Entertainment

Ambassador of Rock

September 5, 2015 | Derrick Widmark

Hannah Levin, new host of ‘The Home Stretch’ weekdays from 3-6pm on KXCI 91.3 FM, is a long-time music critic and journalist, graduate of Seattle’s legendary KEXP, and the real-life inspiration for Toni Collette’s character in the indie film Lucky Them. Hannah talked to Zócalo about her recent move to Tucson, her thoughts on gentrification and urban renewal, and her hopes and plans for our local independent music scene.

Z: You moved here from Seattle in October of 2014. How did that come about?

HL: I originally considered moving to Tucson for a job with a non-profit foundation that was based in Seattle but had offices here. Then I heard about KXCI and that definitely got my wheels turning. I started listening to it online, found (then Program Director) Cathy Rivers’ contact info, set up a meeting with her and as soon as I walked into the room was like “oh, hello.” She was obviously my kind of woman — an intelligent, strong, tattooed, feminist rocker lady. Then when the non-profit foundation I worked for decided to eliminate that position at the exact same time that Cathy was made General Manager, those things all kinda lined up. I literally texted Cathy the day I found out about my job and she’s like, guess what, I’m Interim General Manager and I totally need your help. It was — not to sound hokey — meant to be. And moving here was the best decision I’ve made in my adult life.
I felt like I stumbled on a big secret when I got here. I just couldn’t believe how amazing the music community was, how amazing the feminist community — the women in this city are particularly impressive to me. And Tucson’s just cool — I don’t think Tucson even knows how cool it is.

Z: Are there similarities between the Seattle you loved and the Tucson you are discovering now?

HL: A really strong, supportive feminist creative community was a huge benchmark of what made Seattle exciting in the early 90s. There are so many things (here in Tucson) that remind me of how I felt about Seattle in the early 90s… Then having my Seattle eroded — and in the last couple of years literally ripped out of the hands of the people who made it happen — if I can help that not happen here, then I can think of nothing better to put my time into.
I lived thru Seattle’s dramatic transformation, and had my heart broken into nine thousand pieces. That was really transformative in a negative way, and I want to take that experience and turn it into a positive and be involved with preventing that here. Because if I came here and saw all of the cool potential, other people are going to figure that out, too. And once that wave of gentrification — on the scale of a San Francisco or an Austin — once it really gets momentum, you can’t stop it. Right now, there’s still some time to think about it, start a dialogue about it, and do whatever we can. That’s hugely important to me.

Z: And what does that look like to you? How can you make a difference?

HL: There’s this unfortunate resigned sense of inevitablity that I see in a lot of my peers. “Gentrification is happening everywhere, it’s just the way it is. The artists come in and make it cool and then it gets taken over.” I’m tired of hearing that. Let’s think about it and find another way. Seattle, because of what happened in the grunge years and the subsequent media invasion and hysteria, and what happened to that community, particularly in the years after Kurt (Cobain)’s death, made a lot of people feel really defeatist. And we have to figure out how not to feel powerless. The best thing I can think to do is be proactive, recognizing opportunities to do something positive, whether it’s protecting something that exists, or nurturing a new business idea that meets a need the community has. Like the idea of locally-owned drugstore downtown; if that’s a real need, as it appears to be, how can we as a community get that going with a local business owner before a Walgreen’s or CVS comes along?
The best way I know how to do that is gather people together that want to talk about it in a way that is focused, and not just bitchin’ at the bar about it, know what I mean? Not letting stuff just happen. Complaining and grief about loss is perfectly acceptable. But not throwing up your hands and saying “I can’t make a difference.” Individuals banding together with common causes, they can make a difference. I really believe that. It might sound wildly optimistic or naïve — but I’m 44 years old so I don’t think I’m naïve.

Z: Was there a particular moment in Seattle, a particular loss, that really sticks with you?

HL: The Crocodile (Café — listed as one of the top 10 music clubs in Rolling Stone, in 2013). The Crocodile closing was a huge, huge, huge thing. The night I heard about that I went home and I told my boyfriend, “we are moving to Austin.” Which is funny because Austin now is just as screwed up as Seattle. You are talking about the place that was the de facto wake place when Kurt died. It’s where so many incredibly important shows (like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney, Built to Spill, etc.) happened. It was the anchor of the Seattle music community. It was home base.
We also lost a series of rehearsal spaces, which, at the risk of stating the obvious, is extremely important to incubating new bands in a creative community. People need to have an affordable place to rehearse. We saw bands breaking up because they had nowhere to practice. Housing was so expensive that there wasn’t even the cheap punk-rock house with the basement you can practice in. We didn’t even have that and then when rehearsal spaces go away… that’s a tourniquet on creativity.

Z: One of the things that engaged newcomers to a community can provide is the insight that something that clearly ought to be here is glaringly missing. What would you like to see in Tucson that you haven’t discovered yet?

HL: A really sexy BBQ place (laugh). For grown-ups. That’s also a live music venue. I really hope somebody does that. Something that feels like a set-piece from the movie Deathproof. That would be good.
I’m still discovering things, obviously. I keep waiting to stumble on some rad Latino hip-hop collective. Maybe it’s out there somewhere. I hope so. Hip-hop is a storytelling genre, and the hip-hop community in Seattle, even though it was not particularly large, was the kind of nucleus that really impacted the alt-country community, the rock community… it created a good ripple effect for all of the other artists surrounding it.

Z: You’re coming from one of the most influential independent radio stations in the country (Seattle’s KEXP); how does that inform your work now at KXCI?

HL: I hosted a show called “Audio Oasis” on KEXP for a long time, a local music show, and that was all built upon telling the history of Seattle music and breaking the newest talent at the same time. That was my formative experience in radio, to make sure that we were playing the iconic artists who helped build Seattle into what it became, but also then going out to the clubs and finding the new, undiscovered stuff, listening to all of the damned demos… that’s how I found The Head and The Heart. They were a demo in my box. I played it and thirty seconds in I called my producer and was like, “book them — now!” We got them in the studio and two weeks after that, (they blew up). I was the first person to play them on the radio.
Based on what Cathy is envisioning, and what I certainly hope to see, we want to continue to program KXCI in ways that appeal to people who have been with the station for a long time, and honor the things that have made the station what it is. At the same time, and this is tricky, we have to start pulling young people in and getting them involved, making the station a more accurate representation of the contemporary cultural landscape of Tucson.

Z: A lot of DJ’s are former performers. But you make no bones about the fact that performing is not your thing.

HL: Putting things together and showcasing them in a lovely light is something I’ve always wanted to do. The music we are listening to now in the background is a draft of tomorrow’s set. That’s how dorky I am. So I surf around a lot of genres and try and interlink things in a thoughtful manner and not jar the listener. Because if you are trying to push the envelope a little bit — a hip-hop thing, or some of my more metal-oriented songs — you don’t open people’s minds to new songs by giving them sonic whiplash. You do it gracefully. And I want the punk rock kid hanging out down at Che’s to like it just as much as my mom does listening online back in Tacoma.

Z: And you don’t appear to spend a lot of time on your airbreaks…

HL: I will interject if someone is coming to town, or there’s an interestingpiece of history, or if I picked a song because I saw it in a movie recently. But you are never gonna hear me babble on because it’s not about me — it’s about the music and the listener.

Z: Where do you find inspiration?

HL: I have a running note-pad thing on my phone where if I think of a song or an artist I’ll jot down a note about it. Because when you program 15 hours of music a week, you have to constantly be thinking about it or else you are gonna get stale. And I get a great deal out of social media, too, because I’ve been around for a while and know a lot of interesting music journalists, and crate-digging record collectors… Today for instance my friend Peter, who lives in upstate New York and was a DJ for many years and also in a great band called the Chrome Cranks, posted this Led Zeppelin song we’re listening to, ”Wearing and Tearing,” and that he’d heard a story that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page wrote this song late one night

after seeing The Damned. I think that’s really interesting! And so I immediately said thanks, Peter — I’m totally stealing that for my show on Monday!

Z: You’ve mentioned that living in Guatemala was a life-changing experience for you. How so?

HL: It recalibrated my values in the way that travel does. It was humbling to be somewhere there was abject poverty, and violence, (all) amidst great beauty — if I was President, everybody would have to travel in their formative years to somewhere that made them uncomfortable.
I also had a big experience with music there, talking to this kid who really loved Metallica. I of course being an old-school Metallica fan, and being twenty-four and full of myself, I’m lecturing this 11-year old kid on how their old stuff is really where’s it at, and he’s like “I really like ‘Enter Sandman.” And I realize, I’m an asshole, that kid should like whatever he likes. I’m gonna shut up right now because anyone getting joy out of music, I support that. And as a result of that experience I have zero patience for music snobs.

Z: The future of KXCI. What do you see? What do you want to see?

HL: Significantly increasing our live in-studios with touring and local bands of all genres. I got very used to being at a station where when touring bands (came) through (Seattle) they wanted to play at KEXP, and I want KXCI to be the same way. I want to be a good ambassador for Tucson in terms of touring musicians. I want them to have a really good experience, sonically and socially, while they are here. I want artists to want to play KXCI because we have such passionate music fans. And the more exciting and stimulating bands come through, the more they inspire local musicians, the more you grow the scene further. That’s the holistic picture of what a local radio station can do. So I have big dreams.

Z: The author William Gibson (Neuromancer, Pattern Recognition, etc.) has this line that’s been haunting me recently: “The future is already present, it’s just not evenly distributed.” Seattle strikes me as a town where the future is more present than Tucson, while here the past might be much more present than the future… Do you see that distinction?

HL: It reminds me of when I was in Amsterdam last year I saw a graffiti — “our future is already haunting us” — which stuck with me a lot. Finding the middle ground, not being so far mired in the past, nor consumed by a future world where any sense of history is annihilated, that’s the challenge right there.

Z: Or the fact that Tucson today reminds you of Seattle in the 90s… Are we really 20 years behind the times? And might that be a good thing?

HL: Well, if you get time travelers like me who come back to help it is (laughs). Just kidding. There’s a reason I have a typewriter and a turntable tattooed on my body. I like cool old stuff. The sheer volume of dive bars and old-man diners here in Tucson makes my heart sing. They were systematically wiped out in Seattle — there’s only a handful left. And anyone reading this might be like “you have no idea, downtown used to be so different…” I totally get that, and I’m not saying that the losses people have experienced around here don’t matter — they absolutely do. But for me, from where I’m coming from, for where I am in my life — this place is heavenly. To see this much history intact, to see all these mid-century buildings, to see independent businesses making cool things happen, it’s like I got a second chance

FC Tucson Is Picking up Steam

June 1, 2015 | Craig Baker

Courtesy Pima County

Midfield forward David Clemens left FC Tucson last year to try his hand in the professional soccer circuit with a USL Pro development team called the Dayton Dutch Lions. But when their local soccer community failed to show them the support they needed, the team folded down to the PDL level—the level at which FC Tucson competes—and so his contract was released. And even though Clemens could have probably chosen to play for any one of the 68 PDL teams across the nation given his USL experience, thankfully, he decided to return to Tucson.

“After being in the professional division,” says Clemens, “I saw that this club was run better than some of the pro teams in terms of the facilities that they have and how professional the environment is here, so I know that if I want to continue pursuing my professional career that (Tucson) is the best place to be.” And, since he was with FC Tucson in 2013 during their impressive run in the Desert Diamond Cup that earned the team an opportunity to play against the MLS Houston Dynamo, Clemens understands the power of a well-developed PDL program probably about as well as anyone.

Now in its fourth season with the PDL following a single year as an independent soccer club, FC Tucson has built a name for itself, as well as a healthy regular fan base with the self-applied title of ‘The Cactus Pricks.’ FC Tucson’s Head Coach and Founding Partner Rick Schantz says that their 2013 season helped to “open the eyes of the sports community at large” in Tucson and that, as a result, the local soccer club is starting to feel “like another one of Tucson’s teams…It’s not just the Wildcats anymore, and it feels good,” Schantz adds, smiling. Last year, FC Tucson managed to keep the attention of the local community with a record of 11-2-1, which was the fourth best of any team in the PDL. The Desert Diamond Cup Tournament that followed saw a record 3600 fans in attendance at Kino North Stadium for the second round of play.

Hoping to catch that wave of community support, FC Tucson has also decided to incorporate a women’s team under their banner for the first time. The women’s club, which formed in 2013 as Tucson Soccer Academy FC, has actually used the facilities at Kino Sports Complex alongside the FC Tucson men’s squad from the beginning, so the change in title doesn’t come with a requirement of relocation. In that respect, FC Tucson Women’s Head Coach Amy Garelick says that “it just made sense” for the two programs to merge. The increased funding and sponsorships available under the FC umbrella also offers some very simple benefits that were previously unavailable to the women’s team, such as the ability to travel to away games the day before a match rather than the day of.

The FC Tucson Women’s Club debuted in late March at Kino North against the MLS-affiliated Portland Thorns—a team which features a number of National-level players who Garelick says will likely appear in the upcoming 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. FC Tucson Women’s Veteran Defender Kelly Pierce-Kearns says the crowd of more than 1100 at the Thorns’ game was the biggest the local women’s club has ever seen. “It’s really encouraging when you hear people cheering for you, or you score a goal and you get to celebrate and everyone in the stands is yelling with you—it’s a good feeling,” says Pierce-Kearns.

Pierce-Kearns, who is in her early-thirties, has been with the program since its inception, but before the team formed in 2013, she had no outlet to compete in the sport. Though a spot on an FC Tucson squad is technically an amateur position, Pierce-Kearns says she is just grateful “to get to play at such a high level and to be coached again”—a feeling no doubt shared by the majority of her peers.

Surely the Women’s World Cup this year will help shine a spotlight on women’s soccer in general, and that will likely mean at least a slight bump for the newly-incorporated FC program. Not only could that translate to more revenue for the often-idle sports complex, but it most definitely means more opportunities for soccer fans to catch high-level games here in town; between the men’s and women’s teams, Garelick points out that there will be a soccer game at Kino Park every weekend through mid-July. And, to the Cactus Pricks and all of the other soccer fans around Tucson, when it gets down to it, isn’t that the goal?

For more information, a complete schedule of games, and/or to get tickets to an FC Tucson match, check out FCTucson.com.

Tucson Summer Nights

June 1, 2015 | Craig Baker

photo © David Olsen

When the temperature rises to the point that the plastic cups in your car begin melting into their cup holders, some Sonoran Desert dwellers experience a buildup of unfathomable rage. If you’ve lived here long enough, you may have been there yourself—at that point where you feel like you could lift and toss a small car, or at least a motorcycle, just to snag the only shady spot in the parking lot. We get it.

But there are a few other ways that we as Tucsonans can choose to deal with these feelings which fall comfortably short of literal or metaphorical combustion: 1) we can complain about it, making the lives of everyone else around us just a little more miserable; 2) we can lock ourselves indoors in the protection of those ever-sacred climate modification devices that keeps us from losing all motivation to live; or 3) we can find a way to shift our schedules ever-so-slightly so as to enjoy more of the cooler, more palatable moonlit hours of the day. Here are a few ideas for those of you who are looking to go nocturnal this summer…

Catch an outdoor flick

When: Every Thursday evening at 7:30pm through the end of August at La Placita, or 5:30 pm at Reid Park June 5 and 19, as well as alternating Fridays through August 14.

Where: La Placita Village downtown, 110 S. Church Ave; Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way.

What: The outdoor family-friendly film series, Cinema La Placita, has been running every summer since May 2000. Bring the kids, your (good) dogs, and $3 for admission, but popcorn is included for free! Check the Cinema La Placita Website for upcoming titles or to make movie suggestions at CinemaLaPlacita.com. Reid Park also runs a similar series for free every second Friday with a number of vendors and entertainers on site starting at 5:30, and shows starting at dusk. More info at SAACA.org/Cox_Movies_in_the_Park.html.

Wander the Desert Loop Trail

When: Every Saturday night from June 6-Sept 5 from 5pm-10pm.

Where: Arizona Sonora Desert Museum; 2021 N. Kinney Rd.

What: Each uniquely themed Saturday evening in the 14th Annual “Cool Summer Nights” series at ASDM will feature three live music venues (including one specifically for children), live animal demonstrations, activity stations run by the museum’s Junior Docents, and educational and entertaining programming related to each theme. Covering everything from the oceans, to astronomy, to comedy, ASDM promises something for everyone this summer, and at no additional charge on top of regular admission. ASDM’s Director of Marketing, Rosemary Prawdzik, says that the kids are especially fond of “Insect Insanity!” (July 18) and can even buy black lights at the gift shop to help in the hunt for scorpions. “Coming to the Desert Museum at night is a very different experience than during the day time,” says Prawdzik, pointing out that the low lighting on the grounds allows for easy stargazing, and that the animals on site tend to be more active after the sun goes down. No wonder this annual event has become a tradition for many local families. Watch in coming months for “Full Moon Festivals” which will shine a spotlight on the arts.

Celebrate the Solstice

When: Saturday, June 20 from 7pm-1am.

Where: Sky Bar; 536 N. 4th Ave.

What: What’s better than, pizza, beer, and fire spinning—at a safe distance, of course. Drop by Sky Bar to celebrate the summer solstice—the longest day of the year—with live music and an always-thrilling performance by the Cirque Roots crew.

23rd Annual Summer Art Cruise, image: Naoto Hattori, Recollection 029, 3.8 x 5.8, acrylic on board, 2015, at Baker + Hesseldenz Fine Art, June 6.

Gallery hop

When: Saturday, June 6 from 6pm-9pm.

Where: Central Tucson Gallery Association (CTGA) Galleries downtown and on University Blvd.

What: What: The 23rd Annual Summer Art Cruise is the biggest night of the year for the seven member galleries (Baker+Hesseldenz, Conrad Wilde, Contreras, Davis Dominguez, Moen Mason, Philabaum, and Raices Taller 222) that extend their hours for this single evening of connecting art fans, collectors, and artists—and the best part is, it’s free to you. Each gallery curates its own events (of course) and co-owner of Davis Dominguez Gallery, Mike Dominguez, says that many offer hors d’oeuvres and live music. Dominguez says that, for their part, the Davis Dominguez Gallery will be holding a reception for the 80+ artists featured in the Small Works show that will close the following week. “There will be plenty of people out,” says Dominguez, “and a lot of the artists will come together to fill the streets here.” The question is will you be there with them?

Take a flashlight hike

When: Saturday, June 6 from 6:30pm-9:30pm.

Where: Catalina State Park; 11570 N. Oracle Rd.

What: Take a moonlit hike in Catalina State Park with the Town of Oro Valley Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate National Trails Day. Snacks will be provided and an expert guide will be on hand, but be sure and bring plenty of water and your own flashlight. More info available at OroValleyAZ.gov.

Take your clothes off

When: Night of Saturday, June 13 until 2am.

Where: Club Congress; 311 E. Congress St.

What: The annual Underwear Party at Club Congress has been known to draw more than 1200 nearly-naked alcohol-consuming individuals of both sexes for an evening of good-natured debauchery unlike any other. Any questions? If so, check out HotelCongress.com… I wash my hands of this one.

Check out Second Saturdays

When: Saturday, June 13 from 6:30pm-10pm .

Where: Congress St., Downtown Tucson.

What: If you haven’t been to a Second Saturdays Downtown event yet, take advantage of the quiet, cool summer evenings to do so this month. As always, there promises to be plenty of entertainment, music, street performances, vendors, and all of that fair food nobody can seem to get enough of. Grab a bite to eat and a drink or just make a free night of it by catching a live show or two—you’ve got nothing to lose with this regular crowd-pleaser.

Have a “Brew at the Zoo”

When: “Brew at the Zoo” is on Saturday, June 20 from 6pm-9:30pm; Summer Safari Nights run every Friday through July 10 from 6pm-8pm.

Where: Reid Park Zoo; 3400 Zoo Court.

What: The third annual iteration of this highly-anticipated event combines two of everyone’s favorite things—alcohol and animals. Craft Tucson provides plenty of sudsy drink for the event, the admission cost of which covers the beer. Tucsonans come out in droves, so make sure to get your tickets in advance. This year’s Brew event, themed “Healthy and Hoppy”, will help support the construction of a new medical facility on the zoo’s grounds, so drinking to excess here is actually for a good cause. You’ll have to leave the little ones at home for this night of frivolity, though, as it is strictly 21+. For a more family friendly atmosphere, check out the zoo’s Summer Safari Nights program, in which the zoo reopens between 6pm and 8pm every Friday for a cooler trip down the Tanzania Trail. Tickets to the Brew event are $40 general admission, $35 for zoo members, and $20 for designated drivers if purchased in advance. Admission to Summer Safari Nights is $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for kids ages 2-14—zoo members get $2 off. More info available at ReidParkZoo.org.

Catch a soccer game at Kino Sports Complex

When: Every weekend in June (various dates).

Where: Kino North Stadium; 3400 S. Country Club Rd.

What: With the addition of a women’s team to the FC Tucson family, there will be a lot more competitive soccer in Tucson this summer, and you can bet the Cactus Pricks are ready for the action. For a full schedule for both the men’s and women’s teams, tickets, or more information, visit FCTucson.com. Also, check out the article on FC Tucson in this issue.

Learn some history and celebrate freedom

When: Saturday, June 20 from 10am-9pm

Where: The Donna Liggins Center/Mansfield Park; 2160 N. 6th Ave.

What: Did you know that it took a full two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation for all of the slaves in the United States to finally obtain their freedom? June 19th—or Juneteenth—of this year marks 150 years since the last slaves were set free in Galveston, Texas. It also marks the 45th anniversary of Tucson’s own annual Juneteenth Festival. Indoor educational activities end at three and give way to the evening celebration, which will feature guest speakers, free hotdogs for the kids at 5:30pm, historical exhibits, as well as live entertainment. More info available on the “Tucson Juneteenth Celebration” Facebook page.

Do some stargazing

When: Every night through July 14.

Where: Kitt Peak National Observatory.

What: This stargazing program is so popular in the winter months that Visitor Center Manager Bill Buckingham says that Kitt Peak has to turn away more than 1000 people each day during high season. And it’s easy to see why the nightly observation program is such a hot ticket (wrong phrasing?)—Kitt Peak can be a full 25 degrees cooler than Tucson in the evenings. Reservations are $49 per person, but there’s actually a good chance of landing one during the slower summers. Also, be on the lookout for the Kitt Peak-sponsored binocular stargazing program to return to Saguaro National Park West for an out-of-this-world experience that’s a little bit closer to home.

Mercado San Agustin Spring Bazaar

May 1, 2015 | Zocalo Staff

Spring-Zocalo-2015-01.eps

Sat and Sun May 2nd and 3rd

The Annual Mercado San Agustin Spring Bazaar returns in May getting shoppers into the spirit of celebrating family and friends, and having some fun finding gifts for Graduates and Mother’s Day.

In conjunction with Spring Bazaar, there will be a special ‘Farm to Table Brunch’ event with covered outdoor seating in the beautiful old world courtyard for patrons to enjoy. Sample food, coffee and artisan cocktails while you shop.

The mercado has handpicked 50+ local shops, makers and artisans to offer shoppers an event where they can buy a variety of unique and one-of-a-kind gifts during this weekend-long event. The Mercado San Agustin Spring Bazaar is dedicated to sharing bright and emerging entrepreneurs and businesses from within the region. Included in this juried pool of very talented makers who will be onsite during Spring Bazaar will be a group of high school students from the Western Institute of Learning Development, a local public school, who have created and developed a line of bags that they have made in their journey to discover the power of entrepreneurism and the opportunity it brings.

Some of the Artisans and Shops attending include:

Woolies and Buster and Boo, Lila Clare Jewelry, Val and Vanessa Galloway, Guatemala Acupuncture Project, Razzle Dazzle, Eco Grow, Revolutio, Collected Artifacts, Anita’s Crafters, Elaine Isner, Jacqueline Knits, Linda Cato, W.I.L.D. High School, Creative Kismet, Desert Vintage, Willies Fort, Tu Kaets Pottery Studio, Avenue, Tin & Teak, Becky Zimmerman alongside our permanent stores like MAST, Transit Cycle and Blu.

The Spring Bazaar takes place at Mercado San Agustin, 100 Avenida del Convento, Tucson, on May 2 and 3 (Friday & Saturday 10am-6pm). For more information, vist www.mercadosanagustin.com

Shushing the Librarian Stereotype

March 2, 2015 | Jamie Manser

University of Arizona Research and Learning Librarians Cindy Elliott (left) and Nicole Pagowsky (right) explore librarian stereotypes at Confluencenter’s Show & Tell event on March 11.
photo: Jamie Manser/Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry

They are classic scenes in the 1984 film “Ghostbusters.” One is the opener with the grandmotherly librarian who gets the bejeezus scared out of her by the “free-roaming, vaporous, full torso apparition” haunting the New York Public Library. The other scene is with that ghost, who seems to also have been a librarian in her earthly life, shushing the Ghostbusters when they try to ask her questions while she is reading; she then terrorizes and chases them off when they don’t comply with her request to be quiet.

With the comedic team of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as the main focus, it is easy to gloss over the ghostly librarian typecast as an elderly white woman who wears her grey hair in a bun, shushes people and then turns monstrous when she’s not obeyed. It’s every little kid’s nightmare. But, let’s stop a minute, pull back for the wide angle perspective and look through a different lens.

If you are a librarian, the depiction probably touches a nerve because “Ghostbusters” certainly isn’t the only movie that perpetuates the stereotype.

“It’s everywhere,” says University of Arizona Research and Learning Librarian Nicole Pagowsky.

“It is everywhere,” agrees Cindy Elliott, also a Research and Learning Librarian at the UA.

“Especially in the media, the stereotypes are in everything from cartoons up into popular films, and television shows. Music, all kinds of things,” Elliott shares.

The three of us are chatting at the UA Main Library in mid-February, digging into the enduring and erroneous images often associated with librarians. The persistent portrayals and the implications will be shared, “in a fun way,” by Pagowsky and Elliott at Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry’s Show & Tell – a multimedia learning experience – on Wednesday, March 11.

Pagowsky, who is the co-editor of “The Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Perceptions and Presentations of Information Work,” imparts that her interest in examining the formulaic librarian representations stems from a curiosity about how these stereotypes affect the diversity of the profession, along with how librarians are perceived.

“The profession is over 85 percent white and over 80 percent women,” Pagowsky says. “A lot of it is because this stereotype is out there that we’re old white women or sexy white women. It’s not even necessarily, ‘Oh, I’m not sexy, I can’t go into it,’ it’s more like, ‘I’m not white’ or ‘I don’t fit into this demographic.’”

“And it’s damaging because if you don’t fit into that, you don’t see yourself in that role,” Elliott adds. “If you don’t see yourself represented there, you may not feel like ‘That’s for me.’ So that’s part of it too, we work really hard to try to recruit people from all types of backgrounds because it adds to our diversity. We need that to reflect what is going on with society.”

“And also with serving a diverse campus,” Pagowsky shares, “to just have a bunch of the same people with the same perspective developing our services, and our instruction and our interfaces and everything…”

“You want to recruit people from various backgrounds,” Elliott elucidates, “because it reflects our academic community and it reflects the community we live in.”

Along with dispelling the white, female dominated stereotype, Pagowsky also works to dismantle the idea of what librarians are supposed to wear through her blog LibrarianWardrobe.com. “Of course being female dominated, (the stereotypes are) focused on how we look. Which is another issue.”

Elliott adds that “it is weird and interesting, how fashion is very tied to the way someone perceives a librarian, so that blog that Nicole has is great. It shows that there’s a wide variety of people.”

In addition to dispelling mythologies surrounding the surface aspects of what librarians look like during the Show & Tell presentation, Pagowsky and Elliott will also share the exciting assortment of work and research librarians do at UA. Some are archivists in Special Collections, dealing with rarities like space dirt and a vaudeville collection; another librarian helps people on campus deal with and understand copyright issues. There are also health sciences librarians who do community outreach and librarians who work in student retention and campus outreach.

Pagowsky sums up the goal of the Show & Tell presentation, her scholarly work and website by saying, “It’s to show that there’s not really one way that we all look. People dress differently, people work at all different types of libraries, there’s all types of people that are librarians.”

The free Show & Tell presentation, “Shushing the Librarian Stereotype,” is on Wednesday, March 11 at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E. Congress St., at 6 p.m. More details are available at Confluencenter.arizona.edu or by calling 621-4587.

Vintage Finds at Nuevo Bazaar

February 3, 2015 | Jon D Auria

With all of the big developments to downtown that have brought a slew of shiny new restaurants, bars, stores and attractions, it’s nice to experience something with local charm and a bohemian feel that epitomizes the true essence of Tucson. That was the exact impetus that drove Tim Hagyard to create the Nuevo Bazaar Downtown Flea Market back in 2010. With a strong desire to create a shabby-sheik market with a wide variety of items, Hagyard set out to bring the Indian marketplace aesthetic to life right here in our own backyard.

“In 2010 I started this out of feeling the need that Tucson needed a bazaar in the downtown area,” says Hagyard. “At that time, downtown was not what it is like today with the streetcar and all of the shops and restaurants. Rio Nuevo was still in the planning stages, and the area needed more events to bring people to it. So I thought that it would be great to have a flea market somewhat modeled after those in India that you can find in Brooklyn or San Francisco. It creates a little event of its own, even if it just pops up on a little street corner.”

Now in its 4th year, Nuevo Bazaar is back and bigger then ever. With a prime location at 126 E 7th Street, Hagyard is bringing together over 20 vendors who will be selling a mix of everything from clothing, antiques, collectibles, art and accessories that range from vintage to mid-century to modern. The event is taking place on Saturday February 7th from 9:00am-5:00pm and welcomes families and eager shoppers to peruse the booths to see what gems they can find from the assorted group of sellers.

“People can expect an eclectic grouping of things. Some people have vintage stuff, some have modern and some specialize in collectibles. Some are professional dealers, and some are just collectors who want a vehicle to sell their extra things through. There are arts and crafts and clothes and all sorts of things. This is a great time of year to have an outdoor event like this where families can come out and browse and enjoy the day buying some great things. Everyone likes hunting for items and doing some shopping.”

With a great location for foot traffic and bike commuters thanks to the two-way street improvements of 6th avenue, the bazaar will have more space this year than ever before. Situated next to Tap and Bottle and the row of 6th avenue art galleries, Hagyard’s goal of preserving the mellow, organic feel of the flea market has remained perfectly intact.

“My favorite part is to have created an event that people come out and enjoy and to help out the downtown scene with another local event. It’s not a big sponsored event; it’s a small little element that adds to the rich flavor of downtown. Not everything has to be a big, giant event. This is very organic. It is commercial in nature, but it is not “Budweiser Presents: The Bazaar.” It was created with a modest, casual feel and I think that it has kept that.”

Nuevo Bazaar takes places Saturday, February 7th, 9am-5pm at 126 E. 7th St. Learn by following the event on Facebook.

On Love: Songs, Science & Psychology

February 2, 2015 | Jamie Manser

Dr. Paula Fan, pianist and powerhouse behind Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry’s
Creative Collaborations.
photo by Chris Richards Photography/courtesy Paula Fan

“There’s a song for everything, for every issue – a piece of music,” imparts pianist, Professor Emerita and the UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Senior Fellow Paula Fan.

Fan is referring to the premise behind the event series she coordinates, Creative Collaborations, in conjunction with the Confluencenter. The monthly Saturday morning events are mini-concerts, with Fan on piano, and include dialogue with a distinguished guest – generally a UA scholar – on a theme that is explored through music and discussion.

On Saturday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m. to noon, Fan is hosting “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” for the Valentine’s Day Creative Collaborations presentation. Joining her for the discussion at the campus bookstore is UA Associate Professor of Psychology David Sbarra.

“The irony – and I think this is a delicious irony – is he does a lot of research on divorce,” Fan shares with a laugh. “And he has come up with a program that he calls ‘Seasons of Love.’ Basically, it is the stages. It is attraction, falling in love, maintaining the relationship and – we shall call it, for want of a better term – transitions or we can call it change. And that can take many different forms. Of course there is divorce, but there is also widowhood.

“We’re putting a scholarly slant on things we’ve always wondered about, and an explanation,” Fan says. “We talk about the whole idea of getting together, what draws people together and also when it is one-sided, when it is unrequited, which of course is the theme of so many romantic songs. We talk about the chemistry of love, the biological aspects – the reward biology. David also mentions how you maintain a relationship through forgiveness and sexual satisfaction, talking about all the things we experience as human beings in a scholarly fashion.

“And of course with transitions, the idea of when it is over – through either loss through death or whether it is through a break up. And so he’s actually addressing everything that someone has experienced, and something that most of the cohort of music has addressed too. It is a universal experience addressed in scholarly and musical terms with a lot of fun thrown in. A good humored examination of a universal human emotion.”

While, as of press time, Fan was still working on what songs will be performed, she was certain of a few. “We’re going to do ‘Love in the Dictionary,’ we’re going to do ‘The Last, Lousy Moments of Love,’ by William Bolcom. We might do ‘I Never Knew’ which we did at the AIDS (Creative Collaborations on Dec. 14, 2013), because the whole business of love nowadays is not heterosexual love, it is just love. And so there are some composers who have written about love from the gay standpoint and I’m exploring that repertoire too.”

Bemused by the title, “Love in the Dictionary,” I ask Fan to tell me more about that particular song.

“In the first half of the last century and maybe through the 1960s, there were a number of songs written for concert performance that were not popular but they had popular overtones and they were novelty songs and ‘Love in the Dictionary,’ is one because it is a dictionary entry that’s been set to music. And so what better thing to start Valentine’s Day with? So that’s fun. It was done by Celius Dougherty and he wrote a lot of novelty songs in that period. These songs are very, very charming. And it’s just a great kick off and it is literally a dictionary entry!”

Creative Collaborations’ “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” is free and runs from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the UA Bookstore, first floor – located next to the student union at 1209 E. University Blvd. There is free parking in the Second Street Garage at Mountain Avenue. More information is at Confluencenter.arizona.edu or by calling 621-4587.

Suds for Sun Sounds

September 11, 2014 | Jon D Auria

When the temperatures are hot during the summer – and into the fall – months in the desert, few things beat enjoying the taste of a delicious beer on a warm day.

Well, that is unless you’re enjoying sampling a number of different beers in the company of thousands of friends and people from your community and all in the name of a worthy cause. In this instance, the cause is Sun Sounds of Arizona and the event is the Great Tucson Beer Festival.

Colorful characters populate the annual Great Tucson Beer Festival.
Photo: ©2011 Rachel Seelen/Urban Abstrakt Photography/courtesy Sun Sounds

In its 28th year, Sun Sound’s Great Tucson Beer Festival is again taking place at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E Ajo Way, on Saturday, Sept. 27 with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. for early bird entry and 6 p.m. for general admission. Offering attendees a selection of over 150 beers on tap to sample, plus a diverse, mouth-watering array of food from local restaurants and a number of fun activities and live music, Sun Sounds is expecting their biggest and best festival to date.

“This is something that we look forward to hosting every year, as it brings so many people from our community together to support a cause that we’re very passionate about,” says Sun Sounds Tucson Station Manager Mitzi Tharin. “We’re lucky to have so many people return to the event each year, but already this year 51% of the people who have bought tickets so far are brand new, which is exciting for us. We want everyone to enjoy themselves and have a fun time and hopefully it raises awareness for the service that we offer.”

Founded in Phoenix in 1979 by Dr. Frank Kells, Sun Sounds created a Tucson branch in 1985 where they provide spoken versions of written text that covers everything from newspapers, magazines, books and all forms of media to those who cannot read print due to visual disabilities. By providing over 2,000 radios to visually impaired Tucson residents and allowing them to stream the content over the internet, Sun Sounds has helped over 15,000 Tucsonans stay up on the news and their favorite books while truly enhancing their quality of living.

“The service that we provide is so important because when someone is unable to read on their own, it can really devastate people. So to bring them spoken versions of printed words really changes their lives and makes them feel like they’re no longer disadvantaged in that aspect,” says Tharin. “We read a wide spectrum of programs that can be chosen on our guide to satisfy everyone. We offer fiction, non-fiction, news, magazines, westerns, dramas, comedies and pretty much anything someone would want to hear. And they get a human voice, not a synthesized voice, which makes a big difference.”

The annual beer festival helps the organization tremendously, as they generate over two thirds of their yearly budget by putting on this event. In a truly win-win situation, the attendees are treated to a night full of fun, excitement and dancing, as the band Eighties and Gentlemen will be performing music from the 80s, 90s and 2000s. The audience can also partake in a variety of games including horseshoes, static steer roping, beep ball and many others. And it all will take place in the beautiful setting of Kino Sports Complex.

“This is the second year that the Sun Sounds organization will host its annual beer festival at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and we couldn’t be happier to have them and to be a part of their fundraising event,” says Kino Sports Complex Marketing Manager Sallyann Wassmuth. “They put in so much work and planning to make it fun and entertaining for everyone and there is a real social element to the event all centered on the beer and food sampling from local breweries and restaurants.

“And most importantly, Sun Sounds puts a tremendous effort into promoting a safe, responsible event. They offer designated driver tickets and partner with the Holiday Inn just around the corner where the hotel provides shuttle service to and from the event. Cab Service is also available. They are really conscientious about providing responsible options to everyone,” Wassmuth adds.

For designated drivers, there will be plenty of free parking in the accompanying lots as well as non-alcoholic beverages to enjoy. And while this is a mellow evening of fun, this event is entirely tailored for adults and no one under 21-years-old will be granted entry. General admission tickets are available online or through Plaza Liquors, Thunder Canyon Brewery and Sun Sounds for $45 and VIP tickets are also available for $85 which gives you early entry to the event as well as access to VIP benefits.

“It’s a win for everybody because attendees have such a blast and it helps to sustain what we do for the entire year. It’s so important to us to keep the momentum going with this event,” says Tharin. “The entertainment will be really good and that’s always a favorite of the crowd. You’ll get to sample a lot of food and try different beers that are unique and seasonal and all while being around a lot of really great people.”

The event is Saturday, Sept. 27, with doors at 6 p.m. Kino Sports complex is located at 2500 Ajo Way. For more information visit AZBeer.com or call (520) 296-2400.

Food complements the bevy of beer offerings at the Great Tucson Beer Festival.
photo: ©2013 Rachel Seelen/Urban Abstrakt Photography/courtesy Sun Sounds

Tucson Women on the Mic: A FST! Storyteller’s First Year

September 5, 2014 | Melanie Madden

This September, FST! Female StoryTellers observes its second birthday on Wednesday, Sept. 10, and I’m so happy to celebrate with them.

When FST! (pronounced “Fist!”) began in September 2012, I wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t know any of the women involved. I’d only been in Tucson a month, a California transplant newly arrived to work on a two-year graduate degree at UofA. I had no ties to the local community, no connections outside the insular world of my MFA cohorts. I had no idea that right across Downtown, somewhere beyond all that street car construction, the girl gang I’d been looking for all my life was being conceived and born.

I wouldn’t learn about FST! until June 2013, when the guy I was dating invited me to my first show, “A Letter to Anyone” at LoveSmack, a warehouse gallery on Toole Avenue next to the railroad tracks.

“You’re going to love it,” he said. He was right. I was immediately delighted, and confused. An open forum, just for women to tell their stories? An at-capacity paying audience who listens? When James described it to me as “feminist storytelling,” I imagined the most sparsely attended poetry readings I’d ever uncomfortably sat though. When we arrived, and I saw so many folding chairs set up, filling the empty gallery space, I worried these poor gals were kidding themselves. Then people came and claimed all those seats, and I wondered if I had stumbled into a dream.

Comic Lauren Wiggins founded FST! for a simple reason: she likes doing stand-up, but was getting tired of rape jokes. As a middle finger to the stand-up world’s open hostility to women, Wiggins set out to create an alternative space where women could take the mic, and only women (on the gender spectrum, not as half of a binary—transwomen and transmen are FST!ers, too) would be invited onto the stage.

Two years later, FST! has featured 44 unique storytellers, hosted 22 shows, and raised over $5,000 for local nonprofits and community organizations. It is independent, all-volunteer, grass-roots, and community-based. It has moved from LoveSmack in the Warehouse Arts District, to (now defunct) Beowulf Alley Downtown, to its present longstanding 4^th Avenue venue, The Flycatcher (formerly Plush). There is a website: Fstorytellers.com. I proudly show my affiliation with a bright pink FST! button I wear on my purse, and FST! T-shirts are designed by local artist Donovan White. What I’m trying to say is this: FST! is legit.

As I watched the seats at LoveSmack fill up on that sweltering Saturday night in June 2013, and not with the gray-haired second-wavers in tie-dyed sundresses that I expected (no disrespect, I’ve got mad love for the tie-dyed second wavers, some of whom are great supporters of FST! – thank you! Please tell stories with us!), but with punks and hipsters and bright-lipped, tattooed chicks. Where were the NPR tote bags? Where were the Birkenstocks with organic cotton socks? What were these cool people going to do when the women got on stage and started telling stories?

It’s like I said: they listened. And we laughed. And we were moved.

I knew right away I wanted in.

I submitted my first story for the August 2013 show, “Shameless,” at Beowulf Alley Theatre. In the year that followed, I took the stage six more times, telling stories for “Never Say Never,” “Next Chapter,” “I Fought the Law,” “Best Summer Ever,” “ . . . And I’m an Adult!” and celebrated my first FST!iversary in August, with “More than Meets the Eye.”

I’ve grown a lot as a performer, and as a writer, thanks to FST! My fellow FST!ers are so good they inspire and challenge me to get better. Recently, I joined FST!’s storytelling committee, helping to give feedback on the story drafts we see each month. FST! provides more than just a platform for women to share their stories – it offers resources to make those stories more powerful. At rehearsal, when FST!ers give each other tips on how to tweak a story or its delivery, the conversations are always constructive and supportive. We encourage one another, believe in one another, and always leave rehearsal pumped about our next show.

As the organization celebrates its second birthday this September on Wednesday, Sept. 10, there are still people in Tucson who’ve never been to a FST! show, or still aren’t sure what it’s all about. It isn’t about any one thing, except this: women’s lives. Since women’s lives are made up of all kinds of different experiences, it’s tough to summarize just what kind of stories will show up on the FST! stage on any given month. But here are some traits that FST!’s most moving and memorable stories have in common.

Truth
Sure, we may change names to protect the innocent. We may embellish, exaggerate, and employ hyperbole – it’s not like we’re being held to the same standard of truth as witnesses in federal court. But the power of FST! stories comes from the fact that they are based on our storytellers’ lived experience.

Humility
Of course none of us would be standing under the spotlight with a mic in our hands, demanding the attention of a roomful of people, without some measure of ego – but the best FST! storytellers understand that a good performance serves the story, and the goal of the story is to share some little measure of wisdom that can benefit the audience (even if it’s just to make them laugh). On the FST! stage, storytellers check their egos at the door.

Life
The best stories teach the audience something, but they aren’t lectures. They are smart, but don’t talk down to us. They are enlightening without preaching, vulnerable without self-pitying, touching but unsentimental.

Underrepresented Voices/Breaking Stigma/Confronting Taboos
FST! strives to be a diverse and inclusive space for women and transfolk. To become a space that better represents all women’s stories, we would like to welcome more FST!ers who are 40+, women of color, queer and/or genderqueer, and disabled. FST! storytellers are often incredibly courageous, telling stories that the mainstream media and culture thinks we should be ashamed of. We want more of the voices that aren’t being heard.

On the FST! stage, topics have included sex, chronic illness, mental illness, plastic surgery, domestic violence, abortion, teen motherhood, and sex work. It might sound, on the whole, like a lot of uncomfortable material, but the stories come with humor and personality and presence, and every time, I am amazed to see audiences go there with us and leave just a little bit wiser having been part of the journey.

I suppose “community” is the word for what we have – this space where we support each other and work so hard to craft our stories into an experience we can laugh about together – but I prefer “girl gang,” because there’s something edgy about us gals on the mic, fists in the air, challenging the status quo. Being funny, and feminists, at the same time. FST! shows always entertain, and the audience always has our back – no judgment. It’s a beautiful thing.

The next event happens at Flycatcher, 340 E. 6th St., on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. Get more information at FSTorytellers.com.

Combating Violence with Laughter

September 5, 2014 | Jon D Auria

Physical abuse is a serious issue that plagues our society every day with astounding numbers of cases of violence – primarily against women – that hurt our family structures and those we love in debilitating ways. Every year over 4 million physical assaults occur on women dealt by their partners; women under 24-years-old are at the greatest risk of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault.

Suzie Sexton: Tucsonan, comedienne, attorney, an activist against violence and organizer of the Stand Up To Stop Violence annual fundraisers.
Photo: Allan Sturm Photography

Clearly this issue is no laughing matter. But as the old adage states, laughter is the best medicine for most things, and thanks to Tucsonan Suzie Sexton and her organization Comedy for Charity, she’s doing her part to help put an end to abuse.

On Sunday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., Suzie is presenting the 4th Annual Stand Up To Stop Violence variety show at the Fox Theatre in Downtown Tucson. The highly anticipated event will be emceed by David Fitzsimmons and features comedy performances by Bill Dawes, Jill Bryan (sister to Jimmy Kimmel), Elliot Glicksman and Suzie Sexton herself. Janee Starr, Hope Sullivan and LeeAnne Savage will provide music and a dance number will be performed by Dancing In The Streets AZ. There will be raffle prices, drinks and a red carpet with reporters and camera crews from Tucson Lifestyle Live. Proceeds will go to Dancing In The Streets AZ and Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse.

Senseless violence is something that has affected Sexton immensely in her own life, the impetus behind holding these fundraising events.

“Unfortunately, I was terribly affected when my sister was murdered in a mugging in Chicago in 1980. A lot more people are impacted by violence than anyone typically imagines. So I became an activist so that I can do all that I could to prevent this kind of violence from happening,” says Sexton. “I wanted to do something positive, so I’m using this gala to raise awareness and money to prevent violence and also to entertain people with a great show. There’s always the comedy-tragedy juxtaposition and I like to use the phrase that when there’s laughter there’s hope.”

After growing up in Illinois, Sexton went on to become an attorney in Tucson where she takes on cases against violence and physical abuse, but she decided that there was still more that she could do, so she minted her own organization and paired up with other great institutions that share her passion. One such institution is this year’s co-beneficiary Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, which provides a 24/7 crisis hotline, emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing programs, safety planning assistance, case management, legal assistance, individual and group support, and much more to victims of violence.

“Our mission is to provide the opportunity to create, sustain and celebrate a life free from abuse. We are focused on the individual needs of each of our participants and offer a wide range of services to assist them in their journey,” says Emerge’s VP of Philanthropy Kimberly Thompson. “Our goal is to educate people about the tremendous amount of abuse and violence in our community and the need for all of us to get involved. Suzie has seen how violence can damage lives and wanted to do something meaningful and we all benefit for it. It’s wonderful thing, hearing a roomful of Tucsonans laughing and enjoying themselves and at the same time contributing to the safety of our community.”

Bill Dawes headlines the 4th Annual Stand Up To Stop Violence variety show.
Photo: Maria Tornberg

As the event has evolved over the years, so has the caliber of its gala, as this year’s headliner, Bill Dawes, comes from New York City where he is currently working on a new Broadway play while also performing stand up across the country. Dawes has already had an impressive career where he has starred in the hit Broadway play Bronx Bombers as Mickey Mantle, has had roles on Sex in The City, Law & Order and Criminal Minds on top of touring the world for his successful comedy act.

“Comedy at its purest form should always be for charity. The idea that there are people that you can make laugh and help raise money towards a cause just makes sense. If I could do that for every show, I’d do it,” says Dawes. “As a comic you can spend a lot of your life navel gazing and you feel like everything you’re doing is for your tortured inner-child, so when there’s something validating and uplifting that isn’t just for yourself and can be used to help people, it’s a great thing. I’m truly honored to perform at this year’s gala and to support such a meaningful cause that affects all of us.”

“We’ve really pulled out all of the stops for this year’s show and we’re so excited about it. I love bringing live comedy to Tucson because it’s way different than watching comedians on TV, and this event gives you a lot of bang for your buck. It’s not just comedy; it’s a whole variety show,” says Sexton. “I get an emotional high from raising money for this cause and I love making people laugh, so those two things combined are a big win-win.”

Tickets for the Sunday, Sept. 21 event are available at the Fox Theatre box office, 17 W. Congress St., and online at FoxTucsonTheatre.com for $19, $29 or $49 for VIP. Student tickets with ID are $10. For more information visit ComedyForCharity.org.