JAVA Dec '18 issue
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BUZZ<br />
CREATIVE COMMUNITIES<br />
By Robert Sentinery<br />
Phoenix is a city with diverse roots, a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities with<br />
a multitude of beliefs and traditions. What gives this community strength is the<br />
fusion of these differences, coming together to form a well-rounded whole.<br />
Chef Danielle Leoni epitomizes this. She grew up in an Italian family, absorbing<br />
old-world culture and recipes passed down for generations. In the 1940s, her<br />
great-great-grandmother opened an Italian restaurant, Leoni’s, in the Melrose<br />
Park suburb of Chicago that operated until 1988. Being a chef seemed like a<br />
natural path for Leoni.<br />
But at the time Leoni married Dwayne Allen, a native of Jamaica, she was<br />
teaching yoga and had zero interest in cooking professionally. It was Allen’s<br />
cultural pride that drove them, almost on a whim, to open The Breadfruit, a<br />
Jamaican restaurant, in what was the wilds of downtown Phoenix in 2008. So<br />
much has changed since then, and Leoni has kept pace with it, garnering tons of<br />
awards and recognition for her work in sustainable cooking.<br />
To honor her family roots, Leoni and Allen plan to open a full-fledged version<br />
of Leoni’s Focaccia (from their earlier incubator space), adding another layer of<br />
edible authenticity to downtown (see “Chef Danielle Leoni Brings Sustainability<br />
to the Plate,” p. 8).<br />
Gerd Wuestemann was born into a working-class family in the small town of<br />
Eschwege, Germany, near Kassel. Being the first of his clan to graduate from<br />
high school, expectations of achievement were fairly low. It was a passion for<br />
music, specifically classical guitar, that swept Wuestemann from his small-town<br />
roots and took him around the world as a performer and recording artist.<br />
A broken wrist put an abrupt end to his musical career, and Wuestemann<br />
eventually transitioned into a leadership role at the Acadiana Center for the Arts<br />
in Lafayette, helping build one of the largest arts organizations in Louisiana.<br />
Now he is at the helm of Scottsdale Arts, which oversees SMoCA, Scottsdale<br />
Performing Arts and Scottsdale Public Art (whose recent Canal Convergence<br />
was a glowing success). It takes strong vision and leadership to unite such a<br />
sprawling arts organization, and Wuestemann seems a natural fit for the job (see<br />
“Gerd Wuestemann: At the Helm of Scottsdale Arts,” p. 12).<br />
Many Phoenicians will remember Brian Smith as the frontman of top bands like<br />
the Beat Angels and Gentlemen After Dark. When the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle began<br />
to grind, Smith picked up a pen and made a smooth transition into professional<br />
writing, first for the Phoenix New Times, then relocating eastward as a staff<br />
writer for the Detroit Metro Times.<br />
Smith eventually made his way back to his beloved Southwest, picked up a gig<br />
writing for the Tucson Weekly, got married to Maggie, a longtime fan, and is<br />
now an author with two books under his belt. His latest volume, Tucson Salvage,<br />
collects and expands on some of his best writing for the Weekly. Maggie, an<br />
accomplished filmmaker, has produced a documentary version of the book that<br />
will debut at festivals and run theatrically in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Look<br />
for more from this dynamic couple in the coming months (see “Brian and Maggie<br />
Smith: Tucson Salvage, the Book and Documentary,” p. 34).<br />
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