Last night's AZ Illustrated Politics featured a one-on-one interview with Attorney General hopeful Mark Brnovich, who is challenging incumbent AG Tom Horne in August's GOP primary. Then I sat down with former lawmaker Jonathan Paton and Democratic strategist Rodd McLeod to look ahead at the key races in this year's election season.

I was delighted to have both McLeod and Paton on the show last night, as they were both with me when we launched the show back in September 2011, and so it was fitting that they could be there for the final show.

Yes, if you haven't heard, last night's show was the grand finale for the Friday night political jamboree I've been hosting for the last couple of years, as The Powers That Be at AZPM have decided to go in a different direction. It's been an honor and privilege to sit in the host's chair after many years as a panelist and I'm immensely grateful to former AZPM news director Peter Michaels for giving me the chance to run with the show.

I also want to thank director Jacobo Ramirez and his amazing production for making it so easy to do the show. Jacobo doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves for keeping everything running smoothly from the booth, but all I ever had to do was show up with my guests and Jacobo and his team took care of everything else. The group of camera operators, sound engineers, teleprompter controllers and the rest are an incredible bunch of talented young people and I'll miss working with them very much.

Thanks also to the many guests who agreed to spend some of their Friday afternoons talking politics. Without them, we would not have had much of a show. And I'm also grateful to all you viewers who invited me into your living rooms (or wherever) to hear about what's happening in politics. I've heard from many of you who are sad to hear the show is going away and it means a lot to me to know you were out there watching us.

Good night and good luck!

 

Variety has reported that CBS has cancelled the The Arsenio Hall Show. The show has been in reruns and the network says financially viable to green light a second season. Hall hasn't issued an official statement or tweet, yet.

From Variety:

CBS said in a statement: “Unfortunately, ‘The Arsenio Hall Show’ will not return for a second season; while there are many loyal fans of the show, the series did not grow its audience enough to continue. Arsenio is a tremendous talent and we’d like to thank him for all the hard work and energy he put into the show. We’d also like to thank Tribune and all our station group partners for their support of the show."

In other comedians-losing-their-jobs news, Pete Holmes' half hour TBS show was also axed earlier this week. The show had a cult-like internet following, but TBS only cares about profit and ratings. Petey Pants admires Conan O'Brien despite losing his late night talk show/sketch show.

Here's his open letter to his fans thanks to Laughspin:

Dear friends,

Sadly, The Pete Holmes Show has not been renewed for more episodes. I know! Frowny face emoticon!

I just want to let everyone know that while the news isn’t what I was hoping for, my main takeaway from this entire wonderful experience is extreme gratitude.

We got to make eighty (eight-zero! Sometimes filming as many as 19 in ten days!) episodes and I am extremely proud of each and every one of them. I talked to and worked with my heroes. I met incredible athletes and filmmakers. I shook hands regularly with a puppet. I got to work everyday in a magical chocolate factory of joy side by side with some of my best friends laughing and being silly all day. And then I got to share it with our fans. It was an absolute dream come true.
I want to thank Oren Brimer and Nick Bernstein for their incredible work and for pouring their hearts into this project every single show, our incredible writers, my other half Matt McCarthy, editors, producers, CONACO, crew, guests, and INCREDIBLE audiences. And I’d especially like to thank Steven Koonin, Michael Wright and everyone at TBS for making my dream come true — thank you!

Above all, I’d like to thank my hero Conan O’Brien for giving me this show and in a very Golden Girls-y way, I’d like to say thank you for being a friend. Conan was hand-on, available and supportive every step of the way. And still is for whatever we do moving forward. What an absolute dream come true! Thank you Consies O’Breezies.

Doing this show has changed my life for the better in uncountable ways. We’ve learned so much. We laughed a ton. And we had an absolute blast doing it.

Just in case you think I’m being too positive, I want you to know that I’m not a crazy person. I’ve felt every discernible emotion since hearing this news. I let that in and rolled with it. It lasted a few hours and still pops its head in every once in a while out of nowhere. But I find that when you let gratitude in, it swells up and pushes all the other feelings out. And rightfully so. It was a great experience from start to finish, and I have nothing but love and thanks for all involved.

Thank you!

Now please keep watching! We are on until June 18 and have a TON of great stuff coming up: More Realistic Marios, live magic, two new episodes of our 18 Kids and Counting parody Kid Farm, an interview and 4am Thoughts with Ray Romano, a brand new New Material Seinfeld, new Ex-Men and closing it all out, a sad (appropriately!) song from Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison!

One last note about the future! I feel like we’ve been given a calling card, a body of work that survives past this show being on the air. I feel a little silly, like Braveheart or something, screaming, “THIS IS NOT THE END!” But it’s not. We are going out to see where our style fits and makes the most sense and in what way. I feel like we lost our bowl, but we’re still some pretty fucking delicious soup. Just floating around. You know, like soup. Flying, delicious soup. I’ll keep you posted on available bowls.

Lastly, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING! The response from the fans was incredible. Thank you a billion. And in case this new makes you sad, here is one of my favorite videos we got to do on the show to cheer us all up. (It worked for me).

With love and thanks,
Petey Pants

Here's a post the children of the 90's might enjoy. Last weekend, Chance the Rapper covered the Arthur jingle "The Best You Can Do" at the Sasquatch! Festival in Washington. You might know chance from his collaborations with Justin Bieber. Aside from his esteemed musical career, this is a pretty positive video for a Friday afternoon.

Prom Body has a busy summer ahead of them. The four-man "wavves-y stoner punk" band are going to tour along the west coast through August. 

You already heard "My Paradise" from their upcoming album Naughty by Natural on The Range. Today, SPIN shared "Pretty Flowers". If you haven't heard Creep the Strange already, click here to read Joshua Levine's review.

But for every ounce of snot-nosed Wavves-y stoner punk in this quartet's music, there's another of No Age's lo-fi-for-art's-sake, and maybe another still of Jay Reatard's early and weird fist-pumping aggression.

Here's the band's correct current tour schedule:

July 29th - Tour Kick-off at Topaz, in Tucson AZ w/ Katterwaul & Kid Puto
July 31st - San Diego - w/ Heavy Hawaii & Heaven @ The Hideout
August 2nd - Los Angeles - w/ Heaven & Heavy Hawaii @ The Smell
August 3rd - Oakland - w/ Meat Market @ House Show
August 5th - Stockton - w/ MLTD @ The Bus Stop
August 6th - Portland - w/ Feel Young and TBA @ The Know
August 7th - Olympia - w/ The San Onofre Lizards & Clayface @ The Hot Tub House
August 8th - Seattle - w/ Dude York & Pony Time @ Cairo
August 9th - Vancouver, BC - w/ WEED @ the Red Gate
August 11th - Boise - w/ TBA @ the Crux
More dates TBA.

Go here to pre-order the Naughty by Natural  LP or cassette from Temple of Cairo.

Gene Glass, a Regents' Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University, is a staff member at the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) and writes a terrific, informative blog, Education in Two Worlds. He's recently written two posts which contain first person accounts of two brushes with BASIS, one from a parent who tried to enroll her child in BASIS Scottsdale in the 7th grade and another from a woman who attended an informational meeting about a new K-4 BASIS opening in Phoenix. I've pulled out a few excerpts.

First the parent who tried to enroll her child in BASIS Scottsdale as a 7th grader. This is a very good student who had taken advanced classes in Scottsdale Unified schools, but she was discouraged from enrolling him because he would be too far behind.

[I was told] it would be very, very difficult for my child to enter BASIS. At the tender age of 12, my child would be "too far behind." The "double advanced" math class in which my child skipped 6th and 7th grade math and entered 8th grade pre-algebra was the absolute lowest, remedial class BASIS offered. Missing two years of Latin was another problem. Basically, the message was, if you didn't start in 5th grade or at the very least 6th grade, BASIS doesn't want you. If there are parents stating that BASIS seemed to not want their child with special needs or who struggles in a particular subject, well, I would believe it, because they didn't want my Principal's List, National Junior Honor Society, gifted child.

She noted that the amount of classroom space allotted for students at each grade level shrinks as students move up the grades. The diminishing number of students at higher grade levels is built into the school's plans. She compared the pared-down classes, which begin with a self-selected high ability group of children and become even more selective with the passing years, with a similar cadre of capable, motivated students at a Scottsdale public school.

I can promise you that if you took the group of kids in my child's double advanced math class and compared their scores with that of BASIS, we would be on US News and World Report’s top ten list. If our public schools were allowed to only submit the scores of its brightest, most motivated students, we wouldn't have a nation obsessed with the notion that charter schools are doing a better job of educating our young. If our high school was allowed to systematically weed out students year after year until only the most hard-working, brightest remained, I am quite sure you would find a group of students with a 100% passing rate on their AP exams and some spanked SAT scores. In fact, to that end, I would be happy to work with my contacts at the district to provide for you the aggregate test scores, AP rates, etc. of Chaparral's top 35 students. I think that we will find commensurate test scores along with a group of well rounded students who were also exposed to sports, clubs, and students from all walks of life and teachers who were dedicated career teachers that produced those results year after year.

I think we can all agree that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was pretty underrated and doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Sometimes comic book adaptations don't have to be blockbusters, and maybe, just maybe, it could serve a bigger purpose for future generations. Luckily, someone in Tucson knows what's cool and is hosting a Scott Pilgrim party from 7 to 10 p.m., Saturday, May 31, at Bookmans,1930 E Grant Road.


I have been told by Molly Mitchell that there might be garlic bread and coke zero because vegans. There will be a food truck round-up and a costume contest. The movie will start at 7:45 p.m., according to the Facebook event page.

You might see me there because I'll go to anything that celebrates comics. Hopefully, I'll meet my Ramona Flowers, or not. I'll keep my hopes up.

Click here for more information.

The news is usually focused on hate, corruption, and crime, but not all is lost. While your favorite athlete was being indicted for two more murders, an everyday hero was at work.

Our story begins in San Francisco, California. An anonymous man reportedly closed a lucrative real estate deal and decided not to pocket all of the money. He thought long and hard about what to do with the money and decided he wanted to do something fun. Just to clarify, in his parallel universe "fun" means not spending it on one's self.

After deciding that he wanted to do something fun with his money. His next step was to decide what exactly to do. He bounced a handful of ideas around:

“I played around with different ideas, and frankly, they were too complicated,” he explained. “I was thinking of a ‘Survivor’-type game…or something like it at some point.”

HiddenCash then had an epiphany: He would leave the money around San Francisco in envelopes, tweet clues to the locations, and create a city wide scavenger hunt. While the amount of money he has left around town is unknown, he has been posting regular hints and updates of the caches he has left around San Fransisco and Los Angeles. In an economy so harsh that even the great Norm Macdonald can't hold a job (for unknown, NSFW reasons), it's good to see that good people are still making it out there.

In summary, HiddenCash is a hero. He decided that he would share the money he earned with others and create something fun for the community instead of the traditional real estate celebration of cocaine and prostitutes after closing large deals. While select individuals have been the recipients of free money, the whole city of San Francisco is the winner as all San Franciscans have been gifted with a quirkier culture and an act to inspire them all or something.

You can read the original story here.

Until next week, may all your dreams come true.

Sometimes musicians make music, and it inspires others to cover it if you're lucky. Someone filmed Jesse Stewart cover Donnie Dumphy's "Cry Tunes." Stewart does such a great job speeding it up and belt out the lyrics like he wrote it. I found this on Reddit, and one commenter linked the original, so you can compare and contrast.

Jamaican forward Odaine Sinclair scored both goals in FC Tucson's 2-0 win over BYU last night, but his first - just before halftime - might be one of this city's 2014 sports highlights, a magnificent bicycle kick flying past the bewildered opposing goalkeeper.

League leaders FC Tucson are back on the pitch Saturday night for a match with the SoCal SeaHorses at 7:30 p.m., Kino Sports Complex North Stadium. Tickets and information can be found at fctucson.com.

Tonight, Garboski and Electric Blankets are performing with Austin, TX., band Megafauna are at Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St. Our

"Megafauna's bombastic, fiery rock exists in its own realm," Weekly music writer Eric Swedland said in this weeks Rhythm and Review column. Click here to buy Megafauna's latest album on Bandcamp.

This is your last chance to Garboski for a little while. Garth Bryson says the band is almost done mixing their latest album, but "personal lives" will prevent the band from performing at least until summer is over.

Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5. Click here to RSVP.