Honoring Al

By Jimmy Boegle

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I'll be the first to admit that I didn't know much about Al Perry until I read this week's cover package, penned by Stephen Seigel and Jim Nintzel. I'd seen him perform a couple of Club Crawls ago, and I met him briefly at Hotel Congress a few weeks back--I shook his hand, and he said nice things about the paper. He seemed about as cool as someone can be. I'd also heard Jim rave about Perry, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

When the folks from Hotel Congress contacted me several weeks ago and pitched Al's new CD and 20th anniversary wingding as a cover story, I told them I'd discuss it with Stephen and Jim. ("If you can put Jeb Schoonover on the cover, then Al certainly merits a cover" was how they phrased it, with no disrespect meant to Jeb.) Well, given Jim's aforementioned raving--and the fact that you can see Al's smiling mug on the cover--it's obvious that Steve and Jim thought Al would make for a fine cover story. Check it out for yourself, on page 20.

· Consider this a friendly heads-up about some upcoming goings-on that you should know about.

First up is the 18th annual version of that fall classic we call Best of Tucson®. It's coming together, and will hit the streets on Sept. 23. Look for it in four short weeks!

Second up is our annual Fall Club Crawl® (gosh, aren't ® symbols fun?), slated for Oct. 16. Mark your calendars; admission info is coming soon.