John Bailey’s tale involves paperwork, bureaucrats, attorneys, clerks, Latin, gratuitous use of the word “pursuant,” a seven-month Kafkaesque man vs. machina existential run-around and myriad references to statutes 13-4304 through 13-4311 subsection M of the Arizona criminal code. Sorry. But it must be so. For this is a story about…
Pullet Surprise If David Holthouse had checked with the Secretary of State, he’d have found that the campaign to stop cockfighting didn’t spend 600 times as much money as the cockfighters, which his figures implied, but roughly twice as much. This is quite normal as it takes more money to…
Various artists Unsigned 1 — Nuth’n But Hits (Ameritone Records) Picking up a compilation of local unsigned bands is like spying your co-worker’s kid selling chocolates around the office — the rush of generosity is usually supplanted by a sick, queasy feeling in the back of your gullet. All the…
In a world where we’re given daily reminders of man’s often incomprehensible cruelty and horrifying savagery (war, genocide, Sting’s recent duet with the Backstreet Boys), it’s heartening to know that the annual New Times Music Showcase can serve as a universal touchstone, a beacon of harmony and consensus that people…
Click Here for the Photo Gallery In June 1999 as I began my first week at New Times, my predecessor as music editor brought a large box into my office. “What’s this?” I asked. “Pictures.” “Pictures of what?” “Local music pictures. It’s an archive of our old stuff.” Nearly 25…
A grinning J. Fife Symington III steps into the 10th-floor elevator at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, joining three reporters who are covering his civil fraud trial. Three union pension funds seek to block the bankruptcy and win an $18 million judgment against him. “A few years ago, this is the…
Federal prosecutors are expected to retry former Arizona governor J. Fife Symington III on multiple bank and wire fraud charges, sources tell New Times. The charges are expected to include the six counts on which Symington was convicted in September 1997. Those convictions were overturned in June by the Ninth…
“I defy anyone to say this landscape has been harmed by grazing,” says Peter Warren as he drives State Route 83 south toward Sonoita. Warren looks like an environmentalist — he’s got the beard, the spectacles, the granola wardrobe. And he talks like one, too — biodiversity, wildlife corridors –…
Leticia Calderon is not an actress. And, on stage, as she maneuvers her extremely pregnant body over to the stove to fetch her husband’s dinner, the pained look on her face doesn’t stem from any motivational acting technique she learned in school. This is essentially real life. She serves her…
Two years ago, Arizona voters approved the Clean Elections initiative, a law that offers public funding to state and legislative candidates who agree to voluntary campaign spending limits. But with the law in limbo — pending a ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court — it’s increasingly likely that there will…
Documenting Undocumented The article “Phoenix or Busted” (David Holthouse and Amanda Scioscia, April 6) was well done. I was born and raised in Douglas and my family still resides there. My brother-in-law is the director of the U.S. Customs port of entry there and I am very familiar with “a…
The cover charge for Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza’s April 12 “State of the City” address and luncheon — brought to you by AT&T and the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce — was 55 bucks. That’s pretty stiff to hear a public official deliver an assessment of the community he serves…
“Here in this hole that we have fixed/We get further and further and further from what/We must do.” So sings Chan Marshall in a slurry/sleepy voice on “In This Hole,” the emotional centerpiece, and the only self-penned number, on The Covers Record. The album’s already being dubbed “Chan Gets Difficult…
Braid Movie Music Vol. One and Vol. Two (Polyvinyl Record Co.) Lucky to Be Alive (Glue Factory Records) It’s nothing unusual for a band to release singles collections and live albums posthumously; hell, most bands release such compilations a third of the way through their careers. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois’, Braid has…
Leroy Percy Years in the Making (Reckless Abandon Music) Somebody took a ball-peen hammer and shattered Leroy Percy’s heart into so many pieces they’re still finding parts as far north as Pinnacle Peak Road and down south along the banks of the Gila River. Luckily for Phoenicians, the local singer-songwriter…
In 1987, Derrick Lee was selling roofs in Huntington Beach, California. He had no interest in politics. But he had this unemployed roommate. One day Lee noticed some help-wanted ads for paid petition circulators — the folks you see outside the library and the supermarket who ask you to sign…
Here are the texts of key initiatives for which organizers are seeking signatures in Arizona. With the exception of Healthy Arizona 2, Lee Petition Management is working for all of them. The texts were obtained from the secretary of state. English Language Education for Children in Public Schools Requires that…
At long last, Ralph Brekan felt like he’d entered the world of professional film production. Granted, it was just a cheesy commercial for an oil company, but after years of making home movies in his backyard, this gig was the real deal. Brekan, then an 18-year-old film student at Scottsdale…
Marketing consultant Marty Baird didn’t know what to expect when he interviewed for a job at Hi-Health Supermart Corporation in 1996. Mainly, he wasn’t sure if Sy Chalpin, the founder and president of the Arizona-based health food store chain, would want him as a consultant or a full-time employee. But…
Even if you have devoured every word about the cinematic adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho, about a Wall Street yuppie obsessed with using skin-care products and devouring the entrails of prostitutes, you have not read this one particular fact. And it is a fact. No one…
Village Voices The article “Hood Winked” (Edward Lebow, March 30) is a wake-up call. However, has anyone taken the time to stop moaning and groaning about what the city won’t do, and post fliers around the “neighborhoods” asking for volunteers to clean up their own neighborhoods? It only takes one…
I admit it. I’ve gone to cockfights. I’ve bet on which rooster would kill the other, and I’ve exulted in every flashing, bloodletting stroke of my chosen chicken’s blade. Allow me to explain myself. Part of the allure is the wagering, men and women shouting odds and waving cash. Part…
