The Arizona Republic busts Republican state Sen. Al Melvin of Southern Arizona for posting a phony quote allegedly from Abe Lincoln on his Twitter account.

I'd dig deeper into this, but I dished off Marshall Home coverage last week. Gibson, get right on this!

At this point, the last thing the world of popular music likely needs is another retro soul singer. There's been a run on that sort of thing the last few years, and for good reason, since soul music generally has an authenticity in feel that resonates with people. The catch is that most of the revivalist stuff just isn't all that original, grabbing on to big horns, funky rhythms, and passionate vocals, but none of the actual originality that artists like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield brought to music. Only time will tell whether 23 year old Londoner Michael Kiwanuka has artistic staying power, but at least his take on soul recalls early Van Morrison or Bill Withers, instead of the usual mimicked culprits. "Tell Me A Tale" is just a great song well performed, just like the best of the soul music everyone wants to emulate. It doesn't seem there's any way to purchase his debut EP in the United States quite yet, but at least you can replay the YouTube video a few times in a row like I have this morning.

There’s another new restaurant opening on the first floor of the building at 44 E. Broadway Blvd. The paper-covered windows say breakfast, lunch, cocktails and the like will be available at some point, but no opening date, name or any other information is posted.

Meanwhile, up north in the old Acacia spot, people still aren’t talking about the restaurant that’s going in there. We heard gastropub, and then heard that was wrong. We heard this rumor, and then that rumor, and we looked through the taped up windows like a Peeping Tom, and all we can report is that we know nothing but the name: Union.

Also in new restaurant news: Mr. K’s, the barbecue shop over on South Park Avenue, is opening a location in an old Chili’s restaurant by the Tucson Mall. We’ll have more on that in next week’s Noshing Around.

Has anyone eaten at Lindy’s at Redline Sports Grill yet? We haven’t, but friends say the burgers rock and that everything else is fried. In other interesting tidbits: Joel Harrington, the wonderfully mohawked chef who was heading up the restaurants at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, now works at Lindy’s at Redline Sports Grill.

Is bringing a skilled chef like Harrington - he’s got a long resume that includes huge accomplishments at several Ritz-Carlton hotels — some sort of preparation for taking the Lindy’s/Redline concept to Phoenix and beyond, as we’ve heard is a possibility? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, the restaurant just debuted a new menu, and we hear it's quite the party on busy nights.

If you’re into food trucks, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled during the next couple of weeks. Several businesses are working up plans for “mobile food courts,” where certain food trucks will be parked on designated days of the week. There are also rumblings of a food-truck festival in August.

We also got an update from the guys down at Borderlands Brewing Company. Apparently the brewing tanks are arriving this week, a major milestone for the brewery. We’ve toured the warehouse where the brewery is going, and it’s truly something else. Much of the old gear from when it was a produce warehouse is still in place; it gives it the coolest industrial feel. We can’t wait to have a pint there.

Depressing doughnut news: Krispy Kreme employees up north tell us all of the Tucson-area locations have closed for good. I’ll tell you what: Krispy Kreme can’t get a break in Tucson. The first time a franchisee gave it a whirl several years ago, the stores closed unexpectedly with doughnuts still on the racks. The newest franchisee pulled out every trick in the books, and still couldn’t pull it off.

But hey, he was trucking the doughnuts in from Mesa anyway, so whatever.

ABC News reports that Sen. Jon Kyl has followed Congressman Eric Cantor out of the debt talks with Democrats:

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., will also drop out of the debt talks, a source within his office confirms today. The Arizona Republican’s office will issue a formal statement shortly.

After House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) dropped out of the talks this morning, Senator Kyl was the lone Republican in the group left. And with his withdrawal late this morning, the group does not have a Republican negotiator left in the room.

The group was set to meet for the 11th time this afternoon with Vice President Biden, their third meeting of the week.

The group started as six — but is now down to four members from Congress. The remaining members are: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Assistant House Minority Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and House Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

UPDATE 12:00 p.m. - A Senior Democratic aide says, “Cantor and Kyl just threw Boehner and McConnell under the bus. This move is an admission that there will be a need for revenues and Cantor and Kyl don't want to be the ones to make that deal.”

There will be plenty of analysis of this in the hours and days to come, but it boils down to this: Republicans have become so calcified in their anti-tax position that they're unwilling to accept that the future of this country depends not only on cuts in spending, but some kind of increase in taxes. That's simple economic reality, but the GOP is in deep denial mode and appears ready to allow economic collapse rather than acknowledge it.

You might have missed the first season of Louie CK's show, cleverly titled Louie, when it aired last year. The network it's on, FX, is a strange collection of occasionally great original programming (The League and Justified, for example) and then a seemingly endless stream of terrible movies. The other night, they were showing a Garfield live action movie and not even the one with Bill Murray voicing Garfield. A different one that I'm not sure was ever actually released in theaters. This is a movie that shouldn't even exist, much less be broadcast on television, allowing people to think this sort of artistic crime is acceptable.

Anyhow, thanks to the magic of digital video recorders, you can watch Louie without being poisoned by the network's content, and you certainly should. Actually, let's turn that into you probably should. Louie CK's humor isn't for everyone and the deal he struck with FX is that they would give him the shoestring budget to shoot the show (he edits the show on his laptop, which gives you some indication of the budget he's working with), but the network has no input or oversight on the content. The show isn't always a comfortable watch, or even always discernibly a "comedy", but it's often the work of a genius doing his best work. If you can't imagine watching a show that compares heaven to a hole cut into the wall of a men's restroom, you shouldn't tune in. You'll be missing one of the best things on TV, but it's not for you anyway.

Friend of TW Rand Carlson—he does our weekly "Random Shots" cartoon and his illustrations have graced many a cover—has a shiny tin piece in Tohono Chul Park's new exhibition, Monsoon. The show, which celebrates the summer thunderstorms we're already dreaming about, has an opening reception tonight from 5:30 to 7:30. Details here.

BTW: If you haven't checked out "Random Shots" in color, you really should click here.

Also at Tohono Chul:



A way-cool portrait of Tucson through cell-phone pics. If you haven't been up to the Tea Room lately, it's time to a visit, isn't it?

We're pretty darn impressed by UA senior Kelsey McKinney, who's set to open the first cupcake bakery and coffee shop in Tanzania by August of 2012:

Kelsey McKinney is fulfilling the dream of a lifetime by establishing the first and only gourmet cupcake bakery and coffee shop in Tanzania.

It took acceptance into the Arizona Assurance scholarship program, two years of college, a scholarship to study abroad and a positive reflection on a childhood that might lead others to despair for University of Arizona senior Kelsey McKinney to find her passion.

That passion has led her to Tanzania, where she will finish her UA studies online and graduate in May along with the first cohort of Arizona Assurance scholars. There, she plans to fulfill a lifetime dream and open up a cupcake bakery and coffee shop.

Read more of Kelsey's story on UANews.

After feeling the glare of national and international media for tragedy and controversy, it's nice to have Tucson linked to something positive in an article about the Origins Society and Global College picked up by MSNBC.

This seems like the set up for a great prank - a transforming beer can that shuffles across the table - but I think if you bought this robot, you should be prepared for one of your intoxicated friends to try to smash it due to their alcohol impaired inability to accurately assess fear.

[Laughing Squid]