We finally got a look inside the space at 50 E. Broadway Blvd., where paper signs have teased us for months with the promise that fine food and drink would soon be served there.

I met Luke Anable there at noon today to talk about the new restaurant. He quickly introduced me to Patricia Schwabe, co-owner of Peach Properties and Tooley's Cafe in the Lost Barrio and the driving force behind what is quickly taking shape in the space.

Today it was all screaming power tools and wood dust, but things are coming together fast. The bar is already in place in the center of the space. Bench seating is beginning to take shape along the periphery and workers were putting in a rustic reclaimed-wood wall coverings as we ducked through to the office spaces out back.

Schwabe said the place - she hasn't settled on a name yet - will serve Mexican food, but she's focusing on what she calls "the fabulous food of Mexico that is not represented in Tucson." She further explained that she will serve small plates of classed up street food during lunch and late-night, but there will be equal focus on fine dinner dishes that one would enjoy best with a properly made cocktail or a glass of wine.

Which is where Anable comes in. Anable built the drink program at the now-defunct Red Room at Grill - the owners once praised his abilities to me with such conviction that I never forgot his name - and now works at Wilko. He's one of the top cocktail talents around these parts, and his consulting work for this new restaurant speaks of good things to drink for Tucson.

"I want the drinks to be simpler than some of the cocktails that are happening in Tucson," said Anable. "You will be able to read the ingredients and know what your cocktail will taste like."

Anable is also working to bring back some of the small-batch European beers he featured at Red Room.

Schwabe is sourcing as much from local farmers and food producers as possible, including coffee from Exo Roast Co. She's even having the dishes made locally, at Santa Theresa Tile Works.

The restaurant will also have a patio facing Broadway Boulevard, but that will have to wait until the street-car construction in the area is complete.

The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner when it opens this fall.

I wasn't going to be able to cough up the money for the R. Kelly Love Letter Cruise, but somehow I felt better knowing that noted musical genius R. Kelly would be out there on the high seas entertaining a ship full of his fans. Sadly, that magical musical journey will sadly remain only a dream, as R. Kelly's website has announced that the cruise has been cancelled:

Concerts Cruise LLC has been unable to meet its financial obligations to a scheduled cruise with featured performer R. Kelly and will therefore have to cancel this cruise. R. Kelly had been looking forward to the cruise and was ready, willing and able to perform for fans. He is sorry for any disappointment but plans to see his fans very soon on a U.S. tour. Ticket holders should contact Concerts Cruise LLC to handle refunds.

Somewhat strangely, Concerts Cruise LLC was located here in Tucson, registered to Roy Cormier (who was referenced in a Beastie Boys song once) and Ayeleh Corporation (which seems like a fake name or a typo, but what do I know?) at 1443 E. Broadway by the Arizona Corporation Commission. Unfortunately, it looks like the company is making an effort to disappear off the face of the earth, deleting its webpage, social media presences, and not answering their phone. However, I called the Tucson Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce, who rent an office space to Concerts Cruise, and they said that the company's staff was in the office this morning (including the time period when I called the Cruise's phone number, but whatever). Complaints are starting to pile up around the internet and the company has made it as difficult as possible to reach them, so we'll see.

This just in from the Prop. 204 - Quality Education and Jobs campaign — the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett is wrong and the sale tax initiative to support public education is going on the November ballot.

You can read the court's decision here:

Here's the campaign's press release:

The Arizona Supreme Court today upheld the Constitutional right of Arizonans to vote this November on Prop. 204 - Quality Education and Jobs. The justices rejected arguments by anti-education legislators, lobbyists and Secretary of State Ken Bennett, all of whom tried to keep this popular citizens' initiative from reaching the ballot.

"This is a huge victory for Arizona voters and a huge victory for Arizona schoolchildren," said Ann-Eve Pedersen, a volunteer parent leading the Prop. 204 - Quality Education and Jobs campaign. "This really was a case of powerful political forces vs. the people of Arizona - and the people of Arizona won thanks to an unbiased judiciary," said Pedersen.

"This court victory clears the path to victory on Election Day, when we will be able to assure a generation of children and beyond that their education is a priority in our state," Pedersen said.

The Quality Education and Jobs initiative will renew the one-cent sales tax when it expires in 2013 to provide dedicated permanent revenue for education that the Legislature cannot cut. Prop. 204 will support education across the spectrum: K-12, charter schools, vocational education, community colleges, universities and GED programs.

Prop. 204 has been endorsed by a wide array of business, education, and community organizations. It is opposed by a small group of anti-education legislators and their lobbyist-allies who don't want taxpayers to be have control over how their tax dollars are spent.

The campaign legal team, headed by former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Stanley Feldman, successfully argued that Bennett's arbitrary decision to reject the campaign's petitions on a hyper-technicality was unconstitutional. On July 18, Maricopa County Judge Robert Oberbillig agreed and ordered Bennett to place the measure on the ballot after a brief 25-minute hearing. Bennett was urged by special interests to appeal that decision to the Arizona Supreme Court, which he did. Anti-education legislators and lobbying groups filed "Friend of the Court" briefs urging the court to throw Prop. 204 off the ballot.

In contesting this matter before the courts over the past month using flawed legal arguments, Bennett has exposed the state to significant legal costs. Under Arizona law, because Bennett lost the case at the Superior Court and Supreme Court levels, the courts could order the state to pay all legal and court costs.

While the legal case was pending, the petition validation process continued and is almost complete. Reports from Arizona counties show that Prop. 204 has more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

"Today's court decision allows the volunteer-led coalition of business leaders, students, parents, educators and community organizations to move on with the important work of passing Prop. 204 - Quality Education and Jobs - on Nov. 6," Pedersen said.

Tucson's newest Asian buffet opens this Wednesday, Aug. 15, and it sounds like something fans of the all-you-can-eat style of dining will want to check out.

Jay Zheng, manager of Hibachi Super Buffet at 4629 E. Speedway Blvd., near the corner of Speedway and Swan, says the restaurant has 11 buffet lines boasting fare from numerous Asian locales. Hibachi dining, where customers choose the ingredients and employees cook it up for them, is also included every meal.

Zheng says he believes Hibachi Super Buffet is the largest of its kind in the city. We will be heading down later this week to see if that is indeed the case.

Prices are $6.99 for lunch and $9.99 for dinner, except on Sunday when it's $9.99 all day. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., daily.

Call 326-0000 for more information.

Divine Fits - Trailer 4 from Divine Fits on Vimeo.

Divine Fits are an indie-rock amalgamate, comprising of Britt Daniel from Spoon, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, and New Bomb Turks' Sam Brown. People are going to call them a super-group, which seems sort of ridiculous, since 96% of America hasn't heard of any of those bands, but their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, is streaming at NPR.org and is a great oddly-new-wave influenced listen.

I don't know exactly how I feel about these PBS remixes of their icons. No harm done to the reputations of Bob Ross, Fred Rogers or the subject of this video, Julia Child, but the novelty of each of these seems to wear off after a minute or so. It might be the general desire of the internet to capture to world at its most adorable that's starting to get to me, but hey, if you've ever wanted to hear cooking legend Julia Child, whose one-hundredth birthday is tomorrow, sing Autotune style, here you go.

The Fix, a macaroni-and-cheese themed restaurant located in the former Sultan Palace spot at 943 E. University Blvd., opens today.

The place serves numerous types of the classic American comfort food and you can pick between several types of noodles, including a gluten-free variety. There are all sorts of sandwiches and salads, too.

We've been told that the restaurant will start off with about nine kinds of noodles-and-cheese, eventually expanding the selection to include as many as 20 varieties. You can also order big pans of mac-and-cheese to go.

There's more on Facebook here. The restaurant's website is here, but it's still under construction.

The strange thing is that, for some reason, the fact that a woman is getting a tattoo of her boyfriend's name on her anus is not the strangest thing about this probably totally not safe for work video. It's the moment around the 19 second mark of this journalistic masterwork by the Broward Palm Beach New Times when the recipient of the aforementioned tattoo describes her first piece of skin art, a "fairy...crawled in a ball, with broken wings, and she's pulling her fucking hair." DEUCE-DEUCES. DEUCE-DEUCES, PEOPLE.

KFMA's twice-yearly concert events (spring's KFMA Day and the appropriate seasonally named Fall Ball) are well-organized, well-booked shows. Get a bunch of bands that the station plays, put them on a stage, serve some beer, have a good time. This year's lineup is no exception, even if there are a few outliers to the loud, angry band format (UK's The Wombats and Christian power-surf-poppers Switchfoot).

Here's who's scheduled to perform on September 30th at Kino Stadium:

The Offspring
Corey Taylor of Slipknot
Hollywood Undead
Switchfoot
All That Remains
Everlast
Kottonmouth Kings
The Wombats

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at Domino's Pizza. If you get them on the first day of sale, they're only $25. More info at KFMA's website, which is sort of broken at the moment, so good luck.

Here's the thing about these nostalgia shows: you may not know every act by name, but you know the songs and as cool as you'd like to pretend you are, if you're of a certain age, the minute you hear "The Promise," you'll shriek with reminiscent glee. If you'd like to win free tickets to see Flock of Seagulls, John Waite, Animotion and five other 80's acts at AVA as part of the Lost 80's concert on Saturday night, enter on our Free Stuff page. We have one pair of general admission tickets to give away, with the drawing to be held Friday at noon. If you don't want to take your chances and want to pick up tickets of your own, head to Casino del Sol's page.

Good luck!