DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE

Rooted in Community

July 5, 2011 |
Sparkroot plans by Repp Design + Construction. Courtesy Ari Shapiro

Sparkroot plans by Repp Design + Construction.
Courtesy Ari Shapiro

“Sparkroot is a concept that I have been mulching in my mind for years,” says Ari Shapiro of his latest Downtown venture, set to open in early August at 245 E. Congress St., at 5th Avenue. “It’s essentially the kind of space that I crave as a customer that I don’t feel really exists. The heart and soul of it is a coffee shop, but it’s a coffee shop that brings elements of a restaurant into it.”

Shapiro, who is also the proud founder and owner of three Xoom Juice smoothie shops (one is located in the 245 E. Congress St. strip), describes Sparkroot as a trifecta. It will have three beverage groups: coffee and tea, homemade sodas and boutique/micro beer and wine, and will serve healthy vegetarian fare. “We’re not a bar or a restaurant, or a pure coffee shop. We’re an amalgamation of all three.”

Shapiro shares the details with an energy that conveys measured excitement. However, the more he elucidates on the features of his new business and everything that has gone into it, the broader his smile and the livelier his brown eyes.

As we pour over the urban aesthetics of the Repp Design + Construction plans, Shapiro points out the coffee, bar and kitchen areas, the loft, and the layout of the seating. “There will be individual counter seating; we’re going to have a seven foot community table built by my friend Raj Helweg and have lounge chairs and sofas. We’re making a lot of furniture ourselves, but we’re also buying a lot of mid-century vintage stuff.” Notching up the cool factor is a 1963 Wurlitzer jukebox, with tunes for free, and patio seating along 5th Avenue.

Shapiro makes it clear how important it is to him to utilize local talent and is employing Tucson’s artist community to decorate and build out the space. Contributors include: Troy Neiman making a hanging bike rack and a table made of bike parts, Ezequiel Leoni building a 20 foot window bar facing Congress Street, Travis Edgar constructing a writer’s table.

“If you want a story Jamie, here’s the story – do you know how hard it is to get reclaimed wood?” Shapiro says they bought 480 board feet of Wisconsin barn wood from a man far south on Nogales Highway. “It is gorgeous, and weathered, and mostly red and there is still some hardware in planks. We are using that throughout the space.”

While the layout is certainly unique, what customers won’t get anywhere else in Tucson is the Blue Bottle Coffee Sparkroot is set to serve. Shapiro looked at local options and loved them, but went with the San Francisco based company because it “is at the very leading edge of specialty coffee.”

The beer and wine selections will feature quality options priced for everyone. “All wine is going to be $5 a glass, all day, no specials. I don’t want to serve a $9 glass of wine; I don’t want to serve a $7 glass of wine. And then all beer will be $4 a bottle.”

When it comes to the menu, Shapiro promises healthful options of homemade granola and whole food bars, Panini sandwiches, soups, hummus and more. “Basically, simple fare done with a lot of care and creativity.”

Keep an eye on Sparkroot.com for details on the opening.

Kevin Pakulis Band: “Shadesville”

November 1, 2010 |

 

Kevin Pakulis "Shadesville"

Kevin Pakulis “Shadesville”

I’ve learned a simple way to determine if I’ll have a long-term relationship with a new album. On first listen, is there at least one cut I must immediately experience again?

Kevin Pakulis’ recent release Shadesville got me to listen twice, and two more times. This tasty 10-cut disc features Pakulis’ ripping guitar work, with organ and piano virtuosity by Duncan Stitt and rhythm from bassist Larry Lee Lerma and Ralph Gilmore on percussion.

The first cut that hooked me was Dying By The Moment. It is great instrumentally and lyrically with one fabulous line after the other about a time in two peoples’ lives when living was edgy and thumbing rides to places like Shadesville was rote. Top cut of the last several months for me! I can relate to it, remembering being broke, broke down and having fun despite being utterly irresponsible and lost in the great West.

The music here, as is true for Pakulis’ 2004 release Yeah Yeah Yeah and Mockingbird Radio in 2007, reaches into and utilizes genre after genre. From a quirky and fast rocker about everything flying off the handle (Outa Hand) to a beautiful country ballad about the sacred nature of the grave of a dearly departed (Uncle Harlan) and on to a slammin’ honky-tonk number Heavy Load – there isn’t a weak track on the album.

Check out KevinPakulis.com to follow the band and its shows.

The Swigs: “Let it Come Down”

April 10, 2010 |
photo: FotoVitamina (Salonia/Yates)

photo: FotoVitamina (Salonia/Yates)

Longtime followers of the local scene may remember guitarist Kevin Henderson from his days in What Went Wrong. He’s been kicking around town (and California) for years. With this CD, it all comes together for him and his band – a great rock band in their prime. It seems like Kevin might have listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin in his life, though he only took the good parts – like Jimmy Page’s guitar style. His guitar work holds its own with anyone you care to mention, incorporating folk-based melodies (almost like fiddle tunes), Middle Eastern scales, and good ol’ fashioned blues rock into his solos. Two of the nine tracks are instrumentals, and there is an overall very high ratio of music to vocals.

It really does hearken back to those old hard rock albums, but it is far more interesting than most of that stuff. Definitely guitar bliss, from the first note to the last. Ploughed In the Stars is a good example. It’s a showpiece for some breathtaking fretwork, starting with a few minutes of instrumental magic, before giving way to his re-write of the old cowboy song, Rye Whiskey. He employs acoustic guitars to great effect on Everybody’s Saying.

The rhythm section of this power trio is exemplary; in particular the Bonham-esque drums of Blake Bybke. Dorian Cacavas even wrote lyrics on two of the songs.

Recorded at Loveland, mastered by Dave Shirk, this is 5 stars all the way. From the evidence on this disc, the genre of guitar hero hard rock is hardly played out. The planets have lined up. The Swigs have arrived, and that’s a great thing.

Tunes online at myspace.com/theswigs; The Swigs play at Grill’s Red Room April 8 and at The Hut May 28.

Dealing in Art

April 1, 2010 |
Fine Art Consulting, (left) Joanne Stuhr and (right) Meg Hagyard. photo: Jamie Manser

Fine Art Consulting, (left) Joanne Stuhr and (right) Meg Hagyard.
photo: Jamie Manser

The founders of Fine Art Consulting are striking – not only in their physicality and elegant, casual style but also because of their poised, easy going manner. Before they explain their combined 40-year background in the arts, it’s easy to ascertain that Meg Hagyard and Joanne Stuhr have an intelligent, creative bent.

Both have a rich arts history – with Stuhr’s background as a museum curator and author on Latin American and contemporary art along with Haygard’s training as a studio artist and her work in arts management.

Haygard said that the two knew each other through the arts community and that their business partnership evolved from a two-year long project she was working on that Stuhr “did a lot of invaluable consulting on.”

With an apropos business name that matches their expertise, the services Haygard and Stuhr provide are fulfilling a need in the regional community.

“We have been doing a very soft launch of the business and haven’t done press yet but people keep finding us,” Haygard said. “That’s been encouraging, to feel like it’s going to be worthwhile for us to continue.”

What they offer to individuals and businesses includes collection care and management – which entails documentation of inventory, verification, authentication, insurance issues, institutional loan agreements, installations, as well as buying and selling.

Speaking of selling, from April 15-18, Fine Art Consulting is setting up shop at 439 N. 6th Ave. #179 to host an art sale that represents over a dozen clients who are refining their collections.

Works for sale include Picasso and Dali prints, Mexican folk art, installation pieces by Julia Latane, Israeli artists, 30s & 40s pieces, furniture and more.

“We try to have a variety to appeal to a broad range,” Haygard said. “It’s also a broad range of prices – from $50 to $4,000.”

A sampling of the pieces is available at FineArtConsultingltd.com. The preview takes place Thursday, April 15 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, April 16-18, the hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Leila Lopez “Fault Lines”

March 1, 2010 |
Leila Lopez photo by: Michael Longstaff

Leila Lopez Photo: Michael Longstaff

A 28-year-old talented powerhouse, the lovely Leila Lopez is known for writing gorgeous albums and does it again with Fault Lines. It’s a low key record, sad and reflective yet lovingly open-minded and hopeful; scribed by an old soul with Zen maturity.

“(Its) definitely love and a lot of sadness, but the kind of sadness that really opens me up and forces me to become more conscious of others and myself,” Lopez explained.

Her lyrics are inspirational, touching and wise; these are tunes that deserve attentive listening. Between Lopez’s dexterous playing and vocals, it’s easy to get pulled into the songs’ stories.

Lopez describes herself as more of an observer than an extrovert, someone who processes things internally and finds release in writing songs.

The musician’s disk is a precious gift, tilled and harvested over time. A couple of the tracks were on her 2003 All Songs, the rest of the songs, “and the ideas for a lot of them have been spread out over so many years,” Lopez said.

The multi-instrumentalist self-recorded and produced the album in her home and plays guitar, bass, cello, harmonica, banjo and drums on it with contributions from Paul Nosa (drums), Brian Green (bass), Christabelle Merrill (violin) and Courtney Robbins (guitar).

Lopez’s live band includes Green and Merrill with Bruce Halper (drums), and occasionally Robbins.

 Visit LeilaLopezSongs.com for a sampling of her sound. The free, all-ages CD release show takes places at Solar Culture, 31 E. Toole Ave., March 27, 7 p.m.

Stefan George “Cloth”

February 10, 2010 |
Photo: courtesy MJStringer Photography

Photo: courtesy MJStringer Photography

“It’s pretty dark, but that’s the way it is sometimes,” Stefan scribed in a note that came with the CD.

Sure enough, it opens with the folky, stark-realities-are-depressing Bad Year for Clowns.

Though there are lyrical themes of a tough life throughout the 16 tracks, the bulk of the tunes are upbeat and catchy. And since its Stefan George, of course there is magnificent blues guitar playing on each track – six of them are just him singing and rocking his axe.

On the other nine tracks, local rock stars contribute their talents (hi – Lavinia White, Rosano Brothers, Jimmy Carr, Craig Schumacher, Bobby Kimmel, Tom Rhodes, Kevin Schramm, Brendan Dance, William Dan Carlos).

I deeply love more than half the tracks on this album and I also deeply love it when Stefan’s voice gets all Tom Waits gravelly-like.

I’m partial to the more upbeat stuff, so with that in mind, the highlights include: Pissin’ at the Moon – a nice ditty with playful horns by the Crawdaddy-O kids; Lucky 13 – songs about bad-ass sinners are always cool, includes tasty harp by Schumacher. Grooved and Rutted – drunk, bluesy, more sinner fun! Crazy One-Eyed Moon, God Damn the Things A Man Can’t Change (yowza!), God Protect Our Hope and Bier Ohne Liebe.

This one goes in heavy rotation! Pick it up for yourself at the CD release party on Saturday, February 20 at Plush. It is also available at 17th Street Market, Folk Shop and CDBaby.com.