Every summer, as even lifelong Tucsonans hide away near their swamp coolers or run off on beach vacations, things slow down here in the Old Pueblo. In an effort to get you out of the house and running* around town, our advertorial team dreamed up a "Summer Passport."

If you are one of our super cool print readers—thanks for that, by the way—then you may have already noticed something on Page 25 of the paper. If not, here's the deal: 24 local businesses have given us gift cards—so, so, so many gift cards—and we're raffling them off in packs.

Here's how you play:

Pick up a Weekly and start visiting the businesses listed on Page 25. The first business you stop by will give you your golden passport. Each business has a task you have to complete (ie, take a selfie, eat a quesadilla,  sing on stage—basically, things you would want to be doing with your day anyway) in order to get their square marked off. Once you've stopped by all 24 locations, come by the newsroom (7725 N. Mona Lisa Road, #125. We're open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and turn in your game card. You have until Friday, Sept. 4 at noon to enter.

We're giving away three ridiculously sizable packs of prizes. Basically, winning means we've got your entertainment and gift-giving budget covered for quite a while.

So hit the streets, check out some local businesses and do some good luck rituals, because these prizes are pretty damn hefty.


*We're not really going to make you run. You can drive around with the air conditioning up as high as your little heart desires. It's hot out there.

Grab a seat in the cool, dark Fox Tucson Theatre on Saturday, July 18 and be transported aboard the Nostromo when the historic venue hosts a special screening of 1979 sci-fi horror thriller classic Alien. Ridley Scott's penchant for suspense combined with designer and artist HR Giger's industrial gothic aesthetic creates a visually-stunning and tense flick that, through the use of real special effects and not crummy CGI, stands the test of time over 35 years later. Plus, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is a total badass.

However, that's not the only sci-fi flick showing at the beautifully restored '30s-era movie house. E.T., The Matrix and Close Encounters of the Third Kind will all be projected in 35mm on the big screen on July 25, Aug. 1 and Aug. 15, respectively.

All screenings begin at 7:30 p.m. and are $7 for entry. For tickets and more information, visit the Fox Tucson Theatre website.

And, without further ado, here's Ripley being totally rad:

One of the joys, one of many, in living alone is the fact that you can sit around in your birthday suit, binging on Netflix and snacks with quiet, private dignity. While any day can easily be an appropriate nude day, today is the day to really bare it all and let it all hang loose, keeping the law in mind of course. 

National Nude Day, celebrated by primarily nudist organizations and folks with too much time on the Internet, like myself, is unofficially celebrated every July 14. (Bastille Day who?) Like most “obscure” holidays, this one’s origin story is shrouded in mystery and is seemingly without any form of official, or unofficial, documents. From what I can find, it has been celebrated since 1976 by American nudists and naturalists and might have originated in New Zealand, who is much more public in their observance of the holiday.

So, you want to celebrate without getting arrested? Go out and stay at a nudist resort if you want. If this isn't your first naked rodeo you can streak till the cows come home, but if you want to celebrate with a little restraint, or you're not so into the idea of seeing or being seen by other naked people here are five, legal ways to celebrate the naked body.

1. Spa Day
Spas are a perfectly acceptable place to be naked. So, consider the 14th an excuse to go treat your self. Saunas are a great way to relax and detoxify. And stripping down for a massage with nothing between you and a stranger’s hand but a soft towel is totally not awkward if you keep your eyes closed for its full duration.

2. Skinny Dipping
Not that we have a plentiful supply of water just sitting around for the taking, but if you have a pool, or have a friend with one, a sans-swimsuit dip could be a great way to declare your nude body love. I’m not going to encourage you to break into an apartment pool, or surprise your neighbors in their hot tub. But, if you have LEGAL access to a private pool, swing that constricting bikini around your head like a prideful flag and leap in. Hell, invite your friends to join in. 

The great Margaret Regan, a longtime Tucson Weekly contributor, is going to chat about her book Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire in the Madison, Wisconsin-based community radio show A Public Affair tomorrow morning.

The show starts at 10 a.m. Tucson time. Call here: (608) 256-2001 to ask questions and give Margaret a shout out. You can listen to the show live, here. 

Jim Nintzel did a Q&A with Margaret in March, and the Weekly featured an excerpt of Detained and Deported that same month. Here's a taste:

Yolanda Fontes sat in her prison scrubs and watched the families gathered all around her. Husbands were reconnecting with wives, sisters with sisters, mothers with children. It was a sunny Sunday in April, and the families had flocked to the Eloy Detention Center, a dreary for-profit immigration prison in rural Arizona, to visit their detained loved ones. A female prisoner sat with her small son on her lap, her arms wrapped tightly around him, as if she were imagining never letting him go. The aunt who had brought the little boy spoke sorrowfully to her sister as the child snuggled in his mother's embrace. Nearby, an imprisoned father sat across a table from his wife, clutching her hand. They were trying to talk, but their four-year-old daughter, hungry and tired, fussed on the floor below.

An impassive guard presided over these melancholy reunions, keeping a close watch on the mothers and fathers dressed in jailbird scrubs. The visiting room was bleak and windowless, lit by glaring prison lights. It was a beautiful spring day outside, but no rays of sunlight pierced the cinder block walls.

Alone among the detainees in this stark space, Yolanda had no family visiting. She was glad to be out of her prison unit, though, and she was determined to be cheerful. Yet her tale was grim, and she looked at the other detainees' kids wistfully as she recounted it. During the two years she'd spent locked up in Eloy, she'd seen her two little girls and her little boy only sporadically. The children, all American citizens, lived in a distant suburb northwest of Phoenix. They came to visit their mom only when a relative or friend could spare the time to drive the two-hundred-mile round trip to Eloy. The last time Yolanda had seen them was two months before.

Tucson is ripe with stories. Important ones, happy ones, sad ones, funny ones and pissed off ones. With a population heavy with creative, humorous types, we are lucky to have skilled hands to take on every one of these tales. For the last 10 years, some of us here in Tucson have looked not to a person, but to a panda. A pissed off one.

Pissed OFF Panda, the brainchild of Tucson transplant Frank Powers, is a comic book character with a big chip on his shoulder. An outlet for his creator to speak on Tucson and life, the character's 13 years in existence  have led into the development of a dedicated fan base, merchandise, Comic-Con appearances and now an upcoming,  on-going comic series. 

Powers says his character wasn’t so much a creation as it was a meeting of two like minds.

“He lets me vent about everything that I find mind-numbing and hate,” he says. “I didn’t just invent him though, I actually met Pissed OFF when I impulsively flew across the country because I was in love with a girl, wound up in San Diego and went to the San Diego Zoo. Their big thing is pandas so when I was in the gift shop, there was one doll that was sitting on the shelf and sticking out like a sore thumb. He looked mis-stitched and I said, 'Look at him! He looks Pissed OFF!'”

After coming to Tucson, Powers dug into the source material of the city, made up of eccentric characters and the strange, beloved places they inhabit. Pissed OFF’s world is one many of us were part of, the late hours and cups of coffee at the now closed Grill, formerly located at 100 E Congress St. 

“I’d always wanted to make a book about Grill to capture all the insanity that the place offered," says Powers. "I have many creative projects, comics and characters and I realized I’d use all the projects as ingredients in one giant, Tucson-centric project. I merged my cartoon characters, life stories, Grill adventures, podcasting and everything into one succinct parody of Tucson. It’s all seen through the eyes of my angry little jerk of a cartoon character, Pissed OFF Panda- whose job is exactly what mine was- working the graveyard shift at Grill, which is alive and thrives in my cartoony-verse.”

Support the preservation of the sacred Apache lands at Oak Flat and head to the Apache Stronghold Caravan to D.C. send-off rally on Tuesday, June 30. Wendsler Nosie, Sr., councilman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and members of Apache Stronghold will be headed to the nation's capital to demand the repeal of a congressional measure that recently passed, giving those sacred sites to a foreign mining company, which in turn spells their eminent destruction. 

According to the Apache Stonghold website, the land deal, which had failed to win congressional approval several times, was only pushed through Congress by piggybacking it on another congressional measure:

The Southeast Arizona land exchange was one of the bills that was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and passed by the U.S. House and the Senate. It is a bill pushed by Arizona Representatives Gosar & Kirkpatrick and Arizona Senators McCain and Flake (and prior to Flake, Kyle) which for over the past 10 years has not been able to get enough votes for passage in either the House or the Senate. The Arizona Congressmen could not get the bill to pass using the normal Congressional procedures. This is because the bill gives land at Apache Leap and Oak flat in southeastern Arizona to a foreign Mining Company, Resolution Copper without any environmental impact studies or without consultation with San Carlos Apache and Tribes that consider the area sacred. The last time the bill came up for vote in the House of Representatives it was shut down by New Mexico Representative Lujan who proposed an amendment to the bill that required that Native American concerns regarding Sacred Sites be addressed. 

Members of the Apache Stronghold are headed to D.C. July 20-21 to stand in opposition to the land deal but, first, they're asking community members to head to the Global Justice Center, 225 E. 26th St., on June 30 at 7 p.m. to show their support. The event is free, but donations for the trip are encouraged. Donations can also be made through the Apache Stronghold website, where you'll also find more information on the cause.

The family of José de Jesús Deniz-Sahagún—a Mexico native, whose sudden death at the Eloy Detention Center was ruled a suicide—is hosting a vigil outside the facility this evening (Friday, June 26).

Although the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner issued a detailed account of what allegedly went down inside those walls, the family and several immigration rights advocates still demand for an independent investigation into Eloy and Deniz-Sahagún's death. 

Deniz-Sahagún was found dead in his cell on May 20. Gregory Hess, the chief medical examiner, said he died of asphyxiation after shoving a knee-high sock down his throat. 

About 200 detainees declared a hunger strike two weekends ago—which Immigration and Customs Enforcement repeatedly denies—to protest the detention center's alleged poor health and mental care, and other types of severe abuse. Some alleged witnessing guards beat Deniz-Sahagún  and then put him in solitary confinement. However, the medical examiner's autopsy report says he was a troubled person who was on suicide watch since arriving to Eloy.

The organization Puente Human Rights Movement issued this response after the autopsy results emerged:

“We mourn the death of Jose de Jesus and will continue to demand justice for him, others who have died in Eloy, and all those subjected to the ongoing abuse, neglect, and terror that happens there," said Francisca Porchas, organizing director of Puente. "Recently, the murders of black and brown people because of law enforcement that have happened on our streets have made national news. Is it any stretch to believe they are also killing our people, via direct assault or medical neglect, behind the walls and bars of detention facilities? ”

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva last week sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch backing up requests for the Department of Justice to launch a public investigation into allegations of abuse and two deaths at Eloy. 

"We won't stop until we have the truth, justice for all our people, and until detention ends, once and for all," the event's Facebook page says. 

The vigil starts at 7 p.m.

Last year there was a lot of buzz surrounding the new Phoenix-area Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. A piece in Esquire and a best new brewery recognition from the online community of beer geeks over at RateBeer.com proved the Kickstarter-funded brewery was churning out some of the tastiest and most inventive brews in the world. 

With a focus on using local grain and more, the brewery continues to put out unique brews with new, limited quantity offerings coming out of the fermenter all of the time. The quantities are so limited, in fact, that you can't really get their beer outside of their restaurant and taproom location in Gilbert for much longer than a week or two, unless, of course, it's a special tasting event. That's why when the brewing team hits up Tap & Bottle (403 N. Sixth Ave. Ste. 135) on Thursday, June 25, you'll want to make sure you get there in time to sample each beer they're bringing to town.

Here's what you can expect:

• Refuge IPA (6.8%) - West Coast IPA brewed with Centennial, Simcoe, Cascade, and Columbus hops. 
  
• Petting Feral Cats (3.7%) - This collaboration with Sun King Brewing Company has a light sweet note from Indiana hickory syrup and pleasant pine aromatics with Sun King's propietary saison yeast.
  
• Santa Teresa (5.2%) - Our Belgian Single or Enkel brewed in a true Monastic Styl. with Westmalle yeast. 

As well as a yet-to-be-released Chocolate Bunny Imperial Milk Porter, which is a collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal Ales of Baltimore. 

Now, there's two reasons you'll want to head to the event early, which kicks off at 5 p.m. First, once those four kegs are tapped, they're gone, and it'd be a shame to miss them. However, T&B owner Rebecca Safford says an extra incentive for the first 15 people to arrive and pet the beard of either Jonathan Buford, Patrick Ware or Brett Dettler (a.k.a. the trio behind Arizona Wilderness) will get a free "Petting Feral Cats" Wilderness shirt.

If you're not in the petting mood, though, just head to the bar and get yourself a tasty brew. No pressure.

We Tucsonans know that the best Mexican restaurants north of the border are found right here in the our town, but it was not until recently that the vortex of sabor Mexicana was identified with “The Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food”! With the skill of a corrupt redistricting commission, all of the best Mexican eateries were gerrymandered into one district!

Of course, the identification of the “Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food” is a challenge to lesser regions, the likes of which cannot hold a candle to the eateries of the Old Pueblo, but it also is an opportunity for us locals to take a look around and see if we missed something special, or to reconnect with some with some old favorites.

To that end, the foodies at the "Wake Up Tucson!" radio show have joined with Gray Line Tours to create the first ever “Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food! Tour”. The tour starts at El Mercado San Agustin at 5:30 p.m.. The plan is to be done by 9:00 p.m,. The organizers offer three guarantees: 1, You will bring goodies home with you; 2, You will eat amazing food; 3, You will have new places to take your friends the next time someone asks, "Where are going to eat tonight?"

For more information, or to book your reservation, call Gray Line at 622-8811.

How do you like your barbecue—dry rubbed and smoked or slathered in sweet and tangy sauce? Well, regardless of your 'cuin' preference, you're going to want to head to the inaugural Smokin' Showdown cookoff event. For the first time ever, Hotel Congress will be putting local barbecuers in head-to-head competition to try to determine who Tucson's top pitmaster is.

This year, Chillin n' Grillin BBQ, Edge Catering, Gary Ray’s Smokehouse, The Cup Cafe, Acacia and Brushfire BBQ will compete alongside the brand new Rusty Truck BBQ. Rusty Truck will be making its Tucson premier the night of the Smokin' Showdown, showcasing what we can expect from the mobile BBQ unit in the future. Although the truck has roots in Kansas, the caterer and food cart looks to bring some of that flavor right here in town by serving up smoking meats from a converted six-foot old, rusty water tank, grilled brownies and other BBQ faves like mac and cheese.  

Inside Tucson Business contributor and On the Menu Live host Matt Russell will be judging the BBQ throwdown, alongside executive chef Daniel Perez of the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and CJ Hamm of Tucson Foodie. The team that is judged to have the best brisket in Tucson based on appearance, taste and tenderness will get bragging rights, the title of Old Pueblo's Pitmaster and a commemorative trophy belt.

The neighboring Pueblo Vida Brewing Co. will be on site to serve up pints to thirsty guests, and local band Greyhound Soul will perform. Best of all, proceeds from the event go to benefit Steele Children’s Research Center. 

The first Smokin' Showdown barbecue cookoff kicks off at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 and runs until 9 p.m. Tickets are available for $30 in advance or $35 the day of the event (if it doesn't sell out), which includes two ounces of barbecue from all seven vendors, two sides, one draft pint and a vote for People’s Choice. You can snatch your spot at the Smokin' Showdown and find more information on the event by visiting the Hotel Congress website.