Tucson Weekly, Aug. 12, 2021

VOTE NOW IN BEST OF TUCSON®: LEGENDS OF THE WEST!

CINEMA: Suicide Squad Is a Killer Flick

TUCSON WEEDLY: A Cannabis Social Club

2

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

AUGUST 12, 2021

AUGUST 12, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 32

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

The Tucson Weekly is available free of charge in Pima County, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue of the Tucson Weekly may be purchased for $1, payable at the Tucson Weekly office in advance. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Tucson Weekly, please visit TucsonWeekly.com

STAFF

CONTENTS CURRENTS

5

Eviction moratorium extended but aid dollars still tied up with county, state agencies

FEATURE

7

Tucson Salvage: A life in radio supporting local music

CINEMA

12

James Gunn breathes new life into The Suicide Squad

ARTS & CULTURE

ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President

EDITOR’S NOTE

Jaime Hood, General Manager, jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Tyler Vondrak, Associate Publisher, tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Surfing the Airwaves TUCSON SALVAGE COLUMNIST Brian Smith is back on the cover this week with a profile of David LaRussa, whose voice may be familiar with longtime Tucsonans. LaRussa has been a presence on local radio stations, starting with KWFM in its independent glory days in the late ’70s and continuing with stints at KLPX and KUAZ-FM. He’s a walking musical encyclopedia who has turned people onto all kinds of music over the years and you can hear him these days for an hour a week on community radio station KXCI, 91.3 FM. Brian’s profile tells how LaRussa grew up loving music and how he has surfed the airwaves off and on ever since.

Elsewhere in the book: Staff reporter Christina Duran digs into the latest on COVID, including the ongoing battles over masking and the efforts to prevent eviction for people who are affected by the virus, which is spreading rapidly across the state, mostly among the unvaccinated; The Skinny looks at how the dust

Claudine Sowards, Accounting, claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com

settled after last week’s primary election; longtime arts writer Margaret Regan looks at how a trio of downtown galleries are surviving after a year and a half of COVID; movie critic Bob Grimm says the latest Suicide Squad flick is one of the best things DC films has put out, due in large part to the director; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott takes a tour of an eastside cannabis social club; and we’ve got all the usual features our readers love scattered throughout the book.

A final note: The race is on to crown winners in Best of Tucson®! Cast your ballot before Sept. 1 at TucsonWeekly.com.

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz talk about all the cool stuff going on in Tucson on the World-Famous Frank Show at 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays at KLPX, 96.1 FM.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

15

EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor, jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor, mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Christina Duran, Staff Reporter, christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com Contributors: David Abbott, Rob Brezsny, Max Cannon, Rand Carlson, Tom Danehy, Emily Dieckman, Bob Grimm, Andy Mosier, Linda Ray, Margaret Regan, Will Shortz, Jen Sorensen, Clay Jones, Dan Savage PRODUCTION Courtney Oldham, Production Manager, tucsonproduction@timespublications.com Ryan Dyson, Graphic Designer, ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer, emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com CIRCULATION Alex Carrasco, Circulation, alexc@tucsonlocalmedia.com ADVERTISING TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com Kristin Chester, Account Executive, kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive, candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com Lisa Hopper, Account Executive, lisa@tucsonlocalmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Zac Reynolds Director of National Advertising Zac@TimesPublications.com Tucson Weekly® is published every Thursday by Times Media Group at 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona. Address all editorial, business and production correspondence to: Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona 85741. Phone: (520) 797-4384, FAX (520) 575-8891. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). The Tucson Weekly® and Best of Tucson® are registered trademarks of Times Media Group. Publisher has the right to refuse any advertisement at his or her discretion.

How a trio of downtown galleries are keeping art alive

TUCSON WEEDLY

17

Harambe Café offers safe space for cannabis users

Cover design by Ryan Dyson

Copyright: The entire contents of Tucson Weekly are Copyright Times Media Group No portion may be reproduced in whole or part by any means without the express written permission of the Publisher, Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, AZ 85741.

3

4

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

it would be prudent to assume they won’t unless we intervene to slow transmission,” said Gerald. “Unfortunately, we are squandering the efforts of the vaccinated and ignoring the sacrifices of the previously ill and dead, to party like it was 1999.”

Variant driving new wave of COVID cases in AZ Gerald also noted that despite a higher degree of vaccination for those 65 and older the current community transmission is Aug. 4.

By Christina Duran The vote was motivated by the outbreaks impacting hospitals similarly to how it did christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com last winter. seen in the Vail School District and with “Because herd immunity applies to popthe growing number of pediatric cases. As WITH MORE THAN 2,000 COVID ulations not age groups, high vaccination of Aug. 5, the Pima County Health Decases reported daily in Arizona in recent rates among those >65 years doesn’t provide partment received reports of 212 positive weeks, health officials are predicting an any protection to those who interact with COVID cases in K-12 schools. In an updated outbreak similar to at least the last summer Public Health Advisory, PCHD notes an in- unvaccinated adults who have much lower and potentially as serious as the wave of crease in pediatric admission and ER visits levels of vaccination,” said Gerald. “So, we winter 2021. should not hold a false sense of security that since July 29.

In his latest weekly COVID-19 forecast this outbreak will necessarily have less imThe CDC reports the Delta variant is released Friday, Aug 6, Dr. Joe Gerald, an pact on our already overburdened hospital “more than two times as transmissible as epidemiologist with the UA Zuckerman system.” the original strains circulating at the start School of Public Health, recapped yet At an Aug. 3 press briefing, Banner of the pandemic and is causing large, rapid another week of bad news, as Arizona saw Health’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Marjorie increases in infections.” a 38% increase in positive COVID-19 cases Emerging data also suggests lower effec- Bessel said since July 1, COVID hospitalizafrom last week, with 14,188 Arizonans diag- tiveness of the vaccine against confirmed tions have increased by 95% and ventilator nosed with COVID-19 for the week ending infection and symptomatic disease caused usage has increased by 300%.

Aug. 1. Further, Arizona is experiencing 50 According to Gerald, hospitals should by the Delta variant, according to the CDC’s deaths per week and Gerald predicts deaths brief on vaccinations updated on July 27. be prepared for greater than 15% to 20% will increase in the coming weeks, exceedCOVID-19 occupancy with the high level of “This outbreak will almost certainly be ing 100 per week by the end of August. transmission. as big as the one experienced in summer Gerald said another wave of cases and However, the Arizona Legislature and of 2020,” said Gerald in his report. “While hospitalization is certain, due to the prevaGov. Doug Ducey have limited the ability of I am optimistic it will not reach the levels lence of the Delta variant, which accounts seen in the winter of 2021, the experience of local jurisdictions and schools to respond to for more than 75% of the cases in Arizona. other similar states (e.g., Louisiana, Florida, the rise in cases.

As the cases rise, the Tucson Unified Ducey was critical of updated CDC and Texas) suggests this could be wishful School District is requiring all students, guidance released July 27, recommending thinking.” teachers, staff and visitors to campuses individuals mask in public indoor spaces, Last summer, cases peaked at around to wear face coverings in defiance of Gov. regardless of vaccination in areas of high or 5,500 cases per day of COVID-19, while Doug Ducey and the Arizona Legislature, substantial transmission. the winter saw a peak of 12,000 cases per which passed a law banning mask man“Arizona does not allow mask mandates, day. Gerald finds the current outbreak is dates in schools and universities. vaccine mandates, vaccine passports or most similar to the winter surge, with both TUSD is the only school district in Pima beginning at a rate of 40 cases per 100,000 discrimination in schools based on who is County that has decided to outright ignore residents per week. Sixty-five days later, or isn’t vaccinated. We’ve passed all of this the state’s restrictions on mask mandates, into law, and it will not change,” said Ducey the rates for the winter 2020 and summer with the TUSD board voting 4-0 to require in a July 27 press release. “The CDC today 2021 outbreaks were 220 and 195 cases per everyone to wear a mask on TUSD property 100,000 residents per week, respectively. is recommending that we wear masks in at an emergency meeting last Wednesday, school and indoors, regardless of our vacci“While these two curves may diverge,

CURRENTS

THE DELTA SPREAD

nation status. This is just another example of the Biden-Harris administration’s inability to effectively confront the COVID-19 pandemic.”

But the Arizona Department of Health Services and local health departments updated their guidance alongside the CDC recommendations.

Matching CDC language, Pima County Health Department’s updated Public Health Advisory “strongly recommends that all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools wear masks indoors at all times during school regardless of vaccination status.”

While children’s cases make up about 15% of the cases, an increase from 10% in the winter, Gerald notes that this outbreak, like previous outbreaks, is driven primarily by adolescents and working-age adults.

“Incomplete vaccination among older adults, but particularly among working-age adults, means that hospitals remain at risk of being overwhelmed and a substantial number of deaths can once again accrue,” said Gerald.

Despite the dreary forecast, Gerald continues to advocate for vaccinations as the most important public health priority.

In Arizona, 53% of residents have received at least one dose and of those 47% have been fully vaccinated as of this week. In her blog on Friday, Aug. 6, Arizona Department of Health Services Dr. Cara Christ said nearly all cases (89% in July) and almost all hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among adults who haven’t been fully vaccinated, or vaccinated at all, in most cases.

“COVID-19 is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated. If you are basing your decision to not be vaccinated on social media claims, I urge you to seek your doctor’s advice,” pleaded Christ. “I don’t want to see more people get seriously ill, go into the hospital or die from COVID-19. In almost every case today, it is preventable with vaccination.” ■

Keeping Tucson Glazed!

Open everyday 5am- midnight

AUGUST 12, 2021

CURRENTS

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Eviction moratorium extended but aid dollars still tied up with county, state and agencies term went to the states,” said Grijalva. “But what concerns me is if we have this model and we use it well and that initial intervention has proven productive and good, then the U.S. REP. RAÚL GRIJALVA governor or the state administration that is demanded the State of Arizona release not utilizing the money, should do the same emergency rental assistance funds to Arizona thing as the federal government: make a direct renters in a press briefing Friday morning. allocation and let that work continue.”

This comes as the federal government Since March, the City of Tucson and Pima released the second round of emergency rental County’s Eviction Prevention Program has assistance from the American Rescue Plan. paid close to 70% of the first round of emergenPima County and the City of Tucson received cy rental assistance funds, while the Arizona a little over $15 million for the second round.

Department of Economic Security has paid The city and county had allocated the first little over $12 million of the over $289 million round of funding to their collaboration with allocated to the state in the first round.

Community Investment Corporation and local Before the program began processing cases, nonprofits, Tucson Pima Eviction Prevention they had around 4,000 cases in the waitlist.

Program, which provides rental and utility While the cases continue to grow, Director of assistance for tenants facing eviction due to Community Investment Corporation Danny COVID-19-related reasons.

Knee said they have been able to keep the Grijalva argued that the county has estabnumber of cases in the waitlist to about 2,700 lished a more efficient program than the state cases for the last six weeks. He said they conto allocate the funds needed to those facing tinue to receive around 100 inquiries a day–not eviction. all inquiries will turn into applications—and “The direct allocation to the city, to the case managers will work on roughly 1,000 county as part of legislation as part of the cases on any given day. package was important to make sure that we “We’re extremely proud of the fact that we got an immediate intervention. The long were one of the highest performing programs

SORENSON

By Christina Duran christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com

in the country and at the same time, the need is still extreme,” said Knee. “Again, understanding that this is more than just transactional for people. This is people’s lives. People are stressed. In many cases 15% of our cases are landlords who have not been paid in 10 months or more. That means those are also the tenants who have had that stress of not paying the rent for 10 months or more. So this is a two-sided problem.”

The program had implemented new measures in order to expedite the process and allocate funds, with the looming deadline for the eviction moratorium, set to end on July 31.

According to Knee, they have begun to work more closely with the courts to flag urgent cases with people facing imminent eviction. He said they have some designated people working on cases where someone faces eviction the same day or within the next few days.

On Aug. 3, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a targeted extension of the federal eviction moratorium through Oct. 3. The new moratorium applies to areas of the country experiencing high or substantial transmission of COVID-19, which includes Pima County.

Under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the county and city have until Sept.

30, 2022, to expend the first round of funds and until Sept. 30, 2025 to expend the second round of funds. However, officials felt the pressure to expend funds before an expected wave of evictions following the end of the eviction moratorium on July 31.

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

5

Before the expected end of the moratorium, Knee said they saw an uptick in inquiries, receiving about 900 inquiries in a week.

Knee said he is thankful for the extension, but is aware of the burden on landlords. As of Friday, Knee said on average applicants would wait about 60 days to get through the entire process and receive the payment.

“I know some landlords may not feel that way. We know that, again, they’re having to carry more of a financial burden, of those who are continuing to wait during this period, but we do have the money to get to them,” said Knee. “In some ways it may be forced patience, but we do deeply appreciate their patience, and hopefully we can help more people.”

However, the extension faces legal challenges from a group of property owners, which may cut it short.

Despite the challenges, Grijalva believes there is good reason to extend the moratorium as the country grapples with an ongoing pandemic and a wave of cases brought on by the Delta variant. He said if COVID is still spreading “and we hit the housing cliff and people are evicted, then I think the crisis is gonna multiply. There is a correlation between the pandemic and housing. There is a correlation between the pandemic and food insecurity.”

Grijalva also notes that children currently registering for schools require an address, but some of those addresses are on the waiting list.

“If nothing is done, then that’s lost, then you’ve lost all that,” said Grijalva. “Then you’re dealing with a real loss.” ■

6

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

THE SKINNY

NO SURPRISES Kozachik wins Ward 6 primary, Dahl wins in Ward 3 Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com THERE WERE NO SURPRISES IN last week’s primary election. Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik easily dispatched his two Democatic primary challengers in midtown Ward 6, while Kevin Dahl beat Juan Padres in the race for an open seat in north-central Ward 3.

Kozachik had more than 57% of the vote, while Miranda Schubert had 27% and Andres Portela had 15% in the Democratic primary.

“My staff and I work hard at building relationships,” Kozachik said after the results were announced on Tuesday, Aug. 3. “That is important in our community. My team and I are grateful to the community for their support.”

Schubert, an academic adviser at the UA who was making her first run for public office, said she remained “fully committed to advancing the ideas we discussed throughout this primary season.”

Portela, a housing advocate who previously worked for Ward 1 Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz, said the result wasn’t what he hoped for, “but I’m forever grateful for those who supported me.”

Both challengers were up against the power of incumbency. The Skinny can’t remember the last time an elected Democrat lost a primary (although a couple of appointed councilmembers have lost reelection bids since 1989). Fun fact: The last time an elected Democrat lost a council in a general election was in 2009, when Kozachik defeated Nina Trasoff to win the Ward 6 seat. Kozachik ended up jumping from the Republican to

the Democratic Party before seeking reelection.

Kozachik, who isn’t raising money for his reelection bid, now faces independent candidate Val Romero.

Kozachik came out swinging against Romero in an email to supporters earlier this week.

Kozachik pointed to Romero’s opposition to city vaccine programs, TUSD’s masking policy and efforts at reducing gun violence.

“Romero says his campaign mantra is ‘unity in the community.’ What does that look like?” Kozachik asked in his email. “He was out front on a Recall Romero (our Mayor) campaign, has called for the recall of every sitting City Council member, is openly critical of the TUSD school board for their mask policy, has denigrated Pima County for supporting the arts, and has marginalized our African American community with derogatory comments he made about the importance of our CROWN Act respecting natural hair styles. That’s Val Romero’s idea of ‘unity.’”

Romero did not respond to Kozachik’s comments as of The Skinny’s deadline.

In Ward 3, Dahl had 60% of the vote, while Padres had 40%.

Dahl, who focused his campaign on responding to climate change, said he was pleased with the results.

“I think one thing it shows is that Tucson voters understand that climate change is not just an issue that will affect the environment and our water supply, but it will impact people, especially those who can least afford to respond,” Dahl said.

Padres congratulated Dahl on his victory, saying his opponent “ran a solid campaign.”

There’s no incumbent in the Ward 3 race as Councilman Paul Durham stepped down earlier this year and Karin Uhlich, who was appointed to replace Durham, did not run for the seat.

Dahl is set to face Republican Alan Harwell Jr., who got enough write-in votes to land a spot on the general election ballot, and independent candidate Lucy LiBosha in November.

In Ward 5, Councilman Richard Fimbres faced no primary opposition and will face no opponent in the November general election. ■

AUGUST 12, 2021

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

7

Story & photos by Brian Smith

Song of David: Anything That’s Rock ’n’ Roll I PULL UP TO HIS HOUSE, rounding the gravel half-moon drive, and David LaRussa is sitting crosslegged on the back flap of his gray Toyota pickup, all Buddha-like in carport shade. It is how I remember the guy from years ago, only now his natural Sicilian ’fro is smoothed back into a tidy salt and pepper ponytail, with matching wisps of a beard. He wears one of his custom hand-art t-shirts, handsome in spray-painted violet and blue. His voice still soothes, radio-ready, like he snacks on feathers, if slightly deeper with age.

I was a teen in a band when I met LaRussa, he a DJ at rock radio station KWFM, spinning unheard-of artists no one else would in primetime slots, including my own band. One night at a party he said to me, like some caring uncle, “You can’t just listen to The Clash and The Dolls, especially if you’re in a band. You’ve got to go back decades and discover the greats; your record collection should run deep.” LaRussa on the radio led to personal head-exploding discoveries in disparate genres at local used record shops. I’ve watched him from afar over the years too, some peaks, some lows, but usually making high aural art of endorsing the unsung through radio.

LaRussa laughs, “In my time at KWFM I never played Foreigner, Boston or Journey.” No mean feat considering we’re yakking commercial radio.

LaRussa talks days long before the internet, long before TikTok and YouTube killed the radio star, when a battle for musical art, fought against new commercial-radio committees, was one worth fighting, even if losing was a foregone conclusion. Why he left corporate radio behind years ago.

A dusty old Toyota sits crapped-out next to the pickup. LaRussa is a sentimental fool for his onetime rolling companion. He knows it’s worthless but he can’t part with it, thinks maybe he can get it running again.

A minute later, he says, “What a year,” and hops off the pickup and goes inside for a smoke, a habit he’s been revisiting of late. At least the monsoons are all biblical lately, tearing limbs from trees, ripping off rooftops, raging water through dry riverbeds swallowing cars and fences and who the hell knows what. That counts for something and he agrees, sliding back onto the pickup flap, cigarette lit, eyeing a rare-tobe-leafy-green ocotillo in the blazing Sonoran sun.

LARUSSA HAD CHECKED OFF boxes for a DJ with a bright future: relentless work ethic, hyper knowledge of myriad music genres, an intuition and passion doubling as good taste, a golden, trusting voice. But LaRussa wasn’t a careerist, nor a self-promoter or a workplace politician, and forget any inflated sense of self. Anyway, the last four “qualities” are the very traits that elevate people to success in our culture, and he always saw through the transparencies of the mythologies of success and failure. “I just trusted the fates,” he says.

Inside the stuffy main vinyl room of his house, thousands of albums wall-towall, LaRussa is on his knees, fingering inside a vintage cabinet crammed with autographed records of all those he’d interviewed on-air, reliving hilarious moments unfettered by dewy or regretful longings, or fanboy stalker-talk, more like a collector whose life is so intertwined in the pieces of his collection it

David LaRussa with an album that changed his life.

becomes far more than individual dollops of who he is. It is also what he has to show for a thankless and unpretentious decades-long career promoting the work of others, in all musical genres— from African beat, jazz, reggae, to funk, R&B and anything that’s rock ’n’ roll.

Indeed, each signed record is an on-air interview story, and there are hundreds. Fine-boned English singer John Foxx of Ultravox helping him lug a giant reel-to-reel machine down stairs from the Rochester, New York radio station to his car so he could record the band’s show that night, which he did, and later played pieces of on-air.

Notorious grouch John Cale uttering monosyllabic nothings during an unusable interview. The members of Devo appearing at the radio station in full deconstructionist regalia, yellow jumpsuits and Jell-O-mold hats, and leader

Mark Mothersbaugh mocking the image on the debut album cover with a pen, which LaRussa lifts out and displays.

His biggest fuck-up? In Tucson, a local promoter literally shoving cocaine up LaRussa’s nose while on-air interviewing L.A. punk band The Alley Cats. He only shakes his head at the ignominy of that one.

Too, sadnesses rise from his radio memories: Best pal, sidekick, and loved Tucson radio DJ Bob Cooke, murdered by a listener, Play Misty for Me-style in 1982. Tanya Robinson would hear Cooke’s voice in her head, with the radio off, as far away as Virginia. The killing haunted LaRussa (and the many who knew Cooke) for years. It led him to change his on-air name to David Close.

Another bud, worldwide-adored guitarist Rainer Ptacek, whose catalog he CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

8

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

TUCSON SALVAGE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

oversees and archives with Rainer’s widow Patti Keating, died from a brain tumor in 1997.

He befriended Rainer in ’83, booked him into a local club, which became a residency, and there ZZ Top man Billy Gibbons showed up and became a Rainer fan and sometime collaborator. That’s LaRussa’s photo of Rainer with his dobro on the cover of the 1992 album Worried Spirits, shot at dusk in the Tucson Mountains.

HIS COLLECTION, MORE THAN 12,000 albums organized in various rooms of his house, as well as his hand art (“nothing conceptual, I’m just into hands”) and his striking photography, a hiddenin-plain-sight show of whole universes inside street scenes, is a self-reflection.

(A lovely coffee-table collection of his photography called Rust had an entire press run of one copy—his own). As Greg McNamee, a renowned Tucson author and raconteur who’s known LaRussa since the early 1980s, says, “He knows more about rock and its roots

than nearly anyone on the planet, but also classical music, world music, jazz, anything with a tone and a measure.

His knowledge extends to film, art, photography, books, gardening, cooking …

There’s not a conversation I’ve had with him over all these years that I haven’t learned or been turned on to something wonderful.”

A contemporary Dharma bum in a ranch-y, four-bedroom house enveloped in a calming, one-and-a-half acres of mesquite, ocotillo, saguaro, including warrens of wild rabbits, quail, dove and other desert critters. It’s a house well-organized into the molds of his world, and one is quickly absorbed inside of it. Some kind of stereo in nearly every room, native depictions and art by friends, leftover artifacts from his parents, including a guest room, just how they left it. They’d retired here, he moved in to care for them, paid off their house mortgage, before they died in 2013, one month apart from each other.

There is an enviable sweetness to his solitary life, his volunteering at a local library, makeshift art studio on the back patio, the Post-it notes arranged in neat rows on a board next to his oven, each

A newspaper print ad pimping the KWFM crew circa 1980.

one in his barely legible scrawl. He’s psyched to discover Roberto Bolaño, about whom he talks at length. And after a year-and-a-half COVID break, LaRussa is back on live radio, if only one hour a week.

LARUSSA REMEMBERS CHILDHOOD summers in Tonawanda, a western New York town sandwiched between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. He and buddies navigating the railroad tracks and roaming lush, then-undeveloped woods, the hidden ponds filled of polliwogs and groan-

CATRIKE - TERRA TRIKE - JAMIS - ICE TRIKE - SUN SEEKER - HARO

Sales, Repairs, Service, Parts, Accessories & More!

Vote for your favorite Bike Shop online today!

Tue - Fri 10am - 6pm Sat 9am - 5pm 1301 E. Ajo Way, Suite 177

(NE Corner of Ajo @ Benson Hwy.)

294-1434

*Voting ends Sept 1

AUGUST 12, 2021

ing frogs, and old loner “the Goat Man” who lived in a shack out there, who gave LaRussa his first cigarette. Fish too, once rescuing several from a pond slated for development, and splashing them into someone’s swimming pool, only to see them die a chlorine death and his heart break.

His parents let him roam yet all the usual parental hedges against failure were there, for which he is grateful.

(One time he dropped acid on his way home from high school. His parents knew something was up at the dinner table. “The next day my giant Tolkien poster was taken down in my bedroom.”)

Mom was one of the first female business grads from University of Buffalo, where his parents met. Dad, a Sicilian who served in the U.S. Air Corps in WWII, was a brilliant guy, a Mad Menesque ad exec, especially with electronics, built the family stereo, short-wave radios, and taught young LaRussa to build his own radio at 6. He got better, and by 10 would lay out under backyard stars tuning into booming AM-radio stations from the Midwest and the Eastern seaboard, Cleveland, Memphis, Toronto,

Boston, New York City.

“That’s the thing,” he says, “you’re young, listening to the radio and you get goosebumps, it was those goosebumps that led to a career.” For his 10th Christmas, ’62, his parents gifted him a Remco Caravelle, a toy broadcasting station. “You could broadcast inside your house, my parents could tune in and listen on AM, I was doing comedy, commercials, weather, music.” Radio was in his DNA. For fifth grade show-and-tell, kid LaRussa spun “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” “My first DJ gig.”

Mom filled the house with folk music, Peter, Paul & Mary and “women with rough voices, also The Mamas & the Papas and she dug the Beatles.” Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” was his first 45.

There were the babysitting Brockway twins, who’d bring over Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson.

In high school he’d get together with pals, including future Maynard Ferguson sax-man Mike Migliore, bassist Billy Sheehan, horseplay education on the literacy of organized noise. He’d spin records over the high-school announcement system for kids during lunchtime,

created a radio station at Kenmore East Senior High complete with a kid staff.

In conversation, he places events in historical contexts, from album release dates to intricacies of the Vietnam War, which he lucked out of in the number’s game. Had he been drafted, would’ve bailed to neighboring Canada, with his war-vet father’s approval.

At State University of New York at Geneseo, LaRussa, an art and English major, landed a paid gig as DJ and supervisor. He homed intimacies of live radio arts, like humming a song’s last note to match the next song’s key, for smooth transitions, creating playlists that, as taught by one of his former teachers, one John Davlin, fell into a “continuum,” beyond the theoretical song sequencing, “like building a stained-glass window,” and LaRussa learned to mix genres in insightful, challenging and entertaining ways, “from a rock thing to reggae to an African chant.”

College done, LaRussa assisted a drunken pro photographer in Rochester for a year. “It was obvious the world of commercial photography was not for me.”

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

9

A series of know-someone flukes got him a DJ gig at “underground” progressive FM WCMF-FM. He learned much, and sites DJ Suzanne King has early influence, her weekly punk and power-pop show “Surf’s Up.” But a cokehead ran the joint and a mutiny ensued to dump him. “My friends took over and the station went downhill.” LaRussa left after a year.

Enter major-market Buffalo. “I had my aircheck,” he says, “and got the job at WBUF, which was a big deal. I thought the station was progressive.” After much struggle, in January ’79, he debuted his weekly radio show “Anything That’s Rock ’n’ Roll,” and there was soon talk of taking it national. He was likely the first guy to play certain bands on American radio beyond local ones, including Gang of Four.

LaRussa saw the FM death-knell coming, the tightening playlists, the suits suddenly strolling station hallways. WBUF soon sold for fat money, “destroying everything it stood for. I was done with them and they were done with me.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

10

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

TUCSON SALVAGE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

He followed a radio pal out to Tucson to visit, fell in love with the desert and heard KWFM, a station very similar in its mission to WBUF before it soured. He called DJ Bob Bish on air, went down, smoked a joint with him and hit it off. He returned home, and moved back, with no job. He knew KWFM would hire him, and they did. His first night in Tucson he wandered down by himself to Pearl’s Hurricane Bar to catch the opening night ground-zero for Tucson punk rock and new wave, the unpolished musicians he’d soon be playing on the radio.

KWFM WAS TUCSON’S FIRST FM rock station, on-air in 1970. It still adhered to the free-form halcyon days of stoner-run, anti-corporate, let’s-play-all-of-side-one-of-Fragile-for-the-hell-of-it FM radio when LaRussa landed there in ’79. KWFM was more art project than commercial radio and by ’79, it shockingly had the biggest radio market share in Tucson, a year later named a Top 10 best radio station in the country by Rolling Stone. By then such FM stations, and the work of music-loving hippies who ran them, became cash-cows to corporations. Soon Sandusky Industries bought it; tighter formats, radio consultants, and a gradual impersonal approach signifying the burgeoning and boring album-oriented rock (AOR) format.

“We wanted to keep the format as loose as possible,” says Jim Brady on the phone. Brady started at KWFM in 1971 and ended up the station’s music director, under whom LaRussa worked. “They had instituted a card format, 2,500 songs to play from, and for us that was like going to prison. I mean, before that, we could play anything.”

“The thing about KW,” Brady says, “it didn’t matter

if people had hits, we’d go eight songs deep into an album. The core was built around rock, but we played prog, art-rock, country-rock, jazz-rock, all of it. There was a sense of fun. Look,” he laughs, “we were a bunch of hippies working for minimum wage.”

“I was making a $1,000 a month, fulltime,” LaRussa says. “For Tucson that was great.”

Brady: “We did it for love of music. It was really about turning people on to things they would never otherwise hear.”

LaRussa covered regular shifts and news time, but the real cherry was his mostly four-hour Tuesday night “Anything That’s Rock ’n’ Roll” show he’d brought with him from WBUF. The show soared, he turned listeners on to rare imports, gems of obscure sides, an ear-bending gamut from The Clash, Bethnel and Eddie and The Hot Rods to Funkadelic, Buzzcocks and Bad Brains, and always local bands on cassette, deserving of attention, or not. Hard to imagine now, but in those days there was absolutely nowhere else to hear this stuff.

Too, LaRussa bestowed upon listeners a knowledge of music you couldn’t read anywhere.

“LaRussa was special,” Brady continues, “a real champion of new music, much more progressive than I was. He did his research, he knew his stuff because he was passionate. He expanded musical knowledge of a lot of people, I say that as fact. There was no one like him. A lot of those he championed became mainstream, Elvis Costello and so on.”

Brady got canned in 1980, “a big coup at the station.

“And,” he laughs, “Dave was on the other side! We made up later, the whole thing seems almost quaint now.

“But,” Brady continues, “things were starting to change, playing the hits, going for a bigger audience.

To me, FM rock radio was over.”

“They killed my ‘Anything’ show in 1981,” LaRussa says. “They tried it once before but listener blowback

forced them to keep it on.” He saw the station go the way of WBUF, and was soon gone from KW. By then LaRussa was married and had a baby son to think about.

UNMOORED IN RADIO, LARUSSA RETURNED TO western New York to oversee his father’s new business, a dry-cleaning plant. (“OJ Simpson was a regular customer, he would pull up in his Maserati.”) His wife felt isolated, he was inhaling too many chemicals, and so at the behest of Bob Cooke and a few friends, he returned to Tucson, only to discover upon arrival Cooke had been murdered.

“I took that as an omen,” he says.

He spun records at a local club for cash, thanks to Cooke who got him hired there before he returned.

He went to work part-time on KLPX, launched a show “1800 Seconds,” sandwiched inside his pal Jonathan L’s new alternative show “Virgin Vinyl,” which launched in 1982. He’d spend much time interviewing Tucson bands, Phantom Limbs, Green on Red, Rainer, Al Perry, Giant Sandworms, Ned Sutton, Naked Prey, Yard Trauma and so on.

“I lasted maybe a year at KLPX. It was just a gig part-time on weekends and I wasn’t passionate about it, except for the ‘1800 Seconds’ show.”

The Giant Sandworms (later Giant Sand) asked LaRussa to manage them, which he did because he loved them, knew they had a chance, despite zero experience in band management. By that point he was professionally flailing, reeling from a crushing separation from his wife (soon divorced) and couch surfing.

He lost his club DJ gig (the club soon burned down), and the Giant Sandworms gig (“it’s just not working out, Dave”) at the same time. “There were some lean times.”

What is there for a gifted radioman who’d rather starve than sellout? Record retail. LaRussa, worked at Wherehouse Records in Tucson and later, California.

He became a buyer for the new compact disc departments being set up at Federated chains. He was lucky enough to procure some Wherehouse Records stock, which he sold at a peak in record retail, giving him enough to put down on a house in Tucson, which turned out to be a life saver.

In Tucson he met a storied, borderline sleazy “frequency flipper” Ted Tucker, who remembered LaRussa from KWFM. That led to a job at a rising Tuckerowned station KTTZ, fulltime 6 a.m. to noon six days a week, as David Close. Using the turntable he brought in, he played stuff he wanted to play. Didn’t last, Tucker sold the station like a house-flipper out from under the staff, who were fired, the format changed to New Age. “I told myself I would never do commercial radio again. I didn’t.”

A low point was working at a phonebank, calling people for donations. Working alongside this writer making yo-yo’s for minimum wage. He wouldn’t go back to radio if he was told what to play. He had various renters in his guest house, which miraculously

AUGUST 12, 2021

covered the mortgage.

For financial and emotional motives, he “wanted to get back on the air.” He did in jazz, at KUAT-AM, operated out of the University of Arizona. “I attempted my very first jazz show. I was terrified.”

Makes sense, jazz freaks know their ouvre, but musical intuition solved itself, and jazz suited his calm. A new world spread before him.

That led to KUAT’s KUAZ-FM, which hit FM airwaves in ’92, weekday morning jazz, which lasted until the station switched formats in ’03. He stayed on contented, another decade, as local host for NPR’s “Morning Edition,” doing traffic and weather and community info throughout. Sold his house for a big profit too.

LARUSSA’S CURRENT RADIO GIG IS a painfully short one-hour Friday morning show on KXCI-FM called “Random Axis,” the last hour of “Your Morning Brew” with host Jim Blackwood. A recent show featured the theme keyword “never,” and the thoughtful playlist runs in vintage LaRussa, first half draws you in with hooks, sways effortlessly from pop into country and blues, twangs

match in key-pleasing transitions. DJ breaks as sonic resets. The hour flies by, fun, all-killer no-filler, that aural stainedglass window. Spoon, Blondie, The Move, Sparks, Hank Williams, White Stripes, Muddy Waters, Grateful Dead, etc.

Each song contains a certain linkable beauty, upholding a non-disposable nature of music. Dude could’ve pulled down six-figures creating Apple Music playlists.

In his house, I observe a now-retired guy who navigates the world through a still-resonant force of art, who helped countless en route, who’s grateful for his son Colin, married now and with whom he is close.

He produces a folder, various news clippings, and a stack of fan letters he received over the years, hard-copy proof his theory worked. He says, looking straight into a wall of records, “If I could love this music and turn someone on to it, that was enough for me.” A few seconds pass, he adds, “In Rainer’s case it’s about keeping his legacy alive.”

I asked him to essentially be a tourist in his own life and it’s a lot for a single afternoon, weighing private strengths

Let our hungry readers know you are there!

Out door dining, Take-out, or Delivery!

Call Today: 520-797-4284

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 11

LaRussa in the KXCI studio, still spinning after all these years. (Photo by Jim Blackwood.)

and weaknesses. He appears almost stunned and needs to decompress.

It’s not depression, more “circular thinking,” he says. “I know it won’t last.

I look forward to my artwork, to my photography, putting together the radio show. I like the world I live in.”

Shrugs his shoulders, eyes wide

through specs, says, as if to tally his existence: “It really is just trusting the fates.” ■ Tune in to “Random Axis” with David LaRussa and Jim Blackwood at 9 a.m.

Friday mornings on KXCI, 93.1 FM.

12

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

CINEMA

BAD GUYS, BAD-ASS FLICK James Gunn breathes new life into The Suicide Squad

edy vibe that drives his Guardians movies, that probably would’ve been just fine. The first crack at Suicide Squad, from director David Ayer, was an almost complete waste of time, even with the IT WAS A GOOD DAY WHEN DISNEY got uppity and fired James Gunn from somewhat interesting introduction of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. the Marvel Universe for those crazy While there is some Guardians DNA Tweets he did years ago. in this take (offbeat humor, rock music), He’s since been rehired and is hard The Suicide Squad (this one is different at work on Guardians of the Galaxy 3, because it has “The” before “Suicide”) is but that interruption in his schedule provided Warner Bros. with the chance its own beautiful beast. Gunn makes a comic book movie that shows his love of to swoop in and get Gunn into the DC comic books, but he doesn’t get carried Universe for what turns out to be a totally insane—and insanely enjoyable— away with that love in a Zack Snyder, too-freaking-long kind of way. He takes reboot of Suicide Squad.

If Gunn had simply taken the Suicide the fun elements of comics along with Squad and applied that fun action-com- the dark and disturbing spirit of a more

By Bob Grimm tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

PHOTO BY WARNER BROS.

adult graphic novel to create something that’s funny, hilariously violent and somehow emotionally vibrant.

The plot is familiar territory: a renegade group of criminals are sprung from prison for a chance at freedom as long as they can manage to save the world. If they choose to run, their nasty commander, Amanda Waller (Viola

Davis, reprising her role), will blow their heads up.

It’s a large group that includes Harley Quinn, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang (also reprising his role), David Dastmaichian as Polka-Dot Man, Sylvester

FEED THE LOVE Southern Arizona Animal Food Bank is a non-profit 501c3 dedicated to helping stop abandonment of all animals & feeding and caring for animals one at a time because no one should ever have to make the decision of feeding their family or their loving pet.

ITEMS NEEDED: •Dog & Cat Food (Wet and Dry) Can be open bags with in expiration dates only No Ole Roy or Gravy Train please.

•Animal boots for summer(sm., med. & lg.)

•New and slightly used beds, collars, leashes, toys, bowls and cages in good condition •Blankets, towels and bedding •Animal treats for all ages

•Gift certificates to local vets for spay and neuter •Quart size and sandwich ziplock bags, paper towels, disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer, glass cleaner, disposable gloves and masks •Postage stamps, white copy paper •Volunteers at store or events

Monetary donations are greatly appreciated. Checks can be made out to SAAFB or go to our website SAAFB.ORG and click on our on line donation link.

520-268-7299. Thank you for your support

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

AUGUST 12, 2021

Stallone voicing the cosmically great CGI creation King Shark, and more.

They set out on that mission and graphic gore deaths ensue. Don’t take your kids to this, or let them watch it on HBO Max, thinking it’s the next Marvel movie. It’s a hard R for sure. Faces get blown off, brains get blown out, blood spurts and cascades, and King Shark gorily eats people, either shoving them into his mouth whole, or tearing them apart like pulling apart a head of lettuce, snacking on their heads like they were a big almond still in the shell.

Gunn sets the film in various acts, with quite a lot happening before the opening credits. The last act involves a Kaiju/Starfish monster that thrills more than anything Godzilla vs. Kong had to offer. You even get a little zombie action for your dollars.

It’s a great pleasure to know that it’s the voice of Stallone bringing King Shark to life. From general, slow-witted conversations to full on Stallone screaming, it’s just nice to have Stallone along for the ride. Elba gives the film a nice heart. It’s a damaged, distressed, dark and dangerous heart, but heart, nonetheless. His introductory scene with his daughter is one for the ages.

King Shark’s kinship with Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior, whose character is also sleepy because she’s a millennial)

is absolutely adorable, as are Ratcatcher 2’s attention-seeking rats. One of the film’s best running gags is Bloodsport’s aversion to rats, and rats trying to befriend him. Also garnering laughs are Polka Dot Man and his tendency to see his evil mom everywhere.

Gunn and Robbie get the third take at Harley dialed in perfectly. While she was definitely the best thing about Suicide Squad, and she almost made the mediocre Birds of Prey work, she finally gets a chance to completely shine in the character that she was born to play.

Harley Quinn is a full-blown action star here, albeit a ruthless and crazy one, in this latest take.

As he did with Guardians, Gunn uses rock music to great extremes. The soundtrack includes Kansas, Johnny Cash, The Jim Carroll Band and Pixies.

His use of music is starting to rival Wes Anderson’s tendency to infuse his soundtracks with creative rock picks.

No word yet on another The Suicide Squad movie in the future, but John Cena’s Peacemaker is getting his own origin series on HBO Max. (Gunn is a producer on the project.) Gunn says he’s game for another The Suicide Squad and, given that this one was so damn good, let’s start to hope that another one comes to batshit crazy fruition. ■

PHOTO BY WARNER BROS.

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 13

Home of the Famous Banh Mi Sandwiches!

Vote for Us! Best Vietnamese Restaurant for Best of Tucson Monday: 8am-3pm Tuesday-Saturday 8am-8pm Sunday: 8:30am-7pm

520-389-8128

1980 W. Orange Grove Rd. #180 (NE Corner of Orange Grove / La Cholla)

Vote for Us in The Best of Tucson!

Two locations

4th Ave Location 402 E 4thst. Corner of 4th Avenue & 4th Street 520-392-0224

6th St location 2526 E. 6 St. 520-240-6947

tumerico.com

14

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

Editor’s Note: While we are delighted to see Tucsonans once again gathering for fun events, we are also aware that the new Delta variant is circulating and case counts in Arizona are on the rise. Please consider getting vaccinated against COVID if you haven’t yet and following CDC guidance, which includes wearing masks at crowded indoor events. Keep yourself and others safe—the pandemic isn’t over yet.

Wild World of Bugs. Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium has a new exhibit!

Rather than zooming out to consider far-off galaxies and planetary bodies like usual, this exhibit zooms way in, taking a look at what a huge role insects play here on Earth. You’ll see a four-foot long model of a giant mesquite bug, a large ant fungus farm, Madagascar hissing cockroaches (for the brave), and blue beetles. There are also plenty of hands-on and digital activities, like the build-a-bug station, and a roly poly skeeball game. You’re gonna want to make a bee-line over there ASAP. Exhibit opens at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14. Starting Aug. 17, the center will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, 1601 E. University Blvd. $9 adults, $7 kids 4 to 17 and free for kids 3 and under. Tickets for the planetarium show are sold separately and are the same price.

Summer Safari Nights: Happy Herd. It’s always sad to see the Reid Park Zoo’s summer programming come to an end, but at least they saved one of the best nights for last. This week is all about elephants! Bring your herd to hang out with the elephant herd for a night of learning and activities.

Heck, you’re even encouraged to dress in gray to get in the elephant spirit. Hear about Penzi the elephant calf and what you can do to help protect elephants in the wild.

OnesAll will be playing live funk and rock music, and the night will feature all the usual activities, snacks and drinks too. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. Reid Park Zoo, 3400 Zoo Court. $10.50 adults, $8.50 seniors, $6.50 kids ages 2 to 14.

Roman Barten-Sherman: Farewell Blues Extravaganza. Roman Barten-Sherman has been singin’ the blues here in the Old Pueblo since he was 4 years old. Guy Davis has said “Roman is one of the people who will make sure that blues music stays alive, in the eyes and ears of his generation, and beyond.” So he’s doing some seriously good stuff. This fall he’s off to Massachusetts to

The Standby Lear. We love a good meta-story here.

This show at Live Theatre Workshop is about a cast putting on the play King Lear. But, at the last minute, the actor playing King Lear falls ill, leaving the understudy, Augie, to step up. This is, like, the role of a lifetime, and to get the opportunity to play it at the last minute is truly incredible. And this could be the last great opportunity in Augie’s long acting career.

But is he up to the task? Or is it too late? Both comedic and heartwarming, this show is directed by Rhonda Hallquist and written by John W. Lowell, award-winning author of The Letters. David Johnston plays Augie, and Molly Lyons plays Anna. 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays through Aug. 28. Bonus Saturday matinee on Aug. 28. Live Theatre Workshop, 3322 E. Fort Lowell Road. $15 for Thursday shows, $20 GA and $18 for students, seniors and military.

Gloria: A Life. This show over at Invisible Theatre, directed by Susan Claassen, is back by popular demand! This Tony-nominated show by Emily Mann tells the story of Gloria Steinem’s life, and features Cynthia Jeffery as Steinem herself. This remarkable woman— journalist, feminist, political activist, co-founder of the Women’s Media Center, and so much more—has lived a life that is well worth a play being written. In her honor, this show doesn’t just celebrate Steinem’s accomplishments, but the importance of human connection. 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday through Sunday, Aug. 18 through Aug. 22 and Aug. 25 through Aug. 29. Plus a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Aug. 28. (Sunday matinees are sold out). Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. $40. Reservations required.

by Emily Dieckman The Big Dipper: Calendar, Compass and Clock.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out a show over at Red Herring Puppets yet, you’re missing out on a chance to be seriously blown away by just how much puppets can be works of art. This show explores both the science and folklore of the big dipper, pulling from the tales of ancient Greece, China and Nova Scotia. This award-winning professional puppet company located in the Tucson Mall is such a gem, and this show will delight kids and adults alike. 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, 21 and 28. Red Herring Puppets, 4500 N. Oracle Road, Suite 421. Only $8!

study music, so it’s time for us desert-dwellers to bid him a fond farewell at this performance. Opening set is by Trans Van Santos and special guests include Tom Walbank, Al Perry and Ralph White. 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. MSA Annex, 267 Avenida de Convento. $12 presale or $15 at the door.

Downtown Clifton Summer Jazz Series.

True or false: Summer is the jazziest season.

Food for thought, right? Whatever your feelings about the best time of year for jazz, you don’t want to miss this supper club at the Downtown Clifton. Enjoy a private courtyard performance by the jazz group Yardfire, accompanied by the DJ stylings of DJ Dibs. While you watch, enjoy a delicious three-course dinner of Stone Avenue Salad, masa dumplings and fizzy fruit pies.

Afterward, the hotel hosts a Jazz After Dark event in the Red Light Lounge with more DJ and jazz stylings. A perfect way to spend one of these dog days of summer. 7 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21. Downtown Clifton, 485 S. Stone Ave. $45.

Visionary Revisions. Where has your intuition taken you in your life? Or what trouble has it kept you out of? For the artist, whether they are self-taught beginners or masters with years of training, intuition is innate and irreplaceable. The newest exhibit at Tohono Chul is focused on artists that have trusted their sparks of intuition to create unusual, visionary works. Royce Davenport, Patrick Hynes, Ed Larson, Mary Bohan and Ralph Prata are all exhibiting. Come pick up some inspiration! Opens in the Tohono Chul Entry Gallery (7366 Paseo del Norte) on Aug. 12. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. $15 GA, $13 military/student/ senior, $6 kids 5 to 12, free for members and kids under 5.

HUB Restaurant Rooftop Dinner Summer Series. If you haven’t been to one of these fantastic meals on the rooftop of the HUB yet this summer, this is your last chance!

This five-course meal was created by the HUB’s Chef Dave specifically for this night, and each course is paired with a wine from Flying Leap Vineyards. We’re talking white wine paired with blackened Ahi Tuna!

Three different types of prosciutto! A habanero chili grenache paired with beef tenderloin and goat cheese! And chocolate puff pastry with peanut butter mousse. Is your mouth watering yet? 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19. Playground Bar & Lounge Rooftop Patio, 278 E. Congress St. Call 207-8201 to make a reservation. $95 per person, plus tax and tip.

AUGUST 12, 2021

ARTS & CULTURE

PAINTING BY TUCSON ARTIST JACK BUSBY AT GALLERY 2 SUN

THREE CHEERS

training and immersing (himself) in painting,” Roesler says.

“His eclectic style is colorful and charming. He does bright acrylics on canvas. Some are ‘folk arty,’ but he also does How a Trio of Downtown Galleries Are Keeping Art Alive abstraction.” He has “a broad perspective on humanity,” she adds, “and a unique sensitivity in his work.”

Other locals now displaying their work include Danielle

By Margaret Regan Niebling, a painter and ceramist who lives in the Rancho tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com Linda Vista art colony; and painters Layla Edwards and Eric Jabloner.

The gallery also carries the works of French African “I HAVE A MOTHERWELL IN MY WINDOW,” painters from Burkina Faso, including Souleimane Barry, says Athena A. Roesler, proprietor of the Gallery 2 Sun in the who makes abstracted human figures. Roesler did a show for Warehouse Arts District. the group when they came to Tucson for the Gem Show a The work, by the famous Robert Motherwell, is a colfew years back. The pandemic has prevented their return for lage in black and tan, with a fragment of sheet music that now, but Roesler has had luck selling their work on online in suggests a violin. But the window also features paintings Paris and elsewhere. by living local artists. Currently, Howard Kline is showing The internet and sites like Artsy and Esty have absolutely bright works partly inspired by Abstract Expressionists like kept Gallery 2 Sun and other small galleries afloat.

Motherwell.

“I sell a couple (of works) a month,” she says, enough to In fact, Roesler says, “much of Howard’s work is an ode to keep the business going. mid-century artists.”

Early this year, she tried an experiment, reopening the Right now, the gallery is closed because of COVID. But gallery to visitors on Wednesdays and Fridays. But hardly fans can visit by calling for an appointment with Roseler, anyone came. who says she’s available most days. And if all else fails you “There was minimal traffic and then when the heat came can take a gander at a batch of gallery works Roseler has it met with a dead stop,” she said. Likely it didn’t help that hung at her brother’s restaurant, Bacio Italiano, near the UA. the road construction for the Downtown Links Project has Or you can get a good look through the 2 Sun windows. been roaring past her space for months. She ended the effort The window works are excellent examples of the gallery’s in June. unusual specialization in both “local artists and vintage Depending what the scary Delta variant does in the next modern art.” In the renowned artist category, besides Mothfew months, Roesler is entertaining the idea of staging an erwell and others, there’s the late Israel Levitan, a sculptor indoor-outdoor salon starting in October. of the mid-century New York School. Levitan once said he “Maybe on certain Saturdays and then various receptions aimed “to produce sculpture of such simplicity that it hardly every quarter,” she says. “As weather permits, they will be seems carved or modeled.” Visitors can see if he succeeded outside as well as inside to mitigate germs.” in the gallery’s collection of his work.

Jack Busby, one of the local artists, is a 70-something naGallery 2 Sun, 100 E. Sixth St. gallery2sun.com. 520-360tive Tucsonan who has only shown work publicly in recent 8074; pbstorm@aol.com. years. The hard-working Busby has been a wrangler, a hair CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 stylist, a store owner and a landscaper, but he spent “decades

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 15

16

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

Tucson Games & Gadgets VOTE FOR US!

And don’t forget to visit the Short Rest Tavern now located inside TGG Tucson Mall

Enter the realm at Park Place or Tucson Mall

THREE CHEERS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

A FEW DOORS DOWN FROM GALLERY 2 Sun, a bevy of nine women artists have filled Contreras Gallery’s small space with cheerful art.

Sylvia Garland’s “String Theory” is an acrylic abstraction in red, orange and yellow, the colors of dawn and a new day. Carolyn King’s “Serenity” and “Restoration,” part of a series mixed media nature works, picture curly plants—and human hands—softly putting the world to rights. Leslie Hawes’s colored pencil drawings conjure up a much needed fairyland of flowers and waterfalls.

These optimistic pieces are the first artworks hanging in the gallery since it shut down a year and a half ago. The pandemic is raging once again, but the works are filled with hope for the future.

Michael and Neda Contreras were adamant from the early days of COVID that they would keep the gallery doors shut until an effective vaccine was widely available. A month ago, with excellent vaccines offered free for all U.S. residents from age 12 and up, the coast was clear and they threw open the doors on July 3.

So far they have not gotten a lot of people in the gallery and Michael suspects that the road construction is deterring some people from visiting. But “we’re going to stay open regardless,” he says. “We want to bring the people back.”

In the meantime, to make sales, Michael is putting everything online, from his own handmade silver jewelry to Neda’s charming ex voto paintings to each of the works in the Chicharra show. And he’ll do the same for every exhibition in the future.

The title of the current show, Chicharra, promises better times. It’s Spanish for “cicadas,” and it evokes the insects’ long years underground and their eventual emergence into the light.

Contreras Gallery, 110 E. Sixth St. Contrerashousefineart.com. 520-398-6557. Park on west side of building. Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday. Call before you go. Masks required.

EACH SUMMER, RAICES TALLER 222 Art Gallery and Workshop stages Agua Sagrada (Sacred Water): A Monsoon Exhibition. One of the show’s duties, in my view, is to get the rains pouring down all over Tucson. This year was its best ever: the exhibition began in early July and by the end of the month the city had gotten 8 inches of rain, making it the wettest month in Tucson’s recorded history.

And the 38 artists in the show have done their part, using paint and metal and pencil and cameras to create their visions of sacred water. Patrick Hynes painted a luminously blue waterfall on a tall and skinny metal screen. Chris Tanz photographed stately pelicans enjoying the waters of the Sea of Cortéz. Jana Welch used pencil on wood to depict a woman diving into the ocean. And Luis Rodriguez’s print on canvas pictures a young boy in a bountiful Arizona river, one that’s been carefully protected for this child and all Arizonans.

The show is entirely online because Raices has not yet opened up. “We had been thinking of opening but then the variant came out,” says the gallery’s John Salgado.

Plus, he adds, “It’s hard for people to get in and out” with all the ongoing road work.

At this point, he’s hoping the variant will subside and he can open by November. For now, Raices will stick to the virtual gallery.

As most gallerists know by now, “Online shows do well.”

Raices Taller, 218 E. Sixth St. raicetaller222.com.520-881-5335. The show will be online until August 21. ■

Now Contracting Drivers to deliver newspapers weekly Make some Extra Bucks The Northwest’s Newspaper

Call Circulation at 797-4384 for details.

AUGUST 12, 2021

COMMUNAL CONSUMPTION Harambe Café offers safe space for cannabis users

By David Abbott tucsoneditor@tucsonlocalmedia.com

PURPLEMED, GREENMED A FAMILY AFFAIR

A SPACE NAMED AFTER A famous gorilla, with a monkey-themed décor left over from a previous incarnation, is looking to become a local Mecca for cannabis users seeking a place to gather.

The Harambe Café & Social Club on Tucson’s east side is gearing up for a post-COVID run as a pot social spot.

Owner and manager Adriana Kittrell, whose family owns both PurpleMed to the west and GreenMed to the east, sees it as her mission in life to create a safe space for users of legal pot.

When her family opened GreenMed on the site of the former Nimbus Brewery & Restaurant at 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road in 2018, Kittrell had been working as a bartender at a local restaurant.

Other family members were already involved in the business that began as PurpleMed in 2012, including her brother, who is head grower for the dispensaries.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and then my dad was telling me about a few of the events they had and it was so cool,” she said. “Snoop Dogg came to visit PurpleMed and he did a meet and greet and said hi to

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 17

everybody. After that, I was like, ‘I’m interested.’ I’ve always been someone who wants to help people but I didn’t know how.”

It did not come easily for her though, as her parents made her work her way up through the business. Kittrell started out cleaning and eventually worked into the dispensary side, where she learned the nuts and bolts of the business, as well as studying up on the plant that has become medicine for so many people.

“I actually started out just cleaning the warehouse and cleaning the bathrooms,” she said. “I was so angry about it, but I PHOTO BY DAVID ABBOTT had to start somewhere. They weren’t just Arizona NORML director Mike Robinette gonna hand it to me. It was an important education, because you have to know where gives an update at a recent SOAZMORML meeting from the stage of the Harambe Cafe, people are coming from.”

HARAMBE IS BORN Harambe opened in 2019, several months before COVID shutdowns roared through the hospitality industry and put a pause on many burgeoning businesses. The interior features a small stage surrounded by sofas, a bar with vacant beer taps, a room dedicated to those who want to smoke indoors and plenty of monkey imagery left over from its previous incarnation as a local watering hole.

located at 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road, in Tucson.

While Harambe shares a building with GreenMed, it is an entity in and of itself separate from the dispensary.

The space is named after Harambe, the famous gorilla who was shot in May 2016 after a 3-year-old child fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. Zoo officials killed the 17-year-old animal in order to save the child, but the nationwide backlash CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

18

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

TUCSON WEEDLY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

YOUR NOMINEES FOR

THE

Best ® Tucson 2021 OF

f o s d n Lege st! e W e h t

Second Round Voting Through

September 1 www.tucsonweekly.com

Presented by

and

heavily supported the rights of the deceased, 400-pound ape.

“My dad’s businesses have always been called ‘purple monkey something,’” Kittrell said. “He considers himself a silverback gorilla, so this was meant to be here.”

She did not know it at the time, but recently Kittrell looked up the meaning of Harambe in Swahili, Kenya’s national language, and found it means, “all pull together.”

“I was like, wow, are you kidding me? That is exactly what we’re trying to do,” she said.

“That is a very beautiful and cool thing.”

Kittrell was fully on board with the concept of cannabis as medicine and Harambe played host to vendor fairs, tasting events, parties and various meetings. There was even pot-infused yoga.

Public pot consumption in 420-friendly businesses is allowable under certain circumstances now that adult-use pot is legal.

According to cannabis attorney Tom Dean, it is illegal to smoke indoors, but vaping and edibles are permissible “Smoking can be permissible on an outdoor patio as long as no smoke gets inside through doors, windows or ventilation,” Dean said. “The same rules that apply to tobacco also apply to cannabis in a business like a restaurant or coffee shop.”

To accommodate the rules, Harambe has a special room where people can light up and Kittrell hopes to turn a large patio into a safe smoking space once it is screened in.

COMING BACK AFTER COVID Like many other businesses, everything came grinding to a halt over national health concerns and it was not until recently that the doors of Harambe reopened.

Kittrell’s dream remains to create a safe space for people of all stripes, where they can attend classes, find a quiet space to

work, or gather for socializing in a non-alcohol setting.

“We really wanted to create a safe space for the cannabis community,” Kittrell said.

“So it’s been really cool since we reopened.”

In the weeks since reopening, Harambe has hosted a ladies night food truck rally, a “1933 Prohibition Party” and several tastings. Southern Arizona NORML has returned for its monthly meetings and hosted a series of expungement clinics to help people with low-level marijuana convictions.

As an affiliate of the only Black-owned dispensaries in the region, Harambe has dedicated itself to social justice, particularly when it comes to advocacy for underrepresented communities.

ADVOCACY AND DESTIGMATIZING CANNABIS CULTURE One of the big selling points for the passage of Prop 207 that legalized adult-use in Arizona was the possibility of the expungement of low-level pot offenses. Estimates are that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 offenses eligible for expungement in the state. Communities of color have been disproportionately affected by the decades-long war on drugs. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession.

Early on in the process, local chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws began working throughout the state to help qualified individuals clear their records.

In the weeks leading up to the July 12 start of expungement, Southern Arizona NORML organized several self-help clinics.

Hosting those events at Harambe was a natural thing, as the advocacy organization was already using the space for its monthly board meetings.

“We began our partnership with Adriana SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT & COUNSELING

• On staff physician certified in addiction treatment • Treatment for behavioral health issues, relapse prevention, crisis situations • Clear methadone, tablets, diskets and suboxone • Walk-ins welcome-no appointment needed Mon-Fri 5AM-6PM Sat. 7AM-Noon

NOW ACCEPTING AHCCCS

Behavioral Awareness Center Incorporated 2002 West Anklam Road, Tucson, Arizona 85745 (520) 629-9126 Fax: (520)629-9282 BACmethadone.com

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 19

AUGUST 12, 2021

and the Harambe Café through tabling at events and hosting our monthly chapter meetings there,” said Arizona NORML Director Mike Robinette. “We closely align in organizational values, particularly in our desire to give back to the community.”

Southern Arizona NORML, which Robinette also leads, has settled in with a social gathering at the beginning of their meetings on the first Thursday of each month beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the meeting kicking off at 6:30 p.m.

There will be another free expungement clinic taking place on Saturday, Aug. 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We remain incredibly grateful for all the support that Adriana has offered us and are excited to continue our collaboration with the Harambe Café,” Robinette said.

Harambe also hosts clinics organized by Acre 41, a group of Black women seeking equality in the cannabis industry.

Kittrell recently expanded her support of the cannabis community to military veterans and sees the space as a place where first responders can also find a welcoming atmosphere to unwind from the difficulties of their work.

“I think it’s so important to introduce cannabis to first responders because I can’t imagine what these people are going through,” she said. “They’re told they just have to be tough about it, right? They deserve to heal in a safe way.”

Local veterans’ advocates have been eyeing the space for social gatherings, as traditional venues such as Veterans of Foreign Wars posts usually serve alcohol and many old-school vets look down on their cannabis-using brothers and sisters.

Ricardo Pereyda, a veteran and longtime Tucson advocate for access through the Veterans Health Administration, has been in talks with Kittrell and plans to have veteran social gatherings at Harambe on the last Thursday of the month.

“We need a spot where veterans can meet

up, congregate and feel normal, reduce stigma and get involved in the community,” Pereyda said. “We’re looking for it to be a touchstone to the community. We want to invite community organizations that are trying to reach out to veterans that aren’t your usual or typical people that you’re going to find in the VFW.” Pereyda is involved with a group that calls itself Veterans Action Council and is working to gain access to MMJ through the VA and to normalize pot use to treat health and mental issues that are driving veterans to addiction and suicide in unprecedented numbers.

The meetings will be both social and informative, as members of the VAC will talk about the latest goings on in cannabis regulation and ways veterans can get involved in advocating for their own interests.

“We wanted to find a place for veterans to get together where they’re not stigmatized for their cannabis use and I appreciate that they’re in a Tucson landmark,” Pereyda said.

“Veterans are a microcosm of the community: We’re part of any demographic that you can point to, Black, Hispanic, straight, gay, lesbian, bi, trans, conservative, liberal, etc.

We’re citizens.”

That is really what’s at the heart of the Harambe experience though, according to Kittrell.

“We just wanted a safe space for people to gather and to build a community,” she said. “We deal with a lot of people who have addiction issues and they want to be social, they still want to be around people. But the bar is not the best place for that, so we don’t do any alcohol here. It’s not something I’m looking to do, because at the end of the day, I want to be a wellness center and a peaceful place for everybody.” ■ For a schedule of events taking place at Harambe, go to instagram.com/ harambecafe.

1

1

PATERNITY PROBLEMS: LAWSUIT CLAIMS FERTILITY DOC FATHERED HIS PATIENTS’ KIDS

WE’RE NO. 1: AZ HAS THE WORST COVID TRANSMISSION RATES IN THE COUNTRY

DEC. 31, 2020 - JAN. 6, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

1

One Sick Year Looking back at the lunacy of 2020

By Leo W. Banks

VOTE NOW IN THE 2021 CANNABIS BOWL!

TUCSON

JAN. 7 - 13, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Reflections and Remembrance

WEEKLY

10 years ago, a mass shooting at Gabby Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner rocked the nation

By Ron Barber

FEB. 25 - MAR. 3, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Why I’m Still in the Fight

1

By Gabby Giffords

DANEHY: The Year in TV

$

CANNABIS 520: The Year in Weed

Slobby’s eak Peek Sn Tucson’s vintage

Your 2021 Transportation Roundup • Fourth Avenue Restaurant Shuffle • Growing Your Own Pot

Bofest cson Tu 2020

®

resale guru is back with a new shop for local sneakerheads

CURRENTS: State Rep. Mark Finchem’s Awesome Insurrection Adventure

The

ARTS: TMA Celebrates Black History Month

Name: AB46 INVESTMENTS, LLC (prevousl; Width: 10 in; Depth: 1.125 in; Color: Black plus three; Ad Number: 12673_4; External Reference: tucson.file.core.windows.net:tucson:Retail tucson.file.core.windows.net:tucson:Retail Images:2020:Dec:12673_4

The Best of Tucson, and Everything That Matters!

n!

Tucso res of

asu st Tre The Lo

www.Tucsonweekly.com

Presented by and

20

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

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.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): : “Consecrate” isn’t a word you often encounter in intellectual circles.

In my home country of America, many otherwise smart people spurn the possibility that we might want to make things sacred. And a lot of art aspires to do the opposite of consecration: strip the world of holiness and mock the urge to commune with sanctified experiences. But filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) expressed a contradictory view. He wrote, “I am not interested in deconsecrating: that’s a fashion I hate. I want to reconsecrate things as much as possible, I want to re-mythicize them.” In accordance with astrological omens, Aries, I invite you to look for opportunities to do the same.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Anais Nin wrote, “I don’t want worship. I want understanding.” George Orwell said, “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” Poet Marina Tsvetaeva declared, “For as long as I can remember, I thought I wanted to be loved. Now I know: I don’t need love, I need understanding.” Here’s what I’ll add, Taurus: If you ask for understanding and seek it out, a wealth of it will be available to you in the coming weeks.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The English idiom “playing hard to get” means “pretending to be unavailable or uninterested so as to make oneself more attractive or desirable.” Psychologists say this strategy often works, although it’s crucial not to go too far and make your pursuer lose interest.

Seventeenth-century philosopher Baltasar Gracián expressed the concept more philosophically. He said, “Leave people hungry. Even with physical thirst, good taste’s trick is to stimulate it, not quench it. What’s good, if sparse, is twice as good.

A surfeit of pleasure is dangerous, for it occasions disdain even towards what’s undisputedly excellent. Hard-won happiness is twice as enjoyable.” I suggest you consider deploying these strategies, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) sometimes worked alongside painter Claude Monet (1840–1926) at Monet’s home. He sought the older man’s guidance. Before their first session, Sargent realized there was no black among the paint colors Monet gave him to work with. What?! Monet didn’t use black? Sargent was shocked. He couldn’t imagine painting without it. And yet, he did fine without it. In fact, the apparent limitation compelled him to be creative in ways he hadn’t previously imagined. What would be your metaphorical equivalent, Cancerian: a limitation that inspires?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to Leo author Guy de Maupassant, “We are in the habit of using our eyes only with the memory of what people before us have thought about the things we are looking at.” That’s too bad. It causes us to miss a lot of life’s richness. In fact, said de Maupassant, “There is an element of the unexplored in everything. The smallest thing contains a little of what is unknown.” Your assignment in the next two weeks, Leo, is to take his thoughts to heart. In every experience, engage “with enough attention to find an aspect of it that no one has ever seen or spoken of.”

You are in a phase when you could discover and enjoy record-breaking levels of novelty.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly wrote a poem I want you to know about. She described how, when she was a child, she stayed up all night picking peaches from her father’s orchard by starlight. For hours, she climbed up and down the ladder. Her hands “twisted fruit” as if she “were entering a thousand doors.” When the stars faded and morning arrived, her insides felt like “the stillness a bell possesses just after it has been rung.”

That’s the kind of experience I wish for you in the coming days, Virgo. I know it can’t be exactly the same. Can you imagine what the nearest equivalent might be? Make it happen!

SAVAGE LOVE REUNION BLUES

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

I fell in love with my second cousin about four years ago at a family reunion. (I hadn’t laid eyes on him since I was a kid!) I was fifteen when we met, he was two years older, and we were in a long-distance relationship for three years. We ended things a year ago and I’m going to be seeing him for the first time since our breakup at another family reunion this fall. He’s bringing his new girlfriend. Do I have a responsibility to make her feel comfortable? Do I avoid him and risk family drama? I’ve done so much to work through this, Dan, and I’d love to see this as a healthy exercise in

staying true to myself.

—Cancel On Upcoming Shindig? I’m Not Sure!

I’m hoping it was just the usual heartache you had to work through after this relationship ended—by which I mean to say, COUSINS, I’m hoping your ex-boyfriend (and current second cousin) wasn’t emotionally or physically abusive and you weren’t working through trauma. And I’m hoping you didn’t get too much grief about dating your second cousin from other family members.

(First cousins can legally marry all over

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Ancient Greek philosopher Plato mistrusted laughter, poetry, bright colors, and artists who used bright colors. All those soulful activities influenced people to be emotional, Plato thought, and therefore represented a threat to rational, orderly society. Wow! I’m glad I don’t live in a culture descended from Plato! Oh, wait, I do. His writing is foundational to Western thought. One modern philosopher declared, “The European philosophical tradition consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” Anyway, I’m counseling you to rebel against Plato in the coming weeks.

You especially need experiences that awaken and please and highlight your feelings. Contrary to Plato’s fears, doing this will boost your intelligence and enhance your decision-making powers.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A biography of Nobel Prize-winning Scorpio author Albert Camus noted that he had two modes. They are summed up in the French words solidaire (“unity”) and solitaire (“solitary”). When Camus was in a solidaire phase, he immersed himself in convivial engagement, enjoying the pleasures of socializing. But when he decided it was time to work hard on writing his books, he retreated into a monastic routine to marshal intense creativity. According to my astrological analysis, you Scorpios are currently in the solidaire phase of your rhythm. Enjoy it to the max! When might the next solitaire phase come?

October could be such a time.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): During the 76 years since the end of World War II, Italy has had 69 different governments. That’s a great deal of turnover! Is it a strength or weakness to have so many changes in leadership? On the one hand, such flexibility could be an asset; it might be wise to keep reinventing the power structure as circumstances shift. On the other hand, having so little continuity and stability may undermine confidence and generate stressful uncertainty. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because you’re entering a phase when you could be as changeable as Italy. Is that what you want? Would it serve you or undermine you? Make a conscious choice.

the world!)

Assuming your ex was only guilty of breaking your heart (a risk we take when dating anyone), you should approach this family reunion like any mature adult who finds herself at a wedding or a funeral or a holiday party with an ex. You slap a smile on your face and say hello to your ex, you tell his new girlfriend it’s nice to meet her, and then you avoid both of them for the rest of day. If you’re worried about getting trapped in a conversation with either or both of them, COUSINS, and don’t have it in you to say, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me, I gotta go take a monster shit,” then deputize someone to run interference for you. Your designated interferer should stay by your side as much as possible,

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn actor Nicholas Browne testifies, “My heart is too full; it overflows onto everything I see. I am drowning in my own heart. I’ve plunged into the deepness of emotion, and I don’t see any way back up. Still, I pray no one comes to save me.” I’m guessing that his profound capacity to feel and express emotions serves Browne well in his craft. While I don’t recommend such a deep immersion for you 24/7/365, I suspect you’ll be wise to embark on such an excursion during the next three weeks. Have fun diving! How deep can you go?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In accordance with current astrological omens, I’m calling on author Byron Katie to offer you a message. Is it infused with tough love or sweet encouragement? Both!

Here’s Katie: “When you realize that suffering and discomfort are the call to inquiry, you may actually begin to look forward to uncomfortable feelings.

You may even experience them as friends coming to show you what you have not yet investigated thoroughly enough.” Get ready to dive deeper than you’ve dared to go before, Aquarius. I guarantee you it will ultimately become fun and educational.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In August 1922, author Nikos Kazantzakis wrote this triumphant declaration: “All day today I’ve had the most gentle, quivering joy, because I’m beginning to heal.

Consciously, happily, I feel that I am being born anew, that I am beginning once again to take possession of the light.” On behalf of the cosmic powers-that-be, I authorize you to use these words as your own in the coming weeks. They capture transformations that are in the works for you. By speaking Kazantzakis’s declarations aloud several times every day, you will ensure that his experience will be yours, too. ■ Homework. Name what you’re most eager to change about your life.

Newsletter@FreeWillAstrology.com.

COUSINS, and if you get separated and they see you trapped in an extended conversation with your ex or his new girlfriend, COUSINS, it’s their job to swoop in and rescue you.

And if family members gave you grief about dating your second cousin—if you were subjected to more than some gentle awkwardness-acknowledging, tension-releasing ribbing about the situation—and that grief was the source of whatever you had to work through since breaking up with the guy who was essentially your high school boyfriend (a guy you were always gonna breakup with at some point), COUSINS, then this reunion is an opportunity to tell those people to go fuck themselves.

AUGUST 12, 2021

Should I worry about my son who is 24 years old, straight, cute, has friends and is also a virgin?

—Mulling Over Moments You can tell a mom not to worry but a mom is still gonna worry, MOM, so you go right ahead and worry. But if your son knows he can talk with you about anything and he’s chosen not to talk with you about this, MOM, and if your son isn’t upset about it or otherwise miserable, leave him alone. If he has friends— and you say that he does—then he has peers he can confide in about his love life, assuming he wants one, and open up to about his sexual inexperience, if he regards it as a problem, MOM, which he may not.

I’ve been reading you for many years. You have great language skills. But your use of “gonna” and “wanna” for “going to” and “want to” just comes across as adolescent and condescending. You’re too old to be using that sort of lingo, Dan. Please respect yourself and your readers.

—Griping Over Nauseatingly Nonsensical Affectations You’re gonna hafta pry those “gonnas” and “wannas” outta my cold, dead hands, GONNA, if you wanna get ‘em outta my column.

Three months ago, I came out as polyamorous in an email I sent to my immediate and my entire extended family, because I’m done asking one of my partners to pretend he’s “our roommate” when my parents or siblings come to visit, and it hurts me so much to exclude him from family events and holidays. (And it hurts him too.) My whole family is getting together over Labor Day weekend and all three of us are planning to go. Is there any way to avoid awkwardness?

—Bringing All My Boyfriends Inside Nope.

P.S. They’ll get used to you being poly, you’ll get used to them knowing you’re

poly, and it’ll get less awkward over time.

But there’s no way to avoid that first blast of pure awkwardness. Instead of trying to avoid it, BAMBI, try to have a sense of humor about it.

I was raised in a conservative batshit household and equally batshit church. The youth leader, who was my best friend’s stepdad and who I viewed as a father figure, was a sexual predator. When I was 17, he started asking me for sex and also told me he’d thought of me “that way” since I was 12. I found out later he got a woman with a mental disability pregnant, and my childhood best friend has hinted to me that he assaulted her as well. Much to my rage, this guy’s wife, this church, and even my own parents never went after this guy legally or otherwise.

Outrageously, he’s still a member in good standing of this same church. A few days ago, a different childhood friend died. He was my best friend’s cousin, and we all grew up together. Obviously, this asshole will be at the funeral. I’m determined to be there to support my friend but how do I interact with this predator without causing a scene?

I don’t want to make this sad reunion about me, but I refuse to entertain this guy in any way. Any thoughts on telling him to go fuck himself?

—Feels Uncomfortable Near Extremely Religious Asshole Lowlifes Your childhood best friend dropped hints about being assaulted by this man—her stepfather—but she never actually came out and told you that. But you know for a fact that he preyed on a mentally disabled woman and that he sexually harassed you when you were a minor. And like so many sexual predators on altars, this asshole got away with it. There haven’t been any consequences, no accountability, and he’s still in a position—a position of spiritual authority—where he can (and probably does) abuse and exploit other vulnerable women and girls.

Ugh. I’m pro telling this asshole to go fuck

himself at the funeral—loudly—but there’s something you could do before the funeral.

While you can’t control what your parents or this church have done or failed to do, FUNERAL, and while your childhood best friend’s story isn’t yours to tell—and you don’t know or don’t officially know the full story—you can tell your own story. You can report this asshole to the pious lowlifes who run this fucking church and file a police report at the same time. Oh, and make sure to let those church leaders know you filed a police report. While there’s no guarantee they’ll act against this creep after getting a report of sexual abuse (see Catholic Church, sex abuse scandals), they’ll at least know they’re leaving themselves open to potential financial consequences if they fail to act (see Catholic Church, sex abuse scandal settlements).

I’ve been to a few funerals in my time, FUNERAL, and it’s not the people at the funeral we tend to remember—it’s the people who were there for us before the funeral and after. Head home, be there for your old friend, and feel free to skip the funeral if that asshole is gonna be there. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.savagelovecast.com

Comics

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 21

YOUR VOTES FOR

THE

Best Tucson ® 2021 OF

f Legends ost! the We

Vote now through

September 1st

www.tucsonweekly.com Presented by

and

22

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021

CLASSIFIEDS 520.797.4384 APARTMENTS

Furnished Studios For Rent Close to shopping centers and U of A. 3 Minutes away from Freeway. Utilities And Wi Fi Included! Reasonable Rates. Se Habla Espanol For More Info. Call Flavio 602-384-7177

Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com

BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Full Body Massage by a licensed professional of 27 years. Centrally located in Tucson.

New client special, $60/ hour. In-calls only.

Call 520-461-2881.

Please, no texts.

EMPLOYMENT GENERAL Broken Hill Proprietary (USA), Inc. has an opening for a Principal Study Engineer - Water Treatment in Tucson, AZ to lead pre-feasibility, feasibility and detailed design studies to review water treatment technologies and solutions for BHP Legacy Assets and oversee the construction and commissioning of any water treatment plants installed within the Legacy Assets portfolio. CONTACT: Send resumes to Maria Hernandez, 1500 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, TX 77056 and reference job #A046.270.

Embedded Software Engineer: Design & develop autonomous vehicle embedded software architecture models & units.

Req. Bachelors in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Location: Tucson, AZ. Mail CV to TuSimple, 9191 Towne Centre Dr., Ste. 600, San Diego, CA 92122. Attn: TuSimple HR

Vehicle Control Integration Engineer –Build & develop autonomous vehicle control algorithms.

Req. Masters in Electrical Engineering. Location: Tucson, AZ. Mail CV to TuSimple, 9191 Towne Centre Dr., Ste. 600, San Diego, CA 92122. Attn: TuSimple HR

HEALTHY LIVING/ FITNESS

MASSAGE

CLEANING SERVICES RISE & SHINE HOUSE CLEANING HOUSE, APT, & CONDO CLEANING QUALITY WORK. FAST, FRIENDLY, RELIABLE & HONEST SERVICE. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR BUSINESS. 520.486.3721

HANDYMAN Handyman Service

Doors* Drywall* Painting Roof Repair/Coating*Hauling Coolers* Odd Repairs Minor Plumbing/Electrical* BBB Member.

Not a licensed Contractor

520-425-0845

LANDSCAPE/ MAINTENANCE Foothills Touch Landscapes LLC

 FULL BODY RUB Best full body rub for men by a man. West Tucson. Ajo and Kinney. Privacy assured. 7AM to 7PM. In/Out calls available.

Darvin 520-404-0901.

No texts. 

☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺

COVID Precautions Taken Body Rub Ajo and Kinney area.

You all stop by and enjoy a stress free body rub by a man for a man. Private/Discreet.

Call or text Oliver: 520-358-7310

☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺2☺

Full Body Massage Fit Women, couples, select men. Tantric & Swedish. Handsome Male Massage Therapist, offering a Discreet personalized Pampering Service, Ladies Choice. Call or Text to Schedule 24/7 mylogansrun9@aol.com Pony 928-229-9326

MOTORCYCLES/ SCOOTERS

Notice is hereby given that Commerce Bank of Arizona, located at 7315 N. Oracle Rd. Suite 181, Tucson, AZ 85704 has filed, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an application to establish a branch to be located at 265 West Continental Rd. Green Valley, AZ 85622. Any person wishing to comment on this application may submit written comments to the regional director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation at its regional office, 25 Jessie St at Ecker Square, Suite 2300, San Francisco, California, 94105, no later than August 27th. The public portion of this application is on file in the regional office and is available for public inspection during regular business hours. Photocopies of the application are available on request. Published pursuant to section 303.7 and 303.44 of the rules and regulations of the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation. Commerce Bank of Arizona Chris Webster President & CEO Published August 12th 2021 Tucson Weekly 8/12/2021

T H WO A T P M A I N S T S S

O B O F O L AM/ FM O D I N S K A E L S T A I R T H E A A U L M M AM/FM A P A P S S T

O D E N E A R

N O T A T V E A I A N I E R R E

Get your message to our readers Call 520-797-4384

B I O S O O B I E V W E L L W E T I AM/FM A R S E A G L T A R D O U S E R R D I O A D E A B A G N G E R W T O R T O S O L C Y O G AM/FM A E N L A Y A G E N

R E L I E V E D

B E L A

O U T A C T

W R I T E S

A D S

NETWORK ADS NEED NEW FLOORING? Call Empire Today® to schedule a FREE in-home estimate on Carpeting & Flooring. Call Today! 877-591-3539 (AzCAN)

NETWORK ADS

Are you at risk for stroke or cardiovascular disease?

Call Life Line Screening at 855-575-6793

Not a licensed contractor

Call Pat (480) 343-0562

O N L O A N

Screenings are easy, painless and non-invasive.

Install/Design We do it all!

30 yrs Exp

B E A C O N

NETWORK ADS DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY. Receive maximum value of write off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pickup. Call for details. 866-932-4184 (AzCAN)

Lawn care/Maint.

Starting as low as $25 per visit.

Free Estimates

Crossword Answers

PUBLIC NOTICES

Want to see your ad here?

Call 520-797-4384

Special Offer for Readers 5 screening package for $149

CLASSIFIEDS

520.797.4384 Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Edited by Will Shortz

AUTO PARTS/ACCESSORIES

ACROSS Slip Sections of online dating profiles 11 Baseball, e.g.

14 Wrap up 15 “Hamilton” won one in 2015 16 Very beginning?

17 Fashionable 18 “Look what we have here!”

20 Some change 21 Coffee liqueur originally from Jamaica 22 Symbol of strength 23 St. ___, neighborhood in north London 27 Creature whose eyesight has four to five times the acuity of humans 28 Nashville-to-Louisville dir.

29 Jules who lent his name to an article of attire 31 Some women’s donations 33 Standing 34 Slipped 36 Like tom yum soup 39 It can be two-way … with a hint to four squares in this puzzle 41 Puts on top of 42 “Antiques Roadshow” determination 44 It’s always getting into hot water 46 Eroded, with “away” 47 Thor, for one 49 Dazzle 1

7

Top $$ For Cars Running or Not We Buy Oxygen Sensors, Starters, AC Pumps, Alternators, Radiators, Complete Cars & Trucks

520-999-0804 RECYCLING

$CASH$

For ALL unwanted Cars, Trucks & SUVs Family Owned and Operated

Call or text anytime for quote FREE PROFESSIONAL REMOVAL

520-271-0546

New, Old, Running, or not!

Tucson and surrounding areas

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 23

AUGUST 12, 2021

Funny Poundstone 54 Libel or slander 55 “___ Father …”

56 2001 Broadway hit with an exclamation mark in its name 58 Conductor Georg 60 Frenzied 62 Something to meditate on 63 Big speedway sponsor 64 “Buona ___” 65 Intertwine 66 Sound a biker doesn’t want to hear 67 Basket made from behind the arc 68 Progressive people?

52

DOWN Guiding light 2 Like some museum exhibits 3 Not amplified, in a way 4 Windfall 5 One who has spent years at sea 6 Onetime record labelwith a poetic name 7 Salaam, e.g.

8 “Su-u-u-ure” 9 More slick, in a way 10 Rich, but not born that way 11 Oppressive boss 12 Feeling “Whew, that was close!”

13 Composer Bartók 1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

14

15

17

18

20

8

9

11

13

16 19

23

28

29

24

25

26

27 30

31

33 37

34

38

39

42

43

46

47 52

40 44

41 45

48

49

53

54

56

58 61

51

59

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

Wit “Warm” 25 Set down on paper, as music 26 Beethoven, to Haydn 30 Cheese that’s often grated 32 Things that may be classified 33 Collect dust 35 Piano performance in an old music hall 36 One of the “Big Four” domestic carriers, once 37 Short shorts 38 Town tour guides

50

55

57

60

32

35

19

40 Upper: Ger.

24

43 Certain flag position 45 Specialty of Franz

Schubert

48 More egocentric 49 Figure in a horror film 50 Best in a film audition, say

Sets down on paper Strike caller 56 Not catch 57 Ending with some large numbers 59 Look lecherously 61 Low island 62 A word in passing?

51

53

WORSHIP GUIDE Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com 520.797.4384 NEW THOUGHT

12

21

22

36

10

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

24

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

AUGUST 12, 2021