website to sign up for a schedule of the buses’ visits to city parks all over town.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, Himmel Park, 1000 N. Tucson Boulevard, tucsonaz.gov/parks/ readysetrec, free

“SOUL’D OUT SUNDAYS”

Strictly Grown Folks AZ presents vocalist Nikky Douglas and The Band with No Name this Sunday at Chicago Bar. They promise an evening of R&B, jazz, neo-soul and old-school hip-hop. In between their sets, entertainment continues with DJ Tejano King and comedy or spoken word. The entertainment changes up but the party happens on the fourth Sunday of every month. Food trucks and vendors are always right outside.

6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, Chicago Bar, 5954 E. Speedway Boulevard, $7 advance on Facebook, $10 at the door, for more details call or text 520-2412328.

“DARK SIDE OF THE MOON” 50TH ANNIVERSARY

IMAGINES THE LIFE THAT INSPIRED THE BOOKS. (THE SCOUNDREL & SCAMP THEATRE/SUBMITTED)

Contemporary playwright Polly Teale imagines life in the Brontë family in 1845, when wayward brother Branwell returns, broken by addiction and sunk into scandal and disgrace. Teetering on the brink of insanity, he has thrown the family into chaos. Sisters and novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne . . . write. Teale imagines the reality behind the renowned authors’ fiction in the context of the suffocatingly constrained society in which they lived. How did their writing make such a resounding impact as to continue to resonate with every generation since?

1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, pre-show talk about the Brontë sisters’ legacies; shows are various dates and times through Saturday, March 11, The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre at The Historic Y, 738 N. Fifth Avenue, Suite 131, scoundrelandscamp.org/bronte, tickets start at $30

hold items, art, décor and Southwest paraphernalia. Funds raised help the neighborhood support its historic sites.

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, San Pedro Chapel, 5230 E. Fort Lowell Road, free

“HATE IT OR LOVE IT”

RAP CHALLENGE SHOWCASE

Fifteen rap artists compete for a $150 cash prize. The audience decides the

winner. DJ Staxx provides the music and DJ Ahmar hosts as each artist performs two songs. Reach out to either of them to sign up to rap.

9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, D’Lux Lounge, 1901 S. Fourth Avenue, $10 at the door.

CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF TUCSON’S “READY, SET, REC!” BUSES!

The city of Tucson’s mobile recreation program, “Ready, Set, Rec!” circles

Flandrau’s exciting, immersive laser light shows kick out the jams (with apologies to MC5) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s iconic album, “Dark Side of the Moon.” Listen to the music while exploring the literal dark side of the literal Moon in the planetarium theatre dome. As an early ’70s Brit might say “It’s a trip!”

6 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, 1601 E. University Boulevard, flandrau.org, $24

MUSIC

ALT-FOLK GROUP CELEBRATES RELEASE OF ‘SOMETHING’

By Laura Latzko Tucson Weekly Contributor

Christopher Stryker and Gianna Purcell have a close relationship. They grew up within three blocks of each other in the Chicago area, and they live the same distance away in Tucson. For 13 years, they have performed together as the alternative folk outfit Barefoot on Bumblebees.

Barefoot on Bumblebees will celebrate the release its fourth album, “Let It Feel Like Something,” on Saturday, Feb. 25, at Crooked Tooth Brewing Co. Stryker and Purcell will be joined by Michael Martello, Brian Carstensen and Josh Hampton. Jessie Williams will open the show. Chicago natives Martello and Carstensen are also featured on the album.

Barefoot on Bumblebees have served introspective lyrics with upbeat melodies since its debut effort in 2010. However, each album has a different timestamp and showcases their growth as artists.

“It usually ends up being a little window into a period of time in our lives, just because we write around what is going on with us,” Stryker said.

“I think every album, we get a little closer to whatever sound we are. So, we just become ourselves a little bit more every single time.”

With “Let It Feel Like Something,” Barefoot on Bumblebees experimented with a variety of sounds, according to Purcell.

“We usually come up with a sound for a song, and lyrics come after,” Purcell said.

With its music, the band incorporates a range of instruments, including the guitar, banjo, the musical saw, the drums, the melodica, the bells, the ukulele, the accordion and the keyboard.

Sometimes, Purcell and Stryker will fashion items they have at home into

instruments. Recently, they glued bells from an old rotary phone onto a washboard.

“It’s fun to make music out of things you normally wouldn’t try to make music out of,” Purcell said.

Stryker plays a modified banjo when he performs with Purcell as a duo.

“You play the same chords as you would on a regular banjo, but the voicing is different,” Stryker said.

“Your D is now two octaves lower. It’s really weird to play, but that’s what fills in the bass line when it’s just the two of us.”

Purcell said with “Let It Feel Like Something” she has taken on a bigger role with writing and singing.

“I started singing just to fill in space, and then I kept singing because I actually started to like it,” she said.

“I grew up playing piano. I’ve dabbled in bass. I have done primarily drums. But I feel like the developmental of singing and the way I take on something new is because I love it… I wanted to learn ukulele, so I started writing songs during the pandemic on the ukulele.”

Stryker started out playing the violin when he was young and moved on to the bass and cello in his teens. Previously, Purcell and Stryker toured the country in a 1970s pop-up camper.

During their time on the road, Stryker made comics inspired by their travels, and Purcell collected materials to make jewelry.

Purcell has also created art for their albums over the years.

“We always do everything ourselves. We are a DIY, indie-folk band,” Purcell said.

Recently, the duo played the Sidepony Express Music Festival in Bisbee, where they did five shows in three days.

They have also performed at local Tucson venues such as Sky Bar, Mon-

CHRISTOPHER STRYKER, CENTER FRONT, AND GIANNA PURCELL PERFORM AS BAREFOOT ON BUMBLEBEES. (ALL FRILLS LLC/CONTRIBUTOR)

terey Court, Borderlands Brewing Co., Solar Culture and Splinter Collective.

Throughout the years, they have played smaller and larger venues, including cafes, bookstores, breweries and bars.

When they were starting out in the Chicago suburbs, they would pack rooms with teens. These experiences really helped to shape them as musicians and grow their love of performing.

“There was a time where people were singing lyrics to our songs. When you’re a 16-year-old kid, and people are singing your lyrics back to you, it’s a good feeling,” Stryker said.

The name Barefoot on Bumblebees came from Stryker’s childhood in Chicago. He and his friends stomped on dandelions where bumblebees would land.

“I feel bad about that now, but at the

time I was a little kid,” Stryker said.

The two friends continue to make time for music despite busy their busy careers. Purcell owns a yoga business, and Stryker is an auto body technician.

“There are some people who have always been around and always will be around, and Chris is one of those people,” Purcell said.

“I think at this point we’re family. We’ve gone through the bad shit and the good shit,” Stryker added.

Barefoot on Bumblebees

WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25

WHERE: Crooked Tooth Brewing Co., 228 E. Sixth Street, Tucson COST: Free admission

INFO: barefootonbumblebees. bandcamp.com

LAUGHING STOCK

JOE PERA BRINGS ‘COMEDY IN ICE’

By Linda Ray Tucson Weekly Columnist

Let’s see how we can all just chill together.

Joe Pera comes to the Rialto Friday, Feb. 24, on a trajectory that’s taken him from film school and a grinding open mic regimen through a groundbreaking indie series on Adult Swim and now on to bigger and better-known theaters.

Having committed to a comedy career as a kid, he chewed through all the open mics in his Buffalo hometown, then moved to conquer NYC’s comedy stages. Ultimately, he found traction with an animated, 11-minute short feature that promised to put us to sleep. Literally, “Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep” attracted an almost cult-like following, including the nerdiest and most popular entertainment news outlets.

The show’s draw was its novel conceit: humdrum things can be comedy gold if we just chill. Simply acknowledging them and reacting authentically can be laughable, especially when a comic can maintain an affect and tone somewhere between Mister Rogers and Garrison Keillor.

Nighttime cable TV channel Adult Swim followed the crowd drawn to that 11-minute special and underwrote the series, “Joe Pera Talks with You” for three seasons. Mind the preposition; he talks directly to the camera.

Benign and bordering on charming, the conversation is always smart, thoughtful and never banal or even ironic. It’s also very funny. The shows characters are un-stylish, natural yet remarkable, like spring water.

The hat trick is in the subtle craft of the writing. You have to know who you are talking to, for instance, when you pen a monologue about the pleasures of discovering “Baba O’Reilly” that will have a large swath of audience doubled over with laughter.

stores and breakfast crews got on the air and lasted as long as it did.”

It might be a miracle, but it’s no accident. The path was laid out in childhood. “I have a nice mom and dad, and I grew up within 5 minutes of both sets of my grandparents,” he said. “That definitely affected the humor that I’m interested in and the types of characters.

“We (laughed) a lot in my family.”

Pera’s affect is that of a preternaturally centered individual. But his calm belies his discipline and unswervable drive or the exacting nature of his writing. None of these qualities are assumed of a comedian, but he’s in his happy place.

He noted that when he started out, “Comedy in general was a little bit more in your face. I remember Dane Cook was yelling a lot, and there weren’t a lot of soft-spoken comedians doing standup. There’s more variety in comedy now than I can remember, and there are more different niche areas.”

When, after three seasons, Pera broke the news on his website that the show was canceled, he said, “The more I learn how TV works, the more I realize that it’s kind of a miracle that our quiet, 11-minute show about rocks, beans, grocery

Pera took his time building his career, starting with the front row of every venue. To do the comedy he wanted to do, he needed to be quieter than most comics. He developed a technique for engaging the first few rows and letting the set roll out to the back as each row began listening. “It helped me learn how to write good sharp jokes,” he said. “People would tune in if I maintained my approach and didn’t rush. If I could connect a bunch of good jokes in a row, hopefully the attention would spread back to the rest of the room.”

For the much larger audiences who turn out for him in the wake of his success with “Joe Pera Talks with You,” he said he’s leveled up the crowd work a little and his material is entirely new.

JOE PERA TALKS WITH YOU AT THE RIALTO ON FRIDAY, FEB. 24. (JOE PERA/SUBMITTED)

VICTORIAN WOMEN CAPTURE MODERN PASSIONS IN PLAY

By Bridgette M. Redman Tucson Weekly Contributor

There are stories and storytellers. Then sometimes there are stories about the storytellers.

At Scoundrel & Scamp, Polly Teale’s “Brontë” takes audience members into the lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, three novelists and poets whose passionate tales continue to charm and mesmerize readers 180 years after they were published.

The play takes place in 1845, when their brother Branwell Brontë has returned home disgraced, addicted and slipping into madness. The play mixes their real and imagined worlds, bringing some of their famous literary creations to the stage in a production that runs from Thursday, Feb. 23, to Saturday, March 11.

Director Bryan Rafael Falcón, who is also the company’s artistic director, said they are always looking for plays by female playwrights, particularly ones that explore the idea of what it means to be human and from where we get our identities.

“For Brontë, we have these three sisters who are isolated on the English moors of northern England and Yorkshire and somehow these celibate women write some of the most passionate works in literature,” Falcón said.

“We’re intrigued to understand where does this powerful storytelling come from? Where does this passion come from?”

He was also attracted to this play, he said, because it is inherently theatrical. The play starts out at the Parsonage Museum, the actual Brontë home in Yorkshire. It’s a place where visitors can see their dresses, their dining room table, even the brush that Emily dropped into the fire on the night she died.

“We were recreating that sense of place here,” Falcón said. “But over the course of the play, the actors put on the clothes of the Brontës and they step into

the roles and lives of these women and we start to learn more about the facts around what went on in their life, what were their challenges, what were the tragedies they encountered, what were their relationships about.”

The play takes audiences into the stories that the sisters wrote, letting them dwell in “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre,” and revealing patterns and events that happened in the lives of the sisters.

Dawn McMillan, Allison Akmajian and Myani Watson play Charlotte, Emily and Anne, respectively. Falcón said it was important that he find actors who could embody the sisters and their desires and needs, actors who could really figure out how the sisters love and fight.

While all three were writers, they were very different in personality, Falcón said. Charlotte was very interested in what the world said about her, and she wanted to be known as one of the great writers of the time, even though female writers were not celebrated.

Emily was a very private woman who wrote to express herself. Anne was very interested in social justice and wanted to be able to change the world in a positive manner. They lived together in an isolated home on the Moors, reading to each other while walking around their dining room table.

“They knew each other inside and out, but at the same time, they were just so different in what they desired and what they wanted,” Falcón said. “In the end, a lot of the things they desired and wanted were not compatible. We had to look for actors who would really be able to embody those qualities and be able to express the dynamic between the sisters in a way that the audience will go on the journey with us while we tell the story.”

The play moves back and forth in time and space between different years

THE BRONTË FAMILY GATHERS TOGETHER FOR STORYTELLING: FROM LEFT, DAWN MCMILLAN AS CHARLOTTE, TONY CAPRILE AS PATRICK, MYANI WATSON AS ANN, HUNTER HNAT AS BRANWELL AND ALLISON AKMAJIAN AS EMILY. (TIM FULLER/CONTRIBUTOR)

from the present to the mid-1800s and through many locations in England.

“Visually, the piece is intended to be more expressionistic than biopic,” Falcón said. “Everything on the stage has a metaphor, a meaning, a reason for being there. It’s very visually rich, beautiful.”

The music director, Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, helps establish time and place for the audience. While lighting changes alert to moves through time and space, actors rarely have time to change costumes, so music and sound effects are being provided.

“We have tried to ask ourselves, what does the world of Jane Eyre sound like? What does the world of Wuthering Heights sound like?” Falcón said.

They have sounds for the Moors, sound for pirate tales, sounds for every location.

Falcón, who did not read the novels of the sisters until he knew he was going to direct this show, said that audiences needn’t read the stories or even know much about the Brontës. The play, and the information they have in the lobby, will provide a crash course. The story, he said, is more about exploring a family of genius women and what inspired their work than a biography or literature lesson.

That said, he suspects that those who have not read the books will be inspired to do so once they have seen the play.

And fans of the sisters will have an especially delightful time.

“For those people who have read the works coming in, it’s going to be such a rich, rich environment because they’ll hear echoes of particular works in each scene,” Falcón said. “They’ll have a deeper understanding of the themes and the significance of some of the moments in the play.”

Serving on the directing staff is Matt Denney as the intimacy director and Christine Arbor as the assistant intimacy director. They were brought on because so much of the play deals with tragic and passionate moments. Falcón stressed that, while telling a good story, it was important to do so in a way that was safe and healthy for the actors.

“Part of the reason that modern audiences are so fascinated with the Brontës is they had such tragic, great, impressive, world-changing lives,” Falcón said. “There is so much repression (in the novels) and behind it is a violent, passion. When we are translating that work to the stage, there are moments where, even in the restraint of Victorian England, the way these women’s fantasies and passions are expressed are very sexy.”

The play, Falcón said, is a superior exploration into why people create. It explores those themes better than any

MUSIC

CHASE RICE ‘WAY DOWN YONDER’ IN TUCSON

By Josh Ortega Tucson Weekly Staff Writer

From linebacker at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to contestant on CBS’ Survivor, Chase Rice has finally found his form in Nashville. The Florida-born, North Carolina-raised country music star will perform a Military Appreciation Concert on Saturday, March 4, on the Omni Tucson National Resort’s Practice Range, following the second round of the PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic golf tournament, an appreciation that has special meaning for him.

“It’s an honor to perform for them and to give back whenever, however we can,” Rice said. “Both of my grandfathers served and I’m really close with a lot of veterans.”

With more than 2.3 million albums sold and over 2.4 billion total digital streams, a legion of passionate fans at his concerts across the globe has helped Chase Rice establish himself as a powerful force in Nashville and beyond, and his newest album perfectly sums up how he wants people to see him.

Rice’s newest album “I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell,” crafted in his rural Tennessee home-turnedstudio released February 10, and his sound continues to evolve to reflect the realities of his life, as evidenced by recent releases “Way Down Yonder” and “Key West & Colorado.”

The new music serves as a follow up to his threepart project “The Album,” featuring his latest platinum-certified number one hit, “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen. (feat. Florida Georgia Line)” and platinum-certified Top 10 hit “Lonely If You Are.”

The new music builds upon the success of his sophomore album, Lambs & Lions, which featured the ever-popular chart topper “Eyes on You” – Rice’s first No. 1 as an artist and the most-streamed song of his career.

But Rice knows what you’re thinking: I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, that sounds really harsh for a genre known for its simple-living, beer-drinking, good ol’ boy genre.

“’I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell’ is an aggressive album title, I get it,” Rice said. “But at the end of the day the songs make it clear that neither of those things are true – and cowboys and dogs are actually two major themes on this record.”

Never fear, the name of the tour “Way Down Yonder”—a song off the album—offers some backwoods solace and shows a new sound that some people might not be expect from the 37-year-old singer. “It’s a heater of a moonshining song, and then we

went Western with the music video which was a blast,” Rice said. “That unexpected energy is what we’re bringing on the road this year, so it felt like the perfect tour name.”

Backwoods represents exactly where Rice comes from as an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish, or just spend it on his farm.

“I try to get out west to Montana for a trip with my brother every year, and I love fishing the Harpeth River when I’m home in Tennessee,” Rice said.

Like many in the past couple years, Rice said spending time at home has meant learned how to unwind and create a community outside of music.

Some of that came from that Rice attending a retreat with the organization Operation Restored Warrior, a Colorado nonprofit that works to seeks to eliminate suicides among veterans, taking it from 22 per day to 0.

“Some of my best friends who I know I’ll be close with for the rest of my life came out of that experience,” Rice said.

After 10 years of chasing the dream, Rice said this new music is the best he’s ever released and excited to bring this new album to the fans.

CHASE RICE CELEBRATES THE RELEASE OF “I HATE COWBOYS & ALL DOGS GO TO HELL” AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY HOUSE. (EVAN DESTEFANO/CONTRIBUTOR)

other work he’s encountered and does so in a style he hasn’t seen.

“If you are a lover of theater, you will want to come because you’ll find your mind’s eye engaged at a level that a lot of plays never reach,” Falcón said. “The writing is prose, but it is poetic. The playwright, Polly Teale, really knows the subject matter. The characters feel like real people.

“Sometimes people go to the theater for spectacle. Sometimes for music. But I think that for our audiences, people are looking for a better understanding of people and community and how that impacts the artist and the person. All of

RICE FROM PAGE 15

While the returning fans can look forward to the hits, Rice said he’s “passionate and excited” play as much off his newest record as possible every night and exude that on stage.

“I hope they see a man who has found exactly who he wants to be as an artist and the kind of music he wants to make,” Rice said.

that is present in this play in a way that is just really unique and compelling.”

“Brontë” by Polly Teale

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, pre-show talk about the Brontë sisters’ legacies; shows are various dates and times through Saturday, March 11

WHERE: Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre, 738 N. Fifth Street, Suite 131, Tucson

COST: Tickets start at $30, with discounts for seniors, students, teachers and theater artists

INFO: 520-448-3300, scoundrelandscamp.org

Chase Rice: Military Appreciation Concert sponsored

by DM50

WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, March 4

WHERE: Omni Tucson National Resort’s Practice Range, 2727 W. Club Drive, Tucson

COST: Tickets start at $59 INFO: cologuardclassic.com

$9.95, Dinner & Brunch $11.95 for a delicious 14-course meal w/ salad bar Student & Senior discounts apply

“I’m interested in presenting a new show to them with stuff they haven’t seen. All the jokes I’m doing have tested real well in New York and around. There are spots I leave flexible to have some real interactions with the audience.

“I’m excited to get to Arizona, and Tucson in particular. I heard you have some unique rocks that you definitely can’t find on the East Coast.”

Joe Pera: “Comedy in Ice” w/ Pauly Casillas, 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, ticketmaster.com, Tickets start at $17

OTHER SHOWS THIS WEEK

Bumsted’s, 1003 N. Stone Avenue, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25, ladyhahacomedy.com, $15, Sex Comedy Show with headliner Xazmin Garza, seen on HBO’s “Comedy Chingonas,” hosted by Mo Urban and Priscilla Fernandez and featuring Madi Shuman, Morgan Kuehn, Lux Shree, Kyle Verville and Jackie Carpio

La ’s Comedy Ca e, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard. 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, laffstucson.com, $15, $20 preferred seating. Sean Finnerty, for those who just love laughing with an Irishman.

Tucson Improv Movement/TIM

Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street, tucsonimprov.com, $7 each show, $10 for both shows, same night, free jam and open mic. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, Class Showcases Improv 301 and Standup 101; 8:30 p.m. Open Mic.; 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, Improv Jam; 7:30 p.m. “The Soapbox;” 9 p.m. Standup Showcase; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, “Tootpole” Musical Improv and “Game Show Show;” 9 p.m. “The Dating Scene” Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, unscrewedtheatre.org, $8, live or remote, $5 kids. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, Family-Friendly Improv; 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, Improv Basics Showcase (free admission), 7:30 p.m. Family Friendly Improv; 9 p.m. Uncensored Improv Comedy with house teams NBOJU (Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed) and The Big Daddies.

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

GET HIGH WITHOUT THE HANGOVER WITH THC-INFUSED BEVERAGES

By Hope Peters Tucson Weekly Contributor

Former University of Phoenix president Bill Gibbs was looking for an adult beverage that wouldn’t make him hungover.

“I’m old,” joked the 72-year-old Gibbs.

“As you get older you can’t drink and you’re looking for healthier alternatives. I didn’t like the prospect of giving up alcohol, so I was looking for something else.”

What the owner and CEO of Sweet Dreams Vineyards found were cannabis-blended beverages that are created with nano-emulsification technology

(to make the THC water soluble) and natural ingredients. Currently, Sweet Dreams Vineyard’s flagship product, Cannabernet, and Marijuarita THC beverages are available in Tucson’s Nature Med Dispensary off Ina Road.

Sweet Dreams Vineyards is a bit of a play on words, as there is no wine in the products, nor is there a vineyard.

The Cannabernet is based on a blend of pomegranate and blueberry juice with the nano-emulsified THC added to it. Gibbs and a local sommelier went with a high-antioxidant blend of pome-

OWNER/FOUNDER OF SWEET DREAMS VINEYARD BILL GIBBS GIVES TUCSON THC-INFUSED “WINE” AND MOCKTAILS SANS THE HANGOVER. (BILL GIBBS/SUBMITTED)

granate and blueberry juice that tasted more like red wine.

The Cannabernet replicates the dry fruit, pepper and vanilla notes of Cabernet Sauvignon, while the Marijuarita has the slightly sweety-yet-acidic flavors of a classic margarita. All-natural

lime juice mimics the flavor of a margarita.

Sweet Dreams Vineyard will soon offer Hi-Tai and Sex on the Grass, reminiscent of tiki and beach cocktails.

SEE SWEET DREAMS PAGE 18

SWEET DREAMS FROM PAGE 17

“The reason I like this kind of mocktail approach is people buy this and take it to a party and participate in the social aspect of it,” he said. “They kind of fit in where everyone else is having wine or cocktails and it is also a conversation piece.”

Gibbs is no novice in the cannabis world. Before the Sweet Dreams Vineyard, he owned a dispensary from 2014 to 2019, when he sold it to Harvest, now Trulieve. Gibbs was also part of the Arizona Dispensary Association board of directors and helped get the industry off the ground here.

“Marijuana has been found to aid in pain management, and sleep and has been prescribed by medical professionals as a viable alternative to opioids and pain medications,” Gibbs said in a statement. “There are many marijuana-based products out there.”

Sweet Dreams Vineyards recently added cannabis-infused water, H2Whoa, in lemon and mango flavors,

made from all-natural juices. These waters have only 9 calories per serving size.

The THC drinks give consumers a quick high but will fade quickly. Unlike alcohol drinks, the calories for a serving size, about a quarter cup or 2 fluid ounces of drink equals 31 calories per serving for the Cannabernet and 45 calories for the Marijuarita. Each serving size equates to 10 mg of THC.

Gibbs said he plans to expand and sell his products in more dispensaries in Tucson soon. Nature Med in Tucson sells these 210mL, 100mg THC hybrid strain bottles of Cannabernet and Marijuarita for $18. They come with a dosing cap.

Sweet Dreams Vineyard 1-800-420-8709, sweetdreamsvineyard.com

Sold at: Nature Med Dispensary 5390 W. Ina Road, Tucson 520-620-9123, naturemedaz.com .com

COMICS

TUCSON AREA DISPENSARIES

BLOOM TUCSON

4695 N. Oracle Road, Suite 117 520-293-3315; bloomdispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

BOTANICA

6205 N. Travel Center Drive 520-395-0230; botanica.us

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

DESERT BLOOM RE-LEAF CENTER

8060 E. 22nd Street, Suite 108 520-886-1760; dbloomtucson.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

Offering delivery

DOWNTOWN DISPENSARY

221 E. Sixth Street, Suite 105 520-838-0492; thedowntowndispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

D2 DISPENSARY

7139 E. 22nd Street 520-214-3232; d2dispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

EARTH’S HEALING

Two locations:

North: 78 W. River Road 520-253-7198

South: 2075 E. Benson Highway 520-373-5779

earthshealing.org

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays; Offering delivery

GREEN MED WELLNESS CENTER

6464 E. Tanque Verde Road

520-886-2484, greenmedwellness.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

HALO CANNABIS

7710 S. Wilmot Road

520-664-2251; thegreenhalo.org

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

HANA GREEN VALLEY

1732 W. Duval Commerce Point Place

520-289-8030

Open: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

HARVEST OF TUCSON

2734 E. Grant Road

520-314-9420; askme@harvestinc.com; harvestofaz.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

NATURE MED

5390 W. Ina Road

520-620-9123; naturemedaz.com

Open: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

THE PRIME LEAF

Two locations:

• 4220 E. Speedway Boulevard

• 1525 N. Park Avenue

520-44-PRIME; theprimeleaf.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays

TUCSON SAINTS

112 S. Kolb Road

520-886-1003; medicalmarijuanaoftucson.com

Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily

NATION By Brian Box Brown

(FROM FEB. 16)

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19)

Philosopher John O’Donohue wrote a prayer not so much to God as to Life. It’s perfect for your needs right now. He said, “May my mind come alive today to the invisible geography that invites me to new frontiers, to break the dead shell of yesterdays, to risk being disturbed and changed.” I think you will generate an interesting onrush of healing, Aries, if you break the dead shell of yesterdays and risk being disturbed and changed. The new frontier is calling to you. To respond with alacrity, you must shed some baggage.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20)

Rightwing religious influencers are rambling amuck in the United States. In recent months, their repressive pressures have forced over 1,600 books to be banned in 138 school districts in 38 states. The forbidden books include some about heroes Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks. With this appalling trend as a motivational force, I encourage you Tauruses to take inventory of any tendencies you might have to censor the information you expose yourself to. According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to pry open your mind to consider ideas and facts you have shut out. Be eager to get educated and inspired by stimuli outside your usual scope.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20)

I think we can all agree that it’s really fun to fall in love. Those times when we feel a thrilling infatuation welling up within us are among the most pleasurable of all human experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it over and over again as the years go by? Just keep getting bowled over by fresh immersions in swooning adoration? Maybe we could drum up two or three bouts of mad love explosions every year. But alas, giving in to such a temptation might make it hard to build intimacy and trust with a committed, long-term partner. Here’s a possible alternative: Instead of getting smitten with an endless series of new paramours, we could get swept away by novel teachings, revelatory meditations,

lovable animals, sublime art or music, amazing landscapes or sanctuaries, and exhilarating adventures. I hope you will be doing that in the coming weeks, Gemini.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22)

The scientific method is an excellent approach for understanding reality. It’s not the only one, and should not be used to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. But even if you’re allergic to physics or never step into a chemistry lab, you are wise to use the scientific method in your daily life. The coming weeks will be an especially good time to enjoy its benefits. What would that mean, practically speaking? Set aside your subjective opinions and habitual responses. Instead, simply gather evidence. Treasure actual facts. Try to be as objective as you can in evaluating everything that happens. Be highly attuned to your feelings, but also be aware that they may not provide all facets of the truth.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22)

Is there anything in your psychological makeup that would help you do some detective work? How are your skills as a researcher? Are you willing to be cagey and strategic as you investigate what’s going on behind the scenes? If so, I invite you to carry out any or all of these four tasks in the coming weeks: 1. Try to become aware of shrouded half-truths. 2. Be alert for shadowy stuff lurking in bright, shiny environments. 3. Uncover secret agendas and unacknowledged evidence. 4. Explore stories and situations that no one else seems curious about.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22)

The country of Nepal, which has strong Virgo qualities, is divided into seven provinces. One is simply called “Province No.1,” while the others are Sudurpashchim, Karnali, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati, and Janakpur. I advise Nepal to give Province No. 1 a decent name very soon. I also recommend that

you Virgos extend a similar outreach to some of the unnamed beauty in your sphere. Have fun with it. Give names to your phone, your computer, your bed, your hairdryer, and your lamps, as well as your favorite trees, houseplants, and clouds. You may find that the gift of naming helps make the world a more welcoming place with which you have a more intimate relationship. And that would be an artful response to current cosmic rhythms.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22)

Are you aimless, impassive, and stuck, floundering as you try to preserve and maintain? Or are you fiercely and joyfully in quest of vigorous and dynamic success? What you do in the coming weeks will determine which of these two forks in your destiny will be your path for the rest of 2023. I’ll be rooting for the second option. Here is a tip to help you be strong and bold. Learn the distinctions between your own soulful definition of success and the superficial, irrelevant, meaningless definitions of success that our culture celebrates. Then swear an oath to love, honor, and serve your soulful definition.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21)

The next four weeks will be a time of germination, metaphorically analogous to the beginning of a pregnancy. The attitudes and feelings that predominate during this time will put a strong imprint on the seeds that will mature into full ripeness by late 2023. What do you want to give birth to in 40 weeks or so, Scorpio? Choose wisely! And make sure that in this early, impressionable part of the process, you provide your growing creations with positive, nurturing influences.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21)

I recommend you set up Designated Arguing Summits (DAT). These will be short periods when you and your allies get disputes out in the open. Disagreements must be confined to these intervals. You are not allowed to squabble at any other time. Why do I make this recommendation? I believe that many positive accomplishments are possible for you in the coming weeks, and it would be counterproductive to expend more

than the minimal necessary amount on sparring. Your glorious assignment: Be emotionally available and eager to embrace the budding opportunities.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19)

Actor Judi Dench won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the film Shakespeare in Love—even though she was onscreen for just eight minutes. Beatrice Straight got an Oscar for her role in the movie Network, though she appeared for less than six minutes. I expect a similar phenomenon in your world, Capricorn. A seemingly small pivot will lead to a vivid turning point. A modest seed will sprout into a prismatic bloom. A cameo performance will generate long-term ripples. Be alert for the signs.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18)

Most of us are constantly skirmishing with time, doing our best to coax it or compel it to give us more slack. But lately, you Aquarians have slipped into a more intense conflict. And from what I’ve been able to determine, time is kicking your ass. What can you do to relieve the pressure? Maybe you could edit your priority list—eliminate two mildly interesting pursuits to make more room for a fascinating one. You might also consider reading a book to help you with time management and organizational strategies, like these: 1. Getting Things Done by David Allen. 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. 3. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20)

“What is originality?” asked philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here’s how he answered: “to see something that has no name as yet, and hence cannot be mentioned though it stares us all in the face.” Got that, Pisces? I hope so, because your fun assignments in the coming days include the following: 1. to make a shimmering dream coalesce into a concrete reality; 2. to cause a figment of the imagination to materialize into a useful accessory; 3. to coax an unborn truth to sprout into a galvanizing insight.

By Rob Brezsny. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

EMPLOYMENT-GENERAL

The Southern Arizona Experiment Station (SAES) at The University of Arizona Tucson location is seeking a FT General Maintenance Mechanic to join our dynamic team. The successful candidate will perform general facility maintenance including plumbing, electrical, and general repairs. The position includes free parking and UA benefits. Outstanding UA benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance plans; life insurance and disability programs; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; state and optional retirement plans; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more!

For more information or to apply, please go to this link, https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/13651?c=arizona

EMPLOYMENT-GENERAL

Freeport Minerals Corporation seeks MANAGER

GEOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING in Tucson, AZ.

Manage designated engineering projects & processes ensuring successful conclusion of all phases within budgeted timeframe & cost. Send resumes to Ron Ostrom <rostrom@fmi.com> and must reference Job #166 in subject line. Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veteran/Disability.

ENTERTAINMENT

HAPPY 2023

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WHAT DOES YOUR FUTURE HOLD? FIND OUT TODAY!

Honest, sincere metaphysical life readings by experienced intuitive Aiko. Specializing in match-making through Asian Fung Shui principles. Consultations available in person or over the phone. Please call AIKO at (520) 225-7201 Looking forward to seeing you!

Edited by Will Shortz

Not on the rocks

Gemstone that can come from petrified

Poet who wrote “The cow is of the bovine ilk; / One end is moo, the other, milk”

Red, yellow and green circles

What “port” is on a ship

:( vis-à-vis :/

what you want?

tree with poisonous seeds

field that can be “read”

One of many for the goddess Durga

Red, yellow, green and blue circles

Laughing syllables

TV series with a Time Lord, informally

Red, yellow, green, blue and black circles

___/them pronouns

Natural stew thickener

___ Mountains, formation made by the collision of the continents Laurasia and Kazakhstania

Ancient le er 62 Pile of paper

63 Figure in Maori mythology

64 Some 911 call respondents, in brief 65 Author Janowitz 66 Expressed agitation, as a llama

“You really came through, buddy!”

Social service? 3 Poet Elizabeth Bishop’s alma mater 4 Run away suddenly

Abbr. preceded by a comma

In-flight announcement, for short

7 Italian tire company

Dough

Absorb, as new information

Sound a wader makes

Singer/songwriter with the 2021 Oscarwinning song “Fight for You”

Many a download

to

before bull or a er ball

Coolers, for short

List at a department of motor vehicles

Worshiped person

Like a mocking grin

34 Goof 35 Rhyming parent of a lamb

38 Jet-se er’s need

Boring routine, metaphorically

“Where the Wild Things ___”

“Pa on” or “Platoon”

“As a ma er of fact, that’s right” 48 Response to “Who’s in?”

Test taken in a tube, in

“Oh, fudge!”

“As a matter of fact,

HSIUNG