Generally, every year there's a band that more people ask if I've heard than any other. This year, it looks like Alabama Shakes will take the crown, but in 2009, the winner of this meaningless prize was the xx, whose minimalist self-titled album was the ice-cold soundtrack of commercials and the stereo of everyone somewhat wistful for the days when Mazzy Star and the Cocteau Twins were almost famous.

The group return with a new album, Coexist, on September 11th, and if the first single, "Angels," is any indication, they've decided to go with a barer, more minimalist sound this time around. Works for me.

With a newly structured school schedule starting August 2 for TUSD students, Tucson isn’t the only place reorganizing their school year. A Denver high school started school this week, beginning a 210-day school year, 39 days more than usual and the longest school year in its history. Not only is the school year longer, each school day at Manual High School will last an hour longer as well.

These extra days and hours are part of an ongoing stride toward finding the key to a successful and effective teaching method for the students attending. Additionally, the extra time is allowing for more field trip opportunities. Students may be upset at first at an extra month of school with 60 more minutes in the classroom, but those field trip opportunities may make up for it.

Besides, if the longer school year and field trip content make them more prepared for college, the long run may foretell a trendsetter for other schools in the area and possibly further.

A new restaurant and catering company has moved into the building at 3073 N. Campbell Ave., where the Just Add Water Café was going to be located until the owner pulled the plug on the project.

Amelia Grey's Café and Catering now resides there. The restaurant is the new incarnation of Amelia Greys' Tea Garden, which pulled up stakes earlier this year at 5055 E. Speedway Blvd.

Expect sandwiches, salads, baked goods galore and all the requisite hot and cold beverages. The café also holds high teas, describing them as such:

High Tea is served on our finest bone china which includes: Pot of your choice of tea, milk and sugar cubes, Three petite sandwiches, Two freshly baked scones, Three miniature sweets, One mini quiche and condiments of homemade lemon curd Raspberry Jam and devonshire cream.

The next high tea takes place this Sunday, July 22. Reservations are required. There's more on the restaurant here.

Congressman Ron Barber stops by Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable to talk about the congressional investigation into the ATF's Fast and Furious investigation, his vote in support of relaxing environmental laws near the border, his opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act, his efforts to help homeless veterans and more. Then Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers and Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries talk about the latest in the U.S. Senate Republican primary between Congressman Jeff Flake and businessman Wil Cardon, the proposed open-primary ballot initiative, the city's annexation of property near Craycroft and River roads, and the expansion of Medicaid in Arizona under the Affordable Care Act.

There's nothing wrong with Yelp in theory - it's a good place to test the waters a bit regarding places you've never been - but sometimes the site's loyalists can get out of control, assuming that the world of food service revolves around their assessments. I've heard stories locally of Yelpers threatening restaurant owners that they'll write a nasty review online if they don't get some sort of special treatment, which probably doesn't happen often, but still is a symptom of a userbase that overestimates its influence.

However, it turns out that Yelp might be more of a hivemind than anything else, since only a small percentage of restaurant decisions are made because of online information and only a fraction of those are influenced by review sites:

But at this point, online marketing influences only 6 percent of restaurant choices, the survey found. That’s for all types of online marketing.

On the one hand, that’s a small piece of the overall dining-out pie. On the other hand, that 6 percent translates into 926 million restaurant visits. That’s a lot of restaurant seats filled from online marketing efforts.

Within this relatively small realm of online-marketing influence, what gets diners excited and into the car to go eat out? The top decider: Good old-fashioned deals and special offers, which drove more than one-third of the decisions on where to eat out, NPD found....

What happened with online reviews and recommendations? They turn up a distant fourth, influencing only 14 percent of diners who saw online marketing campaigns, nearly tied with simple information on a restaurant’s location, which helped 13 percent of diners decide where to go.

My experience has been more in making copy mistakes than in trying to fix them, but if you want to exercise your skills in spotting semi-obvious errors in fake college essays, First Person Tutor (get the joke?) is online and free for your enjoyment. I only made it through a few levels before getting bored, but based on our comment section and some tweets directed at the Weekly, some of our readers will likely get a real thrill from the game, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

The new video for the Shins' "It's Only Life" seems to be a cross between Where the Wild Things Are and The Walking Dead, so if that's the pop-culture crossover of your dreams, that's a pretty damn good day.

As a reminder, the former Indie Rock Pride of New Mexico is coming to the Rialto on October 3rd.

• Tucson's new transportation director, Daryl Cole, left, accepts an award honoring his 25 years of service to the city of El Paso.

Daryl W. Cole, currently El Paso Texas’ transportation director accepted the postion last week.

Michael Graham, the City of Tucson’s public information officer, confirmed yesterday that the position was originally offered on contingency to Portland’s transportation director Tom Miller.

Graham said the city reevaluated the situation and determined that Cole would be a better fit for the position.

Miller, a huge proponent of alternate transportation and separated bicycle infrastructure, was out of the office until July 23 and could not be reached for comment.

Cole, who has worked in El Paso’s transportation department for the last 26 years, said he grew up in Chandler and loves the southwest.

The two come from very different backgrounds and the decision to rescind the offer has some alternative transportation advocates concerned about the city's future. Read more to find out why.

In other bike news, The B-Line will likely continue their bicycle delivery service even though the street is reopening soon. Check it out.

And because of the streetcar construction a pedal powered business is leaving Tucson... for now.

A bike can really improve your mood. Check out person's mood altering ride.

Yet another pedestrian was struck and killed this week.

Somehow I doubt this sort of story will make on the air during NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics in London, but ESPN has put together a remarkably detailed story about sex between athletes during the festivities. Turns out that if you put together a bunch of athletic, good looking young people together, things tend to get a little crazy.

Home to more than 10,000 athletes at the Summer Games and 2,700 at the Winter, the Olympic Village is one of the world's most exclusive clubs. To join, prospective members need only have spectacular talent and — we long assumed — a chaste devotion to the most intense competition of their lives. But the image of a celibate Games began to flicker in '92 when it was reported that the Games' organizers had ordered in prophylactics like pizza. Then, at the 2000 Sydney Games, 70,000 condoms wasn't enough, prompting a second order of 20,000 and a new standing order of 100,000 condoms per Olympics.

Many Olympians, past and present, abide by what Summer Sanders, a swimmer who won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in Barcelona, calls the second Olympic motto: "What happens in the village stays in the village." Yet if you ask enough active and retired athletes often enough to spill their secrets, the village gates will fly open. It quickly becomes clear that, summer or winter, the games go on long after the medal ceremony. "There's a lot of sex going on," says women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo, a gold medalist in 2008. How much sex? "I'd say it's 70 percent to 75 percent of Olympians," offers world-record-holding swimmer Ryan Lochte, who will be in London for his third Games. "Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."

Looks like the old Café Terra Cotta building at 3500 E. Sunrise Drive is getting a new tenant.

A liquor license application for the joint has been filed with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control under the name Five Palms Steak and Seafood.

That's all we've got for the moment, but we'll be back with more once we get in touch with the owners.