Any way you look at it, palindromes never change. Read the same way backwards and forwards, palindromes are solid and unchanging. Take the words "racecar" and "radar" for example. Flip them backwards and they look the same.

The irony of local Tucson band Able Was I seems implicit in its name. The moniker is a fragment from the famous palindrome "Able was I ere I saw Elba," a reference to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's expulsion to Elba. For a band working under such an immutable construction, Able Was I has thrived on change. [Read article]

Last Friday, I realized I'd hit bottom when I had no choice but to wear a dress to class. So, Saturday afternoon, I decided it was time to do my laundry.

Instead of competing to use the washing and drying machines at my apartment complex, I went to the charmingly offbeat Empire Laundry. (You know, next door to the Buffet, Tucson's favorite dive bar.)

While waiting for my underwear to dry, I didn't plan on meeting an ex-con or a Korean War vet, or getting an earful about a community of Tucson I never knew existed. But I did. This is how it went down. [Read article]

Everyone knows the book is always better than the movie. And every comic book fan knows the movie is always full of wild inaccuracies that sully the very heart and soul of the characters portrayed. There's just no explaining to some people that the paneled page and the big screen are simply two different mediums with two different sets of requirements. For example, the thought bubble translates to the voice-over, and extensive use of voice-over in an action movie is a big mistake. [Read article]

Bumblebeez 81 - Printz
1 out of 5 stars

Sounds Like: You'll hear this at a frat party; just give it a month.

See Also: Beck, Beastie Boys

The masses have been quivering for something new to download or use in a clever VW commercial, and the music industry has answered with Bumblebeez 81.

What does that "81" mean? Who knows? The band would have been simply named Bumblebeez, but the name was taken by a children's music group. Recently the group's video for Pony Ride has been in heavy rotation on MTV, or so those with cable will tell you. [Read article]

Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminal Starvation League - From the End of Your Leash
3 out of 5 stars

Why does every even mildly country-tinged artist pine away for Nashville? I know it's the epicenter of all things twangy, but can we be a bit more democratic? How about Boulder, Colorado? Kenosha? Newark?

Bobby Bare Jr. pens his ode to Nashville with a decidedly satirical edge. On "Visit Me in Music City," Bare sings, "Guitar picks come out of gumball machines/Record deals fly in and out like happy bumblebees." While obviously enamored with country music, Bare doesn't hesitate to parody. [Read article]