Author Archive: Jamie Manser

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Found at the Farmers’ Market

June 24, 2013 |

We scored a pretty good haul at the Tucson Farmers’ Market at St. Philip’s Plaza, 4380 N. Campbell Ave., in May. The extremely popular north-central locale for weekly alfresco shopping hosts a cornucopia of produce choices along with prepared foods, plants, soaps, honey, locally raised and grass fed beef and tons of other options.

As somewhat regulars, we have our favorite vendors. On the west/central part of the plaza is Super Natural Organics where we bought carrots, beefsteak tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes and peaches. Also on the plaza’s west side is Fiore de Capra, our feta cheese supplier and Pomerene, AZ goat herders for over 30 years and La Oesta Gardens – our fresh mint provider.  On St. Philip’s east side is Larry’s Veggies of Marana, who regularly have wonderful offerings; we picked up some cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic and cucumbers from them. The north side of the plaza has produce from Tom, he says he has a local farm but also distributes for a grower in Phoenix’s west valley. His offerings are generally numerous (leeks, corn, broccoli, kale, onions, and beets); we grabbed fingerling potatoes and snow peas.

The benefit of shopping early means more time to prepare and create several dishes from the morning purchases. At the end of May, we put our produce to task with a breakfast hash and an Asian noodle salad.

With these recipes, we recommend your creativity and frivolity, always feel free to add or subtract. The collection and amount of ingredients are subject to your individual tastes and what the season dictates.

Breakfast Hash. photo: Jamie Manser

Breakfast Hash
Diced potatoes, diced fresh garlic, chopped cherry tomatoes,  fresh mint, dried oregano and parsley, salt, pepper

Cook diced potatoes and garlic cloves in olive oil on medium to medium high heat for about 10 minutes, add in dried oregano and parsley until the potatoes are brown – probably another  10 minutes on this so the potatoes are imbued with the herbal flavors. Add in chopped tomatoes and minced fresh mint. Cook for another 3 minutes and serve with seasonal fruit and/or toast!

 

 

Asian Noodle Salad
An easy and cool summer salad that pops with nutrition and flavor!

Asian Noodle Salad. photo: Jamie Manser

Salad: Udon noodles, 20-40 trimmed snow peas, one large carrot shredded or chopped , one  medium-size bell pepper (color of your choice, we used red) chopped, one large or three small cucumbers peeled and chopped, a fresh green onion top chopped

 Dressing: 4-1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce, a couple teaspoons fresh, minced ginger, 3-4 fresh garlic cloves, 1-1/2 teaspoon agave nectar, ½ teaspoon chili paste, fresh and chopped oregano and tarragon to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the snow peas until bright green. Use a slotted spoon to remove and submerge the peas into ice cold water. Use the blanch water to cook the noodles according to what is written on the package. Don’t overcook! Drain and rinse in cold water. Save the water to dump in your compost pile.

Whisk together the goods for the dressing. Toss it with the noodles. Put all the veggies together and marry them with the noodles. Crunch your way into salad satiation!

Visit FarmersMarketTucson.com for more information on its markets and vendors.

 

Vote with Your Dollar

June 23, 2013 |

Fed by Threads co-founder Alok Appadurai, standing outside of the clothing shop and next to the Local First Arizona sticker.
photo: Deanna Chevas

The only thing standing between a sweeping landscape of homogeneous corporate box stores versus original, fun, colorful, funky (or quite normal) local businesses (run by people, not boards of directors) are you and your daily, individual shopping choices.

There are countless stories across the nation of mom and pop shops crushed by Big Mart or Pasta Garden. What once was viewed as a great thing for a community’s job offerings has been discovered to be a horrible reality for local economies. There might be some jobs gained, but the majority of the money shoppers spend at Big Mart does not stay locally.

The fiscal implications of purchasing from local businesses are astounding. According to the Local First Arizona website (localfirstaz.com/studies/index.php), for every $100 spent at local business, $73 stays in the community versus the $43 that remains locally when spent at chain stores.

While Tucsonans are pretty great about supporting their community businesses, it doesn’t hurt to remind our citizenry about the importance of conscientious shopping.  To that end, Local First Arizona (LFA) is celebrating Independents Week from June 30 to July 7.

Deanna Chevas, the non-profit’s Tucson Membership Coordinator, says that the organization is doing its version of the American Independent Business Alliance’s 11th annual national campaign by offering a “Golden Coupon” and hosting a couple of events.

On July 2, LFA partners with The Loft Cinema to screen “Growth Busters” and on July 7 a local food and beer dinner will be hosted by the Food Conspiracy Co-op and Dragoon Brewery. Chevas says the dinner is an “eat local challenge” and ties in directly with LFA goals. “It is sustainable economic development to eat food from local growers and producers.”

While those events bookend the week, consumers can enjoy 20% off from retailers accepting the “Golden Coupon,” which is available at LocalFirstAZ.com to print or to use as a digital coupon on smartphones.

The complete list of participating retailers is available here (includes all business statewide, scroll down for Tucson locales).

As a business owner, joining Local First Arizona and participating in Independents Week is a no-brainer for Fed by Threads clothing store co-founder Alok Appadurai.

“It is important for us to join Local First because of our belief in the power of the consumer to improve local economies by supporting locally owned businesses. Our society has distanced itself from ideas about the values of locally-owned businesses and community: it is our belief that Local First represents a shift back to a time when such things mattered!

“We are thrilled to be part of Independents week! It’s a great way for folks in Tucson to learn more about locally-owned businesses and give us a shot to earn their business,” Appadurai enthuses.

Fed by Threads embraces community, country, and sustainable development by running a “clothing boutique where every piece is made in America, every piece uses sustainable fabrics, and every piece helps feed 12 emergency meals to hungry Americans via food banks. There is literally nothing else like Fed By Threads in the country. Our little shop on 9th Street at 3rd Ave. represents hope for the American Manufacturing Economy, hope for protecting the environment, and hope for the 50 million Americans who are facing food insecurity.”

For Tucson businesses facing summertime income insecurity, Chevas reiterates that people need to “remember to support your indie shops, especially since it is summer and half of the population has gone to California or the Midwest.

“It is more important than ever to vote with your dollar.”

Details on Independents Week is at LocalFirstAZ.com.

Sidebar

As stated on localfirstaz.com, “Local First Arizona (LFA) is a non-profit organization working to strengthen communities and local economies through supporting, maintaining, and celebrating locally owned businesses throughout the state of Arizona.” The organization has grown significantly since its early inception in 2003 as Arizona Chain Reaction. Last year alone, it added 900 new members. Tucson’s membership base increased by 100 new businesses, said Tucson Membership Coordinator Deanna Chevas.

“The Sin Eater and Other Stories”

June 2, 2013 |

Elizabeth Frankie Rollins

Elizabeth Frankie Rollins
Queen’s Ferry Press, 2013

It’s a refreshing April morning at Café Passe. Elizabeth Frankie Rollins’ blonde hair is backlit by the springtime sun burning beautifully bright, creating a halo of golden-white. She glows with genuine happiness – it shines from her blue eyes. It is a time of celebration, the release of a book years in the making, the culmination of life experiences lovingly collected and turned into a graduate school manuscript (2001). Stories added to and subtracted from that grad school project, then, more years spent trying to get it published.

“I had an agent for awhile, who didn’t have a clue about social media, so I fired her.” We laugh, acknowledging that social media is a super important marketing tool while admitting the fact that we are still learning about the nuances of the Twitterverse, we aren’t reading on Kindle or Nook but it is most certainly OK for people to purchase “The Sin Eater & Other Stories” on those platforms. Why limit distribution?

But for some of us, there’s nothing like holding a book, the physicality of turning the pages, feeling the cover, dog-earing the corners. To devour stories as richly vibrant as these it seems better to grip onto the pages and crease that spine. Maybe it’s not logical, but it seems right because the characters in “The Sin Eater & Other Stories” aren’t logical yet their actions are understandable. We all have to find a method to and/or out of the madness, to reconcile life’s uncertainties, hope for the best and try to expunge our transgressions.

In each of Rollins’ thirteen stories, her scribing ferries the reader to surreal lands of odd circumstances that somehow ring with unexpected normalcy. You are this character, you’ve lived this life. It’s a Vulcan mind meld, a body swap, you are the protagonist and you know what they know and feel what they feel and ache with their pain and rejoice with their unexpected wins. This is masterful storytelling.

Rollins’ is perfectly honest about her muses: “I just steal from the world.” As they say, reality is oft times stranger than fiction, and her life has provided much fodder for these fantastical tales. This is what a writer does, gathers experiences and Rollins’ thirty-seven jobs helped create these characters. She explains the background for “I See Her,” a haunted story about a woman murdered on the beach: “I worked in a crumbling hotel that had bed bugs and barely working air conditioning and there was a murder there. I did get that porch furniture, and I did sand it, and I did cry.”

The background may be personal, but the themes are universal. Like a great song, any story that is relatable to diverse individuals channels the waters of humanity’s collective unconscious. The ability to craft symbolism that speaks to unique viewpoints is a gift.

“It has been an incredible experience,” Rollins says about the book’s publishing. “Every day, I get feedback about how it has touched someone. It is really magical.”

 

“The Sin Eater & Other Stories” is available online at QueensFerryPress.com and locally at Antigone Books, 411 N. 4th Ave.


Found at the Farmers’ Market

June 1, 2013 |

As recent transplants from downtown to mid-town, Dan and I were delighted to discover The Loft’s Saturday farmers’ market, just minutes away via vehicle or bike from our new Blenman-Elm ‘hood. In late-April, we went on a morning harvesting expedition to cull together locally grown, organic produce. The goal was to create a tasty, seasonal lunch that was packed full of mouth-watering nutrition.

This small but growing market features various offerings – Food Conspiracy Co-op baked goods, honey from Tucson Honey Company, fair trade/organic coffee from Café Aqui, Local Roots Aquaponics, dog treats from Ozzie’s Naturals, soap from Sun Grown Soaps, along with raw food, salsa, starter plants and more from area vendors.

This day we were focused on fresh veggies and bought them from Breckenfeld Family Growers and River Road Gardens. Breckenfeld supplied us with bordeaux spinach, Ajo Rojo garlic, carrots and beets; we procured parsnips and kale from River Road Gardens.

What to do with these beautiful purchases? We kept it simple.

For the root vegetables – beets, carrots and parsnips – we peeled, chopped and steamed them. They were tossed with Smart Balance (insert buttery spread of your choice) along with salt, pepper and allspice. Nutmeg and/or allspice are very compatible with these sweet steamed roots.

For cooking the kale, bordeaux spinach and beet greens, we pulled out the wok. Homemade vegetable broth, tamari soy sauce and diced Ajo Rojo garlic were simmered together with the greens’ chopped stalks for about five minutes. The greens’ chopped leaves were tossed in last and sauteed until wilted.

All told – between cleaning, peeling, chopping, steaming, dressing and sautéing – this process took about 30 to 45 minutes. The haul cost around $14, but not all of the food was cooked and there were leftovers for an upcoming dinner.

Both of these dishes are flavorful and satiating, complex on the palate, earthy, robust, and energizing. Dress ‘em up how you like, try different spices! Be flexible with the portions – always season to taste! Buy local produce and support farmers’ markets. Your body and your community will thank you.

The Loft’s Farmers Market, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. More information is at LoftCinema.com/film/the-loft-cinema-farmers-market. The River Road Gardens website is RiverRoadGardens.com; find Breckenfeld Family Growers on Facebook.

The Chords You Need

May 11, 2013 |

It’s a beautiful spring Saturday in the Sonoran Desert; birds are chirping, fruit blossoms are fragrantly blooming and “Electric Caribou” is dancing forth from the speakers.

This is an afternoon with The Modeens; singer/guitarist/songwriter Jamie Laboz, bassist/singer/songwriter Cristina Williams and drummer Jeff Diday. Missing is keyboardist/harmonica/contributing singer/songwriter Dave Prival as the herpetologist is in Cali tracking a reptile. Prival’s genius is evoked throughout the album and the interview. Laboz describes Prival as a “reserved guy, a quiet scientist, but, you wouldn’t know that seeing him onstage. The first time I saw him play, he did a keyboard solo with his head!”

The conversation bounces around from chatting about the desert’s biodiversity to the stylistic diversity of the band’s third release and second full length, “Electric Caribou.”

Laboz and Williams laugh when asked about the album name, and the story goes like this: “I was playing in a blues band in LA, and this guy came in with cooked caribou on a platter,” Laboz starts, “he looked like a lumberjack.”  Williams adds, “a Santa Claus lumberjack but huge!” The surreal experience had the couple saying caribou aloud over and over that night.

“I was loading gear out of the car after the show,” Laboz remembers, “and in this stream-of-consciousness moment, I said ‘Electric Caribou!’ and Cristina laughed.”

The words stuck with the couple, they knew they had to use it somehow, somewhere, and as Laboz says, “a good song or good title keeps coming back.”

With this 10-track release the band has songs that were in its live repertoire for years but not recorded, others were recorded for previous projects; but the songs all come together seamlessly – even with the divergent styles (overall, a 60s vibe that channels classic rock sounds, punk, country and even a ballad).

“Fen (Ikner, who mastered the album) helped us sequence the order of the songs,” Laboz explains, “and we realized he put it in order of a story, in order by key, and it drew a narrative.”

As the album listening party progresses, Laboz, Williams and Diday give the inside scoop on the tracks. Track one, “Modeens Theme” is a groovy rock-romp party song, beginning with the sound of a beer can opening and Williams’ sultry, “Ah yeahhhh.” Prival’s mad genius keys are front and center, with hand clapping and the rhythm section rocking the beats. Then there’s a smattering of beer bottles clinking together, courtesy of Diday, “I do all the weird things besides playing drums. On the last album, I played pots and pans.”

The rock continues with a Laboz penned tune, “Drinkin’ Is A Full Time Job.” He explains: “I wrote that song at Parkside Lounge in NYC, I was on unemployment and drinking.” As we listen, Laboz says, “Fen said this sounds like the Stones and Steve Miller. But, the bridge is Bob Seger.” Cristina seconds that, “Yeah, it is totally Bob Seger!”

The conversation jumps around, as conversations customarily do, so not every song is talked about, but what is shared is songwriting contributions were split between Laboz, Williams and Prival, with Laboz crediting Prival as “the real rocker, he is always the jilted lover in his songs.” Prival’s tunes, “Caroline” and “Not About Me” definitely cull from punk sensibilities – hard driving, intense and fast. Beyond that, Laboz stresses, “Dave is such a sick harp player, he’s so crazy, and there’s so much harp on the record!” It is true, and Prival’s powerful harmonica parts add fantastic depth to the tunes.

When track six starts, “Favorite Shoes,” Diday says, “I googled funtry, it’s not out there.” Funtry, as a music style described by Diday, is “a fun version of country, using all of the clichés of country…” Williams adds, “Yes, but delightfully so!” It’s no disrespect to country; it shares a light-hearted twist on this song, highlighted by Prival’s rag time/honky tonk piano and Aaron Gilmartin’s banjo.

Fun is certainly what we need these days, with all of the craziness of the world torn apart by misunderstanding and fear-based hate. The Modeens offer an album to lose yourself in, a place to let the chords take your mind out of time, to relax and dance. As my husband says, “Baby, I need to get some chords,” and as my father once told me, “Jamie, never underestimate the power of entertainment.”

Have rockin’ fun at The Modeens’ CD release on Saturday, May 18 at Barrio Brewing, 800 E. 16th St. Shrimp Chaperone opens, St. Maybe closes. More info at TheModeens.com.

2nd Saturdays Celebrates 3 Years

May 11, 2013 |

Aztral Folk

Since May 2010, 2nd Saturdays Downtown has consistently entertained event attendees with quality Tucson bands, street performers, acoustic acts and more. Local arts non-profits like Odaiko Sonora and Tucson Circus Arts have lent their talents over the years; Cinema La Placita has provided the free, outdoor film screenings since the event’s inception.

While hiccups in Tucson’s normally temperate weather have affected the crowds, the populace always came back to the event upon clear climes. Summertime typically sees throngs of people coming out to take in what downtown has to offer.

It has been about a year that Congress Street was off limits to vehicular traffic for the modern streetcar construction. Now that those days are (mostly) behind us, the travel paths are open to the masses to enjoy the local restaurants, bars, coffee shops, retail outlets and Downtown’s unique, historic performance venues.

For its 3rd Anniversary, the free event is featuring wide-ranging genres on the Scott Avenue stage. Opening at 6:30 p.m. is ethno-psychedelic fusion band Aztral Folk; following is Kevin Pakulis and The Coyote Supper Club (8 p.m.-9:15 p.m.). In-between acts, is the alluring Belly Dance Tucson with Atom Heart Mother, a Pink Floyd tribute band, gracing the stage from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

The event is introducing a new venue, T.O.P., located on the roof of the Pennington Street Garage at 110 E. Pennington St. with classic rock band Five Way Street performing up there between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Borderlands Brewery will be selling beer on the roof.

Get more information at 2ndSaturdays.com and follow the event at Ffacebook.com/2ndSaturdaysDowntown.

A Beautiful Coalescence

April 10, 2013 |

It’s not often a band jumps from being relatively unknown locally to playing on a national stage.

But it does happen and it happened this year when bluegrass quintet Run Boy Run (RBR) performed in January and again in February on syndicated public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion.”

To hear, for the first time, such a wonderfully tight and talented local band broadcasted on Garrison Keillor’s popular program was mind-blowing.

As upright bassist Jesse Allen explains, RBR’s five 20somethings met at UA and formed the band in 2009 but most of its “serious time as a band has happened since we were split between two cities.”

When asked where the band had been playing before heard by 4 million listeners on Keillor’s show twice, Allen says, “Frankly, we haven’t been.

“We didn’t play Tucson much because we were split between Tucson and Phoenix, and our Phoenix half was keeping us busy up there. It really wasn’t until we played the Tucson Folk Festival where we met Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl that we started booking shows in Tucson; even our resident Sun Devil started falling in love with the Old Pueblo.”

The Old Pueblo is falling in love with RBR, as evinced by the packed back room at Plush for the band’s March 21 album release of So Sang the Whippoorwill. As Derek Ross of Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl, that night’s show opener, said from the stage – “Run Boy Run is going to bluegrass your balls off.” And that they did.

The musicians played many of the songs featured on the album, which is comprised of 12 tracks, mostly penned by the members. It also includes three traditional songs and a cover of The Band’s “Get Up Jake.” Front and center are the sweet soaring harmonies by the gals – Grace, Jen and Bekah – surrounded by a beautiful coalescence of bass, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and cello. RBR’s musical aptitude shines through on this gorgeous release that is very technically clean – a result of hours and hours spent in the Jim Brady Recording Studios.

Fiddler Matt Rolland says, “The clarity is a testament to the fact that our co-producer and engineer, Jim, has great mics and knows how to use them well for acoustic instruments and voices. I’m proud to say there is no auto tune or pitch adjustment on the album; we wanted this to be clean and acoustic, like you’d hear in real life.

“We spent about 85 hours in the studio tracking, from November to March. We generally played songs all together until we got a take that we liked.  Mixing and mastering took about a third of the time to track (about 35 hours).”

This attention to time, detail and arrangement inform their impressive chops. Those qualities landed the band a chance to open the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2012. That was a result of winning the 2011 Telluride Band Contest – a competition with strict guidelines.

The musicians seem up to any challenge, even with all the crew working full time jobs, they make time to make it happen. Flipping through the band’s blog, this striking entry by Allen seems to sum up how the group functions on a deep level of friendship to create a breathtaking ensemble.

“There is one factor in all of our work putting together the tunes we play that I feel is more important than any other: trust. We trust each other, and we do what we can to make sure we honor that trust in one another. This trust allows us to take risks, to listen critically, and to speak freely. Because we trust each other, we can play with freedom, and produce something we can all be proud of. A creation is always precious to the creator, so being able to put your creation into the hands of people you trust is a magnificent thing.”

Run Boy Run perform locally this month at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., April 7 and at the Marana Bluegrass Festival on April 13 & 14. Details at RunBoyRunBand.com.

A Beautiful Coalescence

March 19, 2013 |

Tucson is full of surprises.

In this Sonoran Desert valley are artists and musicians incubating, nurturing and growing their creative forms in living rooms and practice spaces and studios, honing their crafts until BAM – they are showcased on a national stage.

This is certainly more the exception than the rule, but it does happen and it happened this year with bluegrass quintet Run Boy Run. The 20somethings met at UofA and formed the band in 2009 but, as upright bassist Jesse Allen explains, “Most of our serious time as a band has happened since we were split between two cities.”

Members (besides Allen, include siblings Matt and Grace Rolland plus Jen and Bekah Sandoval) are divvied up between the Old Pueblo and Phoenix, creating a logistical challenge when it comes to rehearsals, performances and recording.

When asked where the band had been playing before heard by 4 million listeners on public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” (APHC) this January and again in February, Allen says, “Frankly, we haven’t been.

“We didn’t play Tucson much because we were split between Tucson and Phoenix, and our Phoenix half was keeping us busy up there. It really wasn’t until we played the Tucson Folk Festival where we met Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl (who are joining us for the release show on Thursday, March 21) that we started booking shows in Tucson; even our resident Sun Devil started falling in love with the Old Pueblo.”

It was a shock to hear, for the first time, such a wonderfully tight and talented local band being showcased on Garrison Keillor’s program. Where had they been hiding? And, how did they get a slot on the popular public radio show?

Allen explains: “Through some providential connections, we were given the right people to talk to when we found out they (APHC) were coming to Tempe. Grace was particularly persistent in contacting and following up with them. We got the call the Tuesday before the show telling us that Garrison would like to invite us to play on the show. Until that morning, we had viewed it as something we had almost no chance of being able to do. I’ve got a mental list of all the seemingly impossible accomplishments that I would dream of us being able to do, and APHC was one of the top on that list.”

The kids fit in perfectly with Keillor’s aesthetic. APHC fans know the host’s penchant for Americana music traditions and RBR’s self description as having its sound rooted in the Appalachian South made for a perfect match. Twice.

“The second time came as almost as much a surprise as the first,” Allen relays. “Garrison and the folks at APHC had been so nice, and dropped little comments about having us back, but I just dismissed them as courtesy — after all, who are we? It wasn’t until Mr. Keillor himself walked into the dressing room where we were gathering ourselves after the show with his calendar in hand, that we realized that they weren’t just courtesies, and he really did want us back on the show.”

It is an affirmation of the quality of the band’s musical aptitude, plus its dedication and hard work – the same qualities that shine through on RBR’s first full length “So Sang the Whippoorwill.” Front and center are soaring honeyed harmonies by the gals – Grace, Jen and Bekah – surrounded by a beautiful coalescence of bass, fiddles, mandolin and cello.

The album is comprised of 12 tracks, mostly penned by the musicians but it also includes three traditional songs and a cover of The Band’s “Get Up Jake.” It is a gorgeous release and very technically clean, both the recording and the playing, a result of hours and hours spent in the Jim Brady Recording Studios.

Fiddler Matt Rolland says, “The clarity is a testament to the fact that our co-producer and engineer, Jim, has great mics and knows how use them well for acoustic instruments and voices. I’m proud to say there is no auto tune or pitch adjustment on the album; we wanted this to be clean and acoustic, like you’d hear in real life.

“We spent about 85 hours in the studio tracking, from November to March. We generally played songs all together until we got a take that we liked.  Mixing and mastering took about a third of the time to track (about 35 hours).”

This attention to time, details, arrangements inform their impressive chops. Those chops landed the band a chance to open the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2012. That was a result of winning the 2011 Telluride Band Contest – a competition with strict guidelines.

The musicians seem up to any challenge, even with all the crew working full time jobs, they make time to make it happen. Flipping through the band’s blog, this striking entry by Allen seems to sum up how the group functions on a deep level of friendship to create a breathtaking ensemble.

“There is one factor in all of our work putting together the tunes we play that I feel is more important than any other: trust. We trust each other, and we do what we can to make sure we honor that trust in one another. This trust allows us to take risks, to listen critically, and to speak freely. Because we trust each other, we can play with freedom, and produce something we can all be proud of. A creation is always precious to the creator, so being able to put your creation into the hands of people you trust is a magnificent thing.”

Run Boy Run celebrates its CD release locally at Plush, 340 E. 6th St., on Thursday, March 21 at 8:30pm. Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl open at 7:30 p.m. with Silver Thread Trio performing at 9:45 p.m. The band treats Phoenix to its tunes on Friday, March 22 at Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. 2nd Ave. at 7:30 p.m. with Silver Thread Trio in tow. Saturday March 23 sees the group performing in Flagstaff at the Museum of Northern Arizona, 7:30 p.m. Details available at RunBoyRunBand.com.

Birds, Trolls & Pachyderms

March 19, 2013 |

Sundry Styles Showing at Contreras

Creative magic happens in the back room of Contreras Gallery.

In a space that can’t be any more than six feet wide and twelve feet long, Neda and E. Michael Contreras work. Neda paints vibrantly colored still life oils on canvas. Mr. Contreras, a silversmith, fashions and repairs jewelry; he is also a painter and additionally produces pen and ink pieces.

For the Tucson natives, who met and married in the mid-70s, art is their lives. In addition to running the gallery, Neda curates the shows and they both hang the exhibits. Hanging the work proportionally with an aesthetic flow in a small space is not an easy task, but the artists have demonstrated a critical eye for layout within the two rooms’ confines.

The exhibits rotate monthly, Neda explains, “The artists come to us. We’ve been involved in the arts community for years and we were both members of Raices Taller (a local non-profit arts collective).”

The couple opened Contreras Gallery and Jewelry in 2008. “We were looking downtown, and noticed this place was vacant,” Mr. Contreras recalls. “It fits our needs; it’s just us two here.”

The gallery is a bright and cozy nook with the requisite high ceilings in the Historic Arts Warehouse District, a Tucson treasure that is easily discoverable at its 110 E. 6th St. locale during First Saturday Art Walks.

This month, Contreras Gallery and Jewelry hosts the “3 Sum In 2-Son” exhibit with pieces by the gallery owners and Gary Aagaard. It showcases Neda’s bird series, paintings that are years in the making, along with work by E. Michael and Aagaard’s sociopolitical art.

Neda’s bird series is intriguing; canvases saturated with color bisected by deep blue backgrounds and foregrounds that pop with vivid plants, vegetables and, of course, the winged ones. Most are oriented horizontally but one, “The Red Balloon,” is a vertical painting with a fantastical grouping of subjects and critters that makes you wonder what they are up to. She looks at it and remarks, “It’s like a dream or something.”

In stark contrast to her work, E. Michael’s “The Troll Bridge” is a haunting, dark, wintery and intricate (250 hours worth!) pen and ink depiction of the Billy Goats Gruff tale. Aagaard’s art rounds out the show. His “March of the Lunatic” will be on display; a delightfully searing commentary on radical Republicans tearing apart Washington D.C. Liberals will love the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man/Newt Gingrich thundering behind a stampeding herd of pachyderms with a macabre sneer on his horribly evil face. It’s good stuff.

“3 Sum In 2-Son” opens on March 2, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., during First Saturday Art Walks. The show, at 110 E. 6th St., continues through March 30. Find more details at ContrerasHouseFineArt.com or by calling 398-6557.

Stuart Oliver & The Desert Angels

March 19, 2013 |

Sheddin’ Every Skin
(Old Bisbee Records)

If you’re free on Sundays and music is your temple of wry reflections tied to sin and hopeful, redemptive contemplation… then spin this album. It’s a collection of 14 stories that are beautifully composed, performed and arranged. Stuart Oliver paints notes and words on time and space, ageless motifs of humanity’s dukkha (nature of suffering) and deliverance.

To rip right from the press release, this is “a self-produced 70s country-rock and psychedelic folk journey through Oliver’s colorful past, featuring ethereal harmonies by his sister Angela Taylor, Kate Becker and Silver Thread Trio’s Laura Kepner-Adney. Sam and Danielle Panther are on loan from Bisbee’s Green Machine, and Ryan Janac (Sunday Afternoon, Luca) is a mainstay on drums.” Other auditory contributions come from drummer Jim Glinski, bassist Peter Schnittman, Deanna Cross on viola, Mark Holdaway’s kalimba, banjo by Rudy Cortese and Louis Levinson sliding on pedal steel.

This is unapologetic cosmic Americana – evocative storytelling delicately carved from pain – musically and lyrically heart rendering. It can sit on the same shelf with The Byrds’ “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” and Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”.

Stuart Oliver’s songs are “inspired by coming to terms with tumultuous family, romantic, and cultural (also religious) relationships. Expatriating to the desert from the deep South was a key influence,” Oliver explicates. “Most of the songs have a mystical, spiritual element – the only way I can come to terms with said tumultuous relationships.”

It’s a process of mucking through the darkness of utter heartbreak to transitioning beyond it and into the light as a wiser being, being open to a beginner’s mind while still – when appropriate – donning the calloused cloak.

The bottom line is, don’t suffer your sorrows. Move through and past ‘em; create a new reality of healing and understanding in this temporal existence.

Find musical meditation and redemption at the “Sheddin’ Every Skin” CD release show on Saturday, March 30 at Café Passe’s super gorgeous and intimate patio, 415 N. 4th Ave. All ages, 8 p.m., $5 suggested donation. Get more information at OldBisbeeRecords.com.

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