Wavelength

Cutting-Edge

Performances

Breathtaking

DAY TRIPS

Fall issue sponsored by

DIOGUARDI FLYNN LLP Attorneys at Law

B Wavelength

Features 24 The Elements of Lynne

By Trisha Coffman

Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of The Splendid Table, dishes on her past, her politics and dead green beans.

28 Taking Rhythm to Heart

By Daniel Newhauser

From basements in Queens to churches in Paradise Valley, drummers are using rhythm to heal body and mind—and doctors are listening in.

32 Survival in the Core

By Si Robins

These are tough times. But in the heart of Phoenix, some independent businesses are enjoying an upswing during the downturn.

38 Teaching Taste

By Elizabeth Exline

38

Culture and kids. The words seem about as comfortable together as opera and K-Fed. But teaching children taste, it turns out, isn’t really so hard.

EMILY PIRAINO

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

24 Talk about Kasper the friendly host! Lynne Rossetto Kasper shares her life story, her food philosophy and the easiest rice recipe you’ll ever read.

Check it out on page 24.

On the Cover An amateur drummer at a free, local workshop learns how drumming can soothe the body and mind. Discover how you can join him on page 28.

Fall 2009 1

2 Wavelength

Departments 10 All Perspectives Considered

The reporters of KJZZ’s Latino Affairs Desk bring cultural nuance to news.

By Evan Wyloge 16 Art Worth Talking About

A sampling of some of the most buzz-worthy shows of the new season.

By David M. Brown 46 Superstitions Adventure

Hot on the trail of Hacksaw Tom.

By Peter Aleshire 54 Tastes of the Tropics

Island hop east and west to explore tastes from the Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean—right here in the desert.

By RaeAnne Marsh

Featured Listener Stories

54

Pages 14, 22, 44 and 52

Also Inside 4 6

Contributors Editor’s Note 60 KBAQ Programming Guide 62 KJZZ Programming Guide 64 Crossword

EMILY PIRAINO

These two teenagers grew up to expand the way KJZZ covers the news. Find out who they are and how they did on page 10.

10 Fall 2009 3

Wavelength P U B L I C R A D IO

Contributors

Fall 2009

Peter Aleshire An award-winning writer and editor, Peter has written eight books, including four history books, three geology books and a book about training F-16 pilots.

Vicki Louk Balint A former producer of KJZZ’s local weekly edition of Here and Now, Vicki writes, podcasts and produces Web video for Raising Arizona Kids magazine. Find her blog at raisingarizonakids.com.

Fred Jarmuz Fred takes care of his right-brain tendencies by cycling all over the Valley and keeps his left brain happy by solving and creating crossword puzzles.

He’s seen his published in the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun.

Production of Wavelength is underwritten by Friends of Public Radio Arizona (FPRAZ), 2323 W. 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 EDITOR IN CHIEF

Karen Werner ART DIRECTION / PRODUCTION

Susich Design Company Yvette Johnson Yvette is a freelance writer. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and their two rambunctious sons.

David M. Brown David has been a publisher, reporter and editor and now freelances in subjects such as architecture, entertainment, tourism, food, cars and wine.

Carolyn Marsh A graduate of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Carolyn has interned at The Arizona Republic. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in elementary education.

Trisha Coffman Trisha works as a freelance features writer and sometime editor. She has contributed widely to local magazines, and these days writes mainly about business and science for Web and print publications.

RaeAnne Marsh RaeAnne’s byline appears over articles on subjects as varied as business, decor and life in Arizona.

She is the proprietor of Grammar & Glitz.

FPRAZ BOARD OFFICERS

Phil Hagenah Dan Schweiker Susan Edwards Mark Dioguardi

Chair Vice Chair Treasurer Secretary

FPRAZ BOARD MEMBERS

Mike Chiricuzio Steve Curley Jan Dolan Sandra Etherton Bob Frank Karen Greenberg Win Holden Dr. Laura W. Martin

Carl Matthusen Carol L. McElroy Michael Moskowitz Edward Plotkin John Roberson Linda Saunders Dr. Linda Thor Paulina Vazquez-Morris

KBAQ / KJZZ GENERAL MANAGER

James Paluzzi, Ph.D. Elizabeth Exline Elizabeth is a freelance writer who frequently covers design and architecture. Her work has appeared in Robb Report, Estates West and Travel Savvy, among other publications.

Kristen Forbes Kristen is a freelance writer living outside Portland, Oregon. To view her blog, visit krissymick.blogspot.com.

Daniel Friedman Over the years, Dan has worked as a photojournalist at a daily newspaper, a commercial photographer, and an elementary and middle school teacher. He is now a writer and photographer for Raising Arizona Kids magazine.

Art Holeman A commercial photographer for 30 years, Art has garnered national awards, including appearances in Communication Arts, Applied Arts and Graphis. To see more of his work, visit artholeman.com.

4 Wavelength

Daniel Newhauser Daniel will graduate from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in December. His last semester will be spent studying at the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism in Washington, DC.

GENERAL MANAGER EMERITUS

Carl Matthusen KBAQ / KJZZ SENIOR MANAGERS

Lou Stanley, Scott Williams ADVERTISING SALES

Emily Piraino From the moment she lifted her first camera, Emily knew she wanted to spend her life documenting the world through a lens. She lives for the thrill of preserving in print the way the human spirit thrives.

Si Robins Si is a writer and editor who lives in downtown Phoenix. You can usually find him sitting in his courtyard with neighbors, rooting for the Suns at U.S. Airways Center or blogging at Fair Trade Café.

Drop Si a line at si@siwrites.com.

Evan Wyloge Evan is a freelance writer, longtime Arizona resident and current graduate student at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

Nancy Mitchell, Public Radio Partners 480.946.6500 KBAQ / KJZZ 2323 W. 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 KBAQ 89.5 FM www.kbaq.org 480.833.1122 KJZZ 91.5 FM www.kjzz.org 480.834.5627 KJZZ can also be found: In Flagstaff / Cottonwood—89.5 FM In Prescott—90.1 FM In Tucson—98.9 FM In Globe—106.9 FM KBAQ, your classical music station, can also be heard in Ahwatukee on 89.3 FM, and North Scottsdale on 89.7 FM. Both KBAQ and KJZZ are streamed live on the Web 24 hours a day to provide worldwide access to our programming at: www.kbaq.org and www.kjzz.org.

The views expressed in Wavelength are solely those of the individuals providing them and do not necessarily represent the opinions of KBAQ, KJZZ, FPRAZ, their agents or their affiliates.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information herein, we do not assume responsibility or liability for errors or omissions. © 2009 FPRAZ. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction in any manner is prohibited.

Fall 2009 5

editor’s note

We Got the Beat

Karen Werner “It’s rare for something to be created for a supposedly vanishing audience: the intelligent general population.”

walk into the church and take my seat in a silent ring of perhaps 20 men and women. We haven’t met, are from all over the state and have not come to pray. Spanning ages and ethnicities, we sit awkwardly, waiting for the evening to begin.

At last, we’re invited to beat the drums before us. Congas, djembes, tubanos and soundshapes—all there to be played. I give my djembe a timid slap, wondering why, exactly, I came.

I know the answer, of course. I was inspired by Dan Newhauser’s article, “Taking Rhythm to Heart,” which explores the physiological effects of music on the human heart. The story looks at ways doctors and musicians are experimenting with music in treating heart arrhythmias. It also discusses how this free monthly group led by the AZ Rhythm Connection’s Frank Thompson uses a drumming protocol to boost the immune system, relieve stress and promote relaxation.

So here I am, in a Paradise Valley church, shaking a tambourine and telling the group why I came. Others are talking about themselves, too. One woman, a ringer for Shirley MacLaine, talks about traveling from Sedona that day to close her sister’s estate. A distinguished man of about 70 says this night reminds him that creating his happiness is his job—no one else can do it for him.

As we talk and visualize and drum, our beats transition from isolated and scattered to a unified groove. We sound good. And, amazingly, our awkwardness is gone. Within 15 minutes, we’ve gone from being strangers to sharing genuinely who we are.

“The drumming is just an excuse for people to connect with each other,” Thompson says.

“It’s a form and a way to connect through music.”

I like to think of this magazine that way—as a sort of conversation that connects a community.

Readers come to Wavelength—like the people banging those drums—from all over the place, not because of a single affiliation. And in this world of niches—where every magazine, like every ad, is aimed at a particular ZIP Code, income bracket, interest or identity, it’s rare for something to be created for a supposedly vanishing audience: the intelligent general population.

But that’s who Wavelength aims to serve: the people—of every income or interest—who have come to recognize in KJZZ and KBAQ’s programming a civilization, their civilization, in conversation with itself.

Fact-checking this issue, I made Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s marvelous “Dumbed-Down Rice,” took a Father’s Day journey into Phoenix Art Museum’s fabulous “Fireflies” and learned a mother lode about the famed Superstitions. I tried a few restaurants listeners recommended and became a pretty rockin’ drummer—at least for one night.

I hope you’ll try one new thing you read about in these pages, and perhaps stretch yourself— and our community—just a little bit further, too.

Warmly,

6 Wavelength

Fall 2009 7

8 Wavelength

Fall 2009 9

inside kjzz

By Evan Wyloge

All Perspectives Considered The reporters of KJZZ’s Latino Affairs Desk bring cultural nuance to news.

efore Marcos Nájera describes how he approaches his reporting, he pauses and fidgets a bit. His careful choice of words shows he takes the issue seriously.

“If only the audience would say, ‘Wow, those Latino Affairs reporters do such boring stories,’” he says with a smile. “Most Latino stories you hear, read or watch tend to be about Latinos doing stereotypical, over-the-top activities: drug-dealing, crime, border-crossing, fighting, gun smuggling. So I think it’s really important to hear the everyday,

ART HOLEMAN

B

10 Wavelength

average voices of Latinos in the community—the Latino walking down the street, window-shopping, sipping an iced tea, who’s concerned about President Obama’s plan to reform healthcare, as well as immigration.”

Marcos Nájera and Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez make up the Latino Affairs Desk at KJZZ. There, they report on the same sorts of stories most general news desks do, but with the added perspective each of their backgrounds affords.

“We are the Latino Affairs

Desk, so we have a slightly different focus,” Rodriguez says. “But we produce our pieces for everyone. We’re reporters more than anything else.” * * * Rodriguez was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago. Nájera was born in San Bernardino, and grew up in downtown Phoenix. Their distinct Latino heritages inform the way they consider a story, and the viewpoints their stories convey.

Rodriguez’s career in

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez, covering the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago (above), and (top right) at age 5.

ART HOLEMAN

journalism began early. She marveled at the programs she saw on her family TV, curious about how they were produced.

“I fell in love with broadcast when I was 14,” she says.

Because Rodriguez went to a performing arts high school, she got to build some broadcasting chops before she graduated, and got into the nationally recognized Columbia College Chicago’s broadcast journalism program. From there, one of the first big stories she did was covering the 1992 presidential election. She worked for a Univision affiliate in Chicago then, assigned to cover the George H.W. Bush campaign.

“That was incredible. I’ve always loved politics,” she says.

“Even during high school, I was involved in the student government. So, it was natural.”

After a number of years working in commercial television in Chicago, Rodriguez wanted to see how she liked public TV. She began helping to lead bilingual pledge drives, and soon knew that public broadcasting was where she wanted to be.

“I had found my niche,” she says. She preferred delivering what she saw as richer content at the public station.

When Rodriguez and her family moved to Phoenix five years ago, she quickly found work with KAET-TV, working on the show, “Horizonte.”

In 2007, Rodriguez and the rest of the Horizon production staff were nominated for an Emmy for a report on energy in the desert called “Power Hungry.” * * * Nájera sees himself, and his reporting style, as a synthesis of three fields of study.

After graduating from Alhambra High School here in the Valley,

he left for Stanford. He studied communications there and spent his summers working with nearby television stations, then completed graduate school at the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) after studying elementary education.

“Theoretically, I should be teaching bilingual social studies,” Nájera explains.

But during his last year in graduate school, while Nájera was working for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, he began working with Anna Deavere Smith, a pioneer in docudrama theater.

With the help of a grant, they embarked on a large project, gathering the stories of the 1996 presidential campaigns of President Clinton and Robert Dole.

The mix of journalistic inquisitiveness and creative storytelling the docudrama method allowed intrigued Nájera. Over time, he came to realize that the intersection of theater, technology, journalism and education is where he saw his calling. From there, it was just a matter of refining his methods.

“I call myself a storyteller,” Nájera says plainly. “I look for where journalism and theater intersect, because it’s all about a strong story, strong writing and strong delivery. My goal is to educate, so whether the stage is radio, television or a physical stage, I see my work as incorporating all of those elements.”

Nájera spent the late 90’s and early 2000s in San Francisco, Phoenix and Tucson, working as a reporter, freelance producer, anchor and station manager. * * *

At about this time, KJZZ news director Mark Moran says the station recognized an opportunity in the large and growing number of Latinos in Arizona and across the Southwest. So KJZZ began to look into developing a new way of covering this growing population and part of the audience.

For Moran, the discussion of a Latino Affairs Desk had to include a discussion about impact. To do that effectively, a roundtable of community leaders was gathered to discuss issues they felt weren’t being covered, or weren’t being covered the right way.

“Family issues, education, health were the topics they wanted to hear more of,” Moran explains.

The KJZZ team saw that the Latino audience was being underserved and planned the launch of the Latino Affairs Desk.

Moran stresses that, since the beginning, they’ve known it would be important to cover border issues and immigration, but not deny other, more day-to-day issues that matter to Latinos in Arizona.

In 2006, Nájera began working for KJZZ. When the Latino Affairs Desk position opened, he jumped at the opportunity.

Meanwhile, when Rodriguez heard about the position, colleagues at KAET urged her to pursue the job. Though hesitant because she Fall 2009 11

ART HOLEMAN

says of the area around the Santa Rita Center in downtown Phoenix, where Cesar Chavez led many of his civil rights actions. “I was always around politically active Latinos, but we never scaled fences. We never brought drugs.

We don’t wear sombreros or listen to the “Mexican Hat Dance” or eat tortilla chips at every meal,” he says.

Nájera and Rodriguez now split the duties of the Latino Affairs Desk at KJZZ, meeting regularly to plan what stories they’ll go after, how they’ll approach them and what their timing will be. This allows Rodriguez to spend time with her family and work part-time didn’t have radio production at KAET, and allows Nájera to experience, Rodriguez interviewed, was hired and has fallen travel and act in a variety of theater productions part-time. in love with public radio, not unlike her experience with * * * For Rodriguez and Nájera, public television years before. there’s no one formula for Moran says the reaction what makes a great story. But from the Latino community what they invariably find is a has been entirely positive. “The human connection. response we got was, ‘Wow. One of Rodriguez’s favorite Finally someone is paying pieces was a story she produced attention to the issues that are about Ricardo Elias. Trained as a important to us. It’s in-depth classical vocalist, Elias decided to coverage, and it’s not just the immerse himself in the family stereotypical things.’” tradition: mariachi.

Knowing how to handle a “This was an incredible piece story for the Latino Affairs Desk for me to do, because in it you is sometimes tricky, given the stereotypes that often lie beneath find not only incredibly talented labels like Latino. “I think back to individuals, but you find a story of identity,” Rodriguez explains. the neighborhood where I grew “Ricardo found the music of his up, my family, my sister,” Nájera

Marco Nájera, as a young boy in Phoenix (above), and (top right) at a recent lunch with colleague and friend, Anna Deavere Smith.

12 Wavelength

parents’ country, Mexico. You get to hear him find that connection to his roots.”

One of Nájera’s favorite topics is technology. He loves gadgets, and getting to weave a humaninterest story with that subject allowed him to produce a story about an all-girl robotics team from Carl Hayden Community High School. The school has become known for its robotics program, and for keeping Latino high school students engaged through the competition each year.

For Nájera, this is a perfect example of what the Latino Affairs Desk is about.

“We try to tell stories with a Latino or Latina perspective, but we’re interested in science and technology. We’re interested in music,” he says. “These are just normal high school kids doing normal, if exciting and competitive, high school kid stuff. They just happen to be Latina.”

Hear

THE REPORTS

If you listen to KJZZ regularly, chances are you’ve already heard pieces produced by Marcos Nájera and Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez. Their reports are in English, though sometimes they include Spanish from sources, which is translated. Latino Affairs Desk stories frequently air on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Fall 2009 13

listener profile

By Yvette Johnson

Right Place, Write Time One woman’s journey to discover her true self, and the music that helped her do it.

DANIEL FRIEDMAN

For Jeanne Nelson, a certain KBAQ moment was a cathartic experience. “In less than a minute, as I listened to Itzhak Perlman fine-tune my soul, years of undiscovered joy rolled down my cheeks,” she says.

Jeanne Nelson “I was amazed, wonder-struck and lit from within with a passion to hear more.”

14 Wavelength

J

Jeanne Nelson has heard it all—all types of music, that is. She’s been a fan of 70’s tunes, country music and Motown. But it was a Phoenix stoplight that helped her find the melody that green-lighted her life.

Nelson discovered KBAQ while sitting in her car at the intersection of 19th Avenue and Thunderbird Road. What Nelson didn’t know then was that she was also at a crossroads in her life. She was feeling disengaged from her career and uncertain about the future when out of her car stereo came

the sounds of Itzhak Perlman.

“Quite literally, I fell headlong into love with the lilting notes of the violin,” she says. “I was amazed, wonder-struck and lit from within with a passion to hear more.” Though Nelson had never been a classical music fan, she became one that day. She went on to become a major KBAQ fan, too.

Today, Nelson credits classical music with helping her through a tumultuous decade that included losing her mother and changing careers. “A steady diet of classical music sustained me while my midlife challenges turned from angst to thanks,” she says. She also credits KBAQ with keeping her in tune with the metaphysical world, saying the music fills in some of the gaps in her energy field.

“There’s a certain amount of healing in the notes,” Nelson explains. When she listens to KBAQ, she says she can feel the notes moving through and healing her.

In getting through her hard times, Nelson also discovered her passion: creative writing.

She started with almost no experience, but in the past five years she’s become a fulltime writer with three novels, many poems and several short stories to her name.

Just like she suddenly found classical music, the desire to write hit like a rush of wind. Nelson says she doesn’t know where the next gust will carry her, but one thing is certain: She’ll bring an open mind, her overflowing creativity and the tunes of KBAQ along for the ride.

Fall 2009 15

the arts

ILLUSTRATION DAVID SENIOR/WWW.CAUSEDESIGN.COM

By David M. Brown

Art Worth Talking About A sampling of some of the most buzz-worthy shows of the new season.

W

e’ve identified five arts events certain to leave audiences talking—a little risk-taking and hacklesraising, maybe, but worth highlighting for your entertainment year. So, drop your assumptions about “art” and political correctness, and check out these shows you’ll be hearing about.

“Nixon in China,” The Phoenix Symphony, Symphony Hall, Nov. 12-14, 2009 Anti-communist exemplar Richard M. Nixon in Beijing.

First Lady Pat Nixon at a Chinese pig farm. Chairman Mao Zedong foxtrotting.

Almost four decades later, Nixon’s trip to the People’s Republic of China in February 1972 remains a political tour de force by a leader whose presidency ended in ignominy.

“Nixon in China,” the 1987 opera by distinguished American composer John Adams, recounts that historic, superbly histrionic visit, in which the soon-to-be-

16 Wavelength

Watergated president meets with Chinese leaders, led by the formidable Mao, conductor of the Cultural Revolution.

With libretto by Alice Goodman, the three-act work premiered in October 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera. This year’s debut performance by The Phoenix Symphony will include substantial excerpts from this American masterpiece, including the well-known “The Chairman Dances,” which incorporates the foxtrot theme from the last act.

The 80-minute segment has been selected by conductor Michael Christie, who is serving in his fifth year as the Symphony’s Virginia G. Piper Music

Director. “We worked very closely with John Adams to make the selections and hope to convey the wonderful sense of an ‘orchestra in motion’ that this music provides, as well as the power and paranoia that characterized Nixon himself,” says Christie.

“Nixon in China” represents one of Adams’ middle-period pieces, with its propulsive minimalism, he says. More recent works, such as “On the Transmigration of Souls,” memorializing those who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks, are somewhat more melodic and layered, even epic.

This season, the Symphony will also perform this work, for

chorus and orchestra, on Sept.

11 and 12, as well as “Shaker Loops” on Feb. 18-20 and “Chamber Symphony” on April 29-May 1. These performances are part of “Composer Spotlights,” in which the Symphony celebrates the work of a significant composer.

“Adams has evolved from the early rhythmic cells of ‘Shaker Loops’ to the postminimalism of ‘Transmigration of Souls,’ but his body of work, as exemplified by ‘Nixon in China,’ is always emotionally intense, clean and crisp,” Christie says.

The Phoenix Symphony, 602-495-1999; phoenixsymphony.org

“Jillian McDonald: Alone Together in the Dark,” ASU Art Museum, Oct. 5, 2009–Feb. 20, 2010

McDonald, a New York City resident and associate professor of fine art at Pace University.

Her recent work centers on the mechanisms of fear as entertainment in horror movies.

“I examine the ways film genres affect their audiences and the fan sub-cultures that fuel them,” she says. “I strip plot, character and gore from Hollywood horror film narratives and make artworks that focus on the protagonists and their dilemmas, finding humor along the way.”

For example, in one recent video, Screaming, based on films like The Shining and Alien, she screams back at the monsters, scaring them to smithereens.

Starting with an empty gallery, McDonald will invite the community to films, workshops and activities, such as telling ghost stories while camping in the desert. At a free public talk on Oct. 9, she’ll share her past work; later that evening, she’ll meet the community during an opening reception.

For the project’s first six weeks, through Nov. 14, McDonald will be an artist in residence.

Her work, in line with the “Social Studies” spirit, turns traditional art relationships topsy-turvy. In most exhibitions, the process is hidden. “Curators select a project or artist behind closed doors, the artist makes

LILITH PERFORMANCE STUDIO

LILITH PERFORMANCE STUDIO

Boo! That won’t unnerve Canadian artist Jillian McDonald. Neither will creaky Gothic houses dominated by dead mothers. Or shrieking teenagers with flashlights under their chins in black-and-white forests.

In October, this student of the macabre will create the fifth in a series of “Social Studies” art projects curated by John Spiak at the ASU Art Museum. In these programs, gallery becomes laboratory, actively involving patrons in the artwork.

“The Tempe project will involve haunted sites, ghosts and abandoned houses, focusing on ideas around sustainable living, ghost towns and the Day of the Dead,” says

COURTESY ROSENTHAL GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO

Jillian McDonald from rehearsals and makeup sessions for “Undead in the Night.” This collaboration with Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, Sweden placed more than 100 actors in a forest in the middle of the night. Then, starting at twilight, a bus transferred the audience eight people at a time to the forest location, where various scenes between zombies and vampires came alive.

the work in his or her studio, the work is shipped to the museum in closed crates, the gallery is closed for the installation, and when that is all complete, the audience is invited in for viewing,” Spiak explains. “Most decisions of what the audience will see have already been made for them before they enter the museum.”

But that’s autocratic art.

Here, interaction, innovation, interrogation and process define the challenges to museum, audience and artist. “The artists shown are reaching beyond the regular patrons to let people experience art in unlikely ways,” McDonald says.

After all, why should the boogeyman have all the fun?

ASU Art Museum, Nelson Fine Arts Center, 480-965-2787; asuartmuseum.asu.edu

Fall 2009 17

CHARLES DEE RICE

Bruno Cisneros in the role Gus, a retired WWII veteran in "Voices of Valor," which was inspired by the oral histories of Latino WWII veterans, their families and friends. The play held its world premiere in March 2006 at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe.

What if you defended someone and were spurned for your efforts?

“Voices of Valor” by the Valley’s James E. Garcia, is a full-length play about how American Latinos lived, fought and died during World War II—despite a legacy of discrimination at home.

One character describes how his sergeant dressed down boot-camp trainees: “I want this fine bunch of young Americans out in front of the barracks in 180 seconds,” the soldier recalled him saying. “That was the first time I was ever called ‘an American.’”

Garcia’s work is based on the U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project at the University of Texas at Austin. A team of researchers led by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez 18 Wavelength

of the university’s School of Journalism interviewed hundreds of soldiers who fought for freedom only to return to second-class citizenship in the United States.

Directed by Pamela Sterling, “Voices of Valor” shows, too, how the war catalyzed the Latino community’s struggle for civil rights and social recognition.

The New Carpa Theater Co. (formerly Colores Actors-Writers Workshop) creates and stages new Latino and multicultural works.

“Most of the work produced by New Carpa is inspired by current events and the socio-historical development of the Latino community,” says Garcia, a journalist and university instructor who serves as the company’s producing artistic director and resident playwright.

“Voices of Valor” is not activist theater, he says, calling its appeal

CHARLES DEE RICE

“Voices of Valor,” New Carpa Theater Co., American Legion Post 41, Nov. 6–8 and Nov. 13–15, 2009

broad. “New Carpa is presenting works that are entertaining, engaging and thought-provoking,” Garcia says. “We stage work that’s proven time and again that it can engage and entertain Latinos and non-Latinos alike.”

New Carpa Theater Co., 602-460-1374; newcarpa.org

Angela Medina, left, and Santiago Rosas in a scene recreating the liberation of Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp during WWII.

In the 2009 Phoenix Fringe Festival performance of “The Virgin Barb-E,” created and performed by EmaLee Arroyo, the artist played a life-size Virgin of Guadalupe-version of a Barbie doll, coming to life and performing miracles for the audience.

Phoenix Fringe Festival, Downtown Venues TBA, April 2 and 3 and April 8–11, 2010 Trying to get a new work produced can put you on the alley side of the stage door—the theatrical fringe. After all, theaters are in business to sell tickets, and established works and celebrated creators fill seats.

But the Phoenix Fringe Festival, in its third year, is changing that with innovative theater by local, national and international artists in nontraditional downtown spaces—and at truly inviting prices.

“Fringe festivals have a very open philosophy about accepting work from any artist that wants to participate,” says Patrick Demers, who produces PHX:fringe with Jonathan Beller. “We believe this encourages some of the most interesting and provocative work possible. On the other hand, we work to also attract some seasoned performers to work side by side with emerging artists.”

A fringe festival presents 30- to 90-minute alternative performance pieces during a set period (usually 10 to 20 days) in a number of venues, Demers explains. Fringe artists challenge traditional theatrical forms and conventions and often incorporate music, dance, performance art and digital media into their works.

The tradition began in

1947 with the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, when renegade companies showed up to the Edinburgh International Festival without an invitation or a place to perform—and set up anywhere they could find a space. Following that success, fringe festivals have thrived in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Indianapolis and other cities.

Demers and Beller created PHX:fringe while they were in their last year of the master’s of fine arts in directing program at ASU’s School of Theatre and Film. They received a seed grant to produce a weekend pilot project of 25 performances in May 2008. Last year, they expanded the event to two weekends, seven venues, 130 performances and 30 artists from around the Valley and the world.

This year, the festival hopes to include new and returning local artists, such as playwright Kevin Frei, the 5 Out of 4 Ensemble, and Dulce Dance Company.

“Our goal is to encourage artists from Phoenix and around the world to provide the best-quality, cutting-edge performances available,” Demers says. “We invite audiences and artists alike to watch our Web site as further details about PHX:fringe 2010 are determined.”

PHX: fringe showcases the work of artists from around the country, such as “Paint the Town” (above), performed

by Milwaukee’s Insurgent Theatre, and “Fruit Machine” (left), by Phoenix’s own Hilary Harp, with Suzie Silver.

Phoenix Fringe Festival, 602-476-1066; phxfringe.org

Fall 2009 19

THE SECOND CIT Y

How would we survive without crazy characters like Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna? Without the sense and nonsense of Robert Klein, Joan Rivers, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Andrea Martin, Martin Short and Catherine O’Hara? Or Dan Aykroyd, Bonnie Hunt, Mike Myers, Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert or Tina Fey? However the history of American comedy is written, it’ll include at least one hilarious chapter about the often ungentle gentlemen and women of Second City. This famed band of kibitzers is on its way to Arizona to end Arizona Theatre Company’s season with a bang that will leave some local movers and shakers whimpering.

While the group dates itself to its first comedy revue in 1959, its beginning goes back to 1953 with a group of smartaleck University of Chicago undergrads. Later revues in 20 Wavelength

Chicago and Toronto and television hits such as “SCTV” and “Saturday Night Live” propelled Second City performers to bigtime fame.

Will the distinguished comedy troupe take down Sheriff Joe or will they, instead, be rounded up and fitted for pink bloomers?

How will the governor fare? Or David Ira Goldstein himself, the well-regarded artistic director of ATC? Will he need to get out of town by the Sunday matinee?

“I wanted to put a ‘wild card’ into our season—something that would be totally unlike anything ATC has done before, but something that maybe would serve to lift our spirits,” says Goldstein. “I looked at some very silly comedies but felt that our audience would appreciate something with more bite and texture. A society that can’t laugh at itself or loses its sense of humor, even in the most complex of times, is a society that is in trouble.”

What’s in trouble is hypocrisy

THE SECOND CIT Y

“The Second City Does Arizona, or Close But No Saguaro,” Arizona Theatre Company, Herberger Theater Center, April 29–May 16, 2010

and holier-than-thou attitudes, desert kitsch and tourist schlock, border fences and drug tunnels, and maybe even the mighty saguaro itself, which doesn’t grow nearly as fast as the state deficit.

“We’ll send a couple of our writers into an area about five months before the show to keep it current,” explains Kelly Leonard, Second City vice president. “As always, our credo as cultural voyeurs is ‘Dare to Offend.’”

The daring cast will consist of three men and three women—perhaps an Arizonan come home to roost and roast, since Second City likes to use

talent familiar with an area’s quirks and nuances.

“Second City is the Tabasco sauce of our programming,” Goldstein says. “And we all know there are certainly a lot of juicy targets in Arizona.”

Improvisation—central to the Second City craft—is theatrically spicy. “Nothing calls on the ‘you are there’ nature of live theater like the feeling that anything could happen,” Goldstein says.

Arizona Theatre Company, 602-256-6995; arizonatheatre.org

Fall 2009 21

listener profile

By Vicki Louk Balint

News for the Newsman One local news wrangler takes on the digital frontier, finding an oasis and inspiration in NPR.

Adam Klawonn “It’s a constant war— Steve Goldstein versus Rascal Flatts!”

22 Wavelength

A

Adam Klawonn started out old school, studying print journalism at ASU and moving through reporting jobs at The Arizona Republic and The San Diego Union-Tribune. That was about 10 years back, when newspapers were still nice and thick. No Facebook, no Twitter, and certainly no one sending the latest YouTube video around. At the time, Klawonn says, the idea of multimedia Web journalism was “barely a glint in our eyes.”

But in 2005, Klawonn says he saw the future of journalism. News on the Web was exploding, and Klawonn watched The Union-Tribune and other papers scramble to find a niche online.

DANIEL FRIEDMAN

‘The Arizonan’ has given Adam Klawonn a solid niche, as well as a vision of how news might be reported in the future. “I’ve never been more hopeful for local journalism,” he says.

How would this new medium fit into the old business of covering the news? And more pointedly, was the Web friend to the daily paper—or foe? No one, including management at The Union-Tribune, seemed to know.

“At first, they did not want the print reporters mixing with the online reporters,” Klawonn says. “It was viewed as competition to the actual paper.”

A strong desire to ride the wave of this new-school medium led Klawonn back to the Valley with an idea: He would develop a Web site, name it The Zonie Report, cover the state of Arizona, and grow his own audience.

And why not? “It’s the Wild West of news out there right now,” he says.

His brainchild is catching on. Klawonn won a Knight Foundation fellowship for entrepreneurs last May to help him devise new ways to grow the site into its new brand, the Arizonan. He also won a Knight Foundation grant in June to help launch a hyperlocal site to serve downtown Phoenix residents and light-rail commuters.

Klawonn hopes to expand the site’s interactivity with public discussion boards, a place for dialogue similar to shows like Talk of the Nation, which is his favorite. “For some reason, they aren’t attracting the snipers,” he says. “They aren’t going to take a flamethrower to the conversation.”

Insatiably hungry for breaking news, Klawonn is constantly “on”—checking Web sites and blogs for developing stories. Which doesn’t always jibe with a personal life.

“Getting in the car and listening to public radio is a break from the scanning lifestyle.

But it drives my girlfriend insane. She loves music, and I’ll say, ‘Could we just listen to NPR for a bit?’ It’s a constant war—Steve Goldstein versus Rascal Flatts!”

But, thankfully, says Klawonn, they’ve found KJZZ middle ground, relaxing during dinner with Blaise Lantana’s uninterrupted sets of jazz a few evenings a week. That would be called relaxing, old school. “We turn it on in the background,” he says. “It’s become a regular thing.”

Fall 2009 23

The Elements of Lynne Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of ‘The Splendid Table,’ dishes on her past, her politics and dead green beans.

By Trisha Coffman

24 Wavelength

L

Lynne Rossetto Kasper will tell you “can’t stand,” she says, the idea herself: She isn’t much of a “that you must cook your own Dumbed-Down Rice gardener. For all her canniness food or you don’t belong on with foods that are grown—from this planet. Nothing turns you If you think “perfect rice” is unattainable, punchy tomatoes to handfuls of off more quickly than someone listen to Lynne. This recipe from her latest baby greens to her favorite legume, looking down at you or cookbook will help you achieve “perfect the chickpea—it turns out there’s a being critical.” fluff.” Brown rice works with this recipe, too—Kasper says just cook it a little longer. weak link in Kasper’s repertoire.

While practical, Kasper is “My husband laughed about a discriminating champion of 3 quarts salted water in a the fact that at my first apartment, I home-cooked whole food.

5- to 6-quart pot had all these vegetables growing on “There are certain things I 1 cup long-grain white rice the windowsill and most of them prefer people don’t do, like were struggling for life,” the host of use what’s in a soup packet,” 1 Bring the salted water to a boil.

American Public Media’s The she says. “When there is more 2 Drop the rice into the water and boil Splendid Table says with a than one four-syllable word for 8 to 10 minutes, or until it’s slightly characteristic chuckle. “But I on the ingredients list, I just undercooked. Drain it in a sieve, return to the pot and let it rest, covered for 5 to 10 learned that when your green get nervous, that’s all. But the minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve. beans die from some strange idea is to throw open thing, that’s how you get the door, not close it in From ‘The Splendid Table’s How to Eat dried beans.” people’s faces.”

Supper: Recipes, Stories and Opinions So Kasper isn’t exactly brilliant Kasper does this by advising from Public Radio’s Award-Winning Food with a patch of earth. Lucky for novice cooks to begin simply: Show,’ by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and us, this mythic maven of food and “Boil water!” she importunes Sally Swift. Published by Clarkson Potter. radio fairly commands those other as though heating this classic classical Greek elements: air, element were the key to all water and fire. happiness—and at once you’re scrambling for a saucepan.

It’s via the airwaves, in a voice rich with heartening “If you boil some water and throw some salt in it confidence, that Kasper has come by her reputation and add some rice, you’ve made rice. You cannot as an expert and teacher of all things food—from screw it up.” humor to history, satire to science, to, as she says, that That’s Kasper’s brand of encouragement: a “it’s just really great to put in your mouth.” On her rallying nudge to make a smidgen more effort when it show and in her three cookbooks and weekly comes to what you put in your mouth. One second newsletters, she doles out informed musings alongside she’s conceding that not everybody’s a born cook; serviceable snippets, calling for a revolution without the next, she’s maintaining that everyone can make sounding revolutionary; she’s just making supper something—and she swears it will be worth it. She like the rest of us. It’s an approach that, for all its wants you to eventually have your way with a chicken shrugging subtlety, sends you hunting for a better and scatter of herbs, but for now, just tear some lettuce.

Manchego or using a pinch more imagination with “Do it once a week. Whatever’s easy, whatever’s your leftovers. going to give you something you like. That’s “That’s the whole idea,” Kasper says of people where you start.” getting more actively involved in their diet. But she Kasper started cooking professionally in the midst of waves aside the notion that you must cook and eat her “misspent youth wandering Greenwich Village according to the dictates of some know-it-all and in black tights,” long after she’d progressed beyond the

Fall 2009 25

art of the boil. A compulsive economy, in combination with learner, she had decided that a growing commitment to How to Find Lynne the one subject that could environmental stewardship, perennially hold her interest, will take us down paths yet In Print: the one thing she would never unseen.

• The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: know enough about, was food.

Specifically, Kasper would Recipes, Stories and Opinions from Public She catered out of miniature like to see the food industry Radio’s Award-Winning Food Show, by Manhattan kitchens and schooled rethink and redesign sourcing Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift herself in Asian cooking (a to better support smaller, • The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy’s Farmhouse Kitchens, by diversion she describes as somesustainable farms. And she Lynne Rossetto Kasper thing of a rebellion, given her thinks it’s about time for gov• The Splendid Table: Recipes from Italian heritage). She later ernment subsidies supporting Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of opened a successful cooking farmers who use sustainable Northern Italian Food, by Lynne school in Denver before methods. (For the record, Rossetto Kasper undertaking years of culinary Kasper defines “sustainable” in On the Radio: study in Europe that began terms of restorative practices • The Splendid Table airs on KJZZ with talking her way into an that leave the earth fertile rather Sundays at 2 p.m. apprenticeship in Paris. To than exhausted.) “We need to each stop she brought her figure out a way of bringing On the Internet: philosophy that food isn’t just subsidy and encouragement for • splendidtable.publicradio.org life-sustaining. It’s intimate. It’s more sophisticated technology Via Her Newsletter: what brings us to look across for medium-sized farms using • The Weeknight Kitchen—Subscribe at the table at one another. It’s— methods that produce food with splendidtable.publicradio.org/newsletter/ and this she repeats often in a minimum of petroleum-based conclusive italics—fun. input,” she says.

“There are too many ‘shoulds’ in this world, and “I’m just waiting,” says Kasper. “I don’t believe, there’s a point where we pleasure ourselves,” Kasper considering all the smart people out there, that says. “Maybe that means we eat the grass-fed steer, I’m the only one thinking this.” or maybe we eat something completely untoward, Kasper’s retooling would also feature smaller-scale but my concern is that people need to look at their changes not requiring industry overhauls or legislafood not for guilt or for demands, but for tion. She’d love for adults and children to cook tounderstanding a little bit more of themselves.” gether regularly, obliterating the lingering concept With her passion comes fire, and not just the of “kid food.” She thinks every school deserves a flames that come when you turn on the stove. garden, and she believes in buying at least one Kasper’s convictions have her angling for sweeping organic item each shopping trip. She’s even willing changes in the food world. There’s no excessive to risk sounding schmaltzy by suggesting that moralizing, no “shoulds,” just certainty that there’s a neighbors look out for one another, sharing extras better way. “I’d really like to be around for another from the garden or leftovers from dinner.

70 or 80 years to see where we go,” she says. “I don’t Oh, and Kasper has one more hope: That “we’d think we have far to go in some ways. We’re sitting all take a shot at growing our own food. Just a shoebox in the middle of an immense change happening in with dirt in it and salad seeds.” She’ll forgive you if this country.” She says today’s political scene and it withers on the windowsill.

26 Wavelength

Grow Your Own “Shoebox” Greens Ready to take a shot at growing an edible or two?

Sowing lettuce seeds in a small container is an easy way to start. Healthy soil, adequate sun and plenty of water are the only requirements, says Greg Peterson of the Urban Farm and YourGuideToGreen.com.

• If planting outdoors in the Phoenix area, do so between September and November. Peterson says it can be tricky to get adequate light indoors, so if you want to grow your greens inside, make sure to place them on a sunny windowsill.

• Select your container. Anything from a 4-inch to a 15-gallon pot will work. Just remember the smaller the container, the more quickly it will dry out.

• Buy seeds from a local nursery, or buy a “start” (basically a small plant whose root systems aren’t so established that you can’t move them). Peterson suggests buying both to extend your harvest. You can choose one or several types of seeds—everything from spinach, arugula, baby bok choy and “oodles of baby lettuces.”

• Prepare healthy soil. Buy a bag of organic composted material, layer that material with your backyard soil in your container, and mix well.

• Pour all your seeds into a single bowl and mix in a bit of the organic material or sand—this acts as a separator so the seeds won’t stick together.

• Sprinkle the seed mixture into your prepared pot, then cover with another ¼ inch of organic material.

• If planting “starts,” fill your pot about ¾ full with the dirt/organic material mix, place the start (with its own soil) on top, then fill the space around the start with more of the dirt mixture. Add seeds to the top if planting.

• Water every day—earlier is better on hot days.

• Greens will be ready to harvest in about three weeks from a start, 60 to 90 days for seeds.

Harvest from the outside in—don’t pull leaves out from the center or cut plants off at the base. Peel from the periphery of the stems, letting the center leaves continue growing.

For more information, visit urbanfarm.org.

Fall 2009 27

MILFORD GRAVES

Taking Rhythm 28 Wavelength

ABOVE: Jazz legend Milford Graves has taken on another study over the past three decades—body rhythms. And in his quest to find the heart’s music, he’s bridging the gap between indigenous intuitiveness and modern science.

T

Throughout history, indigenous people from China to Africa and on to the Americas have believed that music—particularly rhythm and drumming—is intertwined with healing and wellness.

Aboriginal communities in what is now Siberia, for instance, would sing, dance and drum to build up enough psychic energy to send a shaman on a journey to reach his healing spirits. Studying Ngoma—a type of ritual healing practiced in Central and Southern Africa—starts with learning traditional dances and drumbeats. In fact, shamans often refer to their drum as a horse, since it carries them on their journeys to the spirit worlds.

In Western culture, however, music has disengaged from medicine, and more by design than attrition—drums were at one time banned in Scotland and Ireland. And when Anglo populations immigrated to the Americas, they brought with them that puritanical distrust, prohibiting the music-healing customs of Native Americans and Africans transported to the Americas.

The modern West thrives on empirical evidence, so too often sound healing techniques are seen as hocus-pocus, new-age nonsense. But over the last few decades, the United States has reawakened to the possibilities of music as medicine. What were centuries ago acts borne simply from instinct are now gaining the support of science.

Some such research is being conducted by Milford Graves, a professor of music at Bennington College in Vermont. From his house in Queens,

“Your heart has to make adjustments to the kind of pathology that’s taking place in your body,” Graves says. “If you’re getting ready to have an impending heart attack or some crisis going down, the accentuated asymmetrical time values—the arrhythmia—is what can save your life, man.”

Graves also applied his musical training to a budding medical theory that heart conditions can be diagnosed by listening to the pitch changes of heartbeats.

“Sometimes some of my friends would come by who are musicians and we would sit around and we’d listen to heartbeats and I’d say, ‘What’s the pitch of that first heart sound?’” Graves says. “Everyone would try to figure it out, but it was kind of difficult because it wasn’t a frequency or pitch that you learn at the conservatory. The majority of the frequencies were between the semitone, the smallest interval of a piano tuned in equal temperament.”

Graves decided he’d need more accurate recordings. In 2000, with money from a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, he was able to upgrade his equipment. Now, he uses special stethoscopes crafted to detect extremely low-frequency sounds and records them into Pro Tools, a common sound-recording system that can store and display the heart sounds as waveforms. Graves then imports these recordings into LabVIEW, a graphical programming system that contains special algorithms that he’s designed to detect the heartbeat’s frequency, pitch

to Heart New York, the musician and former lab technologist is bridging the gap between indigenous intuition and modern science.

“In African drum systems there’s always this relationship between the heart and the drum,” Graves says. “I wanted to understand physiologically, how is it possible for the heart to function like a drum and vice versa?”

Graves, 68, is a prominent jazz drummer and percussionist from the 1960s New York avant-garde and free-jazz movements. Since then, he’s transformed his passion for percussion into pioneering research on correcting irregular heart sounds and rhythms. This work started by cataloging and categorizing heart sounds.

“This is not unusual, how great things always happen by accident,” he says. “I just wanted to record the heart and see what heartbeats sound like.”

Graves largely taught himself the science and technology behind his research. In the 1970s, using an electronic stethoscope, Graves started recording friends’ hearts in his basement. He noticed that healthy heartbeats are actually fairly irregular, with the waveform duration consisting of variable time values.

“I found that more heartbeats just don’t beat like, Boom boom, cha,” he says. “Heartbeat cycles with asymmetrical time values are more healthy. This asymmetry is called the ‘chaotic heartbeat.’”

Cardiologists now know this is a healthy way for the heart to beat because, if startled, it can alter its rhythm quite easily, avoiding strain.

From basements in Queens to churches in Paradise Valley, drummers are using rhythm to heal body and mind—and doctors are listening in.

By Daniel Newhauser Photography by Emily Piraino

changes, musical note, or even how flat or sharp it is. The LabVIEW machine is then connected to a set of cables.

“The processed heart sounds are outputted from LabVIEW and are connected by audio cables to surface electrodes placed on acupuncture and related points on the head,” Graves says. “These points are related to areas in the brain that affect heart function.”

Then, having modified the digital heartbeat to what he estimates is a healthier sound, Graves inputs a person’s own processed audio-electrical heart sound back into his or her body.

“I lay out possible highly aesthetic kinds of rhythm forms. Not what I think as a composer; I’m taking this from what your information or your biology is telling me,” he says. “If your heart rate is too slow or too fast, I would ask myself, What would be a good adaptive heart rate to use? You activate the body system to do the opposite. So basically if your body is exposed to a large amount of high-energy, high-electro voltage, the body will try to balance that out by activating the neurovascular system, telling the body to calm down.”

Graves then records the heart again to check for changes—with mixed results, so far. He says he’s basically attempting to train the heart to operate healthily in high-stress situations that could cause arrhythmia or cardiac arrest. This principle is similar to the theory behind defibrillation or using a pacemaker, where the heart is shocked into a different rhythm, says Fall 2009 29

Frank Thompson (left) leads would-be drummers through a Rhythm Therapy session.

“There’s abundant research evidence that sound and certainly drumming and rhythm affect physiological changes.”

30 Wavelength

Baruch Krauss, MD, a pediatric emergency physician at Harvard Medical School.

“It parallels cutting-edge research going on in some leading medical centers,” Krauss says. “He’s defining in a very unique perspective the tonality of normal and abnormal heart rhythms.”

Krauss, one of the few doctors who has actually visited Graves’ laboratory and studied with him, adds that Graves’ research is far from conclusive; though when he refines his methods, it should be put to clinical trials.

But Graves willingly admits he’s at the research stage. After The New York Times published an article about his work, he was deluged with correspondence from people begging him for treatment. But the fact is, Graves is “not so quick to say I have the cure-all,” he says.

“You’re dealing with something that’s personalized. Sometimes it lasts a long time, sometimes it doesn’t hold,” he says. “This is not something that’s pretty well set and has been established so that you can give out very definite answers.”

That’s the main problem at this point, says Barbara Crowe, the director of music therapy at Arizona State University. “If you’re looking for replicable effects, you’re not going to find them through music,” she says.

“There’s abundant research evidence that sound and certainly drumming and rhythm affect physiological changes,” says Crowe. “What the research shows, however, is that that impact is imprecise and variable and

Getthe Beat!

“If you listen to the wisdom of the ancients, if the mind’s not well, the body’s not well,” says Thompson. “So I’m giving people platforms to do both.”

The goal is to be rhythmically healthy. “We believe that rhythm is all around us, whether it’s day or night, whether we’re going to work or coming home,” Thompson says. “HealthRHYTHMS just gets you in touch using recreational music through the process of building rhythm.”

Recreational music is what Thompson calls music for fun. Young and old, short and tall, he says, gather at his sessions to drum.

“In recreational music, the emphasis is not on being great, musically.

The instruments are tools where we collectively interact with one another,” he says. “Humans are collaborative beings at our best. And with the recreational music and Wellness Through Rhythm, you get to come in and collaborate with others and socialize with others in an environment that’s comfortable and helpful. Doing all that together is a great way to heal emotionally or sustain yourself emotionally and also practice physical activity with it.”

As with Graves’ research, there’s no clear-cut resolution to the program—if you drum twice a week for three years you won’t be cured of anxiety. But this ambiguity actually serves to offer tailored wellness to a variety of troubles.

Chandler resident Joy Glaser, for example, has attended two or three classes per week for four years. The stress of a divorce and the death of her parents coupled with her natural shyness grew into seemingly

nterested in exploring the link between rhythm and health? Or just stressed out and want to unwind with a shot of rhythm and a side of group interaction? Bang a drum at an upcoming (and free!) Rhythm Therapy session, hosted by AZ Rhythm Connection.

Classes take place the last Thursday of each month at Paradise Valley United Methodist Church, 4455 E. Lincoln Drive in Paradise Valley. Childcare is even provided, so long as you inform the church 48 hours in advance (602-840-8360).

For more information about this, or any AZ Rhythm Connection class, visit azrhythmconnection.com.

I

very individualistic.”

Nobody is doing more research to bring precision to the process than Barry Bittman, MD, a neurologist and the CEO and medical director of the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He and his colleagues have found that drumming is primarily a stress reliever.

But that stress relief, according to his research, is itself just a start. A less stressed body could lead to better circulation, lower risk of heart disease, a healthier endocrine system and a stronger immune system.

So through extensive trials he developed a specific protocol called the HealthRHYTHMS Group Empowerment Drumming program, sponsored by the drum company Remo, which involves combinations of physical activity, drumming and talking.

“We know that when a person is stressed, there’s clearly an effect on the immune system,” Bittman says. “The protocol is built on getting people comfortable. When people are comfortable, that’s when their biology starts to change.”

The protocol is practiced around the world, and here in the Valley, Frank Thompson is one of its facilitators. His company, AZ Rhythm Connection, incorporates group drumming—like drum circles using bongos, congas, djembes, shakers and other percussive instruments— with physical activities like yoga as “gateways into better mind-body health awareness.”

insurmountable loneliness and depression.

“I had this big hole, and I needed something,” Glaser says. “I got into drumming and the first class was like, ‘Wow. This is phenomenal!’”

To her, the social aspect offers a chance to bond with others—something she’s not used to. The actual drumming, she says, is akin to sex: You can come into it with all kinds of pain, mental and physical, but when you’re at it, you let go of it all. It’s a powerful force, she says.

“The first time I ever released, it was kind of scary. It was scary to give up everything,” she says. “It’s almost a euphoria kind of thing. There’s no pain, there’s nothing wrong with the world.”

This is exactly the kind of reaction Bittman says he expects. “It’s an emotional, physical process, meaning it involves the whole body,” he says.

“We’re hardwired for music,” Bittman adds. “The process of playing a musical instrument enables creative disclosure ... to bring to the surface things that are deep inside.”

In the years that Thompson’s been leading the classes, he’s seen a number of transformations. People came in one person and left another.

And perhaps the research hasn’t yet caught up to explain these changes, nor the intuitive forces that spurred indigenous Siberians and Africans centuries ago and still drive modern Westerners to pick up a drum and bang away. But “proof ” aside, Thompson says, one thing needs no explanation: “It’s fun!”

Fall 2009 31

BY SI ROBINS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ART HOLEMAN

These are tough times. But in the heart of Phoenix, some independent businesses are enjoying an upswing during the downturn. Here, downtown proprietors—some with thriving shops, others with shuttered doors—talk about survival in the city center.

E

Everywhere you look, Valley hotspots are hurting. To the east, there’s Old Town Scottsdale, with its maze of vacant restaurants, nightclubs and boutiques. Up north at Desert Ridge, stores are cutting back staff and hours. And out west near University of Phoenix Stadium, Westgate struggles with seasonal woes, failing to draw sufficient crowds from the rest of the Valley.

Despite the doom and gloom, all the foreclosures, and a summer season a shell of its former economic self, there’s little old downtown Phoenix, surviving. Some might say thriving.

Wait, downtown? Our downtown? As in, Phoenix?

With the arrival of the light rail and ASU’s massive downtown expansion, a new surge has enlivened the city’s core, bringing in new businesses and invigorated older ones. Sure, there’s a way to go, and the current climate is tough for everyone, but it’s hard to ignore the electricity pumping through the heart of the city. The area looks brighter not just because of ASU students or people hopping light rail, but because it’s evolving into a go-to spot for exciting, quirky shops, restaurants and bars.

Whether you consider “downtown” south of I-10 or all the way up Central toward Camelback, it doesn’t matter. The entire core is drawing pilgrims in search of cool. And so, downtown finds itself an anomaly: moving on up, despite the downturn. The process is ongoing, though, and it’s still one of the few parts of town where you can find a renaissance on one block, and decay on the next. But here we also find interesting, independent businesses whose success depends on product and sweat, buzz and luck, as well as a decent address.

32 Wavelength

Arts space owner Helen Hestenes

I

If you’ve been to the Icehouse, you know it changes with the wind. This old shell of a building—a former icehouse—has been around for nearly a century, but with every event this multi-use arts space holds, the vibe changes. This artist-run arts project is one of the biggest in the West, but its struggles are numerous, despite the upturn downtown.

“I feel like we’ve got a really strong, loving force in the community,” says owner Helen Hestenes. “But in terms of dealing with the city lately, I feel like I have been stepped on. I feel as though I might as well lay down and have them walk on me with big boots.”

Hestenes has been working to overcome zoning difficulties, a 400% tax increase, crime-ridden neighboring buildings and county justice projects surrounding her space—one of Phoenix’s oldest remaining structures.

The Icehouse survives by booking events and parties, and has struggled more since the recession began.

“My dad mortgaged his house for the Icehouse in the last recession,” Hestenes says. “When recessions drive the greedy down, good, hardworking artists find a way to rise up. However, young artists can’t find work right now. I don’t have a salary—I’m an artist, and I live like an artist. I do everything for nothing; that’s the way artists do things.”

Hestenes has been downtown for nearly 30 years and her business survives by word-of-mouth. “We don’t have money to print fliers or anything,” she says.

“It’s very expensive to do something here, because we’re not a turnkey place. Our customers have to bring everything in. We keep it like a blank canvas so they can be the creator—they can make it their way, in their style, and feel like they’ve made their mark.”

For now, Hestenes is fighting to keep one of downtown’s most unique spaces afloat by putting together a nonprofit task force. “It’s to help the little parts of the area that have been stripped down,” she says, referring to the neighborhood’s crime, empty lots and abandoned buildings. Hestenes is working to make the Icehouse as appealing as possible, hoping to bring traffic to her block. “We do have a lot of protectors, but everybody has a lot of hardships right now.”

The Icehouse 429 W. Jackson St. 602-432-8395 theicehouseaz.com

“I feel like I have been stepped on.”

Fall 2009 33

Smack in the city center, PHX Nightclub is finding its identity and drawing impressive crowds, despite the economy.

Started last year by a group of college buddies and co-owned by Phoenix-bred football player Bobby Wade of the Minnesota Vikings, PHX is an urban hotspot created by guys who’ve been working in the promotions business for years.

“We just came to the point where we said, ‘Instead of making money for everybody else, why don’t we make ourselves money?’” says proprietor Andrew Richardson. “It just so happens at that time the building was available, and we started PHX Nightclub.”

For Richardson and the PHX crew, downtown was a no-brainer.

“Downtown is on the rise,” he says. “The Chicagos, the New Yorks, even San Diego—they’re re-vibing their downtowns. Right now, our downtown is trying to revive itself. We’re at the beginning of it having a thriving nightlife.”

Plus, he says, the central location lets PHX serve the entire Valley. “Everybody knows how to get downtown. The light rail stops a block away.”

Richardson says business has been steady, but people clearly are not spending like they did just last year. So, the club continues to try out new ideas, heavily promoting its weekend events.

Friday night is a fairly typical DJ scene, but Saturdays are unique, with a live club-hit cover band—something other Arizona nightclubs don’t offer. “Some people may not want to go to a dance club, but they do like the idea of coming to see a live band,” Richardson says.

“Every business is affected right now. We didn’t really have a plan for the recession. We opened in February 2008, and at that time things were still going well,” he says. “We’re just priding ourselves on strong customer service. You’re not paying blown-up prices, like $13 or $14 for a drink. We want people to enjoy themselves without worrying about being able to pay bills the next day.”

S

“Every business is affected right now.”

PHX Nightclub 122 E. Washington St. 602-258-1830 phxnightclub.com

Club co-owner Andrew Richardson

34 Wavelength

Pastry chef Danielle Librera Danielle Librera knows how tough downtown can be. Her quaint bakery, the Sweet Pea, was ripe for success—full of decadent cakes, scrumptious cookies and tangy tarts. But it recently closed its doors anyway, after a few years on the too-lonely corner of 2nd Avenue and Jackson Street.

“We always believe you can plan all you want; it doesn’t necessarily work,” Librera says. “We like to roll with the punches.”

The bakery sat next to a coffee bar and not much else. Librera didn’t do much advertising—she swears by word-of-mouth—and she had loyal customers. But Librera feels that the location ultimately led to Sweet Pea’s failure. “Although a promising neighborhood at the time of its opening, it’s just too far south for the majority of people to know where it is. When the economy tanked, so did a number of promising projects in the area.” Although Librera still operates a “Sweet Pea” baked-goods business on the same site, baking custom and wholesale orders from the kitchen, the storefront has been closed since May. It’s not all bad news for Librera, however. Almost as quickly as her store folded, Librera found herself back on her feet with a job at Lola Coffee. So she’s back to baking up Sweet Pea favorites along with new items— scones, muffins and frittatas—and enjoying a location farther north.

“In our experience, I feel that it’s location, location, location!” she says. “The construction going on at the criminal court across from the Sweet Pea won’t be done until 2012. I did not see us doing well until long after.

Lola is much more visible and right along the rail. It’s a means for me to get my baked goods out to the public.”

D

The Sweet Pea Bakery 209 W. Jackson St. 602-296-4042 sweetpeaaz.com

“In our experience, I feel that it’s location, location, location!”

Fall 2009 35

F

For Portland’s wine bar and restaurant owner Dylan Bethge, it’s been a constant struggle since he opened the contemporary spot. He’s battled the 9/11 slowdown, the dot-com bust, light rail construction and now is confronting the heinous economic situation.

But with a promising menu full of fresh fare and a great location in the bustling Roosevelt District, things may be looking up.

“We cater to a variety of demographics,” Bethge says. “At lunch our clientele is mostly political people and executives. In the evenings we have a good mix of 25- to 60-year-olds who live downtown and/or attend events in the area. We’re more of a melting pot—a great place to eat and have fun.”

Bethge has turned to the Internet to advertise, and it seems to be helping. He hopes this, along with discounts, happy hour specials and a $25 three-course prix fixe, will keep Portland’s on people’s minds.

Perhaps most unique is its location, on the street level of one of downtown’s biggest residential complexes, Roosevelt Square. Spanning two blocks, this complex has surprisingly never delivered much foot traffic,

according to Bethge. But with the arrival of trendy new lofts on Portland Street, new residents have started to join the regulars.

“We’re always excited to get new faces in the door, but it’s the ones that we recognize and get to know that make all this hard work worthwhile,” Bethge says.

“There are people that have gotten to watch our daughter grow up and there are others that will get to watch our son grow ... for this we feel very blessed. To come to work every day and get to know everyone and sometimes have that minute or two to catch up on things that matter. We offer that connection people are looking for.”

Portland’s 105 W. Portland St. 602-795-7480 portlandsphoenix.com

“We’re always excited to get new faces in the door.”

Restaurateur Dylan Bethge 36 Wavelength

Pharmacist Teresa Stickler

“I haven’t seen much impact due to the economy.”

“Healthcare is one of the last things people cut out of their budget, so I haven’t seen much impact due to the economy,” says Melrose Pharmacy owner Teresa Stickler.

Here, in this mid-century retro storefront on 7th Avenue, “the friendliest pharmacy in Phoenix” is changing the way pharmacies do business. This isn’t Walgreens. It’s a people-first, neighborhood joint— and a success story at that.

“The Melrose District is one of the best areas for small business, and the neighborhoods around it are so supportive,” Stickler says. “I’m the treasurer of the Seventh Avenue Merchants Association, so I’m actively working with the other merchants to improve our area.”

The association holds the 7th Avenue Street Fair annually, and it drew more than 15,000 people to the Melrose District last March. This little neighborhood of antique shops, hole-in-the-wall clothing boutiques and independent businesses has been on the upswing for years, and it’s easily one of Phoenix’s trendiest little nooks.

“Melrose was the perfect place for my neighborhood pharmacy,” Stickler says. “I cater to the neighbors foremost—I know their names, what’s going on in their lives and I go through it with them.”

Melrose is also unique in that it’s one of the few pharmacies in the area that compounds bioidentical hormone replacement drugs and other hard-to-find medications for those who need them. This customer care, combined with Stickler’s relentless marketing, has meant success for this little business.

“I envision continued growth,” she boasts. “As long as people prefer my store over the chains and as long as people are able to have electricity and food on the table.”

Melrose Pharmacy 704 W. Montecito Ave. 602-277-4714 mymelrosepharmacy.com

Fall 2009 37

By Elizabeth Exline Culture and kids. The words seem about as comfortable together as opera and K-Fed. PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

But teaching children taste, it turns out, isn’t really so hard.

38 Wavelength

To Kathryn Blake, the education director at Phoenix Art Museum, good taste is all about authenticity. Take, for example, the museum’s “You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies,”

by Yayoi Kusama. To see this installation, you must enter a small black room where all the surfaces are reflective, and LED lights drop from the ceiling, alternating between red, blue and green. The effect is so mesmerizing, my 3-year-old daughter Isabelle has gleefully held me hostage in there for the better part of several museum visits.

But for all my rhapsodizing, you can’t really appreciate the magic of “Fireflies” until you’re brushing against those dangling lights yourself.

And therein lies Blake’s point. “Having an authentic experience is what’s going to make children want to seek out those authentic experiences,” she says, “and then they start to discern different levels of experience, whether it’s a postcard, a poster or the real thing.”

So how and when do you begin to cultivate taste?

The short answer is now. New York magazine’s classical music critic Justin Davidson remembers bringing his son, Milo, to performances when Milo, now 11, was just 3. And while Davidson was selective about which pieces and how often Milo attended, the fact was that Milo attended. Period. “The worst thing you can do is prepare kids with a sense of, ‘You may not like this, but actually it’s very valuable,’” Davidson says. “That’s just the kiss of death where you acknowledge those stereotypes that prevent adults from going to things.”

For Davidson, who chronicled Milo’s experiences and reactions to classical music in an August 2008

“

W

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

ho here plays Guitar Hero?”

Bart Salzman, jazz entrepreneur and founder of the Chandler Jazz Festival, poses this question to a roomful of fourth graders at Chandler’s Knox Elementary School. Immediately, the crowd’s restlessness turns into palpable electricity as everyone gasps and a hundred little hands shoot into the air. These days, apparently, everyone over the age of 8 is a virtual musician. And while some might find that disheartening, Salzman sees it as a chance to turn virtual music appreciation into the real thing. “I don’t think it’s important to get kids into jazz,” Salzman explains. “I think it’s important to get them into music.”

To do this, the trumpeter Salzman and three bandmates have visited numerous Valley schools over the past seven years facilitating the Jazz in AZ workshop, “How Cool Is Jazz?” The musicians play jazz, teach jazz history, pass out kazoos and use anything they can to introduce jazz to schoolchildren. And I mean anything. At one point during the workshop, Salzman dons sunglasses, a black cap and faux bling to join his guitarist in belting out the “Alphabet Rap.” For Salzman, however, such self-abasement achieves a noble purpose: It makes music accessible to kids.

Jazz performer and educator Mike Vax has a good term for what most of these kids hear on a day-to-day basis: disposable music. (Vax leads two jazz bands and spends about seven months a year conducting workshops in high schools and colleges.) “How many people are going to listen in 2120 to a 2001 Britney Spears album?” he asks. “Most of the music that’s produced today is At Phoenix Art Musuem, Yayoi Kusama’s immersive installation, “You Who are Getting made disposable on purpose.” Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies” is a favorite with the grade-school set.

That purpose is, of course, to New York article titled “Milo’s Musical Education,” increase revenue. Repetitive bass lines and lyrics may getting a child to appreciate good music starts with be fun to dance to, but you’re only going to listen to appreciating it yourself, so a trip to the symphony has them until the next album comes out. Add to that the to be part of your life’s tapestry and not an isolated event. intangibility of downloading music—no clunky CD You can’t, in other words, listen to Justin Timberlake cases, but no background on the band either—and all day and then expect your child to clamor for the you have a generation of listeners primed to be conlatest Beethoven recording. Take “Fireflies” as an sumers rather than connoisseurs. example. Two weeks after Isabelle first experienced All of this comes back, of course, to the question it, she brought it up in conversation out of nowhere. at hand: Can parents ride the tide of popular culture Then she scrambled for an anthology of poems and and develop their children’s good taste anyway?

Fall 2009 39

asked me to read “A Fairy in Armor,” by Joseph Rodman Drake, just so she could hear the reference to the “firefly steed.” Children connect the dots, but you have to draw them.

Exposing kids to art may be the path to good taste, but the fact is a lot of parents fear it themselves. They worry they can’t answer questions about artworks.

They think their kids will find classical music boring or misbehave at a concert. They fear the issues a theatrical performance might raise. But all of this comes under the umbrella of good parenting—facing down fears, taking a risk that you or your child might not like something or might be inspired to think a different way, so that your child (and perhaps you) can grow. “I think we feel like kids shouldn’t be dealing with things they can’t understand,” Davidson says, “and I don’t believe that at all. I think a big part of growing up is dealing with things you don’t understand.”

For me, it’s always been easier to take Isabelle to an art museum than to watch children’s TV programs.

(She still doesn’t watch TV, mostly because I can’t sit through it.) But she and I are the exception, and that fact is impressed upon us by every pair of Dora the Explorer sneakers or Thomas the Tank Engine T-shirt that bounces by at the playground. Eventually, though, my sense of displacement gives way to indignation.

Why, I wonder, is it better to immerse ourselves in children’s media instead of the other way around? How is a cartoon movie with a simplistic plot, brassy language and over-the-top illustrations more appropriate for kids than a symphonic performance? David Saar, the founder and artistic director of Childsplay theater company, maintains that kids are capable of more than we credit them for, and that what they see and hear should honor their abilities. “First and foremost it has to be good art,” he says, “and sometimes people forget that. They think, ‘Oh well, it’s good enough for kids.’ Well no, it needs to be good enough for kids!”

Even if a parent can buck societal pressure, there

40 Wavelength

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

HEATHER HILL

remains a minefield of stereotypes to navigate. There is the assumption, Blake points out, that for a child to have fun with something, he has to be able to touch it. If true, that would effectively rule out a trip to the museum. Yet we teach kids to read, identify colors and speak different languages without using the sense of touch, Blake argues. Why then can’t they use those same faculties at a museum?

There’s the stereotype that going to the theater is elitist, points out Rosemary Walsh, Childsplay’s director of community engagement. But Childsplay creates professional theater specifically for young audiences, and its variety of performances and prices reflects the diversity of its patrons.

Granted, cultural institutions from The Phoenix Symphony to Childsplay stand to benefit from attracting patrons early on. Childsplay, which has been around since 1977, is starting to see both actors and audience members who first came there as kids, Walsh notes.

But the benefits of teaching taste are more immediate and profound than the continuation of audiences.

For one thing, these experiences inspire dialogue with your child. “To me, one of the most valuable things about coming to a museum is that social interaction,” Blake says. “You’re going to have to talk to your child.” And when you do, you may be surprised by what you find, because teaching kids taste yields impressive collateral benefits. Children who routinely visit museums and attend performances

The more fun you make the experience of going to a theater, symphony or museum, the more you’ll ensure a happy, well-mannered visit.

Can parents ride the tide of popular culture and develop their children’s good taste anyway? hone their observation and analysis skills, to say nothing of their enhanced ability to focus. “You’re just building good thinkers,” Blake says.

At the most basic level, of course, there’s also the fact that you’re going to have a good time. Together.

“We get all kinds of grandparents who bring their grandkids, or friends who come together,” observes Kimberly Davis, the education and community engagement manager for The Phoenix Symphony.

“I think some really fabulous memories are made

Good Taste

Starts at Home

From flash cards to discount tickets, our experts share great ways to cultivate taste in kids.

Kathryn Blake, Phoenix Art Museum: Let the child lead, to a certain degree, when he comes to the museum. By following his interests, you’re more likely to engage him in the experience. For younger visitors, you can use the museum as a teaching ground. If your child is learning colors, for instance, ask him to show you red every time he sees it at the museum. This concept works with shapes and words, too.

Justin Davidson, New York magazine: Try live performances over recorded music— the visual drama drives home the beauty of the music and the musicians’ commitment to their art—and invest in good seats. The more “barriers” you remove between your child and his experience, the more impact it will have.

Kimberly Davis, The Phoenix Symphony: Books, like Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes, are excellent tools for familiarizing children with concepts like symphonies, instruments and conductors.

Rosemary Walsh, Childsplay: Read any books the play might be based on, and discuss the theater experience with your child before you go. (“We’ve had kids run screaming because the lights go out,” Walsh says.) Also, talk about the characters you might see and the ways in which theater is different from television. You can’t talk during a performance, for example, and you have to pay attention to learn all the parts of the story being told.

THE PHOENIX SYMPHONY

Bart Salzman, founder of the Chandler Jazz Festival, “How Cool Is Jazz?” and Kazoo Kidz: Keep music flash cards around the house, and have your stereo regularly tuned to jazz or classical music. (You may even try a new type of music for each day of the week.) Invest in musical toys for babies, kazoos and CDs for toddlers, and real instruments or older kids. Play-along CDs are also great for encouraging musical experimentation.

The Phoenix Symphony’s Michael Christie lets a budding young maestro have a whirl at the baton.

Fall 2009 41

Children who routinely visit museums and attend performances hone their observation and analysis skills.

42 Wavelength

ART HOLEMAN

Arts Smarts: Exploring the visual arts through Phoenix Art Museum’s PhxArtKids program can be as simple or involved as your budding critic desires.

To start, there’s the childfriendly PhxArtKids Gallery at the museum, where kids can explore ties between visual and verbal language through puzzles, paintings and books.

There, you’ll also find activity cards with suggestions for things to see at the museum and do at home. At the admissions desk, patrons can borrow KidPacks, which are plastic satchels with puzzles, activities and creative challenges designed to inspire conversation. The hands-on component happens on PhxArtKids Days, which occur once a month for kids 5 and up. Call 602-257-1222, or visit phxartkids.org for details.

Theater Geeks: We’re just kidding—there’s nothing geeky about theater. In fact, Childsplay’s performances are so good, they’ve earned the company a national reputation. Childsplay provides resource guides before the show and talking points after the show, and through its 360-Degree Theatre program facilitates preshow, performance-related activities in the theater’s lobby. Performances to catch this season include “Peter and the Wolf,” which features a jazzed-up Prokofiev score and is appropriate for viewers as young as 3, and

HEATHER HILL

coming to the Symphony.”

Davidson recently took Milo, who loves The Lord of the Rings, to Wagner’s Das Rheingold at The Met. I remember my own father bringing his trio of daughters to that opera when we were a little older than Milo is now. And those experiences—art museums, opera and symphonic performances, ballets—have stayed with me and shaped me as an adult and parent. So much so that, like Davidson, I’m exposing my daughter to her own set of cultural experiences, whether it’s First Fridays in downtown Phoenix, “The Nutcracker” at Christmastime or Salzman’s eminently danceable jazz workshop. I do this so that, by the time Isabelle is 11 or so, I can be as confident about her cultural development as Davidson is about Milo’s. “I’m not worried about, at this point, developing his musical culture so much as I am giving him a sense of ownership of the experience,” Davidson says.

And that is, perhaps, the benchmark of good taste in parenting.

Kazoo Who?: Whether you’re looking to introduce your child to jazz or just figure out what exactly a kazoo is, Bart Salzman’s jazz clinics for elementary schools (“How Cool Is Jazz?”) and one-man kazoo show (Kazoo Kidz) are the places to start. For details, visit jazzinaz.org or myspace.com/kazookidz.

You can also contact Salzman directly at 480-786-4424 or bartsal@aol.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

Culture

Once you peek behind the pop-culture curtain that blankets the Valley, you may experience culture shock.

As in there’s so much of it, you don’t know where to begin. Here’s the skinny on what to try first.

the premiere of bookinspired “Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!,” which runs from midNovember through December. If you’re going to the theater for the first time, or just want to save a few bucks, check out Childsplay’s Target Storybook Preview Performances, which offer reduced rates. Call 480-350-2822, or visit childsplayaz.org for performance information.

THE PHOENIX SYMPHONY

Kiddie

Musical Heirs: If you haven’t gone to The Phoenix Symphony, it’s not for lack of options on the Symphony’s part. (Not to point fingers, of course.) Perhaps the best way to introduce your child to the luster and mystery of classical music is through the Targetsponsored Family Series.

(Buy one adult subscription and receive a free child subscription to these family events.) The Symphony welcomes kids as young as babies, but the preshow activities—the conductor’s corner, instrument petting zoo and concert-related crafts—are generally enjoyed more by toddlers and their older siblings.

Call 602-495-1999, or visit phoenixsymphony.org for details.

Fall 2009 43

patron profile

By Kristen Forbes

Voluntary Muscle

DANIEL FRIEDMAN

A retired physician finds volunteering keeps him moving.

David Frens

A

A lifelong ham radio operator, David Frens donated his radio equipment before moving to Sun City West from Wisconsin in 2004. Three years later, while touring KBAQ and KJZZ, Frens was introduced to Sun Sounds of Arizona, the reading service for people who can’t read print because of a disability. He discovered then and there that the radio bug was still in him.

So he applied to become a reader and broadcaster for the service.

A retired doctor and student of tai chi, Frens is also a longtime ally of public radio, both in Arizona and beyond. He says his life is “much more enjoyable” now that he spends his days volunteering.

“We were listeners and supporters of public radio in Wisconsin,” Frens says.

44 Wavelength

“While we dearly love the Wisconsin NPR system, we came here and became full-time Arizona residents. So, I started inquiring about how one could get involved here.”

Frens was told about the Patrons Leadership Society, which he joined. His membership included the station tour that sparked his interest in Sun Sounds. Frens also volunteers for KJZZ and KBAQ fundraising drives and is on the Speakers Bureau for Sun Sounds, too.

“Whenever I’m in the car or around the house, KBAQ and KJZZ are the stations I’m listening to—either on the radio or on Web stream,” he says.

Not that Frens does much sitting around.

When he first moved to the Valley, the avid racquetball player and rollerblader was

The Patrons Leadership Society (PLS) is a diverse group of philanthropic individuals and families committed to sustaining KJZZ & KBAQ’s ability to inspire and inform members of our community with world-class news, music and informational programming. Members of the PLS share the distinction of being our stations’ most generous annual contributors, giving $1,000 or more each year to one or both stations. In return, PLS members are granted behindthe-scenes access to our studios and are invited to participate in exclusive programming and private visits with public radio personalities from across the country. For more information about the PLS, please contact Aaron Pratt at 480-774-8453 or apratt@kjzz.org.

healing from a back infection and took up martial arts. Several years later, he received his first black belt. He’s now working on his second-degree black belt in tai chi and credits martial arts with reconditioning his body. Today, sports and volunteering take up the bulk of his time.

“I need the volunteer work so I don’t just have time on my hands,” he says. “I looked around for a long time for something that actually contributes to other people’s needs. I thought that volunteering for the radio stations in whatever capacity, but especially for Sun Sounds, produced a product that is very useful. I feel really honored to be a part of an organization that’s been doing public service for 30 years.”

Fall 2009 45

travel Story and photos

by Peter Aleshire

Superstitions Adventure Hot on the trail of Hacksaw Tom. ish Creek worked its way out of the fabled Superstition Mountains and gurgled at my feet as I looked up at the boulder where Hacksaw Tom levied his highwayman’s toll on exasperated teamsters and travelers about a century ago. On either side, the rock walls reared upward for nearly 1,000 feet.

The gash cut by the creek has created the dizzying drop that makes the famed Apache Trail such an adventure. It’s also created a world of cottonwoods, sycamores, swaying flowers and gnarled oaks in the midst of the thorny wilderness of the Superstitions.

Once upon a time, around 1900, this canyon sheltered a mysterious highwayman dubbed “Hacksaw Tom,” the unofficial troll under the Apache Trail Bridge. A clever desperado, he brandished his double-barreled shotgun at the bottom of one of the most hairraising grades in Arizona.

I’ve spent years exploring the Superstitions.

Every spring I hike the front slope, enjoying the exuberance of brittlebushes and poppies. Every summer I splash in Apache, Canyon and Saguaro Lakes. Every winter I hike to Weavers Needle—or Rogers Canyon. And all year long, I feast on legends of the Lost Dutchman, that dangerous prospector and likely con man who supposedly had a gold mine hidden in this mountain range—spawning generations of myth and more than one murder.

But for all my boulder-hopping through the Superstitions, I’d never explored Fish Creek Canyon—nor sought the trail of Hacksaw Tom. Time to fix that.

For nearly a decade, the legendary highwayman ambushed stages and wagons heading toward the site of Roosevelt Dam. He never fired a shot, never harmed anyone, and rarely netted more than $40. He chose his ambush site carefully, making his demands at the bottom of a steep descent into the canyon punctuated with hairpin turns. The teamsters and wagon drivers had all they could handle controlling their horses—so they had virtually no chance

F

46 Wavelength

The jagged gash of Fish Creek Canyon now intersects the Apache Trail but once harbored the stage robber Hacksaw Tom.

Canyon Lake (above) lures scads of people up the paved portion of the Apache Trail, past the touristy mining town of Goldfield (above right).

But the real adventure lies beyond the pavement’s end.

of whipping their teams past Hacksaw’s position.

Once he’d halted the wagon, Hacksaw politely extracted the passengers’ valuables, exchanging pleasantries with the regulars.

Then he hoisted his loot, bid farewell and scampered up the canyon on foot. Few pursued him. No posse could be there in less than six hours, by which time Hacksaw would vanish.

Law enforcement took a dim view of Hacksaw’s schemes and deputies repeatedly hid in the coach. But Hacksaw always sidestepped these traps, leading some to suspect he had inside information.

No one ever confirmed his identity, although he was thought to be the same fellow who used a hacksaw to escape from the Silver King jail shortly before establishing his thriving practice in Fish Creek Canyon. Some speculated he was a cowboy who worked one of the struggling Superstition ranches, others that he lived at the Silver King Mine or in Superior.

Surviving accounts agree on his description: 5'8," blond, blueeyed and about 160 pounds.

Supposedly, he fled up Fish Creek to a hideout in Lost Dutch Canyon, a rugged tributary gorge.

No one has ever found his camp or his stash, though.

I came across the tale of Hacksaw Tom in Superstition Mountain, by James Swanson and Tom Kollenborn, a wonderful book full of strange characters— most connected to Jacob Waltz, the so-called Lost Dutchman. But I’d been more intrigued by the fragmentary tale of Hacksaw Tom, whose story somehow marked the edge of civilization, somewhere just up the canyon.

So I resolved to retrace his steps and find Lost Dutch Canyon—mostly as an excuse to hike up one of the most unexpected streams in Arizona— a lush refuge in the midst of one of the harshest, most contorted wildernesses in the Southwest.

As soon as I started my scramble upstream, I fell under the place’s spell.

Fish Creek had chewed its way through the relatively young, volcanic rock to ancient bedrock— billion-year-old granite boulders sculpted by the creek into undulating, sensuous shapes. The boulders formed a succession of check dams and deep pools. I noted the lack of thick, streamside vegetation.

Only the twisted roots of sycamores and cottonwoods seemed able to hold to this stony soil.

This combination of rocks, roots and water produced a shaded world of grottoes, pools and sandy islands—pervaded by the murmur of water. The stream burbled into alcoves cut into the rocks, reverberating like a singer in a sound studio.

Flood waters had long removed any trace of a trail, so I jumped from boulder to boulder with Fall 2009 47

Superstition Mountains: if you go Good roads, small towns and popular lakes ring this 160,000acre wilderness crammed with wildlife, volcanic scenery and history.

Here are some trails and sights.

Hiking Trails Part of the Tonto National Forest, the Superstitions boast some 180 miles of formal trails and 12 trailheads. You can get information about trail conditions and maps from the Forest Service in Phoenix (602-225-5200; fs.fed.us).

Driving the Apache Trail The spectacularly scenic State Route 88 leads some 50 miles from Apache Junction to Roosevelt Lake, the largest of a series of reservoirs and recreational lakes that fill most of the Salt River Canyon as it passes through the Superstition Wilderness. Here’s some of what you might spy on the trip:

Weavers Needle, visible in the distance on your right.

• Canyon Lake: Discover a 950-acre lake winding between sheer cliffs about 15 miles from Apache Junction. Visit the picturesque little store and café at Tortilla Flat, about two miles east of the lake.

• Fish Creek Hill: The pavement ends about 22 miles from Apache Junction. Shortly after, you start the thrilling descent down Fish Creek Hill. Keep an eye peeled for Hacksaw Tom!

• Apache Lake: Nestled in a valley at 1,900 feet with cliffs along the shoreline, the 264foot-deep lake comes equipped with 41 miles of shoreline.

• Roosevelt Lake: You rejoin the paved road when you hit Roosevelt Lake, a 17,000-acre lake with 128 miles of shoreline.

• Lost Dutchman State Park: About five miles northeast of Apache Junction you’ll find campsites, picnicking and lots of easy hiking trails.

• Needle Vista Viewpoint: About seven miles out of Apache Junction look for the tip of

Roosevelt Dam

48 Wavelength

• Tonto National Monument: Two well-preserved Salado cliff dwellings overlook Roosevelt Lake. You’ll find the ruins and a visitor center with exhibits one mile off State 88, 2 miles southeast of Roosevelt Lake and 28 northwest of Globe.

gathering speed, wondering which of these rocks served as stepping-stones for Hacksaw Tom. I fell into a rhythm, my concentration focused on the next rock. Hours slipped past, miles fell away. I left any trace of humans and electric lights behind.

Curiously, I never felt alone.

Once, to detour a narrow gorge that would have required swimming across a deep pool, I climbed out of the streambed.

The climb took me to a cave at the base of the sheer cliff. Inside the cave, I found shards of pottery—no doubt left by the Salado Indians who wintered in these stark canyons and summered at higher elevations.

The Salado left scattered ruins and pot shards throughout the Superstitions, but disappeared mysteriously in the 1400s. In the back of the cave, I found a rusted can. It seemed very old— the metal much thicker than a modern can. I sat awhile to catch my breath, and imagined Hacksaw sitting here watching for signs of pursuit.

I wondered, then, what demons or dreams drove him up the canyon—and always back down to where the wagons passed. Sitting in the cave, I noted with surprise that the sun had already begun to approach the rim of the cliff overhead.

I hurried up the canyon, afraid I’d never find Lost Dutch Canyon and return before dark.

Around a few more bends, I came upon the mouth of a side canyon. I pulled out my topo map and eventually convinced myself

I’d found Hacksaw’s hideout.

Eagerly, I hurried up. It proved even more rugged and rocky than Fish Creek. I struggled up the canyon for half a mile, then scrambled up the slope hoping to gain an overview. The scene proved wild and desolate. You could hide a small army in this canyon—or any number of hermits with strange visions. The sun sighed toward the horizon and I realized I’d have no time to search for whatever scraps of himself Hacksaw left behind.

No one knows what became of him. One day, the robberies simply stopped.

Suddenly conscious of my fatigue, I turned and picked my way back down into Fish Creek.

Hoping to move faster, I started wading through the pools, pushing straight down the creek bed whenever possible. This approach brought me to a tight spot I’d missed on the way in. I stood on a huge boulder about 20 feet above the surface of a deep pool in a place where the canyon narrowed to perhaps 40 feet. I hesitated, my progress blocked by the gap between my rock and the next boulder. I might be able to jump it, but missing would mean a 20-foot drop into the rockribbed pool. On the other hand, some long-ago flood had also jammed a tree trunk into the crack between the two rocks. I could slide down onto the logjam, then climb up the boulder on the other side.

I hesitated a long while, till the image of Hacksaw jumping the gap finally decided me.

I eased down the rock, but found myself gaining speed more rapidly than I’d expected. Suddenly committed, I concentrated on landing on the log. It worked, but I hit with such force that the entire logjam shifted. I froze, splayed against the rock, afraid any motion would send the whole mess tumbling into the water. I crouched there a long time, berating myself for my recklessness so far from any help.

At length, I summoned enough courage to test my full weight on the log. It shifted only slightly. Then I examined the footing on the other side, which had looked so easily climbable before I’d committed myself to this perch. Close up, it proved disconcertingly smooth.

I sat awhile longer on my pile of driftwood, gathering my nerve.

For the first time all day, I felt truly alone—as Hacksaw must have felt crouched in his secret places, so remote they’d resisted

all the posses, deputies and Wells Fargo agents the world could muster against him.

Then I charged the rock, scrambled up the smooth slope, and somehow clawed my way to the top. I stood there, knee throbbing, fingers rubbed raw, drunk with the sound of the water, the feel of the breeze and the cry of the first frogs clearing their croaks for a night of crooning.

I picked my way back through the gathering dark, stumbling with fatigue, but brimming with the sounds of the canyon and the benediction of water.

I never did find Hacksaw’s stash. But I believe I know his secret.

GotGETAWAY? a Do you have a favorite destination, festival, trail or such? Let us know, by writing wavelength@fpraz.org.

An overhang that once formed a cave high above the Salt River has been turned into a spooky grotto along the shore of Canyon Lake.

Fall 2009 49

Get

WOODBURY TRAILHEAD) or Forest Service Road 172A to the right (goes to ROGERS TROUGH TRAILHEAD). FR 172A is rough, Ranch Trail and Rogers Canyon Trail Listeners recommend what to see steep and offers spectacular views. take you right to the cliff dwellings and do in “the Supes.”

Once to the trailhead, enjoy a truly where the Salado lived centuries ago. rewarding hike along a creek, through The two-room mud and rock building Three of our favorite hike destithickets with all sorts of wildflowers.

Hiker’s Guide to the nations in the Superstition Wilderness is situated in a small cave, where it’s A couple of other suggestions if Superstition Wilderness are Garden Valley, Rogers Canyon cliff been protected from weather. Angel you’re out for a great day trip is to Basin, just down the canyon, is an dwellings and Peters Canyon. scout around QUEEN VALLEY and The standard hikes in the Superexcellent place to camp. This all-day The GARDEN VALLEY hike WHITLOW DAM—two funky, outstitions are all good—Peralta, Hierotrip includes the scenic drive up the follows the Dutchman’s Trail out of First Water Trailhead. It connects with mountain and the 7.8 mile round-trip glyphic Canyon, Dons Trail. First Water of-the-way spots dropped out of another era. A good hour or two of is fantastic, especially in the spring hike to the ruins.

Second Water Trail, which takes you exploration is all you need, but kind following rains. But spread out to Exploring Peters Canyon is an offto Garden Valley at the prehistoric of a kick. trail trek requiring some experience in Superstition Wilderness—ah, a ruin—just a mound of rocks now.

A real find for Mexican food— treasure trove.

Bedrock grinding holes are nearby on wilderness hiking. The trip starts just eclectic decor, dinky little rooms, For a magnificent drive—you’ll the hillside where the Indians ground east of Tortilla Flat on the Apache Trail. all set in an old house backed up to mesquite beans. A half-day round-trip Park off the pavement around mile- need a 4-wheel drive after the rainy season—head toward Rogers Trough Queen Creek—is Café Piedra Roja (3.8 miles) is enjoyable, but an all-day post 214 and scramble down the (507 W. Main St., Superior; trip (5 miles) continuing to Hackberry hillside to Tortilla Creek. You can rock- and Woodbury Trailhead. Take U.S. 520-689-0194). All the meals are Route 60 to the Queen Valley Road hop over the pools of water in the Spring and returning on First Water turnoff, then turn right onto a dirt road made individually—it says so on a creek bed, but you may get wet feet Creek is even better. in 1.6 miles, Hewitt Station Road. Follow hand-painted sign. With low prices if there’s much water. Peters Canyon The trip to ROGERS CANYON about 3 miles (you’ll crest and have a and food better than mom ever CLIFF DWELLINGS begins at Rogers comes in from the right, and if you magnificent panorama of untouched could cook, you’ll have a memory Trough Trailhead high in the southern stay to the left going up Peters Canyon, that will bring you back to Superior wilderness), then turn left on Forest you might find the game trail that mountains of the wilderness. The time and again.

Service Road 172. Follow for about leads you around the house-sized juniper and pinyon pine trees are — Peggy Booth 10 miles to "Y" FR 172 (goes to boulders. The trip ends at the always green up there. The Reavis

Superstitious

“ 50 Wavelength

potholed section of Peters Canyon, where water collects in the bedrock.

The smooth rocks make a good place to stretch out for a nap. This all-day trip entails 3.8 miles of off-trail hiking.

— Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart, authors of

”

Fall 2008 51

listener profile

By Carolyn Marsh

Rocket Man Public radio helps a scientist explore his personal world.

Joseph Mirowski “When I wake up in the morning, I turn the radio on. It’s either KJZZ or KBAQ.”

52 Wavelength

C

Curious. Inventive. Adventurous. Joseph Mirowski is more than a dreamer—he’s a doer, too. As a boy in Michigan, Mirowski imagined himself working on rockets. Today he builds satellite launch vehicles. He also owns a patent for a machine that aligns the needles that test integrated circuit wafers.

And he frequently travels the globe, seeking out new experiences in faraway places.

Mirowski’s interests reach far and wide, and listening to NPR continually sparks new areas for exploration, fresh ideas to pursue.

Mirowski credits his sister with introducing him to public radio 20 years ago, during his freshman year of college. Together, they listened to NPR on their commute to and

DANIEL FRIEDMAN

Joseph Mirowski finds that each time he listens to public radio, there’s a fresh chance to learn something new.

from school. He began listening to KJZZ soon after transferring to Arizona State University to finish his engineering degree.

Now married, Mirowski says he and his wife Virginia rely on NPR as their primary source of information.

“On the weekends, we have the radio on basically every waking hour,” Mirowski says.

“When I wake up in the morning, I turn the radio on. It’s either KJZZ or KBAQ.” In addition to Car Talk and Marketplace, Mirowski makes sure he catches the BBC’s World Today, coverage he says is not “American biased,” and that offers “a worldly and different perspective on events in America.”

More than informative, NPR inspires Mirowski, too. For instance, a story about a photographer documenting the renovation of Ellis Island—gateway for millions of immigrants from 1892 to 1954—piqued Mirowski’s curiosity about his own family’s entrance into America. Following links on NPR.org, Mirowski found pictures of the renovation project.

“My aunt had given me a sheet of paper with our family tree on it,” he says. “So I looked at the pictures of the Ellis Island renovation, and I said, Why don’t we do our genealogy?” Mirowski discovered that, in fact, three relatives—his grandfather, grandmother and uncle—had passed through Ellis Island.

With more than 200 entries, Mirowski can now trace his family back four generations; his wife can trace hers back five.

Joseph and Virginia also participated in the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project, which traces human migration patterns through DNA, after they heard about the project on public radio.

Always ready for a new challenge, a new journey, Joseph Mirowski listens to KJZZ for news, humor and interesting stories—stories that sometimes take him down the road of self-discovery.

Fall 2009 53

local flavor

By RaeAnne Marsh Photography by Emily Piraino

Tastes of the Tropics Island hop east and west to explore tastes from the Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean— right here in the desert.

W

hether it’s accompanied by reggae, plastic plates or an after-dinner cigar, island food is characterized by a medley of international flavors.

And dining at one of the places recommended by KJZZ and KBAQ listeners is like vacation, no passport required.

The Breadfruit Authentic Jamaican Grill: To the Caribbean, Mon sland spirit spills from the vibrant greens and yellows of this little Jamaican restaurant in downtown Phoenix. And while framed pictures on weathered brick walls depict Jamaica, the

I

According to co-owner Danielle Leoni, The Breadfruit’s menu is influenced by the Rastafarian concept of eating "Ital," which forbids consuming anything not provided by nature.

54 Wavelength

atmosphere is cosmopolitan rather than touristy.

“We wanted it to be more casual and not overly ethnic,” explains Dwayne Allen, who, with partner Danielle Leoni, opened The Breadfruit last year. “People don’t need to be in an adventurous mood to come here.”

Wanting a space that would convey an urban Jamaican vibe, Danielle Leoni and Dwayne Allen transformed a former real estate office into The Breadfruit.

They say the mix of new and historic amenities is reminiscent of Kingston.

The menu reflects that idea.

Yes, there’s jerk chicken spicy enough to make diners sit up and dab their eyes, but there’s also a traditional brown stew chicken, made with onions, cho cho (a tropical squash) and fresh ginger. Its rich, tangy sauce screams comfort food, Caribbean style.

Not to be missed is what the menu calls “festivals”—subtly sweet baked breadsticks served as an appetizer but arguably also appropriate for dessert.

Plantains? Of course, made with ripe fruit, thickly sliced, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and oven roasted. Sweet potatoes dominate the dessert choices, prepared as pudding or pie.

Recipes owe a lot to Allen’s upbringing in Kingston, Jamaica, and even more to his grandmother. He turned to her as he developed the menu, adapting her “pinch of this” directions into more standardized measurements.

For all the authenticity, typical Jamaican food undergoes healthy tweaks in The Breadfruit’s kitchen. “We preserve the true value of eating,” Allen says, noting that you won’t find a deep fryer, microwave or canned fruits or

vegetables in the place. Everything has nutritional value, from the slice of pineapple on the plate (grilled to enhance the natural enzyme that aids digestion) to the turbinado sugar (the first pressing of the sugar cane) used as sweetener.

Specialty drinks include My Favorite Carrot Juice—a mix of carrots, coconut milk, nutmeg and vanilla—and Sorrel, a strong, iced hibiscus tea flavored with rum (its preparation renders it non-alcoholic). It’s BYOB for beer or wine, with a “happy hour” Tuesday nights, when the restaurant forgoes its usual corkage fee.

The Breadfruit 108 E. Pierce St., Phoenix; 602-267-1266; thebreadfruit.com

Fall 2009 55

Aloha Kitchen: A Fusion of Flavors ith a menu that draws from the many cultures that comprise our 50th state, Raymond Tso has been serving authentic Hawaiian dishes since 1986. Pouring no alcohol, Aloha Kitchen maintains a simple, family-oriented vibe.

Several dishes are built around the island-style noodle soup known as saimin. In fact, the thin, crinkly noodles are flown in from the islands. Find them served in a shrimp-based soup; with won ton, Japanese fish cakes or Chinese barbecued pork; served cold in a salad or stir-fried with vegetables.

Also flown in—appearing occasionally as specials—are ahi tuna, mahi mahi and ono.

Tso makes his own laulau, the traditional dish of pork wrapped in taro leaves and baked (although he eschews the pit-style oven in favor of a conventional appliance). It’s a Saturday special—one of two plate lunches, a serving style Tso says is extremely popular in Hawaii. In this way, the main dish is served alongside two scoops of chicken long rice and lomi salmon (a fresh tomato and salted salmon salad).

There’s also Korean barbecued beef, Japanese teriyaki chicken and Chinese sweet ‘n’ sour chicken along with other island favorites, such as manapua (a steamed, pork-filled bun), the islands’ ubiquitous Spam, and a teriyaki and pineapple hamburger.

Pastries are their own draw.

Baked on premises, the

W

56 Wavelength

Hawaiian cakes and pies include a festive pink guava chiffon cake and a macadamia nut cream pie.

Tso and his wife, Lynn, had successful careers unrelated to the restaurant business when they decided to open Aloha Kitchen. But Lynn did have plenty of alimentary knowledge.

A nutritionist, she was director of the local office of the Women, Infants and Children Program of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “She developed the dishes,” says Tso, who also credits her with the idea to serve the Hawaiian-style plate lunch.

“We were the first to serve that here,” he says.

Aloha Kitchen 2950 S. Alma School Road, Mesa; 480-897-2451; alohakitchen.com

Hawaiians insist Ray Tso serves food just like on the islands. And it’s true that Aloha Kitchen’s menu is long on tradition and hasn’t changed much over the past 23 years. The biggest change took place when the restaurant expanded into the adjacent store space to triple its seating capacity.

Cuban expat Nancy Socarras serves up homey dishes like pollo frito, congris and ropa vieja.

Sabor Cubano Restaurant: The Cuban Connection ast summer, Sabor Cubano traded the bulky buffet of its beginnings for additional tables and more Cuban dishes. But despite the changes, the restaurant’s satisfying portions and moderate prices remain.

The menu is based on the food husband and wife coowners Eduardo Carralero and Nancy Socarras grew up eating in their native Cuba. A medley of influences—Spanish, African, Caribbean, Chinese—shaped the cuisine, and they wanted to showcase that here. This was a big change from their previous work—teaching math and biology, respectively. But since guest after guest at their Phoenix home complimented Socarras’ cooking with, “Why don’t you open a restaurant?” they figured they’d give it a go.

L

Phoenicians may remember the couple’s first restaurant on the west side. It burned down just seven months after opening.

It took three years, but they reopened Sabor Cubano in its current, more centralized location in 2007. Today, five feet of fish tank filled with darting, colorful fishes greets patrons as they enter, and a friendly atmosphere permeates the place, thanks to its cheerful staff.

Seafood is on the menu, including camarones a la Criolla.

The shrimp, cooked in traditional Cuban style, is flavorful but not spicy, and comes with the ubiquitous rice and black beans—separate or as moros y cristianos (or “Moors and Christians”), in which they’re cooked together.

The new menu offers a variety of fish, chicken, beef and pork characterized by a low-key prep-

aration, such as the pierna asada, moist and tender pork roast served with garlic sauce.

Flan casero, which shares the dessert section with rice pudding, is a smooth delight served with a light vanilla caramel sauce.

Don’t pass it up.

Drinks include Malta Goya— a sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated malt beverage (a taste more familiar stateside in chocolate candies or milkshakes). Mojito, piña colada, Saoco (with coconut milk) and Cuba Libre are among the cocktail choices. In the works is a dedicated bar area—a misted patio—where patrons can play dominoes and billiards. Qué rico.

Sustainable sustenance

In a future issue, we’ll look at some of the best places to partake in locally grown or crafted fare.

Got a suggestion? E-mail us at wavelength@fpraz.org.

Sabor Cubano 2030 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix; 602-841-CUBA (2822); saborcubanorest.com

Fall 2009 57

other“Island” Experiences Since no man is an island, listeners share the favorite tastes of some of theirs.

“ Compiled by RaeAnne Marsh and David M. Brown Drift Lounge

4341 N. 75th St., Scottsdale; 480-949-TIKI (8454); driftlounge.com

flavors wrapped in flaky dough. It specializes in the traditional Cornish turnover called a pasty (pronounced pass-tee) that tin miners used to take to work in their lunch pails. Along with traditional meat and potato fillings, the menu includes decidedly nonBritish varieties like chicken tikka masala and portobello chicken. (My current favorite is the pesto chicken.) They also have a large vegetarian selection. Don’t forget the apple caramel pasty for dessert!

—Toni Ackley

We like starting our night at this swanky Polynesian lounge because it’s within walking distance of several other bars and clubs. Most people go to Drift for the exotic drinks, but the food should not be overlooked. It’s delicious—particularly the pu-pu platter.

SECOND LINE —Polly Slovan and Justin Sawyer

CORNISH PASTY CO.

960 W. University Drive, Tempe; 480-894-6261 1941 W. Guadalupe Road, Mesa; 480-838-3586 cornishpastyco.com

This small restaurant provides big

2727 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix; 602-276-7722 An easy-to-miss hole-in-thewall, Second Line offers a simple menu of homemade Creole and Caribbean cuisine with heaps of hospitality. On a recent visit, I ordered the jerk chicken salad,

which is, very simply, a large bowl of fresh mixed greens with chicken. But the house-made jerk vinaigrette—served on the side so you can toss in to your own tolerance level—adds quite a punch. (Co-owner Duma Shange warns to add it sparingly.) The sweet tea is the perfect cooldown for the deliciously spicy fare, and the side of Creole yams is sweet enough for dessert.

—Juliet Straker RÚLA BÚLA

401 S. Mill Ave., Tempe; 480-929-9500; rulabula.com My family always stops at Rúla Búla when we attend the Tempe Festival of the Arts. Not only do we enjoy the tasty shepherd’s pie and plowman’s sandwich chased with a pint of Guinness, but we also savor the rustic interior and traditional Irish music. Each meal ends with a slice of bread pudding topped with Irish

whiskey before we return to the noisy crowd on Mill Avenue.

—Camille Sommer HAVANA CAFÉ

4225 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix; 602-952-1991 6245 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale; 480-991-1496 4232 E. Chandler Blvd., Phoenix; 480-704-2600 havanacafe-az.com I often visit Havana Café when I’m feeling a little homesick. Surrounded by—or so the decor makes it seem—the tropical breeze, sounds and sights of the island, I enjoy my favorite dish, Pollo de la Playa: chicken, scallops and sun-dried tomatoes served over a bed of rice, with a creamy coconut milk sauce. It reminds me of home—when mom would set a delicious-smelling hot plate before me and I couldn’t wait to eat up.

—Contina Carter

”

Puzzle Play

Here is the solution to the crossword puzzle on page 64. If you haven’t found the puzzle yet—no peeking!—get a pen and turn to the last page.

58 Wavelength

Fall 2009 59

ON THE AIR

mon

kbaq 89.5

tue

wed

FM Public Radio Schedule

thu

fri

sat

sun

Classical Music

with Suzanne Bona

midnight 1:00 2:00 Classical Music with Scott Blakenship, Ward Jacobson, John Zech and Gillian Martin

3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 Sunday Baroque

Classical Music

7:00

with Jane Hilton

with Sterling Beeaff

8:00 9:25 The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

9:00 Classical Music with Jane Hilton Classical Music

10:00

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

with Janine Miller

with Jane Hilton

with Janine Miller

with Katrina Becker

11:00 Mozart Buffet with Randy Kinkel

noon

Saturday at the Opera

(Metropolitan Opera begins 12/12/09 at various times)

1:00 Classical Music

2:00

with Jane Hilton

Classical Music

with Katrina Becker

with Randy Kinkel

3:00 Classical Music

4:00

with Jon Town

Classical Music

Classical Music

with Frank Sprague

with Duart Martin

5:00 Performance Today Performance Today with Fred Child and Jon Town St. Paul Sunday

6:00 7:00

From the Top Classical Music

with Katrina Becker

Southwest Season Ticket

Classical Music SymphonyCast

ASU in Concert

8:00

with Frank Sprague

Classical Music

with Duart Martin Classical Music

with Brian Dredla

9:00 Classical Music with Katrina Becker, Susan Mulligan or Frank Sprague

10:00 11:00

60 Wavelength

Classical Music

with Scott Blakenship and Ward Jacobson

Fall 2009 61

kjzz 91.5

ON THE AIR

mon

tue

wed

midnight 1:00

FM Public Radio Schedule

thu

fri

sat

sun

Classic Jazz

Classic Jazz

with Paul Anderson

with Michele Robins

Classic Jazz Classic Jazz Classic Jazz

2:00 Classic Jazz

3:00 4:00 Only a Game

5:00

BBC Newshour

Morning Edition National and Arizona News, Traffic and Weather Reports

6:00 7:00 Weekend Edition

8:00 9:00 The Diane Rehm Show 1-800-433-8850

10:00

Car Talk

11:00

Here and Now

Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!

Talk of the Nation 1-800-989-8255

Whad’ya Know?

Fresh Air

This American Life

The Splendid Table

WireTap

Best of Public Radio

A Prairie Home Companion

Car Talk

noon

On the Media

1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00

All Things Considered

All Things Considered

5:00 A Prairie Home Companion

Marketplace

Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!

6:00 BBC’s World Today

7:00

PRI’s The World American Routes

8:00

Those Lowdown Blues

with Bob Corritore

9:00

Classic Jazz

Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz

with Blaise Lantana

Riverwalk Jazz

10:00 Classic Jazz

11:00

62 Wavelength

Classic Jazz

with Paul Anderson

with Michele Robins

Classic Jazz

with Michele Robins

Fall 2009 2008 63

Crossword

By Fred Jarmuz

I Hear You Across 1.

5.

10.

13.

14.

15.

17.

19.

20.

21.

23.

26.

28.

29.

30.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

47.

48.

50.

51.

52.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

“Joanie Loves Chachi” actor Something in your eye Subject for Jane Goodall Sportscaster Albert River to the Amazon Browse, as the Web A common orientation or this magazine Footnote abbr.

Journalist/reformer Jacob __ Rhododendron type Possible name for the first decade of the century __ Islands: legendary Fountain of Youth site Binges BBs and bullets Perfect bowling game for Caesar?

Start of a rumor Rockies resort “Yay team!”

Army physician Walter Burn with hot water Wrap for Indira Gandhi Irritate In a fitting manner Relinquisher “S” on a French shaker Codger More pretentious Dropped flies and bad throws, in baseball Special teachers Shiny fabric Author Silverstein Small islands KBAQ 89.5 & KJZZ 91.5, e.g. ___ Day vitamins Use, as plates Hawaii’s state bird “Old college” effort Wood nymph Became bigger

Down 1. Autobahn auto 2. Famous tower 64 Wavelength

3. “Mr. Chicago” columnist 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

16.

18.

22.

Kupcinet Operating expenses Pleasant-sounding rock?

Contact __ “Which came first?” item Singer Garfunkel Arabian prophet From the East Where Car Talk is heard New York border lake They say “yes” to drugs Metric measure Utah national park

Isis’ brother “Psst! In the balcony!”

What’s Nu? Igneous rocks Hint at Life’s work Cicada sounds Play boy?

Pampered Getting to the bottom of things?

40. Part of the plot?

41. Vinegar vial 44. Reachable 23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

31.

32.

34.

37.

38.

46.

48.

49.

50.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

Utter again __ Paulo “__ No Sunshine” (‘71 tune) Portico Just scratch the surface?

Oink spot? “__ the fields we go ...”

Opposite SSW Give a darn?

The solution to this puzzle appears on page 58.

Fall 2009 65

66 Wavelength