Author Archive: Jamie Manser

Copper & Congress’ “Fault Line”

September 12, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Copper & Congress
Photo: Jimi Giannatti

Vocals by a siren/oracle, a perfect balance of bass and understated drumming comprise Copper and Congress’ sound and the trio of amazing musicians conjure magic on Fault Line.

There’s glorious, haunting sparseness – a sparseness that is just one element constituting the album’s many auditory seductions. There’s exquisite, measured tension and release that teeters and edges and splashes and dives into soulful, jazzy bliss. The moody album is beautifully recorded and produced and reflects the live performances with its dark, wry emotional pull.

Copper and Congress celebrates its sophomore release on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St., with Sweet Ghosts and Steff and the Articles joining the bill. The show starts at 9 p.m.

Singer Katie Haverly discusses the album, the band’s history and upcoming tour in the following Q&A.

According to the band’s website, (bassist) Patrick Morris is a Tucson native, you hail from upstate New York and (drummer) Julius Schlosburg comes from Baltimore. How long have you two non-natives been in Tucson and what brought you two here?

I have been in Tucson for about three years now and Julius the same. I just got back from traveling for about six months around the world and settled on Tucson with my ex. Julius’s girlfriend was accepted into a graduate program at U of A and that’s why he is here.

How/when did the three of you coalesce into Copper & Congress? What drew the three of you together?

(Bassist) Patrick Morris and I started playing together about two and a half years ago from an open mic night encounter. Julius auditioned for the band about a year ago after we lost our original drummer. We all vibed musically and were serious about making this band a priority.

The album sounds great! Clean without coming off as over produced. It is very true to the live shows. What drew the band to recording at Wavelab? How long was the process – from songwriting, to recording, mixing to pressing and release?

Thanks! We recorded our first album at Wavelab and loved the selection of instruments and equipment there. We figured the second time we would be familiar with the space/process and feel comfortable creating there. This album has been about a year in the making. We spent about 10 days recording in the studio over three different sessions starting in January, mixing for another four to five days and then mastering. The songs were composed over the last year and a half, we were writing still even as we were in the studio so we were capturing the newest compositions while they were fresh.

What are the band members’ musical backgrounds? Was there formal schooling, self-taught, etc? How long has everyone been playing music? Looks like everyone is a multi-instrumentalist!

I started playing guitar about 20 years ago, and have been singing ever since I was a child – starting in choirs, musicals, etc. I wrote my first song in college and was self-taught in every way. I have been recording and performing as a singer songwriter for the last 17 years and have three solo records that I recorded before the incarnation of this band. I’ve been playing the keyboard avidly for about two years now.

Patrick started on the piano when he was 8, and picked up the bass when he was 12, so he’s been playing bass for about 11 years. He was classically trained in marimba and vibraphone while in high school and toured Europe with the Arizona Ambassadors playing orchestral music when he was 15. He’s played in metal bands, fusion groups, jazz ensembles, and studied with bassists Victor Wooten, Chuck Rainey, and Anthony Wellington.

Julius has been playing drums for about 15 years. He has had training from several teachers on and off for most of that time, and was a member of a jazz trio in Baltimore. He’s also been a part of several Maryland and Tucson rock bands over the years.

Copper & Congress
Photo: Jimi Giannatti

What different influences do the members bring to the table? What bands/artists would you say Copper & Congress rips off the most?

We are all coming from different musical backgrounds so it’s pretty interesting to see the spread of genres, although we are all influencing each others tastes at the same time! The artists that I love the most right now are Hiatus Kaiyote and Laura Marling. I’ve always loved especially gifted singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Patrick is into Robert Glasper, D’Angelo, J Dilla, and Erykah Badu. Julius is into the heavy stuff like Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc. I think we probably sound a lot like Portishead, maybe a little Erykah Badu, Hiatus Kaiyote, and Joni Mitchell in there too.

What music styles do the individual band members dig the most and is that reflected in the styles Copper & Congress brings forth?

Patrick listens to a lot of hip-hop and R&B, and Julius is big into the post-bop and jazz fusion scenes, and there is some of that mixed in to our music. I really have gotten a lot more into more groove based music since I met Patrick, but I am always a sucker for the intellectual, emotional beautiful singer songwriter.

Do y’all have day jobs? I ask because I see that the band is on tour in October and November. It’s a wide-ranging tour! From Hermosillo to Seattle! Is the band comprised of road warriors or is the band flying to these different locales?

Yes, as of right now we each have day jobs. I am a certified life coach that primarily works with creative artists, Patrick works at a music store, and Julius works in IT. We’re definitely road warriors. We love to get to see the different environments and beautiful ecosystems of the country we live in while traveling to play music! Also flying is hideously expensive with gear.

The album’s liner notes show that you wrote all of the songs. Is that inclusive of the lyrics and the music? Is the music scribing a collaborative process?

Most of the songs on this record I wrote the music and lyrics for except Deja Vu where Rey contributed the lyrics for his verse and Patrick came up with the chord progressions and feel. Whenever I write a song and present it to the band though, it is always open to change and reformation. I love collaborating on arrangement and feel and the guys always have a lot of interesting and worthwhile ideas.

What kind of mood/state are you in when you write? What inspires your songs?

I think the mood/state depends on the song. I am the type of person that feels things very deeply and really love to observe people and the environment I’m in. So often the combination of these two traits leads me to impulses and ideas I want to express through music and words to process a feeling, experience, realization or observation. Recently I have become very interested in the idea of vibrationally emitting messages that affect our audience in a very positive, nurturing, uplifting and informed way and my writing is tending to lean in that direction instead of the deeply personal and exposing songs I have often written in the past. Writing helps me process what it means to be human in a deeply satisfying way

How often does the band practice and gig?

We try and get together at least once a week to shed old material and work on new stuff. Often though we will practice four or five times in a week if we don’t have any gigs lined up. Usually we have at least four gigs a month regionally.

What else would you like to share?

Just that we love each other and we love the gift of music and the opportunity to share it with others. It is truly a lifelong path for each of us and we feel so blessed to have found each other and to have the chance to share what we are learning.

More information on Copper and Congress is at CopperandCongress.com. The Saturday, Sept. 13 show details are on Facebook here.

Copper & Congress
Photo: Jimi Giannatti

Carly Quinn’s Business & Artistic Acumen

August 31, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Carly Quinn at the front counter of her production studio/gallery.
Photo: Jimi Giannatti

It’s mid-August and Carly Quinn is summarizing her summer; a lot has happened since we first got together in June. In a mere couple of months, she’s garnered coverage in Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine, was an exhibitor at the Dwell on Design L.A. convention, scored editorial coverage in an upcoming issue of Dwell magazine, expanded her production department – both equipment and bodies, picked up new clients, and has been working on opening a satellite gallery in the Foothills this month.

What’s all the hubbub about?

Tile. Beautiful, ubiquitous, functional, artistic tile. Carly Quinn Designs offers custom, hand-made glazed tile – produced at 403 N. 6th Ave. in Downtown Tucson – and has gone international.

“I got into a gallery in Israel and they bought a bunch of my Arabesque designs,” Quinn says. She slightly shakes her head of curly blonde hair, with a smile that seems somewhat perplexed by the adventitious happenstance.

“Arabesque?” I have no idea what that means in the design world, but it sounds cool. Her striking blue eyes refocus, explaining, “Arabesque is a Moorish-based design, a curvilinear design.”

Getting into an Israeli gallery and into a forthcoming issue of Dwell magazine both stemmed from her participation as an exhibitor at the 2014 Dwell on Design L.A. convention. The mid-June event ran three days. “It’s a show for buyers, architects and designers,” Quinn details. “We didn’t make a ton of sales but we made a lot of contacts.”

Networking is a method that has worked well for the 30-year-old artist/business owner. Gathering contacts, taking chances, knocking on doors, good ol’ perseverance and the gorgeous high-quality product has kept the doors open for over three years and is growing the business steadily – a business she started with $800 and a folding table.

“We’re getting more orders, orders for galleries and a couple wholesale people we have, like Mexican Tile & Stone Company, their orders started to increase pretty significantly and I think that’s why I started hiring more people.

“Beyond our custom work, which has been increasing every month, our big thing is we got an account with this company called Avila Retail. They’re based in Albuquerque, and that just happened in February. They own 40 retail shops in six different international airports. And that was when things started to get really nuts over here. So we’re shipping out hundreds and hundreds of tiles to them every month. Right now, we’re in three shops at Sky Harbor (International Airport), we’re in one shop in Albuquerque, and they are putting us in San Francisco International and Denver International. So, that’s pretty sweet!”

Curious about her connection creating process, I inquire: “How did they find out about you?”

Carly chuckles, her face lights up, and she explains: “Well, I, on a whim… I got a wild hair up my ass in late January when (husband) Anthony and I had a day off. ‘Let’s drive to Albuquerque, I want to see these people.’ I saw their shop at the Phoenix airport – we were waiting for our flight to Austin for Thanksgiving I think – and I walked into one of their shops and noticed there was a lot of handmade stuff. And it took me a little bit of time to kind of work up the courage to just do it, to go up there (to Avila Retail in Albuquerque) and see what they would say, and it went really well. They were kind enough to let me present my work to them. And then they placed an order for four of their stores right there in their shop.”

Finding and expanding the number of distribution shops is perpetual, she says, “I’m always in work mode no matter where I am or what I’m doing. For instance, when we were in Austin, I had my iPhone out writing down every single store I thought my stuff would be good in, and I’d take the list and I’d email people and I’d call them, doing a lot of marketing stuff for myself. And two thirds of the time, people are not interested, one third of the time, they are.” Her shrug says c’est la vie. “I’m constantly thinking about it, it can get a little annoying. I’m very driven to take care of the business end, and I like it.”

Quinn’s laid-back exterior belies her ambition. As they say, still waters run deep. For a small business to survive, the leader must be driven, but it doesn’t mean one has to be Type-A. With mellow measure and artistic acumen, Carly is at the helm with artists and musicians Keli Carpenter, Lisa Lemke, Katie Carr and Dani Hawley helping Quinn keep the ship afloat and running smoothly. The staff keeps the kiln fires lit, firing tiles that get shipped out several times a week at a rate of 20 to 50 boxes weekly. It is work that must be done both quickly and accurately; the process of silk screening and glazing the tiles takes skill.

“We have to train everyone extensively. It takes a lot,” Quinn says. “We can’t just hire anyone. You have to be artistic, you have to have a steady hand, you have to have an eye for color. And, you have to know what you are doing with the glaze.”

Quinn glazes a tile sky. photo: Jamie Manser

Glaze. To the untrained eye, the pre-fired glazed tiles look like blobs and swirls of brown and grey, green-grey, brown-grey, light grey, dark grey, but just hues of brown and grey. It is the chemical reactions taking place in the kiln that bring the array of colors to life.

“It’s my favorite thing ever, watching those colors develop and blend and the chemistry behind it all. And I’ve never taken any kind of ceramics class ever, so, largely self-taught when it comes to firing and figuring out what is going on with glazed colors. Which can be really frustrating. It doesn’t look like anything before you fire it, but over the course of nine years of making tile, now it is really easy for me to discern what the glaze I put on is going to look like,” she explains.

“Do you still get surprised?”

Her response is an immediate, “Oh yeah, almost every day! Constantly problem solving, finding new glaze combinations that work really well together. I think one thing, over the course of playing around with these colors for nine years is figuring out what colors blend well together, what colors work in the kiln – under our firing circumstances – and what colors don’t. I’ve been able to source and mix some really amazing reds, orange and yellow colors that no one else has. I think that developing a painterly quality in my work also sets us apart from other people that make tile. It’s pretty hard.”

Quinn is no stranger to hard work. Her art education took five and a half years, resulting in a Bachelors in illustration, a Bachelors in fine art, a minor in graphic design and website design, and a minor in art history. The last couple years of her college career, Quinn worked with a tile artist, which set her on her tile-paved path.

She says it is the functionality of tile, “that had a big draw for me because going into college, knowing I was getting the degrees I was getting I was really scared about finding a job, but art was the only thing I wanted to do, ever, with my life. So I was going to do it, but I had to find a way to not be starving all the time. So I thought that tile would be a good way to maybe not be starving all the time because people love tile and it is functional.”

We look around her studio/gallery/shop in the historic Old Market Inn, surveying the different types of tile on display. There’s the previously mentioned Arabesque designs, along with her new Alhambra-inspired mural, a bevy of flower tiles, Sonoran desert scenes, Día de los Muertos skulls colorfully adorned, and even house numbers and field tiles – all in various sizes to suit any purpose. They are presented on tables or hanging from the walls of exposed brick, illuminated by natural light that comes through the floor-to-ceiling front windows.

Carly Quinn Designs is located in the 1880-built Old Market Inn on 6th Avenue.
Photo: Jimi Giannatti

She points out the second kiln that’s been brought in to keep up with demand, and gestures over the area that will be re-allocated to production. “Everything is going to move up, ” she says, motioning towards the front/east end of the shop.

It’s a great place to have a little tile factory/gallery – the 1,000 square foot space is sandwiched between Exo Roast Co. and Tap and Bottle on 6th Avenue at 7th Street, in another pocket hub of the hopping Downtown scene.

“I love it. I love that I was the first one in this building and I used to have to lock my door when I was here by myself and since then, over the course of three years, Exo has come in with their specialized amazing coffee, and then Tap & Bottle opened and it’s like – when there’s a food truck here – I don’t have to leave the shop. It’s perfect and it’s very Tucson, to me. I really love my neighbors. And we’re all designing, all four of us in the building – along with Design Collaboration in the back, and that’s Margaret Joplin – all four business owners are working to build Tucson’s first parklet, which is happening right now. We are having design meetings every week, we’re submitting our designs to the city. And, that’s kind of a big deal, so it’s cool to be a part of Tucson’s first anything and something that’s so cool like a parklet and something that we actually can all come in with our own designs and ideas and make this thing that’s going to be out there that people can enjoy.”

“What else is going on?”

She pauses for a minute, adding. “I’m going to start doing tiles for Disney. An animator that has been working for Disney for 50 years can reproduce the characters she has specifically drawn, but the license only allows her to reproduce them onto tile.” A minute later, her co-worker reminds her of another project.

“Oh yeah, thanks! I’m also doing the All Souls Procession 25th Anniversary tile, taking the artwork Mel Dominguez did and truncating it into six inch tiles. And donating half the proceeds to All Souls. I’ll start with a run of 100, it will be a limited edition, cost $25. Starting in September, people can buy them here, online on the All Souls Procession website and at local businesses downtown.

“It’s my favorite event,” she says as we wrap up our chat. “I wanted to help it somehow, and be a part of the community.”

September also sees Carly Quinn Designs expanding its Tucson footprint to the Foothills, with a satellite gallery opening in Gallery Row at 3001 E. Skyline Dr. Sample the designs online at CarlyQuinnDesigns.com, visit the downtown space at 403 N. 6th Ave. or ring (520) 624-4117 with inquiries.

Ark D’Bevel Docks; Sets to Disembark

July 1, 2014 | Jamie Manser

“The primary concept, or underlying reality, of the science of our day is Relativity. Einstein added the fourth dimension to those of Newtonian physics: time. Therefore, the art of our day that incorporates time, or movement, motion, change, is the most vital of all the arts being created. It is the art of our time which will endure.” – David Bermant, 1919-2000

Mat Bevel’s General Boxhead with the Far Gun. Photo: Toshi Ueshina

Ned Schaper meets me outside of the Stone Dragon Gallery – easily identified by the large “TUCSON” mural painted on its south facing wall. It’s about a half block, dusty alley drive, north of Speedway Boulevard along Stone Avenue. Schaper smiles a hello into the beating sun and swirling dust. His countenance is lighter this time. Last time we spoke, in December 2013, he was pulling up anchor from his previous 17-year home/creative space in the Mat Bevel Institute at 530 N. Stone Ave., and was a bit weighed down and still unclear about where to float his ark – which is comprised of his 30-year body of work.

Six months after meeting with Ned Schaper last December and three months since he docked his ark, Schaper and I are catching up on his art, upcoming shows and how ultimately, he relies on faith to expose his purpose. His buoyancy is palpable when recounting the story of how building owner Steve Murray offered interim housing to the kinetic art sculptures at Stone Dragon Gallery.

“Sometime after that (Zócalo) article come out, I was actually on my way out of the building to walk up here to see Steve and he pulled up to my place. And then he’s looking at it all, saying, ‘We can keep some of this stuff at my place.’

“Steve really came through. He’s a good friend and we’ve known each other for a long time too. He believes in my work and told me – ‘When you leave that place, you are going to blossom. That was like a cocoon you were in.’ And everyone loved me being in that space, but it was not really what I needed for the next step in my career. As a career move, because it is a beautiful space and I was able to build all of this stuff, but you’ve got to bring people in. After 17 years, you are in this place, and you know, ‘Well, I’m not going to take any place else because it is great in here,’ but it’s too much trouble, no body’s coming in here. There’s really no money, to bring people in, I don’t sell things. I was sort of stuck. This here is great because I’m able to see it, able to see what I have.”

As Schaper turns on various lights, his sculptures are illuminated in ways that weren’t possible at the Stone Avenue warehouse. In Murray’s space, under bright florescent bulbs, Schaper has made repairs, tweaks and re-worked the kinetic souls/Beveldom’s citizens in preparation for their July show situated as the Ark D’Bevel at Stone Dragon Gallery, 1122 N. Stone Ave., and as a disassembled show spread throughout the Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave., in August.

As Ned Schaper explains through the character of Mat Bevel, “The museum of kinetic art was founded on the principle of Available Resource Technology. For 27 years, objects appeared at our doorstop. By utilizing the A.R.T. policy, we give new purpose to unwanted items.”

The Beveled Ark in Stone Dragon Gallery. Photo: Ned Schaper

“That’s what Mat Bevel is,” Schaper elucidates, “the things that people threw out, he created this whole world that then becomes all these characters, and all these words of wisdom that they gave through putting these things together. It’s a very timely sort of story. There’s the demolition, exodus and now all these unwanted items are homeless again. So now they are all homeless, floating around in this ark in town. So, the idea is we pull up to the Tucson Museum of Art with the ark and spread it out. The truth is I had to really think about arranging things according to voltage. I’ve got technical issues that other people don’t have. My biggest thing is – how do these things come on and go off?”

The beauty of Schaper’s work is not only the creative amalgam of married “junk” and the seeming whimsy of the pieces – in reality, there are deeply symbolic tales surrounding the characters in his body of work – but also the cool physics behind how the sculptures move. He shows how his six-foot tall butterfly works: “This is a perfect piece to watch kinetic energy because it runs off of this little dinky, six volt battery. This is a science project right here. And, it starts the flywheel up and people see that little motor could never run this whole thing. It’s a little dinky motor and a six volt, and how the heck? – it’s the flywheel, and you can see when I turn it off, it takes almost 40 seconds for it to stop. The flywheel is storing energy, that’s why they used flywheels in the old days.”

As we talk about the different characters and how the objects morphed together to make them, a greater sense of purpose and mysticism comes through. “The things come to you,” Schaper explains. “The idea is, when people see this, you don’t have to say anything. That’s why found objects are so great. The kids are just inspired, they realize, ‘I’ve got those things.’ All you gotta do is start putting them together, and once you start putting them together – a lot of junk artists feel the same way – they’re like, ‘I needed this and it shows up.’ When you really start working and you become a servant of them, these things start flying at me. I mean, people will knock on my door at the right second to give me stuff. It’s unbelievable, the magic that happens in the world when you stop trying to direct and that’s the basic difference in the world. And the whole idea of faith-based thinking should be the idea that, you’ll hear people say – ‘Dear God, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but please give me some sort of a signal.’ Well, that’s not what they teach at the university. That’s actually the right way, but we’re taught in our modern times that it is superstitious or something.”

Ned Schaper

For Schaper, his philosophy is informed by his experience of objects arriving and circumstances changing as they are needed. The source he culls from to create his kinetic sculptures lends itself to re-purposing what has been discarded.

“These things are always blessed, they’ve been brought back in the service of having another job in theatre; an exercise bike, a wheelchair. And now they are back at work, and that’s what God wants, for everything to be – I say, ‘Continuation of purpose is the unifying principle of the universe.’ And these are things that I’ve discovered, and it’s the truth. It goes beyond recycling. The truth is – things don’t like to be idle.”

The summer’s first exhibit of The Beveled Ark: Mat Bevel’s Museum of Kinetic Art displays at Stone Dragon Gallery, 1122 N. Stone Ave., from Friday, July 11-Friday, July 25, with opening receptions on Friday, July 11 and Saturday, July 12 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Other hours are by appointment by calling 405-5800 or 304-8899.

For the Tucson Museum of Art Welcome to Beveldom: Mat Bevel’s Museum of Kinetic Art show, running from Saturday, August 9 to Saturday, September 28, the ark will disembark throughout the museum’s exhibition spaces in interactive displays.

Schaper admits surprise when he was asked to exhibit at the museum. “The fact that I am in the museum is pretty absurd. That I’m given a one man show is quite a miracle and I can’t complain. It is quite the miracle because I don’t do galleries. I love working with Julie (Sasse, Ph.D., Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Tucson Museum of Art). She told me she thinks that, ‘Your work is important; it is an important body of work.’ So she thinks what I do has a place historically.”

Via email, Sasse says that she has been interested in Schaper’s work for some time and the idea for the exhibit has been in the works for about a year. “Once the opportunity presented itself, I got the exhibition on the schedule.

“Schaper’s art is playful yet intellectual and deeply involved with issues of today. It is engaging for all audiences and he shows a true commitment to his vision. For the extensive body of work he has amassed and the long history of producing quality works in this community, he was long overdue for some critical attention. He truly deserved to have an exhibition in Tucson and his work shows that progressive and exciting art is being produced in this area. In fact, I’m surprised he hasn’t been discovered beyond this area, so I’m glad the Tucson Museum of Art can share his art with the public both here in the city and beyond.”

Sasse also says that she hopes the show’s attendees can appreciate “that meaning can be found in everything and that the creative spirit is as broad as we can make it if we use our imaginations. A good work of art can go far beyond a landscape or a still life or pure abstraction — it can be a playful yet thoughtful look at the world – that’s what Mat Bevel brings to the art table.”

Regarding her personal take on his work, Sasse writes, “I think he is a bit of a local genius the way he puts objects together and makes them move. But just as important, I’m amazed at how he thinks in such a clever way — his puns always make me laugh and I appreciate his sharp wit regarding systems of power.”

“Welcome to Beveldom” shows at Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave., Aug. 9-Sept. 28 with performances of the Beveled Ark Theater variety show on Thursday Aug. 21 and Sept. 11, from 6-8 p.m. Find more information at TucsonMuseumofArt.org and MatBevel.com.

Contemporary Art of the Southwest

June 26, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Schiffer Publishing recently issued a gorgeous compendium of Southwestern artists and their work, covering Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. While the artists included is just over 100—admittedly low for the depth and breadth concentrated in just Tucson alone—the author does say in her introduction that “The Southwest is rich with artists. I could have easily produced a book with 200 artists and still not have exhausted the talent to be found in this region.”

The artists author E. Ashley Rooney chose to showcase are certainly some of the most interesting around. Rooney says via email that her method of selecting creators and their work was by looking “for art that hit me—grabbed my attention. I also looked for different mediums and different styles. I looked at how they used, combined and transformed their materials into art that changed the way we perceived the world. I looked at where they had shown and to whom. I wanted to include not only the artists who are cutting-edge but those who are just coming on the public scene.”

The artwork is richly diverse and definitely captivating. Styles range from serene landscapes to whimsical sculptures, meticulous gourd work, to surreal folk art, exquisite jewelry, photography, symbols and archetypes, paintings and drawings and so much of everything else in between. What the artists have in common is an eye for beauty—be it conventional, unusual, or absurd; they collectively have appreciation for form, light, color, texture.

The book was a collaborative effort between Rooney and the artists. She gave them the space to pick the included pieces, along with a bio. All the artists tell a brief story about their environmental influences, present and past, and what draws them to create what they do where they do. It is nice to get that insight coupled with the imagery.

“Beautiful Day,” by Cynthia Reid

Included Tucson area artists are: Catherine Eyde, Daniel Martin Diaz, Jeff Smith, Elizabeth Frank, Martin and Karen Klay, Joan Marron-LaRue, Neil Myers and Cynthia Reid.

Reid explains via email that fellow artist Neil Myers recommended her work to Rooney, and feels that the “book turned out well, and given the range and overall quality of its work, I am gratified by being included in it.” Reid’s contemporary impressionist style is vibrant with nature’s beauty. Of her work, she explains that she loves “Tucson’s wonderful, abundant sunshine and believe it influences my choice of intense, warm colors.”

Million Volt Curtain, Rincon Mountains, AZ Jeff Smith

Million Volt Curtain, Rincon Mountains
Jeff Smith

Photographer Jeff Smith, known for his breathtaking lightning photos, says via email that he was included in the book due to a recommendation from Elizabeth Frank. Smith’s spread includes five photos, that he culled from shows at “Etherton Gallery and their satellite gallery The Temple Gallery.” Of the book, he says, “The first thing I do when looking at a book like this with contemporary artists is to look at all the other artists’ work. I was pleased to see that the craft and caliber was complementary to all artists and that all was of a skillful level. Awesome! Then I looked at my two page spread and I thought, ‘Wow, what a nice way to lay it out,’ and the imagery was accurate to the tonal range of what my prints are! To get this right, takes a lot of effort and I appreciate it! When a book like this is done right and in this case it is, it can be a terrific tool and vehicle for others to access to your work.”

Folk artist/painter Catherine Eyde was also recommended by Elizabeth Frank. Her spread of six pieces is beautiful, work she says best represented her at the time. “I was happy to see it (the book) done so well, as were other Tucson artists I have spoken to,” she writes via email.

“Bird Boy and Treehouse,” by Elizabeth Frank
photo: Jeff Smith

The book also gives a six-piece spread of Elizabeth Frank’s imaginative and whimsical wood sculptures. Frank says she feels honored to be included, though “I don’t think of my artwork as Southwestern exactly but I was born here. This region has inspired me since childhood. The work I make is influenced by this area, even the materials I use. Much of the wood I carve is gathered in the mountains of the Southwest.”

While the book is not comprehensive of all of the talent in region—such a book would be too heavy to lift— it is a great launching pad for exploration. Art shifts our perspective, takes mind out of time, seemingly suspends space-time to the present while gazing on the work, marveling at its creation and inspiration. Art books hopefully lead us to art galleries and making real world connections. And who knows what those can bring.

The hardcover book, 240 pages, includes a resource guide and a guide to the artists; along with a historical forward by Julie Sasse, Tucson Museum of Art’s Chief Curator. The publisher says it is available at Antigone Books and at Barnes and Nobles locations. More information is at Schifferbooks.com/contemporary-art-of-the-southwest-5345.html.

Authentic Photography, Natural Bodies: A Beautiful Body Project

May 7, 2014 | Jamie Manser

The Bodies of Mothers
photo: Jade Beall

There’s a hunger in the world for love, acceptance, compassion and understanding. There’s also a hunger in the women of this world—and definitely those imbued by the unrealistic dictates of Western culture and the media’s unrelenting notion of what “perfection” looks like—to find self-love in bodies that don’t match what is showcased on television screens, movie screens, billboards and in magazine ads.

Tucson photographer Jade Beall fed that hunger when she posted a vulnerable, nude self-portrait with her newborn son in 2012. The image went viral and, as she writes in her newly released photography book The Bodies of Mothers: A Beautiful Body Project, “Not only was this self-portrait helping others, it was a self-love catalyst for me too!”

Beall’s act of courage spoke to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women across the globe. Requests from women wanting to be photographed started pouring in, but how to pay for it? Her husband and business partner Alok Appadurai said they needed to launch a Kickstarter campaign and make a video.

Sitting in her office on 9th Street, tucked on the west side of their clothing shop Fed by Threads, Jade says, “I didn’t want to do the Kickstarter video because I didn’t believe that anybody would possibly back some chick from Tucson who had no photo credibility. And Alok said, ‘Let’s just do it. It’s just a video!’ So, we made a video and it has had almost two million views now, through YouTube and Kickstarter combined! And it just boggles my mind because it is a video I was so hesitant to make, I was so afraid it was going to be so amateur.”

That video ultimately raised $58,000 and sparked a worldwide media frenzy, starting with The Huffington Post, in early 2013. Beall’s story has since garnered coverage in over 60 outlets, ranging from the BBC, Yahoo!, Tucson Weekly and the Arizona Daily Star to The Guardian, Baby France, Mums & Tots to The Today Show.

At first, the coverage was a bit overwhelming, she says, but “it’s died down, it is mellow and perfect right now. But, it was also super exciting. I was not expecting it.”

While the media has mostly been accurate in their reporting, Jade says there were some words they used that “I wish they hadn’t, like, ‘This is what real mothers’ bodies look like,’ those words I don’t identify with and I don’t use. But, I trust that was what they needed to do and that’s their stuff, but overall, I feel really supported.”

Jade has a sweet, open, energetic and fun goofiness that is undeniably engaging. Her work with the mothers, women physically and emotionally exposing themselves in ways they may not have done before, has had profound impacts on her subjects’ lives.

“Her photography seems to transcend mere film or digital image. She seems to be able to capture the spirit or soul of the person she is shooting. Through her lens, everyone is beautiful. It’s a unique art that I have not seen in another photographer,” says Tucsonan Paula Randall, whose story and pictures are in the book. “I have learned that love is not something that we can compartmentalize into what we think it should look like. Love is absolute acceptance and compassion. It’s opening up your heart just a bit farther than you are comfortable with and stepping out of ego. Participating in the Beautiful Body Project has been amazing! I felt so empowered and still do. It has reshaped how I look at myself and how I look at the world.”

Amy Michel was drawn to the project because she was pregnant with a girl at the time, and Michel “wanted a better society for her; to teach her (that) beauty comes from inside. I just want people to stop thinking that the crap we see in magazines and on TV is normal or attainable.”

Women of A Beautiful Body Project
photo: Jade Beall

Jade’s tasteful, artistic, authentic photography is reminiscent of Peter Paul Rubens, the 17th century artist whose 1630s paintings depicted curvaceous women, with cellulite and rolls. Beall enthusiastically wants to capture the skin we’re in, “blemishes” and all. “I’m not going to Photoshop out varicose veins! ‘You had a breakout today? I’m photographing that!’ Because, it’s just part of the story and I think they are beautiful.”

Before starting A Beautiful Body Project, Jade’s previous photographs were of women that were not pregnant or post pregnancy.

Then, she was accused of “only photographing thin, white women. And, I didn’t agree, and I don’t agree that I only do it one way now. It’s not one way or another, it’s uniting. But it’s also, for me, seeing imagery of all body shapes and skin types. Un-Photoshopped. I want to see blemishes, I want to see pores, I want to see wrinkles! Wrinkles are a part of our skin, to erase them means erasing part of our lives away, the grief and the smiles!”

Beall says she had hit rock bottom when she took the self-portrait that cyber-spaced around the world. Her whole life she had lived with self-loathing for not having perfectly clear skin and a perfectly svelte figure.

“Luckily I was really successful in school and I did get through it, but I feel I could have done so much more if I felt confident and worthy instead of all this insecurity. And then I go into my 20s, after some therapy, and getting to kind of a good place, but then getting pregnant, gaining like 70 pounds, not shedding it, so, yeah, it was dealing with almost a life long habit of feeling unworthy and then reaching an all time low when I knew I was so blessed. And here I am, feeling like I want to die and I’m the ugliest person on the earth, wasting my precious time with those thoughts. And then took those photos and then, the truth is, for me, taking those photos, and working on my stuff with a life coach, all these different things, feeling better myself, but then connecting with each of these women and sharing each other’s stories and crying and together, each time they would feel better, I would feel better.”

The amount of coverage Beall has received, along with Tucson’s Body Love Conference organizer Jes Baker, seems to signal a paradigm shift to more acceptance of humanity’s diversity. “This is a part of a global movement that is happening right now. I don’t know how the stars aligned, when I had hit rock bottom, right at that time, that tons of body positive movement stuff was happening all over the planet. And especially here in Tucson—Jes Baker, The Militant Baker, and her huge campaign; our messages are different but very similar. My work went really big in Australia, because they are doing their thing too. And through social media, you can share ideas, and constantly growing from our own inspiration and wanting to empower one another. Sisterhood!”

Beall’s book, designed by Zócalo’s publisher David Olsen, “The Bodies of Mothers: A Beautiful Body Project,” celebrates a Mother’s Day release on Sunday, May 11 at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St., from 9 a.m.-noon with a talk at 10 a.m. and music at 11 a.m. The 168 page book is $50 and is available online at ABeautifulBodyProject.com and at the event. Upcoming Beautiful Body Projects include “Wise Women,” a collection of women over 50, and a photo project on couples.

Odaiko Sonora’s Taiko Passion

May 2, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Odaiko Sonora in concert. Left to right: Nicole Levesque, Rome Hamner, Karen Falkenstrom.
photo: PJ McArdle

In an unassuming, square industrial building on Downtown’s southern edge is a place of creation.

It is the Rhythm Industry Performance Factory and during a bright spring morning, Odaiko Sonora’s community taiko group is at practice. Sweating to the beats. Taiko, or “big drum” in Japanese, is ensemble drumming and it is a physically demanding art form. Beating the drums to achieve the resonance that speaks to the heart of us as human beings takes concentration and cooperative effort.

Taking turns coaching the group is Nicole Levesque and co-founders Karen Falkenstrom and Rome Hamner. With good humor, excellent leadership and teaching skills, the three women engage and guide the drummers to achieve their best. Everyone is sweaty, tired, looking happy at the end of the practice. They move into a group circle as I slip out the door.

Odaiko Sonora’s story begins approximately 14 years ago when Rome Hamner began studying taiko with Stan Morgan; Falkenstrom picked up the bachi (taiko drumming sticks) in 2001. In 2002, their sensei Morgan fell ill and disbanded his group MoGan Daiko. The drummers, still fairly nascent in their taiko knowledge, hefted up the chutzpa and started Odaiko Sonora.

Karen writes via email that, “Even in the U.S., taiko is still an art form with a strong emphasis on lineage and master teachers. It was highly unusual for anyone to found a group with as little experience as we had—actually it was crazy—but we really didn’t have a choice.

“I think both of us felt we had discovered something that embodied everything we wanted to be doing in the world: taiko is physical, empowering, expressive, fun. We both had been inspired to study taiko by seeing it performed live; there is something about the passion and power of taiko performance that speaks to the very core of many people. Once we had the experience of playing the drums—feeling that passion and power from playing, not just watching—it wasn’t something either of us felt we could live happily without.”

Karen Falkenstrom performing with Odaiko Sonora at Arizona Matsuri in Phoenix, Febraury 2014.
photo: Tracy Baynes

They didn’t have drums, they lacked resources, didn’t have a teacher and only knew a handful of songs. It didn’t matter because, “more powerful than the doubts was a deeply passionate love of taiko,” Falkenstrom writes. “We just did what we had to to make it happen.”

She states it simply, but the hard work and dedication that fueled their drive is evinced by the organization’s evolution. The 501c3 grew quickly because of “our respective skills in nonprofit arts and public administration, and partly because Tucson has a strong arts community,” Falkenstrom explains. “But much of the credit for our rapid growth is the appeal of the art form itself. Taiko has amazing crossover potential; it’s music, it’s a martial art, it’s a team sport, theater, and spiritual path. Almost everyone likes it. And it’s easy to learn the basics and very fun to do. The two of us are the leadership/administrative team that run all of Odaiko Sonora—the performances, classes, educational programs, equipment, and Rhythm Industry.”

This school year saw the nonprofit completing its first year as Opening Minds through the Arts teaching artists, reaching approximately 2,000 children. In November, Odaiko Sonora will be providing the music for the All Souls Procession grand finale, for which they are committed to “doing something really special.

“So far, the vision involves guest artists from Sacramento, L.A. and Toronto, Canada. We also hope to purchase a 4 foot gekko, or frame drum, from the world’s oldest family of taiko makers: Asano—think the Stradivarius of taiko.”

The big vision, fitting for the All Souls Procession finale, also means big bucks. The finale will feature about $70,000 in drums while the drum the group is looking to buy is comparatively reasonable, at $6,000. In order to fund it, a Kickstarter campaign is being launched this month—which also coincides with Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Besides keeping busy with elementary education, performances, and maintaining and coordinating Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, a building the organization purchased in 2006, Odaiko Sonora also offers classes.

Rome Hamner performing with Odaiko Sonora at Arizona Matsuri in Phoenix, Febraury 2014.
photo: Tracy Baynes

“Our six-week all ages recreation class is a great intro to this art form,” Rome says via email. “It introduces beginners to basic taiko form, beats, and simple drills and songs. Taiko is not like many other instruments. Most people don’t go to see Wynton Marsalis play, for instance, and think, ‘Wow, I’d really like to try playing trumpet!’ But people do say that about taiko.

“Some people come because they love Japanese culture, some because they just love drums, and some because they like the idea of a musical martial art. Almost all people who come to play saw us perform somewhere, and they want to try it because it looks like so much fun.”

The all ages class begins on May 17. Odaiko Sonoro performs at 2nd Saturdays, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. Visit TucsonTaiko.org for more details.

Sacred Machine: Creation, Evolution & Moving On

May 1, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Catherine Valencia, in a photo for their band Crystal Radio.
photo: Danni Valdez

It’s easy to get deep with Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Catherine Valencia. Diaz’s art and Valencia’s writing—plus their music with Blind Divine and Crystal Radio—dig into the heart of the mysteries of existence. One cannot look at Diaz’s work without feeling pulled into a rabbit hole of esoteric human inquiries; his pieces—especially in his recent book Soul of Science—are individual time machines of ancient knowledge and futuristic anomalies of biology and technology; amalgams of religion, science, mythology and psychology. The detail is exquisitely intricate, the edgy motifs are fascinating and possibly daunting to the unadventurous or religiously sensitive.

For Diaz, creating is about letting the art and music “take me where it wants to take me. Really, you’re just a vessel for the art or the music that you are creating, it’s like you are sculpting something. It’s manipulating you as opposed to you manipulating it. I think also, creating art or creating music and not really fully understanding what you’re doing is part of the mystery.

“I’ve always approached music and art (that way)—always trying to find the mystery that is hidden there, but then not truly understanding what it is. And I think that’s what keeps me motivated enough to keep going and keep finding this mystery because, for myself, this is what’s worked. If I understand what I’m doing, then the magic and the mystery is gone. And then it’s like, what’s the point of going on anymore creating?”

Soul of Science is Daniel Martin Diaz's latest book of art. photo courtesy Mysticus Publishing

Soul of Science is Daniel Martin Diaz’s latest book collection of art.
photo courtesy Mysticus Publishing

Opening himself as a vessel for the music and art has proven very successful. Diaz, a 47-year-old native Tucsonan, has been extremely prolific during his career, which has included: a 200-song catalogue (collaborations done with Paula and others) with tracks utilized by over 30 major television outlets, national and international art exhibits, album and book covers, four personal publications of his work, and a list of public art commissions.

The most recognizable of Diaz’s public art projects in Downtown Tucson are: Club Congress’ Proscenium Stage, Hotel Congress’ terrazzo floor and the metal work on the Plaza Centro parking garage, 345 E. Congress St. at 4th Avenue. While the process of creating public art is different from his personal work, there are still similarities.

Wife and creative/business partner Valencia explains: “We have to work within parameters, so, you’re given this set of rules to work within, and then it becomes kind of free form. Half the things that we do are sitting somewhere in a restaurant, done on a napkin, especially with public art. ‘Ok, here’s the concept, this would be really cool.’ And then maybe Daniel starts sketching stuff and I start writing the concepts and themes behind it. In our folders, we always have these napkins stuck behind the paperwork and the contracts. So, a lot of times it’s a free form type of thing too and then it gets developed from there, then working with architects and all the intricacies, putting that into the large work.”

“A lot of research goes into public art,” Diaz adds. “We research the area, research the community, research who’s lived there–like in the 1880s, 1700s–and look at the wildlife and what has been here in this area that we can use as a resource for the art. I think that’s a different approach than I do with my own work, but I really like it.”

The couple explains that the work integrated into the Plaza Centro garage, called Desert Splendor, includes inspiration from the desert, the trains, the railroad tracks and artistic patterning from local Native cultures, all placed to incorporate the sun’s movement for specific effect.

“If you look at that design, one side of it has a tree with leaves and the other side has a tree without leaves, so it’s this idea, because the sun hits one side of it and it changes throughout the day, so it’s this idea that ‘Change is now occurring,’” Diaz explains, “with the seasons and even just the change within a day that we go through. Downtown changes from morning to sunset.”

For Daniel and Paula, their own changes are occurring. At the end of May, after a four year run, the couple is closing their museum/gallery/curio shop Sacred Machine, 245 E. Congress St., and moving to Los Angeles in the fall.

The decision to open the space in May 2010 wasn’t premeditated, they explain. “It was one of those things he was talking about with his art,” Paula says. “It really chose us, this space. We were sitting in here for a meeting… and I’m like, ‘We need this space.’ It was really strange; he thought I was insane, and I said, ‘Well maybe I am, but this space is calling out to me for whatever reason’.”

At the time, their neighbors on the block included Xoom Juice, Yoga Oasis and Cricket Wireless. Businesses across the street (Tooley’s Cafe, 276 Works Gallery, Central Arts Gallery, Preen, Rocket Gallery, Dinnerware ArtSpace and Metropolis The Salon) had been displaced for what wouldn’t become An Congress (now Playground, Pizzaria Bianco and HUB), though the night club Sharks (now Saint House) was still operating; The District Tavern was and is still pouring drinks. The couple has witnessed Downtown’s evolution (see related story here), and has had a great run with Sacred Machine—hosting compelling art exhibits and live music in addition to meeting interesting artists, musicians, getting to know other merchants and the public at large.

“We had one of the producers of The Simpsons come in here, and Paula became really good friends with her and,” Diaz continues, “we became good friends with Alex Maas from The Black Angels, because of the gallery. In L.A., I think those opportunities are going to be intensified. We’ve been here our whole lives, so we’re ready to move.”

“We’ve been creating (in Tucson) for 24 years now, since we’re met, and raised our son,” Paula says. “Damian is 21 (now), so, let’s go explore! We’re doing art, music, public art, we’re doing all these things, and really, we can move any where and do those things. It’s kind of–have art, will travel. Let’s go do this there, and we’ll do that, and maybe we’ll end up in Paris one day.”

“We’ll give it a shot and see what happens,” Diaz adds. “We have no—like in everything we do—we don’t have expectations. I just feel like when you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for some kind of failure. Just go over there, see what happens. And, if we’re there for 10 years, if we’re there for 20 years, great, if not, we could end up in Paris, with Sacred Machine over there, great. We just don’t know. That’s been our life. We wake up and we don’t know what that day is going to bring, and that’s good and how we want to live.”

Sacred Machine’s May events include the 1st Saturday Art Walk on May 3, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. The farewell celebration is from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. during 2nd Saturdays on May 10; the “Blue Print for the Future” exhibit opens May 10 and runs through May 31. Closing day hours on May 31 are noon-9 p.m. Regular hours are 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday. Keep abreast of their adventures at SacredMachine.com and DanielMartinDiaz.com.

Downtown’s Shifting Landscape

May 1, 2014 | Jamie Manser

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Directional sign at Maynards Market. photo: David Olsen

In the mid-‘80s and through the ‘90s and early ‘00s, Downtown was considered a schlumpy locale eschewed by seemingly many Tucsonans. It was the artists, musicians, the writers and photographers, galleries, bars, a handful of entrepreneurs, restaurants, long-established families, some smart investors and renters who comfortably called it home. The cheap rent and authentic vibe drew those to the area.

As progress happens, so does construction, such as the 4th Avenue underpass and the streetcar tracks. Congress Street, as was the revitalization goal, is a different place than it was five years ago. Only a handful of pre-2009 businesses along that strip remain.

Today, Congress Street is certainly a destination for food and drink. It’s not a destination for the arts, the galleries mostly ring the northern edge of Downtown in the Warehouse District. Three galleries that were in the Downtown core are leaving or have left: Sacred Machine, 245 E. Congress St., Atlas Fine Art Services, 41 S. 6th Ave., and Obsidian Gallery, 410 N. Toole Ave.

For Sacred Machine’s proprietors, Paula Catherine Valencia and Daniel Martin Diaz, closing shop isn’t related to the Downtown economy or foot traffic. Theirs is a career move to L.A. However, Paula’s observation was this: “If you want to know what challenge might be happening with galleries down here is that it’s not necessarily a walking destination like 4th Avenue. You know, people go there, they walk, they’re used to looking through shops and hanging out. Their main thing isn’t to eat and drink there. When all that you have Downtown is restaurants and bars, people are here for lunch and dinner and to party later at night. Their agenda is to eat and drink, their agenda is not to shop and browse. So that becomes a different thing all together. I think that’s what’s happened with Congress Street.”

With Atlas Fine Art Services, which opened in August 2011 when Downtown was gaining traction with new restaurants—which would presumably help with foot traffic—it was difficult to gain traction themselves and they closed earlier this year.

Co-owner James Schaub wrote via email, “Foot traffic was something we hoped for and would have been helpful—but it never came. The foot traffic that happens Downtown is still much the way it used to be—people park as close as possible (increasingly harder to do) to where they want to go and go to that place and then drive to the next place. Our business, and others like it, is more of a destination. We usually knew when people were coming in—they called in advance. The students who now live Downtown are similar, most have cars and there is no real retail culture yet in the Downtown.”

Valencia also commented on the public’s parking habits: “I think another thing too is, we even have parking garages and people don’t want to park, so not only do they not want to park, they don’t want to walk. Something needs to change probably, and, possibly the streetcar will be the key. We’re not sure, but it could possibly be a help, to get people and things moving a little bit more.”

Diaz added that, “I think the most successful cities is where there’s circulation. For instance, Prescott; it’s a little town and they have the square, and you go in this circle and you can go in that circle all day and really not get bored because it’s so beautiful, but there’s no circle here in Tucson where you can walk and just go around and look at shops and come back around. You walk in a straight line. And who knows where you end up.

“I think that’s a really important thing,” Diaz continued. “I think that we have the potential to do it, with Congress and 6th and then come back around, but everything is on the outside. You need squares, and a park in the center.”

Having a focal point, a zócalo if you will, would be a wonderful thing for Downtown, and the Ronstadt Transit Center would be the perfect place. Maybe one day. There is currently a Request for Proposals out for a joint development of the Ronstadt Transit Center. (See www4.tucsonaz.gov/integrated-planning/joint-development-ronstadt-transit-center-project-area.)

At the end of April, Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Michael Keith and I did a walking tour of the core, starting at the east end. I parked at Plaza Centro garage and met Keith outside of Gio Taco, 350 E. Congress St.

Signs in the first floor of The Cadence, the student housing complex at 350 E. Congress St., promise the upcoming arrival of Planet Smoothie and Fed By Threads, a sustainable clothing store. (Fed By Threads co-owner Alok Appadurai says mid-May.)

“Bar Open” signs placed along Congress Street, fall 2009.
photo: David Olsen

As we walk by the Rialto Theatre, Good Oak Bar, Diablo Burger, Proper, then Playground, and before peeking into the still under construction Pizzeria Bianco, I have a flashback to 2009.

David Aguirre, Director of Dinnerware ArtSpace—a gallery that had been displaced, along with a couple others, from Congress Street in 2009 when there were initial plans to have Kwang C. An open a restaurant in the 200 block of East Congress Street—had placed several A frames along the sidewalk with the words “Bar Open” on both sides of the signs. It was funny in a prophetic, times are a’changin’ sort of way.

It’s not all bars though, there’s food—HUB and Saint House, though both are known for their cocktails. Across the street there’s Yoga Oasis, Sacred Machine, FORS, Connect Beta, Xoom Juice and Sparkroot. On the next block there’s the Olive Orchard Gourmet Pantry coming to 222 E. Congress St., Buffalo Exchange is there, Studio 220/Got All Your Marbles, Tierra Antigua Realty, Iguana Cafe and Crescent Smoke Shop.

Around the corner and south on 6th Avenue is the forthcoming Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market in the old Beowulf Alley Theatre space at 11 S. 6th Ave., then there’s The Drawing Studio, Flash in the Past Vintage Pinup Photography Studio, La Fashionista (sharing it’s space with Wig-O-Rama), and Black Rose Tattooers.

Swinging back down to Congress Street, we pass Chicago Music Store and pop into the forthcoming Saint Cecilia Studios—which looks beautifully awesome (see story in last month’s issue). We pass MEB Management and Unplugged Wine Bar; Voodoo Jack’s and Wig-O-Rama sit empty, awaiting restoration due to damage caused by a fire that gutted Grill over a year ago. We look across the street and see, from 6th Avenue to Scott Avenue: Hydra, Empire Pizza, Elliott’s on Congress, The Screening Room, Zen Rock; then, from Scott Avenue to Stone Avenue, JunXion Bar, Jimmy John’s, On a Roll, Sapphire and the upcoming H2O club. Further west, there’s A Perfect Pantry, Lesco Optical, V Thai; from Stone to Church Avenue, the Fox Theatre, Subway, Caffe Milano, Rice House.

Scott Stitler, owner/landlord of the buildings on both sides of the 200 East Congress Street block, said, “Today, I’m not interested in more food,” when talking about what kind of tenants he is looking for to occupy the spaces at 245 E. Congress St. that will become empty once Sacred Machine, and possibly Connect Beta, move out.

Stitler, who also co-owns the Rialto Block with Don Martin, explained that he doesn’t just take any tenant interested in one of his available spaces, he is thorough and selective. “I don’t advertise or put ‘For Rent’ signs in the windows, I’m hyper focused on all three blocks for a good mix, I’m constantly processing all these cities I visit, I travel a lot and take a lot of pictures.

“It’s takes a lot of patience, Pizzaria Bianco is a perfect example. We had 40 or 50 unsolicited offers, and it is tough to manage because you are dealing with nice people, but I was glad I said no on that space, because once Chris (Bianco) came along, and he’s had hundreds of offers to do another Pizzeria Bianco, and after 23 years of saying no, he searched his soul and his soul said yes to Tucson, and this space.”

Stitler said he has had offers on the spaces already, some of them are food, but he’d rather allow the current restaurants to stabilize and he doesn’t want “to add another two or three more.”

“It’s hard on everyone to make it in a month. The short answer is to let some of these projects get further along. Restaurants always lead an area that is getting revitalized, and then you get an office and then an apartment building and so on and so forth. I like where we are from five years ago, and we still have a ways to go, with more housing and more jobs Downtown.”

He paused, and said what is on a lot of people’s minds, “I hope the streetcar is a successful launch.”

Ryanhood’s Return

April 5, 2014 | Jamie Manser

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”
– Theodore Roosevelt

After a couple of years of lying low due to music business and touring burn out, Tucson’s power-pop duo Ryanhood released a gorgeously melodic, folksy, acoustic guitar-driven 12-track disk at the end of 2013. The two 32-year-olds, Ryan Green and Cameron Hood, have scribed lilting songs on Start Somewhere that show a Zen growth, themes that arise from experiencing deep disappointments and coming out the other side spiritually as a Phoenix rising. The album’s song Sickbed Symphony recently garnered the band recognition from the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards as the “Best Group/Duo.”

Recorded locally at Super Pro Studios, the sound is beautifully clean and clear, wonderfully rendering the acoustic tracks that convey positive messages of hope, acceptance, change, growth, and a better understanding of life’s lessons. Highlights of those motifs are in How to Let it Go—a soaring, upbeat account of the struggle to release jealousy and fear; Sickbed Symphony—a sweet, heart-wrenching tune about facing death and finding the best in life: “don’t bother with complaint ‘cause life ain’t the way it ain’t… make your lives a song, a simple symphony, may your melodies be soft and strong… train your eyes to see all the beauty that is in-between, train your lips to make a joyful noise.”

Lifetime continues with a message of pro-active growth, “I keep on waiting on the way it could be and missing everything in front of me; don’t want to anymore. So I make a list of all the things I could do and face everything inside of me that I’m scared to lose.”

Subsequent tracks, Lover’s Lament, The Moon, and Start Somewhere encapsulate the issues we all face—living in the past, not believing in ourselves, and realizing that anything worth doing is difficult.

There are also poignant instrumentals—Red Line Reel, Dillinger Days, and Motels—plus some really tender love songs: Summer Rain, Say It So and All About You.

The album is powerfully genuine, and Ryanhood should be applauded for having the courage and sense of self to be so open-hearted in a hard, cruel world.

Ryan Green & Cameron Hood

In an email interview, Cameron and Ryan offer their insight on the album and the songs.

I love the positive themes of hope, acceptance, love, living in the moment, growth, moving on… are these themes mostly revolving around the lessons learned from trying to break into the national scene and music industry? Along with past/present romantic relationships? Family relationships?

Cameron: Absolutely. Both. I would say, for me, the biggest theme is about accepting and loving what I have now, instead of believing I’ll only be happy later, once some objective has been reached. Like, once we’re playing a certain size of theatre, or have won a certain kind of award, or once a certain number of people know who we are. Or romantically, once I’m with so and so, and we live in a certain size of house. There’s a line from the song “Lover’s Lament” that goes, “If I say I’ll be happy when/Do I keep myself unhappy ’til then? And if I don’t like this moment, how will I like the next?/ It’s probably gonna be, probably gonna feel a lot like this.” So I am learning everyday to enjoy what I have. That way, as we do achieve those things, I stand a chance of actually enjoying them, because I’m already enjoying my life now.

Those messages of change, growth, understanding of life come through powerfully in “How To Let It Go,” “Sickbed Symphony,” “Lifetime,” “Lover’s Lament,” “The Moon,” “Start Somewhere.” What happenstances lead to scribing those songs?

Cameron: Our last record, After Night Came Sun, was, for my part, about the collapse of a relationship I was in. And as a band, it was about the fatigue of beating our heads against a door we didn’t know how to open. It was a chronicle of things falling apart, and though there was a hint of restoration and hope by the end of that record, I think the songs on this record pick up where the last one left off. “How to Let it Go” and “The Moon” are about the troublesome practice of looking for your worth in someone else’s eyes. “Lifetime” and “Start Somewhere” are songs that take stock of where we are musically, professionally; that search for strength to move forward. I can understand if it sounds overly-dramatic to talk about the difficulty of moving forward, the fatigue of being in a band. It’s like; “What do these guys do all day, make music? How hard can that be?” But it’s a marriage, and a friendship, and a perpetual road trip, and business venture all at once, all the time. And as with any business venture, you have to sell a product. But when you’re selling your own art—your own thoughts and feelings—your heart is on the line constantly. If people come to the shows, and buy your record, and give your album positive reviews, you feel great. When they don’t, you don’t. I think this album is about slowly getting out of that entire way of thinking.

What other experiences did y’all cull from to write the songs? During what time period were the songs written?

Cameron: The album opener, “Red Line Reel” was written a few weeks before we went into the studio, and the first drafts of “Start Somewhere” date back to before we make The World Awaits.

I see album was recorded between Oct. 10-13, 2013 locally. Who runs Super Pro Studios and why did Ryanhood decide to record there?

Ryan: It’s run by our friend Ryan Alfred, who I went to Berklee College of Music with. We’ve been longtime friends and musical collaborators. We both have a lot of trust and respect for each other, which helps immensely when making recording/songwriting decisions, and working with him has helped us to turn the page from prioritizing perfect performances and to focus on capturing moving and compelling ones. He also produced our previous album After Night Came Sun and those two records are our personal favorites.

What are the combined influences—musical & otherwise—that inspires the songs? Who are some of your music heroes?

Ryan: My musical heroes tend to be amazing instrumentalists, like Chris Thile, Béla Fleck, Michael Gungor, Tim Reynolds, Joe Satriani. They’ve all inspired me to stretch my approach to playing and writing in new ways.

Cameron: Most of my heroes are songwriting guitar players: David Gilmour, Lindsey Buckingham, Lennon & McCartney. Though I have a lot of room in my heart—an arena even—for Bono. He’s easy to love and to hate. But I am moved at the way he takes the crowd to church, at almost every show. Lots of church services feel like concerts these days, but I still find it amazing that so many U2 concerts feel like spiritual experiences to so many people. How does he do that?

How long have the two of you been playing together? More than a decade! How did y’all end up living in Boston and busking back in the day? What time frame is that?

Cameron: Ryan invited me out to Boston after he’d graduated from Berklee and I graduated from the U of A. It was summer, 2004. I lived on his sunroom porch and we sold our only CD, Sad and Happiness, busking in the subway and at Quincy Market. Ryan convinced me that we could make a living just from playing music, at least for that summer. And we just never stopped.

What are your future plans? Staying local? Keeping on with the music?

Ryan: Lately we’ve been trying out a new touring model where we do shorter, week-long regional tours (our last tour was a week’s worth of shows in the Northeast… in June we’ll be doing a week of shows up the California coast). This model has been great… we’re always fresh and excited about the shows and don’t burn-out from months on the road at a time. And it allows us to be with our friends and family quite often, which is great. We plan to continue touring regionally like this for the foreseeable future.

Congrats on this year’s IAMA award! When was that announced? When did Ryanhood enter the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards competition? Had you tried to get into that before?

Ryan: The IAMA awards were announced on February 14, 2014. I think we had entered the competition once before, back in 2009, behind the release of our album The World Awaits. We felt like the new album was so heavily centered around our acoustic guitars again that the material might work well for the competition so we entered again towards the end of 2013. And to our surprise, we won!

Regarding the gig on April 12 @ Harlow Gardens. I’ve been there once, many many moons ago. I didn’t realize it was a music venue! How did that show come about?

Ryan: In the past year or two, Harlow Gardens has started to host acoustic concerts during the cool spring evenings. It’s a really nice setup, starting with wine and appetizers beforehand, followed by two sets of music. It only holds about 200 people so it’s a pretty intimate affair, compared to a Rialto Theatre show for example. We’re friends with a great bluegrass band called Run Boy Run who had performed there, and we heard great things from them about it, so when Harlow Gardens contacted us about playing there as well, we were in. It should be a nice contrast to the bigger and flashier shows we’ve tried to put on at the Rialto Theatre… we’re hoping to take it in more of a ‘Storytellers’ direction, taking advantage of the intimate seating and making it more conversational.

Ryanhood performs at Harlow Gardens, 5620 E. Pima St., on Saturday, April 12. Tickets are $25, which includes appetizers and drinks at 6 p.m. Concert starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at Harlow Gardens or by phone (520) 298-3303 option 4.Visit Ryanhood.com or HarlowGardens.com for more information. The group also is schedule to play at the Tucson Folk Festival on Sunday, May 4 at 7 p.m.

Ryan Green & Cameron Hood

Sweet Ghosts’ “Certain Truths”

April 2, 2014 | Jamie Manser

Sweet Ghosts
photo: Taylor Noel Photography

Transcendent and ethereal are not adjectives to be taken lightly, but such descriptions of this gloriously heart-wrenching debut release are more than apropos. The 10-track album features poetic storytelling, presenting evocative slices of life that put the listener into the thick of alternately uncomfortable and uplifting tales.

The lulling songs are reflective, haunting; there’s lightness to the depth, a deft touch that features spaces between the notes and musical interplay that is as compelling as the vocals and lyrics.

While the songs’ settings are not necessarily Tucson-based, they sonically convey the shimmering, mystical quality of a desert mirage. There’s warmth in the heartbreak, an acceptance of what is and what cannot be changed. The emotive humanity within covers the universal themes of love, affairs, changing seasons and broken people who are looking for acceptance, release, recovery from the pain of life’s challenges and society’s ills.

Sung by songwriter Ryan Alfred and Katherine Byrnes, their vocals blend together exquisitely and overlay on their own instrumentations (Byrnes is on piano/keyboards, Alfred plays guitars, synthesizers, bass), along with those by: Aaron Emery (drums, percussion), violin by Ben Nisbet (Tucson Symphony Orchestra), Sam Eagon (bass), vibraphone by Omar Alvarado, Fen Ikner (drums), Dylan DeRobertis (bass) and mandolin by Ryan Green (Ryanhood).

***

During an email Q&A, Ryan provides some background information on the band and its debut release.

How long have you and Katherine been performing as Sweet Ghosts/when was the project formed?
Sweet Ghosts was started about 2-1/2 years ago…we played a few gigs and decided “Yeah, let’s give this a go!” And then the opportunity to play bass with Calexico came up and it kind of went on the backburner. Calexico’s off tour this year so we have time finally to pursue it.

Did you write both the lyrics and the music?
Yes.

What inspired these songs?
Oh, I don’t know…the songs were written over a pretty long period of time, some as old as seven or so years ago. Some are reactions to certain situations that I encountered and felt compelled to write about, as a way of processing them, and some are just pure creation, like Not Quite December (which was written on a very hot day in Tucson) and She (which isn’t particularly about anybody; the lyrics came to me while I was working the takeout counter at a Bertuccis in Boston).

On the first track, “Detroit,” you and Katherine sing: “There’s a crazy, old homeless woman with more fingers than teeth, she’s got headphones but no radio, doing rain dance down this forgotten street.” Did you meet a woman in Detroit with more fingers than teeth?
I really did…she was a homeless old lady kind of dancing around Cass Avenue with these huge headphones on, the cord just dangling down her back not plugged into anything. As a friend of mine passed, she pointed at us and said “I got my good eye on you, and so does God!” She didn’t say hallelujah, though. I’m not sure how that word found its way in. The Old Miami (Missing In Action MI) is also real, and Danny Overstreet is the owner, the most decorated Vietnam vet in Michigan. I used to play his bar with one of my first touring gigs.

Lots of love songs on this, written very poetically. Do you have a background in poetry? What is your background – music education, Tucson, other bands, etc.
What can I say? Relationships are the most basic, simple idea on earth, and yet they are so confounding that they’ll never stop inspiring songs, haha. I don’t have a background in poetry, though I do love it (especially Jack Gilbert, my favorite). As to music background, I started playing the violin in 3rd grade, moved on to the double bass in 7th grade, and studied electronic music and electric bass at Berklee (where I met Ryan Green from Ryanhood). He and I played in bands together for years, and when I left New York in 2009, I stayed at his house before moving to my own place. Somewhere in 2009 I started doing FOH and tour managing Calexico, and started playing bass for them about 2 years ago.

Sweet Ghosts
photo: Taylor Noel Photography

When were the tracks recorded?
On and off over the last two years…some were tracked at Waterworks with Jim Waters, some at Wavelab with Chris Schultz, and some at my own studio, which is essentially the B Room at Waterworks.

After the Tucson CD release party on April 19, Sweet Ghosts hit the road for an eight city tour through Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico. What was the motivation to travel through those states?
We really wanted to go to Jazzfest in New Orleans again, and decided to book a tour around it.

Is there significance to the third chair on the album cover being empty?
Hahaha, we’re not telling.

See Sweet Ghosts at Plush, 360 E. Sixth St., on Saturday, April 19. Dry River Yacht Club, Carlos Arzate & The Kind Souls also perform. Check out SweetGhosts.com for information on the band’s April tour and also look for them on Facebook.com.

Author Archive: Jamie Manser

Copper & Congress’ “Fault Line”

Carly Quinn’s Business & Artistic Acumen

Ark D’Bevel Docks; Sets to Disembark

Contemporary Art of the Southwest

Authentic Photography, Natural Bodies: A Beautiful Body Project

Odaiko Sonora’s Taiko Passion

Sacred Machine: Creation, Evolution & Moving On

Downtown’s Shifting Landscape

Ryanhood’s Return

Sweet Ghosts’ “Certain Truths”

Print Edition

Sponsor ad

Songs from and about the Old Pueblo

The Music Issue