AltWeeklies Wire
Devendra Banhart: 'What Will We Be'new

After making the transition from his early ramshackle folk into the bombastic shape-shifting of 2007's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Devendra Banhart attempts here to appropriate his entire career, with mixed results.
Tucson Weekly |
Michael Petitti |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: What Will We Be, Devendra Banhart
Cold Cave: 'Love Comes Close'new

On Cold Cave's debut, the music works as minimalist dance pop, but everything about the way it's contextualized is awful. The title song, essentially a morbid exaltation of love and death set to disco beats, nicely distills the band's lack of imagination.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Candye Kane's More Than 20 Years of Blues, Country, Roots Rock and Jazznew

The singer's most recent challenge was the discovery that she had pancreatic cancer, an illness she has since overcome. The healing process inspired her to create her ninth album, Superhero, which was released earlier this year by Delta Groove Records.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
12-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Superhero, Candye Kane
'Invictus' Starts Out Strong, But Devolves Into a Mediocre Sports Movienew
The film seems like it's on its way to greatness in the beginning, with Nelson Mandela dealing with the difficulties of being South Africa's first black president. Unfortunately, the film goes off track; by its underwhelming sporting-event finale, it has completely lost focus.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Bronson' Fails at Melding Violence, Artsy Filmmaking and Naked Penisesnew
Knowing that there's an audience of action-loving young men who'll pay to see violence and bloodshed, director Nicolas Winding Refn loaded his movie up with fighting, Dada-esque mime sequences and full frontal male nudity. Because: Huh?
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Bronson, Nicolas Winding Refn
A Congressman Uncovers Two Studies Showing the Impacts of Illegal Immigration, Smugglingnew
The federal government's border fence has been called the Tortilla Curtain. But in the swamp of border politics, there's a more effective barrier at play, one that filters ideas rather than people. It explains why most Americans still don't fully understand the disaster on our southern border.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
Water Rights: An Activist Faces Prison after Refusing his Sentence for 'Littering'new
On Dec. 4, a year after he was cited for littering on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, activist Walt Staton was back in federal court, because he refused to pick up garbage.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
Genetic Detectives: Find Out Where You Fit on the Family Treenew

I'm one of more than 300,000 people who have sent cheek cells to the Genographic Project, an effort of the National Geographic Society and IBM that hopes to assemble a database of DNA samples to better understand the migrations of humans tens of thousands of years ago.
Tucson Weekly |
Jim Nintzel |
12-10-2009 |
Science
Lottery Promotionnew
The lottery finds itself in a somewhat awkward position on advertising. Officials want to maximize sales, but they have to be wary of targeting specific demographic groups, even if national experience indicates some might be more fertile markets.
Arkansas Times |
Arkansas Times Staff |
12-10-2009 |
Economy
Tags: advertising, lottery
Our critics’ picks: The films, albums and books that defined a decadenew
Josh Bell adds another feather to "Eternal Sunshines' cap while Mike D'Angelo hands the crown to Memento. Spencer Paterson says Radiohead ruled another decade, and John Freeman on The True History of the Kelly Gang.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Las Vegas Weekly Staff |
12-10-2009 |
Commentary
Reviewed: 'The State vs. Radric Davis' by Atlanta MC Gucci Manenew

Many have tried, but no other rapper quite matches Gucci’s reckless bravado and goofy charm. He’s got an uncanny ability to make light of the dazzling, chaotic storm that is his life.
Washington City Paper |
Ben Westhoff |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Money, Environmental and Political Worries Halt Big Bridgenew
AFTER YEARS OF steamrolling steadily in the same direction, the controversial Columbia River Crossing (CRC) plan has hit gridlock as leaders of the I-5 bridge replacement project clearly split last Friday.
The Portland Mercury |
Sarah Mirk |
12-10-2009 |
Transportation
Community Members, Police Struggle for Answers After 26th Homicide in Salinasnew

Jose Espinoza's neighbor recalls jumping out of bed when shots rang out at 5:30am on his north Salinas street. He heard the 25-year-old scream and was there alongside Espinoza's mother and sister feeling for a pulse.
Monterey County Weekly |
Zachary Stahl |
12-10-2009 |
Crime & Justice
The Wake School Board's Conservative Bloc Grabs Powernew
Three days after their tumultuous debut on the Wake County Board of Education, the four newly elected members were briefed by the board's attorney on local meeting protocols and requirements of the state's Open Public Meetings Law.
Tags: school board, politics
‘This’ is Really Itnew
There’s something potent about Melissa James Gibson’s haunting new play This at Playwrights Horizons, something that draws you into the story even as you find yourself intermittently annoyed by the prospect of more floundering yuppies coming to terms with their mortality.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
12-10-2009 |
Theater