Not to be confused with the Jack Chick evangelical comic of the same name, this week Eric and Arnie discuss Prophet, the story of a futuristic Rip Van Winkle.

Get ready to rock 'n' roll with frontman Mike Ness and Social Distortion. The four-piece southern Californian band makes its way to Tucson tonight as they tour in support of their latest album, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.

The band has been around since 1978—still touring and still impressing fans. Though they faced some ups and downs (like just about anyone in the music business), they have produced a number of albums that resonated with their listeners over the years.

After the Flagstaff concert over the weekend, here's what "C&E M" posted on the Social Distortion website:

This was our first Social D concert, and in our opinion, was the best concert we’ve ever been to. Social D put on an amazing show in an awesome venue. They played all the songs we were hoping to hear and killed them all. Thanks for coming to Flag, Mike and guys, we hope you come back so we can see you again!

For tickets and information, visit the Rialto Theatre website.

An update to an earlier look at how the 2012 legislative races are shaping up as we get new intel about some of our new Tucson-area districts:

The new LD10, which includes much of central and eastern Tucson south of Speedway Boulevard,
is a competitive district where Democrats hold a 3-percentage-point voter-registration advantage.

Former state lawmaker Dave Bradley is looking at the Senate seat, while current LD28 Rep. Bruce Wheeler may be joined in the district by Brandon Patrick, a political strategist who is now working for Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunningham.

“Tucson deserves another voice like Bruce Wheeler and Dave Bradley to reflect Tucson values,” said Patrick, who served in the Afghanistan war before returning to Tucson to help torpedo an ill-considered proposition in Tucson in 2009 that would have required the city to maintain certain levels of police and fire protection, at the expense of everything else in the city budget.

It’s still unknown what state Rep. Ted Vogt will do later this year. Vogt, a conservative Republican whose voting record fit right in with the current hard-right District 30, will now have to court voters who are likely less eager to see school funding reduced and poor people go without health insurance so we can cut corporate taxes. Vogt has indicated that he’d be seeking a House seat in LD10, but there’s a slight chance he could end up in the state Senate, if D30 Sen. Frank Antenori ends up resigning to focus on his congressional campaign.

On the other side of Speedway, in the new LD9, it appears that state Rep. Steve Farley is angling for the Senate seat—unless he ends up running for the congressional seat recently vacated by Gabby Giffords.

If that happens, you might see UA professor Todd Camenisch, who lost a Senate run against Antenori in LD30 in 2010, consider a run on the Democratic ticket in this competitive district where Democrats hold a voter-registration advantage of about 4 percentage points.

On the House side, a Democratic primary battle is shaping up between newcomer Victoria Steele and Mohur Sidhwa and Dustin Cox, who both lost primaries in 2010.

In the downtown area, state Rep. Daniel Patterson has decided to shift gears. Although he was looking at running in the new LD2 that runs from Tucson down to Nogales along Interstate 10, he's now aiming at the new LD3. That sets up a primary race against fellow state Reps. Macario Saldate and Sally Ann Gonzales.

The Tucson Police Department, still getting its feet wet with this social media thing, has started to dip its toes into deeper waters with its latest addition to Facebook: crime scene video.

This first clip of footage, narrated by TPD Sgt. Matt Ronstadt — who, for my money, is a dead ringer visually and audibly to Saturday Night Live veteran Chris Parnell — is from the scene of Tuesday night's "suspicious death" investigation on West Ajo Way. Police were called to an apartment complex after getting anonymous reports that a woman hadn't been seen in a month, and oh yeah, there's a really foul smell in the air.

(Update, 2 p.m.: TPD has arrested a 25-year-old man, Christopher Aguilar, on suspicion of concealing a dead body, and have officially deemed the case a homicide investigation. No word on who (or what gender) the body was.)

There's not much to see on the video, mostly panning of the complex's parking lot while Ronstadt narrates in his best "I want to be able to tell you more but I can't" tone, but at this point I think it's still a learning process. It's no CSI, but if it's well received (both in terms of YouTube hits — it had 41 as of 8 a.m. Wednesday — and top brass reception) we could be seeing more of this in the future.

So, that raises the question: will Ronstadt start appearing on camera, facing to the side, and then whip off his sunglasses before dropping a clever crime-related quip?

I can't even say how sad I was today to hear that Don Cornelius died, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, in his Sherman Oaks home. As a kid growing up here in Tucson, the show was a glimpse in a world almost entirely foreign to me, giving me a new favorite song on a weekly basis. Seeing Chuck Mangione in 1981 wasn't quite as exciting as some of the episodes from the show's golden age in the 70's, but I don't know where else I would have heard groups like Shalamar, Ready For The World, The System and all the 80's R&B tracks that I still love. In recent years, the cable channel Centric has been showing repeats of classic episodes and it's just a wonderful glimpse in youth culture of that era, between the outfits, hairstyles and dance moves I couldn't replicate if I tried. I have no idea what was going on in Cornelius' head lately that he would feel the need to end his life, but mostly I'm just sorry he had to go through whatever pushed him to that edge. He was an actual legend, bringing great music into the living rooms of kids across America, and my childhood was far better for taking a weekly ride on the Soul Train.

Don Cornelius was 75.

One benefit for reporters who cover prisons is the fact that there are many areas to dig around that are part of the public record, but dear readers, that kind of transparency doesn't exist where we need it most in Arizona — private prisons.

In Arizona, we tend to bend over for the private prison industry, but not everyone likes to take that kind of love blindfolded. That's why a new piece of legislation is important right now - HB 2203, which requires private prisons to keep the lights on, er, make their records public.

Private prisons are run by corporations, like Corrections Corporation of America, but they are funded by taxpayers. Think Citizens United, and you'll think of this new bill as some much-needed Arizona prophylactic.

Luckily there are folks willing to take CCA on, such as Prison Legal News. For more on their public records battle with CCA take a look at this piece from Nashville Scene:

"Thus, after four years, CCA is still fighting hard to avoid producing the records I requested, which would have to be produced if I requested them from any public agency," Friedmann tells Pith via email. "This is a perfect example of the lack of transparency and lack of public accountability in the private prison industry."

Of course, it's no surprise why CCA is stalling. Considering CCA's reputation for poor treatment of immigrant detainees, allegations of fraudulent reporting practices, and practically writing Arizona's SB 1070 bill for the legislature, Friedmann's original records request could very well puncture even more holes in CCA's veil of secrecy.

According to the good folks at Tucson's American Friends Service Committee office, the bill’s author, Rep. Chad Campbell (D-14) has introduced a total of six bills that would impose transparency, accountability, and state regulation onto private prisons in Arizona:

HB 2202 Private prisons; prisoner; facility; limits
HB 2203 Private prison contractors; public records
HB 2204 Private prisons; regulation
HB 2205 Auditor General; private prison monitoring
HB 2206 Private prisons; prisoner transfer; prohibition
HB 2299 Private prison study committee

The bills are now traversing that predictable Arizona Legislature path of committees in an effort to prevents them from getting the hearings they deserve and that we need. Rep. Jim Weiers is the chair of the first committee — Commerce. The deadline for bills to be heard in first committee is Feb. 17th. If they don't make it, the bills are dead.

From AFSC:

Tell Rep. Weiers to Hear Private Prison Bills!

Email, or fax the Chair of the House Commerce Committee, Rep. Jim Weiers, [email protected]. Toll-free phone number to reach any state representative or senator: 1-800-352-8404. Press #3 for the Senate and #4 for the House. Then just ask the operator to connect you to the office of the person you want to talk to.

Tell Him Private Prisons in Arizona Need Oversight and Accountability Because:
• Prisons are fundamentally about public safety. Our communities should be assured that these facilities are safe, and the public should be notified when there are incidents like escapes or riots.
• Arizona should have the right to tell private prison companies like CCA that they can’t import dangerous or violent offenders from other states.
• Arizona taxpayers are shelling out millions for private prisons every year. We deserve to know what kind of return we’re getting on our investment.

If you need more info before you call, one of the best state resources on the private prison industry is the AFSC's blog Cell-Out-Arizona.