Local visual artist Nika Kaiser has a penchant for the supernatural, and she expresses it clearly both in her video and photo works. In the past, she's made music videos for Human Behavior, Gabriel Sullivan, Prom Body and more, but now with her recent video exhibit, Kaiser will showcase both her newest work and the works of fellow visual explorers such as Alejandro Innaritu (of Birdman and Babel fame) and the LA Dance Project, video art pioneer Joan Jonas and Oregon-based artist Jessie Rose Vala. The five videos in her upcoming exhibition span from two to 15 minutes each.

We've talked before about the dark spirituality and mystical realism you had in your last photo show. What's this series of videos trying to showcase?

Well, my work often explores ideas of 'reality' in an expanded sense of what that could be—in the past I've often navigated the relationship of land, and more specifically the Sonoran desert, as a space in which to understand an expanded scope of reality; nature as a location on the edge of cultural reality, where a greater sense of being is present in what we might refer to as "supernatural' experience.

In this screening, I've selected works by a breadth of artists, whose works express a relationship between the natural world, movement, technology and the sublime. I will also be premiering a new 3-channel video piece that's related to these themes.

What was the process like creating the video? Where did you shoot? Who are your subjects?

This new piece was filmed at an artist residency I did last summer, outside of Woodstock, NY in the foothills of the Catskill mountains at the Byrdcliffe Guild. Previously I had been working with ideas of desert—a place I consider home, as a site for transformative realities. My family is from the Catskill region, and I spent time there growing up. I wanted to experience that environment through a similar lens, exploring its depth, history and folklore. I made friends with some incredible artists who were also at this residency, including the New York-based painter Lauren Nickou, who I cast as a witch-like protagonist in the video. A lot of inspiration came from the serendipity of my time there, the people I met and the mysterious qualities of dense, east-coast woodlands.

Doing music videos in the past, you've put a visual to music that people say is indicative of the "Tucson sound." What would you say is the "Tucson sight" or the visual aesthetic that defines this area?

Local immigration attorney Rachel Wilson is afraid that Gov. Doug Ducey doesn't really understand the refugee resettlement process in the United States.

As reported earlier, Ducey said he does not want new refugees coming into the state, since it has been confirmed that at least one of the Paris massacre suspects came into Europe posing as a Syrian refugee. The fear of similar events happening in the U.S. makes A LOT of sense, but Wilson says that the way the resettlement system works in the country, the chances of someone with connections to ISIS, or any other similar organization, sneaking into the U.S. through the resettlement pipeline isn't likely.

As Wilson explains: Refugees are identified outside of the U.S. by the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees; once the UNHCR has identified and certified them as refugees (these are people who prove they have a "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country"); they then go through a background check through the UNHCR (this often involves Interpol, other types of law enforcement and international security agencies), extensive interviews, doctor check ups, etc.; once they go through all that processing, the UNHCR divides them into groups in accordance with the countries that have agreed to accept those refugees, including the U.S.; the U.S. security checks them again; only if they pass that security check, meaning it is proven they do not pose a threat to this country, are they allowed to come to the U.S. The refugees that make it here are teamed up with a refugee resettlement agency, which helps them get off their feet.

The average processing time for refugee applications could take up to 18 months and no less than one year, but Syrian applications can take way longer because of "security concerns and difficulties in verifying their information," according to CNN.

"Refugees are basically the most checked over people in the entire immigration system," she says. 

Then there are asylum seekers—people who make their way to either one of the U.S. borders and request for asylum in the country. Asylum seekers are taken into immigration detention centers while their case settles. Many times it takes years for them to be released from detention, Wilson adds. 

While she isn't familiar with how the refugee resettlement process works in Greece (the suspect we've been speaking of received a Syrian passport in Greece, according to CNN), Wilson "cannot see that ever being a problem here...that you would have a person come seek asylum and keep passing through to commit an act of terrorism."

Those who oppose opening the borders for Syrian refugees have taken advantage of this very public case. It's another story of demonizing entire groups of people over the actions of a few—people who, let's not forget, are fleeing the exact same violence we are all afraid of: bombings, shootings, etc. (Check out this write up by the American Immigration Council.)

Wilson's advice to Ducey is that he shouldn't do what Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal did. Jindal issued an executive order dictating all "departments, budget units, agencies, offices, entities, and officers of the executive branch of the State of Louisiana” to “utilize all lawful means to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the State of Louisiana while this Order is in effect."

In terms of health care, food stamps, and other aid states offer refugees (in collaboration with the feds), "If the government were to start denying those services to refugees, we can see the state involved in the kind of litigation that the state just underwent when it tried to deny (driver's) licenses to DREAMers," she says. "That was a huge expense and the state ultimately lost. I am worried Ducey is making policies without understanding how it works, and because he doesn't understand how it works, he could have legal consequences that he hasn't yet contemplated."

The immigration advocacy group Puente Human Rights Movement is leading a demonstration Tuesday morning protesting Ducey's remarks. It's happening at 11 a.m., outside the governor's office in Phoenix, 1700 W. Washington St.

Tucson City Manager Michael Ortega has announced that he's picked Christopher Magnus, police chief of Richmond, Calif., as the city's new police chief.

The Tucson City Council will have to approve the choice at tomorrow's meeting.

Over the weekend, Dallas Deputy Chief Malik Aziz withdrew his name for consideration as police chief.

Aziz was the pick of the Tucson Police Officers Association. Magnus was the top pick of the citizens committee that interviewed candidates for the job, but some TPD officers are unhappy with him, partially because he participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in Richmond.

Given that at least one of the suspects involved in the massacre in Paris on Friday snuck into the country posing as a Syrian refugee, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey—and more than half a dozen more around the country, including Texas and Louisiana—announced today that he won't accept any new refugees to be resettled in the state.

But, according to the Center for American Progress, a public policy research and advocacy organization, Ducey and all others don't have the lawful means to prevent that from happening, much less tell President Obama what to do when it comes to federal immigration policies.

In a statement to the media, Ducey said he is invoking the state's constitutional right to "receive immediate consultation by federal authorities per the United States Refugee Act, and that the federal government take into account the concerns and recommendations of the state of Arizona as they are required to under federal law, in our efforts to keep our homeland safe."

He also called on Congress and President Obama to "immediately amend federal law to provide states greater oversight and authority in the administration of the placement of refugees. These acts serve as a reminder that the world remains at war with radical Islamic terrorists. Our national leaders must react with the urgency and leadership that every American expects to protect our citizens."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a letter to Obama that said Texas won't accept any Syrian refugees, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, also a Republican, issued an executive order dictating all "departments, budget units, agencies, offices, entities, and officers of the executive branch of the State of Louisiana” to “utilize all lawful means to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the State of Louisiana while this Order is in effect," according to CAP.

In the wake of Friday's terror attacks in Paris, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is joining other Republican governors in Alabama and Michigan to block refugees from being place in the state. Ducey is going further than those other governors, who want to only block Syrian refugees; Ducey wants to block refugees from anywhere in the world, according to this statement from his office today:

Given the horrifying events in Paris last week, I am calling for an immediate halt in the placement of any new refugees in Arizona. As governor, I am invoking our state’s right under 8 USC, Section 1522 (a), to receive immediate consultation by federal authorities per the United States Refugee Act, and that the federal government take into account the concerns and recommendations of the state of Arizona as they are required to under federal law, in our efforts to keep our homeland safe. I also call on Congress and the President to immediately amend federal law to provide states greater oversight and authority in the administration of the placement of refugees. These acts serve as a reminder that the world remains at war with radical Islamic terrorists. Our national leaders must react with the urgency and leadership that every American expects to protect our citizens.

Update: Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik blasted Ducey’s proposal.

“It’s nice of him to pander to the jingoistic fringe but it shows that he’s out of touch with the reality of what we’re dealing with in Tucson,” Kozachik said.

Kozachik said he’s still seeing many unaccompanied minors and families fleeing gang violence in Central America.

“We’re not in a position to close our borders to these kids,” Kozachik said.

Kozachik said sending the kids back to their home countries is a lousy option.

“Send them back to what?” he asked. “Send them back to conditions of gang violence and young girls being gang-raped by the cartels in Guatemala? That’s a totally ignorant position to take and totally insensitive to the needs of these kids and these families.”

Metal is a tough realm for the uninitiated. The litany of tangental sub-genres alone (doom, thrash, death, black metal, Depressive Suicidal Black Metal… yes that's a real one) can be a daunting rabbit hole. These divisions have been carved out through decades of innovation and collaboration. At this point there are well-worn paths for new bands to follow and, just like it's embarrassing dad, Rock, an old genre can come back into style with new ideas from a new generation.

A couple years ago it was black metal crashing into the foreground. Even non-metal artists like Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie started utilizing black metal tropes and expanding upon them. Depending on who you asked, it was a time of either exciting progression or downright heresy.

Nowadays you can't even take your denim vest in for dry cleaning without hitting a doom metal band's Sprinter van in the parking lot. Like seagulls at the dump, we've a heaping glut of sludge to feast on and its hard to know the trash from the booty.

Standing in the landfill like an ancient effigy is Yob.

The Oregon trio, formed by vocalist/guitarist Mike Scheidt almost 20 years go, has pursued a specific vision that is fluid with genre. While rooted in doom, the band incorporates elements of psychedelica, stoner metal and even post-rock into their unique sound. They've just finished a string of tour dates with Tool and, like that band (and label-bosses Neurosis), Yob zooms out on the cosmos. All three collectives share metaphysical topics and an almost spiritual sense of searching humility.

Devotees of these bands often use the term tribal to describe the music in earnest, and there is a reason for it. With their extreme volume and content, metal shows always have the capacity to be an overwhelming and, at their best, an ecstatic experience. Amidst the dirge and trance of the heavy riffs, there is a feel that, for Scheidt, the music is more than just shredding on massive amps and saving up for the repairs. It's the same feel that sets Elverum apart from all the other bedroom conductors that use excessive overdubs to illustrate emotion. An acknowledgement and allowance of otherness, of the Other, into the creation of the music.


Yob's recent album, Clearing The Path To Ascend, has Scheidt's wail/growl dichotomy and all the triplet-chugs fans know and love, but with a sharper, calmer focus. There is a patience at play here, and an invitation for mutual reverence. Be ye progressive or heretic, let thy fisted horns rise.  

Check out Yob at Club Congress on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The show kicks off at 7 p.m. with Black Cobra and Sorxe opening. Tickets are available at the door the day of the show for $15 or online in advance for $12, along with more information via Hotel Congress' website. It is an all ages show.

The Crush pARTy returned to the Tucson Museum of Art on Sunday, Nov. 15 to offer up tastes of about 40 different local restaurants. The cuisine ranged from Greek to French to Indian to Japanese and more, with more samples than any one person could possibly eat. Like any food fest, my advice for those going to the next event or any like it is to bring a friend and divide and conquer—that way you get to try more of what's being served.

In terms of trends, duck seemed to be a popular ingredient for the day, with several stands offering duck confit, duck as a meatball and more. The most unique use of duck, and likely the day's most inventive dish, came from the museum's own Cafe a la C'art, which offered a grilled chile lime shrimp over duck fat polenta with Mexican chorizo, which was then topped with a prickly pear and lavender foam. 

Other standouts for the day included The Coronet's Dragoon sausage (not pictured), Tohono Chul's duck confit tostada (mostly because a deep fried wonton wrapper dusted with duck fat couldn't be bad) and Primo's porchetta slider.

Check out some scenes from yesterday's Crush pARTy, which benefitted both the museum and the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance:

In the wake of a federal appeals court decision last week declaring the city of Tucson’s election system unconstitutional, two Republican candidates who lost their campaigns for City Council by at least 11 percentage points said Friday they were filing suit to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election.

Kelly Lawton and Margaret Burkholder, who lost citywide to incumbent Democrats Paul Cunningham and Shirley Scott, said that because they won within their eastside wards, the council seats should remain vacant until the courts and voters sort out how to change the way Tucson elects council members.

“The citizens of Tucson demand fair and equal representation,” Lawton said in a statement to the press. “Our current system disregards the representation chosen by the voters.”

Cunningham dismissed Lawton’s argument.

“I’m not giving up my seat,” said Cunningham, who won by roughly 12,000 votes citywide but lost by about 950 votes inside his own ward. “I ran a clean race under the proscribed rules. Now all of a sudden (Lawton) wants to change the rules for him. He must be out of his mind.”

The GOP team’s legal action came after a 2-1 decision by a Ninth Circuit panel of judges that declared that Tucson’s current system of electing City Council members in primaries in which only ward residents can cast a ballot and then switching to general elections where all members of the city can vote violates the “one-man, one-vote” Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Enticing aromas wafted throughout the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum over the weekend where food lines were staffed by white jacketed servers, all of them named chef.

The fourth annual Celebration of Basketry & Native Foods, “Celebrating People, Land, and Food,” was a resounding success according to Nephi Craig, founder of the Native American Culinary Association.

“This is a symposium of sharing. We gathered a wide range of indigenous people all in one spot to display their talents and eat healthy traditional food,” he said over a mutton taco and a buffalo slider.

He needed noon-time energy to prepare for a nighttime Chef’s Benefit Dinner, a museum fundraiser with 93 diners who paid $150 a plate for the five-course meal with wine pairings. And that was after an hour-long reception with tray-passed items prepared by four chefs who worked alongside their mentors.

“Our mission here is to help grow the culture of Native cooking. It’s a rough journey because we’re dealing with Western culinary traditions pitted against indigenous culinary traditions and they’re very different. But I want younger chefs to see there are others already doing it, going for it and exercising a sense of courageous humility in practicing the food arts.

Sixty pounds of produce sounds like a lot, but you don't really get a clear picture of that number until you go to a Produce On Wheels Without Waste (POW WOW) event. A $10 contribution gets you 60 pounds of produces, like tomatoes, squash, eggplant and melons. Usually it's all good stuff, and sometimes a little overripe, which means you have to get busy cooking and getting extra that you won't use to friends and family would can use a little extra produce in their lives.

You can see the POW Wow schedule here,  The next Produce On Wheels Wthout Waste (POW WOW) is Saturday, Nov. 14—that's tomorrow good people—and here's a suggestion: Tucson Magnet High School, 400 N. Second St., from 8 to 11 a.m. (head to the parking lot off Eighth Street and Euclid Avenue). $1 for each $10 box of produce goes to support the high school''s PTA.