Frida's Christmas Surprise

We hope this will bring you a little Christmas joy. Shot in 3 hours, edited in 3 hours, audio in 2. Shot entirely with a Sony Cyber-shot and edited on some free software Andrew happened to have.

In Search of Cheeseburgers

It was Andrew's birthday yesterday. We spent all weekend in pursuit of cheeseburgers as part of the celebration.

Cheeseburger #1: Barrio Brewery. Cheeseburger okay. Shuffleboard better.

Cheeseburger #2: Lucky Strike. The best of all four. Unanimous consensus on this one.

Cheeseburger #3: Great American Cattle Company. The staff was really nice, but it was so far away it was like going to another town, and the place was in a strip mall (and felt like it. I need to specify because there are a lot of good restaurants in strip malls in Tucson that don't necessarily have "strip mall vibe"). Tasty steaks but overpriced in my opinion.

Cheeseburger #4: The Flying V at Lowe's Ventana Canyon Resort. I got the idea to take Andrew out there since I believe they have the biggest Christmas tree in town in the hotel lobby (pictured above), and I was hoping we could sip a cocktail by it. Also they boast lovely views of the valley (pictured above). Alas, the place was so empty and poorly lit...there was this depressing lounge singer...the decor was not old enough to be retro, but just old enough to be outdated. Once in the restaurant we were further disenchanted by the motif--a hodgepodge of whatever some tasteless designer with no real knowledge of Southwestern art thought was "Southwesty". It reminded me of the economy, it seemed to scream "'Resort living' belongs to a bygone era". I had a vision of Lowe's Ventana Canyon slipping into abandon, becoming a lovely ruin to visit and a refuge for Javalinas, coyotes and bats...

Cheeseburger #0: We were gonna have a cheeseburger at Daisy Mae's or Lindy's but both were closed :(

Cafe Zope

A Swedish dude named Niklas opened Cafe Zope (coffee shop/crêperie) with Sabine Blaese (owner of Cafe Passe, pictured above) on 4th (344 N. 4th Ave. across the street from Hippie Gypsy right next to Che's lounge). "His intention is to wedge a bit of Europe into that strip [...]" source: email forwarded from a forward. The opening of Cafe Zope was Friday, December 5th and included art, food, wine and Naim Amor.

"What the Animals Had to Say" and More Art News

Jorge Porrata's MFA thesis show, the book of fables: What the Animals Had To Say, is at Tooley's on 278 E. Congress; that's the SW corner of Congress and 5th.

Also Raices, 6th on street, east of 6th Ave has three prints.

Make a day of it:


Arts Incubator Gallery
108 E. Congress
Jim Boehme/Leigh Spigelman

Rocket Gallery
270 E. Congress
Shara Rowley Plough

Central Arts Gallery
274 E. Congress
Celebration of Line

PLay (PREMIER EXHIBITION OF NEW ART GALLERY!)
276 E. Congress
Black and White Show

Tooley's on Congress
278 E. Congress
Jorge Porrata

Dinnerware Artspace
264 E. Congress
(Next 7 UP is January 5th, 2009)

Hotel Congress Lobby
311 E. Congress

New blog launch: Tu Scene for Tucson's art bloggers

New art gallery on 4th--Center for Creative Chaos--is looking for submissions:

"We are in need of art work of all kinds of which 70% goes to the submitter and
30 % to the gallery for social change activities. Contact:

Ron Austin: chakazuluu[at]gmail[dot]com

Sonia Sosa: sosason[at]hotmail[dot]com

The Near At Hand

People sometimes ask me why I love Tucson. Maybe this echoes part of the answer:

"One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure in the common, the near at hand--to see that heaven lies about us here in this world."
--John Burroughs (1837-1921) Naturalist

Cosmic Bowling at Lucky Strike

I love cosmic bowling because:

1. I love hanging with my co-bowlers.
2. I like bowling non-competitively. It's hard to be competitive under disco lights.
2. I like to dance between turns.
3. I like to drink light beer.
4. Lucky strike does a mean cheeseburger.

My favorite cosmic hits of the evening:

JLo: "Doing it Well"
Madonna and Timberlake: "Four Minutes"
Katy Perry: "I Kissed a Girl", not to be confused with Jill Sobule's "I Kissed a Girl"

The Gila Woodpecker

The territorial, noisy rubythroated hummingbirds could never top the Gila Woodpecker. She is beautiful, but louder than a rooster. Our dog thinks she must rush and bark at her. I have a Gila woodpecker ringtone from Rare Earthtones. It reminds me of my annoying, feathered friend. You should get one, too.

Apparently others feel similarly. "Real" citation from Wikipedia on the Gila Woodpecker: "the desert woodpecker is the dumbest woodpecker in the desert"

John Mizell and Kira Runtzel at No Anchovies

Weird story. This couple of young hikers, John Mizell and Kira Runtzel, got stranded in a snowstorm recently. As we were celebrating Dr. D-ivine's D-fence at No Anchovies the news came on. Right as the anchors were talking about Mizell and Runtzel, they happened to walk through the gate. We noticed because a group of friends was apparently waiting to welcome them home and they cheered. We were then watching Mizell and Runtzel watching themselves on TV and I took a picture of the group which is now posted on the internets.

Postdata: Check out Mizell's comment below "Get the whole scoop at jpmizell.blogspot.com. Rad indeed.

Golden Nail Spa

I've gotten my nails done in about five different places, but Golden Nail Spa is da bomb-diggity because:

1. They are careful and detail-oriented.
2. They are considerate.
3. They have awesome massage chairs and a huge TV.

Tip: take your own nail polish, (like Sally Hanson's No Chip 10 Day Color), and also follow-up at home with a more heavy duty topcoat than theirs and your manicure will last longer.

Yes, I am a girl.

Sushi-Cho, the Lucky Cats and Us

One night after doing the aforephotographed damage at Sushi-Cho, (our friendly neighborhood sushi restaurant), my husband--who had the good graces to get "a little snookered" with me and my friends--decided he wanted to buy one of their Maneki Neko, a.k.a. lucky cats. You know, like the aforephotographed one?

They wouldn't sell it to him; the cats are not for sale. But my husband won't take no for an answer. He wants me to convince them, tell them I write a local blog, etc.

I probably don't know enough about the cultural background involved, but I can imagine it would be bad luck to give-in to a white--albeit sincere--guy experimenting with monopoly rent.