It's always wise to remember, if a quote is too perfect to be true, it probably isn't. Examples abound on Facebook and in viral emails. And occasionally you can find an example in the Star's Letters to the Editor.

The Star's editorial staff should have caught this one, and if they decided to publish it anyway, at least they should have included a note under it. The last letter in Friday's Star has a quote the writer states is from "Cicero, 55 BC." It's a beaut. And it's a phony.

“The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance.” 

That perfect-for-conservatives quote should have set off the editors' crap detectors—light flashing, sirens screaming. All it takes is a quick internet search to find the words didn't come from Cicero. The top three Google hits name the source. It's from a 1965 novel, A Pillar of Iron, by Taylor Caldwell. And even there, it's different from what's in the letter. The lines in the novel aren't spoken by Cicero. They're the fictional words of another character, Antonius, paraphrasing Cicero, meaning the wording in the Star "quote" had to be tweaked a bit. And the last sentence is a reworking of Caldwell's words, mainly for the purpose of replacing the Caldwell/Cicero/Antonius phrase, "the mob" with a more acceptable "people."

But I guess I shouldn't be too hard on the Star. Louisiana Representative Otto Passman read the phony quote into the Congressional Record in 1968. It appeared in a letter in the Chicago Tribune in 1971. And if you go onto the Forbes website, the bogus quote is at the top of the "Thoughts on the Business of Life" page.

According to a number of sites, there is an actual Cicero quote that Caldwell probably built on to create the passage in her novel: “The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall.” The problem is, it's not nearly as sexy. Nothing about refilling the treasury, reducing public debt or getting people off the public dole. (BTW, I wasn't able to locate this quote on anything that looked like a scholarly site, so I can't be certain it's accurate.)

Bonus Bogus Lincoln Quote: In 2011, our once-state-senator Al Melvin put up a series of tweets quoting Lincoln making all kinds of conservative-friendly statements. The problem is, the quotes were made up in 1916 and 1917 and had been debunked long before they got into Melvin's hands. They were being quoted so often by Republicans over the years that the RNC warned its speakers, "Do not use them as Lincoln’s words!" Reagan, apparently, didn't get the memo. He included them in a speech at the Republican National Convention.

Acclaimed English rock band Foals had planned on taking a rest after wrapping up 18 months of relentless touring for 2013’s Holy Fire album. But, riding on musical high, the band couldn’t quiet the new ideas that came when they tried taking it easy.

So off to the studio Foals went, just to try a couple things, but instead the band found itself jumping right in, creating the first pieces of what would become What Went Down. Released last August, the album became the band’s highest charting U.S. release and earned the Foals the prize for “Best Act in the World Today” at UK’s Q Awards.

“We didn’t actually intend to do it that way,” says guitarist Jimmy Smith. “We were all totally knackered, but it turned out that musically we were on fire. We took a couple weeks off and then went back to our studio in Oxford and were just trying out ideas with no real intention of starting to write a record. But they were good ideas and there were a lot of them, so it just rumbled on from there and before we knew it we were recording.”

The album kicks off with massive, heavy riffs of “What Went Down,” a single that Smith says was a conscious effort to top the frenzy the band had unleashed on Holy Fire.



“The main riff for that song was there from the beginning and the middle section came together just before we went into record,” Smith says.

That riff came from singer and lead guitarist Yannis Philippakis, but as the band moved forward with What Went Down, the songwriting balance between Philippakis and Smith brought out the nuance that makes the record Foals’ top-to-bottom best work.

“We really liked that sound but we definitely weren’t going to make a whole album sounding so heavy like that,” Smith says. “We like to explore all the other sides of our band as well. That’s what we did on Holy Fire, that balance of heavy and quiet and we basically continued with that.”

In an interview with NME, Philippakis says he was channeling his “inner madman” for his lyrics and vocals for What Went Down, which was recorded at Studios La Fabrique in the south of France, in the same village Vincent Van Gogh was institutionalized after cutting off his ear. Smith says he only heard the “inner madman” comment after the record was finished, but that spirit definitely impacted the album.

“With him singing the way he was singing on that record in the practice room, I guess it made us play slightly harder on some songs. We channeled into his inner madman in a way a guess,” he says.

State budget time is drawing near, and since a budget is a statement of the values of those who create it, we'll learn once again what Gov. Ducey, the Republican legislative leadership and the vast majority of Republican legislators value.

When I was on The Buckmaster Show Wednesday, I said, "Republicans don't care about kids." I wasn't referring to their own kids, of course—they may be wonderful parents—or the kids of people like them, who they also may like just fine. When you control the purse strings, you demonstrate how much you care about children by your actions toward other people's children, and when it comes to that, well, our Republicans in power don't care about kids. So I think we're going to have another one of those draconian, anti-education, anti-social-services, pro-tax-cuts budgets we've seen lately.

Let's take a look back at some statements made by Republicans which show the kind of values that shape their budget.

Doug Ducey says he thinks early childhood education is really, really important.

"Research shows that a quality early childhood education experience can yield significant long-term benefits on overall development of a child."

So he thinks we should invest in early childhood education, right? Wrong.

"We know that there's a good return on investment,'' he said. But Ducey said people need to recognize the state's financial condition.

To recap: Early childhood education is good for the long-term development of the child, and it's a good investment for the state, but Ducey won't fund it because we can't afford to do what's best for children and the future of Arizona.

Ducey is also a strong supporter of JTED.

“JTEDs and technical training is critical to the future of our state, and it will continue to be critical to the future of our state,” Ducey said.

But Ducey advocated for last year's $30 million cut to the program, saying:

“We had to do what had to be done in this budget session."

Did we really have to do that, cut $30 million from JTED? Apparently not, because the legislature put the money back this session. The money was always there, but Ducey and the Republican leadership didn't want to spend it on our youth even though Ducey admitted the program "is critical to the future of our state."

Even over the phone, I can tell acclaimed comics Ian Harris and Ty Barnett have been pretty good pals for a while. The two jokesters will unite at the Rialto this Saturday, April 16, for their "Divided Comedy" stand-up show, which explores their opposing and according opinions on hot-button topics such as politics, race, religion and parenting through comedy.  Harris and Barnett jokingly back-and-forth while they give me the down-low on their personal-professional friendship and their stand-up show they promise will "unite a divided nation through laughter." This interview has been lightly edited and condensed. 
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How did you guys meet? 

Ty Barnett: We met about 17 years ago when Ian was performing in Seattle and he said, "Hey, if you ever come to L.A., call me up and let's do something." Most people are full of shit when they say that. He was not full of shit. He let me come and stay on his couch with his then-girlfriend who's now his wife. He was my first friend in Los Angeles. 
Ian Harris: Yeah, we met when we were working together in Seattle and we haven't worked together since. That's why we made this tour. 

Any other reasons you decided to take this tour?

TB: If you look at our poster, Ian looks like a skinhead, it's true, but he's the furthest thing from that. Our viewpoints are different in some things, but they're similar in some things, too. The thing is, we've been able to maintain this friendship personally and professionally for 17 years. If we can do this, let's show these other people you can have different views about life and different perspectives and everything. It doesn't have to be one thing or the other. 
IH: We've gone back to the '60s in so many ways—telling people they can't be somewhere for who they are, judging people sitting at a counter for their genetics. We do some heavy topics and lighter topics [in the show], but I love to talk about religion and people's beliefs, [and] obviously there's a lot of racial tension going on in America right now. 

Recently, comedians have kind of avoided college towns like Tucson because they say University students tend to be pretty PC. What do you guys think about that, and will it affect your show? 

IH: I like college towns, college cities because the people we get aren't usually the students, they're the professors, so it doesn't [affect the show]. It used to be that college was the place where you weren't PC—it was the place to go and expose yourself to things not in your small town. Nowadays, it's not that, but you still have [students] who are open-minded.
TB: Neither one of us will say things [in the show] that people will look at as offensive. We're not coming at it from a standpoint of "You're wrong in what you believe, you're stupid in what you believe." It's more "Here's an idea of how you can look at this." People shouldn't feel worried about being offended, you know—we know how to tailor to our audiences this material. We've been in the business for 17 years. 
IH: I'm always telling friends and family who come and see me [perform], "Watch out, I'm going to offend you!" And I've had people people come up because they didn't agree with something I said, [but] I've also had people come up to me and say, "I didn't find that remotely offensive. It was cool." 
TB: That's part of comedy, and that's part of saying something worth saying. 

Could you summarize the show in a few words or a phrase? 

TB: The perfect mix of two opposite sides of the spectrum coming together for a hilarious night looking at all the stuff you're scared to think about. 
IH: Also, the very unique part about our show is we literally come together on stage and do an audience Q&A. If you've always wanted to ask a black guy a question, if you've always wanted to ask an atheist a question—here's your chance ... Sometimes we'll ask the question in a serious way, and sometimes we're going to ask it in a funny way. 

Anything else you'd like to say about the show? 

TB: You're going to laugh. And if you don't like to laugh, you're dead inside. I'm sorry.
IH: We know there's a ton of stuff going on this weekend in Tucson, and we get that. But (A), if you like comedy, this is one of the best shows you're going to see and (B) nothing like this has ever come through Tucson, to my knowledge.
TB: And if you don't come to the show, the terrorists win. Don't let them win. 

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"Divided Comedy's" doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8. The Rialto is currently offering two-for-one admission on Ticketfly for $10 per person, or $20 per person those who don't want to buy two tickets. Get yours here. For more event information, check out the Rialto's website. 

Hey there, baseball fans. Our Wildcats are playing Stanford this Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m. Want tickets? Enter below. We'll call the winner at noon, and they'll back to pick the tickets up by 5 p.m.

Good luck!

Dinner parties tend to suck, don’t they? You bring a stupid bottle of wine nobody will like. You have no small talk for others gathering at the table other than the weather and your stinky feet problem. Your hosts may or may not be trying to kill you.

Will (Logan Marshall-Green) is visiting his ex-wife Gina (Michelle Krusiec) for a dinner party. Gina has been away for some time, and she’s gotten all smiley in the wake of a tragedy she and Will suffered. Her new boyfriend David (Michiel Huisman) is a bit of a weirdo, all happy and perhaps a bit too pleasant. In contrast to his pleasant demeanor, he shows the party a video of a woman, surrounded by members of some cult, dying by choice. That puts a strange damper on the party, but they all eventually make it to the dinner table, where things get even weirder.

Director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Girlfight) does nice work within the scary cult genre, getting good performances from Marshall-Green and John Caroll Lynch as a friend with a sketchy past. There’s a good mystery at play here, with a final act that delivers on the build up. It’s a good ensemble cast in service of a decent script and effective director.

Marshall-Green, best known for a supporting role in Prometheus and a couple of TV shows, should find himself getting some decent future work in this one. He’s got some major chops. 

Ally Miller, Pima County's most unstable supervisor, had a guest column in today's morning daily complaining that Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry and Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller have accused her of wanting to "damage the brand" of Pima County:

During the past few months a flurry of memoranda has been published by Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry on various topics, including one accusing me of “damaging the brand” in an attempt to unseat incumbent county supervisors in the upcoming 2016 election.

In addition, Star columnist Tim Steller has published articles accusing me of intentionally “damaging the Pima County brand.”

Well, wherever did they get that idea? Maybe, as Steller wrote in his column, it was in an email that Miller herself sent out. From Steller's column that has Miller worked up:

Here’s the first sentence of an email Miller wrote to fellow opponents of November’s bond elections soon after those ballot issues lost.

“I’m still not sure they realize I have been setting the table for 3 years damaging their brand and setting the table for 2016,” she wrote Nov. 6. “I thought they were beginning to figure that o [sic] ... but it is good they seem to be oblivious.”

Just more evidence that Miller's brand is looney-tunes.

Ah, the passion of youth. When the leaden yoke built by dealing with stupid adult stuff has yet to settle its heavy arm around one's shoulders.

I say, thank the heavens for it. That passion, I mean. Nothing is impossible. Everything is not only possible, but likely. Without this passion, the world would be a stagnant and dreary place.
There is a group of young folks here in town, high school students, who have brought their passion and youthful energy to an enterprise which can be quite daunting: the creation of a theater.

It's called Acting Innocent Theatre Company, and it opens its second show this weekend. Leveling Up, a play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, probes the fuzzy intersection of the real and virtual worlds played out in the lives of friends. There are three guys that spend much of their lives gaming online, and one actually lands a job with the National Security Agency because of his gaming skills. They want him to manipulate drones and such. This may have the feel of a game, but is it?

Griffin Johnston and several pals from Catalina High School launched Acting Innocent Theatre Company after they had been awakened by their drama instructor, Terry Erbe  (who has now moved out of state), to the power of theater not merely to entertain, but to help us look at things differently.

“It has the power to address social issues, to change minds,” Johnston says, who is the artistic director of the company and is also directing Leveling Up. “And we're trying to bring in younger people, who often think theater's not relevant to them.”

Pet lovers, clear your schedule for Saturday. Every local pet adoption agency you can think of (from the Pima Animal Care Center to Any Rat Rescue) will be at the Tucson Expo Center (3750 E. Irvington Road) for Adopt Love, Adopt Local. 

More than 30,000 pets enter our local shelters each year, but sadly all may not find a new home. Adopt Love Adopt Local, an initiative of the Pima Alliance for Animal Welfare, aims to solve this issue by connecting adopters with a collaboration of local shelters and rescues to increase adoptions and awareness. Through research, education, and an annual, community-wide adoption event we intend for every displaced companion pet in our community, to have a happy, forever home.

The event is this Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organizers ask that you do not bring your pets to the event. You can get a look at the full list of exhibitors on the Adopt Love, Adopt Local website. 

As I explained in my first Best of Tucson blog of the season, we're changing things up a bit this year and ignoring votes for nonlocal institutions. As "local" is now implied in every category, we removed the descriptor from many of the category titles‚ including Best (Local) Actor. 

But APPARENTLY the message didn't quite sink in because, among a handful of nominations for our incredible local performers, we've received a barrage of votes for Hollywood actors. 

To my knowledge, Will Smith and Seth Rogan weren't in the latest Gaslight Theatre production.

Go see some local shows, pay attention to the cast list and come back and vote for whomever blows you away. 

Blake Lively is not going to be the Best of Tucson Best Actor. Try again.