Once upon a time, in my early days working here at Tucson Weekly, I had the job of driving bundles of the paper from Phoenix to Tucson. It meant arriving at the printing press in Mesa before sunrise, loading the pallets into the back of a rented box truck and making that long drive down Interstate-10 every week, so I got to know the road pretty well.
I imagine just about everyone in this town has made that drive, some more often than others. This week, Tom Zoellner—author of books such as A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America and Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World—shares his own personal history of traveling between Phoenix and Tucson.
Speaking of history: Arts writer Margaret Regan visits Tohono Chul Park to take in Copper State, a show that examines the beauty and blight of the precious metal that so much of our lives depend on. As beautiful as copper can be, its extraction leaves behind terrible scars on our landscape—which is why so many people are fighting to stop the Rosemont Mine that's been proposed in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.
Elsewhere in the book: Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith introduces to the "Legend of Alvernon"; music contributor Mark Horn accepts the testimony of the Rev. Horn Heat; comedy correspondent Linda Ray gets on the edge of this year's Fringe Festival; Chow writer Mark Whittaker gets a bite at American Mexicano; movie critic Bob Grimm says you should spare yourself the sight of Bird Box; and there's plenty more to guide you through the week ahead in Tucson.
See you in fast lane!
— Jim Nintzel Executive Editor
Hear Nintz talk about what's happening in Tucson's entertainment scene Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. during The Frank Show on KLPX, 96.1 FM. He'll also talk politics on the Buckmaster Show between noon and 1 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 11, on KVOI, 1030 AM.
