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Houndmouth are the kings of fleeting happiness. They pen anthems for jaded atheists who can still wring joy from this fucked-up world. The small-town Indiana trio could have been weaned on Spoon’s “The Way We Get By,” because instead of getting all nihilistic in such harsh reality, they jangle, bop and “whoah, whoah” their way into a listener’s skull. And when they are at their most poppy, they are most hard-hitting, “Hang on Sedona let me cut you a deal/I’m a little hungover and I may have to steal your soul.” Like Arcade Fire, they instantly access nostalgia and then well-document that sinking feeling that nothing will ever again be as good as right now. In “Say It,” they offer up their secret for success, or at least survival: “shoot low.” You will never be disappointed and you might just have a shit-ton of fun along the way. With Family of the Year on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Rialto Theatre, 318 East Congress St. Doors at 7 p.m. $27-$29. All ages. Details Here.

Pajama-palooza Pajama Storytime. Every night can be pajama story time if you really want it to be. But it’s rare that you get to have pajama story time outside of the house! Not only is the library making it possible, but they also provide activities like crafts, music and puppet shows at these Tuesday evening events. Grab your comfiest jammies and get ready to be on the edge of your seat while still staying cozy. All ages welcome, but this event is especially fun for kids. 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2. Mission Library, 3770 S. Mission Road. Free. Details Here.

Music by Benise. The Prince of the Spanish Guitar is making his debut in Tucson. With his romantic twang this would be the perfect concert for a date night. Plus it's out of the ordinary. This performance is a tribute to Old World Spain and will definitely sweep you off your feet. With beautiful backdrops and dancers it will be nothing but elegance. Tickets are from $29-$95. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at Tucson Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street. Details Here.

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If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and tag us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.


Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner.

Poet Roxy Runyan is in love with Tucson—its desert washes, its sunsets, its witchy women. She just released her first book of poems, Poems for Crones, from Ghost City Press, inspired by her search for unabashed, vulnerable truth and love.

Renowned poet Alice Notley said "Read Roxy Runyan's lovely, vulnerable Poems. She has ears, and a heart." And now, you lucky people can take Notley's advice and download a free copy of Poems for Crones here. A print copy is forthcoming, but if you donate to her, shoot her an email with your address at [email protected] and she'll send you one of her printed and hand-sewn physical copies.

The Tucson Weekly interviewed Runyan on what inspires her poetry and, in tandem, her love of life.

Why did you move to Tucson 12 years ago and what has kept you here?
I moved to Tucson when I was an over-achieving but low-funded 18-year-old from Phoenix disgruntled at having to go to U of A rather than some place further. I had a family member who lived there who made it look appealing enough—when I came out to her as a lesbian years later, she revealed her own mostly-closeted life spent as a lesbian, and smiled as she shared that Tucson has, for a while been, "sort of a lesbian mecca."

The queer community is what has kept me in Tucson—the peers here with whom I've grown relationships over the past decade have become my found family members, and it's been incredibly healing as someone who grew up always feeling out of place as a kid.

How does Tucson inspire your poetry?
I worked at Kore Press my last year of college and for a short time after, learning the
ropes of the literary world through the loving and talented, community-centered lens of Tucson's literary scene. The cozy monsoon days, winter weeks, and even oppressive summer heat of Tucson have all inspired my poetry and writing. Tucson remains, for me and many others, a place to be honest in the present moment, which is the place from which the best poetry comes. 

This place has held my heart through terrible grief and beautiful growth, and I thank long walks with my dog through Dunbar Springs, downtown, and the Santa Cruz wash for churning within me processes—emotional, mental, psychological, and artistic—that may have otherwise
stayed stagnant. Not being able to resist stopping to photograph a desert flower in bloom, or praise the brilliant bright red of a vermillion flycatcher against the otherwise brown and green
landscape, and praying to the sunset as I sit atop a roof or on a porch. These moments of being a radically present witness to the beauty of our world—apparent in Tucson unlike anywhere else—have made me the poet and heart-centered person I'm proud to be.

Poems for Crones has been described as "poems written for elder women—grandmothers, crushes, and lovers alike." At just 30-years-old yourself, why was it important for you to write about aging and elderly women?
As a child and the youngest in a family of "all girls," I felt a passionate devotion to and admiration of my older sisters and mother. It often came as a felt call-to-protection. I remember being 4
years old and feeling incredibly uneasy about the way certain men would look at my mother or sisters in the grocery store, or at the post office. The feeling would come over me anywhere really, just in response to the look in some men's eyes or the dishonesty I sensed in their voices.

After I came out as a queer and made peace with the fact that all of us have "issues," be them daddy issues or mommy issues or sister issues or brother issues, I was able to release the shame of my love and attraction for older women, and pursued whatever intimate relationships with them might naturally grow. I've found mentors, friends, and lovers. Oh, I love them so. In exploring romantic and physically intimate and affectionate relationships with women, I continue to feel an energetic pressure valve release every time I share my particular devotion and interest in older women with both queer peers and any older women I get a chance to share it with.

Our society devalues aging and elderly women in so many ways, when in fact they ought to be running the world. A council of queer grandmothers of color, for example, would serve this world with far more heart and wisdom than all the old white men who've been poisoning and harming the life on this planet for centuries with their ego-driven power and control issues. There is magic in an aging woman that ordinary language doesn't quite capture... so I wrote poems for them.

I didn't set out to write poems that would become this book, Poems for Crones, but I knew I needed to compile some of my poems into a book—I have hundreds of poems. It's long been time, and this is just my first—and after a year of picking out some of my favorites, and looking for common themes, and batting around about half a dozen other potential titles, I realized, of course, many of my poems were for older women, including my grandmothers who both passed in the last couple of years. This combined with my passion for reclaiming powerful, diversity-driven language, which patriarchy raises us to believe is "bad" ("witch," "crone," "lesbian," "queer," etc.) made the title and meaning behind the book come clear. My grandmothers were certainly flawed humans, but I've always sustained a felt reverence for their lives and stories, their commitments to joy, in spite of their positions in a world that offered them so few choices, as women.

Besides spending your 20s finding inspiration while wandering Tucson washes, how did you become a poet? What are other things you do to make a living or for fun?

I don't really believe someone sets out or sits down to write a poem or become a poet. For me, the poems I've written that other people seem to enjoy the most just seem to tumble out of my consciousness, byproducts perhaps, of living with my heart and eyes and throat open and my awareness present. I know I'm a poet because poems happen like this for me, and I've gained consistent and enthusiastic readers as time has gone on. I also know I'm a poet because I don't have much else concretely figured out. I have a bachelor's degree in English, so of course I'm  writing poems and working in cafes and figure modeling for art schools and artists, meditating on stillness, or dog-sitting and meditating on movement as I walk and walk and walk a lot of
different dogs. I've done landscaping work, hospitality work, even technical writing, literary marketing, copyblogging and editing gigs here and there. In college I majored in "English" rather than "Literature" or "Creative Writing" because I was too shy or perhaps fearful to admit aloud that I wanted to be a writer. But I've always been a poet. It's the way my heart leaps at the extraordinary
beauty and connection my consciousness finds in the most ordinary things. That makes me a poet. And that makes me committed to keep on living as best as I can. My other hobbies,  passions, and interest really just revolve around the arts and examining and building of integrity, especially within intimate relationships. I believe the most powerful legacy we leave is our impact on others.

Why do you call Tucson "the magical old grandmother" of all Sonoran cities.
I'm not sure why, but usually Tucsonans nod in wide-eyed agreement when they hear me say it. Maybe it is the wonderful elder women I've met here, maybe it's the hills and the trees and the cicadas and dust here that vibrates with a particularly nourishing and enduring tone. Maybe it's all the elder lesbians here (god bless y'all). It's probably all of this and more.

What writers/poets inspire you?

Alice Notley is important to name. Her book, Mysteries of Small Houses, turned me on to poetry in a big way when I was 18, and we've since met each other and are sort of pen pals, which is why I lucked out with such a huge name in poetry giving a recommending blurb to my little first book.

What are a couple of your favorite poems in the book and/or excerpts?
There have been a dozen or so times now that I've handed this book over to someone proudly, expecting them to leaf through it quickly, and instead they sit still for 20 minutes straight and read the whole thing front to back. This experience is what I am most proud of contributing to. Poetry being a medium these individuals admit rarely getting into, yet seeing them absorbed in it feels really special. I write from the heart because this world needs more heart, and I share my writing in order to connect more hearts, selfishly perhaps, to my own. But hey, isn't that all we've got? I'm proud I published poems with certain words and am even writing certain words in this interview which bring up a little fear for me. What will certain family members think when they see these things? But to let go of that, to not try to protect or shield anyone from parts of my  honesty is a growth process I am proud of.

The poems for my grandmothers are perhaps dearest to me. Calling my Grandma Ruth a gladiola, honoring my Grandma Mary Katherine's sense of sing-song joy. These things really feel special to me. I'm also really happy about the way I ended the poem for Hemmi—a very special dead
cat who I have no qualms about honoring as a crone, though Hemmi is the only non-human crone in the book—with the sentences "paint the fence green and tear the big ones down. walls are
for homes," which feels like an important reminder of priorities, especially at this time in history in these borderlands.

Do you have any future projects on the horizon?

I always have poems coming, and I'm working on my next collection while I continue to work on some epic poems and creative essays that feel very important. Central to my work is a focus on
honesty, integrity, and heart. I grieve for how misunderstood and abused the notion of love is, and seek through my writing to help lift up our consciousness around how we care for—how we love—each other and ourselves and all life.

It's easy to find t-shirts, bumperstickers and water bottles in Tucson stamped with the Wildcat  logo or University of Arizona "A" but now, thanks to a partnership with Mano's Wine, you can receive engraved bottles of wine in the mail to celebrate the Wildcats.

Mano's Wine and the UA have partnered to start up a wine club, which will send members three bottles of wine every quarter, each painted and engraved with a different UA Wildcats designs.

"We think this is a really fun way for Arizona fans and alumni to engage with the university," said Alixe Holcomb, director of Arizona Trademarks and Licensing.

Proceeds from the wine club will benefit the university and help create new programing and enrichment opportunities.

Perfect for graduations, alumni parties and other UA themed events, the high-quality bottles would make a perfect gift for any Wildcat.

"This collaboration with Mano's Wine gives our alumni another way to display their Wildcat pride," said Melinda Burke, president of the Alumni Association. "We look forward to the wine club's growth, which will open up future opportunities to collaborate with out talented alumni in the wine industry."

Currently, Mano's wine sources their grapes from around the world. After the wine is selected, artists create designs for the wine club members. Each new wine club member will receive a custom-etched bottle with their name and member number.

Throughout the year they will receive three hand-selected varietals each quarter, all with Wildcat designs.

For members who join soon, this quarter's selections are Mano's Pinot Noir, a Handcrafted Reserve which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and a California Rose.

The initial bottle costs $29.95 and the three bottle packages are $89.95 each quarter after that.

For more information about Mano's Wines click here and for more information about the Wildcat Wine Club click here.

A three-foot pizza-slice costume hangs from Maria Eller’s neck, adorned with stickers that say “voter.” An organizer for NextGen, Eller and other volunteers with the liberal political advocacy group had a “Pizza and Polaroids” table at Pima Community College West Campus to get young people’s attention and, hopefully, to convince them to vote.

“I wore a pizza costume to get people’s attention. We’ve been stopping anyone and everyone so that I’d have a reputation on campus for being, ‘Oh, you’re that voting person,’” she said with a laugh. She hands out free pizza and snaps polaroids of students while talking to them about registering.

NextGen America was on 20 Arizona college campuses registering young people to vote on Sept. 25, National Voter Registration Day.

NextGen AZ, the Arizona branch, registered 31 people across all five PCC campuses along with gathering 40 pledges to vote, which mostly came from previously registered voters. The group also registered 50 people and got 20 pledges to vote on the University of Arizona campus.

Eller shares the organization’s passion for spreading political awareness and inspiring young people, age 18 to 35, to participate.

“This age group is the largest eligible voting block and the next generation of voters who are going to hold their elected officials accountable,” she said. “Our job here is to ensure students and young people know their votes and opinions matter.”

Eller said a good number of students approached them to ask questions about registering to vote and what they need to do come election day.
“The students on the Pima campus care about affordable healthcare, having gun safety so that they feel safe in their school, and they also care about education and the cost of college,” she said. “We’re really mobilizing young people to get out the vote around the issues they care about and to let them know what the power of their vote is.”

NextGen recently invested $3 million on their youth vote program, throughout Arizona, spending $480,000 on their digital ad campaign. Belen Sisa, a media manager for NextGen, helped organize an ad campaign focused on social media, in preparation for National Voter Registration Day.

“Andrew Gillum's huge victory in Florida, which was backed by NextGen America, proved that a good digital strategy can make all the difference in empowering young people and winning elections,” Sisa said. Gillum is the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida.

NextGen America Director Heather Hargreaves said young people often don’t realize that they have the power to “reshape the American political landscape.”

“A smart, targeted digital strategy will be the difference between young people heading to the polls or two more years of total Republican rule,” she said in a statement. “These ads show young Americans that the issues they are passionate about—access to healthcare, affordable education, racial justice—are all within reach if they show up on November 6th and demand them.”

Sisa said NextGen registered 322 people and gathered 326 pledge to vote cards from those aged 18 to 35 across the state.

NextGen AZ does not have any official events planned for the near future, but Sisa said they are going to be canvassing and maintaining their presence on college campuses to keep getting young people registered before the voter registration deadline on Oct. 9.

The City of Tucson announced it would hand out free sandbags at Hi-Corbett Field (700 S. Randolph Way) and the Rodeo Grounds (4823 S. 6th Ave.) on Monday to counter potential flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Rosa.

The complimentary sandbags will be handed out at both sites from noon to 8 p.m., with a limit of 10 bags per vehicle, the City's report said.

The Rodeo Grounds location is a pick-up location with pre-filled bags, while Hi-Corbett is a self-serve location in the stadium's east parking lot, meaning residents will need to bring their own shovels to fill their bags.

The move comes as outer bands of moisture from Hurricane Rosa arrive in Southern Arizona, bringing heavy rains across Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, through parts of California and Arizona.

The National Weather Service's Tucson bureau released a flood advisory for the majority of Pima and Santa Cruz counties on Monday morning, mostly in relation to the risk of flooded washes and streets due to the precipitation. 

Several staff members from Dogs Playing for Life (DPFL) are coming to Pima Animal Care Center for three weeks this fall. The group will teach volunteers and staff members how to run large playgroups with a high volume of dogs.

“Imagine taking a visit to your favorite dog park, watching 25 or 30 dogs run around, joyfully playing with each other,” said Kristen Auerbach, PACC Director of Animal Services. “Now imagine that every one of those dogs is looking for a new family. That’s what play group brings to PACC.”

The program, which runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 17, allows PACC staff and volunteers to learn more about dogs’ personalities in these play groups. DPFL is rooted in the notion that a dog’s natural instinct is to play.

The group says watching the dogs interact with one another is a “more reliable indicator of a dog’s true personality than the dog’s reactions during the intake process.” A dog that may be challenging to handle in the kennel, for example, will often exhibit healthy social skills in a play group.

“Play groups allow dogs to blow off steam and they help us really get to know each and every pup in our care,” Auerbach said. “Dogs are social animals and allowing them to interact helps keep them happy and healthy while they wait for their new families.”

It’s also beneficial to the dogs in other ways:
• They communicate with their peers and humans through playing.
• Socializing the dogs can help them if they are nervous around other dogs.
• The exercise can also help reduce some of the stress from staying in a kennel.

“This will introduce an entirely new way of meeting shelter dogs. Adopters will be able to come to PACC, watch a big group of dogs playing in a realistic, “dog park” setting and choose a dog based on real-life experience, rather than the old way of just seeing dogs in isolated kennels,” Auerbach said.

The training is possible thanks to the PetCo Foundation and the ASPCA.

PACC’s shelter, located at 4000 N. Silverbell Road, is open Monday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries will hold a panel titled ‘1968: A Closer Look at Its Impact’ on Tuesday, October 2 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This event will be a panel discussion where activists, musicians, teachers and writers explore the art, conflicts and everyday life of 1968. The discussion will include stories about what life was like in Tucson for women and people of color, some of the popular protest music and the impact that Edward Abbey’s autobiographic work published in 1968, “Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness” had on this country.

The panel members include Guadalupe Castillo, retired educator and community organizer, Gregory McNamee, author and adjunct lecturer for Eller College of Management, Ted Warmbrand, folk singer and storyteller and Barbea Williams, Artistic Director of Barbea Williams Performing Company and adjunct faculty for UA School of Dance.

So, what happened in 1968?

1. On January 23, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo which threatened to worsen Cold War tensions.
2. On January 30, North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive against the United States and South Vietnam which signified the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
3. On April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
4. On June 5, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
5. On September 30, Boeing introduced the first 747 “Jumbo Jet” which was the world's largest passenger aircraft.
6. On October 16, two African American athletes took a stand at the Summer Olympics by staging a silent demonstration against racial discrimination in the United States.
7. On November 22, “Star Trek” aired American television's first interracial kiss.
8. On December 24, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon. 

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Desert Living. A new month means a new show at the Wilde Meyer Gallery. And in October, all of the gallery’s art is centered around the theme of what it’s like to live in the desert. Whether it’s a Native American looking off at the sun from atop his horse, a vibrant landscape or desert wildlife draped in Sonoran sunshine, you’ll see the beauty of the desert portrayed from angles you never realized existed. Even if you already think the desert is beautiful and love living here, there’s something fascinating about seeing your world through someone else’s eyes. Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Every Thursday, the gallery is open for ArtWalk from 5 to 7 p.m. as well, with refreshments and special events. Wilde Meyer Gallery, 2870 E. Skyline Drive. Free. Details Here.



Public Evening Astronomy Lecture Series. Get your science senses tingling and participate in a series of lectures throughout the month of October. This lecture will be called "The Secret History of Astronomy and Hollywood." Hosted at the UA, look through a telescope and be hands on with the lectures. Christopher Ford and other special guests will be speaking at the lectures. Hosted at the UA Steward Observatory, 933 N. Cherry Ave. Free. Details Here.

Retrolution. The longest running dance party is making its debut in Tucson at Hotel Congress on Oct. 1 at 10:00 p.m. A blast from the past you will be dancin' and jammin' to your favorite hits from the 80's and 90's. To loosen up and get yourselves comfortable, they will be servin' up cheap drinks. DJ Sid the Kid will be playing the jams to get you in the groove. 21+ Free. 311 E. Congress St. Details Here.

Send Us Your Photos:

If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and tag us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.


Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner.