Sight & Sound 7.1

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CONTENT Issue 7.1

sight & sound

display until june 15, 2015

Featuring:

Tommy Thompson_SJ Earthquake Robert Ragazza_photographer Steely Nash_NeoSoul content magazine, san jose

Sight & Sound 7.1 $9.95

Camino Brewing Company Image challenge 2015 Oak & Rye Pizza

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COMING SOON TO SAN JOSE

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CONTENT Issue 7.1 “Sight & Sound” April / May 2015

The Makers: Cultivator Daniel Garcia Managing Editor Flora Moreno de Thompson Managing Photo Editor Gregory Cortez Designers Daniel Millan, Omar Rodriguez Gustaf Fjelstrom, Kevin Zittle Brian Gomez Circulation/Distribution Leo Bevilacqua, Kereli Sengstack Publisher Silicon Valley Creates

Marketeer Sarah Garcia Senior Editor Odile Sullivan-Tarazi Production Kristen Pfund Photographers Scott MacDonald, Gregory Cortez Stan Olszewski, Shane Hagerty Writers Mark Haney, Brandon Roos Nathan Zanon, Anna Bagirov Chad Hall, Kate Evans Michelle Runde, Isara Krieger Leah Ammon, Julia Canavese

Cultivating a magazine has tons of rewards: seeing people connect, meeting the people of our community, giving artists a chance to be featured and to contribute, all of which are really fun and exciting for me. But our annual Sight and Sound issue is one of my favorites because we specifically seek to focus on local photographers, musicians, and videographers. This year we have had such talented creative teams participate in the Image Challenge 2015—I wish we had enough space to print them all. We are also pleased to present the winners of the models search we did in partnership with Scout Model and Talent Agency and Westfield Valley Fair in “New Faces.” For the music portion, not only do we have a variety of genres featured, we also took to the street and asked others what they are listening to, as well as having Tommy Aguilar of Ungrammar give us his top “mustlisten” album recommendations. And so we give you a few new ways to experience the sights and sounds of the South Bay. Enjoy.

Daniel Garcia The Cultivator

IN THIS ISSUE Viet Mac / Joseph Arruda / Oak & Rye / Image Challenge 2015 / Tommy Thompson To participate in Content Magazine: daniel@content-magazine.com Subscription & Advertising information available by contacting Kereli Sengstack, kereli@svcreates.org This issue is dedicated to Bruno Sebastian Thompson. We welcome you to the world.

Content Sight and Sound 7.1 April/May 2015 San Jose, California

Sister city 8

Guadalajara, Mexico

CULTURE

10 St. James Park

ART & Design

12 Artist, Joseph Arruda 16 Photographer, Robert Ragazza 22 Videographer, Viet Mac 26 Noise Furniture, Sam Raske

Profiles

28 30 32 36

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CreaTV, Suzanne St. John-Crane SJSU Storytelling, South Bay Pulse Adobe Youth Voices, Peter Pheap School of Visual Philosophy, Yori & Dana Seeger San Jose Earthquake, Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson, pg. 42

Style

46 Image Challenge 2015 58 New Faces, Daniel Garcia

food & Drink

70 Jack Rose Libation House,

Holy and Russ Stanley 74 (El) Camino Brewing Company,

Nathan Poulos & Allen Korenstein 76 Oak and Rye, Ross & Bree Hanson,

Dana Bunker & Angelo Womack

Music 80 84 85 86 88 90

Oak & Rye, pg. 76

Gustaf Fjelstrom Raul y Mexia + SueùaTron Steely Nash Pounders Album Picks, Tommy Aguilar What’s in Your ears?, Philz Baristas

Writings

92 Author, Persis Karim 94 Contributors Content Magazine is a bimonthly publication about the innovative and creative culture of Silicon Valley published by Silicon Valley Creates.

All materials in Content Magazine are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, broadcast or modified in any way without the prior written consent of Silicon Valley Creates, or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content.

You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of this content. For further information, to participate in the production or distribution, please contact us at editor@content-magazine.com.

Image Challenge 2015, pg. 46

Robert Ragazza, pg. 16

Spectrum

Reticello Skull by Scott Darlington

presents

A group exhibition of contemporary glass artists exploring the never ending possibilities of an amazing material.

Curated by Jonathan Yao and Valerie Pohorsky

Opening reception: Friday, May 1st 7–11pm Exhibition dates: May 1–June 13, 2015 Participating Artists: Rik Allen Victoria Ahmadizadeh Rebecca Arday Jeff Ballard Jason Blandford Lydia Boss Courtney Branam Brandyn Callahan Morgan Chivers Jennifer Crescuillo Abram Deslauriers Scott Darlington Matthew Eaton Roberta Eichenberg Jason Elliot

William Rudolph Faulkner Jean M. Fernandes Shaun Griffiths Dorie Guthrie Kristoff Kamrath David King James Labold Kier Lugo Patrick Martin Maggie McCain Mark Mitsuda Anna Mlasowsky Andrew Najarian Kelly O'Dell Jon Paden

Amanda Patenaude Morgan Peterson Valerie Pohorsky Lynn Everett Read Kait Rhoads Ryan Rodamer Zach Rudolph Amy Rueffert Esteban Salazar Biagio Scarpello Johnathon Schmuck Rick Schneider David Schnuckel Ben Sharp Kim Sharp

Tim Siemon Rich Small Megan Stelljes Austin Stern C. Matthew Szosz Hiromi Takizawa Zak Timan Gregory B. Tomb Janie Trainor Mary Bayard White Benjamin Wright Jonathan Yao

Anno Domini //the second coming of Art & Design 366 South First Street, San Jose, CA 95113 www.galleryAD.com 408.271.5155 Gallery hours: Tuesday - Friday Noon–7pm, Saturday Noon–5pm & First Fridays 7pm–11pm

sister cIties President Dwight Eisenhower established the sister city program in 1956 to foster global awareness and peaceful relations. For the next six issues, a design team from one of our city’s sisters will present their view of their home town.

Guadalajara, Mexico Written by DOM

San JOse’s Sister Cities

San José, Costa Rica Okayama, Japan Veracruz, Mexico Tainan, Taiwan Dublin, Ireland Pune, India Guadalajara, Mexico Ekaterinburg, Russia

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aybe when you think “Mexico,” the first thing that comes to mind are words like Tequila, insecurity, cartels, spring break. The reality instead goes far beyond such stereotypes, as cities like ours so richly illustrate. A cosmopolitan city, Guadalajara has warm and wonderful weather to offer, beautiful sights to explore— and four and a half million people generally willing to offer a helping hand, and a smile.

The city itself is an exuberant blend of old and new, in the midst now of a tradition reboot: as ancient neighborhoods dating from the sixteenth century (Analco) and layered with generations of history have most recently seen an influx of young professionals and entrepreneurs inspired by the idea of cultivating tradition, developing local products, and offering quality Mexican design. Quarters such as Americana, Moderna, and Santa Tere are quintessential examples of this effort.

ART AND CULTURE To become acquainted with Guadalajara, you might begin with a Sunday morning ride on the city’s Via Recreactiva, where major avenues are closed to automobile traffic, allowing bike riders and pedestrians to explore freely. From there, you might well discover Chapultepec, a celebrated avenue

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in downtown Guadalajara packed with expositions, outdoor concerts, coffee shops, restaurants, and pubs.

In the city center, you’ll find Teatro Degollado, one of the most important theaters in Mexico, where you might linger to listen to the local orchestra. Walking around Plaza Tapatía, you’ll find all manner of shops brimming with Mexican charm, eventually making your way to Instituto Cultural Cabañas, a beautiful building filled with paintings from José Clemente Orozco, as well as several traveling exhibits.

If alternative art is your thing, you should considering paying a visit to Laboratorio de Arte Variedades (LARVA), a converted cinema that now hosts art exhibitions, workshops, and conferences.

And you might take in Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano (MURA), which combines local contemporary artwork and international exhibits.

There are several unique small businesses in the area worth visiting as well, such as Impronta, a new hand-set letterpress publisher that aims to revive the fine art of the printed book. Impronta’s quarters also feature a petite gallery, a library, a shop, and a delicious coffee shop, all situated in a traditional-style Mexican home.

In Tlaquepaque, one of the ancient

quarters of the city, you will find the finest arts and crafts at remarkably affordable prices. This part of the city also features the world’s largest cantina, where you might stop in for refreshments on your tour of the city. Be sure to visit Independencia street as well and take in the local ceramics museum.

EAT Guadalajara offers a wide-range of cuisines: dishes that hail not only from all over the country, but from all over the world, with the next generation of chefs busy at work blending new and traditional foods and flavors in new and exciting ways.

You ought not to miss dining at I Latina, a restaurant that deserves its reputation as one of the best in Guadalajara. Another great choice is Cochon, a gastrobar that offers a selection of hand-crafted dishes served on top of homemade farmer’s bread, alongside some of the best local beers.

DRINK Mexican nightlife is famous for being wild— and it is, because it involves Tequila, revered the world over for its ability to lighten the mind and liven up the mood. Tequila comes from a neighboring town, where you can take tours of the distilleries.

But it is Tequila’s cousin, Mezcal, that’s been the drink of choice for many young people, and as a result there are a number of cocktail lounges and bars developed around this particular drink. In Mezcalería Pare de Sufrir, you can dance to local rhythms while enjoying one of the many, many varieties of Mezcal. For a modern place with a classical twist, you might try Chupitería La Favorita, where they serve a hundred different signature shots and host DJs from all over the world.

SHOP The most important market in Guadalajara is San Juan de Dios, where you can soak up the folklore, experience the rhythms of Mexican life, and find almost anything you’d need. If you’d like to try a flea market, you can spend a Sunday at El Trocadero, where you’ll find a variety of unique and unusual items—and practice the art of bargaining while you’re at it.

1. TEATRO DEGOLLADO

6. COCHON

2. LARVA

7. PARE DE SUFRIR

3. MURA

8. CHUPITERIA LA FAVORITA

4. IMPRONTA

9. SAN JUAN DE DIOS MARKET

Belén esquina Morelos Centro Histórico +52 33 3030 9770

Gral. Coronado 5 Col. Americana +52 33 3825 2864

Ocampo 120 y Av. Juárez Centro Histórico +52 33 3614 1893

Calle Argentina 66 Col. Americana +52 33 3826 1041

Av. Mariano Otero 375 Col. Moderna +52 33 1377 7909

Calle de Morelos 666 Centro +52 33 3658 6057

Penitenciaría 414 Col. Americana improntacasaeditora.com

Calz Javier Mina 52 Col. San Juan de Dios +52 33 3618 0506

5. I LATINA

Av. Inglaterra 3128 Col. Vallarta Poniente +52 33 3647 7774

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*Images provided by DOM

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DOM is a young studio specializing in architectural visualization and 3D design. We have collaborated with numerous national and international firms, and enjoy giving personal attention to our clients, as well as standing out for the quality and level of detail in each of our works. dom-visuals.com facebook: dommexico

ST.Bounded James Park Only by Imagination Written by Mark Haney Photography by Daniel Garcia

S

ituated inside St. James Square, the oldest square in San Jose, St. James Park dates back well over a century. It is a park bounded by spacious public buildings, hailing from another time, testimony to past prominence. A park where President William McKinley and Senator Robert Kennedy once gave commemorative speeches. A park where generations of San Joseans have found ready refuge from busy urban life. But it is also a park that has languished in recent decades, a park that is ready for rebirth.

Simply put, the park is in the state it’s in today because of neglect. But with the revival of San Jose’s downtown, the project of restoring the 6.8-acre park at its center has come increasingly to the forefront. Various ideas have been tried, others are being considered. Currently, the idea of putting in an amphitheatre is gaining some traction, an idea that Mayor Liccardo backs as well. In past years, the San Jose Downtown Association has held summer outdoor movies in the park as part of its Starlight Cinemas series. Last summer, the association added in twice weekly food truck lunches, with games and yoga.

As a successful urban park, St. James would need to offer something for everyone. But how does one transform a park so long neglected into the central feature of a revitalized downtown? First, the basics… It should be attractive and inviting, both during the day and in the evening. It should provide room to stretch and move, space to breathe, and most importantly, it should be fun.

It should be all these things, and more.

What if we were to redesign the park as a child might?

With wide-ranging imagination and playfulness. With places of wonder and whimsy and adventure. Imagine that park. Imagine walking along a curved path and coming upon a large purple frog sculpture that blows bubbles. Or looking high in a redwood tree grove and seeing a nest of falcons, with a live webcam feed of the nest playing on a monitor along the path. Imagine colorful flags and banners atop a small castle play structure. Or a network of different paths that lead to hidden nooks and spaces

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of tranquility, with pieces of public art helping to define those spaces.

Imagine if, with the help of Happy Hollow and partnering groups, an animal habitat were built for a monthly rotation of animals. Imagine a chimpanzee’s howl echoing down the city streets. Or a California brown bear, sunbathing on a warm summer’s day. By bringing nature into the urban space, we bring spontaneity and joy to daily life.

Imagine too a small lake and waterfall. A place for swans to swim, or geese to land, on their way south for the winter. A place for remote control boat races and skipping-rock competitions. The sight and sound of water helps soothe and calm away the stresses of the busiest day.

These are the moments and the spaces that we crave, that fortify, when we can escape from it all while yet being, paradoxically, in the middle of it all.

Perhaps the park might have a cafe? A cafe with a large outdoor space for people to relax in and enjoy brunch, or a cup of coffee, together. A place to stop and take a rest during an evening stroll. A place to hold networking meetings over lunch, or meet a friend for a drink.

Parks and open spaces need to be versatile enough to be spontaneous, but accessible enough to be practical.

What if there were a large dog park, so that residents close by had a place not only for themselves, but for their canine companions as well? What if a large cement area were built for roller hockey, or used for groups to come together and play bongo drums on weekends?

Whatever ultimately is done with St. James Park, it needs to be done so that the park is inviting and inclusive. Only through perseverance will the park be transformed. But the last thing we should do is nothing.

With willingness, passion, and perhaps a little whimsy, St. James Park can become a success story for San Jose.

Thinkbiggersanjose.com twitter: thinkbiggersj

With the revival of San Jose’s downtown, the project of restoring the 6.8-acre park at its center has come increasingly to the forefront.

Joseph

Arruda:

Digitally Real

Written by Shannon Amidon Photgraphy by Daniel Garcia

I

s it real art or is it digital art? This is the question that San Jose artist Joseph Arruda is frequently asked, and his answer is: both. Influenced by award-winning American artist and writer Bill Sienkiewicz’s aesthetic to “learn all the rules so you can fundamentally figure out when to ignore them,” Arruda creates what he calls an “art hack,” mixing a variety of digital and traditional techniques to create his abstract and portraiture artwork.

I’ve actively played with, and I suspect most of what I do is both a little bit primitive and a little bit unorthodox, which may be why a lot of folks regularly ask “which part is real and which part is the computer” and I’m not sure you can quantify it in the end really...and to be honest I’m not sure why it would matter. It’s kind of a Zen thing.

“I AM EQUAL PARTS TECH GEEK AND A CREATIVE.”

How do you figure out when to ignore the rules?

I look at the process as: I have been given a tool, what are the natural limits and corner cases for this thing?

Sometimes you get a spectacular result that isn’t even reproducible and sometimes you go, that was a bad idea My head never got the memo that said you’re either this and really didn’t work. or you’re that. I just said if there is something out there and it will produce an interesting result and I can figure When people ask you what you “ do,” how do you answer? out how to use it, I will use it. So my process, for lack of It depends on the context. Since I am equal parts tech a better term, grew out of that. For example, I will start geek and a creative, I lead with whichever I think the with a pencil sketch, scan that sketch, print the sketch audience is likely to grasp easier. When I tell some folks on Bristol paper, paint on that, scan it again, print it that I do art or illustration as part of my livelihood, the out again in color, etc. In some ways it’s a ridiculously looks range from acknowledgement to dumbfounded. overwrought or inefficient process, but mentally it works for me.

What is your process, your medium?

I’ll use just about anything available (except oils, which I love but have no real facility with or patience for), but I definitely orbit around a lot of the same materials: acrylics, gouaches, a large army of various pens and markers, and various digital tools such as Photoshop, Krita, and Context Free.

I do a few things that seem to be my own schtick, mostly around the mixing of analog and digital. It’s something

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“IT’S KIND OF A ZEN ANARCHY THING.” What inspires and motivates you?

Almost anything, really. My head can occasionally make some ambitious creative leaps from the seemingly mundane. It probably also helps to live in an urban area that always has stuff going on.

of that was because of the art and music scene—that point really makes newer SF transplants apoplectic. It’s small, but vibrant, and getting better.

What are your biggest challenges in creating art?

Space. It is no secret that the cost of square footage is at a premium, so that can often act as a constraint. Beyond that, maybe that there are only twenty-four hours in a day? It sounds trite, but I do actually have way more ideas than I can ever hope to complete execution on…but that is what it is.

How would you describe your subject matter? What themes seem to occur/recur in your work?

Of the material I’ve published, the two biggest groupings are stylized portraiture and abstract work. I also come back to kind of absurd/sci-fi styled illustration. For example, if you picked up local drum deity Wally Schnalle’s latest album, Idiot Fish, the sleeve image was by me.

Is there something you are currently working on, or are excited about starting, that you can tell us about?

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

A series of jazz portraits I’m finishing in hopes of getting People outside of San Jose seem surprised that I chose them shown at Cafe Stritch, over on First Street. living in San Jose over [living in] San Francisco, and part zeruch.net society6.com/zeruch twitter: zeruch

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christopherelliman.blogspot.com thethoughtfarmdesign.blogspot.com

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ROBERT RAGAZZA

DIGNITY THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER Written by Kate Evans Photography by Daniel Garcia

Robert Ragazza finds inspiration on the tough streets of San Jose, and through his photographs, exposes the city’s heart.

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obert Ragazza seems to know everyone. He greets every patron and server at the small coffee shop downtown with a smile, perhaps a carry-over from his full-time position as the award-winning concierge at the Hotel Sainte Claire in San Jose. He does know everyone, certainly in the city’s small but incredibly selfreliant art scene. He rattles off a who’s who of artists and patrons, proud to be a part of this pool of talent and vision.

But Robert Ragazza really knows everyone. He knows the guy sitting outside with his dogs, hoping for spare change. He knows the man wrapped in blankets who stands on the corner of Santa Clara and First Street. He knows the woman camped out not far from his work, who always flashes him a mega-watt smile. These are all people that he encounters regularly, and while others bustle past, Ragazza captures them in striking black and white photographs.

As he browses through his portfolio of portraits, he tells the stories of his subjects, how he managed to convince them to pose for him, or whether they were eager to volunteer. It took two years of friendship for the man wrapped in blankets to agree to pose. The relationship was based on trust and whether he believed Ragazza would look through the viewfinder and see his dignity.

Ragazza knows precisely where each photo was taken, the exact street corner or bus, mapping out the city’s humanity through his compassionate artistic eye. The portraits are deep, almost textured and layered, as the richness of the black, white, and shades of grey and light reveal stories of sorrow, pain, hope, and life.

While Ragazza himself is young and stylish, he is a traditional, even old-fashioned, photographer.

With the exception of a few iPhone photos, he shoots exclusively on film and shudders at the thought of using Photoshop. Averse to cropping, he lines up each shot in the viewfinder so that when he develops the photos, they come out exactly as he had seen them in the moment.

He is patient, limiting himself to only a few frames per subject, knowing that more than five frames feels invasive. His compositional eye is practiced, as he finds the most interesting lighting and sharp contrasts. “You

have to wait for the right moment,” he explains. “It’s how you know you’re in sync with the world.” He describes a magical moment in a natural setting when everything falls into place. The results are a testament to his method and skill, each photo meticulous yet with the feel of spontaneity.

He sees his photos as part of a larger series and story.

While every shot carries its own weight, he arranges them so that each one plays a role in a larger context. His street portraits could almost be viewed as social documentary, recording everyday scenes and the humanity that makes them exceptional. His photos reflect the souls of those who make up the fabric of the city: weary on the bus, joyful with a grandchild, proud, compassionate, serious with a threatening tattoo, often hopeful but sometimes hopeless. Ragazza captures these moments that become timeless representations of the people he comes to know.

Ragazza would have every reason not to seek out those wearing “death” tattooed across their necks, or subjects on the bus who later join gangs and disappear from his radar. While a student in Los Angeles, Ragazza was the innocent victim of a gang-initiation drive-by shooting, an event that forever changed the course of his life. The bullet wound healed, but seems to have given him a deep sensitivity to the desperate side of life. His experience with senseless brutality makes the human images reflected in his viewfinder all the more poignant.

While he still jumps when he hears fireworks, he took the incident in stride, finding the positive, and moving forward with new perspective. “That’s what life is,” he says with a thoughtful smile.

Today, he and his close-knit community of artists and supporters work together to be the city’s cultural heartbeat. Ragazza is a collector himself, identifying and fostering young talent, purchasing pieces when he can.

When his resources are stretched, his own patrons step in, bartering the special printing paper he needs in exchange for a photograph. Ragazza’s works can go for top dollar, but they are an investment, not only in his talent and skill, but in his deep, complex portrait of life in San Jose.

As he says, his work “is all about dignity and civility,” which is a real gift to this city and all who know him.

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thememoirist.format.com instagram: thememoirist

Viet Mac’s House Mac House Productions Interview and Portrait by daniel Garcia Location images courtesy of MAC House

V

but it was too late. The photography bug had already claimed him. With the help of the networking begun in college, he built the video production company that today he is ready to take to the next phase.

iet’s first exposure to photography was as a boy, when his dad would go on flea market and garage sale treks, scouting out and bringing home vintage cameras and photographic equipment. Viet wasn’t thinking much about photography as a career, but he played around with a few cameras from time to time.

Later, as a student at Cal Poly, to make some extra cash, he began taking photos of coral and seascapes— combining his interest in marine life with the camera skills he’d learned earlier—and selling the prints at local surf shops. “I was always business-minded and didn’t want rely on my parents’ finances,” he said. The response was positive, encouraging him to press on. Even though he knew nothing about light meters and had only taken one photography class, through friends and connections he was hired to shoot a few events. He went, thinking, “This is great, they pay me to go sit on a nice party bus and eat sushi and drink wine and take photos.”

Viet eventually graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in molecular, cellular, and environmental biology,

You’ve had some nice clients for being a really new production company.

It was only a few years. We’ve been really lucky. We shot Steph Curry. We shot Vernon Davis for a fun project for Levi’s. Just being on set with Myth Busters was great—I got to bring up our cameras and rig them on their cars. We’ve been on American Idol. And, tonight, I’m doing stuff with Gap. We’ve been really fortunate, working with these huge companies that I never would have dreamed we’d be able to get as clients. I’m not sure how it all happened, but now they’re calling us and getting us to do all these jobs for them. It’s been really cool. We haven’t done any outreach to anyone yet, and that’s the next phase, I think—reaching out to clients that we really want.

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What sets Mac House apart from other video production houses?

I think the team that we are putting together, and also just that we’re doing stuff with cutting-edge technology and staying up to date on all that. Some work has come because we have a Freefly Cinema MōVI M15 stabilizer rig. That has given our videos a sleek, modern look.

We can bring creativity, and we’re able to produce something that guys who have been around for a while are doing using old-school technology and an old-school approach.

It’s a changing field, we can’t be boring. People’s attention spans are short, and so being able to keep up, and seeing how to present something interesting, is important.

What is your favorite aspect of the work?

Shooting is always fun, getting awesome shots is always nice, but that’s such a minimal part of the piece, which a lot of people don’t understand.

There’s so much more—meeting with clients, going back and forth, figuring out the creative. Yeah, I really enjoy getting those magical moments, but I also enjoy building relationships with clients so that they trust you, and you get that “Hey, let’s do some more work.”

What’s next for Mac House?

Our next step, now that we’ve got all these toys and stuff, which I’ve worked hard to acquire. There’ve been some jobs we might not always want to do, but it pays. It’s nice to save up and get all the equipment that you need. That’s been the phase we’ve been in, but now we’re pretty close to the point where we’ve gotten all the tools that we need, so we can focus on the most important part—which is, for me, what I’ve always talked about doing—creating something that’s going to change someone’s life. It’s going to change the way they do something, it’s going to influence how they think about a certain aspect of life.

“...GETTING AWESOME SHOTS IS ALWAYS NICE, BUT THAT’S SUCH A MINIMAL PART OF THE PIECE...”

machouseproductions.com twitter: MacHouse_ instagram: machouseproductions vimeo: machouseproductions

Making Noise

Sam Raske is turning rubbish into beautiful furniture.

Written by Nathan Zanon Photography by Gregory Cortez

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o you have a pile of used books around the house that you’re hoping to get rid of? Maybe some broken electronics or some old machinery? Rather than junk, Sam Raske sees such items as something far more interesting: furniture.

Raske is the founder of Noise Furniture, a unique workshop located in Japantown’s Cannery Row. “What I do is try to take some of these things that have been discarded and give them a new life as functional pieces of art,” he says.

The idea of taking waste products and turning them into useful and artistic furnishings is part of a movement called “upcycling,” which has gained recent popularity among artists and DIY enthusiasts using Pinterest, Etsy, and Instagram as platforms to share their ideas.

“Whereas recycling often takes a lot more energy to break objects down and make new objects, upcycling is simpler, takes less energy, and it’s something everyone can do,” Raske explains.

Raske got his start as a carpenter, but always had a love for the artistic side of furniture making: combined with an interest in sustainability, he began doing upcycled projects, eventually opening his shop in 2012. Today, he keeps busy with his two young daughters (who have some

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enviable furniture of their own, thanks to Dad) and a lot of commissioned work. “I do work for other people to pay the bills, then when that slows down I get to make whatever I want,” he says.

Visit his shop (or his Instagram) and you’ll see a collection of artistic pieces that are both innovative and delightful: a table made of skateboards, a sofa carved out of an old bathtub, a lawn chair upholstered with zippers.

He created a wall out of doors that is on view at Kaleid Gallery. “My favorite pieces are often the ones I have never seen anywhere else, the ones I feel are truly one of a kind, the ones that could only come from me.”

Raske has more ideas about how to bring upcycling to the community, including teaching workshops (“I think the first one could be how to turn anything into a lamp,” he suggests) and working with the city to divert landfill materials into a shop where useful furniture and other products could be created. “It’s rewarding for me knowing that I’m keeping stuff out of the landfill, but also it’s fun to be challenged with trying to use all different kinds of materials.”

It’s a challenge we should all consider as we try to move toward a more sustainable future, and artists like Raske are making it seem less like a chore and more like fun.

“My favorite pieces are often the ones I have never seen anywhere else, the ones I feel are truly one of a kind, that could only come from me.�

noisefurniture.com noisefurniture@mail.com instagram: noise_furniture pinterest: noisefurniture

“It’s not about product. It is about how lives change, and the path we take to get there.”

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CREATV

Empowering people to tell stories Suzanne St. John-Crane, CEO at CreaTV Written by Gillian Claus Photography by DANIEL GARCIA

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irst day on the job. You have three months to build a television station—without staff, offices, or content.

You don’t even have a phone. Did we mention your channel goes on air July 1?

That was April 1, 2008—the April Fool’s Day that Suzanne St. John-Crane started work as executive director of CreaTV. She worked from her living room with a flip phone and ran up $700 worth of calls to producers trying to build relationships.

St. John-Crane has always understood the value of telling a good story. At 23, she found a job in community media on Pacifica Community Television. St. JohnCrane said, “The idea that anybody could walk in and have their own TV show was thrilling.”

Video attracted her as a tool, so she took a VHS video editing class. The first project was a five-minute video.

“Mine was 40 minutes,” said St. John-Crane. “I guess this was something I really wanted to do.”

One of her video installations involved a bathtub full of beer cans plunked next to an old television running a video about alcoholism in her family. That was a deeply personal story for St. John-Crane, whose sister and parents suffered from addiction.

While documenting her mother’s oral history for a college class, she discovered her mother had once been a nun. The story was so riveting that St. John-Crane wrote a play and subsequently made a film about it, Sister Nancy—My Mother Was a Nun. Homeless as result of her addiction, St. John-Crane’s mother found help at a shelter and got into rehab. St. John-Crane cared for her mother until she died from lung cancer in 1995.

By telling stories like her mother’s, St. John-Crane came to love enabling people to be storytellers. So she found a job at Community Media Access Partnership in Gilroy and started doing some intensive mentoring. But it was when she joined the Alliance for Community Media, a group of 700 members, that she realized the strength of the underground television network and began to look around at the landscape of community media centers.

St. John-Crane wondered—why doesn’t San Jose have something like this? It was a turbulent time for the industry: Comcast had just bought AT&T and planned

to slash San Jose’s public access funding. Fearing the disappearance of local public access TV, San Jose refused to sign the new contract and Comcast decided to sue in 2003. Fortunately, in a landmark decision, the City of San Jose won the suit.

Delighted with the outcome, St. John-Crane wrote an op-ed piece in the Gilroy Dispatch and soon found herself negotiating a 1% fee for equipment and capital support with Comcast. The agreement was finally signed in 2007, enabling San Jose to form nonprofit CreaTV and hire staff in 2008.

But in 2015, what is the future for community access television, given that everyone can now tell a story with their smartphone? St. John-Crane explained that it is precisely because everyone can do it that people are now eager to learn how to tell their stories well.

“TV should not be a passive model. We’re the original YouTube. It’s not about product. It is about how lives change, and the path we take to get there,” said St. John-Crane.

And CreaTV has changed lives with training and equipment—enabling 22,000 videos in 10 different languages to be produced. Their landmark Media Access Project provides state-of-the-art equipment to K-12 schools, resulting in three hundred 30-minute programs.

Youth Empowering the Streets is a youth-run talk show about gang issues. By opening their doors on Free Speech Day, CreaTV captured hundreds of grassroots stories from people all over the valley.

Her days are full. As Board Chair of Home First (formerly EHC LifeBuilders), St. John-Crane campaigns for homeless issues and the value of shelter. Somehow, St. John-Crane still found time to sing with her husband in their band of the last 15 years, Pearl Alley, at the San Jose Jazz Festival. “It’s our date night,” said St. John-Crane.

“This is how you live your life—full throttle and singing at the top of your lungs.”

St. John-Crane is flipping traditional media on its head with great stories and giving each of us the tools to tell our own. creatvsj.org 255 W Julian St San Jose, CA 95110 twitter: creatvsj

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On a Friday afternoon in February, a team of devoted graduate students were hard at work compiling the materials for the firstever edition of their digital publication South Bay Pulse.

STORYTELLING 2.0: SOUTH BAY PULSE THERE’S A NEW DIGITAL INITIATIVE COMING OUT OF SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY’S JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT. Written by Leah Ammon Photography by Christina Olivas

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outh Bay Pulse is the sister publication of the SJSU magazine SHiFT, which focuses on subjects such as poverty, immigration, and veteran’s issues.

Students working on the last edition of SHiFT launched a digital edition in January 2015. Leveraging what they learned, that same group proposed to create a second publication—a weekend magazine whose focus would be arts and entertainment in the South Bay. Of their 16-student team, nearly half come from majors outside of the journalism department: Communications, International Studies, Graphic Design, and more. The magazine—technically a “DPS app,” or Adobe Digital Publishing Suite application—runs exclusively on tablet.

Production Editor Neal Waters has an undergraduate degree in geography and over a decade of experience as a videographer, photojournalist, and website programmer.

He brings all of this expertise to bear at South Bay Pulse.

“Everything I’ve ever worked towards came together in this room,” he says, with a chuckle.

When it comes to telling a meaningful story, “it’s no longer about text and graphics, it’s a question of how you engage the viewer,” he says, as he pulls up one of his recent projects on his computer screen to demonstrate his point: an interactive map he designed for SHiFT indicating the USDA-designated “food deserts” of Santa Clara County, overlaid with the available options for purchasing food— the liquor stores, corner stores, gas stations, farm stands, grocery outlets, and so on. To his knowledge, “this is the first time anybody has tried to overlay the stores on top of the census data to see how they relate.” This serves more than a merely expository purpose: ideally, Waters says, this interface could help people living in these fresh-fooddeprived areas to become better aware of their options, perhaps encouraging them to venture out further to healthier places to shop.

Art Director Genki Hagata also brings a diverse skill-set to South Bay Pulse: a background in fine art, animation, graphic design, and web development. He concurs with Waters, “[this project] blends everything I care about.”

Up on his screen is the layout for the streaming section of the publication: for the debut edition, South Bay Pulse will live-stream three events at the upcoming Cinequest festival. What’s especially interesting about the layout of this page is the degree to which it gratifies the browsing

desires of a twenty-first-century viewer: next to the video window is a sidebar allowing you to simultaneously watch the video and interact with related content.

The publication—unlike other online magazines— has a nonlinear navigation, meaning instead of swiping forward and backward through numbered pages, you can move from article to article as you please. For Hagata, exploring and improving the user experience is especially gratifying. “Helping to redefine what a publication interaction is like—that’s very interesting to me,” he says.

“Everything I’ve ever worked towards came together in this room.”

_Neal Waters

Managing Editor Daniel Lipson looks on. As all the articles are in for this edition, he looks forward to tackling the next, with a focus on topics that are timely and relevant. “I’m here every day, I work really closely with the writers, and I get to do a lot of different roles— that’s one of the benefits of working on a small team.” On future editions, he looks forward to bringing to bear his background both in writing and game design to enhance interactive features.

“The world is looking for people who have the skills in this room,” faculty advisor Professor Tom Ulrich says.

And if the students are pushing the boundaries of twentyfirst-century broadcast journalism and developing the technological skills to do so, it is thanks to the technological platform that facilitates their creativity: the digital publishing tools from Adobe, which the company provides to San Jose State as a gift.

As Karen McCavitt, Group Manager of WW Education Marketing, at Adobe says, “Adobe works with educational institutions to empower students by providing tools and experiences that will help them compete in today’s media-rich digital economy. The program at SJSU exemplifies the type of educational experience that is leading the way for students.” She continues, “we look forward to seeing all the great projects that will come out of this effort.” social media: SouthBayPulse

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Jocelyn Zepeda

Peter Nguyen

Cesar Virgen

adobe youth voices

Chris Carig

ANdrea Lira

E’Lan Hawkins

Diego Gallegos

Omar Rivera

Daniel Meza

Joshua Guiterrez

Breanna Evans

Azael Arroyo

DIxie Murillo

Jesus Gallegos

Araceli Valdez

Lupita Vazquez

Emanuel Castillo

Jordan Alvarez

Richard Munoz

adobe youth voices

Christian Man

Xavier Agredano

Evan Bennett

AYV

Written by Peter Pheap Portraits by Daniel Garcia

More than fifty teens from the South Bay were selected to take part in the month-long filmmaking marathon that is the Adobe Youth Voices Film Camp.

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dobe Youth Voices (AYV) is an afterschool digital media program established by the Adobe Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation created and funded by Adobe. The program and its curriculum are designed to give teens the opportunity to learn advanced digital media tools, to develop their own creativity and creative direction, and to work closely within creative partnerships. The program has grown into a global network that includes more than 557 sites in 32 countries.

In the front yard of Adobe’s Silicon Valley office, in a program called “The Studio,” SV Creates leverages the AYV program to serve over a thousand at-risk teens in creative labs and another twenty thousand in an online creative community. It’s an ambitious program, with plans for the addition of music and video production, theater, and other creative arts already in the works.

The AYV program also features an annual film camp, and this year’s camp kicked off on February 7 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. More than fifty teens from the South Bay were selected to take part in the month-long filmmaking marathon that is the Adobe Youth Voices Film Camp. The budding filmmakers were organized into the groups within which they would work for the next month, and each group was asked to select a quotation around which to build the short film they would write, direct, and produce in the course of that month. Paired with each group was a professional filmmaker who would mentor the students throughout the entire process.

The initial days were filled with pre-production activities. Gabriel Lomeli, an instructor at Stanford University’s School of Design, and a former AYV educator

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himself, led students through design-thinking exercises in ideation to help stretch their creativity. Alex Vo, an award-winning director of photography, facilitated two workshops in cinematography and lighting. Students learned the rules and techniques of composition—and when best to break those rules. They learned a little something about three-point lighting as well. The next two weeks were all about production and post-production.

The students coordinated and met with their actors, educators, and mentors. They blocked out scenes; they lit scenes; they shot scenes. They hashed out ideas. They worked through problems. Finally, all of their footage “in the can,” they got together and began the editing process, in hopes of having the majority completed before meeting up at MACLA for a final day of post-production.

The morning of that final day began with an activity called “Production Assistant (PA) Boot Camp.” PA Boot Camp is a scavenger hunt around downtown San Jose, in which students scrounge the area for the items they’ve been given to find and then post pictures and videos on Instagram in order to declare those items found. The purpose of the activity? To shake students out of their comfort zone, to teach them to be resourceful and think on their feet. Just as a PA must do on the set.

With the culmination of the camp came the screening of the student-made films, held at Adobe Headquarters.

Each group presented their own film, sharing afterwards what had been their toughest challenges and what they’d learned in the process. As the students took questions from the audience of more than 160 who’d come to see their work and to hear them speak about that work, they crossed another milestone on their way to a productive— and creative—adulthood.

“Awake”

Roosevelt & 7 Trees Community Center

“RESCUED”

Boynton High School

“Journey”

Mt. Pleasant High School

“Aletophobia”

Tennyson High School

“Pathways”

Redwood City BGCP

svcreates.org/page/c3_the_studio youthvoices.adobe.com

Interview and Photography by Daniel Garcia

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SCHOOL OF VISUAL PHILOSOPHY

AN ARTS REVOLUTION

Yori and Danna Seeger, husband and wife, new parents, artists, educators, and revolutionaries.

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s artists and art educators, Yori and Danna Seeger took the plunge a little over a year ago, not only to live out their dream for a community studio space, and not merely to provide a place for artists to rent studio space and create, but to change the value, perspective, and role of arts in culture.

The couple repurposed an 8,700 square foot glass and cinder-block 1970s warehouse on 425 Auzerais Avenue with their personal stash of art supplies and tools collected over the years. The result is a hub for creative activity with 13 rental studio spaces and weekly classes ranging from welding to painting. You’ll find monotype, lithography, and screen printing presses; fabrication tools for metal to wood; and anything you’d need to undertake projects from mold-making to stone carving. With windows and portable walls for gallery space, a foundry for bronze and aluminum casting, the Seegers are just beginning. Their long-term plan is to develop a new Master of Fine Arts degree...A School of Visual Philosophy.

Interview and Photography by Daniel Garcia

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“WHAT WE’RE DOING, BEFORE THE MFA AND ALL THAT, WE ARE CREATING A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE FROM THE COMMUNITY CAN COME IN AND WE CAN TALK TO THEM.” What’s up with the name?

Yori: The last school I went to was the San Francisco Art Institute, and I had a roommate and we were talking about what art was. He said, “Well, it’s like visual philosophy,” and I thought, “Oh, that’s perfect.” I looked at him and I said, “Someday, I don’t know when, but someday, I want to use that. Do you mind?” and he was like, “Yeah, whatever.”

We didn’t talk for several years and I called him up or emailed or found him on Facebook or something and I said, “Hey, you remember that phrase I said I was going to use? I’m using it.” He was like, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” [laughs] Basically, art is a language, so our concept is to study the philosophy of it and how to use it to communicate or educate. We think that art education needs to shift and change with society. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Danna: I think it says more. What we’re trying to do is not just strictly art or what people formally think of as art. By having a name like “visual philosophy,” it’s more the spirit of what we’re trying to incorporate, to be more inclusive of art and theory.

We’re both artists, so we were working in our backyards, basically. We both teach, too. I had taught at Monterey Peninsula College, and Yori works at West Valley College. The way that we approach teaching is more than just our jobs and the curriculum.

Y: As a student I went to about eight different colleges, universities, apprenticeship programs, always looking for something more than what was offered in the art educational systems. I don’t have regrets doing some of those things, but I kept searching for that something more.

When we were dating, we’d go and have a beer or two and we’d always go back to the same conversation. If we won the lottery, we’d start an art school and make art education the way that we think it should be. Because we just can’t change the system. We think that art education needs to shift and change with society. That’s what we’re trying to do.

obviously have to have some other form of income at first.

You have to be an entrepreneur. You have to be a business owner. You have to be a marketing person, and also do your own work. I think part of what our goal is with the school is to not only have it be part of the community, but also to start an MFA program that addresses these things that we feel are lacking in education.

Y: Our goal is very simple. We want to change the way that artists view their responsibility in society and the way that society views artists and who they are. The major reason why art should exist is it’s creative thinking and problem-solving and thinking outside of alternative methods. But in reality, in the classroom, it’s very rarely delivered. We want to bring back apprenticeship programs. We want to bring back art as a very viable occupation.

Traditionally, all education, all crafts, were like an apprenticeship program. Is that more what you are thinking?

D: That’s one of the ways, yeah. I think what we’re trying to do is find ways that all these things maybe had worked in the past or were working in different areas, and then put them into a cohesive educational development process. Our long-term, our ten-year, plan is an MFA program. More than that, we want it to be a tuition-free MFA program—if that were to work—instead of a twoor even a three-year program, because, let’s face it, you can’t go to school for two years, walk out, and say, “I am a master.” I don’t think the term and the degree are valid, really.

Y: What if instead the program were five or even six years, and what if your teachers were also very specific?

Had great skill sets in various areas. And you would apprentice under one of these people, actually produce a product of some type that could be sold, and the revenue then funds room and board and tuition. Funds the school. Then after that, once you’ve developed a skill set, then you’re going back into the philosophy and you really home in on your own ideas of what art is and—within your social context or whatever it might be—really, truly What is that shifting? What is the difference that you develop that. Then by the time you leave, you have gone seek to develop? through a business, basically. Each teacher would more or D: I went to San Jose State for my master’s program. less be…helping you shape your whole career.

After graduating, I felt like I was lacking a sense of professional development. They encouraged a lot more Then, financing the school, how does that work? portfolio development, but not, “You’re going to be a Endowments, grants? professional artist. This is how we get you to that place.”

D: We started as a partnership and are now getting our I had to figure out those things out on my own. I’m still 501(c)(3), in the process of getting our tax-exempt status trying to figure those things out. as a nonprofit. Hopefully grants will can be part of that.

That’s the hard part, beginning. With the business plan, So, pairing artist development with business skills? it makes sense that once it’s rolling it can sustain itself.

D: Being an entrepreneur. Because as an artist, you

Incredible long-term goals to strive for, but in the short-term…

Y: It’s about community and it’s about building an idea that people can get ahold of. We’re very careful, too, that art is not just for a certain person. Art is for everybody, and all it is, in my opinion, it’s just a way of communicating. That’s really what it’s about. What we’re doing, before the MFA and all that, we are creating a place where people from the community can come in and we can talk to them. Maybe that’s through teaching a class on ceramic sculpture, or maybe that’s through movie night or whatever. But it’s just building something that can grow little by little.

I still have my day job, my average day is an eighthour day at the college, and then an eight-hour day here, and then drive home, which is a 16- to 18-hour day. It’s more stress, more time than I thought it would be. But it’s worth it.

D: But would you do anything else?

Y: That’s what we said. If we won the lottery, this is what we’d do, and it’s true. If we had millions of dollars, we’d just own our own buildings, so we could survive longer, and pay teachers and whatever, but...that’s what we would do.

away, Nicholas and Karen, and they...I have a day job, and we now have a little one, and so there’s a lot of time that we can’t be here. I don’t worry about it. I can leave and I don’t worry, which is very nice.

Then what was, say, the unexpected burden?

D: [laughs] City.

Y: City permits were not easy.

D: Everybody tells you, “Oh, starting a business, you’re going to have to put in all this stuff and spend your days at the city building.” It’s hard to imagine how much they need and they want and require.

Y: I knew it was going to be stressful, and I knew it was going to take a lot of time, and Danna and I sat down and had many conversations about, do we really want to do this?

Everything we have is now on the line and everything we had was basically used up and we’re trying. We had that conversation. We thought, yeah, if we do it and if it doesn’t work, we’ll move in with one of our parents and we’ll start over. But then we tried. But I think the thing that I didn’t realize was how much stress it really would be and how much…

D: I keep having to say, “Look, we’re not even a year old. Look at all the stuff we’ve done...” People are taking What would you say has been the greatest, most joyful, our classes, all our studios have filled. It’s not a bad place unexpected thing about launching this project? to be.

Y: I am amazed at how much the community has stepped up. In all honestly, we put our life savings into it, You’re both from the Santa Cruz area and have roots which was not much. Then we did a Kickstarter campaign, there, why here? It seems like in Santa Cruz there’s a which we were extremely naive about. We thought we’d great artist community and it might even be… buy tools, and it all went to city permits and then plus Y: But they’re not ready. Honestly, they’re very relaxed some on top of that. But people just keep coming in and and comfortable with who they are and where they are. saying, “Hey, I have this tool. Can you guys use it?” Or, But I feel like San Jose is ready to do something different. we just had an anonymous donation to help us build a Every once in a while, there’s a time and a place where little roof over our foundry. The community just keeps people are wanting and ready for something. I really feel coming in, which is amazing. like San Jose could be that place. If you think of what’s D: I think also our interns are really awesome. Having happening in the world, in some ways we are Florence in people who care about this space and our vision as much the Renaissance, except that now it’s computer sciences. as we do. That was another thing we were worried about. But it’s the hub of the world for that. I also strongly think Especially trying to become a nonprofit. Because we have that artists have been studying social science for so long this vision, obviously, and who knows if other people will that if we’re smart enough to get ahead of the game, we want to carry that out? I think the people have gravitated can be part of this, and we can really change the way towards us, we didn’t go out and search for these people. that we’re viewed in the social realm and do something But they’ve really surprised me in how dedicated they are. fantastic. I think that if we can create enough of a spark, Their dream is like our dream too. it really could ignite. I think people are ready, if we can Y: From the very beginning we had two interns right figure this out.

schoolofvisualphilosophy.com 425 Auzerais Ave San Jose, CA 415.671.9926 info@schoolofvisualphilosophy.com twitter: SchoolofVP

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“NEVER STOP WORKING.

EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW THE SECRET RECIPE TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE.

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IT’S JUST REPETITIONS.”

TOMMY THOMPSON A HOMEGROWN FIRST Written by Brandon Roos Photography by daniel garcia

LOOMIS NATIVE TOMMY THOMPSON MADE HISTORY LAST YEAR WHEN HE WAS NAMED THE SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES’ FIRST MLS HOMEGROWN PLAYER.

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t’s safe to say that soccer runs deep in the Thompson family veins.

While 19-year-old Tommy Thompson may be the hot name on the lips of San Jose Earthquakes fans eager to see the club’s first MLS Homegrown player make his mark during the inaugural season at brand-new Avaya Stadium, he’s not the only standout player in his immediate clan. In fact, the Loomis native is actually a second-generation professional.

His father, Gregg Thompson, who coached every youth team Tommy was a part of, was 1983 NASL Rookie of the Year. He played professionally for the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Minnesota Strikers and scored one goal in 12 caps for the US national team, his single goal coming against Egypt in the 1984 Olympics. With such expertise to draw from, Tommy was always learning as a youth player.

“The conversations we’d have after every practice or game drastically increased my soccer knowledge and made me aware of things that a lot of players aren’t aware of at that age, because they don’t have a coach discussing every aspect of the game after it transpires,” he shares. “I think my dad was the perfect mentor for me. He never pushed me so hard that I didn’t want to go out and practice on my own or I didn’t want to touch a soccer ball.”

In particular, he remembers 2-on-2 games where he and his father would face off against older brothers Ty and Tanner. The games were always competitive, and Thompson believes it was that added intensity that helped him push to become a professional. It seemed to help the others succeed as well. Ty, the oldest, is now Stanford’s captain, while middle brother Tanner scored first team All American honors as a sophomore at Indiana.

Yet that closeness didn’t come without its pitfalls.

Tommy recalls when his father had to split him from Tanner, forcing the two to play on different club teams in their early teens. At the time, the rivalry between middle and younger brother proved too hard to

effectively manage, but once they reunited a few years back, they shared an undeniable chemistry. With college approaching, the two made a pact to play together, and they ended up at Indiana University, one of the nation’s premier men’s soccer programs.

“It was always going to be a group decision with me and Tanner,” Thompson explains. “Indiana had great training facilities, a great field, a great fan base. All the boxes were checked for both of us.” Tommy committed his sophomore year and sped up his arrival by graduating from Granite Bay High School in just three years.

As college loomed, Thompson’s life changed significantly. During the summer of 2013, at just 17, he and Tanner moved out to Ohio to train in Columbus before their freshman season with the Hoosiers. The change was especially strange for Thompson, who was headed to the Midwest with eyes on a collegiate athletic career, while his friends at Granite Bay still had a one more year of high school.

He made an immediate impact at Indiana, receiving Big 10 Freshman of the Year honors and helping his team to a Big 10 tournament title. Yet despite those accolades, he admits that the Quakes’ interest caught him a bit by surprise. As he explains, he had been injured for a fair portion of the year, but his return to form was quick and impressive, with Thompson racking up five goals and three assists in 16 games.

When the team suffered an unfortunate first-round exit against a tough Akron squad, Thompson was certain he’d be back the next season to continue the team’s momentum, but in November, the Quakes and general manager John Doyle came knocking.

The prospect of being a pro athlete wasn’t new to Tommy. Before his freshman year of high school, he had traveled with Tanner to the UK, where they trained with a handful of clubs, including English Premier League squad Newcastle United and Scottish Premier League titans Celtic FC. “It was important for me and my brother to see the

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“I THINK MY DAD WAS THE PERFECT MENTOR FOR ME. HE NEVER PUSHED ME SO HARD THAT I DIDN’T WANT TO GO OUT AND PRACTICE ON MY OWN OR I DIDN’T WANT TO TOUCH A SOCCER BALL.” level that the youth are playing at in Europe,” he recalls.

“It was kind of a benchmark for us, because we needed to learn how far we were from their level or how on track we were.”

While there was interest, teams had mentioned the difficulty of securing a European Union passport for players under 18. The two were told to return when they were a bit older. Still, a trial with a team was no sure shot, and at 18—old enough to bypass previous passport issues—Tommy had a guaranteed contract on the table with the Quakes. He knew that if he played stateside, San Jose was his planned destination. The offer was too good to pass up. Thompson and his father negotiated with the team until mid-January, when he was named their first MLS Homegrown player.

Though he was glad to have helped Indiana win some silverware, Thompson was still sad to part from Indiana after just a single season. After all, he was leaving a girlfriend, a coach and program he embraced, and a brother he had made a joint collegiate decision with. But now, after ample time to settle into his new surroundings, Thompson says he’s “excited about what’s to come here in San Jose.”

Asked about any advice for players who are shooting to go pro, he’s quick to offer a response: “Never stop working. Everyone wants to know the secret recipe to become a professional athlete and to get to the skill set of what some of the guys in this league have. It’s just repetitions.”

He adds that while these efforts may go unrecognized, the key is to stay persistent, a point he understands from experience. “I always considered myself to be one of the top players in Northern California, but I was never invited

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to any national team camps,” he says. “I went to one when I was 12. I didn’t get invited back until last year. You have to have the inner belief and the desire to keep working until someone does give you that shot. Then when they give you that shot, you’ve got to take it.”

Though Thompson has already captured the imagination of the Quakes fan base, who eagerly wait to see him blossom before their eyes, he still faces the reality that he’s a teenager in a locker room full of veterans.

Thompson seems to take that fact in stride, aware that there’s still plenty to learn.

“It’s an interesting dynamic, but I’m grateful to be so young and in this position because I have so much to learn from guys like Chris Wondolowski and Jordan Stewart,” he says. “They’ve been around the block and know how to approach the professional life. I’m a sponge in the locker room, I’m a sponge on the field, and I’m grateful to be just 19 years old and learning from some of the best guys in the league.”

sjearthquakes.com/players/tommy-thompson social media: tomthom11

IMAGE CHALLENGE 2015 C

ontent Magazine and Umbrella Salon have teamed up for our third annual Image Challenge.

We put a call out to photographers, models, makeup artists, and hairstylists to give them a chance to show what they can do under a bit of pressure, while letting the creativity flow.

The mission? Fifteen teams, each comprised of a model, hairstylist, photographer, and makeup artist—who had never met each other before—were given just fourteen hours to provide Content Magazine with three print-ready images.

Participants arrived at Umbrella Salon on a sunny winter Sunday morning in February 2014, and teams were chosen randomly by pulling names out of paper bags. Rules for the day were pretty relaxed, which for some participants contributed to the challenge. Everyone had to show up ready for anything, including the weather. The teams needed to come up with an idea for the photoshoot that everyone agreed upon. All photographs had to be taken within San Jose city limits, but not in a studio.

Once teams were assigned, the hairstylists and make-up artists got to work. When the models were ready, the teams began to trickle out of the salon to take photos. An old motel, City Hall, a barn, an old water tower—suddenly, everyday sites all over the city became backdrops for fashion photoshoots for the day.

Check out these shots from Image Challenge 2015—and keep an eye out for more from these talented individuals who are shaping our creative community.

Special thanks to all the make-up artists and the clothing and hair stylists. And thank you to the models agencies that participated: Halvorson Model Management (HMM), JE Model Management (JE), and Scout Model & Talent Agency (SMT).

Photographer: Jeremy Givens Make-up Artist: Keziah Dauz Hair Stylist : Anna Draganova Model: Eva Collins (JE) Model: Jane Collins (JE)

Photographer: Khiem Hoang Make-up Artist: Ervin Rose Hair Stylist:Vanessa Ramos Model: Megan Jay Simrell (SMT)

Photographer: Max Johnson Model: Jordan Johnson Hair: Jade Deveraturda Make-up: Sinh Vo

Photographer: Catherine Walker Make-up Artist: Karie Beery Hair Stylist: Danielle Rivas Model: Brianna Olenslager (SMT)

Photographer: Daniel Valencia Make-up Artist: Susan Sarmiento Hair Stylist: Samantha Clark Model: Megan Federspiel (SMT)

Photographer: Paul Ferradas Make-up Artist: Celeste Thompson Hair Stylist: Jennifer Singleton Stylist: Natasha L. Pham Model: Karyta Santos (SMT)

Photography: Jessica Perez Make-up Artist: Jennifer Anne Imbat Hair Stylist: Anna Draganova Model: Carly Giacinto (HMM)

Photographer: Paulina Perrucci Make-up Artist: Ellie Garcia Hair Stylist: Adrian De Lozada Model: Emilee Bickert

Photography: Ana Villafane Make-up Artist: Lien DeLong Hair Stylist: Chloe Lomeli Wardrobe Stylist: Erandeny Torres Model: Danielle Samuel

Photographer: Vivian Sachs Make-up Artist: Amrita Mehta Hair Stylist: Brie Virta Model: Lyndon Peters (SMT)

(Middle Right) Photographer: Audre Van Broers Make-up Artist: Kayla Kruger Hair Stylist: Taylor Virta Model: David Doss (JE) Model: Nicholas Dombrowski (JE)

Photographer: Mark J. Sebastian Make-up Artist: Wendy Tran Hair Stylist: Nathan Nguyen Model: Luca Micheletti (JE) Model: Haley Gordon (SMT)

Photographer: Katie Walsh Make-up Artist: Jacqueline Urquieta Hair Stylist: Jade Deve Model: Alexia Balistreri (HMM)

(Middle Right) Photographer: Bryant Truong Make-up Artist: Brittany Jordan Hair Stylist: Anjelika Martinez Model: Brooke Belvedere

Photographer: Robert Ragazza Make-up Artist: Amrita Mehta Hair Stylist: Jade Deve Model: Alana Ozawa Burns (SMT)

Photographer: Mark Chua Make-up Artist: Janyl Moreno Hair Stylist: Samantha Clark Model: Emily Kendler (SMT)

photo graphers

#IC15

Vivian Sachs

Paul Ferradas

Katie Walsh

Mark Chua

Audre Van Broers

Khiem Hoang

jeremy Givens

Bryant Truong

Jessica Perez

Daniel Valencia

Catherine Walker

Mark Sebastian

Paulina Perrucci

robert ragazza

Ana Villafane

new faces

PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel Garcia ART DIRECTOR/STYLIST: Eric Belladonna HAIR: Ivo Skilj, Vero Montenegro, Crystal Martin-Bulkley, and Cassandra Valadao for Lim贸n Salon MAKE-UP: Zenia Marie & Diana Cortez PRODUCER: Kristen Pfund MODELS: Scout Model and Talent Agency ..

Daniel

Diana

Sergio

Audrey

Oliver

Dress - Pippa & Julie, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $48 Shoes - Cole Haan, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $168 Cardigan - RVCA, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $44.40 Earrings - Classic Loot, $25

Shirt - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $109 ...

Shirt Jacket - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $119 ...

Jeans - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $149 ...

Rain Coat - Top Shop, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $85 Tank Top - Chelsea28, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $68 Skirt - Chelsea28, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $78 Shoes - Moon Zooom, $16 Earrings - Classic Loot, $25 Necklace - Classic Loot, $35 Gloves - Moon Zooom, $8

Jacket - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $229 Shirt - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $99 Pants - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $119 Shoes - Moon Zooom, $20

Pants - Tucker+Tate, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $38

Diana: Jacket - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $159 Blouse - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $109 Pants - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $135 Shoes - Moon Zooom, $16 Scarf - Moon Zooom, $4 Earrings - Classic Loot, $25 Glasses - Classic Loot, $24 Oliver: Polo - Lacoste, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $60 Jeans - Hudson, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $49 Audrey: Dress - Pippa & Julie, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $48 Necklace - Classic Loot, $30 T-Shirt - Frenchi, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $34 Cardigan - Tucker+Tate, Nordstrom Valley Fair, $22 Glasses - Classic Loot, $24 Daniel: Blazer - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $245 Shirt - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $49 Pants - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $119 Shoes - Moon Zooom, $20 Sergio: Polo - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $69 Pants - Scotch & Soda, Santana Row, $119 Shoes - Moon Zooom, $16

“WE SAY, ‘RESPECT THE COCKTAIL,’ AND THAT’S REALLY WHAT IT’S ABOUT: NOT USING ANYTHING PREPRODUCED, BUT HAVING THE DISCIPLINE TO CREATE THE DRINK FROM SCRATCH.” — Holy Stanley

RESPECT THE COCKTAIL

JACK ROSE LIBATION HOUSE Written by Leah Ammon Photography by Stan Olszewski

At Los Gatos’s Jack Rose Libation House, every detail has been carefully attended to. Staff and management hold themselves to a higher standard: one that’s nearly 100 years old.

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serious historical cocktail cred.

The drink has literary connotations as well. Featured famously in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, it was also the favorite drink of author John Steinbeck, who—for a few years in the 1930s—lived and labored over The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men in a home about a half mile away from where the bar stands today.

If all of this calls to mind a glamorous era of speakeasies and flapperdom, it also harkens back to a time when spirits and garnishes were not mass-produced, a time when, as Holy says, cocktails “were truly unique to each establishment.” It’s this aspect that’s especially key to the Jack Rose approach. “We say, ‘Respect the Cocktail,’” says Holy, “and that’s really what it’s about: not using anything pre-produced, but having the discipline to create the drink from scratch.”

When the bar first opened in 2013, they served only libations: cocktails hand-crafted with house-made syrups, garnishes, and premium spirits, some of them oak-barrelaged on site for up to a month to amplify their delicious smoothness. In the months that followed, they developed an expanded dining menu, featuring dishes prepared with the same uncompromising commitment to quality

ack Rose is tucked away off of Highway 9 in Los Gatos, on the property of the La Hacienda Inn. The atmospheric, eclectically decorated space feels modern, but inviting and warm. Curios are arranged on custom bookshelves that line the walls. Taxidermied animal heads are installed in a corner. A flock of birds hand-cut and sewn from vintage books take flight overhead, suspended from the ceiling. With enclaved banquettes, clusters of low-slung stools and chairs, and high six-top tables, it’s a civilized setting that encourages conversation.

The name “Jack Rose” suits the place perfectly. The detail-oriented, exacting sensibility that arrived at that name is the hallmark of bar owners Holy and Russ Stanley.

Jack Rose is the name of one of the classic American cocktails: lore has it that George Washington himself enjoyed them. In his 1948 now-classic guide, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David A. Embury names it—along with the likes of the Manhattan and the Martini—one of the six fundamental cocktail recipes. Most in vogue in the 1920s and ’30s, its mass popularity has waned over the past decades. To name-check it is to establish some

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Erik Frank

Maritza Rocha-Alvarez

Jorge Vargas Baquedano

and freshness: pizza dough fermented in the kitchen for three days, garnished with hand-pulled mozzarella and house-smoked bacon and pancetta; a “Jack Rose burger” with beef freshly ground every day atop a house-made bun with aged cheddar cheese and caramelized onion.

The drink menu is ever-evolving, making use of the freshest ingredients and embracing the flavors of the season. But at any given time, there is a diverse selection of offerings to suit any person’s preferred flavor profile, ranging from the light and crisp to the big and bold.

Some of these featured cocktails have been personally and painstakingly developed by the preeminent Jack Rose bartending staff—three of whom are competitive on the national bartending circuit: Jorge Vargas, Maritza Rocha-Alvarez, and Jason D. Seele.

Seele, who is also the bar manager and a self-identified “cocktail nerd,” is a wealth of historical and practical mixed drink knowledge, priding himself on his ability to engage with customers to guide them in selecting a drink they will love.

He describes an intensive process of tweaking drink recipes gradually, sometimes by a quarter ounce of a given ingredient at a time, until he arrives at a perfect balance of flavors. “It’s a lot like cooking in a way,” he says. “You

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Jason Seele

Victor Pelegrin

have to understand the ingredients before you can use them to build something.”

He and his colleagues draw inspiration from visiting international food bazaars and farmers markets, seeking out surprising flavors they can blend to create a unique finished creation. But this impulse for invention is balanced against a rigorous respect for tradition. There are classic formulas to which the cocktails must conform, Seele says, and he and his colleagues work within these parameters to innovate rather than reinvent.

This eye toward tradition, and—again—disciplined detail, is also evident in the training the bar staff receives in proper techniques: correct jiggering, shaking, and stirring. But they delight in holding themselves to a higher standard. “We don’t just sell cocktails,” Seele says, “we sell an experience. And for us, this isn’t just a job. It’s a lifestyle, it’s our passion.”

Jackrosebar.com 18840 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd Los Gatos, CA 95030 408.395.3500 facebook: JackRoseLibationHouse instagram: jackrose_libations

(EL) CAMINO BREWING COMPANY WHERE BEER PILGRIMS GATHER Written by Anna Bagirova Photography by Scott MacDonald

Nathan Poulos

Allen Korenstein

we want to be part of the revitalization of downtown.

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eer journeys, like life journeys, take guts. In 2006, Nathan Poulos and Allen Korenstein biked the medieval European pilgrimage route Camino de Santiago for 15 days. “We almost killed each other a few times,” they said laughing. “Just as with our dream of opening a brewing company, we would meet people, our communal angels, who would appear and help us,” Allen reminisced. “One woman told us of her own life’s transformation, ‘It didn’t take a lot of courage, it just took the first step.’”

A couple of years after the biking the Camino, Nathan began homebrewing. The two of them talked of beer and food and of wine’s place in thriving, intimate social centers where Europeans gathered everyday. Beer has played that part too in human history. “Beer is the sacrament of human connection,” Allen observed.

In 2009, they decided to bike 2,000 miles, with no set route. Sometimes you follow a challenging path, and other times you must blaze your own. “At one point the Italian coastline stopped. We had to cycle the Italian Alps. Overcoming that challenge has stuck with us,” Allen remembered. Nathan had an idea: beers that would pay homage to the Camino’s rich history and folklore.

“It’s like the goal of starting a brewery. Despite the uncertainties, we had to push through,” Nathan added.

Nathan and Allen met people on their travels, and began to get a sense of their connection to something larger. “People here work and go back to their enclaves, but beer brings strangers together,” Allen said. “San Jose needs this, and we can provide it,” Nathan added. The destination was clearer. Allen and Nathan were struck by the emerging liveliness of San Jose. It reminded them of the tremendous, boisterous socializing that went on in Spain’s bars and cafes. “I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that San Jose sits on El Camino Real,” Nathan observed.

And thus was born Camino Brewing Company. San Jose provided not only the path, but the communal angels.

Nathan washed dishes at Good Karma Cafe in exchange for knowledge of beer from owner Ryan Summers.

“We know that we want to be part of the revitalization of downtown,” Nathan explained. “The vision is to create a 10-barrel brewery and give people the ability to bring in a growler and take beer back with them,” Nathan explained.

They also hope to have local food trucks work in conjunction with the brewery. Camino has partnerships with local businesses such as Chromatic Coffee, whose espresso they use for their cafe con leche stout—a homage to the milk stout with espresso that the Spaniards drink daily. “No matter how many breweries you have, you have to make yourself a part of the fabric of the community,” Nathan told us.

Their beer was put on tap at the Whole Foods Mission Creek Brewing Company on December 9, 2014, and it sold out in three weeks. Nuberu, named after the Galician god of storms, is fresh and bright, a hoppy pale ale. That same year, with the support of Sam Liccardo, they formed the Downtown Craft Beer Alliance.

In Spain, Allen and Nathan found themselves biking against brutal hot headwinds. They were so fed up, they threw their clothes away and bought cold Spanish lager in its place. They drank and pedaled. “We want to pay homage to that with our own India pale lager, the Cierzo.

We want it to be a refreshing American lager, without the hop-bitterness of a traditional IPA,” Nathan explained.

We’ve all been there. Sweat (or tears) burn our eyes.

There is torturous inner self-doubt. Every cell screams for us to give up. But we keep on. Whether it is a beer, a person, or a goal to edge us, we take that next step.

“Sometimes I think, are we doing the Camino or is the Camino doing us?” Allen asks smiling. Either way, it seems the stars have aligned for Nathan and Allen to make their mark in San Jose’s bubbling craft beer scene.

Nathan and Allen who, with a little faith, some plain hard work, and a few friends, have found that any of life’s challenges are surmountable. Without guts, after all, there is no glory. caminobrewing.com PO Box 51 La Honda, CA 94020 408.280.6036 facebook: Camino-Brewing-Company twitter: CaminoBrew

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OAK RYE family matters Written by JUlia Canavese Photography by Daniel Garcia

From fine dining to artisan pizza, a family team brings high-quality casual dining to Los Gatos.

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hen people are passionate about what they do, it comes out clearly in the final product, whether they are making music, art, or pizza. The family behind the Los Gatos pizzeria Oak & Rye is a team of four dedicated individuals who have come together to craft a unique dining experience.

Not everyone can go into business with family, but this family has found balance in a division of labor that plays to each member’s strengths. Siblings Ross Hanson and Dana Bunker handle the small plates on the menu and front of house service, respectively, while Hanson’s wife, Bree, manages the administration and Bunker’s fiancé, Angelo Womack, focuses on the pizza.

“Because we’re all family, I think we understand each other a little bit better, and sort of understand how to talk to each other,” says Bunker. Business relationships are always challenging, and “there are problems that will come up in the restaurant—you’ll have to deal with it— but I think what’s nice about working with your family is that they...know where you’re coming from.”

One of the joys of walking into a family-owned business is the personality, and this family’s personalities shine through in quirky touches, like the ’80s-themed bathroom décor and pop culture–inspired pizza and cocktail names, like the vintage album covers adorning one wall and roughly hewn wooden shark sculpture (by local artist Abel Gonzalez) looming out of another.

A recent addition to the family, so to speak, is the mobile pizza oven, which allows the Oak & Rye catering crew to head out into the community for events ranging from beer walks to weddings. Having recently participated in a downtown San Jose beer walk, Bunker points out the common sense of this new direction: “What goes great with beer? Pizza.”

One particularly harrowing catering experience involved hauling the mobile pizza oven up into the Santa Cruz mountains for a rustic wedding. Watching her brother navigate the narrow mountain passes with the 20-foot wide mobile pizza oven in tow “was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen,” recalls Bunker. Despite a few skipped heartbeats on the way there, the event was a success. The lesson? “The oven really can go anywhere. As long as you have a wide, level place to plop it down, you can make pizza anywhere.”

That’s great news for pizza fans, because Oak & Rye wants to participate in even more community events.

They are also more than willing to venture outside the box, and recently participated in a taco pop-up event with Hanson as a guest chef. “Ross has always, always wanted to makes tacos and burritos—you know, we’re from California.”

Oak & Rye wants to bring their pizza to the people, and the people to their pizza. For those looking to get a little closer to the action, Oak & Rye is considering offering pizza-making classes. DIY makers could gather with friends to learn about why the dough is made the way it is, how to properly lay it out, and other tricks of the trade. Womack taught similar classes in New York, where participants were able to cook and eat a pizza during class and take home an extra ball of dough to make a pizza at home.

If it sounds as though Oak & Rye is still growing and experimenting, that’s because it is. The restaurant opened in its current iteration in October 2014, when Bunker and Womack moved back to the Bay Area from New York.

Womack had been working at Roberta’s in Brooklyn and was able to see firsthand the growth of a successful pizza restaurant. After a few years of playful banter at family

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Ross Hanson - Chef

Bree Hanson - The Voice of Reason

77 Dana Bunker - The Hammer

Angelo Womack - Pizza Wizard

gatherings, the four decide to go for it.

Chef Ross agreed to flip the family’s successful finedining spot, Restaurant James Randall. And the four pulled together to redesign the space with a modern aesthetic of wood and bare bulbed light, distressing the wood for the paneling and painstakingly covering the pizza oven with a hundred dollars’ worth of pennies. “We opened with nothing on the wall except that mirror,” Ross reminisces. After about a year and a half, the restaurant is well-established, but still propelled by the excitement and agility of a new venture.

Interested in keeping the menu fresh, Oak & Rye works with GreenLeaf to offer seasonal selections with fresh-at-market, locally sourced produce. In addition to the creative seasonal items on the menu, you’ll find unique year-round offerings, such as the popular Scotty 2 Hottie pizza, which features a sweet and savory mix of tomato, basil, mozzarella, sopressata salami, Tim’s Honey, and pepperoncini oil.

But all of the pizzas are worth giving a try. What makes Oak & Rye pizza different is the perfectly toasted (never burnt) bottom crust, which gives it an earthy smoked flavor that combines delightfully with the slightly soured tone in the dough. Mix that thin, always-crispy crust with their signature Oak and Rye cocktail (Slow & Low whiskey, Aperol, and dry vermouth, bottled in-house and served over ice with a slice of orange), and you have just discovered the unique flavors of this recent and impressive South Bay contemporary pizzeria.

oakandryepizza.com 303 N Santa Cruz Ave Los Gatos, CA 95030 408.395.4441 facebook: Oak-Rye instagram: oakandrye twitter: OakRye

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GUSTAF FJELSTROM

GRAPHIC SOUNDS

Gustaf Fjelstrom has been a successful graphic designer and creative director for various Silicon Valley agencies, including Design Reactor, LEVEL Studios, and Coakley Heagerty. Yet, behind his professional visual design career, Gus has alway maintained a love for music.

Interview and Photography by Daniel Garcia

“I REMEMBER BEING TAUGHT EARLY ON TO ALWAYS RUN TO THE CONSTRAINTS.”

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ustaf’s first instrument was an accordion, but he transitioned to keyboards and bass once he heard his older brother’s Rush albums. From jazz band in high school, to college instrumentals trio, to the group Maximum Indifference (described as “Rush without vocals”), booked regularly by Greg Stone of KOME at The Cabaret, to his latest solo project, the eight-song album Intentions, Gustaf continues to enjoying creating visuals and sounds.

You have quite the palette of creative endeavors: graphics, photography, video, and music. Which is your favorite?

Ever since I was a kid, I was drawing and playing music, so I always knew those two things were going be with me for a long time.

For schooling, I went with art, because that seemed to be where I was most comfortable and could flourish.

I was an Illustration major at San Jose State, and decided not to go the Fine Art route, not that fine artists can’t make a living, but it was the best path for me.

But music was constantly there. It has always been sort of a hobby, actually more a notch above a hobby. I’d be very hard-pressed to think of a favorite because whenever I’m doing one, there’s always stuff I want to be doing on the other, so it’s a constant battle. In a good way.

Do you think your visual art influences your music?

My music has a very visual component. Whether that’s called cinematic or ambient… it definitely has a cinematic quality. I think being able to communicate in both worlds definitely means one influences the other.

Who are some of your musical influences besides Rush?

Tyco, definitely for that retro‑y, synth‑y, and instrumental stuff. And also Hammock, which is very ambient guitar and stuff.

Actually, my original intention for this project was me thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could be in a band with Tyco and Hammock.” That’s kind of what I wanted to create this project around.

So the results can definitely be described as ambient.

There are parts that are ambient, and there are parts that are sort of more driving, primarily instrumental, and having a very emotive quality: very dynamic. The

three genres I use to describe this project are “ambient, down‑tempo, and post-rock.”

You’re primarily a bassist, so are you looping and over-tracking instruments to produce the songs?

Yeah, I’m not a guitar player at all. I am a bass guitar player, but I know enough about melody that I get myself in trouble. Although there’s over-tracking and loops, I definitely wouldn’t consider it a looping album. There are elements that are looped, but then there are elements that I stacked on top.

I typically start with looping, and then I sit and create a stack of textured layers and then dump those all into the computer. I’ll then start editing and finding arrangements for parts and go back in and start programming some drums, adding more and more parts. So, at the end, it was more of a song construction than a looping construction.

Did you play all the instruments on this project?

I wrote all the stuff initially, but I had a couple of drummer friends, Brad Bjurman and Nick Grant, play on it as well. And another friend, Cathryn Talbert, doing vocals on it. There’s no lyrics, but there’s some vocals, so it’s all sort of vocalization.

Do you think working as a creative director has helped you as a musician?

Definitely, very beneficial. One of the key things I remember being taught early on was to always run to the constraints. I think to grow as an artist, and to produce, you have to put some restraints around yourself or have some intentions from the beginning.

I knew I wanted this project to be on vinyl, which is a first for me. But it was very easy to sort of measure things against that to say, “That’s gotta go, and that’s gonna stay.” In my past projects, I’d just write a bunch of stuff, and then I’d, you know, get like an hour’s worth of stuff. But with vinyl you’re limited to something like 20 minutes each side. It forced me to be very focused on what was in each song, on the arrangements, and how long the songs were. In the past, I’d create super, super long songs and not think anything of it. But for this project, Intentions, it was very, focused. It was very directed and very intentional.

botched.com twitter: botched buy and download: music.botched.com (album to be released Spring 2015)

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Raul y Mexia + SuenaTron GOING INTERNATIONAL (L to R) Abraham Alvarado, Eduardo Montelongo, Raul Hernandez, Hernan Eduardo “Mexia” Hernandez, Giovanni Angel Hernandez, Mateo Gonzales

Written by Anna Bagirov Photography by Philemerson

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“We have to stay true to ourselves. We are not from the ranch. We are city boys,” Mexia explained. “We have a traditional style, just with a modern blend and from a different perspective.” All six members are MexicanAmerican, five native to San Jose. Raul and Mexia play the traditional Mexican accordion and bajo sexto, but the music itself is anything but traditional. Both the Mexican and American flags hang in the band’s studio, and both cultures infuse their work.

“We did not experiment, we developed our sound,” Mexia said of the last year spent in the studio. “We knew what we wanted—to be in the Norteño regional pop world. We feel connected to our legacy and history, but we want to be innovators.” The innovation has paid off.

They will tour Northern America, Mexico, and Central America, and plan to put out an album at the end of the year.

Be yourself, innovate, and wear your corazon on your sleeve—Raul y Mexia have shown the gamble pays off.

ou have to hand it to San Jose’s Raul y Mexia + SuenaTron: they know how execute. They know how to please audiences across genres, languages, cultures, and generations. “One day we are doing a show for people in cowboy boots and hats, and the next we are at The Warfield,” said Hernan “Mexia” Hernandez, laughing. “We have opened for a big band in Mexico, and then done San Francisco for a hipster crowd.”

Their latest international chart single, a love song called “Sencillamente,” has solidified their new sound and carried their reputation forward, hitting the Top 20 Norteño and pop charts across Mexico and Central America.

The band’s name comes from Suena (“sound”) and Tron (“electronic”), and their sound has audiences enthralled, not surprising since their roots are so diverse—hip hop, pop, Latin rock—and their music so original. Successfully fusing the distinctly traditional Norteño with modern pop and cumbia, Raul y Mexia + SuenaTron is gaining a following worldwide for their lighthearted and bouncy party rhythms and love-themed tracks.

raulymexia.com twitter: mexiamusic

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Steely Nash PARISIAN CHIC

Written by Freya Seeburger Photography by Shane Hagerty

“I’M TIRED OF WATCHING. I WANT TO BE OVER THE SECURITY BARS ON THAT OTHER SIDE, WHERE I GET TO LOOK OUT INSTEAD OF UP.”

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ailing from Paris, Texas, Steely Nash has brought her own brand of Parisian chic to San Jose. The vinyl-loving song-tress has concocted an aural blend of trés chic and homegrown, a bouquet of Chanel with notes of Etta James. Her love of pop and vintage has lead to her upcoming release, “Paper Doll.”

In conversation, it is clear that Steely Nash is a born performer who is influenced both by her surroundings and the musicians around her. It is easy to picture her performing a set in a room lined with vintage vinyl, or in the rotunda of city hall, decked out in a stylish ball gown, offering her own take on pop and soul. When asked about her dreams for the future, Steely says, “My mom trained me to sing in the living room, so I’ll play anywhere, I really will. A dream gig of mine is a festival tour, specifically Coachella, because I’ve gone for nine years. Truthfully, I’m tired of watching.

I want to be over the security bars on that other side, where I get to look out instead of up. People are seeking an experience, and I want to give that to them.”

San Jose is lucky. Steely Nash is here at last. steelynash.com steelynash.blogspot.com facebook: SteelyNashMusic instagram: steelynash twitter: steelynash

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PNDRS Written by Anna Bagirov Photography by Stan Olszewski

POUNDERS EXPLORE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN NEW MUSIC THAT LEAVES PUNK ROCK FAR BEHIND.

Alonso Hernandez

Chris Pounders

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Justin Imamura

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ounders, decades-long mavericks of the San Jose music scene, are recording their third album, a carefully crafted piece that is mature, multilayered, unpredictable, and oh-so-fun to listen to.

“This is the rebirth of Pounders,” Justin Imamura said.

The group has spent two years researching and branching out unapologetically from punk rock. Punk rock, after all, means not having to say you’re sorry. And why would they be? Chris Pounders, Alonso Hernandez, and Justin Imamura rage while being poetic, their harmonies on point. They have taken risks, with calculated purpose.

These guys are deep thinkers.

“We have double- and triple-checked,” Chris explained. “It takes more time to be timeless,” Alonso added with a smile. They are committed to music that keeps the audience in mind. “We are trying to bring back the human element, while staying cutting-edge,” Alonso reflected. “Sometimes good music is more about understanding people than just writing a good hook,” Chris put in.

Pounders’ new body of work shows that they have kept both audience and artistic development in mind. “Every member of this band is stepping up their musicianship in a way that will not overcrowd the music,” Chris said.

Touching on themes political, social, and personal, the songs explore the range of human experience. And the imperfections. “Being imperfect is OK. We are taking a

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“WE ARE TRYING TO BRING BACK THE HUMAN ELEMENT, WHILE STAYING CUTTING-EDGE.” very human approach to our music,” Justin added.

“Separate Ways,” a break-up song, is reminiscent of The Police—upbeat, atmospheric, deeply affecting. “Streets of London” showcases a velvety ska-ish saxophone, and explores paranoia and anarchist tendencies. “Don’t Drop Your Bombs on Me” is a track with an upbeat beat and poetic lyrics. A reflection of the war on Syria from the point of view of the victims, its acoustic guitar is a pleasant surprise. “People are composed of layers,” Alonso explained. “Our album will parallel that. We want each song to stand on its own, but to serve the album with its own unique sound.”

It’s taken some time, but Pounders’ new work has shown without a shadow a doubt that it’s been well worth the wait.

poundersband.com facebook: PNDRS instagram: pounders twitter: PNDRS

ALBUM PICKS

Curated by Tommy Aguilar @ungrammar

Hiatus Kaiyote, By Fire EP With their debut, this band—lead vocalist Nai Palm, Perin Moss on drums, Simon Mavin on synthesizer, and Paul Bender on other electronic gadgetry and keys—unleashed themselves to the planet. Having landed a show with them back on Halloween 2013 at the Live At The Pagoda music series, I can tell you that Hiatus Kaiyote were the buzz of the earth. Soon afterwards, they earned a Grammy nomination for their song “Nakamarra,” which featured a verse by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. This latest EP, By Fire, displays their relentlessness in destroying headphones and stages as they touch the hearts and imaginations of soul heads everywhere.

Whether you want to label this latest EP future soul, future jazz, or neo-soul, the common denominator is soul. The soul of Melbourne? Perhaps. Australia and their next-door neighbors, New Zealand, have been putting out unbelievably high quality soul music—mixing in electronic and funk flavors too. A new album is looming, as well as a new US tour. Stay locked. hiatuskaiyote.com Taylor McFerrin, Early Riser LP Recently, Taylor McFerrin blessed a capacity audience stuffed inside The Continental in downtown San Jose with an inspired performance for Universal Grammar’s collaboration with San Jose Jazz at the 2015 Winter Fest. Along with the improvisational elements of his performance, the beauty of his debut release, Early Riser, was in full display. Early Riser, released late last year, was an easy pick for my “Best of 2014” list. Released on the genre-bending jazz-electronic futurist label Brainfeeder, the project is peppered with a who’s who of UG past performers and favorites, including Robert Glasper, Thundercat, and Nai Palm (of Hiatus Kaiyote). One of the standout tracks, “Decisions,” features another emerging voice in Emily King. The song is a dreamy, space-travelin’ piece with Emily laying down the lyrical love game, “I’ll ride with you if it’s alright with you / I wanna drive to the beach, spend my life with you / Drift away to the river in the sky with you..” brainfeeder.net/taylormcferrin

Tuxedo, Tuxedo LP Tuxedo is the collaboration of two Grammy-nominated artists: Detroit’s Mayer Hawthorne and Seattle’s Jake One. Their debut album is a self-titled release on the heavyweight indie imprint Stonesthrow. This is Mayer’s fourth album, and his second on the label that launched him.

Tuxedo’s sound comes with one basic element: funk. An ode to the kind of disco funk I used to listen to in my mom’s Monte Carlo in the ’80s, with the station tuned to KFRC or KSOL, and Chic, Shalamar, and Zapp playing. Released on March 3 in every format, you can also cop the cassette tape version of this album. I know I did, and it’s one those albums you press “play” and then just ride and cruise out too. stonesthrow.com/tuxedo Kali Uchis, por Vida EP The Por Vida Studio EP is a more polished offering than the mixtape Drunken Babble, with the progression in music-making in full swing. Kali’s vocal stylings are a bit more sophisticated, as highlighted by the tune “Know What I Want,” which displays her unique sing-song-rap over a rock-steady groove.

Kali, a Columbiana living in Virginia, has a voice that’s Erykah Badu meets Amy Winehouse. The EP also features production

by Universal Grammar favorites, in Montreal’s Kaytranada, Tyler The Creator, and Badbadnotgood. While enjoying the “now” with her current release, playing it out in the clubs I DJ at, I am also looking forward to the bright future of Kali Uchis.

And hopefully an appearance in San Jose. kaliuchis.com/porvida D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah LP A breath of fresh air, the return of D’Angelo is not too late.

Without notice, the album Black Messiah was left on our doorstep with a knock, but no one to greet, in December of last year. The internet erupted in a D’Angelo takeover, and I immediately copped the album on iTunes, and later the physical format on CD, and now I’m looking to get the vinyl version. (It’s what I do, when I really really dig something. It’s the collector in me.)

The album is an extension of where D’Angelo left off with Voodoo, suggesting (or so say some of my peers) that this album belongs in 2008. I somewhat agree, but timeless music doesn’t exist for a specific year alone, and as Voodoo did then, this album transcends time. However, while Voodoo was quite simply one of the best albums of all time, Black Messiah doesn’t quite make that leap. That said, no one makes soul music like D’Angelo, and these 12 tracks are a great addition to the catalog. His lyrics speak to the times, and his artistry and his musicianship have bounded forward. blackmessiah.co

What’s in your ears?

In celebration of our Sight and Sound issue, which features the audio and visual culture of the South Bay, we took a closer look at someone we come into contact with nearly everyday, but who we might not know much about: the barista.

Here we feature a few of the friendly faces behind the counter at Philz Los Gatos.

We asked them: 1 What is your favorite song?

2 Tell us a little about yourself.

3 What are you currently listening to?

Danae D 1 I really can’t pinpoint one select song that is my

favorite. But a song that is one of my all-time favorites would be Amber by 311, because every time I am facing a challenge, I think of the line “nothing good comes easily, sometimes you’ve got to fight.”

Plus, it is a beautiful song.

2 There is nothing I like more than being out in the

ocean on my board. I am an artist. I also love road tripping.

3 Rise Against has been my most listened to band and

favorite show. Every single member has incredible talent and energy.

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Karl Henson 1 My favorite song of all time is Everyday by Buddy

Holly.

2 Currently I am a full-time student at San Jose State

University and a full-time barista at Philz Coffee in Los Gatos.

3 I’ve been listening to All Day by Kanye West. I love

Kanye and what he’s about. While he’s not the best at expressing exactly what is on his mind, he has an extreme honesty about him that the music world is missing today. Standing up for music shouldn’t be a crime. It wasn’t when The Rolling Stones did it. It wasn’t when The Beatles did it.

Jena Gonzales 1 My favorite song of all time is easily You Are My

Sunshine. It was sung to me by my mother when I was a child, and it will always be dear to me.

2 I am an aspiring artist, so I love to sketch and am

drawn to the beauty around me.

3 I have been listening to a lot of Journey lately. I love

big hair ’80s rock. I also love anything with a Latin beat, and like most who grew up on the east side of San Jose, I love me some oldies.

Andrew Hickerson 1 Lively Up Yourself by Bob Marley.

2 I’m passionate about exploring the world’s different

cultures, music, and cuisine. I’m also passionate about everything coffee!

3 Reggae is my usual go-to because of its chill vibe and

great message.

Samm Dove 1 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics.

2 I like to better people’s days at Philz, take awesome

photos of pets as a photographer, and I’m a former roller derby skater from NYC.

3 I’ve been listening to a lot of Eurythmics, Dead or

Alive, and Duran Duran lately—all are amazing skating rink songs and help brighten my day when I’m feeling down.

PERSIS KARIM THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF Written by Chad Hall

Persis Karim has a passion for poetry—and shaping the literature of personal experience.

P

ersis Karim is currently an associate professor of English and comparative literature at San Jose State University, where she teaches literature and creative writing. Karim’s poetry has been published in several literary journals, including Reed Magazine, Alimentum, Di-Vêrsé-City, Heart Lodge, and Caesura. She is the author of numerous articles on Iranian-American literature, the editor of Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing

by Women of the Iranian Diaspora, and co-editor and co-author of A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans.

What do you think is the greatest myth about creativity?

That creativity or making art is the work of genius. I work hard at writing. Of course there is something called talent, but a lot of beautiful work comes from sitting oneself down to do it, to practice, to be available.

I think when people talk about genius, they’re really talking about “being available.” I think the biggest myth about art is that there is good art people are willing to pay big money for. But there is so much good art that is not recognized. Not even seen. I think the myth is that you have to have a book to be a writer. Or a poet. I don’t think that way. I think I’ll just keep writing because I have to How would you describe yourself? express myself, have to express something. Not because I I wear several hats. I’m a writer, poet, editor, and my need others to validate me. day job (although at the moment I’m on a sabbatical) is as a professor of English and comparative literature at What’s the best creative advice you’ve ever received?

San Jose State University. I’ve been teaching literature Don’t look for someone to teach you to create. Look and creative writing there for the past fifteen years. But inside yourself. Listen. Be awake to your own feelings my real passion is writing—mostly poetry, but at the and responses: don’t get caught up in the conventions of moment I’m venturing into a family memoir. I’ve also making art. You might sell books, but you’ll be a duller been very involved in helping to shape the literature of substitute of yourself. Art is about your own journey, the Iranian diaspora. I’ve edited three anthologies of your own voice, and it is difficult to find the road, but if Iranian-American writing. you’re committed to it, you’ll find it.

Content Magazine Literary Series is curated by Santa Clara County Poet Laureate David Perez

What We’ve Lost Airport-waiting faces down drowned in the light of cell phone/iPad no one speaks or sees nimble fingers press against the flatness where rounded conversations live in glance and smile, chance encounters break us open in this surging on-off switch the letter once lived— a handwritten page, folded, stuffed where it meets swell of envelope fingers tucking and licks that stamp a destination, greeted with delicious anticipation.

What we’ve lost is our mother’s penmanship, her elegant sentences, the casual way we stayed in touch or lost contact the word delivered in recipes, newspaper clippings, quicklyscrawled notes.

What was that time when hearts met and seduced with eyes and voice, tongues and hands? persiskarim.com facebook: Persis-Karim twitter: PersisMK

Excerpt provided by Persis Karim

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Contributors The production of Content Magazine would not be possible without the talented writers, editors, graphic artists, and photographers who contribute to each issue. We thank you and are proud to provide a publication to display your work. We are also thankful for the sponsors and readers who have supported this magazine through advertisements and subscriptions.

CHRISTINA OLIVAS Christina is the web designer for San Jose State University, where she contributes effective communications in a multi-functional and cross-platform environment. A New Mexico native, Twitter addict, and softball player, Christina provides design and photography services for local clients. twitter: fontburger

GUSTAF FJELSTROM Gustaf is an artist, musician, creative director, and San Jose native. After studying illustration at SJSU, he spent the next fifteen years in the South Bay agency scene. His newest challenge takes the shape of Creative Director at WestGate Church. twitter: botched

PETER PHEAP Peter is the Director of Creative Teens for SV Creates and the Adobe Youth Voices Program Coordinator for the South Bay. He’s currently supporting a network of 25 in-school and afterschool sites that engage teens in their community and help them acquire relevant skills through creative labs that empower and connect them to each other.

TOMMY AGUILAR Tommy has been presenting and promoting artists, DJs, and musicians from all over the globe in his hometown and other parts of the bay for 15 plus years under the moniker Universal Grammar. Under the nom de plume Chatos1013, he shares his mix of global groove, soul, RnB, jazz, electronic, hip hop, funk, house, and Latin to his hometown audeince, San Jose. twitter: ungrammar

JULIA CANAVESE Julia is a performing artist, arts administrator, budding web developer, and social media ninja who loves dance, history, film, and geek culture. She is a marketing co-chair for genARTS Silicon Valley, board member for PUSH Dance Company, and dancer for High Release Dance Company and Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble.

SHANE HAGERTY Shane is a graphic designer and film photographer living in San Jose. He loves skateboarding, snowboarding, vinyl records, and living in California, a place that inspires him everyday. instagram: Sk8r408 shanehagerty.com

BRANDON ROOS A San Jose native, Brandon E. Roos is a contributing writer to Content, KQED Arts, and Metro. His work often examines the creative voices helping to shape and inspire a more vibrant South Bay. twitter: busstophustle busstophustle.tumblr.com

SHANNON AMIDON Shannon is an award-winning mixed-media artist born and raised in San Jose. Her artwork has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide. She is involved in arts education outreach for children and mentoring young artists. When she is not making art, she enjoys traveling, baking, and spending time with her husband and young daughter. shannonamidon.com

Want to be a part of the Content community?

Contact us at: Editor@content-magazine.com

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