Hugh Jackman—allegedly—says goodbye to Wolverine with Logan, a total shocker of a superhero movie that lays waste to the X-Men and standalone Wolverine movies that came before it. Director James Mangold, who piloted the decent The Wolverine, revamps the character’s mythos, and pulls along Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) for the gritty, bloody, nasty, awesome ride.

It’s the future, and the X-Men are gone. A mutant hasn’t been born in a quarter of a century, and Logan isn’t looking too hot. He’s driving a limo to make ends meet, coughing up blood, and basically not aging well. He’s doing a lot better than Xavier, the mutant formally known as Professor X, who’s prone to seizures and suffering from some sort of degenerative brain disease. In short, the days of X-Men glory are way, way over, with Logan and Xavier having a shit time in their autumn years. Just when it seems as if the pair will waste away in their miserable existence, along comes Laura (a dynamite Daphne Keen). She’s a genetically engineered mutant equipped with the same retractable claws and viciously bad temper as Logan. When her life becomes endangered, Logan throws her and Xavier in the back of his vehicle, and they are off on one wild, dark road trip.

To say this movie is violent would be an understatement. On the heels of Dead pool and its R-rated success, Mangold and company have let the flesh and profanity rip with this one. It’s early in the year, but I expect this will wind up on my year-end best list.

Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. https://t.co/4nxLipafWO

— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 12, 2017

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) made the headlines this week with a tweet that celebrated the philosophy of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom got knocked down by voters in yesterday's election in the Netherlands. In subsequent interviews, King has stood by his tweet.

King has been criticized by members of his own party as well as the Trump White House.

WaPo's Amber Phillips has a round-up of King's previous expressions of white supremacy here.

So far, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ02) is not joining those critical of King. Her office did not respond this week to two requests for comment on King's tweet and comments.

But Southern Arizona's two Democratic congressmen condemned it.

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ03) responded with this statement before GOP politicians began speaking out against King's comments:

Steve King’s tweet, and his subsequent defense of the bigotry it promoted, are wakeup calls for all Americans about the Republican Party’s true motivations in pursuing immigration reform. King was an early supporter of Donald Trump; he is a trusted advisor of the president on immigration reform; to characterize these views as anything other than mainstream in today’s Republican leadership would be false. The deafening silence from each and every one of King’s GOP colleagues only further conveys their silent approval of the hate he’s spewing.

The sad truth is that, among this crowd, immigration reform has very little to do with enforcement. For King and his ilk, this is about race and ethnicity. The GOP has exploited themes of bigotry and racism in their campaigns for years, and the fear they stirred up among their base played right into Trump’s hand last November. With each new policy proposal, and each glimpse into the GOP’s thought process, we see a concerted effort to create a European nation-state inside the United States. Deportations, restrictions on visa opportunities, and the broad targeting of immigrants, ethnic minorities and religious groups in this country, all serve the white nationalist cause that Rep. King and his allies have whole-heartedly embraced.

There was a time when virulent racism was considered appalling fringe behavior by both parties – now it’s clearly become the driving narrative for Republican leadership under Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.

Congressman Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ01) issued this statement:

This Oscar nominated film (Best Foreign Film) from Denmark is about as complicated and difficult a story to tell, but writer-director Martin Zandvliet more than succeeds.

It’s post WWII in Denmark, and a group of Nazi youth POWs is tasked with clearing a beach of thousands of mines. Their commander, a Danish Sergeant (an excellent Roland Moller) views his crew with contempt at first, treating them harshly. Over time, the fact that they are just young boys begins to wear on him, especially when some of them meet their deaths on the beach.

The cast is beyond good here, delivering a story that has echoes of All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s a difficult film in that it portrays wartime German soldiers in a sympathetic way, and the film will justifiably irritate some.

In the end, it’s about the horrors of war, its aftermath, and coping with the hatred and bitterness that follows. The movie is a heart wrenching experience, especially in how Moller’s character endures an emotional rollercoaster. Moller makes everything the Sergeant goes through seem authentic and convincing. This is a brutal film, and it should be.

Over here at Weedly World Central we are getting read for round two of the Cannabis Bowl.

If you are a card-carrying Medical Marijuana patient, it's time for you to tell us about your favorite dispensaries, strains and products. It doesn't take as long as Best of Tucson, and the survey deadline is around the corner—April 7.

Results will be printed in next month's Tucson Weedly 420 issue, which happens to come out on, yep, April 20.

Vote here.

Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo.

Booze

Tails & Ales. Do you love beer and dogs? Yes, of course you do! The Humane Society of Southern Arizona and the Tucson Roller Derby Girls thought so. Bring your pup for a dog wash and kick back with a brew while your best friend gets squeaky clean. Proceeds go to HSSA. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 19. Barrio Brewing Co., 800 E. 16th St. $15 regular, $40 VIP.

Saint Paddy's Bar Crawl. Hosted by Specto Entertainment & Loud Republic, celebrate the luck of the Irish with a night full of fun at several Tucson bars including The Hut, Sky Bar, Mr. Heads, Cafe Passe, O'Malley's and IBT's. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Pima Paws for Life. Bonus: You'll look like the life of the party with included glow accessories. 7 p.m. until last call Saturday, March 18. Throughout Tucson. $12-$20.

Arts

Color Theory at Etherton Gallery. Downtown’s Etherton Gallery celebrates the arrival of spring with Color Theory, a new show featuring, as the gallery’s Daphne SS put it, “the color-conscious pop geometry of Andy Burgess, the surrealism of Gail Marcus-Orlen, and the gold-drenched and hand-colored photography of Kate Breakey.” As we all know, Etherton’s openings are among the best in town and this one will feature all the artists as well as DJ Buttafly, who will spin a spectacular set. The opening is 7 to 10 p.m. at Etherton Gallery, 135 S. Sixth Ave. Free.

Nature Appreciation

Agua Caliente Park Star Party. Realities of Earth getting you down? Take a quick trip to outer space and explore infinity and beyond at this astronomy event. Spend an evening gazing at planets and star systems through the lenses of telescopes on display for public use. It will be a night out of this world for the whole family. 7-9 p.m. Saturday, March 18. 12325 E. Roger Road. Free.

Edible & Medicinal Plants of the Sonoran Desert. The word “desert” may inspire visions of red dirt and water-starved plants, but the Sonoran desert has a lot of plant life to appreciate. While the calendar says we’re at the tail end of winter, spring has arrived in the desert and that means its high time to get outside and start exploring. Join this guided tour to learn about the plants you want to look out for should you find yourself low on recourses in the wild. Don’t forget to pack your lunch, some water, sun protection and a notebook. Preregistration is required, so email [email protected] to secure your spot. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 19.

Last night was a party for the record books as we hit up Empire Control Room in Austin to check out the evenings lineup, which mostly consisted of bands with “wild women” front singers.

The lineup included Mothers from Athens, Georgia; Hurray for the Riff Raff out of the Bronx; Julie Byrne from New York City; Girlpool out of Los Angeles and headliners Sleigh Bells from Brooklyn. The only band not to feature a female vocalist was Real Estate from Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Sleigh Bells stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the lineup, dishing out their ferocious noise pop to the sweaty pit.

“It’s like being blinded by garage rock aliens,” said one fan before the show who had the foresight to wear a pair of sunglasses for the 1 a.m. show.

I don’t know what garage rock is, but it seems an apt description of the band’s brutal shock rock sounds.

The band has certainly come into maturity since their 2008 founding. Four albums later and the hits off their debut, “Treats,” are still crowd favorites.

Their mix of harsh guitar effects and electronic components were even more unforgiving coming from the massive speakers at the live show.


But the speakers were only partly responsible for the immense amount of energy transferred to the crowd. Alexis Krauss on the lead vocals commanded a mastery of the live show, her melodic voice a stark contrast to the abrupt beats—a combination that gives the band its signature sound.

The pit fed off her energy like hyenas in the savannah devouring a lioness as she jumped from stage supports to railings and surfed atop the crowd.

If you’ve never listened to Sleigh Bells before, there’s a small chance that you’ll actually enjoy it your first time, but that’s part of nearly every fan’s obsession with band.

The sentiment was echoed before the show as we spoke with Julia Cunningham and Jenny Eliscu, hosts on SiriusXM’s XMU channel. They confirmed that yes, the people who pick the music for radio (not the hosts) actually do try to play songs so many times that you can’t help but crave them after a while.

The same holds true for Sleigh Bells. You won’t “get it” until you’re sittin’ there with the urge to
get pumped up and one of their earworms burrows into your brain, and headbanging is its only way out.

I’ve loved Hurray for the Riff Raff since I moved to Tucson. Their music, which I could only in find YouTube videos of neighborhood-bar performances, was raw, dirty and real, just like Tucson. It was like sipping whiskey, kickin’ rocks by the train tracks and days ending in blistering pink sunsets. Their brand-new album, “The Navigator” rings of that same feminist Americana fuck-all but sprinkled with the subtle wisdom of time gone by.

Front woman Alynda Segarra took the stage at SXSW in ripped jeans, a puffy black jacket and black baseball cap. Playing the packed Mazda Studio at Empire Garage, she sings about being an outlaw and getting over heartbreak. Some of the songs in their set have a Latin feel and others, a hint of Surf Rock.

“This is for all the wild woman in the audience,” Segarra says softly into the mic before belting out her new song, “Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl.”

This is too good to pass up. Kevin Eck, recently hired staffer for Betsy DeVos' Education Department, was unhappy with Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, for his criticism of Trump. So in November Eck tweeted:

Now that Eck is at the Dept. of Ed, Hamill decided it was time to reply.
Eck is one of three recent Education Department hires who have been condemned for racist tweets, like this one.

In the heart of downtown Tucson, away from the heavily trodden sidewalks of 4th Avenue, a fistful of Cali bands made a pitstop Tuesday night to play a houseparty thrown by Molly Ragan of Split Leaf Promotions to further pulverize the fine dust of Barrio Viejo before continuing on to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest.  

Whaja Dew

Los Angeles garage/surf punk rockers Whaja Dew kicked things off. Led by cherubic vocalist/guitarist Stephanie Loza, this trio formed a bit over a year ago. With the swagger of a more seasoned band they delivered a high-voltage set, bassist and drummer thundering, kicking out the jams, as it were, leaving the audience of twentysomethings with little alternative but to bounce and headbang to hilariously titled/themed songs like “Saved By The Smell.” Best sight: Loza fearlessly standing atop her amp flaying her Fender and long brown hair about. At set’s end she took to rolling about on the concrete floor, imbued with the almighty spirit of the punk-rock forebearers (Iggy come home!) that came before, unafraid to fuckshitup.

Whaja Dew's new single “Whaja Dewing”:  

Hitting the internet today is a GoFundMe campaign to help the Islamic Center of Tucson replace destroyed and damaged copies of the Qur'an. A man reportedly broke into the Center and vandalized the prayer books. TPD is conducting an investigation.

Some asked if the fund is legit, so I emailed it and received a call from Marty Johnston. He and Stephanie Roberts started the fun and both are members of the Tucson Jewish community and board members of Congregation Anshei Israel.

The fund is at $3,737 of its $14,400 goal. From the fund's page:

It was a heck of a weekend. First, on Friday, the Jewish Community Center received a bomb threat and went on lockdown.

Then, early Monday morning, around 3:30 a.m. a man broke in to the Islamic Center Tucson, and destroyed and damaged copies of the Qur'an. See the news story here.

Tucson is better than this!

I'm a Tucson Jew, and I've been welcomed at the Islamic Center Tucson, as well as the Muslim Community Center. A Jewish friend (Stephanie) said we needed to help. So here goes...

There are Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahá'í , Atheists, Agnostics and others in Tucson who love our Muslim brothers and sisters, Though we may have different beliefs, we want them to be safe, and never to have to pray in fear.

Let's come together and replace the damaged copies of the Holy Qur'an, and show our Muslim neighbors that they are indeed our brothers and sisters.

I don't have exact amounts on the replacement or repair costs. If we have extra money, I'll use it for Jewish-Muslim / Muslim-Jewish peacebuilding events.

Thanks in advance.

Anything helps.

Help spread the word!