2013-10 5enses

Celebrating art and science in Greater Prescott October 2013

Volume 1, Issue 10

+

Alan Dean Foster riles up some robots Dale O'Dell sheds light on a not-so-ghastly phenomenon Ty Fitzmorris catalogs fall transmogrifications Jimmy Polinori spends a week going bananas And much 2 more!

Prescott artists unearth meaning in objets trouvĂŠs

5enses In which:

4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 16

Sadira DeMarino talks about folk rhythm and fun with contra dance organizer Bruce Hardwick.

Ruby Jackson

tricks and treats her way around town gathering more Halloween fun than a werewolf bar mitzvah.

James Dungeon

tries really hard to get Alan Dean Foster to say “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”

Matt Dean

looks skyward and pays homage to the firefighters and fire fighters that serve our community.

Mike Vax

reflects on a festive weekend of music and how to indoctrinate young jazz fans into the fold.

Eric Moore

16 8 17 20 18 19 19 21 24 25 26

offers food for thought and thoughts on food for fall bird fallout.

Ty Fitzmorris

gets up close and personal with wildlife in transit and transition.

Dale O’Dell

sees the light at the end of the tunnel, which, it turns out, is actually headlights.

Helen Stephenson

discusses a different Manhattan project and a revamped horror classic that’s haunting Prescott.

Alan Dean Foster

Paolo Chlebecek

Robert Blood

Gene Twaronite

Jill Craig

Jacques Laliberté

talks form, meaning, and found objects with artists Lin Hall, Leslee Oaks, and Linda Illumanardi.

searches high and low and far and wide in search of elusive fall colors in the Central Highlands.

Left brain/Right brain Find out what’s going on in Greater Prescott

Fear & more fear

The science of scary things

COVER, LEFT TO RIGHT: “Geared Up,” by Lin Hall, “Snap Ring Sculpture,” by Leslee Oaks, and “Punk Totem, by Lin Hall.

Courtesy photos. Cover by Jimmy Polinori.

THIS PAGE: Metal sugar skull by Leslee Oaks. Courtesy image.

talks music, art, arty music, music-y art, and, um, musart with Prescott’s Allen Huddleston.

Ed Pliska

throws down a digital gauntlet and challenges robots to form an analog league of their own.

PLUS

Jacques Laliberté

Jimmy Polinori

goes bananas in the kitchen when someone tells him it’s time to go to bread.

October 2013 • Volume 1, Issue 10

Copyright © 2013 5enses Inc. unless otherwise noted.

Publisher & Editor: Nicholas DeMarino Creative Director: Jimmy Polinori Copy Editor: Susan Smart Read a new 5enses the first Friday of every month.

Visit 5ensesMag.Com, Facebook, & Twitter for more.

Contact us at 5ensesMag@Gmail.Com & 928-613-2076.

unearths a zombie conspiracy with horrifying and hilarious consequences.

gives a newer style hard drive a whirl and finds a rock-solid solution to data storage.

gets deadly serious about going green and proffers cradleto-grave recycling, naturally.

avoids listlessness by carefully crafting a craftily composited catalog of crafty craft causalities.

�ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER ���� • CONTENTS • �

Outside the Frame

Step x step

By Sadira DeMarino

Born

in Texas in 1881, the paternal grandmother of Bruce Hardwick was born onto a working farm. After working hard all through the week, she told Hardwick, “Every Saturday night, we went into town to a ballroom and had a good time.” She told him about dancing when he was young. Hardwick didn’t know how big a part it would play in his life until years later.

Flash forward to 1995, when Hardwick saw an article in the paper

about contra dancing in Prescott. He went, looking for something different to do and never looked back. Hardwick connected with Folk Happens, the local contra and English country dancing group here in Prescott. He’s been involved ever since and has chaired the board for the past four years.

What

is contra dancing?

It’s a type of pole dance originating in New England in the 19th century. It enjoys popularity worldwide but especially in North America. Dancers form two lines

  � � � � � � � � 

           

Tex ti l e s & Tex ture s A r tis a ns Stud i o

Fiber Arts, Mixed Media, Upcycled & Re-Imagined, & Organics (wood, metal, glass, stone, etc.)

217 N. Cortez • Prescott 928-227-2659 Tues-Sat . 10-7 | Sun 11-4 Closed Mon.

� • FEATURE • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

— men on one side, women on the other — with the partners across from each other creating a hall.

Some dances can also be done in squares. At the beginning of each dance, a caller has couples call off one-two-one-two down the line.

Couples with the number one switch sides so both lines are male, female, male, female, etc. The live band, which usually plays northern Celtic string music, starts up and the caller calls five or six particular sets of moves. Those calls propel couples up or down the hall. At the end of each line, couples are out for five or six calls, but still dance and repeat the sequence before that dance ends.

Each dance is between 10 and 15 minutes and is intricate, graceful, beautiful, and, most of all, fun.

Sound complicated? Don’t worry, the Prescott group has 20 years of experience and its members are more than happy. At the beginning of each night, before the dances start, there’s a half hour dedicated to introducing people to the calls. It doesn’t matter what you’ve learned (or not learned) in the past because contra dance is open to all people, regardless of experience. Everyone’s excited to come together in this community-shared artistic event.

Contra

dancing can arguably be called America’s traditional folk dance. It’s enjoyed many years of popularity and doesn’t appear to be waning. Recently, a large hall in Ashville, N. C. had to restructure dances so as not to violate fire capacity code. While it’s assumed that many dancers are middle-age or older, an estimated 80 percent of participants are in their 20s or high-school age. Even in our area — where once most of the contra dance families with schoolaged children came from outside Prescott and Prescott Valley — more high school-age dancers are coming independently from those areas. And it’s not only student dancers: Jerry Johnson’s Sharlot Hall Museum Youth String Band has students in-

Prescott dancers enjoy a contra dance.

Courtesy images. terested in playing for contra dances and more are being sought for string bands, callers, and sound technicians.

Interested? The next few weeks are full of opportunities.

There’s a special dance that coincides with the Sharlot Hall Folk Music Festival. Contra dancers, many of whom are also musicians, are coming from all over the state to attend.

The dance is the first Saturday of the month, Oct. 5, at the old armory on Gurley Street in Prescott.

There’s also a special dance held the fourth Saturday of the month, Oct. 26, at The Blue Rose Heritage and Cultural Center in Prescott Valley. Next door, quite serendipitously, is a haunted castle fashioned after the Fain Park Castle. There’s a friendly contest to see whether Prescott Valley or Chino Valley can bring in more people. The losers win a skunk. (I’m assuming this isn’t an actual live skunk.) Large families receive a discount: Every family member after the first two is free.

Expansion continues next year, Hardwick said, with plans to teach contra dancing at Yavapai College.

Hardwick is now limited in his dancing abilities but he remains passionate about contra dancing. It’s about community, he said, and it’s really about having fun. ***** Visit FolkHappens.Org and TFTM. Org to find out more about Prescott and Arizona contra dancing.

Sadira DeMarino lives in Prescott, where she’s owned and operated the resale clothing store Snap Snap for 18 years. For the past two years she’s been in business with her mother at 133 N. Cortez St. Contact her at SadiraDas@Yahoo.Com.

... the Corner

October ostentations

By Ruby Jackson BiGA. Until they added “FUN DINING” to their front black awning, I was under the impression they were a hearing aid store (and I don’t think I was the only one). They are, in actuality, a sweet, newish restaurant on Miller Valley Road, where Roman Ristorante used to be. The place has been redone in minimal but tasteful décor, and the menu is equally spartan and unfettered with choices to satisfy all. The menu changes frequently so selections are always changing leaving an element of culinary surprise. I had a blue cheese bacon burger and house salad and I eyed the wine and drink menu, which looked promising. BiGA. is locally run but has a decidedly urban vibe. It’s definitely on the happenin’ side of P-town.

The Dustbowl Revival is coming to the Highlands Center 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, courtesy of The Folk Sessions, to help celebrate their 10-year anniversary. The revival is a music collective hailing from Venice, Calif., but don’t let their locale fool you — their sound is straight from the hills, with sweet, swampy harmony and plenty of porch stomp. Songs like “New River Train,” off their latest album, Carry Me Home, are sure to set your boots to tapping. Tickets are $12.

Prescott may be Arizona’s Christmas City, but October happenings suggest the additional moniker “Halloweentown.” While Day of the Dead is traditionally celebrated for a single day, this year Prescott offers an entire Weekend of the Dead, Oct. 25-27. Prescott Center for the Arts is giving their annual Ghost Talk plus an extra performance. They’re also running a Day of the Dead art exhibit in their gallery. The Smoki Museum is throwing a Dia de los Muertos Festival as part of the weekend’s

events. There’s also a guided cemetery walk through the adjacent Citizen’s Cemetery that’s sure to run chills up your spine as well as an adjunct history lesson on old time Prescott. Contact each organization for info about their respective events. ’Tis Gallery is hosting their inaugural Creative Spirit Costume Ball from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Dressing up as your favorite famous (or not so famous) artist enters you in door prize drawings and keeps you in the proper Halloween spirit. Live music, food, and drink all contribute to the party atmosphere. The suggested donation is $5. There’s also a silent auction and raffle fundraiser to benefit the ’Tis STEPS Art School for Kids Program.

For kiddos, Halloween fun abounds. The Highlands Center is hosting a Halloween Happening with live animals, face painting, fall crafts, and fireside fables from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. It’s $2 for kids and $5 for adults.

Downtown Prescott is calling all wee ghosts and goblins for the annual Pumpkin Patch and Carnival, an all-day event on Saturday, Oct. 26. There’s a $5 cost that entitles attendees to a Halloween backpack to decorate and fill with crafts and candy and a pass for rides.

Mortimer Family Farms once again brings on the pumpkins for a gigantic festival running every weekend in October. I attended last year, and I’m sure this year will be even better. Explore the 25-acre pumpkin patch or 15-acre corn maze, take a hayride, visit the antique tractor show and pull, ride the Ferris wheel, test your wits in the haunted house, or just wander the food, vendor, and craft booths. Plus there’s a farm dance every Saturday.

Prescott Gateway Mall is hosting Scare-A-Zona, a haunted house experience with thrills and chills. It’s open 3-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.

BiGA. adds “fun dining” to Prescott’s culinary menagerie.

Photo by Ruby Jackson.

Around ...

the last three weekends in October, across from Macayo’s.

Chino Valley used to have the best haunted house around, but it hasn’t risen for a few years now. R.I.P. I’m pretty traditional about celebrating on Oct. 31. Most events fall on the preceding weekend, but Prescott Film Festival is screening the cult classic “Nosferatu” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Halloween night, at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center. Accompanist Jonathan Best will give it an

authentic 1920s flair. Costumes are encouraged. What a fantastically spooky way to wrap up the holiday. It certainly beats waiting in your backyard for the Great Pumpkin. ***** A native of the Windy City, Ruby Jackson is a freelance writer and collector of Norfin Trolls. In her spare time she is an aspiring actress (drama queen) and millionairess (donations gladly accepted). Contact her at RubyBJackson@Gmail.Com.

�ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER ���� • COLUMN • �

Horrific word play

By James Dungeon [Editor’s note: What follows are excerpts from a conversation between the reporter and Alan Dean Foster about “The Moaning Words: An Investigation in the Cthulhu Mythos.”

This free game/app, for which Foster has catered the ChooseYour-Own-Adventure-style story, is set for release later this year by the French company Byook. Poor Dungeon’s handwriting almost gave out when rendering this transcription. I fear he may have succumbed to madness.]

DUNGEON: Would you tell us a bit about the story of “The Moaning Words”?

FOSTER: There are three main characters. There are other hopefully interesting subsidiary characters; but three main characters, and all of them are in their 20s. There’s a

“The Awakening of Cthulhu,”painting by Dominique Signoret.

Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 3.0.

French poet, an American doctoral student in archeology working in Pompeii, and there’s a slightly older Russian of dubious origin, but whose ancestry is fairly easy to winkle out if you just follow the clues in the story. And they all — well, I don’t want to give it away — but they’re all going to end up together in the search for something very powerful and very dangerous.

DUNGEON: I understand you’re still writing alternate storylines for the last couple of chapters. Still, this far in, is this a medium you enjoy working in?

FOSTER: Yes and no. Yes because it’s new and I love the artwork and it’s the closest thing to doing a movie — doing a game version of it with artwork. The artwork is really very impressive from what I’ve seen so far. The down side is that if (the developers) say if this character did that, then this can happen, and we could make it part of the card game.

My reaction, as a writer, is to say, well, I already wrote that, and this is what the character does. He doesn’t do this. He could do this, yes, but I’ve had to say a couple of times you just can’t have the character do this.

Now, with one of the characters, you’re never quite sure how stable he is, whether he might fly off the handle — he’s a real powerful guy with real training and history — if you were to say at one time, does he ignore this person or kill him? That makes perfect sense, story-wise, because he could do that. But if you have the French poet, and you want him to kill somebody, I have to say no, it just Read an doesn’t fit the character.

DUNGEON: In terms of character, were there particular people in Lovecraft stories that spoke to you?

� • FEATURE • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

throw in real facts whether they were about Antarctica, as was the case in “At the Mountains of Madness,” or about astronomy, which he was very interested in. So, instead of saying the monster comes from some unimaginable nether realm, he would say it comes from Arcturus or Betelgeuse. Well, you’d look up in the sky and there were Arcturus and Betelgeuse. It puts a whole different framework around the story. Or in something like “Re-animater,” he’s talking about medical science — a very modern subject for when he did the story in the ’20s. So he was the first writer to really combine horror with science. His prose may’ve been somewhat antiquated and verbose, but his understanding of what really frightened people in the modern age — as opposed to the 19th century or the 18th century — was very advanced.

DUNGEON: So you’ve got to update it, too. It’s almost 100 years later; what are people afraid of now?

FOSTER: I’ll give you an example.

Anthologies of stories using Lovecraftian Mythos are still really popular. Publishers put them out all the time. I got asked to write one, and it involved computers, and the internet, and shoggoths and the Necronomicon. You know, you can combine these things. As to what frightens people today, everybody’s different. It’s a lot of the same things that frightened people 10,000 years ago: starving to death, heights, big bugs, things that want to eat you, the dark. A lot of that hasn’t changed.

extended interview with Alan Dean Foster online at 5ensesMag.Com.

FOSTER: I’d read a fair amount of horror. H.P. Lovecraft was the first writer I encountered who had a 20th century sensibility. You would read him and it would be fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, and then he would

***** Visit AlanDeanFoster.

Com to find out more about Alan Dean Foster. Visit Byook.Com to find out more about “The Moaning Words.”

James Dungeon is a figment of his own imagination. And he likes cats.

Contact him at JamesDungeonCats@ Gmail.Com.

A British Aerospace 146-300, not unlike a repurposed model that helped fight the Doce Fire, flies at Ukraine’s Kiev Borispol International Airport. Photo by Oleg V. Belyakov, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 3.0.

Bird Watching (No, the Other Kind)

Fire fighters len eyes, I noticed something out of my driver’s side window: Three Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane aerial firefighting helicopters solemnly and steadily working their way toward Ernest J. Love Field.

They were coming from the Yarnell Hill Fire to either refuel or, more likely, set down for the day because of weather conditions.

With

the beginning of the Doce Fire on June 18, aircraft activity around Prescott increased dramatically as did the daily aircraft spotting opportunities afforded by my home’s proximity to the airport and the location of the fires. Both fixed wing and rotary aircraft flew over my home on many runs to and from the fires.

Aerial firefighting dates back to before World War II when crude methods such as dropping water-filled wooden kegs out of aircraft proved futile. The abundance of surplus military aircraft after the war began the era of true aerial firefighting.

Today, some aerial firefighting aircraft are still from the Cold War era, but the fleet is continually modernized. During the Doce Fire, the evolution of aerial firefighting was on display. A modern, quiet, turbofan powered BAe-146 dropped retardant in conjunction with P-2V Neptunes whose

Both

the 146 and the P-2Vs used the Henry Y.H. Kim Aviation Facility at Prescott Municipal Airport to refuel and fill their tanks with pinkish fire retardant.

On the evening of June 20, my daughter and I drove to the lookout above the facility. From our vantage point, we could see the fire on the mountain and follow the tankers from their takeoff all the way through their fire runs and back to the airport.

To the south, we could see the DC-10s approaching for their fire runs.

As the Doce Fire spread toward homes in Williamson Valley, officials requested DC-10 heavy tankers. DC-10s can carry three times as much retardant or water as medium-sized

***** Matt Dean is a Prescott native and a teacher for Prescott High School’s online program who enjoys spending time with his family and walks with the dogs. When he’s not aircraft spotting, you can find him steadily working on projects at his home and property. Contact him at Matt.Dean@PrescottSchools.Com.

4 Prescott’s 4th Friday

4FRIDAY

ART WALKS

’S

July 1 with a heavy heart and swol-

2013 fire season for Prescott was somber and ultimately a devastating tragedy. Our boys will always be remembered. All firefighters, including the pilots and flight engineers, the firefighters of the sky, have our community’s most heartfelt thank you for your brave work on both the Doce and Yarnell Hill fires, as well as all the other fires you fought and will fight.

COT T

As I drove home from school on

original design dates back almost 70 years.

Three P-2Vs worked the Doce Fire. The Neptune is a modified naval aircraft whose initial mission was maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare.

As the P-2Vs near the end of their service life, they’re being replaced by aircraft such as the BAe146. Conversions for aerial firefighting started a few years ago and very few are in service.

The

PRE S

By Matt Dean

P-2Vs or 146s. There are only two DC-10s in service for aerial firefighting, and both flew out of Mesa Gateway airport during the Doce Fire.

On several occasions during the first couple of days of the Doce Fire, a DC-10 flew slow and low directly over my house. It’s not often you see an aircraft that large at such a low elevation with their landing gears up and flaps extended.

Six rotary aircraft worked on the Doce Fire including two S-64 Skycranes, a Boeing 234 Chinook, a Kaman K-MAX, a Bell 205, and an AStar 350 B3. Some of them either used a snorkel to suck water into their internal tanks or filled a large bucket dangling underneath the aircraft.

EVERY

TH

2013 January 26 February 22 March 22 April 26 Beginning at 5 PM May 24 June 28 July 26 August 23 September 27 October 25 November 22 December 27

See Special Events

www.ArtThe4th.com

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Left Brain: October’s mind-full events Events

come. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, $2-$5)

26 29

2 5

HALLOWEEN COMICFEST

PRESCOTT ASTRONOMY CLUB

• Noon Saturday: Get a free commemorative comic book. Comic-themed music and video provided by Oh!AllenTheDJ. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

• 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: Monthly meeting.

(Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

SENATOR HIGHWAY/ASPEN GROVE

“SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVE THEORIES OF GRAVITATION WITHIN THE SOLAR SYSTEM”

• 8 a.m. Saturday: Bird walk with Zach Smith. (Jay’s Bird Barn, 1046 Willow Creek Road, 928-443-5900)

• 12:15 p.m. Tuesday: Dr. Aurelien Hees presentation. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Academic Complex, 3700 Willow Creek Road, No. 74, 928-777-6723)

DESIGNER HOME SHOWCASE

• 9 a.m. Saturday: Exclusive, private tour of five homes offering the best in architecture, design, landscaping, and décor. Benefits the Phippen Museum. (Phippen Museum, 4701 Arizona 89, 928-778-1385, $75, RSVP)

PEO BENEFIT

• 1:30 p.m. Saturday: Authors Diana Gabaldon (“Outlander” series) and Dr. Thomas M. Myers (“Over the Edge”) speak.

Benefits Philanthropic Educational Organization, which benefits women’s education.

(Hotel St. Michael, 205 W. Gurley St., 928443-5252, $25, RSVP)

STARRY NIGHTS

• 8 p.m. Saturday: See the Dumbbell Nebula, Ring Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Keystone cluster, and double stars. (Pronghorn Park, 7391 E. Rusty Spur Trail)

8

“MONITORING EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITY IN ARIZONA”

• 6:30 p.m. Tuesday: Jeri Young, of the Arizona Geologic Survey, presents at the Central Arizona Geology Club’s monthly meeting.

(Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

9

“A MAN, A PLAN, AND A DREAM”

• 7 p.m. Wednesday: Retired Flying Tigers Line Captain Elgen M. Long presents a brief documentary on his solo flight around the world over both poles and discusses his book, “Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved.” (EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University DLC Auditorium, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

WALK ’N’ ROLL

11

• 10 a.m. Friday: Nature tour designed for people whose mobility depends on walkers, wheelchairs, cane, etc. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928776-9550, RSVP)

“WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?”

• 6 p.m. Friday: Author Alan Weisman talks about his new book, “Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?” (Prescott College Crossroads Center, 215 Garden St., 877-350-2100)

12

AUDUBON BIRD WALK

• 8:30 a.m. Saturday: Audubon bird walk.

(Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550)

DEL RIO SPRINGS TOUR

• 10 a.m. Saturday: Citizen’s Water Advocacy

31

“NEAR EARTH OBJECTS”

Author Alan Weisman is visiting Prescott this month. See Oct. 11 and 12 listings for more. Photo by Bill Steen.

Group guided tour of Del Rio Springs. (Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation Building, 882 Sunset Ave., 928-445-4218)

Valley Lavender Farm speaks. Bring GMOfree local dishes to share. (Crossroads Café, 215 Garden St., 877-350-2100, $5)

“FEEDING THE FRONTIER”

GRANITE DELLS BIRD WALK

• 10 a.m. Saturday: Learn what was being grown and who was buying and selling Prescott. An Arizona History Adventure.

(Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-2133, $6-$7)

“HOW TO WRITE & TEACH ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT WITHOUT SUCCUMBING TO DESPAIR” • Noon Saturday: Authors and academics Alan Weisman, Tom Fleischner, and Antony Brown proffer three perspectives on environmental solutions. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“OTHERS OF MY KIND”

• 2 p.m. Saturday: Novelist, poet, and musician James Sallis talks about his newest novel. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“GATHERING LIGHTS” & “INTO THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, GEORGIA” • 7 p.m. Saturday: Laraine Herring dual reading and book release party. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“VIVA LA VERDE!”

13 15

• 2 p.m. Sunday: Citizens Water Advocacy Group documentary screening. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-445-4218)

“TESTS OF EINSTEIN’S RELATIVITY” • 12:15 p.m. Tuesday: Dr. Quentin Bailey presentation. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Academic Complex, 3700 Willow Creek Road, No. 74, 928-777-6723)

“BREAD OF LIFE”

• 5:30 p.m. Tuesday: Slow Food Prescott monthly potluck. Anita Scheeling of Skull

� • EVENTS • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

16 17

• 12:15 p.m. Thursday: Dr. Terry Oswalt presentation. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Academic Complex, 3700 Willow Creek Road, No. 74, 928-777-6723)

Multi-day PRESCOTT AREA BOARDGAMERS

• 8 a.m. Wednesday: Bird walk with Bonnie Pranter. (Jay’s Bird Barn, 1046 Willow Creek Road, 928-443-5900)

• 5 p.m. Oct. 2 and 16: Play board games.

(Prescott Public Library, Bump and Elsea conference rooms and Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

“BITTER SEEDS”

PRESCOTT GREAT OUTDOORS

• 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17: Screening of documentary about the lives of cotton farmers in India.

(Crossroads Café, 215 Garden St., 877-350-2100)

“MASSIVE STARS”

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday: Third Thursday Star Talk with Dr. Kathy Eastwood, physics and astronomy professor at Northern Arizona University. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

19

“CAVALRY YELLOW & INFANTRY BLUE” • 10 a.m. Saturday: Learn more about the men and women at Fort Whipple. (Fort Whipple Museum, 500 N. Arizona 89, No. 11, 928-445-3122)

“WINTER OF BEAUTY”

• 2 p.m. Saturday: Author Amy Hale Auker reading and book release party. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

20 22 25

“GHOSTS OF PRESCOTT’S PAST”

• 2 p.m. Sunday: Karen Murphy discusses Arizona’s infamous spirits. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

PRESCOTT ORCHID SOCIETY

• 9 a.m. Oct. 12 and 13: Inaugural outdoor recreation festival with music, food, vendors, clinics, demonstrations, activities, and displays.

(Watson Lake Park, 3100 Watson Lake Road, $3-$5)

“GHOST TALK”

• 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and 26 and 9 p.m. Oct. 26: Arizona legends come to life in historic ghostly tales. Benefits Prescott Center for the Arts and West Yavapai Guidance Clinic youth programs. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286, $12)

WEEKEND OF THE DEAD

• Oct. 25-27: Three days of events promoting Arizona history, art, and folklore at the Prescott Center for the Arts, Historic Citizens Cemetery, and the Smoki Museum. (Call sites about events: 928-445-3286, 928-713-8807, and 928-445-1230, costs vary)

NATURALIST CITY WALKS

• 10 a.m. Wednesdays, discover more about local birds, geology, plants, and more. (City trails, HighlandsCenter.Org, 928-776-9550)

NATURALIST FIELD WALKS

• 1 p.m. Sunday: Monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 10 a.m. Saturdays, discover more about local birds, geology, plants, and more. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550)

HALLOWEEN HAPPENING

DROP-IN CHESS

• 4:30 p.m. Friday: Fall celebration with live animals, face painting, pumpkin crafts, activity stations and fireside fables. Costumes wel-

• 2 p.m. Saturdays, play chess, all ages, skill levels welcome. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

October’s art-full events :niarB thgiR

2 3 5 23

Events

Art

POETRY DISCUSSION GROUP

CURTIS

• 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dr. Janet Preston’s monthly poetry discussion group. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• From Sept. 28: Early- to mid-20th century photos of Native Peoples by Edward Curtis.

(Phippen Museum, 4701 Arizona 89, 928-778-1385)

POET’S COOPERATIVE

• From Oct. 1: Art by Abia Judd’s art students. (Method Coffee, 3180 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-1067)

ABIA JUDD ART STUDENTS

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday: Share your poetry in a supportive and encouraging atmosphere at this monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

“DISTINCT RESEMBLANCE”

• From Oct. 4: Retrospective of 85 pieces by Prescott artist Rose Mary Mack including pastels, paintings, drawings, and mixed media works from 1945-2003. (Prescott College Art Gallery at Sam Hill Warehouse, 232 N. Granite St., 928-350-2341)

CONTRA DANCE

• 7 p.m. lesson and 7:30 p.m. dance Saturday: Contra dances, newcomers and singles welcome, with caller Seth Levine and music

by Traditional Blend. (Grace Sparkes Activity Center, 824 E. Gurley St., 928-925-5210, $4-8)

MANGINELLI, COMMINS, & VAN HALL

• From Oct. 17: Beautiful beads, fabulous fiber, and marvelous mud from Jo Manginelli, Carol Commins, and Bonnie Van Hall. (’Tis Art Center, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

OPEN MIC POETRY

• 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: Dan Seaman emcees monthly open mic poetry. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“TRAPPINGSOFTHEAMERICANWEST”

PROFESSIONAL WRITERS OF PRESCOTT

• Through Oct. 20: Annual art show featuring pieces from 80 artists. (Phippen Museum, 4701 Arizona 89, 928-778-1385, $5-7)

• 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: Monthly meeting.

(Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

25

4TH FRIDAY ART WALK

• 5 p.m. Friday, monthly art walk including more than 18 galleries, artist receptions, and demonstrations. (ArtThe4th.Com)

CREATIVE SPIRIT COSTUME BALL

• 4 p.m. Friday: Catered art auction and costume ball featuring 12” x12” works by local artists. Benefits ’Tis Art Center’s STEPS Art School program. (’Tis Art Center, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223, $5)

Multi-day PRESCOTT AREA ARTISTS’ STUDIO TOUR

• 10 a.m. Oct. 4-6: Sixth annual Prescott Area Artists’ Studio Tour in which more than 38 artists showcase their work at 26 locations. (Prescott College Granite Performing Arts Center, 218 N. Granite St., 928-350-3218)

CONTEMPORARY WORKS

“Stargate” jewelry piece by Lesley McKeown. Courtesy photo. See art listings for more info.

Theater & Film “PROMISES, PROMISES”

• 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3-5 and 10-12, and 2 p.m.

Oct. 6: Chuck Baxter, New York City accountant, lends out his apartment to coworkers. Despite comedic misery and intrigue, romance prevails. Directed by Jon Meyer.

(Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286,$18-$22)

FRIGHT NIGHT

• 7 p.m. Oct. 5: Annual Fright Night screening including “Night of the Living Dead”; “Plan 9 From Outer Space” with commentary from Kevin Rose, Cynthia Kitts Sobo, and Andrew Johnson-Schmit; and “Dead Votes Society.”

(Elks Theatre, 117 E. Gurley St., 928-777-1367, $10)

“OTHELLO”

• Noon Oct. 5 and 19: Studio open house and creative space for artists. (Textiles & Textures Artisans Studio, 217 N. Cortez St., 928-227-2659)

• 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5: Via satellite, The National Theatre broadcasts a new production of Shakespeare’s immortal play about jealousy.

(Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon Ave.,928-776-2000, $16)

PRESCOTT JUGGLERS & HOOPERS

MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

ARTIST JAMS

• 5 p.m. Mondays: Jugglers throw objects into the air and at each other. (Prescott College Granite Performing Arts Center, 218 N. Granite St., 928-350-3218)

• 3 p.m. Oct. 6: Prescott’s screening of a worldwide short film festival. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $5-$8)

“HAMLET”

• 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11: From The Acting Company and Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare’s immortal play about revenge and madness.

Pre-show meals available, RSVP. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon Ave.,928-776-2000, $19-$38)

HEALING & AGING WITH GRACE, COURAGE, & HUMOR

• 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13: Gail Mangham and other theater talent present play readings that explore the landscape of aging and healing.

Benefits The Artist’s Path third annual festival. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, $10)

“MACBETH”

• 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26: Via satellite, The National Theatre broadcasts Manchester International Festival’s production of Shakespeare’s immortal play about ambition and power. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon Ave., 928-776-2000, $16)

“NOSFERATU”

• 6:30 p.m. Oct. 31: Annual screening of the classic 1922 silent horror movie “Nosferatu.”

Piano accompaniment by Jonathan Best.

Costumes encouraged. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $5-$10).

• Through Oct. 22: Contemporary works by Prescott area artists. (’Tis Art Center, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

“SIGNS & WONDERS”

• Through Oct. 23: Mixed media art by R. V. Lovelace. (Arts Prescott Gallery, 134 S. Montezuma St., 928-776-7717)

FOUND OBJECTS

• From Oct. 24: Third annual art show featuring found object art. (’Tis Art Center, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

FACULTY EXHIBITION

• Through Oct. 26: Art by Yavapai College Art Faculty. (Yavapai College Art Gallery, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2031)

GULBRANDSEN & LALIBERTÉ

• Through Nov. 1: Jewelry by Aissa Gulbrandensen and art by Jacques Laliberté. (Flipits Exchange, 616 Miller Valley Road, 928-636-5816)

McKEOWN

• Through Nov. 1: Jewelry by Lesley McKeown. (Van Gogh’s Ear Gallery, 156 Montezuma St., 928-776-1080)

PRESCOTT MASTERS PRESENTS

• Through Nov. 1: Art by Prescott masters.

(Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 N. Alarcon St., 928-776-4009)

“DAY OF THE DEAD”

• Through Nov. 2: Day of the Dead-inspired art. (Prescott Center for the Arts Gallery, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286)

�

Mike’s Musical Musings

And the band plays on

By Mike Vax The 13th annual Prescott Jazz Summit is, as they say, “in the books.”

Musically, it was the best festival we’ve ever done. We presented 40 musicians from Prescott, around

Arizona, California, and Washington, plus the Prescott High School Jazz Ensemble.

A festival such as ours clocks in at more than 25 hours of music. This year’s venues included Courthouse Plaza, The Elks Opera House, The Ruth Street Theater at Prescott High School, The Prescott Resort, The Hassayampa Inn, and Murphy’s Restaurant.

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A group performs at the Yavapai County Courthouse Square pavilion as part of the 2013 Prescott Jazz Summit. Courtesy photo.

Many

people, I think, don’t realize what goes into the making of a musical festival. As soon as the festival is over, we’re already planning for the next year’s events. Since we also produce a New Year’s Eve party at The Club at Prescott Lakes, the Howlin’ at the Highlands Concert Series, and other events besides the festival weekend, our volunteer board is constantly planning, organizing, and promoting all of our endeavors.

Our volunteer board consists of 14 very dedicated people who love jazz music and love the Prescott area. By my best calculation, if you added up all the hours board members spend working on Jazz Summit, they amass some 10,000 hours per year.

As with any nonprofit entity, it just takes lots of time — especially to work on sponsorships and ad sales.

Musical endeavors cannot survive on ticket sales alone. Most symphony orchestras derive probably half of their operating expenses from sponsors and donors. It’s the same with any music festival. As you can imagine, it’s an ongoing challenge — one that has to be met, or the festival will die.

The hardest types of music to promote and produce today are classical and jazz. They’re not in the main stream musical taste of the general public. Back in the 1920s with Dixieland jazz, and the 1930s and early ’40s with big bands traveling all over the world, jazz-oriented music was actually considered pop music. But, with the advent of rock ’n’ roll in the 1950s, all that changed.

Since then, jazz music in its many forms has gone through periods of more and less acceptance. The idiom has always had a small cadre of fans who support it, but many of those fans are getting older and we really

need to get more young people interested in the music.

This

is one of the main thrusts of the Prescott Jazz Summit via our educational outreach programs. We have reached more than 3,000 students in the past three years in schools all over the area. We present an assembly that includes the history of American music — especially jazz music — then we have a question and answer period, and then we work with music students after the assembly. The young people love these assemblies and the teachers and administrators say that the feedback is marvelous.

We’ve even encouraged students who’ve never been in band to join and learn how to play a musical instrument.

Music education has been a huge part of my life as well as that of my wife Peggy, who was a middle school band director in California for 32 years. We love working with the young people and seeing the joy in their faces when they can perform music at a high level of precision and artistic quality. The learning and performing of music will guide them well in all of their life’s endeavors.

It’s one of the greatest teachers of success there is. (That’ll be a good topic for a later column.) And, in the interim, we’ll keep playing. Because that’s what we love to do. ***** Mike Vax is a Prescott-based jazz musician and educator. As his column progresses, he’d love to hear your questions, comments, and even ideas for future columns. Contact him via his website, MikeVax.Net. Visit PrescottJazz.Com to find out more about the Prescott Jazz Summit.

brain food

CUISINE

The banana bread trials

By Jimmy Polinori — The Culinary Composer

According to food historians, the banana bread we know and love today is a relatively recent creation. American banana recipes date back to the late 19th century, but these were generally just in salads and pies. The earliest recipe titled “Banana Bread” is from 1849 and is a product from a West Indian tradition: “All classes of people in the West Indies are very fond of Banana Bread. When preparing for a voyage, they take the ripe fruit and squeeze it through a sieve; then form the mass into loaves, which are dried in the sun, or baked on hot ashes, having been previously wrapped up in leaves.”

Banana Bread happens to be one of my favorite things in life and a trigger food for some sweet childhood memories of family and wonderful occasions. So I set out to create the perfect recipe.

To say that my kitchen was wiped-out during the week-long banana bread trials would be a gross understatement. Every spice imaginable lined my counters, dogs were covered in flour, and unsuspecting grocery boys would be sent on numerous missions to locate the ripest bananas in the store. At least three dozen recipes later, I placed into my mouth what I had been intent on producing: perfect banana bread.

This recipe garners a product so moist and rich that I’ve often been asked if it’s actually cake. The best part of this little gem is watching guests’ reactions upon first bite; their expectation of how banana bread should taste has been altered forever.

Instructions 1.) PREHEAT OVEN TO 300 DEGREES 2.) GREASE OR SPRAY 3 LARGE LOAF PANS 3.) IN A LARGE BOWL, CREAM TOGETHER BUTTER AND SUGAR 4.) MIX IN EGGS, MASHED BANANAS, SOUR CREAM, GREEK YOGURT, CINNAMON, VANILLA, NUTMEG, AND GROUND CLOVES 5.) MIX IN SALT, BAKING SODA, AND FLOUR 6.) STIR IN CHOCOLATE CHIPS OR OTHER SELECTED EXTRAS *OPTIONAL: SPRINKLE ½ CUP GRANOLA OVER EACH LOAF BEFORE BAKING 7.) BAKE FOR 70 MINUTES, UNTIL A TOOTHPICK INSERTED IN CENTER COMES OUT CLEAN 8.) REMOVE FROM OVEN AND PLACE ALL LOAF PANS ON A LARGE TOWEL ON COUNTER. GENTLY USE A BUTTER KNIFE TO SEPARATE THE BREAD FROM SIDES OF LOAF PANS.

Get more recipes and let us know your favorite banana bread extra at:

Facebook.Com/TheCulinaryComposer

Ingredients ½ CUP PLUS 4 TBSP BUTTER 3 CUPS WHITE SUGAR 3 EGGS 6 RIPE BANANAS, MASHED ¾ CUP GREEK YOGURT 1 CUP SOUR CREAM 3 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT 2 TEASPOONS GROUND CINNAMON 2 TEASPOONS NUTMEG 2 TEASPOONS GROUND CLOVES ½ TEASPOON SALT 3 TEASPOONS BAKING SODA 4½ CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR 1 BAG OF SEMI SWEET CHOC CHIPS OR WHITE CHOC CHIPS OR CHOPPED WALNUTS OR ANY COMBINATION 1½ CUPS GRANOLA (OPTIONAL)

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Touchdown! (batteries not included)

Alan Dean Foster’s Perceivings

By Alan Dean Foster You could say that it all started (as so many things these days seem to) with a science fiction story.

Specifically, Richard Matheson’s terse opus “Steel,” that most recently served as the basis for the film “Real Stel,” about boxing robots. Certainly more than a few folks must have found the concept amusing when Matheson’s tale first appeared in the May 1956 issue of that serious harbinger of advanced technological change, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science-Fiction. Keep ’em amused, I say.

Except …

Nostalgic

Would

the game lose its “spontaneity?” Heck, coaches “program” the plays and their players from the sideline as it is. Even today’s relatively simplistic video sports games allow for the on-screen “players” to improvise moves and reactions. Just add a hundred tons of metal and plastic, and you’ve got robot football.

When the players are synthetic, you don’t even need synthetic grass.

I’m not sure it would work as well with baseball.

No matter how fast the pitcher throws, a batter equipped with stereoscopic normal, infrared, and UV vision would probably hit everything thrown in its direction — with a solid aluminum, or maybe titanium, bat. True, the games would be high-scoring, but they’d get boring pretty quick.

Same thing with soccer, where every player would be as quick, agile, and adept as every other one, and the goalie would block every kick.

Oh, wait — soccer’s mechanical enough already.

Probably, the optimum competition for advanced mechanicals would be something akin to team paintball. Give a whole new twist to the old game “kick the can.” Only with robots, the game could be a tad more lethal than paintball.

This

would be an easy league to implement. We already have robot bomb disposal machines, smart bombs, and all manner of borderline cybernetic warriors. They just need to be anthropomorphized a bit to enhance their Q score (Wikipedia: The Q Score is a measurement of the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, celebrity, or television show used in the United States).

Today’s kids would take to such innovations immediately. There’d be very little difference between the games they play on their electronic devices and seeing them made real. Interactive combat/gaming exercises like fantasy football, fantasy baseball, and Afghanistan already exist.

The first two simply need to be metalized.

Then what’s left for humans, you wonder? If we turn all our big-name sports over to our machines, what’s left for us to actually participate in on the professional level?

I suppose there’ll always be golf. I don’t think we could persuade even the robots to participate in that. ***** Alan Dean Foster is author of more than 120 books, visitor to more than 100 countries, and still frustrated by the human species. Follow him at AlanDeanFoster.Com. Amanda Maas is a visual arts student at Prescott College with a focus in illustration. She’s also a minion at The Art Store, in Prescott. aA aA

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Explosives could be permitted and a whole host of individually-designed battle machines ranged against one another, with the winners receiving custom lube jobs. Or maybe send them to Disneyworld, where they would be greeted and feted by the resident audioanimatronics.

Ill. by Amanda Maas.

toys like Rock’em Sock’em Robots aside, the battling robot concept has resulted in several television series. Teams of predominantly youthful engineers, mechanics, metallurgists, and programmers construct innovative mobile mélanges of metal, plastic, and whatever else they can scrounge and then send them into battle against each another.

What ensues is a great deal of flame, flashing sparks, screaming metal being ripped to shreds, unexpected explosions, and general high-energy mayhem accompanied by the shrieks of semi-hysterical fans. Not unlike your typical NASCAR race.

Is it therefore so very absurd to envision such contests taking place without the presence of human drivers? We already are in the first stages of development of commercially viable self-driving cars. Why not self-driving race cars? Higher speeds possible, the same rush of wreck-fueled adrenaline, but without the risk of human casualties. Would anyone watch, you ask? As mentioned, people gleefully cheer robots bashing each other to bits. Why not the same enthusiasm for watching robot cars bash each other to bits?

That’s just one sport, for starters. If people will watch robot combat (Mixed Metal Assault, the other MMA) and accept the reality of self-driving cars and self-flying planes, I don’t see why the notion can’t be extended to all sports.

Retired professional football players just reached a settlement with the NFL regarding serious injuries, especially those involving cranial

contact. Why not solve the problem and permanently eliminate the danger by replacing live players with their metallic counterparts? Imagine the possibilities: one-ton mechanical lineman smashing into each other with all the power and acceleration of small trucks. High-speed receivers able to outrun cheetahs and out-jump gazelles.

Running backs quick and sharp enough not only to turn on a dime, but to cut dimes. Quarterbacks with actual rifle arms.

I’d pay to see that. And no broken bones, no concussions.

Prescott artists unearth meaning in objets trouvés

By Robert Blood

There

was something sparkly in those 55-gallon drums.

Leslee Oaks was sure of it.

The Washington state transplant didn’t actively think about what was in them. It was fleeting: Oh, there’s those things again. But, sure enough, a metallic glint caught her eye again and again on her commute to welding class at Yavapai College.

One day, probably in 2008, four years moving to the Prescott area, curiosity got the better of Oaks. She stopped and took a closer look.

Her revelation didn’t inspire calm; it spurred action. Oaks made her way to whomever’sbarrels-those-were’s house and knocked.

The man who answered smiled at her inquiry and proceeded to offer her the lot of them.

But that wasn’t enough. Over the years, Oaks and her husband, Bob, came back for more.

Sometimes they took pickup truck’s worth.

“There were all kinds of shiny things — the

kind that make a transmission work,” Oaks says. “He offered me everything I wanted.”

Only this gearhead wasn’t interesting in fixing cars. She was interested in making art.

Objet trouvé “When you find something, there’s always a story that goes with it,” says Patti Ortiz as she zips around ’Tis Art Center and Gallery.

“That’s the interesting thing about a found object show: It makes artists look around their world in a different way.”

The gallery’s third annual found object art show opens Thursday, Oct. 24, a day before its 4th Friday Art Walk debut. Ortiz, marketing director at ’Tis, offers a few thoughts about it.

“It’s a very rough looking medium,” she says.

“The first year we did the show, some people tried painting things, but usually it’s all gears and glass — it’s not heavily embellished.”

“Headman,” a found object piece

by Lin Hall.

Courtesy photo.

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... FROM PAGE �� The literal French doesn’t appear in the promotional materials, but the found object movement was dubbed objet trouvé in the early 20th century. You know that old joke about nailing a urinal to the wall and calling it art? That actually happened. (“Fountain,” by R. Mutt, probably Marcel Duchamp, in 1917.)

Even Pablo Picasso got in on the action.

Many of the found object pieces shown in Prescott, however, are better classified as junk art. (Or recycled art.

(Or upcycled art. (Or, my two cents, “re(f)use(d) art.”))) There’s a lot of machine metal; there’s also a lot of glass and wire. (Ortiz’s “gears and glass” was catchier.)

Then, !, up on the mezzanine gallery — CLANG. CLANG. Sigh.

“You need to talk to Lin about found objects,” Ortiz says, motioning up the stairs. “Ask her about the rake.”

Parts & partners “See how the metal curves?” says Lin Hall, tracing the humped tines of what was once a rake. “That wasn’t bent; that was forged. That was an old one.”

The business end of that ex-rake has been repurposed as the spiky hair of a figure she calls “Punk Totem.” He’s a meter-

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tall assemblage with faces and forms welded together from weathered metal.

Many of Hall’s pieces are animal- or steampunk-themed. Some are both. The stained glass pieces she adds to some lend lively shades to a chromatic range that, otherwise, would be bifurcated: oxidized or not oxidized.

“I have no idea what parts are what,” Hall says while visually dissecting another sculpture.

“That one’s a flywheel — my husband told me that. I’m not mechanically inclined that way.”

Speak of the devil, Hall’s husband, Phil, ascends the staircase and picks up the industrial idol. (“Make sure to pick him up by the crankshaft,” offers Hall, who knows more about parts than she’s letting on.)

“He provides a lot of the muscle,” Hall says.

“And he’s endlessly patient with all of this. He doesn’t mind.”

“Yes I do,” he deadpans before loosening a grin.

“All of this” refers to almost a decade of collecting, reassembling, and welding metal and stained glass into sculptures. Hall got started by taking a welding class at Yavapai College a couple of years after she and Phil left California and moved to Dewey. She’d never really tried her hand at art before.

“I can’t even draw. I don’t have the patience for it,” Hall says. “My brain is more into 3-D concepts. I just see these shapes and textures and I go for it.”

Treasures Linda Illumanardi lived in Greater Prescott for three years: From 2010 until a couple of months ago.

Even though she’s a formally trained artist, it wasn’t until she arrived here to teach in Mayer, that she embraced a new medium.

“I was hoping to paint when I got to Arizona but it just didn’t feel right,” says Illumanardi, who originally hails from Vermont and now lives in California. “But, in the three years I was there, Arizona lead me to all of these treasures.”

She found animal skulls, desiccated bugs, and a Sears catalog’s worth of man-made trinkets. Armed with these finds and two decades’ worth of oh-that’s-interesting-but-Idon’t-know-what-to-do-with-it-yet objects she had stashed away, Illumanardi tried her hand at found object art.

“It was freeing to stuff the academics aside and do whatever I wanted,” Illumanardi says.

“All of the sudden there were no barriers for me.”

Unlike some found object artists who work with metal, Illumanardi can’t weld. Instead, she assembles pieces based on their own properties. This reinforces the way in which they fit together, both literally and figuratively.

“With found objects, they’ve been discarded and buried for so long,” Illumanardi says.

“They represent so many different identities that you can hold together with just one word or thought, though.”

Found objects are currently in vogue in pockets of the art world, and Illumanardi thinks she knows why. (And it’s not just that “greening” recycling impulse, either.)

“For many of us, people over 40, some of the objects (in these pieces) are no longer produced,” Illumanardi says. “They remind us of our childhoods, of parts of our lives that are over and lost. … How we find them, how we put them together and reassemble them is the key to their success as art.”

Barrels of fun As someone who was in the excavation business for years, Leslee Oaks can name many of the parts she finds and fashions into art.

“I appreciate them for their functional value; I know how they work,” says Oaks, who jumpstarted her found objects after art with the aforementioned barrels-of-parts haul. “But they just have a beauty, too — their composition and their transformation into art.”

Hence, Model T jacks become candle holders and transmission gears become flowers. A grenade? That’s a sculpture topper.

There’s also some whimsy: When her own garden failed, so she forged a metallic one.

“I just like using my brain and my imagination and trying to go further than anybody else,” Oaks says.

She’s welded an 18-foot arch out of found objects, a metal tree with exposed roots, and a giant spider web, among many other things.

The last of these was inspired by a friend who gifted her a pair of giant steel spiders.

“Where else would they live?” Oaks asks.

Finding meaning Patti Ortiz has a moment to slow down. She asks how it went with Lin Hall and suggests calling Leslee Oaks. Both of them will be in ’Tis Gallery’s found object show on Oct. 24.

Call Linda Illumanardi, too — she’s not here anymore, but she had a really great found object show at the gallery last summer.

Ortiz mentions the Prescott Creeks Preservation Association, which has been using their annual creek cleanup to springboard into a found object art show and auction. Next April, for the first time, ’Tis is donating gallery space leading up to auction.

OK. That’s everything. The maven is tired and talked out. Oh, one more thing.

“There’s this, uh, video I did,” Ortiz says then trails off. “It’s probably the most personal thing I’ve done in years.”

She talks about an art film she shot last year.

It was inspired by the death of her last surviving brother and a meditative exercise she did with her friend Anne Alexander.

That story’s hers to keep or share, but the video itself is posted online. At one point it, features footage of a found object piece by Illumanardi.

“It was just one of those pieces that, when I saw it, it just took me,” Ortiz says. “I guess that’s a different aspect to this whole found art thing — using the found art as a model for something else.”

Found art, it seems, runs the gamut. It can help you find whatever you’re looking for.

COUNTERCLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT: A found object shadow box by Linda Illumanardi; “Snap Ring Flower,” by Leslee Oaks; found object candlesticks

by Leslee Oaks; Linda Illumanardi pieces together found objects; Leslee Oaks poses in her home studio; Lin Hall and her husband, Phil, enjoy a speedy carriage ride; a found object piece

by Linda Illumanardi; all courtesy photos.

***** Visit TisArtGallery.Com to find out more about ’Tis ARt Center & Gallery and its third annual found object art show. Visit TimeToSteel.com to see more of Lin Hall’s artwork.

Leslee Oaks and Linda Illumanardi are working on new websites. Visit Youtube.Com/ watch?v=0Nume6H12Lk to see Patti Ortiz’s film “Tunnels and Light.”

Robert Blood is a Mayer-ish-based freelance writer and ne’er-do-well who’s working on his last book, which, incidentally, will be his first.

Contact him at BloodyBobby5@Gmail.com.

��

Highlands Center for Natural History’s Outdoor Outings

Fall in line with ritual

By Jill Craig

We

have a wood burning insert in our fireplace at home that provides all the heat we need on cold winter days and nights. I have a ritual, you could call it, for firing it up for the first time each season. I like to put on my favorite James Taylor melodies, make a batch of potato leek soup and a loaf of bread, and pull out all of my cozy sweaters and blankets while putting away my summer shorts and tanks.

This is my way of saying “Hello Fall!”

Having

Dark-eyed Juncos, like this one, are returning to Prescott to winter. Photo by Ken Thomas, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

grown up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, each Arizona fall I continue to expect sweeping landscapes of deep oranges, reds, and yellows.

My ears crave the crunching of mounds of fallen leaves, and my nose searches out the scent of cold, pre-snow air mixed with fallen foliage. While we may not have grandiose fall colors here in the Arizona Highlands, there are still pockets of seasonal change — it’s simply a matter of seeking them out.

Since most of the forest canopy is comprised of evergreen trees such as Ponderosa Pines, Scrubs, Emory and Grey oaks, Piñon Pines, and Alligator Juniper, there isn’t much color at the changing of seasons. To satisfy that aesthetic need it’s best to travel a bit higher in elevation or closer to streams and valleys where more deciduous trees tend to grow. Gambel Oaks differ from the three other

Southwestern oak species in that they have big lobed leaves, grow the most oak-like, and produce decent-sized acorns – though still not comparable to eastern species. Where elevation lacks, a Gambel Oak will seek out the shady, cool, moist valleys. If the valley has frequent or occasional water, then Willows, Aspen, Cottonwoods, Ash, Alder, and Arizona Black Walnut may abound.

Among these deciduous trees, the Cottonwood, Aspen, and Walnut offer the best fall color.

As the sun shines a little bit less each day and the air grows cooler, Cottonwood leaves turn a brilliant, vibrant shade of yellow. I like to walk through Watson Woods this time of year to see the sun highlight each shade of yellow and brown before they tumble and cover the soil.

Quaking Aspens grow in groves called clonal colonies. Every member is a clone that shares the same root structure. It’s hard to beat the experience of walking through a colony of aspen with an autumn sun backlighting the leaves, which turn an orange-yellow and quake at even a hint of a fall breeze. The quaking is thanks to their flattened stems, which causes each entire leaf to tremble.

Arizona Black Walnuts are capable of producing a plethora of edible walnuts. They are dioecious, meaning there trees are male or female. Identifying a female is easy because of their large, dark brown fruits. Though the outer skin produces a rather pungent scent, once it’s shed and the fruit is cracked open, its scant meat is very tasty.

�� • FEATURES • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

I’m

not the only one who has a ritual for the Aspen leaf. coming fall. The last migraPhoto by tory birds make a final pit stop here at lakes to fill up Al Lodwick. in preparation for their southbound journeys. Acorn Woodpeckers dash to cache as many acorns as they can in great tall Ponderosa granaries (or, in my neighborhood, under roof shingles) where the nuts remain for winter storage and consumption. Packrats in their middens (hopefully not the ones in your car) prepare for a deep sleep they will enjoy in the company of their mortal enemy, rattlesnakes.

It’s common for these species to draw a truce and share a safe, warm winter retreat.

Ravens, squirrels, and chipmunks, likewise, cache food stores in preparation for snow. It doesn’t matter that winters in the Highlands have been mild for several years and that the chance of snow-covered ground is slim. No, these creatures have their habits. Just like us. ***** Jill Craig is education director at the Highlands Center for Natural History. She oversees all educational programming for the center and facilitates the Highlands Naturalist Volunteer Program. In her spare time, Jill can be found hiking in the Bradshaw Mountains with her two dogs and husband.

October diet changes

By Eric Moore

Many

changes take place in the natural world during October.

Most notable is the onset of freezing temperatures.

As morning temperatures drop, there’s a ripple effect throughout nature.

Insect populations began to die off and birds begin shifting their diet to seeds, nuts and berries. This change occurs so gradually and naturally that it’s almost imperceptible. Birdseed consumption and activity at suet feeders increases as insect populations diminish and the days grow shorter.

In October, fall migrants such as Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets begin showing up at backyard bird feeding stations in large numbers. Having traveled hundreds of miles, these migratory birds need to refuel to survive.

Make sure your feeders are stocked with fresh seed and suet to greet the arriving songbirds who’ll winter here. ***** Eric Moore is owner of Jay’s Bird Barn, 1046 Willow Creek Road in Prescott. Contact him at Eric@JaysBirdBarn.Com.

News From the Wilds

By Ty Fitzmorris

October

aA

A young Bobcat looks for a new territory. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

A brief survey of what’s happening in the wilds ...

High mountains

• Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum), which stay near Aspens in our area, continue mating while their young establish their own territories.

• Pregnant female Black Bears search out winter dens, which are often in old mine shafts. In our area, only the pregnant females hibernate during which time they give birth.

• Gambel Oak and Aspen leaves change color and begin to fall.

Visit: Spruce Mountain Loop Trail, No. 307.

Ponderosa Pine forests

• Ponderosas continue losing needles.

They’ll shed 40 percent of their needles during these several months.

• The leaves of New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana), a pretty understory tree, change to a beautiful yellow, as do those of Arizona Walnut (Juglans major).

Visit: Schoolhouse Gulch Trail, No. 67.

Pine-Oak woodlands

• A large number of tarantula young disperse into new areas. These large spiders are harmless unless harassed, in which case they release irritating hairs from their abdomen that cause slight stinging.

Their bite is non-venomous and not painful.

• Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), one of the very few social woodpecker species, gather acorns with alacrity, storing them in characteristic granaries — trees (and sometimes telephone poles) into which the woodpeckers have carved holes for acorn storage.

Most Acorn Woodpecker colonies have two granary trees, and the primary one can store as many as 50,000 acorns.

Visit: Little Granite Mountain Trail, No. 37.

Pinyon-Juniper woodlands

• Junipers still bear some of their bluewhite seed cones, which are increasingly important in the diets of birds and rodents as the weather turns colder.

• Goldfinches (Carduelis psaltria), House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), and many species of sparrows forage in mixed-species flocks.

Visit: Tin Trough Trail, No. 308.

Grasslands

• Many species of hawks migrate through grasslands riding thermals during the afternoons. Look for Roughlegged, Ferruginous, Swainson’s, and Red-tailed Hawks, as well as Turkey Vultures, with several species some-

times in the same thermal.

Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Riparian areas

• River drainages are often colder than surrounding uplands as cold air from higher ground flows down them.

This is especially noticeable in the evenings. For this reason, some rivers that drain off of high mountains are the first areas to freeze. Leaves might change here first, too.

• Young Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) disperse into new areas, and some migrate south through our rivers. These gangly fishing birds sometimes migrate in large groups, occasionally up to 50 or 100 individuals, and may travel as far as Venezuela.

Visit: Lower Wolf Creek Falls Trail, No. 384.

Deserts/Chaparral

• The queens of our one species of bumblebee, Bombus sonorus, fly in their nuptial mating flight then look for overwintering refuges. Bumblebees produce propylene glycol, a natural antifreeze, in their blood. In the spring, these queen bumblebees emerge and begin new colonies.

Visit: Agua Fria National Monument.

is a bittersweet month in the Central Highlands. The bite of the evening air carries the smell of wood smoke and mountain forests down into the valleys while the days are still sunny, and, in some places, flowers and butterflies can still be seen.

The nights are growing colder as the days shorten, and the denizens of the wilds are finishing their summer activities quickly and preparing for the quiet and cold.

We reliably have our first frosts this month, and the temperatures become increasingly intolerable for many of our insects and spiders. They create dens for their overwintering hibernations, as the tarantulas do, gather provisions into large storerooms, as the ants do, migrate south to warmer climes, as with the Monarch Butterflies, or simply conclude their egg laying and die, as is the case with most species.

And as the insects begin to diminish, so do the creatures that rely on them. Many of the birds — most notably warblers and swallows — migrate south to areas with more prey, as do some of our bat species. Hawks migrate through our region now in increasing numbers mostly following broad valleys and grasslands and looking for rodents, who are busy now gathering seeds and catching the last insects.

For some species, this is the time when nearly grown offspring are leaving their parents to establish new territories. Young of many species, including Bobcats, Badgers, River Otters, Gray Foxes, Abert’s Squirrels, Porcupines and some species of skunk, are all looking for territories now and finding food by themselves for the first time.

Encounters between humans and these species are more common during this time of year since young are relatively unpracticed at avoiding humans. Of course, as with virtually all Looking for of our wild species in the weather and Central Highlands of the night sky info?

Southwest, the only risk to Check out page humans in these encoun22. ters comes from animals being harassed or aggravated. Generally, quiet and respect will be rewarded by some degree of trust and often lead to extraordinary observations. ***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and runs Peregrine Book Company and Raven Café as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. Contact him at Ty@ PeregrineBookCompany.Com with questions or comments.

�ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER ���� • FEATURE • ��

By Dale O’Dell

There

are many sites in America where “ghost lights” have been reported, but the most famous is in Marfa, Texas. The first published account of the Marfa lights was in 1957, but anecdotal information goes back to the 1800s. American Indian oral history precedes any sighting by white men by about 100 years.

I first photographed the lights in 1992. Back then, the viewing area was a picnic table on the side of Highway 90. I got good, clear pictures. Since ’92, scientists have studied the phenomena, more books and papers have been published, and technology has improved, so I returned. In July, I made another journey to Marfa (now a quasi-artist colony) and brought hi-tech equipment. I also did more research and was much more knowledgeable about possible light-sources such as the piezoelectric effect, heat refraction of light, etc.

There’s a new viewing area where that picnic table used to be. It’s an

elevated platform with binoculars — they don’t even require a quarter to use. This time I set up digital cameras using night-vision, infrared and visible light with 300, 400 and 1000 mm lenses. All cameras pointed south, in the direction the lights appear, and I used a radio tower as a reference point. By sundown, a crowd of about 30 gathered; a halfhour later, the lights appeared and photography commenced.

The mystery light area is due south. There are two highways (67 and 169) to the southwest of that.

The most recent book about the lights, “Mysteries of the Marfa Lights Revealed” (Wagners & Wagners, RJ Books 2012), presents a compelling case for the lights as car lights on those highways, and I was inclined to believe it. The science was that good.

Using

that radio tower as photographic reference, I concluded that any lights seen west of the tower (in the direction of the two highways) would most likely be car lights and any lights seen to the east of the tower

�� • FEATURE • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

This photo of the Marfa Ghost Lights was taken in July in Marfa, Texas. Photo by Dale O’Dell.

Lights out

(where there were no roads) could be something phenomenological. By midnight, I’d shot a lot of good photos. Unfortunately, all the lights were west of the radio tower.

Damn! They’re probably car lights.

I recall being really excited about my photos in 1992, so when I returned to my studio, I got out those old photos and reexamined them and found … all the lights were west of the radio tower. Apparently, 20plus years ago, I’d gotten all excited about mundane automobile lights.

So, I went all the way to Texas to take time-exposures of what are most likely car lights. I think that’s

the explanation for modern ghost light sightings — headlights in the distance diffracted by heat.

But in 1850, before the highways and the automobile, what did the Indians see? That’s still a mystery. ***** Dale O’Dell is an author, photographer, digital artist, and Prescott resident. As an artist, he’s known as a surrealist which is an oddly appropriate occupation for one wellversed in ufology and the paranormal. His artwork can be seen at Van Gogh’s Ear Gallery on Whiskey Row and at DalePhoto.Com.

***** Allen Huddleston is a Prescottbased artist and DJ. Find out more

a e r f

not watching films or marketing the fest, you can usually catch her at the computer in her Prescott Film Festival office. Contact her at Helen@ PrescottFilm Festival.Com.

A

l l a p f o

e d a h s r e i k

By

***** Helen Stephenson is executive director of the Prescott Film Festival and collects old hats and Mary Poppins memorabilia. When she’s

Jacques

Costumes are encouraged at the screening. Caution: This is one scary movie.

Tickets for “Nosferatu” (let’s all say it together now!) are $10 or $5 for Yavapai College employees and students from any school.

Buy them at the door or online at PrescottFilmFestival.Com.

Laliberté

As is traditional, Jonathan Best is playing live piano accompaniment to the film. And he doesn’t use the music created for the film.

Instead, he improvises throughout the movie putting special flourishes into the piece really feeling the ebb and flow of audience reactions. It’s a neat trick and a tasteful treat.

“Nosferatu” (see how it just rolls off my fingers?) is an amazing example of silent filmmaking. Please remember, it was created before color and sound (in films). All the actors had to work with were themselves and their director. And actor Max Schreck, who plays Orlock, set the bar high for his fellow cast members as well as most of the movie vampires who followed.

No, he’s not handsome. Quite the opposite. He’s got long, pointed ears, an elongated nose, and he desperately needs to clip his fingernails.

His completely bald (and somewhat misshapen) head is a stark contrast to his huge, bushy eyebrows. His walk is stiff (as any undead’s walk would be), and he’s not someone you’d want to meet in a dark alley.

or rr ho g, tin vo

absolutely terrifying is coming to the Prescott Film Festival in October.

More on that in a moment. First: the Manhattan Short Film Festival.

This is a unique event. At most film festivals, there are jury awards before the fest and then there are audience choice awards during the festival.

The Manhattan Short Film Festival is different. It’s a worldwide festival held in the span of one week each year. The same films screen across the world for more than 100,000 people. That audience votes for the best short film.

This year’s event received 628 entries representing 48 countries — a field narrowed to 10 finalists. The films selected come from the Australia, England, Finland, France, Ireland, and the USA. The Prescott Film Festival’s screening is 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $8 or $5 for Yavapai College Employees and students from any school.

And now, a local favorite. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, the festival is screening the classic silent horror film “Nosferatu.” (I can now spell and pronounce that title without hesitation. It only took six months.)

O. Allen Huddleston makes art; he DJs local clubs; he listens to the music he spins while making art. A trifecta of creative triumph.

His pop-art pieces have been seen everywhere, too: He’s had three solo shows and at least seven group shows as well as shows in a number of restaurant venues.

Huddleston is exhibiting in Phoenix this month at JoBot, but, here in Prescott, we get him for his annual Halloween art exhibit and DJ gig at the Raven Café. (The DJ gig is tentatively set for Friday, Nov 2., the weekend after

about him at Word Thieves.Com.

Something

the Thursday holiday.)

Huddleston’s show is called “Ammunition” — a play on words relating to national cuts in arts funding and military enlistment swells.

His art ammunition is paint on canvas and panels, and he promises his newer series is more fun and colorful than ever.

Stacks of new work should hang up front and those infamous Shed Project artists are set to invade the Raven’s West Gallery.

For shows like this — café versus a gallery — Huddleston tailors his output (and pricing) to the clientele. And, he sells!

Huddleston’s DJ and live-art concerts are his local namesake. In fact, he’s working live for the week, finishing three works in real time as you watch, critique, and make suggestions. The Peregrine Book Company is bankrolling these works, but they could be yours, for a price.

If you want to get in the spirit before Huddleston’s Halloween show, you can preview his set list online at SoundCloud.Com/WordThieves.

A 20-year resident of Prescott, Jacques Laliberté has written for and designed several publications, as well as his own Art-rag. See his fine art work at Society6.Com/DaZzlDolls.

By Helen Stephenson

Allen Huddleston works on “Galactus” during Free Comic Book Day at Peregrine Book Company. Courtesy photo.

ic on ph m Sy

Prescott Film Festival’s Script Notes

�ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER ���� • FEATURES • ��

FEaR

&

MORE

FEAR

The science of scary things

Upon

taking the presidential oath of office on March 4, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech that included an oft-quoted aphorism: “The only thing we have to fear is … fear itself.”

And, indeed, fear is worth fearing. No, not that “unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat in advance” — that’s pretty much just fear of failure. We’re talking about that incisive, inexorable feeling of dread, horror, and doom that puts sweat stains in your shirt and brown streaks in your drawers. We’re talking about the kind of fear that inspires italics. We’re also talking about the kind of fear that, in a pinch, just might save your life.

If you want to know what to expect when you’re expecting … fear, fear not. Science has you covered.

The information in this guide was extracted and clarified from medical and scientific studies. It’s been simplified to inform and entertain, which means (hopefully not-so-important) details have been omitted.

Acute fear often evokes the so-called “fight-or-flight” reaction which, among As such, don’t take this overview as gospel. If there other things, causes pupils to dilate. This affords better night vision, but can also isn’t enough information to slake your thirst for result in hyper focus à la tunnel vision. Fear can also skew spatial perception knowledge here, by all means, pick up a book. thus making threatening objects appear closer than they actually are.

You experience the world through sight, This conclusion, extrapolated from Emory University research published in the Oct. sound, smell, touch, and taste. Why not 9, 2012 issue of Current Biology, is more surprising than you might think. Numerous use those five senses to tame and studies have shown that humans have a well-developed, remarkably accurate sense of train the awful, awe-inspiring space and time when it comes to what direction an object is headed and, when applicable, emotion of fear. when it’ll make contact with them. The more fearful someone is of a moving object, the more likely they are to underestimate its time to collision. A technical note: Researchers have yet to determine whether fear makes threats appear to move faster or whether fear expands a person’s sense of personal space unto similar effects.

Sight

Sound Through conditioning, practically any sound can invoke a fear response.

Depending on the stimuli, though, that fear response may actually increase your hearing acuity.

The relevant study, from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers, published in June 2013 in Nature Neuroscience, shows as much for those unsung heroes of scientific research, vermin. Mice taught to fear a

wide range of tones have a general fear response to a range of tones while those taught to fear a tighter, limited range of tones showed acute pitch discrimination. Essentially, they learned to distinguish sounds they previously couldn’t tell apart. It’ll take some ingenuity to put this information to use — the increased acuity was, as far as we know, limited to proximal tones — but it does show the potential for growth.

“Fear” plate from “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” 1872, by Charles Darwin. VintagePrintable.

Com, public domain.

�� • GUIDE • OCTOBER ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

Smell

Touch

Fear, though unpleasant, is protective response meant to keep you out of harm’s way.

Strong as it is, fear can be superseded by outside forces, however. Sometimes those outside forces come from within, as is the case of Toxoplasma gondii.

Quite famously, mice infected with this parasite lose their innate aversion to cat urine — in fact, its replaced with a form of lust that draws the mice into the maws of Toxoplasma g.’s

favorite host, cats. The change appears permanent and persists after the near-total elimination of the parasite as observed by University of California, Berkeley researchers in the Sept. 18, 2013 issue of PLoS ONE. Its affect on humans?

Subtle, although measurable. It’s thought to make women more outgoing and men more reclusive. This is an emergent area of research, though, and nothing’s for certain.

Fear can have polar opposite effects on your sense of touch. On the one hand, it can trigger adrenaline that gives you more strength than you’ve ever known while blunting your sense of pain. On the other hand it can freeze you in place preventing you from moving a muscle. This latter effect, called tonic immobility, is a daily occurrence for some animals (like, say possums), but it remains a deeply coded defense mechanism for humans, too. Moreover, it appears more common if you’ve got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder according to research from Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro published in the September 2011 issue of Biological Psychology. That means the reexperiencing of past trauma can, in and of itself, trigger a bout of tonic immobility. It’s unlikely playing dead will exorcise your demons, though.

Taste If you’re hyped up on fear and adrenaline, it might be tempting to throw back a drink or two to take the edge off. But, truth be told, alcohol doesn’t dampen fear-related body responses. Anxiety and fear appear to have distinct, separable neurological processes accord

-ing to research from University of Wisconsin researchers published in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Alcohol affects the former but not the latter. You can replicate this experiment at home by administering a series of randomized and scheduled shocks to a friend or

loved one. Don’t be surprised, though, if your friend or loved one starts behaving erratically, or, worse yet, only shows up with a drink in hand, like that scoundrel Harry in “The Last Time I Committed Suicide.”

Fright(ful) night(_full)

By Ed Pliska

If

you have a random memory of a zombie wrestling with reporters on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse, you can gain some comfort in knowing that you’re not crazy; you just walked past a zombie movie filming here last fall.

“People walking by would just stop dead in their tracks” said Angie Johnson-Schmit, writer and producer of the movie. “If we weren’t running so hard to get every shot, I would’ve loved to watch them watching our actors.”

That movie is “Dead Votes Society.” It’s a zombie comedy (or zomcom, as the kids are saying these days) featuring a small horde of the undead, news reporters, politicians, and protesters on Prescott’s historic steps. And there are plenty of Prescott “in jokes” along the way.

Additional scenes were shot in the old armory and the Smoki Museum.

The film stars local actors Judy Stahl, Tiffany Antone, Parker Anderson, Joanne Mack Robertson, Jody Drake, Kevin Goss, Cason Murphy,

and Sean Jeralds.

“We had a great turn out for the premiere at the Prescott Film Festival,” Johnson-Schmit said. “Over 600 people saw it at Yavapai College.”

“Dead Votes Society” returns to Prescott in time for the Halloween seasons on Saturday, Oct. 5 as part of the third annual Fright Night Movie Show at the Elks Opera House.

The fledgling scare flick shares the night with one of the greats in the genre, “Night of the Living Dead.”

George A. Romero’s classic 1968 tale of the spooky shambling undead pretty much invented zombie movies as we know them today.

Rounding out the night is a scaryfunny split decision where three comedians — Kevin Rose (Magic 99.1 FM), Cynthia Kitts Sobo, and Andrew Johnson-Schmit (“Dead Votes Society” writer and director) — take the stage to lob wisecracks at Ed Woods’ classic “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” It’s known as the “worst movie ever made,” but it’s also the “best bad movie ever made.”

It’s star billing, Béla Lugosi, died before it was filmed but still man-

Zombies menace actress Danielle Stephenson during a “Dead Votes Society” shoot. Photo by Denise Elfenbein of Stellar Photography. ages to make an appearance. If you ever rolled your eyes at a cheesy old spooky movie, you’re in for a lot of laughs with this one.

Visit ElksOperaHouse.Com for tickets, $10, and more info. Rare and collectible “Dead Votes Society” Tshirts and posters are for sale in the

lobby, and cast members can answer questions and sign autographs. ***** Ed Pliska is a freelancer and troubadour who’s not afraid to use the Z-word. If you need to contact him, just flash the Bat Signal.

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2013 • GUIDE & FEATURE • 21

Skyward

By Ty Fitzmorris

Night skies

Weather Average high temp: 72.1 F, +/-3.8 Average low temp: 37.3 F, +/-3.4 Record high temp: 92 F, 1980 Record low temp: 13 F, 1935 Average precipitation: 1.08”, +/-1.24” Record high October precipitation: 7.82”, 1972 Record low October precipitation: 0”, 11 percent of all years on record Max daily precipitation: 2.4”, Oct. 6, 1916

Oct. 5: New moon at 4:34 p.m.

Oct. 6-10: The Draconid Meteor

Shower, one of the year’s smaller showers, makes for good viewing this year because it follows the new moon closely. The best viewing is after midnight, with meteors appearing to radiate from the constellation Draco to the north. Look for the most meteors on the night of Oct. 7.

Source: Western Regional Climate Center

Oct. 18: Full moon at 3:38 p.m.

This is the smallest full moon of the year, because the moon is at its apogee, or its furthest from the Earth.

Oct. 18: Penumbral lunar eclipse.

During this kind of eclipse, the moon moves through the edges of the Earth’s shadow and darkens but doesn’t disappear. In our part of the world, the moon will be in eclipse as it rises at about the time the sun sets and will brighten over its first hour.

Oct. 21: The Orionid Meteor Shower peak. This is one of the year’s brightest and largest meteor showers with up to 20 bright meteors per hour.

The waning gibbous moon will be very bright, but many of the meteors should still be visible. They’re at their best after midnight with the apparent radiant center being the constellation Orion.

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Diagnosis: Technology With Paolo Chlebecek

By Paolo Chlebecek Let me introduce to you a comparatively new way to store all that precious data we digital connoisseurs love: solid-state drives. While no storage medium is perfect, this has the best potential for longevity and reliability.

Because traditional hard drives require mechanical means to store and retrieve your data, they’re prone to fail within a few years. Solid-state drives, on the other hand, have no moving parts at all and can therefore last for an average of 1,000,000 hours of use. Yes, that really does translate to about 114 years Mean Time Between Failure.

But how do we know that now?

First you need to understand how a solid-state drive works. It stores data by using integrated

Solid choices

circuits known with Non Volatile Memory (aka NV-RAM), which means it retains data without power, much like small flash drives (aka thumb drives, aka jump drives, aka USB memory sticks) used to store and transport data. Akin to standard spinning mechanical media, these types of storage retain information for their lifespan. In a lab, scientists can simulate accelerated use and then determine the average life span. Ergo, about 114 years MTBF. Another major advantage of these solid-state drives is speed. Since they’re not dependent on physical means of accessing information, they’re not limited to the mechanics of such. Next is durability.

Again, because there are no moving parts, vibration and drops are far less likely to cause them any damage at all. One more of their advantages is power use: Solid-state drives typically use half the power

of traditional hard drives. That’s another reason I strongly recommend solid-state drives for laptops, which, in turn, get better battery life, increased reliability, and a performance boost.

So why aren’t all computers made now with this type of storage? Two reasons: price and storage size. The average solid-state drive is seven to 10 times more expensive than it’s spinning counterparts. Also, if you want to get a solid-state drive in the size now available with most computers, one terabyte will cost you $700-$800 versus $80-$100 for a traditional hard drive.

There’s a way around that issue though. In fact, I’m writing this column on a desktop computer with a 128 gigabyte solid-state drive as its primary drive. It was far cheaper than a larger solid-state drive, and I can store the operating system and critical data on it. One-hundredand-twenty-eight gigabytes is more

than enough to make a computer fast and reliable.

But what about storage, you say? I have two one-terabyte drives for storage backup. I copy really important things across all three drives for safekeeping.

After using this method for some time, I can attest that this is the best way to compute. (Also, I won’t even consider a laptop unless it had a solid state drive in it, or at least upgradeable to it.)

So, next time you’re buying a computer, see if a solid-state option is available. The extra dough is worth it. ***** Paolo Chlebecek is founder and owner of PaoloTek, which he started in 2003. He enjoys technology of all kinds and, in his spare time, likes to go on adventures with his wife and four-legged children. Contact him at Paolo@PaoloTek.Com.

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Gene Twaronite’s The Absurd Naturalist

yards and self-storage units across the land.

And instead of utilizing these abundant natural resources, we’re wasting them. The need for a national corpse deposit has never been greater.

Humans have never been comfortable dealing with corpses. Usually we stick them in the ground, or burn them in crematories or funeral pyres. It’s estimated that, in just chemical elements alone, the average-sized human corpse has a street value ranging from $5 -$160. But that’s only the beginning. Factoring in the growing global markets for bone marrow, DNA, antibodies, egg cells, and replacement organs, a corpse could easily net millions. Yet each year, billions of dollars’ worth of corpses are rotting or going up in smoke.

While it might sound insensitive to think of recently deceased Uncle Fred as a source of ready cash, hard economic times require tough decisions. These days almost anything can be recycled: batteries, roof shingles, packing peanuts, VHS tapes, and even flip flops. If we can recycle flip flops, surely we can find ways to recycle a few bodies. But, as in any economic endeavor, there needs to be a creative incentive to make it more attractive to the consumer. Otherwise, Uncle Fred will just end up in a hole.

But

isn’t burial a kind of recycling — ashes to ashes and all that? While it’s true that human remains do decompose with time and return their chemical building blocks to the earth, the manner in which this is accomplished is highly wasteful. Unlike our early ancestors, who reverentially planted their deceased into shallow graves in direct contact with the living earth, we moderns erect all kinds of barriers to this natural process. We inject the bodies of our loved ones with preservatives. We adorn them in fancy clothes fit for the theatre, surround them with soft

put to good use by needy families across the land while stimulating the economy. Uncle Fred would be pleased. © Gene Twaronite 2013 ***** Gene Twaronite’s writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines. He is the author of “The Family That Wasn’t,” “My Vacation in Hell,” and “Dragon Daily News.”

Follow Gene at TheTwaronite Zone.Com.

A

Corpses are everywhere filling up grave-

cushions, then enclose them in an expensive thick casket, and all for what? To delay the inevitable, which is simply to rot in the ground. Not only is this a waste of materials; it’s a waste of space.

Think of the millions of acres of graveyards — filled with bodies in delayed states of decomposition — land that could be put to more productive use such as malls, golf courses, or amusement parks. Though some see cremation as a solution, there’s still the issue of air pollution, not to mention the burning of fossil fuels just to create a smaller package of human remains.

This is why a national corpse deposit makes sense today as never before. It offers a cradle-tograve solution to one of our most vexing problems: what to do with ourselves when we’re dead.

“Line: An Art Study,” engraving by Edmund J. Sullivan, 1922. Public domain, altered.

By Gene Twaronite

Every body’s part

A

corpse deposit could be modeled after one of the bottle bills currently in effect in 10 states. These have proven to be an effective, sustainable method of capturing and recycling beverage bottles and cans for recycling. The basic idea behind these laws is to provide a monetary incentive in the form of a refund (usually between 5 and 10 cents per bottle or can) when the container is returned. Of course, considering the greater value of our human containers, a much higher refund value would have to be set.

Though some might argue for individual state corpse deposits, I think this is an issue best handled at the national level; otherwise, we risk unseemly corpse trafficking across state lines.

Perhaps someday we’ll have vast recycling centers where we can conveniently drop off the corpse and collect the deposit. They could be set up like department stores so that you could pick up a few items on your way out. In addition to the deposit, maybe they could throw in a free toaster or other small appliance. Young people just starting out and looking to buy a new home might apply for a small loan based on the collateral of their own future deposits. Think of all that money being

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