(From We Got Cactus)

Check out this amazing video from the Latin Grammy nominated La Santa Cecilia. This Los Angeles band will be at the Rialto, Tuesday, April 9. Tickets are $10 presale or $15 at the door. They'll be playing with Santa Pachita, Vox Urbana, Salavdor Duran and Conjunto Imperial.

The video, sponsored by the the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON), is for the group's new single "El Hielo" (I.C.E.). It was made in collaboration with director Alex Rivera, NDLON and La Santa Cecilia.

Comedian Doug Stanhope makes his home in Bisbee, which recently made a name for itself by becoming the first city in Arizona to recognize same-sex civil unions — and as it turns out, he was at the historic meeting where that ordinance was passed.

Stanhope, as quoted in the headline, appeared only to offer his support for human equality, saying "I'm not gay, and I think marriage is stupid," before declaring that he came down in order to help prevent "buses of churches that were going to filibuster" the meeting — though he soon launched into complaints regarding the opening of the meeting with a prayer, saying "I found it absolutely abhorrent that this would be opened by a preacher preaching Jesus in a city function," and noting that he, as an atheist, doesn't get to begin city council meetings with his comments.

Check the video out below.

[h/t: Phoenix New Times]

Because they clearly have nothing more important on their agenda, two members of Congress are demanding an investigation into Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s recent trip to Cuba.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans from Florida, wrote a letter appealing to the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control for further information on “the type of license” the Carters used to visit Cuba last week in celebration of their fifth anniversary, and who even approved of their trip in the first place.

The celebrity couple created quite the stir in Havana, forcing police to restrain crowds of fans as they dined in a local restaurant and drawing praise from Cuban artists who performed for the pair during their stay. But for Rep. Ros-Lehtinen and Rep Diaz-Balart, it’s all fun and games until you sponsor human rights violations with your cigar money.

There are a ton of things to enjoy about Cleopatra Jones, showing at the Loft tonight at 8 p.m.

A partial list:

1. Shelly Winters as "Mommy," the head of a drug smuggling ring.
2. Tamara Dobson, over six feet tall, as the title character, a secret agent/karate expert
3. Jones' car, a bad-ass black Corvette
4. A great soundtrack with a few Millie Jackson tracks
5. Everything else.

Tickets are $3, a buck cheaper for Loft members.

Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes ran for just more than ten years, from November 1985 to December '95, and left behind a huge hole in the hearts of many fans of newspaper comics readers (True story: Eight-year-old David was crushed when Calvin and Hobbes disappeared). In the time between then and now, Watterson has been famously reclusive, choosing to live peacefully and paint in his early, early retirement.

Fans, of course, have been clamoring for new C&H content ever since, animating old panels and creating sequels, such as the wonderful and terribly short-lived Hobbes and Bacon.

But some people get a bit weird with it, as seen below, with the "gritty reboot" of Calvin and Hobbes; it's not bad, by any means, but...I guess it lives up to the name of its YouTube channel.

As the U.S. Senate gets back to work today, there's a lot on the agenda: A budget plan, immigration reform and the question of creating a universal background check. Slate's John Dickerson explains why he thinks the Senate might actually break through the logjam that has held up legislation in recent years; meanwhile, Talking Points Memo notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is growing increasing impatient with the GOP's filibustering strategy.

On the subject of the universal background checks: Supporters of expanding the checks to nearly all unlicensed gun sales (which is a contentious step I explored here) are holding out hope that they can bring over Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has said that expanding those background checks would require too much paperwork; instead, he wants to see more mentally ill people added to the list of prohibited possessors.

During a Sunday appearance on Face the Nation, Arizona Sen. John McCain sidestepped a question over whether he still supported expanding background checks to gun shows, saying that it would depend on how the checks are done.

McCain expressed exasperation with Republican colleagues who are threatening to filibuster the legislation.

"I don't understand it," McCain said. "The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand. … What are we afraid of?"

It’s so windy in #Tucson right now, the @pac12 just fined @uacoachmiller another $25,000K #ArizonaWildcats
— SCO (@TucsonSco) April 8, 2013

Sure, this isn't much of a revelation unless you've been inside of a bunker all day, but the winds are whirling about the desert today, coating cars across the city in fine layers of dust and making everyone lament visiting the car wash this weekend.

Just how strong are the winds getting today, you ask? Well, according to the National Weather Service, we may see gusts around 50 m.p.h. in Southern Arizona today — just fast enough to make you regret going outside for lunch.

The winds are said to be a part of a low-pressure system sweeping in, which should cool things down to the mid 70s for the next couple days, bringing conditions that are similar to what people in other parts of the country call "spring weather" to our beloved arid wasteland.

If you're driving on the interstates today, just make sure to be careful — there are dust-warnings aplenty, and there's a good chance that visibility will be affected. Drive slow, homies.

(And to answer your question, Rialto Theatre, that is "WTF is up with this bullshit wind today." And we also love it because we get to say "haboob.")

Arizona's men's basketball team may have only made it to the Sweet 16 in this year's NCAA tournament, but an annual survey of college hoops programs' overall value considers the Wildcats to be a Final Four contender.

A professor from Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (say that five times fast) has ranked Arizona No. 4 on a list of men's basketball programs in terms of overall net worth, putting the UA at a value of $224.1 million if it were to be bought and sold.

The only programs ahead of Arizona: NCAA finalist Louisville ($291 million), Kansas ($259.3 million) and North Carolina ($228.6 million).

The Wall Street Journal only listed the top 10 programs, the other nine of which are all east of the Rocky Mountains.

So, there's that for UA fans hoping to cling onto something associated to the basketball season for just a little bit longer...

Sorry this is late, but I had to watch the season-ending episodes of The Walking Dead and Justified to see which one was better. It was Justified, but The Walking Dead continues to amaze despite the idiotic game of musical chairs that AMC insists on playing with the people running the show.

I suppose I have to issue a SPOILER ALERT here, just in case you haven’t seen the respective season enders. In the slim chance that you don’t watch The Walking Dead, shame on you. There are zombies out there! If, by some chance, you don’t watch Justified, double shame on you. It’s the best-written show on TV. I hope the zombies get you.

This entire season of Dead had been leading up to an armed showdown between Rick, the put-upon leader of the good humans, and The Governor, the incredibly evil leader of the sheep humans who had been lulled into a false sense of security by the Governor and his ruthless henchmen.

The Governor is a low mutha’, indeed. He kept his zombie-fied daughter in a closet and had his nerd assistant run experiments to try to determine the source of the zombie virus. Meanwhile, Rick, who somehow survived the initial zombie apocalypse while locked inside a hospital room, escapes, only to find that his wife has been sleeping with—and is probably pregnant by—Rick’s former partner and best friend. Rick has to kill the best friend and then deal with the zombie that the former best friend becomes. Then, the wife has the baby but (shall we say) dies after complications during childbirth. What bothers me is that Rick then starts seeing his dead wife everywhere, as though he doesn’t have enough real crap to worry about.

Anyway, Andrea, who was one of the initial band of Good Humans, gets separated from the group and is saved by Michonne, this badass woman with a badass sword. The two women happen upon Woodbury and are taken in by The Governor. Michonne wants to split but Andrea wants to stick around and play some mattress hockey with the charismatic Governor.

In ensuing episodes, both Rick and Andrea have the opportunity to kill the Governor, but neither does. Let’s just say they should have.

In the season finale, the Governor has captured Andrea and is holding her, chained to a chair, in his Rape Room. He stabs Milton and leaves him to die a slow, painful death, after which Milton will become a zombie and dine on Andrea, who will, in turn, become a zombie. Did I mention that the Governor is low?

After a crazy shootout, the Governor snaps and kills most of his followers because they don’t want to keep fighting against the Good Humans. Andrea is bitten by zombie Milton, so Rick (who arrived too late to help her) gives Andrea a gun with which she can blow her own brains out.

That’s what passes for a happy ending on that show.

Meanwhile, on Justified, Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) solidified his position as the baddest dude on TV. Early on in the episode, he dispatches three bad guys in spectacular fashion, then later sees to it that a mob boss is shuffled off this mortal coil in a double-cross no one saw coming.

In the mean time, Raylan’s buddy/nemesis, Boyd Crowder, makes one increasingly desperate move after another to keep himself and his fiancée, Eva, out of prison. It doesn’t end well, setting up next season quite nicely.

Walton Goggins’ portrayal of Boyd Crowder is a tour de force. When he’s on the screen, you can’t take your eyes off him with his crazy, spiked hairdo and what looks to be an extra row of teeth. Then comes that Harlan County drawl, just as likely to be quoting Shakespeare as Clyde Barrow. If he doesn’t win the Emmy next fall for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, there should be a federal investigation.

So now two of my favorite shows are gone for a while and I am diminished. I have the final seasons of Breaking Bad and Dexter to look forward to this summer, but that’s cold comfort.

For decades, cannabis advocates of every stripe have been telling everyone who would listen that we need to legalize and tax cannabis.

I don't think this is what they had in mind: a Colorado legislative committee is proposing a ridiculous 30 percent state tax on cannabis, according to Huffington Post:

The House-Senate committee, which will introduce a bill this week drafted from the 58 recommendations that the pot task force issued last month with taxes being one of several issues the committee is considering, would ask voters to approve a 15 percent excise tax and a 15 percent special sales tax. Those rates plus existing local and state tax rates — for food and beverage sales in Denver, the the combined total tax rate is 8 percent — could mean a total tax rate of 38 percent on marijuana purchases in the Denver area.

I'm down with taxes - even high taxes - but this is beyond the pale. I'm not sure what these people are thinking. They're either horribly naive or purposely trying to discourage legal sales.

In Arizona, we have no cannabis tax. Only normal sales taxes apply, which vary slightly city to city but in Tucson is 9.1 percent. Tax rates like the ones proposed in Colorado would only drive people to the black market.

It would also destroy many, many cannabis shops in and around Denver by sending their customers clamoring to either buy on the sly or grow their own, which Colorado's new cannabis law allows. It would put people out of work.

Mr. Smith does not approve. Hmpf.