Saturday, July 6, 2019
They formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2007. After releasing four full-length albums and critically-acclaimed EPs—this husband and wife duo's songs appear on compilations with Jeff Tweedy, Yo La Tengo, Ryan Adams' Whiskeytown and the mythic Big Star—having outgrown their genesis as a quiet folk act, Andrea and Pete Connolly came to shed their skin under the desert sun, peeling away the old atop metamorphic rock, to allow further growth.
Recorded in Tucson’s Dust and Stone Studios, produced by Gabriel Sullivan, Arbitrary Magic (Baby Gas Mask Records, 2018) marks a sea change in vision and attitude.
“Yes, Arbitrary Magic was a departure. But, true to all of our biggest influences,” says Andrea Connolly. “I’d say this is our new direction—finding a balance between energetic, hard hitting Rock ‘n’ Roll and melodic, harmony based song craft.”
Recently, Birds and Arrows premiered their latest video, “Animatronic Heart,” to a small but enthusiastic crowd. Outfitted with knee pads and a heart shaped pendant dangling from a chain around her neck, frontwoman Andrea Connolly, with drummer Pete Connolly’s relentless poundings—and guitarist Ben Nisbet sitting in—utterly demolished Wooden Tooth Records.
Andrea Connolly says of the video, directed by Tyler Lidwell, “As far as ‘Animatronic Heart’ goes—that song was influenced by taking care of Pete's dad, the last few years.” A significant factor behind the couple’s decision to relocate to Tucson. “It's a pretty heavy subject about life, aging and our interconnectedness.” In comparison to the seven other rollicking tracks on the album, “Animatronic Heart” is the exception. “So, to add some levity, we thought it would be an interesting/humorous juxtaposition to have the video reference a classic action movie, like Terminator 2.”
Here is the other side of the coin.
When asked if politics ever seep into the lyrics of Birds and Arrows songs, Andrea Connolly is quick to rebound. “Yes, definitely. ‘Overloaded’ is very political. Influenced by all the shit that is happening along the border. As is, the song ‘Stay Down.’ It’s about violence against women. It’s hard to not let all that come through in our writing. If at times, on this record, we seem a little pissed off...It’s because we were.”
Catch Birds and Arrows on Saturday, July 20th at Che’s Lounge.
Tags: Birds And Arrows , In The Limelight , XOXO , Image
Since June 2017, Nelson has had a studio in the Steinfeld building where she has created many of her pieces, and taught art therapy classes.
Every first Saturday of the month, she has welcomed the public to see her work in progress and finished. This coming art walk, on Saturday, July 6, Rachel will host her last showing in her studio.
Come see her work as well as the other artists who have studios in the Steinfeld building. The First Saturday Art Walk is hosted by the Central Tucson Gallery Association and includes other galleries as well.
Located at the Steinfeld Warehouse Community Arts Center, 101 W. 6th Street on Saturday, July 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. Free.
Tags: Rachel Nelson , art , encaustic , acrylic , Steinfeld Warehouse , Image
Friday, July 5, 2019
His recent work plays on recurring images - hands, eyes, a face. It's fragmented and kaleidoscopic.
This month, he will be hanging his work at the Tiny Town Gallery on 4th Ave. The small gallery space will host about 20 collages, all framed and for sale. The works range in size from 2"x3" to 15" by 16".
He will also be hosting a live collaging station in the space on July 12 during his art show reception. The station will be full of magazines, paper, glue, scissors, knives, etc., to collage along with Kuchar while he works through his creative process.
Tiny Town is located at 408 N. 4th Ave.
The reception and the store are open to the public, free of charge.
View Kuchar's art on Instagram at instagram.com/iamtonykuchar
Tags: Tony Kuchar , Tiny Town , collage , art , Image
Friday, June 28, 2019
In the theatre business, you hear a lot about doing it for the love of art or as a passion project. For Amanda Gremel, the Live Theatre Workshop Family Theatre is certainly a passion project, but isn’t just a love for the art; rather, it’s a calling and an obligation to future generations that she is only too happy to fulfill.
Gremel’s life is steeped in Live Theatre Workshop. As a teen, she discovered her love of acting in their educational programs. As an adult, she pays it forward as a teacher in the same educational programs where she got her start, acts regularly and is the artistic director for the Family Theatre.
While theatre for all ages is often shorter and lighter than productions rated for adults, it is no less important.
“So many times, adults underestimate the power of kids to show us the way,” Gremel explained. “Sometimes we have to stop and take a moment and look at it through their eyes to be reminded that we can problem solve our way, can feel what we do, and it’s okay. Adults get wrapped up in our lives and forget that it’s okay to take that time to laugh.”
Tags: Live Theatre Workshop Family , Taming of the Review , Family Theatre , Children's Theatre , Theatre for all ages , All ages , Image
Friday, June 21, 2019
It factor? Possessing a certain je ne sais quoi, on “Bad Things,” Seanloui’s latest joint, this French-American’s voice is suggestive of Usher, yet with a grit and cadence all his own. If his funky/scratchy guitar riffs could travel in time, they would bounce straight off C'est Chic (Atlantic Records, 1978). The R&B/Euro pop beats, airtight. And the production shines bright enough to make chart toppers adjust their Ray-Bans to stave off the glare. This dance track is simply wicked.
Music contributors Xavier Omar Otero and Ambur Wilkerson both chatted with Seanloui ahead of his upcoming show.
On Saturday, June 22, Seanloui will be gracing Thunder Canyon Brewery with "Bad Things Live."
Ambur asked:
Why did you name the show Bad Things Live?
It’s based off the new single that is dropping on June 21 called “Bad Things.”
Tell us about the new single? What's it about? What was the inspiration behind it?
The new single "Bad Things" is based on the French revolution of 1789. That all good revolutions start in the summer. It's a story on how that same type of revolution could begin in modern times.
Xavier asked:
What are you revolting against?
Not so much revolting. But I want to show that there is beauty in chaos.
Can music change the world or just enhance our journey through it?
I think music can enhance the journey...As the people who create it change the world.
How would you like to see the world change? Sorry. I ask hard questions sometimes…
[Laughing] No, not at all. I would like to see the world change through unity. That’s the only way we can make it change.
✖
Will you be playing any new music?
YES! We’ll be doing some new songs as well as some alternate versions of some favorites.
What is your favorite song to perform live and why?
I love the song "Human" cause it’s such a great song to jam with the band. Great amazing energy.
What do you want the audience to take with them after this show? How do you want them to feel?
I want them to feel the joy I had when creating the sounds. I want them to take away the thought that we are so much more better together than apart. In essence: Building Community.
Seanloui is fêting the release of his latest single “Bad Things” on Saturday, June 22, 9:30 p.m., at Thunder Canyon Brewstillery, 220 E Broadway Blvd. Phoenix’s alt-fusionists Method to the Madness add to the chaos. The show is free and 21+.
Tags: Seanloui , artist , musician , "Bad Things" , revolution , local show , concert , Thunder Canyon Brewstillery , Tucson music , Image
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Winding Road Theater Ensemble aims to produce plays that are entertaining but outside of the box, and always speak to the human condition. The way co-artistic director of Winding Road Maria Caprile says “the human condition”, it sounds like an illness. Not one we need to get over, but one that we all share, and one that we can manage better by experiencing it together. This season at Winding Road explores life’s harder decisions, funny moments, challenges, morals, coping with loss, family dinners and simply surviving.
If she had to choose one show that audiences not miss, it isn’t the trip to the chapel or the family dinner the actors aren’t excused from (not to say those aren’t well worth seeing, obviously); rather, the one she felt we all need to see is a staged reading of The Women of Lockerbie as part of the Winding Read series. Shown in the style of a Greek tragedy, this play revisits the explosion of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.
“That was so long ago and so much has happened, is this going to resonate?” Caprile said, wondering if it would be a good fit for modern audiences. “But it isn’t about the incident. It is about grief. And how this keeps happening. And how we deal with it. You can’t just ignore it. It isn’t about PanAm 103, it’s about public grief.”
In this day and age, and maybe in every age, grief is one part of the human condition that we need each other more than any other to understand, process, and, with time, overcome.
Read more about this season and Winding Road Theater Ensemble at TamingoftheReview.com.
Tags: Winding Road Theater Ensemble , Taming of the Review , Season Preview , local theatre , plays , live theatre , human condition , Image
Monday, June 17, 2019
“Everyone has a story, and if you’re open to listening, you’re going to find a connection,” Susan Claassen, managing artistic director at Invisible Theatre, told me in a recent conversation. “Now people are so isolated that the mere nature of coming to live theatre is empowering.” She takes the almost magical, invisible connection between actors and audience as a universal truth — and as the namesake of the theatre.
Forty-nine seasons in, the play selection still resonates with what got them started in the first place: love, passion, and necessity. What that means varies from play to play, as they take a broad look at the concept of love. From love of humor to familial love to Becoming Dr. Ruth, “Which is certainly one way of looking at love,” Claassen remarked with a chuckle.
As an actor (she’ll be playing Dr. Ruth) she knows actors and directors take risks, and that audiences trust them to produce work that is entertaining and thought provoking. “No one does theatre for money,” she observed, “so if the experience isn’t amazing, we aren’t doing our jobs.”
Read more about this season and Something Something Theatre at TamingoftheReview.com.
Tags: season preview , theatre , Invisible Theatre , Susan Claassen , Taming of the Review , Image
Friday, June 14, 2019
What do you do?
I’m a singer-songwriter, musician and I paint on occasion.
How did you start playing trumpet? How long have you been playing?
I started getting lessons from my Dad when I was 7. Me and Vince (my trumpet) have been on and off and on since then.
How would you describe your poetry?
Oafish, huffy and bashful.
How would you describe your music?
Maybe like sloppy soul?
How did you get involved with Black Renaissance?
Seanloui came to one of my gigs and was gracious enough to connect me to it.
What does Black Renaissance mean to you?
An intentional space to celebrate black community, curated by the black community. It’s warm and wholesome and we need more of it, honestly.
What can we expect from your next performance at the final Black Renaissance event?
You can expect reverb. I, as always, expect people not to clap outta time, or even at all.
What do you want to give the audience with your performance? How do you want them to feel when they leave?
Optimally, we were able to be present to each other in a real kinda way. Optimally, we leave with a less colonized (or colonizer) state of mind. Optimally, you vibe with some groove and felt safe enough to be emotionally available.
What other projects are you currently working on?
Tryna' make more songs and art, that’s pretty much it.
Where can people stay updated on you?
The best way to follow what’s going on is follow my Instagram page (@shhmattea).
You can see Mattea doing what she does best at the Black Renaissance: Juneteenth Festival After Party. Saturday, June 15 at 9:30 p.m. at Wooden Tooth Records. 426 E 7th St. A $5 donation will be accepted at the door and given back to the artists.
Tags: Mattea , artist , musician , singer , Seanloui , Black Renaissance , Juneteenth Festival , After Party , Saturday , June 15 , Image
Thursday, June 13, 2019
The gospel infused voice that emanated from one so diminutive, at once beautiful and pained, unleashed an enormous power that reached deep into the beating hearts of all in attendance, while exposing a true artist’s tender soul. One who has found strength Living With Ghosts.
Through intimate moments, balladry and character-based storytelling, like a true Servant of Love Patty Griffin dug deep into folk and roots traditions, finding her footing in the vernacular of the everyday.
Her crew, spartan: Guitarist/pianist David Pulkingham and drummer/bassist/pianist Conrad Choucroun. As one they presented Patty Griffin (PGM Recordings, 2019), an album of quiet grace, self-determination and survival, whose emotional epicenter is found in Griffin’s battle with, and victory over, breast cancer.
During the course of the evening, Griffin traced back to her roots in “Where I Come From,” lamented the sands of time slipping through the “Hourglass,” and questioned the uncertainty of the future in “What Now.”
The Grammy Award winner seemed happy to be back in Tucson. Griffin took a moment to speak of the situation on the border. “It’s not a simple solution.” And of her grandparents who emigrated from Ireland. “But, if the gates to them had been shut…I might not be here. And I like being here. So, I’m still standing on a hill.”
But, this “Mama’s Worried.”
Like a well written novel, Griffin’s masterfully crafted songs bloom, they develop independent lives, and perdure in your head long after the coda.“People in their stylish clothes. They look at us and turn up their nose. A hunger deep inside me grows. And never goes away.” –Patty Griffin, from “Mama’s Worried”
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Towards the end of the set Griffin sang “River.” Embodying a woman’s strength, her words captured the essence of the evening. “Isn’t she a river? She doesn’t need a diamond to shine. You can’t really have her. But you can hold her for a time.”
And so it was.
English folk singer/guitarist John Smith opened the show Friday past, June 7.
Tags: Patty Griffin , In The Flesh , Live , XOXO , Image
Monday, June 10, 2019
Ian Morgan of Sunrise Forge is a blacksmith based in Tucson who crafts tools to last for centuries. From shears and garden knives to hunting and chefs knives, Morgan supplies long-lasting, well made tools for hunting, camping, kitchen use and general abuse. Morgan became interested in metalwork and fabrication when he was a kid.
"I took one of my dads wrenches from his toolbox, heated it with a blowtorch and smashed it flat with a claw hammer on the sidewalk. I had vague intentions of making it into a knife," Morgan said.
Years later, he fashioned his own coal forge in true pursuit of that interest. Now, he has two forges he built himself-one for coal, one for propane.
"Hand forged tools have the benefit of being custom made for exactly your hand shape and size, exactly your application and will likely outlive the owner," Morgan said.
He works with mild, medium and high carbon steels. He has also crafted beautiful Damascus steel blades, the special mottled pattern formed through forging different metal alloys together.
The handles of the tools can be made with any kind of wood. He has used white oak from a bourbon barrel, mesquite, antler and cherry wood.
It takes Morgan about two weeks to complete one tool, but it can take more or less time depending on the complexity of his project.
"I think that old world crafts are getting rarer and rarer," said Morgan. "They carry knowledge of generations past that disappear if we let them. There will always be a demand for unique, well made steel tools...that never become obsolete. Blacksmiths, among others, make those things."
Contact Sunrise Forge at [email protected].
Tags: Sunrise Forge , Blacksmith , Forge , Tools , Craft , Image
