Comprised of violist Wil B. and violinist Kev Marcus, this edgy duo focuses on overcoming stereotypes. Black Violin break down cultural barriers. At Centennial Hall...

Highlighting non-binary artistry, Femmes & Thems features Pearl Earl, garage psych rockers (with great big harmony vocals and a dash of camp) from Denton, Texas. At Club Congress. Followed by the spring 2020 installment of Opti Club, which sees special guest Xochique join resident DJs H.R. Guerin and Lance Fairchild behind the decks. At Club Congress...

After dropping out of college and setting his job as a welder aside, this singer-songwriter's career began to take flight. Sam Riggs tracks Red Dirt country onto the stage. At the Rock...

Arizona Friends of Chamber Music present the Killer B's performing American Song: From Amy Beach to the Beach Boys. A program that reflects the hopes and struggles of 20th century Americans. At Crowder Hall...

UG Late Night #006 features Jae Tilt, Benny Loc & Cass, Pariah Pete, Zeus and more. At Thunder Canyon Brewstillery...

Straddling the cultural divide, singer-songwriter Oscar Fuentes and blues singer/violinist Heather Hardy sing songs in English and Español. At Tap + Bottle-Downtown...

In the tradition of Bob Wills and Earl Scruggs, The Titan Valley Warheads are coming out to play. At Monterey Court...

From Mozart to original Tango compositions, rogue violinist Samantha Bounkeua and pianist Russell Ronnebaum perform an evening of delightful classical violin and piano duets. At The Coronet...

For Those About to Rock We Salute You. Noise Pollution: The AC-DC Experience will shake you all night long. In the Paradiso Lounge at Casino Del Sol...

A taste of Spain in downtown Tucson? Alternating weekly, singer-songwriters Amanda Rochelle and Natalie Pohanic shall serenade for Tapas & Tonics. In the lounge at the AC Hotel Tucson..

. Something new, something old or something forgotten. Wooden Tooth Records DJ Set pops off with guest DJs Tommy Larkins & Dimitri Manos trolling the crates, pulling out the deep cuts and dance hits. On the patio at Che's Lounge..

Did you just get here?

We have a big comedy crawl going on this week. It’s like a pub crawl, but with jokes. Among the 15 shows remaining between now and 11 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, there’s something you can laugh at with your gem show friends. Visit tucsoncomedy.com/crawl for a complete schedule.
Most of the Crawl venues have pub food. The others have food next door or nearby. All have beer; some have wine or cocktails, too. Only Unscrewed Theater, an improv venue, is dry, but they have lots more snacks.

Tucson comedians look forward to making you laugh, mostly for free or under $10. Following are a few best bets.

Our greatest hit: Keep Tucson Sketchy

Keep Tucson Sketchy is a year-old ensemble that creates parodies of Saturday Night Live in full stage shows at the 103-seat Screening Room on Congress. KTS closes out the Tucson Comedy Crawl with two performances of Keep Tucson Sketchy: Best of Season One at 6 and 9 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1.

Each show is a big production, including a writing team, videographers, sound designers, stagehands and lots of tech. Lots. There’s also a news cast and a musical guest.
All KTS sketches are original. About half are filmed on location around town. Live sketches take advantage of the theater’s full-sized screen to project the scene’s sets. Sketches included in Keep Tucson Sketchy: The Best of Season One, comprise crowd favorites from the show’s inaugural year.

The theater sells beer, wine, popcorn and a few snacks. Theater guests may also bring in food from Empire Pizza, next door. Empire swept the Best Place to Pick Up A Slice category in Tucson Weekly’s 2019 Best Of Tucson poll.

KTS routinely sells out at $10 in advance; $15 at the door. We recommend reservations via keep-tucson-sketchy.ticketleap.com.

Art Lovers’ Delight

Tucson’s art scene is lots cooler than you might think for a town this size and this remote. The arts community is as close as it is creative in its punk-like hacking of genres and ways to make a market. The amped-up restoration of the mid-century-modern classic motel, Hotel McCoy is the scene’s fever dream. Every kind of art finds a home there, including performing arts, including comedy.

McCoy’s free Last Friday, Last laughs, just over a year old, was an instant institution. Arrive for the 8 p.m. start on Jan. 31, and you might not get in. Pinche’s food truck, though, is inspiration enough to be there by 6:30 and have pre-show dinner, poolside.

This month’s Last Laugh is a novelty in town: a 100% clean show featuring some of Tucson’s top comics.

Happy 6th Anniversary Unscrewed Theatre!

Unscrewed Theater’s popular Not Burnt Out, Just Unscrewed short-form improv show started years before, but the theater itself has been located somewhere along Speedway Blvd. for six years as of Feb. 1.

The nonprofit venue celebrates the date with a fundraising extravaganza featuring globally syndicated Tucson cartoonist and satirist David Fitzsimmons and all of its house teams: From the Top, which improves an entire Broadway musical in every performance; Comic Chaos, which improvises original comic book heroes and their epic stories; the character-driven Leaky Faucets and Big Daddies, best described as well-meaning dads gone weird.

Admission is $20 at the door or online at unscrewedtheater.org.

Comedy benefit for Wildlife

The UArizona chapter of the American Fisheries and Wildlife Society presents a comedy show benefit for its cause at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, sponsored by The Screening Room. It’s not a moment too soon. Have you been following the news about the shocking decline in numbers and species of fish and wildlife due to global warming? It’s enough to make us cry. All the time.

At least we can laugh at the benefit. The show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $5. Headlined by Matt Ziemak, fresh from the Tower City Comedy Festival, the show also features touring comedian Joe Tullar and popular locals Nicole Riesgo and Jack Fletcher, among others.

Improv Thursdays

Tucson Improv Movement debuts weekly Thursday shows starting Feb. 6. A long-form show at 7:30 is $5 and is followed by a free open jam at 8:30.

Even More Laughs

Friday, Jan. 31: Standup with Spencer James featuring Tony Tripoli at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50); and Beginners and Veterans at 10:30 p.m., ($5) TIM Comedy Theatre. Long-form improv with The Riveters at 7:30 p.m. and The Soapbox at 9 p.m., TIM Comedy Theatre (TIM)($5). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).

Saturday, Feb. 1: Improv with David Fitzsimmons, prizes and a raffle celebrating their sixth-anniversary Speedway Blvd. with Sixth on Sixth, ($20), Unscrewed Theater. Standup with Spencer James featuring Tony Tripoli at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv and standup en español with Carcajadas: Una Noche de Comedia at 7:30 p.m., and long-form improv with Pilot Season at 9 p.m. at TIM ($5).

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Feb. 4 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy at The Music Box Lounge.
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m., The Screening Room.
Thursday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Oro Valley Police Department Commander Kara M. Riley is slated to succeed Chief Daniel Sharp when he retires on Friday, Feb. 21. This news comes after the OV Town Council announced the agenda for their Wednesday, Feb. 5 council meeting, which includes a vote to approve the chief position for Riley.

Riley has served as a commander with OVPD since 2017, and has been employed with the department since 2004. Riley currently oversees field services for OVPD. Before becoming commander, Riley held roles such as patrol lieutenant and executive officer.

Town Council will vote on the appointment and an employment agreement for Riley at its scheduled meeting on Feb. 5. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in Town Hall Council Chambers at 11000 N. La Cañada Drive.

Find more Claytoonz here.

Extending out over 600 acres of the century old Pima County Fairgrounds, taking place over the course of three days—filled with art, gemstones, camping, live painting, music and a shared sense of community to create a truly unique festival experience—it is a small wonder that the Huffington Post has dubbed this destination festival “The Crown Jewel of the Southwest Festival Scene.”

After a year hiatus, the epic synthesis of jam bands, EDM, cutting edge sound and lighting and visual arts that is Gem & Jam Festival 2020 kicks off its thirteenth installment.

Festival organizers are stoked. This year’s lineup includes: Tipper, Big Gigantic, The Floozies, Twiddle, Billy Strings, supergroup TH3 (featuring members of The String Cheese Incident), Thriftworks, Manic Focus, Dirtwire, Desert Hearts Takeover, Desert Dwellers, Bluetech, Buku and many more.

Gem & Jam Festival 2020 runs Jan. 31-Feb. 2. At the Pima County Fairgrounds 11300 S. Houghton Rd, Tucson, AZ 85747. Visit gemandjamfestival.com for tickets and all the details.

Here is a preview of what’s in store.

Billionaire Warren Buffett is selling his 31-newspaper and digital media empire for a tidy sum of $140 million dollars to Lee Enterprises, the parent company of the Arizona Daily Star.

Lee Enterprises, the current manager of BH Media Group, was the only company considered due to handling the media group’s operations since 2018, according to Buffett in a statement.

“We believe that Lee is best positioned to manage through the industry’s challenges,” Buffett said in the statement.

Buffett, 89, previously described himself as a newspaper “addict” dedicated to purchasing more news outlets in a 2012 letter to BH Media Group’s publishers and editors. However, the billionaire seemingly soured on the profitability of the fourth estate, stating newspapers were “toast” in a 2019 Yahoo Finance interview. Buffett cites the decline in newspaper ad revenue for his lack of hope in the media industry during the same interview.

While Berkshire Hathaway will no longer be in the newspaper business, Buffett and co. will be lending Lee Enterprises $576 million at an annual interest rate of 9 percent to help finance the sell and consolidate their existing $400 million debt.

Once the deal finalizes, Berkshire Hathaway will be Lee Enterprises sole lender.  Lee Enterprises will own 81 newspapers across the United States. The company currently owns 46 newspapers in 21 states.

Buffett acquired his first newspaper, Buffalo News, in 1977 and begin purchasing other news organizations as they became available, especially after the economic downturn of 2009.

Lee Enterprises is currently in a 50-50 partnership with media giant Gannett in the Arizona Daily Star. Gannett announced potential lay-offs and employee buyouts at the paper after merging with Gatehouse, another national media company, in 2019.

Citizens of the world, currently calling Shanghai home. There latest Pulled Apart by Horses (2019) was inspired by the attempted-but-failed dismemberment of Peruvian rebel leader Tupac Amaru II by Spanish colonial authorities in the 18th century. Alpaca thrash till death at Club Congress. Copper Magma, Demon Grass and Stone Witch join in the uprising…

He is not just an award-winning fiddle player. Performing solo on acoustic guitar, Billy Shaw Jr. sings at the Cowpony Bar…

Cruisin’ For A Bluesin’, Tucson blues institution, Bad News Blues Band have their dukes up. At Chicago Bar…

Drawing from a magic hat filled with the music of the Grateful Dead, classic rock and reggae, singer/guitarist Dan Stein & Friends are at Irene’s Holy Donuts…

The latest group to come after Sen. Martha McSally? The Lincoln Project, a collection of onetime GOP strategists and advisors who have left the Republican Party in the wake of President Donald Trump's election—guys like Steve Schmidt and John Weaver (who both worked with the late John McCain) along with George Conway, the husband of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and a frequent Trump critic.

The ad is downright brutal, pointing to McSally's tumbling approval rating and reminding viewers that she lost her 2018 Senate race. It closes by comparing McSally unfavorable to McCain and Barry Goldwater. "They stood for what was right, no matter the political risk. And they are remembered as American heroes," the narrator says. "And you, Martha? You'll be remembered as just another Trump hack—if you're remembered at all."

From the Lincoln Project release:

“Martha McSally is known for being a Trump hack,” said Jennifer Horn, spokesperson for The Lincoln Project. “But Arizona is known for strong, independent leadership from principled leaders like John McCain and Barry Goldwater. Arizonans clearly see who Martha McSally truly is—an unprincipled and unelected Trump hack.”

Sen. McSally is currently trying to hold onto her unelected Senate seat as Democrat Mark Kelly consistently polls above her. In 2018, she was appointed to serve in Sen. John McCain’s seat when interim Sen. Jon Kyl retired in 2019.

The Lincoln Project is working to defeat Donald Trump and those candidates who have abandoned their constitutional oaths, regardless of party.

U.S. Sen. Martha McSally decided she’d take to the pages of the Arizona Republic yesterday to explain why she called a CNN reporter a “liberal hack” instead of answering a basic question about whether she wanted to hear from witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

It was obviously a rehearsed line: McSally even had one of her staffers recording the incident so she could tweet it out and—by the end of the same day—start hawking T-shirts and raising campaign dollars off the exchange.

McSally’s opinion piece in the Republic spends a lot of time complaining that the liberal media is biased against her. And she boasts that she’s a real straight talker:

As a U.S. senator for Arizona, it is my responsibility to faithfully represent the people of Arizona and tell them the truth.

The latter part of that duty is all too often lost in today’s political environment. Politicians often sugarcoat things, tell you what you want to hear and otherwise play games with language that obscures the truth in our politics. It’s a runaway train of people who never seem to say what they mean or what’s really going on.

And that’s when I get off the train.

I am not a career politician. I don’t play that game because it does a disservice to the people of Arizona.

Except McSally does play that game. She has dodged and weaved when it comes to basic questions about her positions since she first joined the campaign trail. In fact, you need look no further than the Arizona Republic on the same day her commentary was published.

Political reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez jumped right on the revelation that former National Security Advisor John Bolton reveals in his new book that Trump told him directly that he was holding up aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden. Sanchez, recognizing that Bolton was a big supporter of McSally and McSally was a big supporter of Bolton, thought it would be worthwhile to see if McSally would want to hear from Bolton directly on this matter, since it pretty much blows up Trump’s defense that holding up the aid had nothing to do with a Biden investigation.

Here’s what Sanchez wrote about her query to McSally: “Through a spokeswoman, McSally declined to say whether she wants to hear from Bolton.”

Such brave straight talk from Sen. McSally, who says her vow is “to tell you the truth. To explain my votes. And to call ’em like I see ’em.”

Except in this case. And this one. And this one. And this one…

Born on August, 2, 1979, Isaac Kirkman grew up in Greenville, South Carolina into a military family who moved about regularly.

In a 2015 interview with Cynthia Dagnal-Myron, for The HuffPost, Kirkman described his hometown as a place where “the Civil War never ended.” He encountered bigotry and intolerance. “I was an alien to this world,” he said. “And was treated like one. Bullied. Humiliated. But I was determined to write my way to a better life. I would write my way to freedom.”

"I’m from where the dead vomit red clay/in a seashell splatter, of kudzu and black confetti/where you can hear the sound of slave chains/in the soft foam of surf crashing onto Charleston’s shores/as little white kids with confederate flags/flapping from their bikes, ride happily into the sun/dreaming of the day the south shall rise again/See, I’m from where plantations turned into prisons/the way HIV turns into AIDS/And every cop is a doctor trained to prescribe bullets/to black children and call it the cure.” –Isaac Kirkman

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He spent part of his youth living on the slopes of an active volcano in Sicily, where a beloved teacher, Signora Longo, told him how St. Agatha used breast milk to protect Catania from the volcano’s destructive flows.

A gifted child, Isaac painted and drew, eventually gaining admission to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey.

He also spent long years in the American hospital system, where he was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a hellish genetic condition that causes progressive deterioration of connective tissues throughout the body and intractable pain. He also struggled with depression throughout his life.

A decline in health prompted him to turn his focus to writing. “There remain obstacles,” he said. “But I will make art from them.”

Possessing an open and inquisitive mind, he pored over psychology and occult texts.

Isaac never drove a car. He spent a lot of his time walking, taking in the urban landscape in different ways and always observing.

A troubled teen, for a time he lived on the streets. “I always had a notebook on me,” he said. “Writing on the couch as my friends sold drugs out the front door, sleeping outside, writing descriptions of the junkies and the outlaws, writing metaphors to capture the agony of the ghetto, and the ecstasy of God.”

He found his heart and words—depicting the human struggle towards redemption—on the streets.

After moving to Tucson, Isaac would often walk the streets, in the scorching heat and torrential rains, it mattered not. He'd leave votive candles on shrines and the sites of recent homicides,. “to pay respect to the spirits and religions of the barrios, honoring their losses as well as my own,” he said.

Here in Barrio Santa Rosa, where he lived, he got on the path to sobriety and enrolled in his first and only writing class at The Writers Studio. Soon afterwards he had his first piece of fiction published.

“I never gave up on writing because it was my destiny,” he said. “Because I had to tell the stories of the forgotten. I didn’t come to this through academics. I came from my own grave. I have been beaten humble and beaten pure.”

Isaac’s poetry and prose have appeared in numerous journals: Waxwing, Huffington Post, Thuglit, Tucson Weekly and many others.