Take a look at this video footage which shows a young kid in a Keffiyeh being singled out and ejected by Trump security guards at the Donald J. Trump rally in Phoenix Convention Center on Wednesday, Aug. 31. I spoke with the security guard in the suit in this footage, and he told me: "He's actually a really great kid, he just wanted to watch. But I can't protect him in this crowd when there's like 8,000 people out there." Sad. Disgusting. All of the adjectives Donald Trump For President likes to spew about others.

Are you an Arizona farmer, chef or restaurant owner? Or maybe just a local food lover who is—or wants to be—in the movement promoting the local production and sourcing of food in this great state?

That movement depends on building and strengthening connections among food producers, vendors and consumers to ultimately support local (food-related) businesses, environmental sustainability and community health.

Those are exactly the aims of the upcoming seventh annual Arizona Farmer + Chef Connection extravaganza, held by Local First Arizona. At the expo’s “Suppliers’ Marketplace” a vendor fair will bring together hundreds of Arizona food producers and distributors to connect with local food-business owners and the general public. Meanwhile, there will be breakout workshops in which all attendees can connect through topics related to local food production and consumption (like last year’s cleverly named workshop “Leveraging Your Localism”).

(Most of) You get a long weekend, so there's plenty of time for some good old fasioned movie marathoning. Roll on in to Casa, grab some popcorn and start planning your entertainment schedule. 

1. The Nice Guys
   
   

Lucky you! We've still got tickets to give away for the last three Beach Blanket Be-Bop shows. Want to check it out? Enter below. We'll pick winners when we get back from our long Labor Day weekend. 

Mexican singer and songwriter Juan Gabriel died from a heart attack at the age of 66 in Santa Monica, Calif. on earlier this week, just two days after his last concert. Gabriel, known for his poppy love ballades, rose to stardom in the early '70s with his hit song No Tengo Dinero, fame that came with a turbulent start.

Born Alberto Aguilera Valdez in Parácuaro, Michoacán on Jan. 7, 1950, the tenth child to farm working parents. At only three months old, his father attempted to commit suicide after losing control of a fire on his property, which spread to other land around him. He was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

With not only the looming problem crated by the damage his father had made but also internal family problems, Gabriel’s mother move the family to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. At the age of five, he was sent to a boarding school where he spent the next eight years of his life. This was a seminal part of his life as he had to mature quickly and learn to take care of himself with out the help of his family.

At the age of 14 he return to live with his mother. He began to sing with his church’s choir and there he realized that that was what he wanted to do. Gabriel began to travel around Mexico in his late teens to find gigs to sing in or recordings that needed backup vocals. He would be luck to find a couch to sleep on, but more often then not slept in bus and train terminals. His big brake came in 1970 when RCA Records signed him and produced his first album El Alma Joven.

From that point on, Gabriel went on to have a successful career with many beloved hit songs. His flamboyant and bright personality both on and off stage made him and his music stand out and can be compared to that of Elton John or David Bowie. However, what made Gabriel different from John or Bowie was that although he was always creating a new sound with his music, he was never afraid to create music in old and loved genres from mariachi to samba and most recently Mexican banda and never failed to impress.

On the day following his death, fans of all ages flocked to his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to pay homage to the late great singer and even sing some of his songs together. A showing that really encompasses the career that Gabriel was able to have; that spans generations and with lyrics that still resonates with the listeners of today not only in Mexico and Latin America, but also all over the world.

That is why, like many other artist this year that have passed away, the music of Juan Gabriel will move on and, in essence, he will live on. El Divo de Juárez nunca morirá.

It's a story of romance and heartbreak and it's definitely not one that any of us learned in high school. Mark Beauregard's latest novel The Whale: A Love Story tells the romantic story of a love that could never be in the late 1800's between Herman Melville, the author of the American classic Moby Dick and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the acclaimed author of The Scarlett Letter.

Since his book hit the shelves, Beauregard has toured across the country promoting his work in New England and states in the southwest. Now, he's back home in Tucson and will be at Antigone Books (411 N. 4th Ave.) on Friday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. to talk about his new story and the complications of writing on historical figures.    

Beauregard didn't actually intend to write The Whale, rather he said he was inspired to create the story after he discovered a documented friendship between Melville and Hawthorne during his research for a different novel, which he later abandoned. After further research, he found letters that suggested the acclaimed writers' friendship was something more, which gave him the illuminating idea to write the love story.

"If you think of Moby Dick as being a love letter, in addition to it being a confrontation to the frontier or however else you want to think about it, it completely changes the way we look at literature," he said.  

Pick of the Week

HOCO Fest: Get the weekend started on Thursday with a massive dance party with Zackey Force Funk taking over Optimist Club with help from DJ PHATSOUL and long time Opti Resident A SHUTA. Friday is dedicated to performances by acts that are, in a word, Tucson: Howe Gelb, Giant Sand, Gabe Sullivan and Vox Urbana will all be there and you should, too. Saturday brings us a celebration of Tucson's musical past and future with Dusty Chaps, John Coinman, Lando Chill and Combine Vibes all taking the stage. You can even take a piece of the event home with you if you stop by during HOCO Vinyl, the event's record festival. Sunday's events promise a glorious end to a weekend of musical celebration with performances from Sergio Mendoza, Y La Bamba and a musical remembrance of Michael Ronstadt. Some events are free and some are ticketed. Check Hotel Congress' website for details. Sept. 1-4. Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street. 

For some people—perhaps you, fair reader?—food isn’t just fuel for living, but part of what makes life beautiful. Hence, foodies can be just as obsessed with the preparation and presentation of their meals as an art connoisseur with a painting’s color composition or a sculpture’s texture and form.

Few chefs would argue against cooking as an art form. So who is anyone to fight the comparison between art appreciation and purposefully consuming fine cuisine? Both require passion, skill and discerning taste (literally and figuratively).

This month the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance is embracing this idea with an event called “The Art of Food,” in which some of Tucson’s finest chefs will use new technologies and cooking techniques to present dishes and desserts as visual art—even cultural statements. Some plates of food will look like colorful paintings; others may appear in sculptural form.

Have you ever been to an art museum where photographs smell scrumptious, installations taste divine, and paintings sizzle delightfully? Doubtful. So forget that trip to MOMA and book a place at a table offered by SAACA. Neither your artistic sensibilities nor your taste buds will be disappointed.

The Art of Food is on Tues., Sept. 13, at 5 p.m., at the Monark Premium Appliance Co. Showroom, 3850 W. Orange Grove Road. Tickets are $25. Call 797-3959.