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254 • FEB 2017<br />
Charles Darr<br />
MUSEUM OF WALKING • PLAYBOY MANBABY • JUSTIN KATZ
LOVERS/HATERS<br />
AFTER HOURS<br />
This Valentine’s Day, love it or hate it, we’ve got<br />
something for you.<br />
+ $10 tickets available online<br />
tickets.phxart.org or at the door.<br />
+ Members get two free drink tickets!<br />
+ Matchmaking scavenger hunt<br />
+ Grab a cocktail at our no-host bar<br />
+ Music by the duo DJ DA+DA<br />
+ Photo booth<br />
Salome with the Head<br />
of St. John the Baptist<br />
(detail), Carlo Dolci, c. 1670.<br />
Oil on canvas. Collection of<br />
Phoenix Art Museum, Gift<br />
of an anonymous donor.<br />
Bacchus and Ariadne,<br />
Antoine-Jean Gros<br />
(detail), 1820. Oil on<br />
canvas. Collection<br />
Phoenix Art Museum,<br />
Museum purchase with<br />
funds provided by an<br />
anonymous donor.<br />
Show us some love @phxart #phxartlove<br />
1625 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004
CONTENTS<br />
8<br />
12<br />
22<br />
32<br />
34<br />
FEATURES<br />
Cover<br />
Charles Darr<br />
8 12 22<br />
34<br />
ANGELA ELLSWORTH<br />
The Museum of Walking<br />
By Amy Young<br />
JUSTIN KATZ<br />
Curating Cool, Creating Good<br />
By Demetrius Burns<br />
RAPTURE<br />
Concept and Styling: Mitch Phillips<br />
Photos: Blake Bonillas<br />
PLAYBOY MANBABY<br />
Don’t Let It Be<br />
By Mitchell L. Hillman<br />
CHARLES DARR<br />
Seeing Artists in Their Environments<br />
By Mitchell Hillman<br />
COLUMNS<br />
7<br />
16<br />
20<br />
30<br />
38<br />
40<br />
BUZZ<br />
Reimagining Phoenix<br />
By Robert Sentinery<br />
ARTS<br />
Beauty Speaks for Us<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
Lulubell Toy Bodega Celebrates 10 Years<br />
By Amy Young<br />
I Remember Not Remembering<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
FOOD FETISH<br />
Fat Ox<br />
By Sloane Burwell<br />
SOUNDS AROUND TOWN<br />
By Mitchell L. Hillman<br />
GIRL ON FARMER<br />
How to Be a Better Person<br />
By Celia Beresford<br />
NIGHT GALLERY<br />
Photos by Robert Sentinery<br />
JAVA MAGAZINE<br />
EDITOR & PUBLISHER<br />
Robert Sentinery<br />
ART DIRECTOR<br />
Victor Vasquez<br />
ARTS EDITOR<br />
Amy L. Young<br />
FOOD EDITOR<br />
Sloane Burwell<br />
MUSIC EDITOR<br />
Mitchell L. Hillman<br />
ASSOCIATE EDITOR<br />
Jenna Duncan<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Celia Beresford<br />
Demetrius Burns<br />
Daniel Mills<br />
Tom Reardon<br />
PROOFREADER<br />
Patricia Sanders<br />
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
Blake Bonillas<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
(602) 574-6364<br />
<strong>Java</strong> Magazine<br />
Copyright © 2017<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
Reproduction in whole or in part of any text, photograph<br />
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of the contributors and/or advertisers.<br />
JAVA MAGAZINE<br />
PO Box 45448 Phoenix, AZ 85064<br />
email: javamag@cox.net<br />
tel: (480) 966-6352<br />
www.javamagaz.com<br />
4 JAVA<br />
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Downtown Mesa<br />
Presents<br />
SAT. MARCH 4, 2017 2-6PM<br />
Free<br />
Admission<br />
Main St & Macdonald<br />
VIP Tickets Available- $40<br />
www.downtownmesa.com/brewfest
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REIMAGINING PHOENIX<br />
By Robert Sentinery<br />
BUZZ<br />
This month we feature several individuals who are helping to reimagine the way<br />
we view our surroundings. Angela Ellsworth is an internationally known visual<br />
and performance artist. Her work has taken her across the globe, including stops<br />
at the Biennale of Sydney, Australia; the Getty Center in Los Angeles; and the<br />
National Review of Live Art (NRLA) in Glasgow, Scotland. Ellsworth had a major<br />
exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum in 2011 and has had gallery representation<br />
in Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago and Melbourne to name a few.<br />
Ellsworth has recently embarked on her most ambitious project to date—the<br />
establishment of a museum. Co-founded with artist Steven Yazzie (whose busy<br />
schedule now limits him to the advisory board), this is not your typical brickand-mortar<br />
institution. The Museum of Walking (MoW) was conceived in a<br />
120-sq.-ft. room on ASU’s main campus in Tempe. (They are currently looking<br />
for a permanent location in downtown Phoenix.) The museum’s mission is to be<br />
an educational resource committed to “the advancement of walking as an art<br />
practice.” MoW’s first major fundraiser will take place on March 18, and the<br />
hope is that 1,000 people (in groups of 20) will participate in a guided three-mile<br />
walk through the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area (see “Angela Ellsworth:<br />
Museum of Walking,” p. 8).<br />
Justin Katz has turned his childhood passion for watching cartoons into<br />
a lucrative creative enterprise called Flock of Pixels. Katz’s official job<br />
description is “motion design,” which essentially fuses graphic design<br />
with filmmaking. The result is the kind of animation one might see during the<br />
title sequence of a film. While motion designers have been around for a while,<br />
advances in computer technology and software have pushed the discipline<br />
forward in leaps and bounds.<br />
Katz has been fortunate to land some mega clients over the years, including<br />
Apple, American Express, Canon and Coca-Cola to name a few. Although much<br />
of his work falls into the category of advertising, Katz’s goal has always<br />
been to reduce the amount of “visual pollution” that bombards us. One of his<br />
proudest achievements was being asked to create the title sequence for the<br />
AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) national conference in 2011, which<br />
signaled the pinnacle of his profession (see “Justin Katz: Curating Cool, Creating<br />
Good,” p. 12).<br />
Charles Darr had a bit of an existential crisis after graduating from ASU with a<br />
photography degree (not uncommon for new grads, but perhaps compounded<br />
for creatives). In order to offset this, Darr started calling up his artist friends and<br />
asking if he could come over to hang out and take some photos of them in their<br />
spaces. The result is a body of work called “Stars to Satellites” that features<br />
more than 60 portraits of the people that make up Phoenix’s creative core.<br />
The series is a document of a city on the move and the arts community that is<br />
directing it (see “Charles Darr: Seeing Artists in Their Environments,” p. 34).
MUSEUM OF WA<br />
LK<br />
ING<br />
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The practice of walking as an arts discipline may not be the first thing<br />
that comes to mind when discussing either walking or the arts. Its place<br />
in contemporary art, however, has a deep foundation that continues to<br />
grow new branches in diverse and profound ways. From walk-inspired<br />
philosophies to the incorporation of walk-discovered objects into art pieces, there<br />
are numerous ways that walking is present in contemporary artwork—as well as<br />
in historical works. If you are already enthralled by this facet of the stroll, or need<br />
a good jumping-off point for more information, we have the Museum of Walking<br />
(MoW) right here in the Valley. Its mission is to be an educational resource<br />
committed to the advancement of walking as an art practice.<br />
The museum’s director, Angela Ellsworth, is an associate professor at ASU, as<br />
well as a contemporary artist who has received international acclaim for her<br />
multidisciplinary art projects, many of which have been walking-centric. Extending<br />
her previous pursuits to developing this museum seems like a very organic flow of<br />
events. “My work,” she said, “has incorporated a lot of walking, and I also teach<br />
performance art.” Ellsworth told us that she has been quietly gathering information<br />
around walking in art for well over a decade.<br />
Ellsworth started the MoW with another noted local artist, Steven Yazzie, in a<br />
quasi-condemned room in a School of Art building on the ASU campus. Both artists<br />
have a strong interest “in landscape, the land we walk on, and the layered history<br />
of that land,” Ellsworth said. Their continued conversations were instrumental in<br />
taking the MoW from an idea to fruition.<br />
The word museum conjures the idea of vastness, generous amounts of space.<br />
Yet Ellsworth and Yazzie created this institution in a 120-square-foot room,<br />
which made perfect sense to these artists with utilitarian mindsets. “I teach my<br />
students that they can utilize any amount of space,” said Ellsworth, “so I liked<br />
the idea of turning something ordinary into an extraordinary place.” The pair<br />
shared conversations about how to transition and use the room and developed the<br />
museum into an exhibition space that Ellsworth described as “very physical, and<br />
very analog—much like walking.” The small size made the capacity limited, and<br />
ring-in access was the first point of entry.<br />
Due to a busy schedule, Yazzie has limited his role to serving on MoW’s advisory<br />
board, which Ellsworth says is vital to the museum’s continued operations—along<br />
with the museum’s volunteers. MoW has averaged a couple of exhibitions a year<br />
and has presented lecturers, as well. When additional space has been needed for<br />
on-site events, the ASU Art Museum has lent space. Recently, MoW moved from<br />
its initial location to spend two months at Combine in downtown Phoenix, while<br />
looking for a more permanent home. Ellsworth isn’t worried; she’s already proven<br />
her ability to maximize what is available.<br />
Ellsworth loves the indoor programming, but both her voice and her expression<br />
convey her passion when she talks about the outdoor programs—themed, silent<br />
and contemplative walks led by herself or guests. “I love the idea of bodies<br />
being together in a different way than we normally are,” she said, “enjoying the<br />
landscape and noticing the subtleties in our world.” She notes that while the<br />
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physical benefits of walking are well known, it’s walking’s link to creativity that<br />
fascinates her and that she would like to facilitate.<br />
“There is empirical evidence that walking connects with creativity, which makes<br />
sense, as walking to think can be how ideas and philosophies grow,” Ellsworth<br />
said. It is a sensory experience that is open to everyone, and it doesn’t have to be<br />
goal-driven. It can even be an opportunity to let the senses roam free while not<br />
being tethered to the electronic devices that have everyone in their grip.<br />
Previous walks have included a guided adventure along Indian School Road that<br />
provided information about the history of the surrounding land. A crepuscular<br />
walk found the attendees learning how to listen for critters. Desire Lines: Women<br />
Walking as Making led the walkers to artist Jody Pinto’s Papago Park City<br />
Boundary Project and formed a component of the 25th International Sculpture<br />
Conference: New Frontiers in Sculpture. The event’s conversation included sharing<br />
about women artists who have used walking as means to create poetic, political<br />
and environmental works. There’s even a dog walking series that lets participants<br />
bring four-legged friends. These walks are led by Angela’s partner, writer Tania<br />
Katan, and Felix, her undeniably adorable French bulldog. Participants walk in a<br />
pack, and the walk is followed by time at a dog park, where the dogs can play and<br />
the humans can chat.<br />
As with any museum, raising awareness and funds is part of the programming. In<br />
March, MoW is embarking on their biggest project yet, theWALK, which will help<br />
accomplish both of those aims. Ellsworth hopes that raising awareness will not<br />
only bring in new walkers but also help to continue inspiring relationships with<br />
potent organizations, such as Native American Connections and the Phoenix Indian<br />
School Legacy Project. Both of these organizations will receive partial proceeds<br />
from the event. Funds will also help bring in international artists to lead walks<br />
and to develop further programming. For Ellsworth, it’s important to engage with<br />
other groups and organizations and to have the Museum of Walking showcase<br />
the results of the contemporary arts practices created and shared with these<br />
collaborators.<br />
TheWALK takes place on March 18, the same weekend as Artlink’s annual Art<br />
Detour event, and unlike a lot of traditional fundraising events, attendees are<br />
not going to sit back and hear about the organization’s activities. This inaugural<br />
fundraiser is a walk that takes place at the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration<br />
Area. The former landfill in downtown Phoenix is now a home for all kinds of<br />
native creatures, including beavers, owls and other birds, along with some lush<br />
vegetation—lots of great points of focus. Ellsworth likes the idea of exposing the<br />
habitat to new viewers. “It is a beautiful place people often pass on their way to<br />
the mountains to hike, not even realizing it’s there,” she said.<br />
The three-mile walk is expected to take around 90 minutes, and the goal is to get<br />
1,000 people to walk together. The $25 ticket price makes it a rather affordable<br />
way to really immerse yourself in this intriguing scenery, connecting with the<br />
land and with other walkers. Walkers will move in groups of 20, called “waves,”<br />
along with a guide. Participants are welcome to form their own groups. Ellsworth<br />
explains, “People will get to move through a public space in a mindful way, with<br />
stopping points to look and listen to the landscape. There will also be surprise<br />
sound components to add more layers to the event.” And don’t worry—for those<br />
who love a good fundraiser, you will go home with a tote bag. There are also<br />
10 JAVA<br />
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02/09/17 – 02/26/17<br />
“HILARIOUS, MEMORABLE<br />
AND HEARTBREAKING.”<br />
– DAVID CHAVEZ, EXAMINER<br />
sponsorship opportunities, and those interested can volunteer for training to lead<br />
a wave at theWALK.<br />
Looking to the future, things won’t be slowing down for the MoW. There are a<br />
lot of plans in the works, one of which is projectWALK, coming up in the spring<br />
of 2017. This is a multi-city collaborative event that locally will include artistled<br />
activities, the activation of different public spaces and a film event. It will,<br />
naturally, culminate in a walk, which Ellsworth will lead.<br />
We don’t live in the world’s most walkable city. The new residential density<br />
of areas like downtown Phoenix is creating more foot traffic than ever, but<br />
walking is still something that happens more for exercise or sport than<br />
function, which lends to the importance of the Museum of Walking and its<br />
multi-layered value. This recent addition to our museum community gives us<br />
new ways to think about many things. Whether it is the history and evolution<br />
of a place and its people, or the importance of taking the time to reset the<br />
senses to trigger new, different or broader thoughts, the benefits are as<br />
endless as the miles there are to explore.<br />
www.m useumofwalking.org<br />
LA ESQUINITA, USA<br />
by RUBÉN C. GONZÁLEZ<br />
WHAT HAPPENS TO A SMALL BORDER TOWN<br />
WHEN BIG PROMISES FROM BIG BUSINESS ARE BROKEN?<br />
PERFORMING AT<br />
ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY AT THE<br />
HERBERGER THEATER CENTER<br />
222 EAST MONROE STREET, PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85004<br />
ARIZONATHEATRE.ORG / BOX OFFICE: 602-256-6995<br />
SEASON SPONSOR: PHOENIX CONVENTION CENTER & VENUES
Justin Katz<br />
Curating Cool, Creating Good<br />
By Demetrius Burns<br />
During the height of modernism, poet Ezra Pound exhorted people to “make it new.” The mantra of the 1990s<br />
was seemingly to make it cool. Phoenix’s Justin Katz has an aesthetic—born from ’90s inspirations—that is<br />
indisputably cool and refreshing. More important, Katz employs his taste as a means, not an end in itself: to create<br />
good in a world overwhelmed by the pollution of thoughtless advertising.<br />
Katz is a 10-time Emmy award–winning motion design director who has worked with clients such as Apple and Coca-Cola.<br />
His work has helped brands explain their values and goals through animated videos. These companies capture the zeitgeist<br />
and are in many ways responsible for our ideations of cool, where consumers are consumed in a never-ending cycle. Working<br />
with such clients means staying on the crest of culture. Katz has seen how narrow the corridors of cool are, where finding<br />
oneself means disconnecting to capture the human experience.<br />
12 JAVA<br />
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All images courtesy of Flock of Pixles. Full credits on flockofpixles.com
Cartoon Physics: Animated Imagination<br />
With his parents’ support, Katz as a child gravitated toward cartoons and creativity. He would often show<br />
up late to Hebrew school on Saturdays after watching cartoons—his Technicolor education. Katz enjoyed<br />
building spaceships and figures based on whatever show he was into. Whereas some kids passively watch<br />
television, from a young age, Katz tried to replicate it as best he could. In elementary school he took apart $5<br />
video games to make one big video game out of all the various pieces.<br />
One of the most influential devices of Katz’s childhood was a Sega Master System. While he was still in<br />
kindergarten he saved up almost $100 and originally wanted to get a Nintendo. However, the employee at<br />
the store suggested Katz get the Sega, which had more capabilities—including 3D glasses. Persuaded by<br />
the employee, Katz went to buy the Sega with the $100 that he had saved, only to discover that it cost $105.<br />
He looked at his mom. Instead of helping with the purchase, she drove him home and explained how taxes<br />
worked. He spent the whole week hustling for money and eventually came up with the additional $5 to buy<br />
the Sega. It was an important lesson in financial responsibility, according to Katz, and the game system played<br />
a major role in his aesthetics. “My master system is still there [at my house],” Katz said. “That game system<br />
super-influenced my childhood. In my senior thesis film, I actually referenced the system game Hang-On.”<br />
When Katz was in middle school, his mom got a mini VHS, and he convinced his teachers to let him make<br />
videos instead of writing papers for projects. His favorite video involved producing a “South Park”/“Macbeth”<br />
hybrid. He learned about filmmaking and editing, along with one of the most important artistic lessons:<br />
to appropriate. As a high schooler, he didn’t hide his influences: “The Upright Citizens Brigade,” “The Tom<br />
Greene Show,” “South Park,” sketch comedy and late-night talk shows. As he grew as an artist, he began to<br />
“hide his sources” more. But, like all great artists, he stole in order to grow.<br />
Katz traveled quite a bit in high school. On a cruise through Europe, he read Spin Magazine and came across a<br />
review of the Air album Moon Safari. The review made him excited about listening to the album, but it didn’t<br />
match his expectations. “It sucked. There was maybe one track on that album [that I liked],” said Katz. After<br />
the initial disappointment, Katz boarded a train with his parents and ventured off to sit by himself. While<br />
the sun was rising, he decided to give the album another chance. This time it clicked. “It became completely<br />
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cinematic,” said Katz. “That happens a lot of times for a lot of people. It was one<br />
of those moments. I got OK Computer and The Bends at exactly the same time.<br />
Before that, I was listening to [more simple stuff like] the Beastie Boys and A Tribe<br />
Called Quest. It’s the high school years where you are trying to grab all this art that<br />
fades away later in life.”<br />
Katz did it all in high school. During his senior year he was captain of the soccer<br />
team, president of the student council, prom king, editor-in-chief of the yearbook<br />
and a member of the wrestling team. He also performed in a school musical. He<br />
sought out experiences and took advantage of all the avenues available to him.<br />
The Motion of a Designer<br />
After graduating from high school, Katz went to Rochester Institute of Technology<br />
(RIT), where he studied animation. During his junior year he saw a video from the<br />
filmmaking and design collective MK12. Watching it changed the way Katz wanted<br />
to go about animation and design in general. After graduating from college, he<br />
landed a job as a motion designer at Landor, a top brand consulting firm. He was<br />
essentially their motion design consultant and mainly worked with other designers<br />
to help them tell their stories. While he was freelancing for Landor, he got a job with J.<br />
Walter Thompson—perhaps the most renowned advertising agency in the world.<br />
In many ways, he had it all. However, the working conditions weren’t optimal. “The<br />
hours were ridiculous,” said Katz. “I was so fast and so good at what I did. I would<br />
finish work in half a day. Then I would sit around and wait all day for the creative<br />
director to approve it.” The intense demands of his job eventually drove him to<br />
Arizona in 2006, along with his wife at the time.<br />
Katz likes to point out that his parents were a big influence on getting him into a<br />
position to succeed. His parents paid for half of his college, and when he graduated<br />
they got him a Spiderman poster signed by the Hildebrandt brothers. “I got the poster<br />
and felt this horrible feeling,” said Katz. “I had never really thought about my career or<br />
if I was really good. I never really thought if I could be successful. The poster had so<br />
much to it. For years, it sat in storage or with its back facing me. It wasn’t until I did the<br />
title sequence to the AIGA National Conference that I actually put it up on the wall. I<br />
graduated in 2004, so seven years later.”<br />
Giving a Flock, Learning a Lot<br />
After moving to Arizona, Katz got a job with an ad agency that mainly did car<br />
commercials. He thought the work was boring and felt like he was stepping on<br />
people’s toes too much with his opinions. “Now that’s what I always do,” said<br />
Katz. “I try to take people’s ideas—I truly believe that my clients already have the<br />
ideas in their heads. Everybody has a problem they need solved.” So, Katz decided<br />
to start his own business called Flock of Pixels, which doesn’t produce traditional<br />
advertising. Instead, Katz specializes in explainer videos, which help illustrate a<br />
company’s main objectives and values.<br />
With these videos, Katz attempts to fight visual pollution—a term coined by Jason<br />
Johnson, referring to the glut of thoughtless advertising that bombards us on a<br />
daily basis. Katz focuses on the power of narrative. He believes telling a good story<br />
comes first and aesthetics second. Given that, he will spend weeks with clients<br />
coming up with a narrative. Sometimes, Katz even persuades clients not to do a<br />
video if he doesn’t think it will tell a good story.
About three years ago, Katz’s story changed in a major way when he and his wife<br />
divorced. This set him on a path of self-discovery that helped him realize he had<br />
ADD. People had often told him that he might have ADD, but he never got an<br />
official diagnosis or sought help until his divorce.<br />
“My mind will go on several tangents,” said Katz. “If someone starts talking to<br />
me about a topic, I will already be on the fifth topic. It’s that kind of stuff that<br />
helps me to be creative in my career. It’s also that type of stuff that I realized was<br />
hurting me in my relationships.” Another issue that Katz addressed was his time<br />
spent working or distracted on the Internet. He wasn’t spending enough time with<br />
family or seeking out new experiences. Katz determined to change that and did.<br />
“I ran with bulls in Pamplona; stayed in a castle in Italy; took Amtrak up the West<br />
Coast,” said Katz. “Experiencing new cultures and environments, even eating<br />
new cuisines, helps you be more empathetic and understanding of the human<br />
condition, so you can connect with people. I feel like I am a totally different<br />
person than I was three years ago.”<br />
Katz and his friend Dave Woodruff recently came up with an idea to create a new<br />
business that would focus on helping non-profits partner with corporations to hire<br />
artists for creative work. Often, non-profits want to produce high-quality projects,<br />
but their budgets restrict them. They want to procure corporate sponsors for nonprofits<br />
to help them pay creatives to make great projects. By investing in artists,<br />
non-profits and corporate sponsorship, Katz is using his experiences to help<br />
others. He is giving cool a conscience and, in turn, is making conscience cool.<br />
Inaugural Exhibition<br />
for the new<br />
Nakotah LaRance (Hopi/Tewa/Assiniboine) of Ohkay<br />
Owingeh Pueblo, N.M., 2015 and 2016 World champion<br />
Photo by Lizard Light Studios<br />
Opening Party Feb. 9<br />
Open to the Public Feb. 10<br />
Get your tickets at<br />
heard.org<br />
flockofpixels.com and about.me/justinkatz
ARTS<br />
BEAUTY SPEAKS FOR US<br />
In the Grand Gallery at the Heard Museum<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
The impression many people have about viewing<br />
Native American works in a museum is that they<br />
are looking at artifacts—relics from the past that<br />
anthropologists find interesting because they tell<br />
about domestic life. But some items, ancient and<br />
modern, transcend utility and evoke a greater<br />
purpose than merely to be hurled through the air,<br />
filled with food or traded as a commodity. Some<br />
pieces were created with the purpose, by their very<br />
existence, to inspire a spark of joy, to incite a sense<br />
of awe and to be treasured for transcending their<br />
own physicality.<br />
Thus the creatives at the Heard Museum have<br />
cultivated the theme for a new exhibit, “Beauty<br />
Speaks for Us,” putting on view some of the “best of<br />
the best” Native American artworks from around the<br />
Valley and beyond.<br />
The idea came from museum director David Roche<br />
in conversation with some of the curators, explains<br />
Caesar Chavez, the museum’s director of creative<br />
and marketing. Chavez explains that this exhibit is<br />
very aesthetically driven, more so than most major<br />
exhibitions at the Heard. “It’s a show that is not<br />
necessarily telling a narrative. There is no beginning,<br />
middle or end,” Chavez says. Visitors are asked to<br />
take a closer look and deeply consider what they see.<br />
“One of the big ideas behind this exhibit is to teach<br />
people how to look at this art—American Indian art,”<br />
Chavez says. “That is a key message.”<br />
Chavez cites, as an example, the image selected<br />
for the cover of the exhibition catalog. The photo<br />
appears to have the viewer looking into a highly<br />
stylized eyeball. Rich sorrel edges fold into a center<br />
that looks like a pupil. But this isn’t an eye, Chavez<br />
explains: it’s a ceramic piece called a melon bowl pot.<br />
The object viewed from a particular angle appears to<br />
become something else.<br />
“Beauty Speaks for Us” draws its more than 200<br />
pieces from three sources. The exhibit pulls primarily<br />
from the Heard Museum’s permanent collection,<br />
but also from the private collections of two guest<br />
curators, Janis Lyon and Carol Ann Mackay. The<br />
highlights include masterworks of Native American<br />
jewelry, pottery and weaving.<br />
Several of the rugs on display are impressively<br />
large. “Cowboy Serape,” featured in the catalog, is<br />
80 inches by 90 inches and was produced around<br />
the turn of the 19th century. Another rug from the<br />
Mackay collection is enormous, spanning 137 inches<br />
by 134 inches (about 11 feet by 11 feet).<br />
Southwestern textile enthusiasts will recognize work<br />
by Navajo weaver D.Y. Begay. According to Chavez,<br />
many of her textiles are landscape inspired, including<br />
“Study in Cochineal.” This piece layers rich reds and<br />
earth tones, creating a horizon line in the middle<br />
that produces the effect of a deep desert sunset.<br />
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Begay lives in Santa Fe now but maintains an Arizona<br />
connection to the Navajo reservation.<br />
David Roche has been director at the Heard Museum<br />
for just over a year. He says that planning for the<br />
“Beauty” exhibit began around the time that he<br />
started. But first, the museum would undergo a<br />
massive remodeling project.<br />
The Heard Museum received a grant from the<br />
Virginia C. Piper Charitable Trust and laid plans to<br />
combine two previous gallery spaces into an open<br />
floor plan with more than 6,500 square feet, as well<br />
as to install a walkway that would finally connect<br />
the upstairs Berlin Mezzanine to the galleries on the<br />
south end of the second floor. The new combined<br />
space is aptly dubbed the Grand Gallery. Major<br />
construction started in May 2016. “It’s a blur. Really,<br />
it’s remarkable how quickly this has come together,”<br />
Roche says.<br />
Roche explains that there were many challenges<br />
along the way during the renovation. “As you might<br />
imagine, when you are dealing with this much<br />
history, there will be some surprises. There were<br />
actually 33 latent issues or conditions that had to be<br />
addressed.”<br />
“Beauty Speaks for Us” will be the inaugural<br />
exhibition in the Virginia C. Piper Charitable Trust<br />
Grand Gallery. The remodeling project took about<br />
a year from planning to completion, and the final<br />
touches wrapped up just in time for the installation<br />
and opening of the “Beauty” exhibit.<br />
“We feel that we’re in a much better place, for a lot<br />
of reasons,” Roche says. “But really what we are<br />
most excited about is the opportunity that this new<br />
gallery presents for us.”<br />
“Beauty Speaks for Us”<br />
Virginia C. Piper Charitable Trust Grand Gallery<br />
Heard Museum<br />
February 11 through April 2<br />
www.heard.org<br />
A limited-edition catalog of the exhibition is available.<br />
Nancy Youngblood, Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1955, Melon bowl, 2001,<br />
Ceramic, 6 x 8 inches, Collection of Janis and Dennis Lyon<br />
Nancy Youngblood, Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1955, Melon bowl with 32<br />
ribs, 2001, Ceramic, 8 x 11 inches, Collection of Nadine Basha<br />
Nancy Youngblood, Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1955, Melon bowl, 1998,<br />
Ceramic, 6.5 x 8.5 inches, Collection of Janis and Dennis Lyon<br />
Kiowa Dress, c. 1880, Hide, paint, glass beads, cowrie shells. horsehair,<br />
metal, brass beads, silk ribbon, 54 x 31 inches, Fred Harvey Fine<br />
Arts Collection at the Heard Museum<br />
Hopi Ahöla, early 1900s, Cottonwood root, paint, kaolin, feathers,<br />
cloth, 24 x 26 x 7 inches, Gift of Senator Barry M. Goldwater, Underwritten<br />
by Anonymous<br />
Kiowa Lattice cradle, c. 1890, Hide, canvas, cotton cloth, glass and<br />
metal beads, wood, silver tacks, brass bell, 42.5 x 26.8 x 9.5 inches,<br />
Fred Harvey Fine Arts Collection at the Heard Museum<br />
Photography by Craig Smith, Heard Museum<br />
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LULUBELL TOY BODEGA<br />
Celebrates 10 Years with “Ichi”<br />
By Amy Young<br />
Ichi is the Japanese word for “one,” and it is also the<br />
title of the recent exhibition at Lulubell Toy Bodega,<br />
in Mesa. A special one-night event, “Ichi” celebrated<br />
the shop’s 10th year in existence, and their first<br />
month in a new location. The decade milestone<br />
gave the store and gallery’s owner, Amy Osowski,<br />
the perfect opportunity to curate an exhibition of<br />
fantastic paintings, vinyl toys and figures in other<br />
mediums created by more than 30 of the artists—<br />
local and otherwise—that she has worked with<br />
over the past 10 years. Osowski is partnered in the<br />
business with Luke Rook, an Arizona native currently<br />
living in Japan. She talked to us about “Ichi” and the<br />
recent changes at Lulubell.<br />
“The show featured amazing talent from all over<br />
the world,” said Osowski. “Some of the artists did<br />
multiple pieces, but it was all custom toys or original<br />
paintings made just for this exhibition.” For her,<br />
the night was important for the business but also<br />
resonated on a personal level, as over the last 10<br />
years she has developed friendships with many of<br />
the artists and their collectors. “With social media,”<br />
she told us, “it’s like a big, worldwide family. I have<br />
opened my home to both artists and customers many<br />
times when they have come to town, and they have<br />
done the same for me in my travels.” She says those<br />
fringe benefits are genuinely priceless and make all<br />
the hard work more than worth it.<br />
“Ichi” featured canvas paintings by area tattoo artists<br />
Aaron Coleman, Josh Carter and Mando Rascon.<br />
Osowski tells us that Lulubell is currently working<br />
with Coleman on a vinyl toy that will debut later this<br />
year. Another highlight was a custom toy created by<br />
Candie Bolton, a sofubi artist, whose piece includes<br />
eyes that light up with help from an external remote<br />
control. Sofubi is Japanese for soft vinyl, and sofubi<br />
toys are something Lulubell manufactures on site<br />
in their workroom. “The sofubi toy art genre is a<br />
fascinating world,” Osowski tells us. “We have a<br />
monthly meet-up called the Sofubi Social, which is<br />
basically a nerd-out session for those who love to<br />
talk about toys and art.”<br />
With Lulubell now located just down the street from<br />
their old spot, Osowski said that downtown Mesa<br />
will always be their home. “Staying in downtown<br />
Mesa was really our only requirement,” she said.<br />
“The community is very tight-knit and supportive.”<br />
The move was intended just to find a store layout<br />
that better fits their needs. This one includes a<br />
retail area, workroom, gallery space and an outdoor<br />
area where they can have live painting events<br />
and bands. Industry-specific workshops to teach<br />
different processes, such as making resin-cast toys<br />
and airbrushing, will add even more depth to the<br />
programming. A monthly artists market is something<br />
else they hope to launch this spring.<br />
Osowski says they love being a part of the local and<br />
global art communities. “We want to make everyone<br />
who walks through our doors feel inspired to create,<br />
however that may be.”<br />
Lulubell Toy Bodega<br />
126 E. Pepper Place, Mesa<br />
www.lulubelltoys.com<br />
Photos: Robert Howell<br />
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“I REMEMBER NOT<br />
REMEMBERING”<br />
at SMoCA<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
Using home movies, photo albums and film footage,<br />
the artists selected for Scottsdale Museum of<br />
Contemporary Art’s “I Remember Not Remembering”<br />
take the art of reflecting on a moment in time to<br />
heightened and individualized levels.<br />
Curator of contemporary art Claire Carter says that<br />
in designing this show she pulled from her own<br />
memory—from images that have become lodged in<br />
her mind from countless shows she’s experienced<br />
over the years. “For me, the concept always emerges<br />
from the artwork,” she explains. “I chose these<br />
[items] because there is a sense of storytelling about<br />
the works and a slipperiness [in relation] to time.”<br />
There are some moments we turn over again and<br />
again in our minds, sanding the rough edges. The<br />
mind tricks us into changing the dialogue. Scholars<br />
tell us that memory is faulty and corruptible. This<br />
makes the act of trying to separate the literal,<br />
recorded event from its ghost something interesting.<br />
Carter says she borrowed the show’s title from a<br />
piece called “Skin Destination,” by artists José<br />
Inerzia and Adriana Trujilllo, who are based in<br />
Tijuana, Mexico. The piece has subtitles in English,<br />
and at one moment, Trujillo utters the phrase as<br />
she’s looking at a film of herself as a child dancing.<br />
Carter says that in creating this exhibit she became<br />
interested in what looking back at personal memories<br />
such as this can teach us about ourselves.<br />
As a collection, the still images and videographic<br />
works selected for “I Remember Not Remembering”<br />
collectively look honest and vintage, a lesson in<br />
history. It is almost like finding a shoebox full of<br />
someone’s photos at a thrift store. What were their<br />
lives like? Why were these particular moments<br />
captured in time?<br />
Another intention that Carter set for the show was to<br />
select a myriad of artists from different backgrounds<br />
and periods of time who have worked in various<br />
parts of the world. Inerzia and Trujillo, for example,<br />
created “Skin Destination” in the ’70s and ’80s, while<br />
the images from Janet Cardiff capture Canada in the<br />
1940s, and Yto Barrada’s work presents images from<br />
Morocco from the ’40s to ’70s. They all represent<br />
different cultures and walks of life.<br />
One of the most contemporary works in the show<br />
also takes up the most space. Projected on two<br />
16-foot-wide screens is a video made by artist Kahlil<br />
Joseph. (Joseph is well known for creating Beyoncé’s<br />
“Lemonade” film concept.)<br />
Joseph worked with recording artist Kendrick Lamar,<br />
reconstructing Lamar’s childhood in 1980s L.A.,<br />
during the crack epidemic. Carter explains that to<br />
create the piece, Joseph dug through Lamar’s family<br />
photo archive, shot footage in Compton and utilized<br />
newspaper clippings and found footage from TV news<br />
from that period in time. “When you look at the time<br />
stamps on some of the videos, you realize they were<br />
shot just about a month before the L.A. riots,” she says.<br />
Some of the family photos are beautiful—taking a<br />
girl to prom, for example. Others are very mundane.<br />
But there are also flashes of heavily armed black men<br />
standing in the family’s front yard, basically keeping<br />
guard against mayhem. The artist does an incredibly<br />
convincing job of reconstructing an era, taking<br />
viewers exactly to that place in time.<br />
“I Remember Not Remembering”<br />
February 11 – April 30<br />
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art<br />
www.smoca.org<br />
Larry Sultan, detail, Untitled Home Movie Stills, 1984–91, from<br />
the series “Pictures From Home,” 1992. Forty-four inkjet prints<br />
transferred from 16mm film. Each 17 x 22 inches. Collection of the<br />
Estate of Larry Sultan.<br />
Yto Barrada, Hand-Me Downs, 2011. 16mm and 8mm film transferred<br />
to single-channel color digital video with sound, 5:4 format,<br />
running time: 15 minutes. Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery,<br />
London; Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Beirut; and Galerie Polaris,<br />
Paris. © Yto Barrada<br />
Kahlil Joseph, m.A.A.d., 2014. Two-channel film work with audio,<br />
HD digital; running time: 15 minutes 26 seconds. Collection of the<br />
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles<br />
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Fat Ox<br />
Matt Carter’s Take on Classic Italian<br />
By Sloane Burwell<br />
Fiera del Bue Grasso is the Festival of the Fat Ox, an event that began in 1910 in<br />
Piedmont, Italy, to celebrate the harvest. Communities would share the bounty<br />
and, of course, a tasty fatted calf. Held every year since then, with only one<br />
omission (in 1944 because of the war), this holiday is meant to bring a community<br />
of friends and family together to enjoy seasonal food and its power to unite<br />
people over a great meal. Matt Carter’s Fat Ox, opened in November, is a rousing<br />
American take on this regional Italian experience.<br />
Anyone who has eaten at any of Carter’s other restaurants, such as Zinc Bistro<br />
or The Mission, will recognize his taste in interior design—loads of small tables,<br />
intended for intimate conversation; beautiful lighting; and well-conceived and<br />
executed dishes. Dining at the Fat Ox is an exercise in culinary theater, and you’ll<br />
notice the difference from the second you walk in.<br />
Stationed in front of the door is a valet, which is appropriate, because this is<br />
Scottsdale. It’s also a nice touch at the end of the meal, as our talented server<br />
James facilitated the pickup of our car and alerted us when it arrived—but I’m<br />
getting ahead of myself. The hostess stand was staffed by three charming attendants; one<br />
brought me a complimentary glass of Lambrusco while our party and table were being<br />
assembled. As we waited, we noticed an enormous coterie of staff around the space.
At our table, we were introduced to the aforementioned James, and also to Mikhail,<br />
who was likewise taking care of us. An impressive menu awaited, designed on a<br />
classic Italian approach, highlighting four courses and dessert. Given the impressive<br />
array of choices, we elected to trust our server and put the meal in his hands. After a<br />
quick chat about allergies, preferences and dislikes, James curated our entire meal.<br />
This approach made for an uninterrupted flow of courses, expertly paced, without<br />
breaks to choose the next one. For our antipasti, we had the Tableside Caesar ($17),<br />
which felt like delectable performance art. A gentleman we dubbed “artista insalata,”<br />
equipped with a wooden cart, whipped up a perfect salad of baby gem lettuce, kicky<br />
anchovy dressing, Parmesan croutons and fried capers.<br />
For the second course, formaggio e salumi, we tried the Burrata di Bufala ($15)<br />
and Fra’Mani Pancetta ($15 per person). Burrata is one of my favorites—a tender,<br />
fresh, ricotta-like center surrounded by a firmer layer of mozzarella, traditionally<br />
made from the milk of water buffalo. It’s light, creamy and delicate, and here it<br />
is perfect. Served in a bowl with an arugula salad, ribbons of prosciutto and a<br />
smattering of pesto, it’s so light and flavorful it makes me think of spring. The<br />
pancetta was like your favorite charcuterie—strands of melt-in-your-mouth,<br />
feather-light meat, house-cured for 24 months.<br />
You won’t feel rushed here. The time between courses is enough to feel satiated,<br />
and allows you to take in the landscape. Although the space, when at capacity,<br />
seats nearly 250 in two dining rooms, it never feels crowded. Take the time to<br />
watch the play of staff—the ratio seems close to one staff member for every<br />
two guests. There appeared to be someone assigned to curate every part of<br />
the experience—drinks, serving, tableside preparations, lighting (we watched<br />
a gentleman adjust the brightness down as the evening went on) and audio.<br />
However, given all of the gorgeous hard surfaces (think painted exposed brick,<br />
repurposed barn wood flooring, etc.), it did have a tendency to get a bit loud.<br />
The pasta course, primi piatti, is where things get really interesting. You’ll notice<br />
at this point in your meal that each dish is served on a distinct plate that isn’t<br />
repeated until dessert (assuming you have the Tableside Caesar). I can’t imagine<br />
the sheer volume of storage required for this attention to detail. But back to the<br />
food: I am still thinking about the Garganelli ($22), long, tubular pasta coated in<br />
truffle butter, Parmesan and speck (also house-cured). The Strozzapreti ($15), sort<br />
of an elongated cavatelli shape, is served in Fat Ox’s version of a red sauce—<br />
slightly sweet and elegantly simple. I also loved the Rigatoni Lamb Verde ($18),<br />
a savory green tomato sauce loaded with pecorino and crunchy bits of fennel<br />
pollen. We shared each pasta, and to be honest, if you’re taking the four-course<br />
route—and you should, at least once in your life—I would suggest sharing each<br />
course. The courses aren’t caricatures of fine dining, with minuscule portions<br />
artfully arranged, but rather ample portions you can easily share. Can share—you<br />
are fully justified in not wanting to, when it’s this good.<br />
In the Italian tradition, the last course, secondi piatti, is the protein. We went for<br />
it. The Porterhouse ($110) is 28 ounces of dry-aged beef, cut for you. It was<br />
perfectly cooked, the salt-and-pepper crust just right, adding depth to the lovely<br />
fat edge of the tenderloin side (my favorite). The marbling on the strip side was<br />
also gorgeous and impressive, and we all but inhaled it. Anyone who loves beef<br />
can attest to the skill it took in the kitchen to get a hunk of beef that large and<br />
impressive cooked to perfection.<br />
The Rotisserie Jidori Chicken is no slouch, either. We elected the A La Diavolo style<br />
($30), which came doused in a fiery red-pepper sauce. Perfectly moist chicken—I’m<br />
really struggling for the words. There is a tendency to bypass chicken in fine dining,<br />
and I think that is a mistake. Truly well-prepared chicken is substantially different<br />
from what even the best cooks can approximate at home. One day in the kitchen<br />
of my dreams, with a 12-burner Wolf range with rotisserie, maybe I will be able<br />
to. Until then, I’ll order chicken like this—perfectly moist. Add a side of Guistos<br />
Polenta ($10) to round out the course. Be warned, polenta this decadent can only<br />
be prepared with almost equal parts butter and cream. It’s worth it, though. Small<br />
crocks of polenta with bubbly chars on the top—the way roasted dishes should<br />
always arrive after spending time in a toasty oven. After a couple of bites we lost<br />
all of our manners and ate the polenta straight out of the crock—it never made it to<br />
our plates. Why waste time that way?<br />
Ahh, dessert. If you’ve made it this far, you must think I’m a glutton, and perhaps it<br />
is true. For me, some of the finest moments in my life involve good food and friends.<br />
This meal was both for me. You can’t go wrong with the Gianduja Frangelico<br />
Tiramisu ($9). The bitter hit of coffee is replaced, thankfully, by coffee ice cream,<br />
and with a smattering of chocolate balls, this roasted banana confection hits all<br />
the high notes—sweet, creamy, light, fluffy, and gone in 60 seconds. If you order<br />
coffee, it will come in a somewhat dainty French press. Think about ordering your<br />
own if you want more than one cup.<br />
Not all meals are this grand. And not every day is the Festival of the Fat Ox. There is<br />
a reason that holidays around food and community survive. Taking the time to slow<br />
down, relax and engage with those around you is the key to a good life. Restaurants<br />
like Fat Ox remind me that while every day might not be a holiday, we should try to<br />
live like it is.<br />
Fat Ox<br />
6316 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale<br />
(480) 307-6900<br />
ilovefatox.com<br />
Sunday to Thursday: 5–10 p.m.<br />
Friday & Saturday: 5–11 p.m.<br />
Photos: Nicki Hedayatzadeh<br />
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Photograhpy: Blake Bonillas<br />
Styling: Mitch Phillips<br />
Hair & Makeup: Marie Micsunescu<br />
Model: Holly Harward<br />
Clothing from Rare Scarf Vintage<br />
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PLAYBOY<br />
MANBABY<br />
DON’t LET IT BE<br />
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By Mitchell Hillman<br />
In July 2015, I got a message from Robbie<br />
Pfeffer that the next Playboy Manbaby<br />
record was going to be something extra<br />
special. They were still working on it, but he<br />
wanted me to know that it was feature worthy<br />
for JAVA. I had no doubts, and we agreed that<br />
the September 2015 issue would be perfect. The<br />
September issue came and went, and each month<br />
I’d hit up Robbie, and he’d tell me it wasn’t done.<br />
We played this game for months until I figured<br />
he’d just let me know when it was coming.<br />
Just shy of a year from when he first mentioned<br />
Don’t Let It Be to me, Pfeffer hit me up with an<br />
advanced copy, but told me it wasn’t going to<br />
be released for a while. I listened to it, and it<br />
was everything he said it was going to be and<br />
more, because Pfeffer is actually pretty humble<br />
about his own stuff. Another autumn came<br />
and went, and finally Robbie said, “How about<br />
February?” So a year and a half after our initial<br />
conversation, it’s finally here.
Playboy Manbaby really put their all into this record,<br />
and it was critically timed to release just after a<br />
new president took office. Their last album, Electric<br />
Babyland, was recorded, mixed, mastered and<br />
released in 24 hours in December 2014. Don’t Let It<br />
Be is a stunning contrast in terms of the two albums’<br />
production methods. For the first time, Playboy<br />
Manbaby has captured the energy, spirit and raw<br />
vitality of their live show. It’s a damn difficult thing<br />
to do in a studio, but somehow they pulled it off with<br />
Don’t Let It Be.<br />
In case you’re unfamiliar with Playboy Manbaby,<br />
they’ve been putting out some of the most exciting<br />
music on the scene since 2012 and could easily lay<br />
claim to the title of “Best Live Band in Phoenix.” I first<br />
saw them before they released their debut EP at Long<br />
Wong’s Firehouse on Apache, and they already had<br />
a huge following. It was some of the most original<br />
music I had heard in ages, and the tightly packed<br />
crowd was slam dancing as best they could. These<br />
days it’s the same, but they sell out Crescent and<br />
Valley Bar.<br />
Playboy Manbaby consists of Robbie Pfeffer (vocals),<br />
Chris Hudson (bass), TJ Friga (guitar), David Cosme<br />
(trumpet), Austin Rickert (sax) and Chad Dennis<br />
(drums), and what these six men have created is their<br />
preeminent album at long last. I’m hoping this is the<br />
first of many to follow and that the rest of the world<br />
catches on to their sound.<br />
With its clever title and lyrics, Don’t Let It Be is<br />
some of the finest socially conscious punk since<br />
the days when Jello Biafra led the Dead Kennedys<br />
through the 1980s. Playboy Manbaby kicks off the<br />
record with their finest single to date, “You Can Be<br />
a Fascist Too,” which was released on November 9<br />
of last year. Let’s hope that new listeners understand<br />
its wry commentary when they hear it. Musically<br />
speaking, it’s filled with perfectly raging guitars, a<br />
manic furious pace, wild horns and amusing backup<br />
vocals. It’s a perfect punk anthem for the dawning of<br />
a new age. From the opening lyrics“Society’s in the<br />
gutter man, it’s really in the pits. Wouldn’t the world<br />
be better without those undesirable bits?”to the<br />
ending chant of “I am right. I am correct” the tune is<br />
as amusing as it is haunting. It’s almost as if it was<br />
written with our new leader in mind, and from his<br />
perspective, to boot.<br />
The album shifts gears immediately and introduces<br />
“Last One Standing” with a vibe akin to ’60s beachbeat<br />
music, evoking a spy theme with its bouncing<br />
guitars and horn work throughout. It’s like a Herb<br />
Alpert/Hal David tune on Dexedrine. Pfeffer rages as<br />
ever, but this music is far from punk. It’s not all about<br />
punk anthems here. It’s more about an ever-changing<br />
musical landscape that is a showcase for the varying<br />
environments to highlight Pfeffer’s signature vocal<br />
delivery. He is as much a performer as a musician,<br />
and that comes across on this record. It is another<br />
politically conscious tune, but a bit less sharply<br />
honed. While the music is uplifting, the lyrics are<br />
neurotic and rightfully paranoid.<br />
The musical acuity continues on “Bored, Broke &<br />
Sober,” where ska becomes a way of life and the<br />
level of songwriting and arrangement is even more<br />
apparent. Cosme’s trumpet alone would make this<br />
a great track, but the rest of the band creates a<br />
pure delight. It may be the first Playboy Manbaby<br />
track where I find myself more intrigued by the<br />
music and the composition than Pfeffer’s tales of<br />
modern neuroses.<br />
“Cadillac Car” has a bit more of a garage-rock vibe,<br />
and things get a little darker in tone. It expresses<br />
dissatisfaction with the nine-to-five grind, at first, and<br />
then the situations become more comically perverse.<br />
Still, you’re going to cling to the chorus change of<br />
“I wanna Cadillac car, a new hair do, I wanna go to<br />
work and tell my boss, fuck you!” Every minute is<br />
filled with the urgency and rage of that chorus, upon<br />
which the rest of the song spins.<br />
Hudson’s bass line for “Self-Loathing in Bright<br />
Clothing” could have been lifted straight out of a<br />
Black Flag song, and it sets you up for the hardcore<br />
action ahead. This is a fantastic rager with slam<br />
dancing in mind. For any “over thinkers” out there or<br />
anyone plagued by anxiety, the chorus of this track is<br />
your mantra: Pfeffer screams, “I can’t breathe, I can’t<br />
talk, my mind needs, to just stop.” It’s completely<br />
relatable. Whether you hate yourself or not, this is<br />
the perfect tune to sum up the feeling that the only<br />
exit would be an early death.<br />
Playboy Manbaby takes on beach blanket bingo<br />
with “Cheap Wine,” about the joys of being poor<br />
and drunk, with the chorus, “I don’t wanna waste<br />
my time, I’d rather get wasted and say I’m fine.” At<br />
the core of the song is fantastic surf-tinged pop. It is<br />
complete satire about the damned who think they can<br />
drink their problems away. Pfeffer delivers the vocal<br />
so you can relate, but also so you can maybe think<br />
about what he’s saying with a wink and a grin.<br />
“Popular” is an outright attack on everyone’s image<br />
on social media and the superficial gratification of<br />
it all. Friga’s guitar is on fire here, and the lyrics<br />
are delivered like a machine gun—easily one of<br />
my favorites live, and it comes off perfectly on the<br />
record. It’s a complete indictment of a generation<br />
living their lives in pursuit of online popularity, and<br />
finding themselves empty offline.<br />
The band takes on a Cramps-like approach on “I’m<br />
So Affluent,” while mixing in fascinating backup<br />
vocals that provide a psychobilly, spaghetti-Western<br />
vibe. It’s like punk rock for the Wild West. You can<br />
make your own associations about the refrain, “I’m<br />
so affluent, it must mean I’m intelligent,” but it’s an<br />
obvious attack on the ruling elite and the billionaire<br />
boys club. It’s also as much about the plight of the<br />
working class and the working poor.<br />
“Oprichniki” is another lighter tune musically, with<br />
flourishes of 1960s pop mixed with their spunky punk<br />
approach to everything. The horns are bright, the<br />
guitars are on fire, and Pfeffer attacks the post-truth<br />
era with, “When there’s a hundred different versions<br />
of the truth, it’s a brand new revelation, it’s a thing<br />
you can follow now.” You can make your checks<br />
payable to any truth you want to believe these days.<br />
The amusingly titled “Don Knotts in a Wind Tunnel”<br />
is possibly the most fantastic rager on the record, and<br />
maybe it seems that way to me because it’s the one<br />
I’ve heard the least. It’s as tongue in cheek as it is a<br />
pointed attack and has such a broad reach it could<br />
be about anyone, but Pfeffer makes it feel like it’s<br />
directed at someone specifically. Early on in the<br />
song, the theme becomes “I don’t hate the world,<br />
I hate humanity,” which is not a difficult concept<br />
to understand lately, with the world being such a<br />
“fucked-up place.” This is actually too vicious to<br />
be amusing.<br />
You wouldn’t expect the album to finish with a nod<br />
to Tom Waits, but that’s exactly what they do with<br />
“White Jesus.” Though the guitars explode from time<br />
to time, especially at the end, this could have been<br />
an outtake from Bone Machine. It’s a complete attack<br />
on the hypocrisy of American Christians, urging<br />
them, “Don’t waste your life in a fantasy, God quit<br />
his job today, he wants to watch the world filled with<br />
flames.” It’s the perfect ending.<br />
Now that we have an actual playboy manbaby as our<br />
president, the emergence of Playboy Manbaby as a<br />
musical force is more necessary than ever. Be sure<br />
to celebrate the release of this record on Lollipop<br />
Records (US) and Dirty Water Records (UK) at the<br />
Trunk Space on February 25, and pick up a copy of<br />
this landmark release.<br />
JAVA 31<br />
MAGAZINE
VINTAGE WEDNESDAY<br />
Heartstrings EP<br />
THE REAL FITS<br />
Drown in Gold EP<br />
PEOPLE<br />
Little Tuesday Weld EP<br />
I’ve been following Vintage Wednesday for a couple<br />
years now, and I’ve never seen a band so young that<br />
could keep up with the talent of this town’s seasoned<br />
veterans. While their first album, Pretend Awhile,<br />
is solid, it’s this new EP that feels more like Vintage<br />
Wednesday’s calling card to the world. The band is<br />
Taylor Sackson (lead vocals), Josh Jones (drums),<br />
JAM Austin Murray (bass/vocals), Alex Dorsten<br />
(guitar) and Andrew Hahnke (guitar/vocals), and they<br />
blend sounds drawn from a classic rock background,<br />
while never sounding like revivalists.<br />
“Uncharted” is the opener and the first single, and if<br />
you’ve never heard Taylor Sackson’s voice before, this<br />
is the perfect primer for you. Her sound is a delightful<br />
mix of Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson. This song feels<br />
like it could have been an outtake from the first<br />
Fleetwood Mac album with Nicks and Buckingham.<br />
The band’s consistency and talent are largely to thank<br />
for that. “Cedar Tree” showcases the pure beauty of<br />
Sackson’s voice, with a lush arrangement backing her<br />
for the first half, before it becomes something nearly<br />
angelic and then returns to the Mac sound for the<br />
second half.<br />
The title track is the logical centerpiece, and it’s<br />
another softly explosive song where Sackson<br />
shows an alluring vocal range as she leaves classic<br />
influences behind. “Pieces,” on the other hand, is<br />
simply fantastic pop, showing yet another side to this<br />
talented youthful outfit—touchingly beautiful and<br />
every bit as pretty, with its wistful imagery. The EP<br />
finishes with the hardest rocker in the set, “Starting<br />
Over Again,” which illustrates the double threat of<br />
JAM and Jones holding down the rhythm section.<br />
This is possibly Vintage Wednesday’s best rock song<br />
laid down on record, leaving you breathless, not<br />
unlike their electrifying live shows.<br />
The Real Fits showed up early last year and started<br />
putting out one remarkable single after another, right<br />
up to when they released their debut EP. The Real Fits<br />
are Raquel Willand, Blair Furmanski, Jared Wood and<br />
Nick Smith. Together they’ve been impressing crowds<br />
and building momentum with some pretty glorious<br />
alt-rock. I was honestly expecting the EP to be<br />
nothing more than a collection of the year’s singles,<br />
but was pleasantly surprised to find that only “Feels<br />
Like Mine” and “Sundown” made it to the record—<br />
the best singles from last year. A case could be made<br />
for “Take a While” or even “Commandment” to have<br />
been included, but their omission means there were<br />
three brand-new songs on the EP. I wouldn’t trade<br />
those songs from last year for the three new tunes,<br />
which are ridiculous treats to be uncovered here.<br />
“Sideways” is the first of these, and that bass groove<br />
just kills me every time. Willand has one of the most<br />
distinctive voices on the scene right now. The Real<br />
Fits’ songs vary so much that you may not recognize<br />
them at first, until Willand’s vocals kick in. This song<br />
in particular displays a brilliant luster to her voice<br />
and a range that hadn’t been explored on the singles.<br />
The singalong at the end is absolutely divine. Another<br />
new tune, “Wild Wild West,” while ridiculously<br />
titled, is a showcase for everyone in the band, with<br />
quirky guitar, stunning percussion and Willand’s<br />
vocals more seductive than ever. The finale and the<br />
last of the new songs, “Tides,” is a glorious way<br />
to end this debut EP. It has a bright, chiming guitar,<br />
unlike anything else, and it feels like you’re drowning<br />
in gold. The Real Fits are a real fit for our music scene<br />
and one of the most exciting new acts around.<br />
People is the moniker for Rob Kroehler’s latest musical<br />
project. I was hoping he’d just stick to his own name,<br />
because his previous projects, Loveblisters and Ladylike,<br />
mysteriously fell apart, and it’s not like he can break<br />
up with himself. I am thankful that Kroehler is back,<br />
because he’s possibly my favorite songwriter locally.<br />
Since disbanding Ladylike, Kroehler has been laying<br />
low, putting out a single here and there and writing<br />
some songs for movies. But last year, he began piecing<br />
together a project with the help of friends. The Little<br />
Tuesday Weld EP features Andrew Dost (fun.) and<br />
Lou Kummerer (Loveblisters, Miniature Tigers),<br />
both helping out on vocals. Andrew Tholl (a touring<br />
member of Julia Holter’s band) plays violin, Danny<br />
Torgersen (Captain Squeegee) plays trumpet, and<br />
many others contributed. Kroehler writes uniquely<br />
American music, in the vein of Randy Newman or<br />
Harry Nilsson. The title track of the EP will make<br />
this immediately clear, if you are unfamiliar with his<br />
previous efforts. It’s somewhat anachronistic in its<br />
music-hall-meets-vaudeville style, with more than<br />
a hint of Dixie. “Descend to Me” continues with<br />
the strictly American music vibe, but this one feels<br />
more like an Appalachian folk ballad that’s been<br />
modernized into some pretty slick pop that goes<br />
down easy. With “The Ballad of a Cynical Rock ’n’<br />
Roller,” Kroehler goes into confessional mode, or<br />
makes it sound like that, anyway, but the lyric “fuck<br />
the radio, fuck the scene, fuck the industry whatever<br />
that means, fuck the critics and the meaningless<br />
opinions,” is just pure gold and sincere cynicism.<br />
“Hymn for Her” is the finale, and it counterpoints<br />
the cynicism of the previous song with a touchingly<br />
lovely ballad. Kroehler is a man who has clearly come<br />
unstuck in time, but his talent has always been in<br />
finding the sounds, hooks and feelings of the past<br />
and dressing them up for a modern dance.<br />
32 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE<br />
Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman
ANCIENT EGYPT<br />
PLAGUED EP<br />
MISS MOODY<br />
You Owe Me EP<br />
LUAU<br />
Gone EP<br />
Ancient Egypt have been putting out solid records<br />
since the end of 2012, and they’ve been around<br />
longer than that. After three back-to-back full-length<br />
records, they went the EP route on PLAGUED,<br />
which is more concise and far more succinct. This<br />
psychedelically infused rock trio have achieved<br />
perfection on this record, despite it being recorded<br />
at home. I caught them live at the start of the year,<br />
unaware this EP had even been released (they<br />
slipped it out right before the New Year).<br />
“Place” sets the tone for the record, but “Canned<br />
Food” is one of the best songs I’ve heard from<br />
them and feels like an obvious single right off the<br />
bat. There is everything to love about this track,<br />
whether it’s the vocal styling or the vaguely heady<br />
psych-blues guitar that dominates. “You Don’t Care”<br />
has a strange, singsong feel that comes across as<br />
almost folk punk, but with enough flare to evoke<br />
early Flaming Lips. This singsong feel is even more<br />
present on “Devil” and not something you’d expect<br />
with a title like that, because Ancient Egypt is clever<br />
if nothing else.<br />
“Bridge” is something of a ballad, but it’s surrounded<br />
by a haze until the tempo picks up and the song<br />
takes flight. There is something slightly glitter rock<br />
in the delivery of “Away,” evoking the early works of<br />
Bolan, Bowie and Mott in one swing. This is another<br />
one they may want to consider for a single, with<br />
that crazed guitar hook. “Mockingbird” concludes<br />
PLAGUED with a hint of psychedelic madness that<br />
is simpler, yet more confused than most of the other<br />
songs here. In short, the entire record is solid, from<br />
one of the most underrated bands in town.<br />
I’ve been keeping track of Justin Moody for a while,<br />
mainly because I’ve always felt that, one day, he<br />
would release a record that I’d completely adore. In<br />
the last moments of 2016, he dropped the You Owe<br />
Me EP, as Miss Moody, through Moone Records. I’ve<br />
always admired his songwriting style, and on this<br />
record his music is set in a context that is thoroughly<br />
enjoyable. Moody is joined by other musicians to<br />
create something far different from his man-andguitar<br />
Americana sound.<br />
On “I Know” he’s joined by Micah Dailey (Bear<br />
State, Flower Festival), and the addition of his bass<br />
and drums transforms Moody’s sound into a moody<br />
piece that stirs your soul. It’s got a downbeat, early<br />
alternative sound, so familiar, yet uniquely its own.<br />
The title track brings Alex Young’s tenor sax into the<br />
mix right from the start, further fortified by lovely<br />
harmonies with Adrienne Chavez, a combination that<br />
makes for beautiful rainy-day music. “Strange” finds<br />
Moody joined by Justin James on piano and Young<br />
playing nearly every woodwind possible. This song<br />
is as depressing lyrically as it is musically, but with<br />
a dark, introspective number like this, I’m pretty sure<br />
that’s what Moody was aiming for. That said, the<br />
bridge is a fantastic exploration in soul-seducing jazz.<br />
Moody presumably flies solo on “Burnout,” and it’s a<br />
little more like his previous material, but infused with<br />
more beauty and vulnerability. The record finishes<br />
with “Kisses,” where Young returns on clarinet and<br />
the song comes on like a bit of sunshine, musically<br />
speaking, with a sense of hope. It’s comfort food for<br />
the depressed—not in that it will lift you out a funk<br />
anytime soon, but it will, sure as hell, make you feel<br />
less alone in an unforgiving world.<br />
Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman<br />
LUAU made a huge splash on the scene last year,<br />
based on their live shows and a double A-side single.<br />
They really didn’t need much more than that to leave<br />
a huge impression. LUAU is Evan Hallock (vocals/<br />
guitar), Eric Thompson (guitar), Jon Collins (bass)<br />
and David Hubbard (drums), and they will be a band<br />
to watch in 2017. Both “Keep Talking” and “Anchor”<br />
are included on this debut EP. The former kicks off<br />
the record, and it’s a stunning showcase for Hallock’s<br />
vocals. There is a hint of Built to Spill in how his<br />
voice feels. Meanwhile, the band creates an amazing<br />
array of guitars and propulsive rhythms to provide a<br />
perfectly constructed home for the vocals to dwell in.<br />
“Darling” follows up, with vocals that are even<br />
more reminiscent of Doug Martsch. By the time<br />
“Diffuser” arrives, you are completely consumed.<br />
It’s every bit as good as their previous singles and<br />
more musically fascinating. It blends seamlessly into<br />
“Spin Your Web,” which sits in stark contrast to the<br />
rockers found here and slows the momentum. After a<br />
minute, it breaks open, but it’s more about the lyrics<br />
and ensuring the emotional punch is not lost in the<br />
din. “Anchor” is probably their best single to date, a<br />
synthesis of everything that is perfect about LUAU.<br />
Whether it’s the guitar hooks or Hallock’s best vocals,<br />
it simply comes together perfectly. This EP should be<br />
sent to every college radio station and alt-rock outlet<br />
they can find. Gone finishes with “Soak It In,” which<br />
possibly should have been the title of the record,<br />
because that’s all I want to do with this thing once<br />
it’s finished.<br />
For more on these events and other highlights of<br />
the Phoenix music scene, check out Mitchell’s blog<br />
at http://soundsaroundtown.net. For submissions<br />
or suggestions contact him at mitchell@<br />
soundsaroundtown.net<br />
JAVA 33<br />
MAGAZINE
Charles Darr<br />
B y D a n i e l M i l l s<br />
34 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
Charles Darr is hesitant to call himself an artist. Instead, he offers<br />
theories on what it means to be one—to create work and to share<br />
it with an audience that both changes and is changed by the work.<br />
He identifies with the adage that art is an ongoing conversation, or<br />
at least a number of conversations occurring simultaneously, but he remains<br />
uncertain of where his voice fits in to any of them. In his ongoing series,<br />
“Stars to Satellites,” he has found a place by documenting the artists and<br />
people of Phoenix who inspire him.<br />
In the past three years, Darr has shot more than 60 portraits of individuals<br />
who, for one reason or another, represent what it means to be dedicated to<br />
a craft or idea. “The people I’m photographing aren’t limited to artists—they<br />
are also activists, thinkers, entrepreneurs,” Darr said. The subjects are<br />
pillars of Phoenix’s creative community and disprove the lingering notion that<br />
Phoenix’s creative class, while noteworthy, pales in comparison to those of<br />
other large cities. But Darr’s inspiration for the series came from his own<br />
personal frustration. While he grappled with questions of what it means to<br />
call himself an artist, he gravitated toward people who served as examples.<br />
Darr was born and raised in Maryvale, a suburb of Phoenix that has become<br />
known for gang violence and urban blight. This is where he first discovered<br />
photography through his fascination for family photos. “Growing up, my first<br />
experience with photography was just looking through my mom’s memories.<br />
I’m just trying to record my own,” he said. His parents saved enough money<br />
each year for a summer vacation, usually spent in the National Parks. It was<br />
during one of these trips that Darr was first allowed to hold his parents’<br />
camera, capturing the landscapes and the sensations they induced.<br />
As a teenager, Darr found a use for his photography through skateboarding:<br />
shooting videos of friends for Cowtown Skateboards. “All my friends were<br />
always better than me at skateboarding, so I was usually the one [filming],”<br />
he conceded. Then, after his camcorder was stolen, he bought his first digital<br />
camera in 2003 and rarely went anywhere without it.<br />
Darr enrolled at ASU, where he met some of the professors and cohorts who<br />
continue to influence him today. Through faculty such as Michael Lundgren,<br />
who has taught at ASU since 2004, Darr was exposed to the life of a<br />
practicing photographer. He began to appreciate what it means to put a craft<br />
at the center of one’s universe—to develop in darkrooms and to submit to<br />
journals and gallery exhibitions constantly.<br />
Darr realized that going to college wasn’t a necessary part of the equation,<br />
so in his second year at ASU he decided to drop out. “My most influential<br />
teacher inadvertently talked me out of going to college at that time,” Darr<br />
chuckled, speaking of Lundgren. However, Darr returned years later, at the age<br />
of 27, and enrolled in ASU’s photography program, where some of the students<br />
he’d met the first time had now joined the ranks as faculty members.<br />
Darr was then better suited for the intellectual rigor of academic life. He<br />
encountered the work and ideas of many photographers, explored what it<br />
meant to be an artist and contemplated photography’s role in contemporary<br />
society. “A lot of people hold [photography] to this standard, like painting,<br />
as if can you make a photograph as beautiful as a painting. But I don’t think<br />
those are the most interesting photographs. Photography is sufficient on<br />
its own. It doesn’t need to emulate another medium,” Darr said. He found<br />
relevance in the works of Stephen Shore, whose 1982 book Uncommon<br />
Places captures the mundane qualities of American life without injecting<br />
glamour or beauty.<br />
JAVA 35<br />
MAGAZINE
It was during this time that Darr took a portraiture class with Betsy Schneider,<br />
laying the foundation for his “Stars to Satellites” series. He hadn’t taken many<br />
portraits prior to this, and was instead focused more on capturing fleeting moments.<br />
After Darr graduated from ASU, he struggled to stay motivated. “All the work that<br />
I did in college was just responding intuitively to the stimulation around me,” he<br />
explained. “A couple years after graduation, when you’re not in that environment<br />
anymore, you don’t really have that inspiration.”<br />
A post-graduation existential crisis set in. If art is an ongoing dialogue, at least<br />
school placed Darr within the conversation. Once he graduated, he was on the<br />
outside, wondering if he had anything to contribute. “If you just shout into the void<br />
every now and then, you’re not really part of the discussion,” he says. “I wasn’t<br />
feeling like much of a photographer.”<br />
To break through his self-doubt, he started reaching out to friends that he wanted<br />
to photograph. “So then you have to get off your ass and seek it out, and you have<br />
to start contacting people, like, ‘Can I come over and shoot photos with you?’”<br />
he said. The first person in his portrait series was Christian Michael Filardo, a<br />
former Tempe-based audio and visual artist now living in Santa Fe, NM. The photo<br />
features Filardo surrounded by boxes of cassette tapes and recorders for HOLY<br />
PAGE, his experimental music label.<br />
“After starting this project, I began pushing my comfort level with regard to how<br />
much I wanted to direct a photograph as opposed to just capturing something,”<br />
Darr said. He might move an object out of the frame or shift a chair a few inches to<br />
improve the composition, creating a balance between the candid and the curated.<br />
The entire series is shot with a first-generation Sony RX digital camera. It is small<br />
and discreet, in contrast to the bulky DSLR or lighting equipment some subjects<br />
expect Darr to bring. “It’s not really about the hammer and the saw, it’s about the<br />
36 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
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structure you build,” he explains. “I’m very big on the final product and not the<br />
tools that got you there.” When shooting a portrait, he’s able to engage with the<br />
subject without hiding behind the lens and viewfinder. His process is simple, and he<br />
often observes the space for only a few minutes before knowing how to proceed.<br />
“Stars to Satellites” has retained an intimate, engaging aesthetic throughout the<br />
series. Darr invites viewers into the creative refuge of the subject’s home. There is<br />
an element of voyeurism as a sense of privacy falls away. He brings you in, but<br />
the subjects themselves at times appear wary and unsure of how to pose in the very<br />
space where they should feel most comfortable. Some spaces are cluttered, others<br />
clean and well organized, each revealing the nuances of the individual pictured.<br />
Many of the subjects are easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the Phoenix<br />
arts community—Tato Caraveo, Lalo Cota and Sierra Joy, to name a few.<br />
For Darr, they are friends, colleagues, former professors and other important<br />
figures in his life, who act as pieces of the puzzle.<br />
What does it mean to be an artist? Darr’s portraits have brought him closer to<br />
creating his own definition. “I’ve become more educated on what being an artist<br />
means and have gained a unique insight by going to artists’ spaces and talking to<br />
them about their process and their vision,” he said.<br />
This is a collection of people whom the 35-year-old Darr aspires to, because<br />
of their work ethic and passion. They are the stars and Darr is their satellite,<br />
orbiting around them. While the series is ongoing, he has no end goal in mind,<br />
except one: to look at these portraits years from now and remember the people<br />
who inspired him. “Down the road when it’s all over,” Darr says, “I’m going to be<br />
happy that it was documented and recorded.”<br />
www.chardarr.com<br />
PHXPUBLICMARKET.COM
GIRL ON FARMER<br />
How to Be a Better Person<br />
(Or at the Very Least Feel Like You Are Trying)<br />
Well, one month down. That’s my attitude this year.<br />
It’s not that I want to be Debbie Downer in 2017, it’s<br />
just that it’s so hard not to be when dealing with the<br />
current state of affairs. While being Debbie D seems<br />
the easier thing to do, after a glass of wine and some<br />
inspiring videos on YouTube about hope, optimism<br />
and being the change, I have a different perspective.<br />
In fact, I notice that my revelations are cyclical,<br />
like a circle, or the infinity sign if I’m feeling<br />
sexy. Let me share with you my circular path to<br />
becoming a better person. And then giving up. And<br />
then starting again. Repeat.<br />
Stage 1: Where Can I Volunteer? There are so many<br />
places that need my help! I have time and resources<br />
and skills! They will definitely need me to lead<br />
something or do something very significant. Hmmm.<br />
None of these things under the “how to get involved”<br />
seem to be jobs that I thought they would need me<br />
for. I know. Let me make a long list of places I could<br />
potentially volunteer and then when I have more<br />
time, I will look into it more.<br />
Stage 2: Where Do I Sign? Well, since the<br />
volunteering is on hold for a few days, there must<br />
be some activism I can get into right now. Online<br />
petitions! So far today I have made my voice heard<br />
in support of women, animals, health care, refugees,<br />
racial equality, inquiries into police brutality,<br />
improved care for veterans, climate change policy<br />
and the LGBTQ community. What a busy day! My<br />
senator and the president know exactly how I<br />
feel about these things! I won’t be silent! End the<br />
electoral college! I demand justice. I demand that<br />
puppies and kittens get the medical care they need.<br />
Schools need more money! Free those unfairly<br />
imprisoned! There must be so many more things that<br />
need me to speak out and sign on their behalf.<br />
Stage 3: Read More News. I need to know more<br />
about things so I can understand and explain<br />
more about my positions. I need to be an informed<br />
advocate. What is going on all over the world? How<br />
can human trafficking be such pervasive problem in<br />
a modern society? What’s going on in Syria? Darfur?<br />
Eritrea, and a list of other small-to-midsized African<br />
countries? How safe are we really? Can peace ever<br />
be reached between Israel and Palestine? Why does<br />
38 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
I will better the world through random acts of<br />
kindness. I will smile at people and concentrate on<br />
sending out good vibes and golden light from my<br />
core self. I will appear to be as light as a bubble and<br />
hummingbirds will land on my finger.<br />
Vladimir Putin hate us? Are we at the start of a new Cold War? How will Brexit<br />
affect the EU? Or the US? Global markets and policies? Will the next big giant<br />
glacier that breaks off into the ocean cause sea levels to rise? Overpopulation<br />
will cause almost certain food and water shortages in the next hundred years.<br />
Ughhh, I think I just threw up.<br />
Stage 4: Read Less News. That was depressing. Maybe I am asking too many<br />
questions. There is danger in knowing too much. Why do so many people argue<br />
in the comments section? They say very vicious things. Maybe I should just<br />
read the front page. Or listen to NPR only one hour each day. Although so<br />
far in this hour I’ve heard about dismantling health care, energy reform that<br />
pushes coal, shale gas and tapping into unutilized resources, blatant lies and<br />
strange and inappropriate tweets from a so-called leader. Can you imagine this<br />
man at state dinners? Imagine him, really: sitting down with intelligent, articulate<br />
and thoughtful leaders and representatives from around the world. What will<br />
they think? What are the Obamas doing for dinner tonight? Tears silently dripping<br />
on keyboard.<br />
Stage 5: Retreat to Bunker/News Blackout Mode. Do NOT talk to me about<br />
ANYTHING happening in the world. No news radio. If you insist on listening to<br />
or watching the news, you must use headphones. No documentaries. Not even<br />
mockumentaries. Okay, maybe mockumentaries. My online history consists<br />
of cute animal videos and how-to yoga videos. I will better the world through<br />
random acts of kindness. I will smile at people and concentrate on sending out<br />
good vibes and golden light from my core self. I will appear to be as light as a<br />
bubble and hummingbirds will land on my finger. Wrinkles will disappear. “You<br />
look so young!” everyone will say, but I can’t explain why. My altruistic, loving<br />
feelings will pervade the hostility and injustice in the world, and things will be<br />
better. This may contribute to preventing climate change.<br />
Stage 6: Guilt. I am not doing enough. Life is not fair. The rich get richer. How<br />
can I pretend that I don’t know that eight people own the wealth of half of the<br />
world? How can I see Planned Parenthood and family planning education go on<br />
the chopping block while I watch baby goat videos? How can this country send<br />
people to war and then abandon them when they return? People are starving<br />
and mentally ill. The guy who sits with a sign outside Fry’s is starving and a little<br />
nuts. When did every Tempe intersection get its own homeless person needing<br />
something? How can I spend $30 on Cliff Bars each week and he has no socks? I<br />
need to take action. See Stage1.
NIGHT<br />
GALLERY<br />
Photos By<br />
Robert Sentinery<br />
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1. Lisa from Practical Art shows off her new box<br />
2. Ladera opening with Jessie and Tony<br />
3. Mello Jello does Ziggy Stardust<br />
4. Sunglass shoppers at Framed Ewe<br />
5. Aileen Frick’s solo show at monOrchid<br />
6. Joshy Rhodes and pal at the Ladera opening<br />
7. Cheers to these gents<br />
8. Bumped into this trio at the Nasty Women benefit show<br />
9. Look who’s in the Russo and Steele VIP<br />
10. Tucker and friends at the Ladera neighborhood pre-opening<br />
11. Smile you’re on JAVA camera
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12. It’s an Abbey sandwich<br />
13. Jeffery and friends at “We Are: Celestial”<br />
14. Yummy pink margaritas at Ladera<br />
15. Wild, wild horses<br />
16. Ladera neighborhood preview with Joel Porter and friends<br />
17. Ernesto has star power<br />
18. Katherine Leigh Simpson’s “We Are: Celestial”<br />
19. The Blonde squad at Ladera<br />
20. Margaritas with Roy and friend<br />
21. NYE fun with Chris and Jackie<br />
22. Rev-FLOW-lution marchers on Frist Friday<br />
23. First Friday fun with Mia and Effie<br />
24. Enjoying the view at Aleen Frick’s show<br />
25. Talking shop with chef Jorge Gomez at Ladera<br />
26. Lauren and Laura spreading the love at {9}<br />
27. Katherine Leigh Simpson’s installation at the Herberger<br />
28. Mark and Wayne, Shade Gallery at monOrchid<br />
29. Margaritaville moment at Ladera
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30. Yuki and Christy at Framed Ewe<br />
31. Raphael and Kara staying warm on a chilly eve<br />
32. More Rev-FLOW-lution marchers<br />
33. Snapped this cute couple at monOrchid<br />
34. Eric, Sara and John check Julio César Morales’ show at Palabra<br />
35. Mykil Zep in a moment of contemplation<br />
36. Denise from Lotus Contemporary and pal at The Lodge Art Studio<br />
37. Nancy Miller’s “Architectural Reflections” at Shortcut Gallery<br />
38. Sherry and beau at the Lodge Art Studio<br />
39. Waymo self-driving car copilot<br />
40. The Pruitts check out Joe Brklacich’s solo show at the Lodge<br />
41. A splash of Malbec at the Shortcut Gallery opening<br />
42. Sam and Allison at “We Are: Celestial”<br />
43. Planned Parenthood benefit Art Haus<br />
44. Christine Cassano’s artist talk at New City<br />
45. Bessie with a coterie of gents<br />
46. Sparks in the air at the Ladera opening<br />
47. “Nasty Women” Planned Parenthood benefit event
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48. Estrella, Rembrandt and Kelsey at New City<br />
49. Liliana and Matthew at the “Nasty Women” opening<br />
50. Phoenix Fridas in the house<br />
51. Skinny jean dude at Russo and Steele<br />
52. “Nasty Women” art benefit for Planned Parenthood<br />
53. Snapped this couple at Art Haus<br />
54. Nightgown antics with Aria and Sophia<br />
55. Purple lipstick chick<br />
56. Anthony and Joan want to sign you up<br />
57. Amy showed up to support Planned Parenthood<br />
58. All together now ladies<br />
59. Nicole likes the butterfly art at the Lodge<br />
60. “We Art: Celestial” at the Herberger<br />
61. This cool chick works at Tuft & Needle<br />
62. Anthony rocks the Soviet shirt<br />
63. Round table meeting at the Bikini Lounge<br />
64. Art opening at Framed Ewe/ Phx Gen’s Shortcut Gallery<br />
65. AZ-only liquor served at the Russo and Steele auction
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66. Michael rocks his Obama 2012 tee<br />
67. Tania and Angela at the “Nasty Women” benefit<br />
68. Shooting film with a vintage Pentax<br />
69. More fun at Art Haus Gallery<br />
70. “Weekend at Bernie’s” reunion<br />
71. Wouldn’t mind finding these in my Easter basket<br />
72. Planned Parenthood benefit attendees<br />
73. Mia on screen at “The Illusionists” show at Gammage<br />
74. Mykil and Mello with a Zep painting<br />
75. Glowing trees at “We Are: Celestial”<br />
76. Sold, sold, sold! at Russo and Steele<br />
77. Ted Decker moderates<br />
78. Snapped this pretty posse at Russo and Steele<br />
79. More champagne!<br />
80. NYE fun with Zack and Joe<br />
81. Out on the town with Rob and Nicole<br />
82. Russo and Steele with the Estonian boys<br />
83. Phoenix General meets Framed Ewe
DOUG GILLIS, Mesa (detail),<br />
2016, Kiln worked glass,<br />
24 x 40 x 2 15 inches..<br />
KAREN JILLY, Looking For The Golden<br />
Sun, 2016, Acrylic and varnish on wood<br />
panel, 42 x 48 inches.<br />
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