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Fantastic Negrito. Surviving hardship makes a smart person kinder. Enter Xavier Dphrepaulezz, who suffered through a tough, impoverished childhood, gunpoint robberies, and a car crash that about killed him off. He rose as Fantastic Negrito in 2014 and nabbed a contemporary blues Grammy the next year. And now with Please Don’t Be Dead, he’s made a genre-defying meditation on overcoming odds—in style. With sizzle guitars and the searching grit of good Chris Cornell, Negrito seeks to “break the chains” of race, religion, and gender politics. Later, the sartorially sweet (rising) star channels the controlled tenderness of Jeff Buckley as he sings the blues for pal Cornell, RIP. Each tune could be a single, from the songwriterly execution to the vocal delivery. Entire thing ends with a kickass funk sendup, Parliament-style, “Take that bullshit and turn it into good shit.” Negrito closely follows his own wise-beyond-his-years advice. Tuesday, June 26 at Club Congress, 311 East Congress St. Doors at 7:30 p.m. $12-$15. 21+. —B.S. Eliot. Details here. 

Zona 78 Chef’s Dinner. Tonight Zona 78 Chef Keith Parker is sharing the Italian restaurant’s kitchen with Chef Nadia Aidi of Food My Muse for a special dinner paired with wine. The dinner will spotlight local products and purveyors like Barrio Bread and Fiori de Capra  throughout its six courses. Limited to 20 people. $75 per person. Call 296-7878 for reservations. 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 26. 7301 E. Tanque Verde Road. Details here.

Baseball Nights at Kino Sports Complex. “Take me out to the ballgame! Take me out to the croooowd!” Don’t you just love the United States of America’s national anthem? Okay, so maybe that’s not the real anthem, but what’s more patriotic than eating a hot dog and popcorn at a baseball game, and cheering on the home team—in this case, any of the eight teams on the Sun Belt College League, made up of recent high school graduates from Southern Arizona and other parts of the country? Some cheat codes: $1 Hot dogs on Tuesdays, half-off soda and popcorn on Thursdays and special appearances by Woody the Woodpecker and Daffy Duck Thursdays through Sundays. Kings vs. the Javelinas today at 7p.m. Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way. $5 adults, free for kids 12 and under. Details here.

2001: A Space Odyssey. You know what’s a great movie? This one. You should see it. If you know what it’s about, that’s all the reason you need to go see it. And if you don’t know what it’s about, you still certainly recognize the name, and that’s proof enough of its importance. Either way, I’ll see you at The Loft for their new 70mm screening. 12:30 p.m./4 p.m./ 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 22 through Thursday, June 28. 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $10. Details here.

Dillinger Beer Dinner. Batch Café and Bar and Dillinger Brewing Company have teamed up to create a three-course meal paired with three beers for a match made in foodie heaven. The menu includes jalapeno mac ’n’ cheese with Serrano reduction, grilled cheese with Tiki Party beer and The Stud doughnut with Gang Signs Imperial Stout. $35 per person. Purchase tickets online or in store. 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 26. 118 E. Congress St. Details here.

PY Dinner with Chefs featuring Executive Chef Brian Smith. Casino del Sol and PY Steakhouse’s monthly chef dinner spotlights Maynards Market and Kitchen Chef Brian Smith this time. Come hungry for a three-course meal of asparagus and heirloom bean salad, top knot chicken roulade and toasted white chocolate sorbet. Each course is paired with wine, and make a toast to an evening of good eats with a Manhattan at the start of the meal. $65 per person. 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 26. 5655 W. Valencia Road. Call 520-324-9350 for reservations. Details here.

Events compiled by Emily Dieckman, Dylan Reynolds, BS Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner

Let’s dive right in to a newly released survey from Emerson College with key polling of some of the big races in Arizona’s Aug. 28 primary election:

• Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally are shaping up to be the front-runners their respective primaries in the race for Jeff Flake’s Senate seat.

• In the governor’s race, Doug Ducey is easily outpacing his opponent Ken Bennett for the Republican nomination, but at the same time his approval rating is lower than President Donald Trump’s by 12 percent. On the Democratic side, roughly half the voters have yet to make up their mind, but David Garcia has the support of 30 percent of Dem voters, while Steve Farley is at a mere 13 percent. 

• Despite Gov. Ducey’s recent “20x2020” plan, 64 percent of voters surveyed believe that education is underfunded.

In the Senate race, it's not that surprising to see that Kyrsten Sinema, who represents Arizona's Congressional District 9 in Maricopa County, is at a dominating 50.5 percent while the other five Democratic candidates didn't break the 10 percent barrier. Deedra Abboud had 7.5 percent, Richard Sherzan had 3.7 percent, Cheryl Fowler had 3 percent, David Ruben had 2.5 percent and Bob Bishop had 2.2 percent. 30.4 percent of those surveyed were undecided.

On the Republican side, Martha McSally’s strategy of embracing President Donald Trump is paying off, putting her at a leading 32.3 percent over Kelli Ward with 19.4 percent and Joe Arpaio with 18.2 percent. There are also some dark-horse candidates who are having trouble getting onto the racetrack: Craig Brittain with 1.6 percent, Christian Diegel with 2.9 percent, Michelle Griffin with 2.1 percent and Nicholas Tutora with 0.9 percent. A total of 23.3 percent were undecided.

Amid swirling controversy over his new education plan and the suspected use of Twitterbots, Gov. Ducey is still leading over his opponent, former Arizona Secretary of State and current hard-right conservative Ken Bennett, by 22 percent. 34.8 percent of voters were undecided.

The governor’s approval rating is at 31 percent, with 38.9 percent of those polled disapproving of his job performance, 28.8 percent in neutral territory, and an uniformed 1.3 percent of voters who have never heard of him before. By comparison, President Trump’s approval rating was 42.9 percent among this sample of voters.

Patrick Ptak, the communications director for Gov. Ducey’s re-election campaign, said he didn't put much stake into Emerson College's poll.

"A Democrat poll, using improper methodology, conducted by a Democrat-leaning and historically inaccurate firm to benefit Democrat candidates shouldn't be taken seriously," he said.

Spencer Kimball, the professor at Emerson College who supervised the poll, believes otherwise.

“We do use an innovative methodology of online and landline sampling,” Kimball said. “We happened to be cited by Nate Silver and fivethirtyeight.com last month as the second most accurate/trusted pollster, but everyone is entitled to their opinions.”

He also noted that Emerson College successfully predicted the outcome of Arizona’s special election in the Eighth District last April.

The poll also showed that among Democrats, David Garcia, the associate superintendent for Arizona’s Department of Education, has 30.2 percent of the vote among Democratic gubernatorial candidates. State Sen. Steve Farley has 13.2 percent and Kelly Fryer has 8.5 percent. A little less than a third—30.4 percent of voters—were undecided.

The survey’s education question seemed to reflect Arizona’s support behind #RedforEd, with 64 percent of voters agreeing that education in Arizona is underfunded. A much 8 percent said there was too much funding, while 20 percent took the Goldilocks position that the funding is “just right." Roughly 8 percent were unsure.

“My top priority will be making sure every child has the best shot at opportunity and the American Dream,” Garcia said in a press release celebrating his lead in the survey. “This means making sure our schools have the funding they need to be excellent and safe learning environments for all our kids.”

The survey was conducted between Thursday, June 21 and Friday, June 22, collecting responses solely from registered voters in Arizona in equal proportions in each Congressional District. After weighting for near-equal amounts of responses on both sides of the political spectrum, the number of respondents totaled to 650, half of which responded to an automated landline call and the other half from an online survey. The Bayesian Credibility Interval—similar to a margin of error—was +/- 4 percent. Of that 650, 30.3 percent were registered Democrats (BCI +/- 6.2 percent), 33.3 percent were registered Republicans (BCI +/- 5.9 percent), and 36.4 were registered Independent. 82.2 percent of the Democrats and 80.9 of the Republicans surveyed said they were likely to vote in the primaries on Aug. 28.

“I am a sweet boy who is searching for a patient family that can show me how great life can be!”
 - Dart (854604)

Come meet Dart at HSSA Main Campus at 635 W. Roger Rd. and bring your family, including dogs! You can also leave a comment or give an adoptions counselor a call at 520-327-6088, ext. 173 for more information. Not ready to adopt? Share Dart’s photo to help him find his fur-ever home!

Fifteen years after the Aspen Fire devastated much of Mount Lemmon, volunteers are taking action to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.

A group of county sheriff’s auxiliary volunteers have begun setting up at the base of the mountain every Saturday and Sunday, distributing fire safety fliers to passing motorists. The fliers, created in collaboration with Pima County District 4 Supervisor Steve Christy, include orders like “No campfires! No barbecues!”

This is the first year for the fliers, but the Supervisor’s office hopes to make it an annual program. They printed 10,000 copies to last the remainder of the dry season.

Mount Lemmon and the rest of the Coronado National Forest has been under Stage II Fire restrictions from the U.S. Forest Service since May 1, due to especially dry conditions. Mount Lemmon Fire Captain and EMT Dan Leade urged campers and visitors to obey the restrictions.

“It’s important to follow the regulations because they’re in place to prevent things like what happened 15 years ago, the Aspen Fire,” he said. “That was started by a discarded cigarette, but campfires start fires all the time.”

Casey Welch is about as unconventional as a politician can get. He’s got quite the resume that ends with a bid for Martha McSally’s open seat in Congress this upcoming primary election.

Welch grew up near Page, Arizona in Vermilion Cliffs, when the population was just 25 people. But when he was still a young boy, his father began a job as a defense contractor and moved their family to Cairo, Egypt.

From ages 11 to 17, Welch attended school in Cairo and says he gained a good understanding of the world. He had classmates from dozens of nationalities and visited around 25 countries during that time.

After a few years of higher education at Marion Military Institute and Arizona State University, Welch joined the Peace Corps and set off to Nicaragua. While working there, he met his wife and got married, but couldn’t go back to the U.S. right away because of the backed up immigration system.