Holy Rolling Empire, which spent several years as of Tucson’s biggest drawing rock bands, is reuniting for a free show Thursday.

Though Holy Rolling Empire never officially broke up, the band has performed sparingly since singer Orin Shochat moved to Los Angeles in 2012 and hasn’t played a show at all in about 18 months.

Guitarist Noah Horton says the reunion gig came together serendipitously on short notice: Shochat was planning a visit around the same time his sister’s band, the Los Angeles-based duo 222, was looking to schedule a Tucson show. Hermanitos will join Holy Rolling Empire and 222 for the free show, March 17 at Flycatcher.

The reunion show comes as the band—Shochat, Horton, guitarist Ian Carstensen, drummer Dave Mertz and bassist Geoffrey Hidalgo—has its sights set on a new album, Horton says.

“On really short notice we said ‘Let’s get back together and play and reignite the fire,’” Horton says. “We’ve been talking over the past year about at least getting back together and cutting a new record. At the time Orin left town, we had probably eight or nine songs in the can we were looking to record. Everybody got busy and life got in the way and that never materialized, but it’s not like we ever officially disbanded or anything.”

March 13th, 2016 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

This week on Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Lea Marquez Peterson, president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jo Holt stop by the set to talk about how the presidential primary races are shaping up in Arizona, Donald Trump's troubles with the Latino community, the latest troubles for the Rosemont mine, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild's pitch for a citywide sales-tax hike, the battle over Prop 123, the latest at the Arizona Legislature and more.

Catch the show at 8 a.m. Sunday morning on the CW Tucson, Channel 8 on Cox and Comcast and Channel 58 on DirecTV, Dish and broadcast. Listen to it at 5 p.m. Sunday on community radio KXCI, 91.3 FM. Or watch it online above.

Here's a rush transcript of the show:

Hello, everyone. I'm Tucson Weekly senior writer Jim Nintzel, and we're here to talk Zona Politics. Joining me on the set today, Joe Holt, the new chair of the Pima County Democratic Party. Jo, welcome to the show for the first time.

(Holt) Thank you.

(Nintzel) And we have Lea Marquez Peterson, the president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Lea, welcome back from Africa.

(Marquez-Peterson) Thank you.

(Nintzel) Let's talk about the presidential race in Arizona. The primary's coming up on March 22. Jo, you've got Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Who's got the campaign?

(Holt) Oh, I wish I knew. I wish I knew. You know, it's made difficult by the fact that Bernie's supporters are really fairly loud. They're out there. They're more in your face, if you would, than Hillary supporters. But when you go into straw polls in different locations under different circumstances, there's a lot of Hillary support here in Southern Arizona. It's hard to tell though.

(Nintzel) And it seems like the Hillary people have brought in a campaign in recent weeks. They've brought in some paid staffers that are doing a lot more events.

(Holt) They absolutely have. Yes.

(Nintzel) And, Lea, how about the Republican side? Is it Trump Country here in Arizona?

(Marquez-Peterson) I mean, what can I tell you, Jim? It's controversial times, and it's a challenging time I think as Republicans in the state as Trump is leading. I personally don't support Donald Trump nor do I know many folks who do, so I think we're in a quandary in terms of where we move forward in this election. I'm hearing a lot of support for Marco Rubio and I think I mentioned on previous shows that the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry had hosted Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and others, so it's interesting to get to know him and interact with him individually, but, you know, it's a I think there's a lot of dialog going on in terms of Republican support.

(Nintzel) You do know Marco. Are you surprised at the way he's sort of fallen off to the wayside in this race?

(Lea-Marquez) I am, you know. I was following, honestly, Jeb Bush quite a bit at the beginning, so I was sad to see that he had dropped out of the race. And certainly I have been surprised that Marco has fallen a distant third. So, I know this week there will be a number of races that are pretty vital to his campaign.

(Nintzel) Why do you think Trump has done as well as he has?

You’ll now be committing a crime if you drop off your neighbor’s early ballot at the polling place in this year’s elections.

Gov. Doug Ducey yesterday signed HB 2013, which makes it a felony for a person to turn in a ballot other than their own, with some exceptions for family members or roommates.

Republicans claim they are restoring integrity to election process by preventing “ballot harvesting”—but there’s no evidence that anyone was tampering with any of the ballots that were being collected and turned over to election officials.

State Sen. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) said the legislation was aimed at suppressing the vote among Latinos and other groups who often fail to turn out on Election Day.

“By taking away the practice of going door to door and collecting the ballots of people who might not otherwise be bringing in them in themselves—particularly in disempowered communities where we have been successful in being able to do that—you’re taking away on of the tools of being able to speak truth to power,” Farley said.

The entire controversy over the collection of early ballots is relatively recent.

Way back in the early ’90s, state lawmakers loosened up the early ballot rules. Before the changes, you had to present some kind of valid reason to get a so-called “absentee ballot”—you’d be out of town on Election Day or you were to infirm to make it to the polls or some similar situation. But the changes more than two decades ago allowed anyone to request an early ballot.

In the years since, the use of early ballots has skyrocketed. In 1996, about one in four voters in Pima County cast early ballots. By 2014, that number had grown to more than three out of four.

The increase in the use of early ballots over the decades has been mostly driven by sophisticated candidates and political parties, who have encouraged voters to cast early ballots as a way of developing a connection with voters and tracking their voting behaviors. The reason is simple: If they can get supporters to cast their vote early, then they know they have that supporter locked in.

But it’s also far more convenient for voters, who can review long ballots with multiple races and complex propositions at their own leisure in their living room rather than have to make quick decision while standing at a ballot box.

Both political parties, as well as many individual candidates from both sides of the aisle, have participated in ballot harvesting by collecting early ballots and turning them over to election officials.

But in recent years, Latino groups have started collecting early ballots—and given that Latinos are far more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans, GOP lawmakers have moved to shut them down.

You don't have to be a mathlete to know that Pi Day is best celebrated with pie and that adding beer into the equation makes it even better. On Monday, March 14 (3/14, yeah?), Pueblo Vida Brewing Company will be celebrating everyone's favorite irrational number with a pie and beer pairing.

For Pi Day, the brewery will be joining forces with Pie Bird Bakery to offer up four mini pies teamed with four beers for a pie and beer flight. 

The night's lineup will off the NW IPA with a blackberry orange pie, a Bavarian Hefeweizen with a strawberry rhubarb pie, the Breakfast Stout with a chocolate raspberry pie and the Lil' G IPA with a peach pie. 

The event runs from 4 until 10 p.m. at the brewery location at 115 E. Broadway Blvd. It's free to attend. For more information on this and other upcoming Pueblo Vida event's, you can visit the brewery's website.

The latest turn in the dance and duel between TUSD and the decades-old desegregation case is, U.S. District Judge David Bury ruled against three out of four of the district's proposed changes. The background on the changes is so complicated and convoluted, I'm not going to go through the details. Alexis Huicochea describes the decisions in her article in the Star. The short story is, Judge Bury permitted the suggested changes at Drachman Montessori K-6 Magnet School and rejected changes at Borman Elementary, Collier and Fruchthendler Elementary Schools and Sabino High. All the changes involved adding grades to the schools.

Bury's decisions are based on his assessment of whether the changes would help or harm desegregation at TUSD. I hope they lead to more integrated (or desegregated) schools in the district over the long term. If that's what happens, Bury did good. But my concern is that district schools which currently have a more than 70 percent Hispanic population—that's the line at which they're considered segregated—won't end up with more heterogeneous population, and schools with large Anglo populations will lose Anglo students to charter schools and neighboring districts like Vail and Catalina Foothills. If the long term result is fewer Anglo students in TUSD, shrinking both the size and heterogeneity of the district, without a significant increase in desegregation, then the decision is harmful. I fear that's what will happen.

Anyone who presents the TUSD desegregation problem as a simple issue—either that all the district has to do is A, B and C to desegregate the district and everything will get better, or that TUSD should throw up its hands and forget about the whole desegregation thing—is wrong. I've looked at districts across the country to find clear answers for ways to successfully integrate urban districts with a majority of minority students—in other words, districts similar to TUSD—and I haven't found any magic bullets or magic ponies. No one seems to have discovered the formula for doing it well. But TUSD is bound by law and by its educational mission to keep looking for ways to create more heterogeneous schools.

Join local bar The Loudhouse Bar and Grill (915 W Prince Rd.) in a three-day celebration of rock n' roll in Tucson on March 17, 18 and 19.

"Having been in bands and having so many friends who are in bands, I know how tough it is for local music to get a venue to showcase their talents," said manager Michael Essi.

Since taking over the bar, Essi has turned it into a go-to spot for new acts looking to test their talents on stage.

"Not everybody is going to be Led Zepplin. Not everybody is going to be The Ramones, but they need a place to start. They need a place to see if they can become one of those bands," Essi said. "Tucson's got a lot more good vocal acts than it's being given credit for."

The three-day event will feature 15 local bands curated by Essi and his associate Jeffery Locke. Though there will be a cover fee of $5 per day (or $12 for all three days), all the money will go straight to the bands.

"All of these acts have something very special about them," Essi said. "We set it up so they were put on bills that accentuated each other. At the same time, they are different enough that it is not like listening to the same band over and over. There is a lot of raw talent in these bands."

Expect St. Patrick's Day drink and food specials, door prizes, and an airbrush artist as part of the festivities.

For more information about the Loudhouse, visit loudhousetucson.com. Know of a band who might want to play at the Loudhouse? Shoot an email to Mike Essi at [email protected].

Check out this thoughtful video on the politics of the situation comedy, Parks and Recreation. In addition to being one of my all-time favorite shows, Parks and Rec showcases a loving and respectful friendship between two people on completely opposite sides of the political spectrum.


I think we could all try to be a little more like these two. Whad'ya say? Will you be the Ron to my Leslie?

Obviously, this is a literary weekend in Tucson—but balance is good, and there's nothing wrong with wrapping up a day of author talks, poetry and book shopping with a night of visual storytelling.  

Here's your weekly Casa Video Top 10—Look, so many Oscar winners!

1. Creed

It's March in Tucson, and while that means spring has sprung, the Tucson Festival of Books has also. The annual Festival will take over the UA campus this Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 and features more than 200 events, according to my calculations. I'm a journalist, so don't take that number for gospel, but trust me—the Festival hosts a lot of readings, discussions, panels, and petting zoos, among other things. 
Hitting up every single ones of these is pretty exhausting, so if you're not looking to really delve into all the Festival has to offer, but still want to stop by for a taste, be sure to check out these five events. 

Mari laid it out in this week's Editor's Note, but in case you missed that, here's a day-by-day guide to where you can run into TW folks at this weekend's Tucson Festival of Books: 

Saturday

• Arts contributor and former editor, Margaret Regan will be on the panel Women Journalists on the Border moderated by UA School of Journalism's Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante. Social and Behavioral Sciences Tent, Saturday, March 12, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
  
  
• Editor Mari Herreras will be at the Politics of Poetry: Social Activism with a Fine Point Pen panel, Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m., Pima County Public Library/Nuestras Raíces/Presentation Stage with Odilia Galván Rodríguez and Enrique Garcia Naranjo, and moderated by Tucson Poet Logan Phillips.
  
  
• Mari Herreras will moderate Bordertown and Other One-sided Arguments with Chicano author and illustrator Lalo Alcaraz, Pima County Public Library/Nuestras Raíces/Presentation Stage, Saturday, March 12, 4-5 p.m. 
  

Sunday

• Mari Herreras will be at Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, Sunday, 10-11 a.m., Student Union Kiva with Tucson writers Elena Díaz Bjorkquist, Andrea Hernandez Holm and Roberto Rodriguez. Moderated by poet Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
  
  
• In the Human Rights panel, Margaret Regan is joined by author Luis Alberto Urrea and attorney Teri Duncan. Student Union Gallagher Theater, Sunday, March 13, 10-11 a.m. Moderated by TW senior staff writer Jim Nintzel.
  
  
• In That's Border Life, She Said, Regan shares the stage with Kathryn Ferguson and Gayle Jandrey. Student Union Kachina, Sunday, March 13, 1-2 p.m. This forum will also be moderated by Jim Nintzel.
  

That's it! The rest of us will just be running around, enjoying the literary goodness.