DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE

On Tap: Arizona Beer & Art

November 29, 2013 |

YuYu Shiratori’s leather clutch, hand crafted in a “self-made sweatshop,”
will be featured at Art on Tap.

Craft beers are works of art.

Brewers are artists in their own right as they experiment with different ingredients and techniques to produce a unique taste. And just as with any art form, sometimes the most interesting and fascinating works of art – or beer in this case – are created by local hands.

Art on Tap, a unique art and beer showcase, is a marriage of local art and Arizonan craft beers. Happening at the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA) on Dec. 7, this beer festival features brews from Arizona – and Arizona alone. But it’s not just a chance for beer enthusiasts to sip on some ales, lagers or stouts. The event also brings in local artists who’ve submitted their work for display during this special night.

“You’re going to go to a beer festival. You’re going to see nearly 20 local breweries. You’re going to be able to enjoy all of those things they slaved over and created. And hopefully you’ll have something else to appreciate rather then twiddle your thumbs and wait in the next line,” said Shanna Rosing, member of Craft Tucson. “Local art was the answer. We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback and lot of great submissions.”

Craft Tucson, the in-town organization dedicated to helping businesses through the art of craft beers, is the host of the event.

“It’s a group set to promote local businesses through craft beer, only Arizona beers. That was our goal – to make sure that when you go out, and somebody’s going to sell you a $15 grass-fed hamburger, they’re not selling you a $15 grass-fed hamburger next to a Budweiser,” said Austin Santos, orchestrator of Art on Tap and owner of 1702 Pizza & Beer. “Cause it’s counterproductive to say that, ‘We took the effort to find really expensive beef, but we went to Budweiser to get your beer.’

“The event manifested itself from there being a lack of doing beer festivals that actually showcased Arizona beers of the Arizona breweries,” Santos said. “And to do these festivals as not a way to just walk around and get intoxicated, but to give them something to do. Tucson’s got a very affluent art community.”

Volunteers and museum employees have been helping Craft Tucson contact artists, musicians and breweries to make the event a night to remember.

“There are going to be a lot of different facets from all over. It’s kind of a beautiful thing,” said Graham Thompson, a volunteer and employee of 1702 who is helping to curate the show. “It’s great to have the experience and I’m kind of honored to be doing something like this. This is a big grassroots effort.”

Art on Tap marks Craft Tucson’s first attempt at an art-themed beer festival in Tucson. The proceeds from the event will help benefit the Tucson Museum of Art to keep its arts education present and available to Tucson citizens. The event follows Craft Tucson’s Brew at the Zoo event, which took place this past July and helped raise funds for Reid Park Zoo’s new brown bear exhibit.

“I’d love to see it become something that becomes annual,” Santos said. “I’m really looking forward to it grow in any way that it can. Definitely super curious to see who comes out for it.”

The event also features: live music by Carlos Arzate and the Kind Souls, Saint Maybe; demonstrations by Joe Moore, Sonoran Glass Academy, Marianna Pegno, and The Drawing Studio; selections from the UA exhibit Art of Planetary Science; painting with Ben’s Bells; food trucks and vendors alongside the beer and art.

“These days, beer is becoming, very, you know, at the same level as wine. I think that we really want to get a new audience. We want to reach more of Tucson,” said Morgan Wells, curator of education at TMA. “We’re wanting to be more accessible to the artists and the public. They’ve (the artists) been really excited for this opportunity to display their art.”

The event takes place on Saturday, Dec. 7 from 6 to 10 p.m. There will also be an early access segment of the evening from 5 to 6 p.m. And don’t worry, you designated drivers don’t have to pay full price, just $20, and will still have the opportunity to enjoy local art.

“I think that Tucson’s definitely been waiting for a beer festival that has this kind of draw and extra added to it,” Rosing said. “For me, beer and art can’t be separated.”

Art on Tap is Saturday, Dec. 7 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. For more information and ticket prices, which range from $20-$65, visit TucsonMuseumofArt.org or call (520) 624-2333.

KXCI Turns Up the Wattage

November 29, 2013 |

In 2002, with Tom Petty’s searing stab at corporate radio (“The Last DJ”) ringing in my ears, I was super glad that I had recently become a member of KXCI, Tucson’s community radio station.

I liked that KXCI had live, mostly volunteer DJs Left of the Dial (‘Mats, anyone?) at 91.3FM, playing local music and national independent artists; living, breathing humans that made mistakes, laughed about it, turned vinyl – oh the warm hiss and pop – and seemed to really care about this community.

Sometimes it was unpolished, but it was much better than listening to the super slick commercial radio stations spinning the same scheisse – could you even call in a request? – and, ah geez, the screaming car sales ads.

I was impressed that KXCI had in-studio DJs 24/7, still does, with a schedule of shows that offer tunes for seemingly every demographic. Not to mention that the station keeps its lights on via grants, underwriters and memberships while still providing prime air time to non-profits via public service announcements.

In 2009, I was appointed to the board of directors and served for three years. Zócalo’s publisher David Olsen served on the board for five years previous to me joining it. All of this is to say, with full disclosure, I’ve had a relationship with the station for over a decade, and I’ve broken bread and clinked glasses with the staff.

The station has had major issues and there were many tumultuous years. But it has persevered and is only getting stronger. As KXCI enters its third decade of broadcasting this month, it is hosting a series of events to celebrate its 30th (pearl!) anniversary, along with pushing its capital campaign, “Amplify KXCI.” The fund-raising effort focuses on four components with the first priority on funding the northwest booster transmitter.

As any regular listener knows, the signal breaks up as one moves north and west of the town’s center. Talking with The Home Stretch Host and Special Projects Director Cathy Rivers, the broadcast starts to get lost around River Road, she says, “and there’s nothing by the time you reach Orange Grove.”

It’s been a complaint for years, but there were so many regulatory, engineering and geologic issues – Pusch Ridge blocks the signal emanating from the Santa Catalinas’ Mt. Bigelow – that had to be sorted through; details that have taken a lot of time and energy to figure out.

“Anecdotally, it was what most people brought up with us at events, ‘We’d listen more if we could get the station.’,'” Community Engagement Director Amanda Shauger shares. “It took a ground swell of will to analyze the problem and find solutions.

“There was a time when it seemed no amount of money could solve the broadcast problem,” Shauger adds.

Finding a solution to the broadcasting issue began in earnest in 2011 when Shauger, Mary Beth Haralovich, board president, and General Manager Randy Peterson sat down with an engineer from Oregon at the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference in San Francisco.

“He showed us our FCC (Federal Communications Commission) file and looked at the various things KXCI tried before. Some of it was not having the capacity or will. It is a testament to our ability and financial stability to have the time to figure it out,” explains Schauger.

As the quest to find FCC and engineering broadcast solutions to provide a signal to the foothills and northwest Tucson carried on, a capital campaign feasibility study for the station was being undertaken by Smith & Dale, a local development consulting firm.

“They conducted more than 50 in-person interviews and hundreds more in an online survey. It determined the priorities of the campaign and the financial goals,” Shauger says.

The Smith & Dale study ended up setting the fundraising bar for Amplify KXCI at $900,000: $350,000 to fund the northwest booster transmitter, $225,000 to rehabilitate the station’s century-old Downtown headquarters, $175,000 to upgrade technology and $150,000 as an endowment.

The $350,000 will cover purchasing and installing the booster transmitter equipment on the Good News Radio Broadcasting tower at First Avenue and Grant Road, along with three years of tower rental and utility costs. Beyond the first three years of funding, the hope is that new memberships from the expanded signal reach will come in and carry the costs of the station’s booster.

Peterson, known for his dry wit, jokes when asked if there is a back-up plan if new membership projections do not come to fruition to sustain the added equipment costs at the mid-town tower.

“Harakiri?”

The staff has done its research, so there shan’t be a need for ritual suicide.

“Annual rent and utilities should fall in the $18,000 to $20,000 range. The first three years are included in the campaign so that we are not increasing operational expenses. Based on our own experience and public radio and television research, the average listener takes about three years to become a member. At the high end of $20,000, the increased operating costs require only about 200 more members; we’re expecting to have won the support of closer to 1,000 new members in the next three years.” Current membership is at 2,705, according to Membership Director Michelle Boulet-Stephenson.

“The station is on solid ground in our regular operating expenses,” Peterson adds.

KXCI is well on its way to reaching the campaign’s first tier goal of meeting the $350,000 benchmark for the booster. As of late November, the capital campaign was already at $290,000. The success of Amplify KXCI will determine when the transmitter is installed.

“We are putting ‘first dollars’ to the transmitter, so we don’t need to get all the way to [the goal], just far enough to feel confident in executing the equipment purchase,” says Peterson. “From that day (purchase) through installation and testing we are probably looking at four to six months. We have already done all necessary engineering, surveying and legal work, and we have the authorization from the FCC.”

Beyond filling out its signal coverage, increasing the number of potential listeners “will help our underwriters and the non-profits we serve through the public service announcements,” says Rivers. She is passionate about the fact KXCI leads the pack when it comes to offering PSAs. Each week, four PSAs are chosen and they run eight times a day in both prime- and off-times. “No one else is doing that volume, or during those times,” Rivers states.

In fact, according to Peterson, KXCI runs 12,000 PSAs a year, “at a value of almost $125,000 split between approximately 150 non-profit groups.”

Mainly a music station, KXCI supports local musicians in a way that no other Tucson station does. Annually, hundreds of  local and regional bands receive airplay thanks to the tireless work of Music Director Duncan Hudson. To continue to connect listeners with these musicians, and the national independents the station spins, the $175,000 for technology upgrades is imperative.

“The era of CDs as our predominant medium for playing music is coming to an end, and KXCI is not currently equipped to do a sufficient job with digital media. Right now digital downloads are burned to CD, which is inefficient and expensive. Other technological improvements will include the ability to have multiple web streams and an archive of programs, so if you miss your favorite show live, you can listen to it at your convenience later. We already have the mechanism to do that, we just don’t have the staff and volunteer resources to make it a reality,” explains Peterson.

While the $225,000 number to rehabilitate the station’s historic Armory Park property may seem steep, the fact is that figure includes retiring the building’s mortgage (which is approximately $45,000), along with crucial upgrades.

“Most pressing needs are energy efficiency – attic insulation, better windows – and the roof, which has developed a few small leaks,” Peterson details. “We’d like to be pro-active on the roof now rather than spend more money later… [it will] become a more expensive albatross down the road.”

To keep the capital campaign donations manageable for donors, there are several levels (ranging from $600 to $100,000, but no amount will be turned away) that can be spread out over three years via installment payments. The current effort runs through February 2014, at which point, Peterson says, they will reassess strategies.

In further disclosure, I personally gave to this campaign as did my husband’s bankruptcy law firm. It is the love the staff and the volunteers put into crafting a most excellent station that wins our support. It really is about the people.

As Rivers says with genuine affection, “I’m really grateful to the people who started this radio station and I’m constantly amazed that we are on the air 24/7, and it’s due to the stellar job our volunteers do.”

Information on the capital campaign is at KXCI.org or by calling (520) 623-1000 x13. Find complete details on the 30th anniversary celebrations via the website or by tuning in to 91.3FM.

 

A Solstice Celebration

November 25, 2013 |

Kate Becker, organizer of Christmas Carnivale, also performs the event with her band.
photo: Puspa Lohmeyer

“I think of that time of the year, the solstice, as a time to celebrate the year and send it off,” says songstress Kate Becker.

We’re sitting on the back porch of Kate’s Magik, Becker’s essential oils – blended with intent – business in Iron Horse Neighborhood, talking about Christmas Carnivále. Between bites of delectable roasted veggies and soul-infusing honey-sweetened hot tea, Becker shares some background along with the vision of the event and the musicians she has brought together for the Wednesday, Dec. 18 show at Club Congress.

“The format is based on shows I did in New York at Collective: Unconscious on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. I was just starting out, and I started putting together monthly shows with other artists – poets, dancers, performance artists… but mainly musicians, songwriters, cowboy poets.”

Becker, who hosted those shows from 1999-2001, further explains that the goal was to attract more audience members and share the audience, as “there is only so many people any one band or performer can bring out.

“I did that for a couple of years until I moved out here and then I did a listening series at The Hut every second Wednesday of the month. I did (a series) in Bisbee too, at Elmo’s and Hot Licks, so, it became a tradition.”

When the singer/lyricist moved to Tucson in 2002 (“after 9/11,” Becker explains), she was seeing a lot of live music, “hoping to share the stage with some of them someday.”

That time has come. When Becker approached Hotel Congress’ entertainment director David Slutes with the idea, he was supportive and had a date open. “And it came together – whoosh – like nothing,” she shares, smiling.

Becker chose the bands and musicians by inviting “people who meant a lot to me, and most of them said yes.” Along with The Kate Becker Band, the line-up includes: Al Perry, Annie Hawkins, Leila Lopez, Joe Peña, Stuart Oliver & The Desert Angels, Combo Westside, and Mariachi Luz De Luna with Salvador Duran.

A pared down version of Mariachi Luz De Luna performs at Christmas Carnivale.
photo: Dov Frazier/courtesy Mariachi Luz De Luna

With her warm brown eyes as bright as the afternoon sun, Kate shines as she recalls seeing Mariachi Luz de Luna performing with Calexico in the past at Club Congress, and recounts her pleasure of the group joining the show.

“When he (Ruben) said yes, it was exciting for me because they are the best mariachi group. To see Mariachi Luz de Luna in a club is rare these days.”

Becker does a brief roundup of a few of the artists she picked and why: “Al Perry represented the desert to me, I had never heard music like that before I came here. That’s going to be special; he will be playing the oud. Also really special is Annie Hawkins playing with a band, something she hasn’t done in a long time. And Joe Peña, of course, he’s the bomb.”

And swapping the slots in-between the 25 minute sets are performers Donna Khil and hip-hop beat poet, Brian Haskins (aka Suchamc). “Donna is going to be playing the accordion. That will add to the carnival feel!

“Every artist is doing at least one holiday song of their understanding, whatever that means for them. It should be very festive and celebratory!”

For a mere $5, fans of live local music really can’t go wrong with this Wednesday, Dec. 18 show. It runs from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. with, in order of appearance: Al Perry, Annie Hawkins, Joe Peña, Leila Lopez, Stuart Oliver & The Desert Angels, The Kate Becker Band, Combo Westside, and Mariachi Luz de Luna with Salvador Duran. Visit HotelCongress.com/club for more info.

Covering The Greats

November 25, 2013 |

Big Star will be performed during The Great Cover Up.
photo: bigstarstory.com/press.html

This month, local musicians are paying homage to an array of legendary musical acts by recreating their music for the 15th annual Great Cover Up.

The wildly popular charitable event will feature 30 bands performing selections from famous groups, and maybe dressing the part, from all generations and genres. It spans three nights and three locales: Thursday, Dec. 12 at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., Friday, Dec. 13 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., and Saturday, Dec. 14 at Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.

“I love the sense of community fostered by the event,” says event co-organizer and KXCI’s Locals Only! DJ Matt Milner. “The collective effort of the bands requires literally thousands of hours of time, but no one is paid. From the organizing committee to the performers, everyone involved is willing to donate their time in service of a memorable weekend and much-needed financial assistance for our charitable beneficiary. There are very few events on the annual cultural calendar that bring together so many local artists.”

The hardworking committee of Milner, Mel Mason (Tucson Weekly contributor), Kris Kerry (Rialto Theatre), Curtis McCrary (Rialto Theatre), Stephen Seigel (Tucson Weekly Music Editor) and David Slutes (Hotel Congress) spent countless hours organizing the event and all of the proceeds of the Great Cover Up go to the Southern Arizona Artists and Musicians Healthcare Alliance. The non-profit organization (better known as S.A.A.M.H.A., and originally established as Tucson Artists and Musicians Healthcare Alliance/TAMHA) is an alliance of artists and art advocates who are dedicated to the sustainability and vitality of the local arts community by helping to provide them with affordable healthcare. And while the event only lasts one weekend a year, the work for the Great Cover Up spans many months for the organizers.

“It’s a lengthy process, but we don’t need to reinvent the wheel because we have a long history with this event and we have an established structure in place,” says Milner. “We always have some tough decisions to make when sorting through the applications, but our past experience informs the process. As a result, we take into consideration the popularity of the band being covered, the skill/professionalism of the applicant band, and any other x-factors that excite us.”

Hank Topless

While the lineups and list of who’s covering who is typically kept a secret until show time, it has been revealed that this year local bands will be performing the music of The Clash, The Killers, Foo Fighters, Spy Songs, Quincy Jones, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Tears For Fears, The Pixies, Led Zeppelin, Hall & Oats, Blondie, Prince, Nick Cave, Bjork, Old School Hip-Hop, The Bird and the Bee, Big Star, Beastie Boys, The Beach Boys, No Doubt, Heart, Aerosmith, The Cars, Bruce Springsteen, Prisencolinensinainciusol, Velvet Underground, and Joe Walsh.

“The bands are given a tall order, and every year the audience (as well as the organizers) are blown away by the creativity and passion shown by Tucson’s incredible musical talent,” says co-organizer Mel Mason. “People talk about what happens at this event years later. Personally, some of my favorite local music moments take place at the Great Cover Up, which is why I wanted to get involved with it behind the scenes in the first place.”

The local bands are encouraged to dress the part of these iconic bands, which typically leads to some outlandish attire that makes the performances all the more memorable. Each performance will last approximately 20 minutes and the sets will run from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thursday and 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Among the local bands who are participating this year are The Cordials, Garboski, Sugar Stains, The David Clark Band, Hank Topless, Spacefish, Chris Black, Gat Rot, The Tryst, Cathy Rivers, LeeAnne Savage and many more. Tickets will be available at the venues for $8 for one night, $12 for a two days pass and $15 for a three day pass.

“There’s so much musical talent in Tucson and it’s really impressive to see bands take on this challenge of covering a wide scope of artists and a lot of the music can be really technically difficult,” says local musician and 2013 Great Cover Up participant Mark Williamson of The David Clark Band. “More than anything it’s a great weekend to come out and celebrate Tucson’s local music scene while observing more than a few tight jump suits, gratuitous wigs and musical debauchery.”

“The Great Cover Up combines everything I love; music, a huge amount of local talent, loads of creativity, hard work, and fundraising for a stellar cause,” says Mason. “The results always astound me, and it’s worth every second of organizing behind the scenes to facilitate making the magic happen.”

For more information on the Great Cover Up visit GreatCoverUpTucson.com.

Holiday Shopping to Lift Up the Less Fortunate

November 25, 2013 |

This necklace is waiting to be bought
at the VLP 4th annual holiday sale/fund-raiser on Dec. 13.
photo courtesy Cheryl Copperstone

The lack of affordable legal services for poor and working class Pima County residents is well known to anyone working in the legal and social services communities.

The Volunteer Lawyers Program of Southern Arizona Legal Aid, which is one of the few organizations dedicated to this monumental affordable legal services problem, works tirelessly through volunteer legal assistants, volunteer attorneys, and self-help clinics, to bridge that chasm.

Attorneys take assigned cases, such as domestic/divorce and child support and custody matters, for greatly reduced or generally no fee. Legal assistants – through their employers’ generous gift of their time – are available and also provide invaluable assistance to Pima County residents facing such brutal choices of either paying rent or filing that child support petition, or filing a response to that eviction lawsuit versus paying the electricity bill.

The mission statement of the Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) is to foster self-sufficiency, equal access to justice and hope by matching volunteer lawyers and legal assistants with Arizonans who have insufficient income to pay for legal work and solvable legal problems. Over 1,000 Pima County attorneys are dedicated members of VLP.

A great example of the individuals providing this needed help to this under-served community is Hector Campoy. Mr. Campoy, a Pima County attorney and formerly a Pima County Judge with 20 years of distinguished service, was honored by VLP recently with its October 2013 “Outstanding Attorney of the Month” award.

Asked what drove him to volunteer with VLP, Mr. Campoy stated for the VLP website that “I would have to be living in a bubble to not recognize the widening drift in our country and our community, between the haves and the have-nots. The need has never been greater.” Mr. Campoy leads domestic relations clinics and assists unrepresented people in preparing their documents for filing.

He encourages other attorneys to volunteer, opining that “the people you are serving are extremely appreciative of your willingness to help. You can help bring a little legitimacy to an otherwise questionably imbalanced relationship between the client and the legal system.”

Now holiday shoppers can help this under-served community as well. On Friday, Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., affordable handcrafted jewelry, pottery, wearable knit art, purses, hand bags, and other accessories, will be offered for sale, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Southern Arizona Legal Aid’s VLP program.

This 4th annual holiday sale is on the first floor, in the Pima County Bar Association Conference Room, located in Downtown’s Transamerica Building at 177 N. Church Ave.

The holiday sale organizer, VLP volunteer and local attorney Cheryl Copperstone is excited about the options awaiting the shoppers, saying, “The line-up is fluid, but we have a lot of variety… one lady makes Ukrainian eggs!”

More information is available at VLPArizona.org.

Abstract Film Bursts onto the Downtown Art Scene

November 25, 2013 |

Dave Sherman outside his cinephile haven.
photo: Craig Baker

When David Sherman and his wife Rebecca Barten ran their first microcinema in the San Francisco area—really, the first microcinema in existence anywhere – it was in an unattached basement adjacent to the home they were renting.

“People could go in without having to go through our house,” says Sherman, “but they did all have to use our bathroom, so it could get pretty messy in there.” Their landlord at the time didn’t know they were using the underground space, says Sherman, so the venture, called Total Mobile Home Cinema, operated rent-free throughout its life the 1990s.

The couple moved with their young son to Bisbee in 2005, and, of course, they brought their passion for artistic film with them. Sherman and Barten operated within the experimental film community there for eight years before coming to Tucson in early 2013 – a move back to Sherman’s childhood roots. In October the couple nabbed a property on Toole Avenue in the Warehouse Arts District and – BOOM! Exploded View Microcinema was born.

Though somewhat tucked away—it would be easy to walk past Exploded View (EV) on a dark night without seeing it—what lies behind the black curtain partition at this rather unusual gallery may well blow your mind. Unlike a traditional movie theater, the downtown microcinema concerns itself more with rare and non-narrative films, that is to say, films with what Sherman calls an “experimental aesthetic.” These films are usually relatively short, often bittersweet with respect to production quality and subject matter, and are almost always intensely abstract—we’re talking out there.

The real appeal of the place, though, is not just in its large collection of celluloid film or its slant toward the abstract (though EV is unique in both respects in Tucson), but rather the charm of the newest cinephile haven lies primarily in its special events. The artist-in-residence installations, for example, offer an exclusive glimpse into the mind of an artist at work. Stop in on Saturday, Dec. 6 to see visual artist Noah Saterstrom’s interpretation of Theo van Doesberg’s 1921 series of visual poems titled Letterklankbeelden (Lettersoundimages).

Look to the left as you enter Exploded View to catch a glimpse of their film wall.
photo: Craig Baker

At their “artists in person” events, anyone is welcome to come and see the walls between artist, gallery space and audience come down. “Animation Explosion” on Saturday, Dec. 14 will feature a rare screening of painter Wayne Thiebaud’s film How to Make a Movie Without a Camera in the original 16mm celluloid format, along with the premiere of artist-in-residence Saterstrom’s film, Wastrels. Film not exactly your thing?  The event “<)))Audio as Experience>< Conversation” on Wednesday, Dec. 11 will feature local sound artists Glenn Weyant and Aengus Anderson as they share their experimentations in the realm of all things sonic. EV even has something for run-of-the-mill film junkies that may not be so in to the way-far-out: Carl Hanni, host of KXCI’s “The New World” on Tuesday nights, shows primarily art-based documentaries at his regular Wednesday Cine Club screenings.

But don’t mistake this hole-in-the-wall spot for just another small-time movie theater. The goal is to allow EV to function as a sort of “connective tissue” between not only artists and art lovers, but also to bridge the gap between certain artistic mediums, according to Sherman. Today, where most inter-artist and artist-audience dialogue takes place in the digital sphere, bringing artists and the viewing public together in the same space is increasingly difficult.

Sherman points out that Tucson is a place without an “extensive film art culture,” meaning that EV essentially aims to build the local medium-specific art scene from the ground up. Though the obstacles to this plan are bound to be plentiful, if the movement does take hold Tucsonans may find their community ripe for the development of something completely novel in the world of film art. Sherman is also quick to point out, that despite the lack of a film art scene, “there are just so many creative people in Tucson,” so the possibilities for video expression within our community are truly limitless.

So, the question, then, is this: is Tucson ready to undertake the development of a scene for a medium that is altogether new to this city? If so, Exploded View is waiting with open arms. And who better to start us off than the people credited with coining the term “microcinema” in the first place? Regardless of whether or not downtown Tucson ever becomes a true film art mecca, Exploded View Microcinema promises to add some funky flavor to the local art community mix.

Exploded View Microcinema is located at 197 E. Toole Ave. and online at ExplodedViewGallery.org.

Gearing up for El Tour

November 23, 2013 |

Photo: El Grupo crosses the finish line at the 2011 El Tour de Tucson.

The whirring of bike gears and the clicking of toe clips is a staple sound on the streets of Tucson, one of the nation’s most bike-friendly communities. We all know it – morning drives to work where you could easily spot dozens of cyclists enjoying the clear, desert air. But the true testament to Tucson’s cyclist appeal reveals itself every November when thousands of cyclists convene for El Tour de Tucson.

The unique biking event is celebrating its thirty-first year in Tucson and invites cyclists to ride the perimeter of Tucson – tough thoroughfares, serpentine streets and broad byways – and even through water crossings, where participants must pick up their bike, yes pick it up, and walk it through dry washes.

But the event represents much more than a grueling competition for the cyclists. El Tour draws more than $18 million in economic impact and 42 charitable agencies benefit from the event.

“One of the most important things about El Tour is that it is a fundraising event,” said Richard DeBernardis, founder of El Tour de Tucson and president of Perimeter Bicycling Association of America (PBAA). “For some it’s a race. Some of us think it’s a ride, and for most of us, we want to raise money for something worthwhile.”

It is this idea – giving back and benefiting the community – that lent itself to become the inspiration for this year’s theme of the Tour: Better Together Through Cycling.

“Pretty much through cycling, we’ve connected volunteers to charitable agencies, charitable agencies to fundraising, businesses to economic impact,” DeBernardis explained. “They’re all working together and what they’re doing is making it better for the community and it’s all related around a cycling event, so it really is better together through cycling! I’ve always felt that you could probably solve all of the world’s problems through cycling.”

One of the largest beneficiaries of El Tour is the nonprofit TuNidito which works with Tucson families whose lives have been impacted by a serious medical condition or death.

“We’re better through cycling because we’ve been able to grow our services,” said Liz McCuster, director of TuNidito Children and Family Services at an El Tour press conference last month. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without all of you at PBAA (Perimeter Bicycling Association of America).”

Perimeter Bicycling of America, Inc. is the nonprofit organization responsible for the El Tour de Tucson and several other major cycling events in Arizona. According to PerimeterBicycling.com, the organization has been a model for bicycling events in Japan, which are also aimed at concept of cycling in the pursuit of wellness.

Another integral aspect of the ride are the volunteers. Ironically, or more perfectly, the day of El Tour, Nov. 23, also marks National Family Volunteer day. Two dedicated El Tour volunteers have been helping the event for about 28 years.

“The staff down at El Tour is just so wonderful and so friendly. It’s enjoyable work,” said Leila Warfield. Warfield and her husband, Totten, will be celebrating their sixty-sixth wedding anniversary, and will be at the finish line checking in participants on the day of the event.

It all sounds great, but the event struggled to find a title sponsor earlier this year, which almost left it short of hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. The Tour needs about $650,000 in corporate funding to help pay the $1.8 million price tag, Richard DeBernardis said last month at the El Tour press conference. The University of Arizona Medical Center sponsored the event for the past six years, but their contract with the event expired. UMC continues to support the El Tour and is sponsoring the Tour’s “Fun Ride” this year. But it wasn’t long before Casino Del Sol took up the mantel as title sponsor.

“We’re honored to be the presenting sponsor of the El Tour de Tucson in 2013,” Jim Burns, CEO of Casino Del Sol Resort said at the October El Tour press conference. “Our involvement with the race goes beyond the sponsorship. Our tribal members, our team members, and our families will be participating and we are proud to support them in their journey.”

Burns reiterated the importance of El Tour for the local economies, but also added that the event’s health benefits are massive as it inspires people to be active. He shared that the event itself is an opportunity to bring together people from all different walks of life from around the Tucson area and beyond.

“We’re happy to be partners in this Tucson tradition,” Raymond Buelna, Pasqua Yaqui tribe council member said at last month’s press conference. “I’d like to wish everyone well in their training and on that day, be safe out there on the roads.”

Another event much like El Tour de Tucson was devastated earlier this year when two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people. To show continued support and remembrance for those lives lost and affected by the Boston bombings, Diamond Ventures will set up memorial signs along the Tour race course – 26.2 miles from the staring line, and 26.2 miles to the finish line.

“When we heard the theme, ‘Better Together Through Cycling’ we all agreed that no better theme could have been chosen,” Nathan Levy from Diamond Ventures said at the El Tour press conference. “We’re touched by the El Tour’s desire to honor those killed and injured in the Boston Marathon bombings.”

The event in of itself is a spectacle, but there is nothing quite like seeing the moving, contorting form of the peloton – hundreds of individual cyclists moving as one massive body.

“There’s nothing more exciting for me than riding my bike with a group of other fast cyclists,” said avid cyclist John Carruth. “To me the El Tour is just one of those iconic Tucson events. It helps define who we are as a community.”

Carruth is riding in support of the Greater Vail Community Services. His hope is to raise $1,000 to $1,500 in pledges for the charity while he rides the 85-mile race. Carruth, who competed in his first El Tour in 1988, also aims to finish in the top 20 riders.

“It’s a real tangible example of what cycling can do for our community both from the charitable side, and an economic side,” said Carruth about El Tour. “And I get to ride my bike! I love it.”

El Tour is expected to draw 8,000 to 9,000 national participants in its 111, 85, 60 and 42-mile races. It also has three shorter routes in their “Fun Ride” – 10, 5 and quarter-mile courses for mountain bikes, tandems, wheelchairs and children. There’s also the indoor El Tour in which participants can ride their own stationary bikes for minutes rather than miles, from anywhere in the world starting a week prior to the El Tour.

The day of El Tour offers activities for non-riders too. The El Tour Downtown Fiesta at Amory Park, 221 S. Sixth Ave., will allow cyclists and spectators alike to enjoy a day of outdoor music, food and family fun while being able to watch riders cross the finish line.

The El Tour de Tucson is Nov. 23. For more information about El Tour routes, start times and registration, visit PerimeterBicycling.com.

The Bounty of Mesquite

November 15, 2013 |

photo courtesy DesertHarvesters.org

Most people are aware of the smokey-flavor goodness grilling with mesquite offers, but the nutritional blessings of the tree go well beyond its wood chips in the grill. Native to our desert environment, the tree’s pods are oft regarded as a yard-raking nuisance, a mess to clean up and throw away.

Indigenous residents of the Sonoran Desert, however, knew differently and there is plenty of archeological evidence that shows these pods were processed and incorporated into their diet.

Now this tasty and nutritious ingredient – comprised of sweet, nutty deliciousness – is coming full circle and has been re-discovered by localvores and foodies. Mesquite meal is a versatile ingredient that can be included in French toast batter, in mole, and adding it to smoothies or coffee equates to oh-my-goodness palatable delights. If you have never tried pancakes made with mesquite meal, you are missing out!

You can remedy this culinary hole in your dietary life by attending the 11th Annual Mesquite Milling Pancake Fiesta on Sunday, Nov. 24. The event takes place at the Dunbar/Spring Community Orchard & Mini-Nature Park, located on the northwest corner of 11th Avenue and University Boulevard. It is presented by Desert Harvesters, with help from Watershed Management Group, and runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Dunbar/Spring neighborhood, located between Stone and Main Avenues (on the east and west) and between Speedway Boulevard and Sixth Street (on the north and south), has been connecting Tucsonans with mesquite and other local wild plant foods education for eleven years now.

If you are a harvester of mesquite, and need your pods ground down into its glorious flour, this is the most convenient milling event for the downtown Tucson community.

This summer, as I was shaking out the limbs of healthy looking mesquites of various types so I could rain down its pods onto my battered blue tarp, I was approached by several neighbors. All were interested in what I was doing, had some inkling of what I was talking about, and asked how I got our mesquite milled and what we did with it.

I asked Desert Harvesters founding member Brad Lancaster if they too had seen an up swell in interest in and participation in native plant harvesting. Lancaster concurred. “When we started eleven years ago, only the Cascabel Hermitage Association and ourselves were offering mesquite milling. Now, about a dozen groups are.”

If you are a newcomer to the wonderful offerings of mesquite, and are curious, this event provides you sampling and knowledge-gathering opportunities galore. Mesquite pancakes will be available to purchase and consume from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Calendars showing dates for harvesting, workshops on how to harvest and prepare mesquite and other native foods, a food swap, puppetry, live music, and other information will be also available in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Lancaster stresses that the event is about far more than mesquite. “The goal of Desert Harvesters was to use mesquite as bait to lure people into trying, growing, and using many more native foods.  There are well over three hundred native food-bearing plants in the Sonoran Desert. Let’s tap the bounty!

“The idea is to expose more people to a greater diversity of juicy offerings, while also encouraging more interaction between the organizing bodies. As we strengthen our awareness, ties, and collaboration – we strengthen each other and the greater community.

“And, I want to make clear that mesquite foods are not the end, they are just the beginning. From the start, but also to grow the bounty by growing these plants in our own yards, and along our neighborhood streets within water-harvesting earthworks. This way we much more richly reconnect with the ecosystem in which we live, and the many cultures and wildlife that have evolved with it, in a way that enhances our shared present and future.”

In addition, starting at 3 p.m. and continuing until 5 p.m. on Nov. 24, the Dunbar/Spring neighborhood will offer Porch Fest, welcoming visitors with live, local music on various porches at homes throughout the neighborhood.

Get more information at DesertHarvesters.org, DunbarSpring.org and check out Porch Fest information at Facebook.com/TucsonPorchFest.

Entrepreneurs in a Cultural Urban Kitchen

November 11, 2013 |

A common denominator fuels body, spirit and economy.

Marie Bampamluolwa demonstrates FuFu flour tin at Tucson Meet Yourself.
photo by Samantha Angiulo

There’s a lot to talk about around Tucson’s culinary table, with so many finding their passion in locally-nourished baked goods, suds, cheeses, spirits and condiments. Food is the universal facilitator these days. But when cooks, as Michael Pollan says, stand “squarely between nature and culture,” food sovereignty is ignited, adding the spice of tradition to Tucson’s kitchen, in surprising ways.

Dishes & Stories, a refugee and immigrant women’s culinary enterprise, has entered the conversation as a new social purpose organization focused on food culture and women’s self sufficiency. This is a joint venture between the Iskashitaa Refugee Network and Crossings Kitchen, the sole proprietorship of Priscilla Mendenhall, a Washington D.C. transplant, foodie and career non-profit professional who has transitioned to social enterprise.

In its start-up phase, Dishes & Stories is a catering service with a globally-inspired, locally-sourced menu prepared by the refugee and immigrant women who are co-creating the enterprise. “Featuring a menu of our mother’s recipes,” Mendenhall adds.

Culinary Connector
There’s synergy between Mendenhall’s Crossings Kitchen and Iskashitaa, established by Dr. Barbara Alice Eiswerth in 2003 as a sustainable foods harvesting and redistribution program and a language and employment skills support network for refugees transitioning to life in Tucson.

“With food as the common denominator, we’re helping refugees and immigrant women in a strange land use their skills and cultural practices to build community and livelihoods,” says Eiswerth, who founded her large-impact organization after visiting and working in Malawi and returning to see food waste in Tucson.

After organizing youth mapping programs to identify locations of produce going to waste in Tucson, Dr. Eiswerth received a grant from the United Way to begin regularly harvesting with refugees, then redistributing to refugee families and other Tucson organizations to assist families in need. Thus, Iskashitaa (the Somali Bantu word for “working cooperatively together”) was born.

Each year, approximately 1,000 new refugees of 20 nationalities make their way to Tucson, and Iskashitaa reaches hundreds to help them rebuild businesses, share stories, learn English and, importantly, harvest local fruits and vegetables from cooperating farms, backyards and neighborhoods, to be re-envisioned within healthy recipes that help refugees retain tradition and activate a sustainable place for themselves in the Tucson’s local food system. Iskashitaa produces a line of 30 specialty food products, including marmalades and salad dressings, featuring locally harvested produce.

What Dishes & Stories/Iskashitaa does is catalyze opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship, comments Mendenhall: “For us, ‘catalyze’ is the key word, Our roles as founders of Dishes & Stories are to leverage the financial, structural and logistical means of building a sustainable business which, within five years, will be a cooperatively managed and owned social enterprise.”

Activating the Enterprise
The start-up phase of the Dishes & Stories catering service already is serving up at local venues including the Tucson Museum of Art and during the annual Tucson Meet Yourself event. With its changing array of participants from Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Congo, Sudan, Bhutan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mexico and El Salvador, Dishes & Stories is a moveable feast, according to Mendenhall.

Brittany Svoboda (of the UA Enactus Club, left), Manerva Bashta and Kelzi Bartholomaei (of Mother Hubbard’s Cafe, right) preparing a platter of an Egyptian dish called koshari at the Dishes & Stories Cooking Retreat.
photo by Melissa Gant

The organization, utilizing rented while actively seeking a permanent commercial kitchen space, is beginning a basic culinary art training program while working out of the large Rincon United Church of Christ kitchen on Craycroft and Broadway. The Dishes menu is inspired by the traditional recipes of the refugee and immigrant women participating, and items range from tortilla sambusas (Somali wraps) and falafel to pumpkin stew, sautéed amaranth and chicken-mushroom curry. Mendenhall says that cheese pairings, desserts and marinades also feature seasonal Iskashitaa specialty food items.

Critical to the program is the storytelling component that surrounds all dishes featured on menu. “The stories of these dishes are told by the cooks and staff as they host and serve,” Mendenhall explains, “and the stories will also be incorporated into cooking classes and cultural celebrations. For many refugee and immigrant women, the utensils and cookbooks they bring from home help encapsulate their stories into their dishes, in ways that words cannot possibly convey.”

Dishes & Stories has a business plan which progressively expands catering, adds a food truck and ultimately opens a 40-seat restaurant, which will also be sales venue for Iskashitaa specialty food items.

“Knowing the challenges of any food service, and the complexities of providing programs tailored to women living on the edge, we are moving incrementally,” says Mendenhall, who notes that culturally-inclusive training in pre-employment (in cooperation with YWCA Tucson), business management, success coaching and financial literacy will be implemented as business operations continue to demonstrate success. All of these programs will be designed to accommodate the daily logistical and financial challenges experienced by women who face multiple barriers to creating their own self-sufficiency, says Mendenhall, who adds, “We have a formal framework in place for cooperative management and financial independence within five years.”

Healthy Communities, Supporting Local Systems
Through food preservation workshops, formal cooking retreats and the catering events, refugee women are sharing their cooking experiences and knowledge of traditional foodways as they envision theirs and Dishes’ future.

Mendenhall recounts a recent September night, when one refugee cook from Upper Egypt, Manerva Bashta, watched with both tears and smiles as hungry attendees to a Tucson Museum of Art event relished her dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) and burek (savory puff pastries).

“This was the first time Manerva had prepared food professionally, the food of her family and homeland,” Mendenhall says. “She came to the U.S. seeking asylum as she fled the persecution of Christians in her town. Here, she studies English, applies for jobs, shops carefully at Babylon and Caravan markets, takes care of her grandchildren and spends hours waiting for buses, especially on weekends. In Egypt, she taught business. Dishes & Stories provides a venue within which Manerva can renew confidence in her business and culinary skills.”

Faeza Hililian (center) and Dishes & Stories founder Priscilla Mendenhall (right) at Tucson Meet Yourself Culture Kitchen.
photo by Samantha Angiulo

Mendenhall also explains that as part of her involvement, Manerva will assist in routinely helping to calculate ingredient costs, the preparation time and price points for each dish.

Dishes & Stories recently received a grant from the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona to initiate a culinary and vocational English as a Second Language (ESL) training curriculum and begin developing menu items. Both will integrate the rich food traditions of our refugee women co-creators, says Mendenhall.

Acting as a Dishes & Stories fiscal sponsor, Tucson Meet Yourself (TMY) helped incubate Dishes at last month’s festival, when Mendenhall led an exploration of ethnic food traditions and good eats in the TMY Cultural Kitchen. At the full demonstration kitchen in downtown’s main library plaza, panel presentations were interspersed with group demonstrations, which included five Dishes refugee women as featured demonstrators.

“Many of these women are in the United States for just a short time but they’re eager to bring the traditional dishes of their homelands to our community,” says Mendenhall. “From my perspective as coordinator of the TMY Cultural Kitchen, the festival and Dishes & Stories, as well as Iskashitaa, are part of the same Tucson movement to honor the diverse, family-rooted foodways of our community.”

While cooking at TMY, the women conveyed their stories, including how eating with the hands honors the cook, the food and the earth. As stews of greens simmered, audiences asked questions about odd uses of local fruits now in season, including processing dates into vinegar or syrup. The scent of curry and mixed spices lingered. Everyone was well fed; everything was delicious.

In the end, it was just the way a kitchen should be.

________

Heart of the Harvest
This tiny treasure of a cookbook was recently published by Iskashitaa and funded by the Pima Arts Council. It contains cross-cultural cooking and canning tips, as well as global recipes making using of local ingredients. To purchase this little gem for $13, go to Iskashitaa.org.

Cookbook Excerpt:
Rwandan Grapefruit Marmalade
(recipe by Venantie Uwitonze, Rwandan refugee)
Yields 8 ½ pints

Ingredients:
4 lbs grapefruit
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
3 bananas
2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped.

Directions:
1. Peel grapefruit, removing pith, membranes and seeds
2. Place grapefruit in large pot, adding ingredients.
3. Bring to boil then lower heat to simmer for approx 45 minutes, or until thick.
4. Place in sterilized jars, following canning procedures (in cookbook).

 

Back to Basics

November 11, 2013 |

Marquirivi, Bolivia
photo by Lizzie Greene/EWB-UA

“Simple is harder than complicated,” reflects environmental engineering student Andrea F. Corral. Her cohort Vicky Karanikola agrees enthusiastically, “Yeah! Everything is so technologically advanced that you forget the simple. Our designs have to be simplified, they have to be simple to work.”

These University of Arizona doctoral environmental engineering students are discussing the challenges of going back to basics, to help a village in the mountainous Andean climes of Marquirivi, Bolivia gain a luxury the first world takes for granted everyday: sanitary conditions, hot showers and bathrooms.

In a community of 300 people, a population that doubles during agricultural planting and later crop harvesting, there are only three latrines, Karanikola explains. “One in the school, one in the nurse’s station and one outside, and pretty much they don’t work, so nobody uses them. And they have one shower in the nurse’s office, but nobody uses it because it is locked.”

Karanikola, from Greece, and Corral, from Ecuador, are volunteer members of Engineers Without Borders-University of Arizona (EWB-UA). Karanikola is the co-manager, with Jimmy Hackett, of the group’s Marquirivi sanitation project which aims to establish showers with hot water and working latrines. The structures will allow the villagers to bathe comfortably and segregate their waste to end water, crop and field contamination, along with reducing water-borne illnesses.

“Right now, I’m assuming they take showers with a bucket,” Karanikola says, “and heat up the water and use a sponge. But during the winter, the freezing temperatures go to zero, and they are up 14,000 feet, higher than Mount Lemmon.”

To provide the village with hot water, EWB-UA will set up solar thermosyphons, which uses rudimentary science to operate.

“It is very simple how it works,” explains Karanikola. “It has a solar panel and tank and it basically works by the difference in water density created by the different temperatures of the water. You heat up the water in the solar panel, so it becomes lighter and moves up in the tank, and the colder water goes back and gets warm, so it’s very simple. No pumps, and you install it on the roof. I know about it because in Greece it is very common, we use it a lot for heating up the water.”

While the technology for the showers and latrines must be uncomplicated to be established in such a remote area, and subsequently operated and maintained by the villagers, the design and construction processes are challenged by the location’s geological features.

Marquirivi, Bolivia
photo by Lizzie Greene/EWB-UA

“It’s like a 35 percent slope. It makes our design very hard. We start designing something and in the process, we read stuff, we try to figure out things and we realize, ‘this design is not feasible,’ so it is a very long process. So we realize we need to go for a second assessment trip where we completely focus on figuring out the terrain, do very accurate percolation tests, surveying the community,”  Karanikola details. “We have two to three different alternative designs, and see which one they prefer. Which one would be better for them to operate and maintain, what would they prefer and do they have enough money to maintain and operate them for the different options we are giving them? So, there’s a lot of work to be done in December.”

The village was first “adopted” by EWB-UA in September 2011, according to EngineersInAction.org/projects/current-projects/marquirivi/. The local student organization had to apply for the project through the national Engineers Without Borders chapter in a rigorous selection process. The group’s first assessment trip was in May 2012. It is now in the design and fund-raising phase for the December 2013 trip.

“It’s hard work!” Corral laughs, shaking her head. “People, when they think about Engineers Without Borders, they don’t really think about fund-raising, so it’s really hard to get people involved in that part of the organization, which is one of the basic cornerstones of the project because without money, we wouldn’t be able to go and do assessment trips and do the implementation.”

While the group has applied for and received several grants to cover travel and project expenses, there are always fiscal needs as EWB-UA has a five year commitment to the village’s sanitation project.

“There’s a process that we will build and monitor and the same time. Our project has many phases, so we don’t want to – we can’t actually – build everything all together,” Karanikola elucidates.

Dr. Wendell Ela, EWB-UA’s faculty advisor/professional mentor since 2004 and UA Chemical and Environmental Engineering Professor since 1998, reiterates the difficulties via email from Zimbabwe. “The current project to try and improve sanitation conditions for the community has a somewhat open-ended time frame, as the technologies to be implemented and number of sites to be addressed are still being designed and determined. It will minimally be a project going into 2016.

“Since the community is on a steep mountain slope at elevations ranging from about 12,500 to over 14,000 feet, the terrain is an obvious challenge. In addition, the community is very dispersed with the residences distributed over the entire area and no real opportunities for significant centralization of sanitation facilities. However, on the positive side, the community has a reasonably reliable and seemingly sufficient potable water supply, so one major hurdle is already surmounted.”

Both of the women speak with a passion for the work, and a deep respect for the community their team is volunteering their time and minds to serve. The depth of the project isn’t just building a couple of showers and toilets. It is following building codes established by the United States, the United Nations, the Environmental Protection Agency, the World Bank. It is presenting the designs to EWB-USA, with exhaustive, precise reports covering the smallest technical details.

Marquirivi, Bolivia
photo by Lizzie Greene/EWB-UA

They also both understand this effort requires people with diverse skills and make it very clear it doesn’t take an engineer to be a part of EWB-UA.

“When we travel, we will need to have people that know about different things, we will need a nurse and someone in the social studies to reach out to the community and do a better survey of the needs of the community – how the community sees our presence there. Do they like it? Are they comfortable with us there? Do they agree with the project? Do they find it fine or do they disagree?” Corral says.

When it comes to community, they both exude appreciation for Casa Vicente, the locale of EWB-UA’s fundraising event on Nov. 24, from 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

As regulars at the downtown Spanish restaurant, 375 S. Stone Ave., the ladies discussed the project with owners Vicente Sanchez and Marita Gomez. “We were talking about it and he thought it would be a good idea to have an event there. So, we are very thankful to him and Marita. They’re great, they gave us great ideas to advertise the event and how to do it, they have done this before so their experience has been really helpful,” smiles Corral. “They are a very giving couple.”

The EWB-UA fundraising event, Noche Boliviano, is Sunday, Nov. 24 and features tapas, flamenco dancing, live music and details on the project. Tickets are $75. More information is at EWB-UA.org or email ewb.arizona@gmail .com.

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