Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Ciao Charlie Ciao Beer Dinner. Barrio Brewing is honoring the retiring Charlie Papazian, founder of the Brewers Association, with a special dinner. Enjoy five beers over five courses. Dishes include: bacon-wrapped dates, drunken cherry cheesecake, chicken tortilla soup, pork tenderloin and more. Beers include a citrazona IPA, Barrio Rojo, Copperhead Pale Ale and more. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. 800 E. 16th St. $45. Details here.
Alexander String Quartet with Pianist Joyce Yang. Let’s get stringy! The Alexander Quartet, in from San Francisco, is teaming up with Grammy-nominated Cliburn Competition medalist Joyce Yang for this performance hosted by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, and spanning the full history of music for piano and strings. From Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major (one of the genre’s first major efforts) to Robert Schumman’s crowd pleaser Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major to a brand-new piece—Quintet with Pillars—by contemporary composer Samuel Adams. What a plucky lineup and lucky audience. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. $30. Details here.
Events compiled by Briannon Wilfong, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: things to do , fun in general , Wednesday , events , Tucson , shows , talks , dinners , fun things to do , Image , Video
“I’m writing fairy tales, and I hear my life story in them, but they’re not about me,” Case says. “I still can’t figure out how to describe it. But I think that’s why we make music or write things. You’ve got to invent a new language.” Neko Case at The Rialto Theater with Canadian singer-songwriter Jennifer Castle. Details here.
A veritable smorgasbord awaits. This month’s Ladytowne Live features the synth-pop of Ziemba (from NYC) and the intrepid acoustic post-punk noir of BreakingGlass. A performance by circus troupe Les Femmes Marveilleuses. Interviews with Joanna Lynne Smith (Southwest Love Fest), Lola Torch and Ziemba’s René Kladzyk. With stand-up by Autumn Horvath. At Club Congress. Details here.
This Nashville songwriter penned such hits as “It’s a Great Day to be Alive” for Travis Tritt and “Heartbreak Town” for the Dixie Chicks and many others. Darrell Scott performs at Monterey Court. Guitarist Peter McLaughlin opens the show. Details here.
David Dondero has been many things in this life: From gas station attendant in New Jersey to being named by NPR’s All Songs Considered as one of the “best living songwriters” alongside Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Tom Waits. At Exo Roast Co. Details here.
Tags: things to do , music , shows , live , concert , music to listen to , shows to see , Neko Case , Image
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, Americans across the country are stocking up on their most loved pink and red candies and chocolates. However, there is bad news for Arizona and a few other states this year, their favorite is not available.
Where have the Sweethearts candy hearts gone? What will the school children give to their friends? How will we break our teeth on adorable sugar messages? Overall the most popular Valentine's Day candy, Sweethearts conversation hearts, will not be available this year due to the closing of the New England Confectionary Company or NECCO.
NECCO has been making candy every year since 1886 and was the longest continually operating candy company in the country. On July 24, 2018 NECCO closed its doors for good. While the company was later sold, the new buyer did not swoop in time to save this year's conversational candy hearts.
Fear not, oh candy heart lovers, the cute messages delivered via small sugar heart will be back on shelves soon.
“We wish we could have Sweethearts out for the 2019 Valentine season," said Spangler Candy Company is a press release, "but it’s just not possible. We are committed to making sure these brands meet consumer expectations when they re-enter the market. Doing it right takes time.”
The new Sweethearts owner released this statement in true candy-coated fashion:
Source: Spangler Candy Co via CandyStore.comRead the full article here.
Tags: candy , Valentine's day , love , sweethearts , chocolate , NECCO , sugar , hearts , Image
Her work has been featured in Vogue, The FADER and i-D Magazine.
New York via El Paso, René Kladzyk is a performance artist, musician, perfumer and cultural geographer. Her nom de guerre: Ziemba.
Released in the summer of 2016, Ziemba’s debut full length album Hope is Never was recorded in upstate New York at Black Dirt Studios. It functions as a reliquary for the beauties of life and its inescapable perils. Sentient, introspective and forward-thinking, like the artist herself, pushing boundaries.
Utilizing the powers of technology, traversing space and time, XOXO connected with Kladzyk for a Q&A. Brace yourselves.
Your oeuvre contains soaring a cappella pieces, lushly ambient experimentalism, as well as melodic synth pop ear-candy. In the digital age, as an artist how do you incorporate artifact in with technology?
Well, working with fragrance is in some ways a rejection of the nature of music consumption in the digital age. It's spatially specific and ephemeral. It necessarily has to ground you to the right now, and encourages you to pay attention to the present moment in ways that you may not be accustomed to. So in that sense, it's an appropriate artifact to accompany my digital music releases, and hopefully pulls the listener more entirely into the sonic world. Liz Pelly wrote an interesting article about the ways that Spotify is transforming music listenership, turning everything into Muzak—a background to enhance some "vibe" or another. My aim is the opposite of that.
The narrative in the video to “El Paso” depicts the stark dichotomy that exists on the borderlands. What was life like straddling between El Paso and one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Ciudad Juárez?
The divided life of the border is very different depending on a number of axes of privilege. For me growing up in El Paso, and crossing to Juárez for family gatherings and nights out with friends, I had the privilege to not be there when the violence increased so dramatically. Whereas, for my stepmom, a Juárez native, crossed back and forth every day while the violence was at its height, to take care of her mom. And then the experience is a whole other thing entirely for people who can't leave at all, because they lack the resources, the papers or are tied there in other ways. It was an interesting dynamic around that time, because so many of the more privileged people of Juárez moved over to El Paso. Even the mayor of Juárez lived in El Paso. I don't actually know if he still does…
I did my master's research in El Paso and Juárez, during the height of the violence. I did interviews with thirty-something people living on either side of the border, and most expressed a conflicted relationship with life on the border. On the one hand, the border is a profoundly special place. I think most fronterizos are very proud. To be of two cultures and have the diversity of experience that comes with that. But, on the other hand, if you have to cross back and forth with any regularity, it's a sort of psychological journey. Your whole comportment changes when you cross between the two countries; the way you drive, your attentiveness to your surroundings, your level of trust in your neighbor. Having to do that on a daily basis takes a toll.
It's wild too, with Trump's false narrative about the border wall fixing violence in El Paso, and how this may impact people's understanding of the border. El Paso has always been the safer neighbor to Juárez's "city of sin," spectating the violence across the Rio Grande. During the Mexican Revolution, people paid admission to sit on rooftops in downtown El Paso and watch the Battle of Juárez. If you're curious you should read David Dorado Romo's book about this, its amazing. In many ways it’s emblematic of the economic imperialism that characterizes the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, so much bloodshed to get drugs to American consumers (the world's largest drug market). I think a lot of Americans look at the bloodshed in Juárez as though they are not connected to it, and that's the problem. But it’s in the cartels' interests to keep the violence out of El Paso, and helps Americans to dissociate their recreational drugs from the blood of Mexicans. It helps people to forget that El Paso is one of the biggest ports of entry for drugs into the U.S., the fact that it’s also one of the safest cities. Trump can tout the safeness of El Paso all he wants, but the violence in Juárez is intrinsically connected to the economic vitality of the borderlands, and should not be forgotten when we talk about what a "secure border" looks like. The interesting dynamic of our southern border today is that as the borders have become more porous for money and goods through agreements like NAFTA and the growth of the drug trade, it's also become much more difficult for actual people to cross through. For someone like my stepmom, who grew up being able to cross back and forth with relative ease—it would take 5-10 minutes, while now it typically takes several hours. This has radically changed the nature of being a fronterizo.
“El Paso” casts an unblinking eye on the underground histories of the U.S./Mexico border region: The Bracero Program, maquilladoras, NAFTA, U.S. border quarantine policy, drug cartel violence, femicide. What is your hope as an artist by injecting political commentary into your art?
I believe that artists fuel cultural change, and so there is an ethics to making creative work for the public. Not everything I've made has overt political commentary in it. But, it's all political on some level. I would say the common thread of all my creative work is that its bent on combating nihilism, and encouraging hopeful future vision. Part of this is the idea that people should care about the plight of others, and understand that we are all connected. The hyper-individualism of our culture is a destructive force. I made the video about “El Paso” because its a situation that I have a unique window into, that I thought many people would benefit from seeing, and so on some level I felt a personal obligation to share it.
Tell us about the succubus that inhabits Lala’s cave?
That is a long story. I don't know if I can get into it for the scope of this article. Its actually kind of difficult to talk about. I would say though that the main points are that she's real, and that part of making that EP was trying to engage with how hard of a time Western culture has with empowered sexual women. I became extremely fascinated with the femme fatale archetype.
After releasing several EPs, singles and a full-length album, what motivates you to continue to search for “sounds in trucks and pipes, and refrigerated caves?”
There was a time when I decided that I should live my life in such a way where if I die tomorrow it's okay, because I haven't been wasting it. That's what I try to do. I continue with music because it continues to be a way to foster connection that I think is meaningful. It matters beyond me and is my unique contribution to planet Earth. Music is a fundamental part of what makes us human. It’s such a joyous thing.
“Do you remember the life before this?”"Sometimes I feel with you as if I'm lost in time, outcast, and its my favorite place." - Ziemba
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Sometimes, in dreams, I think I do. I have no recollection of writing the lyrics to that song, it's kind of a mystery to me. I just found it in a notebook of mine, in my handwriting.
In addition to being a musician, you are a perfumer. Tell me about "A Door Into Ocean," both the fragrance and the song?
At the time that I made “A Door Into Ocean,” I had already done several releases where I created a fragrance to accompany the music. “A Door Into Ocean” was the first time I wrote the music to accompany the fragrance. The idea was more to create a certain type of space or mood, really quintessential ambient music. Something uplifting, sensuous and sweet. I wanted the soundscape to be something you could play on repeat and get lost in, for it to move through space the way fragrance does.
As featured in the song, what is a LIGO chirp and why was it important to incorporate it into "A Door Into Ocean?"
The LIGO chirp is the first documented evidence of gravitational waves, ripples in space-time. It was proof of part of Einstein's theory of relativity, and showed how new exotic matter is created in the universe—new life, new worlds. Around the time that I composed “A Door Into Ocean” I was beginning to work on my new album Ardis, which is a parallel world. I site the birth of Ardis as this moment that was recorded with the LIGO chirp, the collision of two neutron stars. A Door into Ocean is the name of a feminist science fiction book by Joan Slonczewski, and was one of the books that inspired Ardis. I would say that “A Door into Ocean” was an early experiment for the compositional approach to Ardis, even though Ardis is musically quite different.
Is hope never or a fold?
Both. The idea was that hope pulls you outside of time. It’s this weird mingled combination of nostalgia and future vision. By a fold, I mean a fold in the fabric of time. Never in that its outside of time. A lot of the album Hope is Never was trying to cope with several significant losses, while attempting to hold memories in some way.
What is on the horizon for René Kladzyk?
Ardis. I'm releasing the first songs from Ardis next week. Even though it's an album, I'm releasing it in three stages throughout the spring. Each part, or territory, of Ardis has its own fragrance connected to it. This show in Tucson will actually be my first live show upon its release.
Ziemba performs as part of Ladytowne Live at Club Congress on Wednesday, Feb 13.
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Former Navy fighter pilot and retired astronaut Mark Kelly confirmed the rumors today: He’s running for U.S. Senate against Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to her seat after being the first Republican to lose a Senate race in Arizona in three decades.
Kelly had a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy, but was drawn into politics when he married Gabby Giffords, whose own congressional career came to an end after surviving an assassination attempt during a Congress on Your Corner event in January 2011 that claimed the lives of six people.
After the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Kelly and Giffords established Americans for Responsible Solutions to lobby for new laws to prevent gun violence. The organization changed its name to Giffords last year.
In an announcement speech on YouTube, Kelly credited Gabby for showing him how government could improve people’s lives.
“You know, I learned a lot from being an astronaut, I learned a lot from being a pilot in the Navy. I learned a lot about solving problems from being an engineer,” Kelly said. “But what I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people's lives. Arizonans are facing incredibly challenging issues in the years to come. Access to affordable healthcare, the stagnation of wages, job growth, the economy. I care about people, I care about the state of Arizona, I care about this nation. So because of that, I’ve decided that I’m launching a campaign for the United States Senate.”
Kelly’s entry into the race is McSally’s worst nightmare. She’s already lost one Senate race and only has her seat because she cooked up an insurance plan with Jon Kyl and Gov. Doug Ducey. Kyl, who took a break from his lobbying career to accept an appointment to the late Sen. John McCain’s seat, stepped down at the end of last year so McSally could have a consolation prize after falling to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
Team Kelly knows McSally inside and out. Many of his most trusted advisors are veterans of campaigns run by Giffords and Ron Barber, the former congressman who won the seat Giffords gave up in 2012 to focus on her recovery. Barber narrowly won a race against McSally in 2012 and lost one to her by a mere 167 votes in 2014.
McSally lost her Senate race because she went from Trump skeptic to Trump true believer in 2018. She hasn’t veered from that course, remaining a loyal foot soldier to Trump from her Senate perch. For example, while a handful of Republicans (including newly elected Utah Sen. Mitt Romney) voted alongside Democrats to end the government shutdown last month, McSally remained a team player, voting only for the GOP plan.
At this point, it’s gonna be hard for McSally to break up with Trump, who will remain at the top of the ticket in 2020. But even if she remains his loyal handmaiden, she’s still got problems with the Arizona Republican Party, which is now under the control of one of her political rivals, Kelli Ward, who lost to McSally in the 2018 GOP primary for Senate. And despite McSally’s allegiance to Trump, it’s entirely possible that she’ll have a primary challenge because many conservative Republicans still think she’s too lib.
Kelly does have to make it through a Democratic primary, though he’s the first one to announce a 2020 campaign. Sinema’s win had a lot of Democrats thinking about running in 2020. One dropped out last week: Newly minted Democrat Grant Woods, who served two terms as Arizona’s attorney general as a Republican in the 1990s. Woods, a close ally of John McCain who supported Sinema in 2018, has been dismayed by the direction of the GOP. He had hoped to follow Sinema’s moderate path to the U.S. Senate, but has been haunted by some of his not-exactly-woke comments he made about women when he hosted a talk-radio show in Phoenix after he left office.
Still considering the race is Congressman Ruben Gallego of Maricopa County, a rising star in the Democratic Party. Gallego is a veteran who would make a formidable candidate in the primary, but might not have the moderate appeal Sinema had in the 2018 general race against McSally.
And then there’s the matter of money. McSally knows how to bring in the dollars—so many dollars, in fact, that she can’t keep track of it all and is in regular trouble with the Federal Elections Commission. In her Senate race, McSally raised more than $20 million.
But Kelly can match that. He’s already has a fundraising base from his work with Giffords and will be considered one of the most competitive candidates in the country.
Stock up on popcorn. This is gonna be a race for the ages.
Tags: Mark Kelly , Navy fighter pilot , astronaut , Gabby Giffords , Senate , Kyrsten Sinema , Jon Kyl , Gov. Doug Ducey , Republican Martha McSally , Image
Republicans control the Arizona legislature. They're determined to continue their anti-public school crusade by starving schools of funds, and they've been doing a pretty good job of it.
Then teachers donned their RedforEd T-shirts last spring and paraded in front of the Capitol, tens of thousands strong. Teachers won the media battle as well as the hearts and minds of voters. Republicans were forced to paste on smiles and talk about how much they respect teachers and love school children. Gritting their teeth, they voted to budget extra money for teacher salaries. It wasn't enough, but it was more than most people expected, and much more than Republicans wanted to give.
This session, some Republicans think it's time to take revenge on the teachers with legislation that would restrict teachers' speech during school hours, prohibit schools from shutting down during a walkout and allow any legislator to demand that the Attorney General open an investigation into a school district if the legislator alleges it has violated the state's law or the Constitution.
So far, the pieces of legislation have gone nowhere. So far. I dearly hope they will be ignored to death. I wouldn't be giving them this bit of publicity if Arizona was an isolated phenomenon. But two other red states hit by teacher activism have gone the same route: Oklahoma and West Virginia.
If it was only Arizona, well, that's Arizona. But when the same thing happens in three red states, it starts to look like a trend.
Tags: Teacher strikes , Arizona , West Virginia , Oklahoma , California , Colorado , schools , education , teachers , educators , students , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , orangeface , Trump , MAGA , Image
This morning, retired astronaut and former Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly announced via Twitter than he plans to challenge Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after losing last year's Senate race to Kyrsten Sinema.My next mission... #FullSpeedAhead #ForArizona pic.twitter.com/5E36z7aztH
— Mark Kelly (@ShuttleCDRKelly) February 12, 2019
Infusion Night at Pueblo Vida. Tuesdays are now special nights at Pueblo Vida Brewing Company! They’re where you can find Pueblo Vida’s weekly infusions. And to celebrate Arizona Beer Week, they are releasing four different infusions this week. The drinks are: Coffee Mexican Hot Chocolate “Pasteleria” Stout, Peach-Tea “Shortcut” Kettle Sour, Pineapple Upside Down Cake “Ecotone” Double IPA, and Bumbleberry Pie Milkshake “Sedoso” IPA. 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12. 115 E. Broadway Blvd. Details here.
Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. What more is there to say about Joni Mitchell? With her personal, introspective songwriting, she changed the world of folk. The Loft Cinema is screening a one-night-only musical celebration of the legendary woman, featuring performances by James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Los Lobos and more. This film was captured over two nights in November 2018 by The Music Center at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12. 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $12. Details here.
Events compiled by Briannon Wilfong, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: fun in general , things to do , Tucson events , Tuesday , Image
On “Yellow Bike” David Bazan waxes nostalgic about the thrill found in childhood bike rides in his hometown of Phoenix down the uncertain roads that accompany the onset of adulthood. Indie rockers Pedro The Lion are at 191 Toole. With the haunting folk of Tomberlin. Details here.
Before pursuing a solo career, this Canadian keyboardist worked with Laura Vinson, k.d. Lang, Ian Tyson and others. Stewart MacDougall performs at Monterey Court. Details here.
His 2015 single “Faded” received platinum certification in 10 countries. No small task. Norwegian electro house DJ/producer Alan Walker lands the Different World Tour at The Rialto Theatre. With compatriot K-391 and Zaxx. Details here.
Gabriel Sullivan is hosting a songwriter night every remaining Tuesday in February. This week’s spotlight brightly shines on Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds. Powers pedigree includes being a member of The Gun Club, the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. At Owls Club. Details here.
Bluegrass & Brews Jamboree features The Freddy Parish Trio and Cadillac Mountain. At The Gaslight Music Hall in Oro Valley. Details here.
Chill, but kinda sad, “Blossom (Wasting All My Time)”—from this Nashville singer-songwriter’s debut album Clean—was demoed in her dorm room basement without a second thought as to it ever seeing the light of day. Soccer Mommy at Club Congress with Motiongazer. Details here.
Tags: music , do this , things to do , music to listen to , shows to see , concerts , live music , live shows , Tucson , Image
