Java.Mar.2016

244 • MAR 2016
LEONOR AISPURO • TUCKER WOODBURY • HAYMARKET SQUARES

FRITZ SCHOLDER 1967–1980
february 27 — june 5
Fritz Scholder
Indian at Lake (detail), 1977.
Lithograph. Collection of Denver Art Museum.
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Harold Dinken.
©Estate of Fritz Scholder.

March 11-13, 2016
Hance Park, Phoenix, AZ • mmmf.com
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CONTENTS
8
12
22
32
34
FEATURES
Cover: Aaron Betsky
Photo by: Andrew Pielage
8 12 22
34
AARON BETSKY
The Future of Taliesin West
By Robert Sentinery
LEONOR AISPURO
Fashion Artisan
By Jenna Duncan
PUBLIC IMAGE
Photography: Chris Loomis
Styling: Shannon Campbell
THE HAYMARKET SQUARES
Light It Up
By Mitchell L. Hillman
TUCKER WOODBURY
Tomorrow’s Yesterday
By Demetrius Burns
COLUMNS
7
16
20
30
38
BUZZ
New Visions
By Robert Sentinery
ARTS
Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980
At Phoenix Art Museum
By Amy Young
Wayne Rainey
At Bokeh Gallery
By Amy Young
Colin Chillag
Mid-Career Review at the Chocolate Factory
By Leah St. Clair
FOOD FETISH
Inchin Bamboo Garden
By Sloane Burwell
SOUNDS AROUND TOWN
By Mitchell L. Hillman
GIRL ON FARMER
Fender Bender
By Celia Beresford
JAVA MAGAZINE
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Robert Sentinery
ART DIRECTOR
Victor Vasquez
ARTS EDITOR
Amy L. Young
FOOD EDITOR
Sloane Burwell
MUSIC EDITOR
Mitchell L. Hillman
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jenna Duncan
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Rhett Baruch
Celia Beresford
Demetrius Burns
Tom Reardon
PROOFREADER
Patricia Sanders
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Dana Armstrong
Enrique Garcia
Chris Loomis
Andrew Pielage
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40
NIGHT GALLERY
Photos by Robert Sentinery
4 JAVA
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Confluence is the merging of many artistic voices,
exploring what it means to be young leaders and
culture bearers in Indian Country today.
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NEW VISIONS
By Robert Sentinery
BUZZ
The legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright is one of our city’s strongest assets. One could
say that Mr. Wright was an early adopter when it came to appreciating the beauty
of this region. When he acquired the 600-plus acres (for $3.50/acre) at the
base of the McDowell Mountains to build Taliesin West, the winter locale for his
school and residence, he described the stretch of land as being “America’s gold
spot.” Now, some 80 years later, the place remains a mythical architectural oasis
that draws tourism from around the world.
The challenge for Taliesin West is that, over the years, it has become more of a
museum honoring Wright’s genius, rather than a vital institution for higher learning.
The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture seemed to be slowly falling
by the wayside. When the Higher Learning Commission threatened to revoke the
school’s accreditation back in 2014, something dramatic needed to happen. Enter
Aaron Betsky.
Not only is Betsky a trained architect, with a master’s degree from Yale, he is a
world-renowned theorist and critic. He has authored 12 books and hundreds of
articles on aesthetics, psychology and human sexuality as it pertains to architecture
(Betsky married artist Peter Haberkorn in 2004 in the Netherlands, a decade
before the gay-marriage movement in the U.S.). He is one of the most respected
thinkers in the world of architecture today—a fountainhead of knowledge who
promises to breathe new life into the school and restore its stature as the “workshop
for reinventing American architecture.” (See “Aaron Betsky: The Future of
Taliesin West,” p. 8).
Tucker Woodbury is a visionary in his own right, but his focus is more on recreation
and historic preservation. His company, Genuine Concepts, is responsible
for a growing list of the Valley’s finest hangouts and watering holes, including
the iconic downtown places Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar. You may know
him from a slew of other spots, including The Vig (four locations), Linger Longer
Lounge, Cobra Arcade Bar, Little Woody’s, The Beverly and, coming soon, The
Womack—a tribute to the Chez Nous (r.i.p.), the classic lounge that’s drowned
in Phoenix history. Woodbury completed many of these adaptive reuse projects
with his friend and business partner Charlie Levy. So let’s raise a glass to them
for making Phoenix a more enjoyable place (see “Tucker Woodbury: Tomorrow’s
Yesterday,” p. 34).
Those who have been around the Phoenix creative scene for the last decade will
remember a fashion line called Arte Puro—one of the early brands to surface
from the Valley’s fashion wasteland. So much has changed since then. We now
have a thriving fashion week and lots of designers selling wares.
Leonor Aispuro was half of Arte Puro. She had high hopes for the line and even
relocated to Brooklyn (before it was hip) to take it to the next level. After pouring
in blood, sweat and tears for years, Aispuro decided to leave. She came back to
Phoenix to regroup and start anew, with a more hands-on, sustainable approach.
Her Leonor Aispuro Private Collection is beginning to make waves beyond our
shores, with a recent appearance in Italian Vogue and a designer profile in British
Vogue (see, “Leonor Aispuro: Fashion Artisan,” p. 12).

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Aaron Betsky
The Future of Taliesin West | By Robert Sentinery | Photos Andrew Pielage
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Please tell us about the Globe/Miami project.
The Frank Lloyd Wright School will help this
community reimagine itself through a four-year
collaboration. While we are not contractors,
engineers or real estate developers, the school can
bring several things: the expertise and the prestige of
the Frank Lloyd Wright tradition; students and faculty
from all over the world who are incredibly creative
and energetic; an organic hands-on approach and
learn-by-doing attitude.
We will set up an advisory committee and develop
strategies to deal with persistent problems like
property degradation, higher drug usage, cycles of
boom and bust and the departure of millennials, who
are often quick to leave for Phoenix—to help build
a town that they want to live in through community
engagement. We want to improve key properties, like
the library. Even small gestures like painting buildings
or adding a sports field to a dirt lot can change a place.
The area around Globe/Miami is being strongly
considered for federal “Promise Zone” designation,
which would make it one of only about 15 areas
around the country. This status would bring in a
tremendous amount of resources through various
grants and funding sources. We would help manage
and advise throughout this process.
Aaron Betsky is a force of nature in the world of art, architecture and design. Throughout his career he
has worked as an architect, curator, museum director, educator, critic and author of many books. Last
year, he took over as dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, during a time when the
school was at risk of losing its accreditation.
The Higher Learning Commission changed its bylaws in 2012 to prohibit schools from being part of larger
non-academic institutions, forcing a separation from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which had owned and
operated the school for decades.
A fundraising effort was launched to bring in the $2 million that would allow the school to operate
independently. That effort paid off—by the end of 2015 the campaign had raised $2.1 million, with a large
portion of the funds coming, surprisingly, from the Arizona towns of Globe and Miami (over $700K). Those
donations had come in anticipation of a four-year collaboration that will bring the expertise of the school and
its staff to the neighboring communities, which are greatly in need of revitalization.
JAVA had the opportunity to interview Betsky at his new home at Taliesin West.
How does this effort tie into your philosophy
and the school’s mission?
There is the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and his
notion that we can use architecture to make the
world a better place, while taking into account the
relationship we have with other humans and the
natural setting.
It’s all about the ways in which architecture can make
our designed environment more sustainable, open
and beautiful, and what techniques are available to do
that. That’s what a lot of my writing has been about.
I’ve become interested in people and situations that
are more on the margins, and the tactics that develop
from tough perspectives. We are working in Globe/
Miami to figure out a “Tactical Urbanism”—like so
many others around the world, trying to make tough
situations better in all kinds of ways.
How is Tactical Urbanism different from New
Urbanism?
It is totally in opposition. New Urbanism was an
attempt to make everything fit the modern ideal
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from the 1920s—a community that never existed—
basically all lies. Tactical Urbanism is a catch phrase
referring to many different attempts by architects
over the last 10 years to help people take action to
make their own communities better.
One group that I worked with on a book project was
Urban-Think Tank. They got their start in Caracas,
Venezuela, driving around with a car tape saying,
“We’re architects. What do you need? We’re here to
help.” They got very involved with the favelas over
there, working on various projects—small additions
to open up closed parts of the city—interventions.
Often the trick is to figure out what is the minimum
that you can do to create an impact—guerilla
landscaping, for example, like planting flowers on
vacant lands.
You were trained as an architect but are known
as more of a critic and curator. Do you practice
architecture?
I pretend (laughs). Yes, I entered a competition in
Taiwan last year. Didn’t win. I’ve done many things:
practiced architecture, worked as a curator, critic,
professor, assembled books and was the director of
an art museum. I have many different perspectives.
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What inspired you to study architecture in the
first place?
I spent a part of my childhood in the Netherlands,
and a visit to the Schröder House [by Gerrit Rietveld]
really opened my eyes. Other than being just an
absolutely gorgeous structure, it was designed to be
a model for a new way of living.
This house was not just a standing container that
defined and confined daily life, but a place that
opened up possibilities, activating relationships
with people. All the walls moved around—it could
be turned into one large room where everyone was
together or it could be four rooms, three rooms,
two rooms, each with a particular character and
function. Not only would the walls move but various
parts of the floor and ceiling would fold out to make
furniture. Then the whole thing could be opened up
to the outside, so there was this continuity with the
landscape.
It was at the end of a series of row houses that were
very proper and covered with brick. The Schröder
House looked like it was made from the bones of the
buildings next to it. It was an incredibly optimistic
statement about modernity and architecture’s ability
to build a new world. Over the years, we’ve lost
that optimism—not just in architecture but also in
painting, literature and obviously politics.
I first discovered your writings in grad school
while researching Deconstructivism, which
used the visual cues of Constructivism seen in
the Schröder House.
In the late 1980s there was a look back at some of
the first modernist forms—to unearth and reactivate
them in some way by contradicting them. Not
pretending that we can still mindlessly build this
better world. Realizing the inherent contradiction
of intents and in the structures themselves. That
was really a large part of what became known as
Deconstructivism.
What about the challenges of desert cities?
Frank Lloyd Wright had certain strategies at
Taliesin West.
The inhabitants of Phoenix have been dealing
with the desert for thousands of years and have
developed some pretty good solutions—and some
very bad ones. The Hohokam made environments that
used what this place had to offer. Interesting early

developments utilized the canals; first the Spanish
and then Anglo settlers elaborated and built with
them rather than obliterating them.
At Taliesin West, there is a great plan to renovate
and restore this historic campus. Unfortunately there
are places where the concrete is literally crumbling.
First there would need to be a lot of stabilization.
Then we would like to explore the idea of taking the
structures back to the original notion of being part of
the land and the climate. They were made as canvas
tents, with abstractions of the desert. I think that
would be truly fantastic.
Taliesin West strikes me as a kind of spiritual
place, like Machu Picchu and other powerful
spots around the globe.
As far as the spiritual goes, people can decide for
themselves. Frank Lloyd Wright certainly had an
incredibly intuitive sense of the land. He found this
site that is nestled below the McDowell Mountains
and above the Valley, with a view over it. This place
was also important to the original [Native American]
inhabitants. We’re sitting here looking right on axis
[points out the window] with the tallest peak of the
McDowells, but at the same time it is the one place
in the McDowells where this spur comes out and
meets Taliesin. That’s exactly where Wright sited
it—against that spur coming out, continuing into
the landscape. If you look carefully, you can see
how he plays this whole game of call and response
with the landscape. Taliesin West not only nestles
into the landscape but dances with it. It’s an active
relationship, so you are really much more aware of
where you are.
You are training future professional architects.
Is that satisfying?
I like to think of architecture as a discipline—as a
way of knowing, understanding and transforming
the human-made environment. Thinking of it as
a profession makes me nervous. For me it’s very
important to understand that architecture is not
science. Building is science. Buildings have to stand
up and be safe and efficient.
Architecture is not building. It is the art of building.
But the relationship between architecture and
building has gotten much more complex because
we now have computer technology that allows us to
build anything we can imagine. We can model our
imagination in structural terms quite directly. There is
no longer a need to make elaborate recalculations for
every small change. The computer does it instantly.
The act of imagination can be a structural work. The
act of structural experimentation can be an imaginary
one as well. This has changed the way we think
about and understand the place of buildings. That old
split between façade and structure is less relevant.
Now there are engineers who become famous
architects. Santiago Calatrava is an example, but his
work is only good from the waist up. There are other
firms integrating these structural concepts on a much
higher level.
As far as being here, I am honored and humbled
to have the opportunity to continue the work that
has made Taliesin a workshop for reinventing
American architecture.
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Photos: Enrique Garcia

For Leonor Aispuro, making clothes and sewing is in her blood. She can remember learning to sew around
age five, and working with her cousins and other female family members on creative projects. Aispuro
took particular inspiration from her aunt, who was disabled. “When I lived in Mexico, my aunt would
babysit me. She was deaf and mute at the time, and now she is, unfortunately, blind as well.”
Aispuro mostly grew up in Arizona, but when she goes back to visit her aunt, she is astounded to find her still
crafting things with her hands. “At the time, there were no special schools for her, and so she never learned
sign language. I think her way of expressing herself has been through creating. And that’s how she and I would
communicate,” Aispuro says. “In many ways she was like a little girl, like my only playmate.”
“Then, as a teenager, I used to always make things for my friends,” she says. As she and her friends got interested
in fashion in high school, they would sew skirts and matching handbags. She’s always loved making
things with her own two hands.
She started the fashion program at Phoenix College in 2003, straight out of high school at age 17 (she is now
30). At the time, Phoenix College had one of the only college-level fashion programs in the Valley. Arizona
State University didn’t have a program, and the Art Institute of Phoenix only offered fashion merchandising.
Aispuro wanted to start at a place where she could learn more about construction along with the business.
“So I went to school there, and my cousin and I had started our own clothing line called Arte Puro,” she says.
“We took parts of our last names and combined them. It actually translates into ‘Pure Art,’” she explains. The
line came out of their enjoyment of creating accessories. At first, Aispuro and her cousin, Emily Uriarte, worked
mainly with vintage fabrics.
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Photos by Matt Martian
“It was a huge learning experience, doing it all ourselves,”
she says. “We got to learn a lot about the
business side of things.” That was only the first step,
professionally, though. Aispuro sought other, bigger
opportunities in the industry.
In 2009, she moved to New York City. A couple of
years later her cousin followed, and they continued
building their clothing business. They sold items in a
boutique in Williamsburg called Treehouse, on Grand
Avenue in Brooklyn. She says they also sold at a coop
space in Brooklyn while simultaneously selling at
Nostra Style House in Phoenix (formerly owned by
Angelica Gonzalez).
While running their start-up business, Aispuro also
worked fashion internships and ran around between
various other jobs. First, she interned at Betsey
Johnson and then at Marquesa, she says. She also
worked at a children’s clothing company and handled
corporate clients, such as Wal-Mart, and other
department stores. She tried to absorb every aspect
of the industry she could through her work experience—from
design and planning to finally selling.
She’d moved to New York on a whim but decided
to stay and keep it going for a while. While living in
Greenpoint, she noticed the neighborhood undergoing
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a sudden, massive influx of young creatives. “It got
over-saturated and kind of crazy. I didn’t know which
direction I was going.”
After a few years of pouring in all of their heart, time
and money, Aispuro’s cousin decided she wanted to
leave the business. “We kind of broke up—not as
cousins, but as business partners.” Aispuro moved
back to Arizona and her cousin followed shortly after,
but for her own reasons.
“I feel like I always need to be creating or working
on something,” Aispuro says. “Otherwise, I would go
crazy.” Shortly after she got back to Phoenix, she felt
the timing was right to start her own business.
In New York, Aispuro went to FIT and completed a
certificate in sustainable design. Taking what she
learned and what bothered her about the “gigantic
fashion industry,” she formulated a new line: Leonor
Aispuro Private Collection. At first people who knew
her from Arte Puro were confused or reluctant to
embrace the idea that she was designing solo. But
she wanted to make it clear that this was her independent
line, so she gave it her own name.
A lot of the other students from her program were
working in corporate fashion, for companies like
Ralph Lauren and Tiffany’s. They were looking for
ways to change the corporate structure, or were completely
turned off and were seeking other alternatives.
“In Europe they are more aware of sustainability
and small-scale production. I feel like in the U.S.
it’s taking a little longer,” Aispuro says. She predicts
that sustainable fashion will spread worldwide, but it
may be a slow movement.
“One thing I learned is that it’s impossible to be 100
percent sustainable,” she says. This is especially true
in Phoenix, where places to buy supplies are limited.
But Aispuro tries to buy from other local businesses
whenever she can, and she has become very interested
in working with natural dyes and earth-friendly
processes. She also plans to do whatever she can not
to outsource any of her work.
“I got so turned off by mass production and what
most people think fashion is. After seeing how things
were done, I got kind of depressed. I get that it’s a
business,” she says. “But for me, at the end of the
day, it’s more than that. I guess I tend to think more
long term.”
Aispuro says it’s been healthy and reinvigorating to
have the time to go at her own pace and make her
own path. “It’s hard to explain at times. People just
don’t understand unless they are going through it

Photos by Christian Arevalo
themselves,” she says. Though there may have been
some small hurdles, she’s building the new business
from the ground up and seems to be gaining momentum
and positive feedback.
Aispuro did a live sewing event alongside Lawless
Denim and GROWop for “Fashioned in America” at
Phoenix Art Museum in 2014. “I like the idea of creating
something that is for no specific body type, no
specific age group—just something you could throw
in a suitcase and then take it out and style it any way
you want,” she says.
In her design process, she does a lot of draping.
She also tries to utilize as much of the fabric as she
has. She recently designed a black silk kimono-like
wedding dress for a client. It was a unique order,
she says, and she doesn’t always do formalwear. Aispuro’s
last collection was based around a lot of lace
appliqués, some sewn on top of others. But for next
collection she is working on designs based around
embroidery. She likes to embrace handiwork and create
pieces with more of an artisan feel.
With Arte Puro, she and her cousin travelled to Oaxaca
and studied hand-embroidery, natural dying and
other more organic processes. In the garment district
in New York she picked out smaller businesses and
got familiar with the workers. “I tried to find little
shops like G & R Fabric Inc. on 39th Street in New
York. When I worked at Marquesa, they would send
me to this place called Spandex World,” she says.
“That is where I source a lot of the fabrics I am currently
working with.”
According to a recent article in the Atlantic titled
“Is This the End for Fashion Week?” many fashion
houses are abandoning the concept of planning the
release of designs around seasons. Many are also
turning away from the authoritative dictates such as
the season color and choosing to go with smallerscale,
limited runs and exclusives.
“At first living in New York during Fashion Week was
fun and exciting, but after a couple years, it was
like, ‘Get me out of here!’” Aispuro says. “I guess I
consider myself a bit of a rebel. When I see what is
going on, I’m like: ‘What can I do different?’ I always
try to do my own thing.”
“I have a lot of repeat customers,” she says. She
talks about working on a specific wedding dress and
how the same customer then wanted something
for her anniversary. “When I think about it, word of
mouth is what has kept me relevant,” she says.
Aispuro doesn’t like to put out duplicates of garments
cut from the same design or of the same color. She
likes to change the cut or embroidery each time, so
that each piece is truly bespoke. Finally, she says
that true fulfillment for her comes from hearing that
she has inspired other people. Circling back to the
aunt who originally inspired her, she says she loves
working with her young niece Sofia Taglienti, who is
16 and a student at Metro Arts. Taglienti sometimes
works as Aispuro’s assistant while learning the ropes
of the artisan fashion trade.
Lately Aispuro has been getting recognized for her
hard work. Last year she was a finalist for a Phoenix
New Times’ Big Brain award for local creatives. Her
work was also included in Italian Vogue online, and
she was recently profiled in Vogue UK.
Aispuro says that her plan for Phoenix includes a
fashion presentation (not the same as a show) at the
Fourtoul Brothers’ space later this year.
leonoraispuro.com
@leonoraispuro
notjustalabel.com/designer/leonor-aispuro-privatecollection
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ARTS
SUPER INDIAN:
FRITZ SCHOLDER, 1967–1980
At Phoenix Art Museum
By Amy Young
Fritz Scholder has a rich history. He began making art
as a teenager in the 1950s, studying with high school
teachers. While still in high school, he pursued
additional educational opportunities, including an
arts camp at the University of Kansas. Shortly after
graduation, he moved with his family to Sacramento
and began studying with proto-pop artist Wayne
Thiebaud. His connection with Thiebaud evolved
into the two men partnering in a cooperative gallery,
along with a couple of other artists, and Scholder
began to receive critical acclaim. From there his
career continued on a very mobile trajectory, well into
the future.
Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967–1980 is on view at
Phoenix Art Museum through June 6. The years of
this exhibition’s focus are ones that were pivotal in
Scholder’s career, gaining him substantial attention
not only for his interesting style but also, more
dominantly, for his subject matter. Through more
than 40 paintings and works on paper, viewers get
to see the work Scholder created when he began to
examine and tackle prevalent societal stereotypes
about Native Americans, including pieces from his
controversial American Indian series.
Using a style that blended abstract expressionism
and pop art, with big brushstrokes and captivating
colors, Scholder was the first artist to paint Native
Americans draped in the American flag, or with
beer cans and cats, which stirred up controversy.
Scholder picked a good time period to delve into the
subject matter. In the late ’60s, television culture
was starting to grow into the many-armed monster
that it is today, and shows like Bonanza and The Big
Valley were offering their own takes on history and
Native life and culture. Unfortunately—and this
remains true right up to the present—TV is a medium
that sets and gives wings to perceptions, however
inaccurate. Scholder’s timing was crucial, and his
work played an important role in inspiring artists to
challenge the media’s misrepresentations (or, often,
exclusion) of ethnic groups.
“Matinee Cowboy and Indian” is a large-scale
painting that shows the two named figures, each
in traditional attire (one in a cowboy hat, the other
an Indian headdress), engaged in a handshake.
Even before you focus on the men themselves, the
subtleties of the work highlight its true indictment.
The men’s bodies cast a shadow that implies a
setting sun, perhaps the united completion of
an arduous day; the handshake solidifies the
relationship. The scene easily recreates the sense
of manufactured romanticism that movies employ in
order to wrap up with a sentimental, cinematic happy
ending, despite what reality they overlook in doing so.
One of Scholder’s legendary works, “Indian with Beer
Can,” is loaded with an intensity that shakes you to
the core. The figure that sits at the table is wearing
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dark sunglasses, along with a white shirt and a tall,
black cowboy hat. A single can of Coors beer stands
before him. A rich purple highlights the background.
The way the man’s rough teeth edge through the
opening of his mouth, combined with the blackness
of the sunglasses, creates an endless black-hole
effect. It feels as if you are being pulled into a
swirling limbo. It’s haunting, and this work highlights
the artist’s level of investment and sincerity. The
exhibition concludes with Scholder’s Indian Land
paintings from 1980.
Though Scholder created artwork that was
instrumental in smashing stereotypes, changing the
way Indians were portrayed in art, and further served
as continuous inspiration to both Native American
and non–Native American artists, not everyone
was excited about Scholder being the messenger.
That aspect was a bone of contention for some who
seemed to feel that maybe the artist wasn’t “Indian
enough” to be the one to draw attention to issues
faced by American Indians and perceptions that
existed about them.
The artist, who was one-quarter Luiseño (a California
Mission tribe), never seemed to have a desire to selfdesignate
his position as one of resounding authority.
In fact, Scholder often stated that he wasn’t
Indian but had a unique perspective from which he
worked, offering his own point of view. In addition
to bringing to the fore issues faced then, and still
today, by Native American persons, Scholder’s work
also serves to continue a conversation about the
importance of information and how we assign, direct
and even interpret relevance.
Scholder had a lot of ties to Arizona: he maintained
a residence and studio near the historic Cattle Track
artists compound in Scottsdale, exhibited around the
state multiple times and received an honorary degree
from the University of Arizona. Super Indian offers an
opportunity to see work from a crucial stage in the
artist’s timeline.
Super Indian
Fritz Scholder 1967–1980
Through June 5
Phoenix Art Museum
www.phxart.org
Fritz Scholder, Super Indian No. 2, 1971. Oil paint on canvas. Promised gift from
Vicki and Kent Logan to the collection of Denver Art Museum. ©Estate of Fritz
Scholder.
Fritz Scholder, American Portrait with Flag, 1979. Oil paint on canvas. Courtesy
of American Museum of Western Art—The Anschutz Collection. Photo courtesy
of William J. O’Connor. ©Estate of Fritz Scholder.
Fritz Scholder, Matinee Cowboy and Indian, 1978. Oil paint on canvas. Promised
gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the collection of Denver Art Museum. ©Estate
of Fritz Scholder.
Fritz Scholder, Hollywood Indian, 1973. Acrylic paint on canvas. Private collection.
Photographer: Jacquelyn Phillips. ©Estate of Fritz Scholder.
Fritz Scholder, Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot, 1969. Oil paint on canvas. Collection
of Booth Western Art Museum. Photo courtesy of Louis Tonsmeire, Jr.
©Estate of Fritz Scholder.
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WAYNE RAINEY
At Bokeh Gallery
By Amy L. Young
Like many of Phoenix’s venue owners, Wayne Rainey
is a person who wears many hats. He is the founder
and owner of monOrchid, a multipurpose space
on Roosevelt that includes the Shade and Bokeh
galleries and has been one of the anchors of the
Roosevelt Row district since the early 2000s.
With its longevity and consistency as a destination
for quality arts and culture, the venue has been
influential to the subsequent and continued growth in
the area. That type of growth doesn’t come without a
range of challenges, especially for the neighborhood
business owners and area residents who have long
supported the mission of having a diverse, affordable
and unique culture-rich district. Rainey is among the
many who stay continuously active and vocal in all
facets of neighborhood development.
Additionally, Rainey is an award-winning commercial
photographer, as well as a fine art photographer who
has exhibited in galleries across the country; his
work has been featured in popular art publications
like ARTnews and Art in America. This month,
monOrchid’s Bokeh Gallery presents The Passenger,
a new body of Rainey’s fine art photos. They were
taken in London in 2015, over a period of ten days.
“The series,” says curator Nicole Royse, “highlights
the idea of myth and retelling of ancient stories,
which is something Rainey continues to develop
within his work.” Human activity and interaction
are certainly what creates a majority of the stories
that we tell, whether we are a part of them or an
observer. As the latter, the real treasure in Rainey’s
photographs is his ability to capture scenarios at
these lush locations that are ripe with activity, and
present completed snapshots of these moments that
are free of opinion or judgment. You’re left with an
image that doesn’t feel cloying, without a heavy hand
trying to guide you into a specific emotional realm,
and that is both rare and refreshing.
That said, the pieces are certainly not sterile;
they are natural and inviting, inspiring curiosity.
For instance, “Horus” is a mix of people and birds
scattered about a park filled with towering trees and
walking paths; a small child is at the fore, watching
the motion around him as the birds peck at crumbs of
bread. The many chairs placed about raise questions.
Is it a special event? Is it just status quo for this
gathering spot? The photo exudes an overall sense
of innocence, along with an excellent capture of
nature’s beauty, so that you ultimately don’t feel a
desperate need to find an answer.
Royse also has an affinity for that peaceful quality
the series offers. “Rainey has such an appreciation
of people and for observing places,” she says, “that
he effortlessly translates into his imagery, creating
photographs that have a sense of mystery and
beauty. The lush setting is spectacular, and while
many of the scenes appear busy with activity, there
is a tranquility found in the intimacy that Rainey has
captured with distinct voyeuristic undertones.”
Wayne Rainey: The Passenger
Through March
Bokeh Gallery at monOrchid
www.monorchid.com
Pillory
Insolence
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COLIN CHILLAG
Mid-Career Review at the Chocolate Factory
By Leah St. Clair
For local painter Colin Chillag, springtime seemed
ripe for shaking off some dust and putting older
works on display. “I had some work sent back from
galleries in L.A., and some paintings that had been in
storage. That made me think, ‘Well, some of the work
I wouldn’t want to show again, but some of it I’ve
never shown in Arizona,’” he says. “So I started to
think of doing a retrospective. It was kind of an idea
that was building.”
A couple of years ago, Chillag showed new works at
Phoenix Art Museum as the Contemporary Forum’s
designated “mid-career artist.” Last year he had a
show in L.A.’s 101|exhibit, the gallery that represents
him. “I didn’t want to do an official retrospective,
because it’s just so much work, and I would have to
borrow back so many pieces [from collectors],” he
says. “But I had enough in my possession that I could
piece together a decent overview of my career.” That
is when Chillag started talking to local gallery/studio
owner Hector Ruiz from the Chocolate Factory on
Grand Avenue.
The selections for the upcoming show feature a wide
range of painting styles. “Consistency is not the
objective,” Chillag says. “It’s more the opposite. I get
tired of something, so I move on and try new things.
But sometimes you leave behind something that you
feel could have been more.”
Chillag refers to a large piece he’s been working
on, “Goo Goo For God”—with vibrant colors and
large, fluid, goofy shapes—that is more cartoony. He
considers it a clash between high- and low-brow art,
inspired by generations of painters like Peter Saul,
Keith Haring, Christian Schumann, Kenny Scharf and
Basquiat. “My work is probably closer to Peter Saul,”
he says.
For those familiar with Chillag’s more widely
exhibited photorealistic works—his signature
unfinished canvases with interesting marginalia such
as calendars, emotional outbursts and mental lists—
the current work may seem like a departure. With
this brief return to the cartoon style, he gets a break
and says he feels even more inventive.
Riding the wave of this freedom, he decided to
revisit his “Selfless Acts” series, a collection of small
renderings of famous suicides reenacted farcically in
glossy oils, which he posted frequently on Instagram
while in process. “In 2004, I worked with the same
idea. It’s an alphabet series. But a sort of a fucked-up
alphabet,” he says. “I had a window here where I
could do that over again for this show.”
The original series wasn’t well preserved. Chillag
sold some pieces, stored some away, and about half,
he says, he simply threw out. “I don’t tend to value
my work very much after I’m done with it,” he says.
This actually had a part in his reconnecting with Ruiz.
Years ago, Chillag rented a studio at the Chocolate
Factory. When they were catching up recently, Chillag
saw Ruiz’s growing collection of paintings and art
books and was impressed. He even recognized one
of his own works on the wall—a discarded painting
of the death of Jackson Pollack that Ruiz had rescued
from the trash. Chillag says it felt like a sign for him
to reflect and revisit old works.
Ruiz and Chillag have been affiliated for about
10 years and even have collaborated on works in
the past. Chillag is thrilled to be showing at the
Chocolate Factory, an impressive space that is rarely
open to the public.
Colin Chillag
Mid-Career Painting Show
Art Detour weekend, March 18 – 20
(other times by appointment)
The Chocolate Factory
1105 Grand Ave, Phoenix
www.hectorruizart.com
Mogollon Rim Selfie, 2013, oil on canvas 54”X68”
It is Important to be Nobody, 2013-2015, oil on canvas, 18X24”
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By Sloane Burwell
I’m not sure if I love to travel because I love to eat, or if I love to eat because
I love to travel. I’ve often thought the Marines should have a peacetime
recruitment slogan that says, “Visit new and exotic locales, meet interesting
people and eat their food.” I might have seriously considered signing up. The
story of food is the story of people, experiences, local resources, and how they
merge to create new and interesting ideas.
I love being surprised by food and bringing along friends to share the surprise.
I’m always on the hunt for new culinary ideas, and sometimes it’s hard to
maintain a childlike wonder for the hope of something new. Well, I found it
recently. I know I’m late to the party, but as they say—better late than never.
Inchin Bamboo Garden in north Scottsdale was my first exposure to Chinese
food with an Indian accent. Actually, having been there repeatedly, I’m not
sure if it is that or Indian food with a Chinese accent. Either way, I love it
and I’m hooked.
Over a century ago, a small but mighty population of Hakka-speaking Chinese
took root in Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta). Their influence on the largely
vegetarian dishes has been embraced and become a bit of a national treasure
(in the same way that the English have adopted curry as a national dish), and
can now be found in North Africa, Singapore and regional hubs like Chicago.
And now Scottsdale.
Inchin’s cavernous location is a square box filled with rows and rows of tables.
Being so large, it deceptively seems like you might be the only one there. You
aren’t. This place is packed with families on weekends. Lunch is a great time to
enjoy a slower-paced, less-hurried meal.
I’d start with their tasty soups, like the Sweet Corn (cup $4, bowl $12), a
magically thickened clear broth with a hint of sweetness from the handful
of kernels found throughout. This tasty soup is a sweet foil to the heat that
comes from the rest of the dishes. A note: the food here can go from mild to
nuclear. When you say, “I like it spicy,” make sure your server knows what
that means for you.
I loved the Manchow Soup ($4/$12), a thicker concoction loaded with chunky
veggies cut into batons, and swirled with eggs, à la egg drop soup. This
toothsome potage beats the winter blues, not that we’ve had them as of late.
I’m crazy for their Momos—a spin on potstickers and dumplings, with a hint of the
spices you’d find in samosas. These steamed versions are pillowy and loaded with
goodies. My favorite was the lamb ($10), a half-dozen chunky contenders that beg
you to create your own dipping sauce. About that—each table comes with seven
bottles of sauce, from a mild soya to tongue-popping chili (both green and red).
Exercise caution. When the bottle indicates hot, it is HOT. Let’s just call my green
hot sauce experience a lesson in future restraint.
Get the Chicken 65 ($10), which is chicken sliced into large coins, wokked in hot
sauce (adjusted to your palate) and served with fresh curry leaves, bell peppers and
dry chilis. This dish makes for fantastic leftovers. One note about this fusion: it is
much better the next day than classic Chinese because it’s missing the cornstarch-y
congealed factor. I ate this cold for breakfast the next morning. Lazy? Maybe, but it
was delicious.
The Crispy Chicken Chili Honey ($14) is about as close to sweet (minus the sour)
chicken as you’d get at a Chinese joint. Spicier, of course, with enough honey to
round out the chili-based bite. Chunks of wok-cooked chicken coated in crunchy
batter give textural interest, without the otherworldly orange-red sauce that Panda
Express made Americans think is legit Chinese food.
The Crispy Eggplant Chili Honey ($12) utilizes the same kicky sauce, coating
the well-battered and wokked eggplant, creating a fantastic texture and flavor
explosion. It’s a great exposure to eggplant for the eggplant-challenged. I hear from
friends all the time that they’d eat more eggplant if the texture were different. If
that is you, then this is your dish. Go for it!
The Shanghai Potatoes ($12) were interesting, in a good way. Sliced like extremely
thick potato chips, these guys come tossed in a spicy red sauce (kick it up a notch!)
with cashews for crunch. My dining companion said these were an Indian version of
scalloped potatoes, and I think that’s about right.
The Cauliflower Manchurian ($12) is my favorite dish. You might recognize the dish
as Gobi Manchurian in other places. Here, it comes with two options, the dry rub
(good, actually very good) or in a gravy for $1 extra. Spring for the extra buck so you
get the thick, chunky, crunchy version loaded up with umami flavors, with the same
veggies as the Manchow Soup. Perfectly battered and fried hunks of cauliflower are
wokked to perfection and coated with gravy. If you eat it without the white or brown
rice that comes alongside, it’s almost a stew.
For noodle fans, please don’t skip the Hakka noodles ($13, with the addition of
chicken). These eggless noodles are a ramen-vermicelli hybrid. Cooked “dry,” they
retain their shape and texture and never dissolve into a starchy mass (even the
next day). Ask the kitchen for an extra minute or two in the wok for more snap and
crunch. At one point, I found myself wondering if Indo-Japanese fusion is possible,
because these Hakka noodles would make a fantastic ramen.
I am now a big fan of Indo-Chinese cuisine. So while I save up money for my next
big culinary travel adventure, you can catch me at Inchin, whetting my appetite for
the big world and all of its flavors.
Inchin’s Bamboo Garden
10050 North Scottsdale Road #121, Scottsdale
(480) 306-6883
bamboo-gardens.com
Hours:
Monday to Thursday:
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5:30 to 10:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Sunday
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5:30 to 10:00 p.m.
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Photographer: Chris Loomis
Wardrobe Stylist: Shannon Campbell
Makeup Artist: Jalia Pettis
Hair Stylist: AnaMaurie Luque
Location: Public Image Salon
Clothing: Dillard’s Fashion Square
Models: Michelle James and Miwa Williams
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Photo: Rachael Smith

Since their inception in 2009 The Haymarket
Squares have become practically an
institution in the local music scene. They
refer to their music style as “punkgrass,”
as if punk rock and bluegrass danced together in a
frenzied mosh pit. But that doesn’t tell the whole
story. The Haymarket Squares also come across as
something akin to liberal anarchists in their lyrics are
clever commentaries on politics, modern life, religion
and nearly any other aspect of our world that needs
some shaking up. Every song is delivered with a
telling grin, healthy cynicism and wit.
Their music is boisterous and fun, steeped deeply
in American traditions of the late 19th and early
20th centuries, and delivered with the speed usually
reserved for bands who incite slam dancing. It’s quite
a combination whether on record or, better yet, live
on stage, where the audience goes wild. They just
released their fourth full-length, Light It Up, which
follows perfectly in line with their previous efforts of
Righteous Ruckus (2013), Dancing in the Streets (2010)
and Punkgrass for the People (2009).
The Haymarket Squares are John Luther Norris
(vocals, guitar, kazoo), Marc Oxborrow (vocals, bass),
Mark Sunman (vocals, mandolin, accordion, piano),
Mark Allred (vocals, slide guitar, harmonica) and
Jayson James (fiddle). Together they make some of
the most unusual and socially relevant music around
today, and not just in Arizona. With the folk revival
having blossomed, they are primed to garner an even
wider audience with this album. Musically speaking,
it’s their best effort yet and is lyrically up to par with
their previous work.
In 2009 some folks might have been scared away by
Haymarket Square’s bluegrass and folk roots, which
now have new people flocking to them. Although
they are fighting the good fight and every song is a
social commentary, it never really feels like they are
shouting from a soapbox. Maybe they are; maybe I
just feel at home at this particular hoedown.
Light It Up opens with “Heaven,” a deceptively titled
number shrouded in revivalist clothing. Musically it’s
something straight out of a travelling salvation show,
but that’s where the similarity ends. With lyrics like
“There ain’t no heaven, got to make one here, No
father, no son, no heavenly choir, Just hearts and
hands and our desire” you can see where this one is
going and what side of the atheist fence these chaps
reside on. The more telling and more hilarious line is
“There ain’t no party, let’s have one here, Let’s load a
bowl, pour some wine, Read a book about Palestine.”
It’s a great introduction to the album, and it’s only the
start of their irreverent agenda.
“Horrible Inventions” is a fantastic commentary on
the “border patrol industry.” It also has some true
humanist wisdom: “You see ‘them’ as separate from
‘us,’ And don’t believe that we are ‘one,’” and later,
“Don’t ask how many of them have to die, Because
they crossed a line That’s only in your mind.” They
make valid points for compassion, all with a beautiful
bluegrass backdrop that makes it easy to swallow.
One of the topics that is close to their hearts is the plight
of the workingman, which makes sense considering
they are called The Haymarket Squares. (Go ahead
and Google the Haymarket Riots if you are unclear
on this.) This topic is first approached on “Working
Reward,” with the refrain “You’re worth more than
they’ll ever pay you.” The song also includes a super
clever nod to the finale of the Talking Heads
classic “Road to Nowhere,” but it’s executed so
well you may miss it. The reference is intriguing
on many levels, since they are talking about a deadend
job.
Continuing on the labor issue, “Let’s Start a Riot” is
the first single from the album. It’s about stewing
in your own juices in your 9-to-5 cubicle and simply
hating everything about it. This is a new anthem for
disaffected office workers everywhere, and it’s as
true as it is funny: “We’re gonna have a party for my
buddy who just lost his job, We’ll be mixing up some
cocktails, My favorite is the Molotov.”
“High Demand” begins with a bit of New Orleans
jazz and stays soaked in the sound of classic Dixie.
This song addresses the private prison industry. It’s
a complete indictment of the corrupt private prison
system, law enforcement and the enormous industry
that has swelled around these things. It tackles nearly
every aspect of this serious problem without fail, but it’s
best summed up by these four lines: “Welcome to the
greatest country on the earth, For prison population
we come in first, There’s only one group we don’t
prosecute, The banksters that made you destitute.”
You would think that with a title like “Jump the Border,”
this song would be another tale about border issues,
but once more there’s a twist. This salsa-influenced
number is one of the most adventurous musically
on the album. It is actually about packing up your
things and getting out of America before it’s too
late. Throughout the song they mention options,
like Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Costa Rica, Germany,
North Africa, Bangkok and so on. Yet still they beg
America to “move from your mirror and see the world
spinning” before it’s too late.
Up next is the amusing “King Me,” which uses the
guise of a monarchy to make commentary about the
oligarchy we now find ourselves in, where money is
the real ruler of all. It’s a portrayal of anyone with
a thirst for political power and no regard for our
personal rights and privacy, slowly slipping away.
The song itself has more of an Appalachian feel and
backwoods country vibe. It would sound great sung
loud from a back porch somewhere in Georgia.
“No Such Agency” is a hilarious, swooning love
song to you from your new best friend, the NSA. It’s
a hilarious romp and a wonderfully danceable waltz
all in one. Every moment is tongue in cheek, with
lines like “Type it or talk it or sing it or sign with your
hands… If you ever feel like there’s no one to lend
you an ear, Never fear, I’m right here.”
There’s a complexity to “Gritty City” in that it
expresses both all that is wrong with Phoenix and an
actual love for the city at the same time. Many people
I know have a love/hate relationship with Phoenix, but
despite all the bad, it is still where we call home. That’s
the crux of this song: when it comes down to it, we
live here because we love this gritty city too.
“Part of the Problem” follows with the self-reflective
notion that even though you are aware of all the
issues and are even rallying about them, you may still
be part of the problem. The entire sentiment of the
song is summed up at the end perfectly: “Well it’s
easy to stand on a soapbox, And tell the world what’s
going wrong, But in court or the street, in this miserable
heat, You need more than just catchy songs.”
One of my favorite songs to catch live is their cover
of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.”
I always hoped they’d record it someday, even as a
giveaway, but they actually included it on the album.
This has always been one of my favorite protest songs,
and I absolutely love their punkgrass treatment.
The album concludes with the poignant “Goodbye,”
about how the human race has pushed the planet to
the brink, and it won’t be long before Mother Earth
decides her children are no longer worthy of attention
and will shake them off like a wet dog. “Well
goodbye, mother earth, Life-giving ball of dirt, We
whored you and we raped you and we never put you
fi rst, And now we get what we deserve.”
One of the things that stands out about Light It Up
is that, while this album is just as socially conscious
as all of Haymarket Squares’ others and certainly
just as irreverent, this one seems to have a more
timeless quality. Some of these songs would have
been relevant a century ago and some might be
meaningful in hundred years—though I hope not. The
band belongs to a lineage of folk singers and rockers
that have fought the good fight, the likes of Woody
Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joe Strummer.

ZODIAC BASH
Pilot EP
SAINTS AND THE HELLIONS
Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles EP
COUPLES FIGHT
Breaking Up EP
Over the last year and a half Zodiac Bash have been
playing some of the most vital live shows in town.
They are something of an indie super group, featuring
Patro Gaston (Paper Foxes), Ari Leopold (Rolling
Blackouts), Ben Foos (Fairy Bones) and Ben Fuqua
(Bacchus and the Demonsluts). Whereas Gaston has
been a sideman in other musical projects, here he is
the visionary and leader of the group.
Their debut EP might appear to be an album with
ten tracks in tow, but starting with “ATTENTION,”
every other song is a short, psychedelic link track that
sounds imported from outer space. With a name like
Zodiac Bash, this all makes sense. These link tracks
are essential to the construction of this EP, as they
connect the five actual songs. Two of their earliest
songs, “Vocosis” and “Bouncy,” are here, and they
sound better than ever, fully fleshed from the demos
from which they were born. The latter is a clear
choice for a single.
The EP does come off as a sort of greatest hits
package of favorites from their live shows, with
“Break Party” kicking things off. Then there is the
amazing keyboard part in “The Crane Zodiac” that
kills me every time. It’s my favorite track for sheer
composition alone. The EP concludes with the epiclength,
apocalyptic “Tectonic Dreams,” which is
harrowing in its darkness. There is almost no better
moment on the record than when this song spins out
of control into the finale. This is a pretty impressive
debut that puts Zodiac Bash’s weirdness right up
front and delivers their signature sound perfectly.
Saints and the Hellions is the direct spawn of a
classic punk tribute band called Anarchy For Hire,
and surprisingly it’s only a duo consisting of Vinnie
Venom (vocals) and Lokki Saints (guitars, bass
and drums). Saints had some riffs and lyrics sitting
around while AFH was on hiatus and decided to put
them to good use.
While the four songs on their debut EP, Brave Words
and Bloody Knuckles, are all originals, it’s clear that
the guts are gleaned from the history of punk. These
all sound like instant classics that could have been
released 30 years ago. Still, there is an urgency and
a passion found here that indicate it’s the real deal.
Multi-gold and platinum chief engineer John Gray at
The Saltmine Oasis in Mesa engineered the EP, so
the sound is immaculate. It starts with the revving
of engines in “Rat Rod Phantom,” a tale of a ghostly
driver behind the wheel of a ’32 Deuce who spreads
mayhem everywhere he goes.
The title track is an anthem to getting into it with
fists ready, and it’s one of the best fighting songs
released in a while. Its sing-along chant will have
crowds singing and swinging to the breakneck guitar
line. “The Outlaw Rebels,” with its locomotive pace
and Johnny Cash vibe, is probably the least punk
of all, but it has a rockabilly twist. The EP finishes
with “Goodbye My Sorrow,” which sounds like a lost
outtake from Social Distortion’s early years. It’s about
Saint’s struggle with addiction and his triumphant
recovery. It’s the best song on the record, not only
because it rocks like hell, but because it carries an
emotional punch.
This has to be the most interesting concept for a
band in quite some time. Couples Fight is the dance
punk duo of Travis James (Travis James & The
Acrimonious Assembly of Arsonists) and Alaynha
Gabrielle, and they have taken the demise of a
relationship to a whole new level. While most songs
about lost love are mournful, slow and sad, this EP
takes the horror show of breaking up and turns it into
a miniature synth-fuelled musical of punk-tinged pop
songs. This is exactly the crap that goes down when
any couple falls apart.
While the music is high energy and catchy, the gold
is in the lyrics, as James and Gabrielle literally fight
back and forth using call-and-response phrasing.
It’s never been so enjoyable to witness a couple
becoming a train wreck. This is pretty much a
concept piece, moving from “Whatever You Want,”
which is a fight over dinner, to “Um, Who Was
That,” the start of suspicion and lack of trust. Then
“No, Not Tonight,” highlighting the lack of desire for
intimacy, and “Cover Song,” which is a humorous
piece about sleeping apart in the same bed. Finally,
“Space” is the last frontier of any breakup before the
actual breakup.
Breaking Up is an accurate portrayal of the stages
leading to the death throes of love. Clearly these
two know that territory well, at least well enough
to write a song about each stage of the cycle. There
is a wonderful discord found in the jaunty, upbeat
electronica backing this vicious, lyrical fighting. It
ends with the truest words possible, in case you’re
unaware: “‘Taking a break’ means breaking up.”
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Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman

MC/DC AND ANDY WARPIGS
Onions Make Me Cry, But Mondays Make
Me Really Sad EP
TROUBLED MINDS
Something Worth Saving EP
BEN ANDERSON
Where the Lights Go? EP
By happenstance and sheer artistic inspiration, local
hip hop artist MC/DC and punk folkster Andy Warpigs
teamed up to record this delightful lo-fi EP (produced
by DaDadoh). “I’ve been playing shows with my cool
friend Andy Warpigs lately. He has a guitar. One
night, he crashed at my house and we recorded this
thing the next morning,” said MC/DC. While the
music is minimalist at best, with Warpigs providing
his signature guitar, the really stunning thing is how
intellectually/introspectively developed MC/DC’s
lyrics are.
Charming on the surface with the homemade aspect,
but when you get inside, it’s a damned deep trip.
“Tempe’s Finest” is as boastful as it is self-reflective
about watching your youth slip into adulthood. The
catchiest moment on the EP is “I Got Your Back,”
which comes across as an almost cute anthem of true
friendship. The chorus is the hook, but what’s said is
more important.
“Chill Freestyle Jam with My Friends” is one minute
of exactly what the title suggests. This is followed
by “The Weekend (Shitty Acoustic Remix),” which
is as much an anthem of liquor-fuelled weekends
as it is a cautionary tale about the results of
slamming from Friday straight to Sunday. The
guitar is damn near hypnotic here, and the chant
of “Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Go!” could be the
drinker’s chant everywhere.
The EP concludes with “Happy Birthday,” which
features MC/DC’s trombone—that’s right, trombone.
It’s a far cry from the traditional birthday song, but it’s
a more realistic one for troubled people in troubled
times, or really just regular people in regular times.
There seems to be a resurgence of emo pop punk in
Phoenix, spearheaded by groups like Sundressed,
Merit, The Breaking Pattern and most recently
Troubled Minds. They’ve just dropped their debut
EP, called Something Worth Saving, and it’s a highenergy
guitar-fuelled collection of seven songs.
Their song structure is much more complex than
verse-chorus-verse and borders on math-rock
arrangements. With the opener of “Silk Flowers,”
you may think you are in for some screamo metal
from the start, but it quickly changes gears to one of
the catchiest numbers here. The first 30 seconds are
just making sure you are awake and ready to listen.
“Chronophobia” is less surprising, as it reflects on
growing older and watching the time slip through
the hourglass. Then there is the perfect power pop
of “Vanishing Act,” which would be great for radio
airplay. It’s a three-minute track about trying to bring
a friend back from rock bottom; it’s inspiring and
catchy as hell.
“Punch” is just straight-up punk at breakneck
speed, about the loss of a relationship and the
mixed emotions surrounding it. This is followed by
the hauntingly stark beginning of “Inhale/Exhale,”
which inevitably explodes with guitars and horns.
“Arsonist” uses that idea as an allegory for all of us
who are constantly on the verge of metaphorically
burning down the house. The finale, “Pride,” is a
well-crafted pop punk number that seals the deal on
this EP being a quality listen from beginning to end.
Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman
Ben Anderson is a new young talent on the scene and
he has the backing of a lot of esteemed musicians.
Add to that, he just released his debut, produced by
Olivier Zahm, and this four-track EP is a treasure.
While it’s clearly Anderson and his guitar showcased
here, the production quality cannot be overstated.
There’s not a lot of studio trickery, it’s just a great
sound that augments Anderson’s talent as a singer
and songwriter.
“Chemical Reaction” is the opening track and it’s
nearly psychedelic, as the effects swirl around
Anderson with his voice and guitar. The first single
from this EP, “Perfect,” is a gentle number, with a
slow, seductive lilt that is only heightened when the
strings come in. It’s a love song with a great laidback
groove that has me moving in my seat every
time. The title track literally shifts gears, as a bit of a
darker number in stark contrast to the love and light
of “Perfect.” Heavy with haunting synths, an unusual
bass line and complex percussion, it’s one of the most
compelling tracks on this release.
“Bittersweet” is the finale, and it feels a bit like
Pete Yorn in his prime. It also has the least amount
of production flourishes of any of the songs, so you
can imagine what Anderson’s talent would sound
like alone in a room with his guitar. The entire
release is a calling card from an exciting new
talent in this town.
For more on these events and other highlights of
the Phoenix music scene, check out Mitchell’s blog
at http://soundsaroundtown.net. For submissions
or suggestions contact him at mitchell@
soundsaroundtown.net
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Photo by Dana Armstrong
Tomorrow’s Yesterday
Tucker Woodbury
By Demetrius Burns
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Photos courtesy of Genuine Concepts
“I don’t want to buy anything.” This is the first thing
I hear when I call Tucker Woodbury on a Sunday
morning, and based on his deadpan delivery, I feel
as though I have reached a sarcastic voicemail. The
following chuckle on the other end convinces me
otherwise and informs me that it’s just a shtick and
that, well, I’m speaking with a human. It also informs
me that I’m speaking with someone who is living one
hell of a life.
If You Carry Your Childhood with You, You May
Never Become Older
Woodbury has an impressive resume. He is a creative
entrepreneur who has helped produce some of the most
iconic hangouts in Phoenix, physical portmanteaus of old
and new. His projects include Valley Bar, Cobra Arcade
Bar, The Vig (four locations), The Beverly, Crescent
Ballroom, Linger Longer Lounge, The Little Woody
and others, with more to come under his umbrella
company, Genuine Concepts.
Like many people in Phoenix, Woodbury is originally
from somewhere else. He grew up near Boulder,
Colorado, and his childhood exemplifies two
aspects of his business acumen. His father was an
entrepreneur and his mom was a writer. His dad
showed him the value of hard work and his mom
instilled within him a love of poetry and writing.
“There’s a real business side of me from my dad and
a creative side of me that came from my mom,” said
Woodbury. “I can think creatively to design and build
businesses, and can still think creatively in trying to
keep them open.” In college Woodbury decided to
pursue journalism because it was a major where he
could use his creative skills in a way that allowed
him to make a living.
Throughout his early adulthood, Woodbury was
drawn to hosting and having parties. For his high
school graduation, he recalls having a keg (the legal
drinking age was 18 at the time) and his mom went
to the store to refill the keg for him. Not many moms
would do that today, but his parents have always
supported his dreams—even if that meant providing
elixirs. Woodbury threw a lot of parties in college and
enjoyed organizing and coming up with the best way
to make people happy. “I wanted people to have the
kind of fun that I wanted to have,” Woodbury said.
After graduating, Woodbury moved to New York
and worked in advertising, but there was something
missing—he wasn’t having fun. He had a friend in
Arizona who was involved in the restaurant and bar
industry, and Woodbury felt like that would be a good
fit for him, so he moved.
Woodbury transplanted to Arizona in 1990 and never
looked back. His first major success came with the
Rocking Horse, which was a music venue/roadhouse
that set the blueprint for Crescent Ballroom. The
Rocking Horse was a hot spot in Scottsdale in the
’90s, hosting new and emerging national touring
bands. It operated until 1996, when it burned down
in a fire.
You Shall Go Through the Fire and Not Get
Burned
Though the Rocking Horse burned down, there was
a diamond in the ashes. It was that Woodbury had
met Charlie Levy, a club promoter at the time. They
instantly developed a friendship built around giving
people exciting experiences by combining bars and
restaurants with concert venues. Woodbury brought
the restaurant and bar expertise while Levy brought
the concert and booking vision.
After the Rocking Horse burned down, Woodbury
decided to go back into advertising. Levy continued
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as a promoter. In 2000, Woodbury realized that he missed the industry and decided to leave the advertising
world again. Woodbury and Levy’s creative vision fully synthesized in 2011 with the birth of the Crescent
Ballroom, which has become a premier cultural bastion in Phoenix. The opening night at Crescent Ballroom
was a sold-out show with more than 400 people in attendance. Woodbury and Levy haven’t looked back since.
What’s Past Is Prologue
For Woodbury, a major part of the vision he holds is renovating historic buildings and tailoring venues around
unique spaces. “I feel like we have a responsibility to not see cool buildings disappear. Too much of downtown
Phoenix has been bladed over. Really those are the kind of places people want to hang out in. You don’t want
in the strip centers. You want to find a cool, interesting building that has some architectural significance,”
Woodbury said. In that sense, his vision is galvanized toward making sure Phoenix feels like a long lived-in city,
one with a significant history.
Efforts like this continue to push Phoenix forward
in new ways while firmly entrenching it within
the historical context from which it emerged.
This merging of cutting-edge entertainment and
historic settings especially came together with the
creation of Valley Bar. The space it inhabits was
pretty much just stumbled upon. One day, Levy,
who has an office on the third floor of the building,
decided to see what was in the basement. What
he found shocked him, and he immediately got
in touch with Woodbury to see if they could spin
some magic. As is the case with Woodbury and
Levy, they often find a cool space and just go for it, no
matter how challenging it might be.
“I dig my hole first and then figure a way out of it,”
Woodbury said. “We might not have the funding to
make it happen, but we proceed believing it will.
You’ve got to be that crazy in this business to make
it.” The Valley Bar project took a lot of money and
several months, but it has been more than worth
it. Phoenix now has the iconic basement bar that
most every big city has. The bar doubles as an
entertainment venue throughout the week, hosting
the smaller, emerging national acts as compared
to Crescent.
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What Dreams May Come
Most people would be satisfied with having two of
the most frequented bars in the downtown Phoenix
area, but Woodbury is just getting started. He and
Levy are looking to create a concert venue that
could hold up to 1,500 people in downtown. Central
Phoenix doesn’t have a venue this size, and that could
change once Woodbury finds a spot that he likes.
Other projects include a new bar where the old
Apollo’s was, near Seventh Street and Bethany
Home. The bar will be called The Womack and is
slated to open in July. It will be an homage to the
old Chez Nous, an iconic classic lounge that got
torn down to make way for the (now defunct) Fresh
& Easy on Seventh Avenue and Indian School. The
bar is pretty much an exact replica of the Chez Nous
and is named after its founders, Andy and Maureen
Womack, who opened Chez Nous in 1963. The
Womack crystallizes the blueprint for honoring the
past that Woodbury aspires to.
Woodbury is quick to point out that he doesn’t
create alone, and he attributes a lot of his success
to his partnership with Levy. The two of them
are bringing lots of cutting-edge experiences
to Phoenix. Woodbury believes in the magic of
bringing people together in a third space. “People
can let their hair down and have a blast and see their
friends [at our venues]. They can meet their future
spouse. There is a certain magic that happens at our
places,” said Woodbury.
Regarding Levy, he says, “We are great friends. We
have a whole lot of fun together. I think we both are
idea people. We dream about things; we love to
identify cool opportunities that Phoenix deserves.
There’s a real kind of shared vision between us.
We know where one person’s expertise stops,
so we never step on each other’s toes. We know
when to back off and let one person take the lead,”
Woodbury said.
There are a lot of people trying to make an impact in
Phoenix. It’s a city filled with potential and quirkiness,
but not everyone has the vision to make changes
that are sustainable while honoring the past. The
charm created by Woodbury partly comes from his
predilection for dreaming. His childhood was inspired
by poetry—something created within the pre-existing
rhythms of language.
The first poem that Woodbury wrote was about a
weeping willow that was cut down across the street
from the house where he grew up. There’s a saying
that every poet is always trying to rewrite their first
poem. It appears Woodbury is keeping the willow of
his youth alive by making sure Phoenix doesn’t lose
any more of its history.
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GIRL ON FARMER
Well, I was in a little fender bender this week. I’m
not too sure what happened because it was all so
fast and so stupid, the way it went down. The whole
incident was just unnecessary. Do you hear this,
universe? That did not need to happen.
On the bright side, no one was hurt. And here’s the
creepy part. I wasn’t afraid of being hurt from the
actual accident. We were all clearly a-okay. But I
was afraid that the person who hit me (or I hit him—
whatever, Officer Shackleton) was going to pull out a
piece because I busted the bumper of his sweet-ass
1990 Lexus sedan.
After impact I followed protocol and made sure we
were all alive, and then I got out to see that the other
people were okay. But they were just kind of sitting in
the car, which initially made me think, “Oh no, there’s
some brain damage over here.” But then, I saw the
driver talking, looking around and being not dead
and thought, “Great, he’s debating whether or not to
shoot me.”
I gingerly crept up to the side of his car kind of
waving and smiling—but a firm smile to let him know
I didn’t think it was my fault. I didn’t have the shared
cell phone with me, so I was hoping he would call the
cops. I asked him like three times, “Are you calling
the cops,” but he was waving at me and I wasn’t
sure what that meant. So I asked a girl on a bike if
she could call the cops. Do want to know what that
b said? “Sorry, I’m late for class.” So, this is just a
quick nutshell of modern day car accident etiquette:
be scared of being shot and don’t ask anyone to make
a phone call—they have to go to class.
After all this I got a rental car, which is way fancier
than my car. It has many screens and turn dials
and wants me to think I am driving a spaceship. It
also wants me to think I am an old lady. I know this
because I am a big fan of the scan feature. While
on scan the LCD screen displays the name of the
radio station and the song you are listening to. But,
if there are no details of the station it only displays
the genre.
I notice that it blows past any station labeled
“contemporary” or “top 40” and stops at every
station called “adult hits.” I know what that sassy
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When I stopped at Fry’s to get my box of wine,
I very thoughtfully pushed the car-off button,
so I thought I was okay. But when I got back
and opened the trunk, music was playing.
My initial reaction is the kidnap scene from
Silence of the Lambs—someone is in the back
seat—but with a boom box.
screen is telling me: I’m listening to old people music! Even worse, the other day
I was enjoying a little Eagles “Hotel California.” When it was over, the station’s
trademark slogan played. It was “Even your kids like these tunes—they’re
TIMELESS CLASSICS!”
My old car radio never said that to me! I think the spaceship has announcers
specifically for the purpose of old-shaming. Here’s what I know, when a radio
announcer tries to convince me that I’m cool because I like the music the kids
like: I am definitely not in the cool crowd.
There is another feature of this car making me feel like I am reaching early
Alzheimer’s. It’s the keyless start. Listen, I know I’m not the beacon of modernity
over in my 2007 Hyundai, but I do have power windows and AC. The keyless
ignition is just asking for trouble. All you need is to have that key near you and
press a button and the car starts. Why? Was it so hard to get the key in there?
Was it taking up a lot of time twisting that damn key back and forth, on and
off with each ride? I just feel like there are other things that car people can be
working on instead of the no key.
I have left the car on no less than five times since having the space car. I think
it’s off. And then I think, even if it’s not off, it will turn off because the key is in
my pocket and I am leaving the vicinity of the car. Clearly, I am wrong, and I’m
terrified of having this car stolen, because I don’t know if my insurance covers a
stolen rental car after an accident. So when I stopped at Fry’s to get my box of
wine, I very thoughtfully pushed the car-off button and the key was in my pocket,
so I thought I was okay. But when I got back to the car and opened the trunk,
music was playing. My initial reaction is the kidnap scene from Silence of the
Lambs—someone is in the back seat—with a boom box. Then I remembered the
magic turn-off button that I can’t seem to master. All I’m saying is, it shouldn’t be
that easy to accidentally leave your car on.
According to the auto body repair, I will be getting my antiquated, no screen,
twisty key car back next week. I will miss the spaceship, though. I treat it so
nicely and never leave orange peels in the cup holders. It’s like being a guest at
someone’s house, being all neat and polite. I’m just waiting to get back to my
car so I can be the slob that I am, coffee cups and bobby pins strewn all over,
listening to adult hits without a rude reminder from that sassy screen.

NIGHT
GALLERY
Photos By
Robert Sentinery
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2
3 4
5
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8 9
10 11
1. Red dress vixen Barrett-Jackson
2. Fitwall babe looking fit and fine
3. Jeremy from The Outlaw (Waylon tribute band) and Shana
4. Christy Lee from “All Girls Garage” at Barrett-Jackson
5. Artist Joe Holdren and wifey Chandra
6. Infusion Coffee and Tea cutie at Barrett-Jackson
7. Debbie and Rubee at foodie stars at AZ Cocktail Week
8. Ellee and visiting artist Asadeh Amiri at phiCA
9. Power trio snapped at Chartreuse Gallery on Grand
10. Cover girl Brea with Lisa at the American Italian Club
11. Joshua Jones from Clever Koi at AZ Cocktail Week

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17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29
12. Aileen’s space at Celebration of Fine Art
13. Glamor girls at AZ Cocktail Week
14. Blonde on blonde at Barrett-Jackson
15. More fun at the American Italian Club
16. Portrait of photographer Marilyn Szabo
17. Elvis Before Noon plays Barrett-Jackson
18. Dana and Roy at the “Screaming Hand” show
19. Chris Maker’s opening at Shade Gallery at monOrchid
20. Jillian Vose from The Dead Rabbit, NYC, in for Cocktail Week
21. Side glance from Gas Monkey’s Richard Rawlings
22. Christine Cassano’s phiCA installation
23. Warehouse215 launch party at Bentley Projects
24. “Agave Confidential” seminar with Colton Brock
25. Arizona Storytellers founder Megan Finnerty
26. Cathy Taylor art reception at Urban Beans
27. Curator Nicole Royse with Jose and Shahrokh
28. Abbey is goofing around with her son
29. Let the good times roll with Kinga and Hoop

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30. Sweet funny valentine
31. Kenny from Molten Brothers at the “Screaming Hand” show
32. These Barrett-Jackson babes work for Dodge
33. Bentley dedicates her new Warehouse215 space
34. An Irish coffee toast with Allie and pals
35. Cherie Buck-Hutchison’s opening at Bokeh Gallery
36. Surprise visitors at the Unexpected Space
37. Big John and Jay from the American Italian Club
38. Patterns of B/W at Warehouse215
39. Behind-the-bar babe at Cocktail Week
40. Snapped at the American Italian Club
41. Pretty trio at Warehouse215
42. Here’s to the red, white and blue dude
43. The premiere of “Beth Ames Swartz: Reminders of Invisible Light”
44. Nice mini helmet
45. Tequila icon Guillermo Sauza representing his Fortaleza brand
46. Nature Valley in the house at the Phoenix Open
47. Ernesto and his tall friends on First Friday

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48. More “Screaming Hand” show attendees
49. Getting their Cocktail Week vibe on
50. Unexpected Space façade by Karina, lighting by Devin
51. Nicole and beau in front of Cory Slawson’s artwork
52. Giant sequins and sunglasses!
53. Bill (sans dreads) and Lexie
54. Megan and pal at monOrchid
55. Fred, Gail and Sid at Chartreuse Gallery
56. Rembrandt’s Polaroid show at Eye Lounge
57. The twins from Tilt Gallery
58. Tim from Tullamore Dew has the belt for Ireland
59. Guinness gals at Cocktail Week
60. Bro-dacious style at Eye Lounge
61. Gallery goddesses, Laura from {9} and Denise from Lotus
Contemporary
62. Girl with the wild eyes at phiCA
63. Two babes and a bottle
64. Mitch meet Enrico, American Italian Club

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65. Jon Wassom opening at {9} the Gallery
66. Pair of pretty Valentines
67. Somebody busted out their Cocktail Week shirt early
68. Karina at the Unexpected Space
69. More American Italian Club fun with these ladies
70. She’s got a nice grill
71. The Duke Truck mobile bar service
72. “Boats” and pal at monOrchid
73. Triple-fisted at AZ Cocktail Week
74. She’s got the beads goin’ on
75. Wes from ZapCon and pal at the “Screaming Hand” show
76. Jamie and friend at Warehouse215
77. Sara Cochran interviews Betye Saar at SMoCA
78. All smiles at Street Coffee
79. Jason Hugger’s opening at Street Coffee
80. Skater girls at “Screaming Hand”
81. Ian Burrell “The Global Rum Ambassador “ at Cocktail Week
82. Black is the new black
83. More fun in front of Cory Slawson’s artwork

COMING SOON TO THE
MIM MUSIC THEATER
Kneedelus
Mar. 5 | 7:30 p.m. | $28.50–$38.50
A live collaboration between
instrumental quintet Kneebody and
electronic musician Daedelus
Emily Kinney
Mar. 9 | 7:00 p.m. | $27.50–$32.50
Opening Act: Taylor Mathews
Best known as Beth Greene on AMC’s
The Walking Dead, folk-pop singersongwriter
Emily Kinney recently
released her first full-length album,
This Is War.
Acoustic Africa with Habib
Koité and Vusi Mahlasela
Mar. 25 | 7:00 p.m. | $33.50–$43.50
Mar. 25 | 9:00 p.m. | $28.50–$38.50
Celebrating the richness of the African
traditions of voice and song
Hanggai
Mar. 31 | 7:30 p.m. | $33.50–$45.50
This Chinese folk group from
Beijing specializes in a blend of
Mongolian folk music and modern
styles such as punk and rock.
“Behind The Lens with
Pattie Boyd and Henry Diltz”
Apr. 1 | 7:30 p.m. | $28.50–$41.50
This multimedia presentation features
the work and stories of acclaimed
music photographer Henry Diltz
and ’60s It Girl Pattie Boyd
Birds of Chicago
Apr. 7 | 7:30 p.m. | $25.50–$35.50
Birds of Chicago, the collective
centered around Allison Russell and
JT Nero, reassert the simple notion
that beautiful words and music can
still tap deep veins of emotion.
To purchase tickets or for the full concert series lineup, call 480.478.6000 or visit MIM.org.
2016 Concert Series sponsored in part
4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, Arizona 85050