The Entertainer! Magazine - May 2020

PHX METRO » MAY 2020

WADE COTA doesn’t hold back

S A L L E B OUT BORDERS H T I l l a l W l e t d e r r a b s ld o h o n a s i ’ e l b a r a ‘Incomp

CHAZ CARDIGAN

Music Matters—

Now more than ever

“I think music is just as important as anything because music gives people hope. Gives people hope to keep going forward. It brings people together.”

—Terrance Simien, Grammy Award–Winning Zydeco Musician

From jazz to classical, bluegrass to singersongwriters, we look forward to presenting an unparalleled lineup of world-class musicians at the MIM Music Theater in the coming months.

All ticket purchases support MIM and its programs, enabling us to touch millions of lives with the joy of music from the around the globe.

Concert lineup and tickets at MIM.org

Thank you for your ongoing support of MIM!

@MIMphx

MIM.org | 480.478.6000 | 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, AZ

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

CONTENTS

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ON THE COVER

BELLAS WITHOUT BORDERS

Nikki and Brie Bella aren’t just like everyone else

29 HIS STORY

David Ellefson is getting by with a little help from his friends

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TEQUILA CORRIDO

Armed with tacos and tequila, two women make the rounds of Arcadia in their 1971 VW bus on the cover: The Bella Twins Cover courtesy photo

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THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

CONTENTS

UPFRONT

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Bella Twins • Shavo Odadjian • Niki Woehler • David Ellefson

CITY

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Wade Cota • Phoenix Film Foundation • Netflix and Thrill • “Teenage Badass” • John O’Callaghan • Dig It Gardens

ARTS

publisher

Steve T. Strickbine

steve@entertainermag.com

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Executive Editor

Virtual Arts Calendar • Gus Farwell • Phoenix Art Museum • Scorpius Dance Theatre

DINING

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

christina@timespublications.com

Assistant Editor

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Connor Dziawura

Dining Bites • Virtual Cooking • Burritos Locos • Mochilero Kitchen • VooDoo Daddy’s Steam Kitchen

BEER AND WINE

cdziawura@timespublications.com

designer

Shannon Mead

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production manager

Curbside Cocktails • Tequila Delivery

SPORTS

Courtney Oldham

production@timespublications.com

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circulation director

Hudson Fasching • Mikal Bridges

FAMILY

Aaron Kolodny

aaron@entertainermag.com

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National Comedy Theatre

MUSIC

Times Media Group 1620 W. Fountainhead Parkway Suite 219, Tempe, AZ 85282 Phone 480.348.0343 Fax 480.348.2109 entertainermag.com

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Chaz Cardigan • Emby Alexander • Jared Blackstone • Snailmate • Joshua Strickland

contributing writers

CHAZ CARDIGAN

This musician is just fine and ready to be crowned the next ‘it’ boy

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Joseph Airdo, Christopher Boan, C.A. Haire, Jordan Houston, Laura Latzko, Randy Montgomery, Eric Newman, Liz Renninger, Melissa Robbins, Annika Tomlin, Kacey Wilson

Staff Photographer Pablo Robles

Contributing Photographers Blushing Cactus Photography, Lynton Gardiner, Al Kalyk, David Majure, Wayne Matlock, Phoenix Suns, Tucson Roadrunners

ONE COPY PER READER

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MAKING AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Fans who see Jared Blackstone don’t forget him ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

A NEW MISSION

Musician/nurse Joshua Strickland heads to a hotspot to help COVID-19 patients

For calendar and news items, the deadline for submission is the 15th of the NOVEMBER prior to publication. Submissions are included based on available space and are used at the discretion of the editor. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations will not be returned unless it is specifically requested and submission is accompanied by a properly addressed envelope and sufficient postage. The Entertainer! makes every effort to authenticate claims and accurate times and event locations. We encourage readers to verify information prior to attending events or purchasing tickets.

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UPFRONT

PHX » CITY » LOCAL » PRIDE » DO » SEE

BELLAS WITHOUT BORDERS ‘Incomparable’ is a no-holds-barred tell-all about the twins Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

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ikki and Brie Bella are getting stir crazy.

The WWE Hall of Fame inductees are just like everyone else in quarantine—tired of grays poking out from their shiny dark brown locks, frustrated with staying inside and bummed Nikki had to cancel her baby shower.

“We’re blessed that we’re healthy and we get to be together,” Brie adds. “Nicole and I were saying how much we missed just going to a coffee shop and sitting there, enjoying a cup of coffee and seeing people and talking and laughing.”

Besides Nikki’s baby shower, the Bella Twins were forced to shelf their tour in support of their memoir, “Incomparable” (Simon & Schuster), which hits stores May 5. The 256-page tome was a twoand-a-half-year project that dredges up their problematic childhood and their parents’ contentious relationship, the Bellas’ climb up the WWE ladder, and the twins’ business acumen. They founded companies like Birdiebee, Nicole + Brizee Beauty and Bonita Bonita Wine. Nikki is pregnant with her first child with her “Dancing with the Stars” partner/fiancé Artem Chigvintsev, while Brie is expecting her second child with fellow Superstar Daniel Bryan.

“It’s funny because, being a reality star for seven years now, we’re open books,” Brie says. “But the one thing we really haven’t talked about is our childhood and our journey to the ring and to becoming these strong women.

“You always want to protect your family. We’re going to expose a lot, and for Nicole and I to go and get our parents’ blessings, that was a hard one. It wasn’t easy.”

The Bellas realized they had two choices: go down a “really bad path and be super bummed out” about their childhood or they could be survivors and be strong and positive, which is what they did.

“We want other people to feel the same way,” Brie says. “Even if things go really bad, you can turn them around and make them good.”

It didn’t quite go that way when the Bellas asked their mother, Kathy Colace, to read the chapter about her former marriage to their father, Jon Garcia. Colace, who is now married to former Superstar John Laurinaitis, wasn’t shy about her reaction, which was documented on the Bellas’ E! reality show, “Total Bellas.”

“My mom got pregnant with us at 18 years old, and when we came they were both 19,” Brie says. “It was like kids raising kids. They were still trying to figure out their lives and here they had kids. My mom always stuck by us and always did the best she could, even though she admits to the mistakes she made.

“Because I’m a mom now, it’s hard for me to—I don’t want to use the word ‘expose’—expose what happened to us, because all we ever wanted to do was protect our mother. It’s funny. In the second episode of ‘Total Bellas’ this season, you see how exhausted I look. I wasn’t exhausted from a toddler. I was losing sleep because had to talk to my mom about it. I just didn’t want to hurt her, but at the same time, I wanted to tell my story.”

Before the pandemic, the Bellas planned a book tour and a full promotional schedule running up until five weeks before their due date. Instead, they’ll host a virtual book/podcast tour.

“Brie and I literally have 5,000 copies being shipped to our house that we have to start signing,” Nikki says. “Then we’re going to work on a virtual book tour. Brie and I definitely want to do something in the fall. We’re hoping we can do that—redo that—and do that across America and the world.

“I’d really love to do a tour in the U.K. as well.”

The nonstop Zoom and phone interviews are exhausting the Bellas.

Usually, they work relentlessly every other week. With their staff sent home, the Bellas are seemingly working around the clock.

“I looked at my schedule and I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m really busy, actually,’” Nikki says. “I have 5,000 books to sign, but I don’t want to say no, because everyone needs some sort of hope out there. I know what it does for our fans to

get that signed book in the mail.

“I know my hands are going to hurt very bad and it’s going to be time consuming, but if it gives someone a smile, especially in the time we’re in now, it’s so worth it.”

The Bellas admit they’re afraid of being pregnant during a pandemic, but there have been flashes of happiness.

“We’re high risk, but to know the light at the end of the tunnel in July, beginning of August, is this beautiful baby, it just keeps me smiling every day,” Nikki says.

“I know we had to cancel my baby

shower. I’m 36. I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a very long time. It’s definitely not the pregnancy I imagined. Last night, Artem felt the baby kick for the first time, and he was so excited. He woke me up at 6 this morning to talk about it again. It was just the cutest thing.”

The Bella Twins “Total Bellas” 9 p.m. Thursdays on E! eonline.com/shows/total_bellas “Incomparable” bit.ly/2VGk0uw

SEEING ‘RED’

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian expands cannabis empire to Arizona Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

S

ystem of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian doesn’t do things halfway.

Chalk it up to the number 22.

“The number 22 has been an ‘angel number’ for me,” Odadjian said. “It keeps me driven. The number 22 has been a part of me since birth. I was born on April 22. I was married May 22. I was 22 when System got picked up (by a record label).

“Recently, I realized my two boys, who are 8 and 6, are exactly two years and 22 days apart.”

When he founded his cannabis company, it only made sense to include “22” in the name. He needed to pair it with another word—“red” came to mind.

“I’ve always had synesthesia,” Odadjian says about perceiving letters and numbers with colors. “The red comes naturally. I didn’t know everyone wasn’t always like that.”

Since Odadjian founded 22Red, it has sold proprietary strains and premium cannabis with a commitment to consumer education. 22Red recently expanded to Arizona and will start selling in Las Vegas in May. “I never want to do something I’m not good at,” says Odadjian, a 26-year smoker. “I’ve tried so many different things. I know I’m a good leader and I can put a great team together.

“I’ve learned how to do that and make something successful. When you have a good team, you can be successful. I have learned to delegate, but I’m 45 and I’m growing up through 22Red. I’m still learning about myself. I learned what I’m good at—being creativity and execution.

If I say I’m going to do something, I have to complete it.”

The company was conceived under the notion that “cannabis is more than a plant, but a means to honor the creative minds inside us,” according to its mission statement.

It launched with prerolls of Church 22, a strain that smells like frankincense he hadn’t smoked for about 20 years.

Church 22 remains, along with Mimosa 22, Caramel Gelato and the heavy 22 OG. Odadjian later added THC vape cartridges—OG Kush, strawberry banana and watermelon, and the same flavors in disposable.

Marrying music, fashion, cannabis and wellness in one space, Odadjian is ushering in a new era of lifestyle branding. He recently developed a line of clothing that is minimalistic and wearable.

“Before we were doing cannabis, my best friend from fifth grade and I were going to do a clothing brand.

You know, streetwear,” he says. “Cool, limited drops. It was natural for us to do that.

“Our third partner has been growing in LA for about 15 years. When it got legal, I started thinking about doing something amazing.

“I didn’t know he was an amazing grower. I was like, ‘Wow.’ My mouth was open. I couldn’t believe it. Everything is automated. He designed things nobody else has. He’s a consultant now.

I said, ‘Why don’t we make it a whole encompassing LA lifestyle brand?’ We can have apparel, cannabis and music.

It’s a cool lifestyle deal.”

There will always be music, though.

Before the pandemic, Odadjian was slated to introduce North Kingsley, a “work in progress” for the last year and a half, with fellow musicians Ray Hawthorne and Saro Paparian.

“It’s a cool music project,” Odadjian says. “The genre happened in the studio from scratch.”

He says it’s layered with his bass, a guitar, 4/4 beat and trap.

“Our singer raps. He’s not talking about paper plates,” he says. “He’s socially and politically aware. There are a lot of thought-provoking issues. It just organically happened. The music is ready to go, but with the pandemic, we may hold off. We were going to do constant drops of music, so there’s always something new coming at you. There’s video clips for every song.”

In line with 22Red, there will be

merch.

“I’m a fan of clothing and apparel,” Odadjian said. “I want clothing that’s especially comfortable and won’t die out after the third wash. It’s going to be exclusive. It’s not a just wear and show off the band’s name. I’m a creature of habit. If I have this new hoodie, I’ll be living in it for the next month.”

22Red 22red.com/find-stores-inarizona ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

A Win for All

Scottsdale artist Niki Woehler is supporting struggling eateries with a contest Connor Dziawura >> The Entertainer!

N

iki Woehler was checking her social media feed earlier this spring when she stumbled across an emotional video she says was shared by Pizzeria Bianco owner Chris Bianco.

A frequenter of Bianco’s restaurant, the Scottsdale contemporary abstract artist says she was brought to tears and concerned about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on locally owned restaurants like Pizzeria Bianco in the months to come.

“I started to think, ‘OK, well God, if he’s going through that, so are all of our local guys going through that,’” Woehler recalls.

So, she decided to rally the community behind her—in the form of a raffle.

Entrants who spend $30 or more on takeout, delivery or gift cards at any Phoenix-area restaurant can email a copy of the receipt along with their contact info to theartoftogo@nikiwoehler. com to be entered for a custom, commissioned creation worth up to $10,300 from Woehler.

Cash substitutions are excluded, as are franchises and national chains; however, multiple entries are allowed. Submissions must be received by June 10, and a winner will be announced June 11—or National Making Life Beautiful Day. “What if I come up with an idea where I can give art?” Woehler recalls thinking.

“So, my thinking process was one person can’t make a difference for all of these restaurants, but if we all collectively put some of our resources in to help them stay alive, then maybe they’ll be there when we’re done with all of this crazy.”

The value of the winner’s piece of artwork will ultimately depend on the specifications determined during an inperson meeting with Woehler. The prize must be redeemed by January 1.

Woehler says she will take everything into account, from the planned space which the finished piece will occupy to its surrounding furniture and lighting; to the mood, colors and size; to which of her previous paintings the winner does or doesn’t like. Its dimensions can be up to 48 inches by 72 inches.

“It’s important for me to understand what you love, what you don’t love, and tell me what you don’t love about that

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particular piece—I won’t be insulted by it; art is so subjective—because when I’m creating a custom piece for somebody, I want them to love it,” she explains.

After meeting with Woehler, the winner can expect to receive the painting in between four to six weeks.

AN ACCIDENTAL ARTIST Woehler deals in two different styles: acrylic on canvas, which she describes as “very organic, very textural pieces,” and resin on wood, which is “super high gloss and very, very, very richly hued and very dimensional.” She also creates waterproof art installations, substituting the wood panels for aluminum sheets.

“I’m typically inspired by nature and all the elements,” she describes of her paintings, likening her canvas creations to weathered wood or metal, and comparing her resin works to cut pieces of stone, amethyst and onyx.

But while her art can now be found throughout the state and even the country, Woehler in fact stumbled into the profession seemingly by accident.

A Toronto native, Woehler essentially began what became a lengthy career in marketing when she was 14. Her mom, she says, working at a large ad agency in Toronto, would share ideas with Woehler, who would then pitch those ideas to her friends and collect data.

By the time she was 16, Woehler was a paid copywriter “making a lot of money, even in today’s standards,” she says.

She studied broadcasting and marketing at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and ultimately moved to Phoenix in 1994.

She ran her own boutique ad agency for over a decade, serving clients like vitaminwater, smartwater, the Harlem Globetrotters and Cirque du Soleil.

But she was a closet artist, she says.

About two decades ago, after a friend’s funeral, she recalls, she was driving home on that beautiful day, with the top down, reminiscing. “A little voice whispered in my ear and said, ‘Pull in.’

And I looked to my right and it was a Michaels,” she says.

Her friend’s name? Michael.

“I walked in and I bought canvases and paints and brushes, and to this day I still don’t know what prompted that. I didn’t even like art. I hated art in school,” she admits.

That moment launched a short-lived hobby painting in secret. Despite

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

positive words from her neighbor, an ASU art professor, life got in the way— she still had a marketing career and she mothered several children—so she put the brush down and left it behind for nearly a decade, she estimates.

Then the recession hit.

“I found myself turning to painting just kind of as my peace and quiet and something for me,” she says.

She still wanted to keep her talent a secret, but a client of hers found out and wanted to buy a piece. That snowballed to the client commissioning several more paintings, before suggesting Woehler pursue art more strongly. So, she went home, listed a painting online, and “it sold in under an hour for a lot of money,” she recalls. She tried it again and it happened again, she adds.

“I kind of looked up at the universe and I said, ‘Alright, I’m paying attention right now. I am listening. If this happens again, I’ll shut my agency down and I’ll be an artist for a living,’” she recounts.

“And it did. So I shut down my agency within 30 days and I’ve been painting full time ever since.”

That was 2012, when she still didn’t have a reputation in the art world. Using her marketing knowledge, and with some help from an art consultant, she slowly established herself.

“She set me off on the right path there,” Woehler says of the consultant.

“She said, ‘Value yourself. If you don’t value yourself, nobody else will. Don’t give your work away; it’s great.’

“She also gave me the confidence. She said, ‘No, your work is good enough.

You should be going after great galleries and museums and interior designers.’

And she said, ‘You’ve got a lot to be proud of here, so put it out there and don’t be afraid of doing it.’”

The gallery that ultimately gave her confidence, she says, is the Forré & Co. Fine Art Gallery in Aspen.

“The fact that she (the curator) took me still, to this day, blows my mind,” Woehler says. “I am still her entry-level artist. I hang next to paintings that are half a million dollars all the time. That gave me, for myself, credibility.

“From there, I had absolutely no fear about going out. It’s time consuming and you have to have thick skin, because you send out 200 emails, and if you get two responses you did really, really well.

It’s just of built from there over time.”

Over the years, Woehler’s art has been showcased everywhere from galleries and showrooms to museums, hotels and other private and corporate collections in and out of Arizona. As for her most notable creation, she says she was once commissioned to create a 54-by-6-foot painting for real estate firm CBRE’s Esplanade office.

She also took first place in an Arizona State Fair fine art competition, with the same painting that got her into the Aspen gallery. David E. Adler is going to turn that design into a rug.

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But as the COVID-19 crisis has impacted some of her recent planned projects, including Let’s Throw Paint Workshops that she launched earlier this spring, she says she’s now redirecting her focus from galleries to building her own business and working with interior designers.

“I think there’s kind of a paradigm shift in the world more so even now, and I think it’s really important that artists take their career into their own hands,” she says. “Not that I don’t want to be in galleries—you do, of course you want to be in galleries, it expands your reach, and people who’ve never seen you before see you—but I think it’s good to have a balanced business.

“So I’ve really been focusing on building my own personal business as well.”

Niki Woehler For more information, visit nikiwoehler.com or follow Woehler on Instagram at @ NikiWoehlerArtist.

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

ONE SIMPLE TRUTH

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Megadeth’s David Ellefson lends a helping hand during the crisis Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer

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orth Valley resident David Ellefson has been keeping busy during the quarantine.

On April 17, the Grammy-winning Megadeth bassist released “Simple Truth,” the new single from his eponymous solo band Ellefson.

The proceeds are going to Croce Rossa Italiana, the Italian Red Cross, as Ellefson’s guitarist and drummer, Andy Martongelli and Paolo Caridi, respectively, are from Italy.

The song will appear on the follow-up to 2019’s “Sleeping Giants” and will also feature vocalist Thom Hazaert.

“We actually wrote the song in Milan during a tour rehearsal, and a lot of it was recorded there,” Ellefson says.

“We’ve gone back and forth with Andy in Italy, from the Platinum Underground in Phoenix, and with our mixer and coengineer, Alessio Garavello, in London.

While we’re all staying positive and just keeping busy, it’s heartbreaking to see what’s going on over there with the death

toll climbing every day.

“We played several shows in Italy on our European ‘More Live with Deth’ tour last year, and I was just there with Megadeth back in February (with Five Finger Death Punch and Bad Wolves).

It’s absolutely devastating to see what the country is going through right now.

The people and its culture have been so welcoming to me over the years. I’m honored to do anything I can to give something back to them during this time of need.”

Ellefson assures his European touring band of Martongelli and Caridi are safe.

“Fortunately, my band is all safe over there, but they were one of the first ones to really take the big hit and we felt it,” Ellefson says. “We felt it was nice to give something back and give some awareness as well. We’re open to any other charities that might want to get on board with us donating to Italy as well.”

The solo album is coming along well. Ellefson was supposed to travel to London in mid-April to record the bass and vocals. Due to the pandemic, the band sends recordings through Dropbox

and Google Drive.

“We’re obviously having to work remotely, which is still productive, and we’re still getting a lot done on the record,” Ellefson says.

“It has a nice big sound to it. I think it’s more of a rock record than a thrash metal record, for sure. I think it’s cool because my bass playing style tends to lend itself really well to rock and hard rock sounds, just as much as it does to the thrash metal sound. I think when I play bass, you can always tell it’s me playing.”

When Ellefson writes songs, he does so on the guitar.

“My tendency when I play electric guitar is always to write with a singer in mind and to think about what the vocals are going to sound like over the riffs and the songs that I write. As much as I love to play progressive and complex music, the reality of it is the listener is usually listening to the singer. So, I write with the audience in mind, too.”

Working with Hazaert is great, Ellefson adds.

“Andy is a cowriter on a lot of the material with us,” he says. “With Andy and Thom, we have a team and we can really put these songs together collectively now.

“Sometimes I write something and sometimes I don’t know where the song

is going to go, to be honest with you.

Then there are other times when I’ll take it over to Thom and Andy and we can start to put this together. Usually, the way it works is I’ll write a riff or a chord progression and I’ll send it to Andy over in Italy. He’s essentially our music director.”

JUGGLING ACT Ellefson has also given during the COVID-19 crisis to kids in need via his David Ellefson Youth Music Foundation and its School’s Out initiative, partnering with the Grammy Music Education Coalition, Dolby, Cisco, Jackson Guitars, Hartke and Samson.

They’re gifting displaced students with free instruments and equipment and pairing them with lessons from Rock Star music instructors, including Ellefson and his Megadeth cohorts Dirk Verbeuren and Kiko Loureiro; Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper); Chris Kael (Five Finger Death Punch); Clint Lowery (Sevendust); Bumblefoot (Asia, Sons of Apollo, ex-Guns N’ Roses); Chad Szeliga (Black Star Riders); Chris Poland (Ohm, ex-Megadeth); Jimmy DeGrasso (ex-Alice Cooper, Megadeth); and Marc Rizzo (Soulfly, Cavalera).

“This morning, I was just doing a couple of bass lessons to a student in Russia and a student in the Netherlands,” Ellefson says. “I’ve got a couple more later this week. We’re banging them out now.

We have like a thousand applications. Me and my friends have a lot of work to do.”

At the same time, he’s balancing Megadeth, his coffee company and his solo project.

“This is my life and I’m living the life that I’ve always wanted to live ever since I heard rock ’n’ roll on the radio when I was age 10,” Ellefson says with his laugh.

“To be honest with you, I’m just living the life as it was presented to me at age 10. I got excited about it, and I’ve just been following that same enthusiasm ever since.”

David Ellefson ellefsonyouthmusicfoundation. com davidellefson.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

CITY

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STYLE » ENVY » PASSION » FASHION » BEAUTY » DESIGN

TAKING ‘BABY STEPS’

Wade Cota is comfortable in his own skin Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

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American Idol” alum Wade Cota doesn’t shy away from his troubled childhood in the Valley.

His new album, “Big Feet, Baby Steps,” which debuted Top 20 on iTunes Top 100 Pop Albums Chart, isn’t any different. It tells a story of hope and escape.

“The album is a passion project,” Cota says. “I wanted my first album to tell a story. If you listen front to back, it’s a book. Every song connects to the next.

“I had a very, very rough childhood. I was never on the lucky side of anything.

I was always striving for love, for acceptance, and that’s what the album is really about—the ups and downs of finding love when your life is not too great.”

The first single, “Driver’s Side,” trucks along on a crunchy distorted groove, wild guitar leads and his unmistakable bellow. Lyrically, he paints a vivid picture of escape.

Cota is hesitant to describe his music past that. He calls his music a blend of John Legend and the Foo Fighters.

There’s really no way of describing it accurately, though.

“People see art different ways,” he says.

“Putting myself into a regular genre— rock or pop or whatever—is difficult. It’s soulful music, There are some screams in there. There’s anger, a driving beat and rock ’n’ roll.

“I don’t think you can put us into a genre, which makes it a little tough to sell to the labels. I don’t care about that. I care about getting my vision and mission across. I’m an artist when it comes down to it and you can’t put a guideline on it.

Art is art.”

He does, however, chalk up his raspy voice to his years in a metal band.

“People say, ‘If you could take it all band, would you not do metal?’

Absolutely not. I’m here because of the things I’ve done and experienced. I’m perfectly happy with how my voice sounds. Regardless of how I got there, it’s supposed to be like that.”

Produced with JJ Corry Rossi, “Big Feet, Baby Steps” features seven original songs. From the vulnerable confessions of “Remedy” to the lull of clean guitars bleeding through a thick beat on “Stay,” Cota delivers a poignant message.

“A therapist will say if you’re going through something bad, get it out on paper, then put it away,” Cota says. “Don’t ever send it or show it to anyone. I’ll help your mind. That’s how I approach my music. I write it down, but instead of writing intimate journals for myself to keep, I write them to the nation or to the world.”

Cota admits his management team, headed up by Brad Patrick, wanted him to wait until the coronavirus crisis subsided a bit before he released his album. Cota was anxious to share it with the public.

“My fight with him was that people are sitting at home, not doing anything anyway,” he says. “There’s no better time to release a digital album. People need to be entertained right now. I could have pushed it back and had a big, huge

release. I could still do that when we get the physical copies.”

Cota has never been one to stop.

The minute he was eliminated from “American Idol,” he and his family members were in touch with media to spread the word that he’s a viable artist.

“You have to—if you don’t keep yourself relevant, you disappear,” he says.

“With the TV show, the second that next season starts, people forget about you. I found a manager in Brad Patrick, who really, really cares about me.”

That’s all he’s ever wanted.

“My music talks about all the struggles, the pain and the triumphs. I want to give hope and give someone a kind of release,” Cota says. “I want to reach people. I don’t want to be the same generic artist. All country artists sing about boats or trucks. I don’t want to be like that. I want people to say, ‘Holy crap. I’ve never seen that before.’”

Wade Cota facebook.com/WadeCotaOfficial ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

MOVIES TO GO

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Phoenix Film Foundation raises funds with virtual events Laura Latzko >> The Entertainer!

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ith the cancellation of major events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local organizations have sought to find different ways to entertain the public.

After postponing its annual spring film festival, the Phoenix Film Foundation expanded its offerings through at-home movies. These independent films are available for rental for $9.99 to $12.

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales goes toward the foundation.

The nonprofit plans to reschedule the festival for later this year, and money raised will help with costs such as printing new posters and programs.

“These are films that we have worked with distributors on to secure and screen, and we are really excited to have opportunities for folks to see some films,” says Jason Carney, Phoenix Film Festival executive director.

Through IFP Phoenix, a program dedicated to fostering the growth of independent filmmakers, the foundation has been offering virtual Q&A sessions with filmmakers and screenings of older movies from its film challenges.

The organization also participated in a virtual movie screening and Q&A offered through the Film Festival Alliance.

This is the first time the organization has made films available for home viewing.

“Some of these distributors hadn’t really done it this way either, so it’s new for all of us,” Carney says.

The home movie series offers a range of films from different countries and genres.

“We tried to look at it from the perspective of building the festival, where we wanted to choose really good ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

films, but we also wanted a variety.

Nobody wants to see the same film or the same idea,” Carney says.

In preparation for this program, Carney previewed the films. Usually for the film festival, a committee of 75 people and 12 program directors chooses content. Carney says the at-home series allows movie fans, such as himself, the chance to watch new films.

“It’s nice to be able to discover films.

I’ve been doing it myself,” Carney says.

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING • “Corpus Christi,” a Polish film by

Jan Komasa, follows a man who after spending 20 years in prison finds his calling and seeks to enter the clergy. This is more difficult than he expects because of his criminal background. When he arrives in a new town and is mistaken for the priest, he takes on the role despite his lack of training, both inspiring and causing suspicion in members of the

congregation.

• “L’Innocente,” an Italian film

by Luchino Visconti, is an adaptation of a novel

by Gabriele d’Annunzio. It tells the story of a 19th century aristocrat who favors his mistress over his wife until his betrothed has an affair of her own. This causes his interest in her to reawaken.

• “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” a movie by Daniel Roher, gives a glimpse into the life, music and brotherhood of Robbie Robertson and other members of The Band, a Canadian group that backed Bob Dylan.

• “The Booksellers,” a documentary by

D.W. Young, looks at the lives, work and personalities of antiquarian booksellers and their role in the preservation of not just rare books but history as well.

• “The Times of Bill Cunningham,” a documentary by Mark Bozek, gives a behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of Bill Cunningham, a photographer for The New York Times.

• “The Whistlers,” a film by Corneliu Porumboiu in Romanian, English and Spanish, tells the story of a corrupt police officer who is trying to pull off a heist with a stunning female partner.

• “Pahokee,” in an isolated rural Florida town, four teens experience the joys and heartbreaks of their last year in high school.

• “Zombi Child,” a French, Haitian and English movie by filmmaker Bertrand Bonello, tells the story of a Haitian man who is brought back to life to work in the sugarcane fields. More than 50 years later, a teenager in Paris must face a family secret tied into this resurrection.

NETFLIX AND THRILL THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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Summer movie season arrives in your own living room Joseph J. Airdo >> The Entertainer!

I

f you were to look at the theatrical release calendar for May a mere two months ago, you would have found a feast of films that were primed to kickstart the summer movie season with a great big bang.

Marvel superhero Black Widow was ready to break free from The Avengers in her own high-flying adventure. Dominic Toretto and the rest of the “Fast and Furious” family were about to debut an explosive ninth chapter in the action saga.

Serial killer Jigsaw was going to make his triumphant return—thanks to a little help from Chris Rock—in “Spiral: From the Book of Saw.” Even cartoon characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Scooby-Doo were set to re-enter the cultural zeitgeist in animated adventures “Sponge on the Run” and “Scoob!,” respectively.

However, with movie theaters shuttered as a health precaution, all of those films’ releases were inevitably postponed. At press time, it remained unclear as to when movies would again be projected onto big screens across the country.

As it stands, there are no new major movie releases on the calendar until July, at which time Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Mulan” and Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated time-bending thriller “Tenet” may be able to salvage the second half of summer.

In the meantime, we are extremely fortunate that we live in an age of computers, cell phones and digital streaming. It is difficult to imagine what “social distancing” would have felt like even just two decades ago without the ability to work from home, remain connected to our loved ones and have a seemingly endless supply of entertainment.

Netflix introduced its streaming service in 2007, forever changing the way we can access movies and television series. Sure, you can comb through the service’s archive of older titles, but Netflix is also constantly churning

out original products—most of which have the same caliber of on-screen and off-screen talent as their theatrical counterparts.

A look at some of the service’s latest notable releases reveals there really is something for everyone on Netflix.

Whether you are looking to laugh, be blown away, feel the love, keep the kiddies occupied or simply turn your brain off for a few hours, the summer movie season is still here. It is just now happening in your own living room.

‘SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL’ Based on Ace Atkins’ novel “Wonderland,” with characters by Robert B. Parker (“Spenser: For Hire”), this action-comedy stars Mark Wahlberg as an ex-cop who—having just been released from prison for assaulting his captain — becomes embroiled in the deaths of two of his former colleagues.

The movie was directed by Peter Berg, who previously worked with Wahlberg on

“Extraction”

police officer boyfriend (played by Ed Helms) in this action-comedy. However, when his interaction with the fugitives accidentally exposes a secret network of criminal activity, all three of them find their lives in jeopardy. Although the setup sounds like that of a family flick, the film’s foul language and over-

tells the story of four children who— convinced they would be better off raising themselves—hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation so they can embark on their own highflying adventure. Voice talents include Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski and Ricky Gervais. With a wickedly dark sense of humor similar to that of “Coraline,” it is as bizarre as it is heartwarming, thereby enchanting children and adults alike.

‘EXTRACTION’

“Love Wedding Repeat”

“Lone Survivor,” “Deepwater Horizon,” “Patriots Day” and “Mile 22.” The pair clearly knows how to put on a good show that is jam-packed with mystery, action and a lot of laughs, thanks especially due to the fact that Wahlberg is essentially playing a heightened version of his Boston-accented self.

‘COFFEE AND KAREEM’ Terrence Little Gardenhigh plays a 12-year-old who seeks out criminal fugitives to take out his mother’s new

the-top violence make this a strictly adult affair—but one that will have you laughing and on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

‘LOVE WEDDING REPEAT’ In this romantic comedy, Eleanor Tomlinson plays a bride who enlists the help of her brother (played by Sam Claflin) to ensure her wedding day goes smoothly when her ex-boyfriend shows up. A simple switch in the carefully preplanned seating arrangement results in the wrong guest consuming a sleep sedative, and chaos ensues. It is a fairly funny flick that benefits from a crazy cast of characters while marrying elements of “Sliding Doors” with “Four Weddings and a Funeral” as it shows alternate versions of the amusingly messy chain of events.

‘THE WILLOUGHBYS’ “The Willoughbys”

Based on the book of the same title

by Lois Lowry, this animated flick

Chris Hemsworth plays a fearless black-market mercenary with nothing left to lose when his skills are solicited to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord in this action flick. Produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Hemsworth as Thor in “The Avengers: Infinity War” and “The Avengers: Endgame,” this thrill ride of a feature film packs all of the big-budget excitement you expect from a summer blockbuster.

BINGE-WORTHY BONUS: ‘TOO HOT TO HANDLE’ Of course, in addition to featurelength films, Netflix is also home to countless binge-worthy series that would leave one to believe that someone snuck into their house and covered their couch with glue. One of the latest such series is “Too Hot to Handle,” an eight-episode reality show in which several goodlooking singles arrive on the shores of paradise to meet and mingle, only to later be told that, to win a $100,000 grand prize, they will need to give up any and all sexual activity. Because we do not yet know if CBS’s guilty pleasure “Love Island” will return this summer, this addictively ludicrous series is an adequate substitute that fills our inherent need for mindless entertainment.

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

‘TEENAGE BADASS’ New film tells bands to ‘get it all in writing’

Melissa Robbins >> The Entertainer!

T

he hazy, bright chaos of Phoenix music culture has crashed its way on screen. “Teenage Badass,” originally set to premier at South by Southwest, spins a warning fable of how blindingly enticing fame can be.

Shot in Phoenix, the film takes every opportunity to weave the gritty snark of the desert rock scene into its story. The main message, according to its director: Get it all in writing.

Director Grant McCord, along with fellow screenwriter Matthew D. Dho, a number of the film’s producers and a handful of the film’s cast and crew, is a Phoenix native. He sought to make a movie that captured his and friends’ experiences in the music business around the time the film is set—in 2006.

“I think we made this for people who have ever been in a band or are in a band or want to be in a band,” he says.

“I think there’s a lot of hard truth that the rest of us learned the hard way about the way that the hierarchy exists, and among who owns the songs and who gets what and who gets kicked out or who gets asked to stay, and all these things are just things we don’t talk about or think about.”

Because local developer and bassist Chuckie Duff co-produced the movie, the team had access to a number of Duff’s Phoenix properties, like The Rebel Lounge, for filming.

“It was interesting to watch us kind of (descend) on these small locations that

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

expected maybe one or two, you know, five people to show up with a camera,” he says. “It’s not normal in Phoenix to have a movie be any bigger than a student film.”

McCord says filming was a homecoming for a number of those involved, as many had not only left Arizona but had formed meaningful relationships among each other long before then. This had a hand in the choice of cast.

“It was really important that all the actors actually played each instrument and that there was a rapport among them as friends,” he says.

In fact, McCord says every song in the film was recorded and written by cast and crew, including himself. One in particular, actor Evan Ultra, wrote 12 of the featured songs. Ultra plays Kirk Stylo, the fiery lead singer of the movie’s central characters, Stylo and the Murder Dogs.

Even Tempe alt-rockers The Maine got involved, allowing the cast to open their annual 8123 Fest at The Van Buren to capture the final performance of the film.

“I would say that experience of standing there, when the place was filling up and we’ve got multiple cameras going and the guys are just playing the same song over and over and the kids

are really getting into it, was like, ‘Holy ----,’” he says. “I was like, ‘How is this all even like happening?’”

Also appearing in the film is the local band Fairy Bones, who are friends with Bob Hoag, who worked on the film’s soundtrack. The band’s singer, Chelsey Louise, says working on a professional set was new to her.

Particularly memorable were the moments she filmed with actor Kevin Corrigan, as they peeled back some of the “movie magic” of Hollywood for her. In the scene, she and her band are in a studio, recording with Corrigan’s character, who gets angry with the players.

“Everyone had headphones, and my headphones weren’t plugged in because they didn’t have enough plugs or whatever,” she says. “Everyone could hear him and what he was saying, and I have no freaking idea what he’s saying.

So, they’re reacting to it and I have to look behind me at my band.”

For McCord, filming the opening scene stuck out the most. Based on an experience from his childhood, it shows the main character—and vicariously him—discovering the drums through a friend’s older sibling.

“So (the main character) goes around in the backyard and he sees this older, punk-looking, long-haired drummer kid and he watches him play drums in this shed,” he says. “And that was the exact same way that I saw and was inspired to play drums when I was 11. … I went home and I was like, ‘I have to do this.’”

“Teenage Badass” was set to debut at South by Southwest as one of 10 pictures competing in the film festival’s “Narrative Feature Competition.”

However, as COVID-19 restrictions tightened, the festival eventually moved online. SXSW films were instead accessible for all Amazon Prime members, free, for 10 days.

McCord decided against that.

“As awesome as it would be to have our movie play on Amazon Prime for everybody to see it—because that’s eventually the goal—it kills our first look,” he says.

Instead, McCord said the team hopes to unveil it at the Phoenix Film Festival, whenever that’s rescheduled.

While losing the exclusivity of a SXSW film premiere was a hard hit, McCord says if blows like that were enough to stop him, he would’ve quit the industry long ago. His outlook in these uncertain times?

“Add it to the list,” he says. “You’ve got to keep making stuff and you’ve got to keep getting better and you’ve got to keep telling your stories or they’re not going to happen.”

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

QUARANTINE

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CRAZY The Maine’s John O’Callaghan shares his wish list with us Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

L

ike everyone, The Maine’s John O’Callaghan is stir crazy.

He’s easing everyone’s pain with the relentlessly hookladen single “Rolled Down Window,” the most upbeat release from his side project John the Ghost.

“This song is an open letter to my past,” says O’Callaghan, who fronts the Tempe band. “It’s probably not the sound you expected, but since you last heard from me so many unexpected things happened in my life. I gave my

heart away for good, and for the first time in a long time started to feel better.

I hope it makes you feel any type of way.

Enjoy.”

Still recognizable by O’Callaghan’s signature vocals, “Rolled Down Window” is the first musical release from the project since 2016’s “Sincerely, John the Ghost” EP. The new standalone single is a contrasting divergent from 2016’s “Sour Grapes.”

In telling us about the new single, O’Callaghan shared with The Entertainer! Magazine the first three places he’s going to hit the minute he can bail from quarantine.

IN-N-OUT BURGER (DINE IN) I’m not much of a burger guy, but for whatever reason In-N-Out does it for me. Three extra packs of their signature spread and the full dine-in experience when the restrictions are lifted!

MOVIE THEATER As if I haven’t been binge watching enough television shows and movies as it is, I can’t wait to go to theater. “Tiger

King” can really only take you part way when it comes to the cinematic experience.

PARTY My fianceé and I moved into a new house prior to all the chaos, and we haven’t been able to really show any of our friends or family the new digs. A proper house-destroying party is in order when the world starts making sense again

Garden owners create a new business model in light of coronavirus Annika Tomlin >> The Entertainer!

M

arch, April and May are normally the largest-selling months of the year for Dig It Gardens owners Jessica and Ryan Jerrell.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, spring was anything but fruitful.

“No one would have expected what we’re currently going through in the climate for the coronavirus,” Jessica says.

“You can never be certain, especially

when you own your own business.”

The couple took matters into their own hands and is continuing to offer customers the ability to grow their own food. Patrons can book a half-hour time slot to explore the family-owned urban garden uninterrupted and purchase items to start or continue growing a garden. Online registration is required as well as a $25 minimum purchase.

“We’ve had to be like every other small business and think of how we can sustain ourselves to the best of our ability during this time,” Jerrell says. “Our general manager, Alex Washburn, has

had a critical role in ramping up the new business model with my husband.

“We have everything sanitized for the produce garden carts, and customers have a different device to use when they check out.

We’re wearing masks and gloves ourselves.”

After every customer leaves, the staff sanitizes the garden and makes sure it is ready to go for when the next appointment shows up.

Customers are also able to order online, call in or email to have an order scheduled for curbside pickup.

“We’re seeing a shift in the marketplace because people are spending more time at home and looking at where their food source comes from,” Jerrell says. “We’ve seen an affinity for how you can grow at home.”

The top sellers at Dig It are vegetables and herbs along with mulch and fertilizer. Jerrell loves to grow thyme and basil in her home garden because she cooks with them daily.

Dig It offers veggies and herbs, ranging from eggplants and peppers to three kinds of mint and varieties of lavender.

Veggies start at $4 and herbs are $5.

Newbies can buy a vegetable gardener starter kit that includes potting soil, fertilizer, four herbs and four veggies chosen by the staff for $54.95.

“There is no such thing (as having a green thumb),” Jerrell says. “You can

learn any skill.”

Jerrell hopes the outpouring of support for the neighboring communities continues. When the pandemic subsides, she hopes the garden can once again host events and workshops and be a source of relief.

“People came together, loved their plants and saw Dig It as kind of an oasis within the city that you can just get away,” Jerrell says. “We hope to provide that positive mental attitude when you walk in.”

Dig It Gardens 3015 N. 16th Street, Phoenix, 602.812.7476, hello@digphx.com, digphx.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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ARTS

CULTURE » THEATER » DANCE » GALLERY » DRAMA » VISION

VIRTUAL ARTS

CALENDAR Randy Montgomery >> The Entertainer!

T

he way we view entertainment and participate in the arts has changed for the time being. Hopefully, soon life will start to return to normal. In the meantime, there are a variety of ways to stay connected to local and national venues that present the arts.

We have highlighted just a few of those options to you below, which are suitable for all ages.

While nothing can compare to being at a museum in person, and being just inches away from works of art, or being hands-on with a learning activity, this is the next best thing at the moment.

Arizona Science Center

Discover the wonder of the Arizona Science Center, wherever you may be. The center is offering online resources for educators, parents and students with at-home learning designed to inspire and educate curious minds through science. The staff is offering lesson plans, interactive videos, activities and articles. Follow its Facebook Live sessions for scientific activities and demonstrations. azscience.org/learn

Hall of Flame Museum

garden’s team is bringing all of its vibrant spring blooms and butterflies to you—your computer, tablet or phone. Also, be introduced to all 16 species in its Spring Butterfly exhibit through a beautifully filmed video. dbg.org

Heard Museum Online Shop

There’s no better way to support your local museum while it is closed than making a purchase from its online gift shop. The Heard Museum offers a variety of American Indian art collectibles, including baskets, fine art, jewelry, kachina dolls, folk art, textiles, pottery and carvings.

Browse the collections and find exclusives only found at the Heard. Not ready to buy just yet?

No problem. Viewing the online pieces for sale is the next best thing (sort of) to making a visit. heardmuseumshop.com

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

The Desert Museum in Tucson is a fusion experience of zoo, botanical garden, art gallery, classes, natural history museum, and aquarium.

While closed, you can still discover the joy of the desert and the joy of learning alongside expert educators and scientists. Live programs are being offered for registered participants. While free, donations are greatly appreciated. desertmuseum.org

trucks, hand pumpers, and steamers on display. Also, enjoy storytime, as he reads from the children’s classic “Bravest of All,” which is Little Golden Books No. 402. This is a treat for everyone in your family. hallofflame.org

Spring Butterfly exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden

Desert Botanical Garden

It’s spring, the weather is warming up and everything is blooming at the Desert Botanical Garden.

Unfortunately, we cannot be there in person to see it. No worries! The

Dinosaurs and More!

A popular feature at Mesa’s Arizona Museum of Natural History are the exhibits related to dinosaurs.

While you can’t visit them again just yet, there is plenty to learn on the museum’s website. Learn about the Triassic Period in our state, when Coelophysis and Tanystropheus roamed the land.

Jump ahead 100 million years to the Jurassic Period and meet the Mymoorapelta. Then get schooled on the Cretaceous and Cenozoic eras. arizonamuseumofnaturalhistory. com

i.d.e.a. Museum at Home

Mesa’s museum inspires children of all ages through art exhibitions and STEAM activities focused on supporting early learning, nurturing creative thinking and engaging

Hall of Flame Museum Storytime

Dinosaurs and More!

Take short video tours of the world’s largest firefighting museum, which is located in Phoenix. Mark Moorhead, curator of education, will introduce you to several of the firefighting

Petersen Automotive Museum

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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Scottsdale Art Festival - Tony Fowler

families. The staff wants the learning to continue by offering activities you can do in the safety of your home. Suggestions and directions on music, scavenger hunts, crafts and painting can be found online. ideamuseum.org/iart

Mesa Arts Center on YouTube

The Mesa Arts Center will be closed until the fall. In the meantime, visit its YouTube channel, which offers dozens of videos highlighting the artists and performers who have visited the center. You can view past arts installations and performers and take an up-close look at artists at work creating their masterpieces.

To find the videos easily, visit mesartscenter.com and click on the “MAC on YouTube” button on the home page.

MoMA

New York’s Museum of Modern Art is world renowned and features thought-provoking modern and contemporary art. During the closure, the museum is offering a variety of virtual viewings of its current collections. At deadline, visitors are able to watch nine films from a home video exhibition, with commentary from the curators. moma.org

Petersen Automotive Museum While a trip to Southern California may not be feasible at the moment, the Petersen Automotive Museum, one of LA’s most iconic venues, is offering a virtual tour of its vault.

More than 250 vehicles, cars, trucks and motorcycles are kept below street level and stretch an entire city block. This tour is usually an upcharge to general admission. petersen.org

Phoenix Art Museum Exhibitions

The galleries may be closed at the Phoenix Art Museum, but you can still browse them online.

Simply visit the museum’s website, click on “Exhibitions” and see a full list of everything that was on display prior to the temporary closure. Select pieces can be viewed on your browser, along with backgrounds on the artists and brief descriptions of featured pieces. phxart.org

Phoenix Police Museum

The Phoenix Police Museum features the city’s law enforcement history over the past 130 years starting with 1881 with historical photography, equipment and stories that bring them to life. You can take a virtual tour of the museum and read about each period of history presented at the museum. Did you know the Miranda rights read to detainees came from a case right here in Phoenix? Read all about it! phxpdmuseum.org

Scottsdale Art Festival - Franco & Feona Forte

select the artists list, then choose your favorite medium. Easily scroll through all of the works. Viewing the art is available through the purchase of an optional ticket. The tickets are $12 and directly benefit arts programs in Scottsdale. scottsdaleartsfestival.org

Sharlot Hall Museum

The crown jewel of Prescott, and a must visit on any trip to the charming—and bustling—town north of the Valley, is the Sharlot Hall Museum. The museum’s extensive archival collections are available on its website. Art and history buffs can browse historic photographs,

maps and articles. Videos also give you a tour of several of the buildings found on the grounds. sharlothallmuseum.org

The Met

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art presents more than 5,000 years of art from around the world and live in three iconic sites in New York City. As of this writing, 27 exhibits were viewable online.

You can view works of art in a variety of mediums, as well as clothes from designers such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. metmuseum.org

Scottsdale “Virtual” Arts Festival

Two and a half hours into loading artists into the Scottsdale Arts Festival, the event was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. You can still see pieces created by the 185 artists in a variety of mediums through the virtual festival. Simply

The Met Museum

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BARCELONA’S SUNSHINE

UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Former ASU QB Gus Farwell lightens the mood with opera Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

W

hen Gus Farwell was a Sun Devil theater major, he slid into ASU Gammage through the loading docks and daydreamed about headlining a soldout show at the venue.

His dream somewhat came true last month when he performed through ASU Gammage’s Facebook page after receiving worldwide acclaim for his seventh-floor balcony concerts in Barcelona.

“I hope, one day, to go there and do a concert at Gammage for all the ASU fans and everybody of Arizona,” he says.

“Hopefully that happens.”

The Farwell family’s videos of the former ASU quarterback/opera singer serenading his neighbors have reached millions of people worldwide.

“It started on the first night of the quarantine,” says Farwell, who has two daughters, Devon and Avalon, with his wife, Claire. “Everybody came out on their balconies and gave this huge round of applause for all the medical workers.

This was going on for 5 minutes. Then this ambulance came by. It was this really emotional moment.

“I just got caught up in the moment and, being a singer, I was overcome with emotion and the song came out. I sang the last couple of notes from the big aria that Pavarotti does, ‘Nessun Dorma.’

Everybody cheered and it was this great moment. I didn’t think much of it.”

The next day, Claire came up with the idea of performing each night to entertain the masses who are quarantined due to coronavirus.

“I was really unsure of how my neighbors would respond to it,” he says. “I was quite nervous the first few nights—‘Do people really want this?’

‘Do they care?’ ‘Do they want to hear opera?’ Over time, I realized the answer to that question was yes, they do like it.

“I sang on that second night a little bit of ‘O Sole Mio.’ All of a sudden, they cheered (and wanted more). I was completely unprepared for that. I didn’t know what to do or what to sing. I just winged it and sang a little bit of another ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

song.”

Halfway through the song, his neighbors shouted “fiesta” and everybody cheered. A DJ who lives around the corner from Farwell took over and started spinning.

On the fourth night, Avalon took the video from the balcony and Claire posted it. Farwell was against the post, but it went viral.

“The fourth night I brought a speaker out on the balcony and put it between my legs to add music,” he says. “I didn’t want to just sing a cappella. I had a backing track. These singing conditions would normally be a nightmare to any classical singer.

“It’s outside. There’s zero acoustics and I’m singing along to a prerecorded backing track. In classical music, the orchestra follows you, not the other way around. That’s why the conductor’s there, to follow you. It’s far from ideal.

To be listening to it from a little speaker between my legs doesn’t help. But who cares? That’s the beauty of the whole thing. It’s not a professional concert. I’m just some guy with a speaker between his legs singing to his neighbors. That’s why the attention it’s received globally is overwhelming.”

SUN DEVIL FOREVER As a theater major, Farwell attended ASU from the fall of 1995 to the fall of 1997. He didn’t realize singing was “my thing.” He performed musicals at Los Gatos High School in Northern California, but it took a party for Farwell to realize opera was in his future.

“I had attended a party in high school, and, in a nutshell, the parents’ CDs came on the six-disc changer,” he says.

“It was Luciano Pavarotti’s greatest hits.

The room melted away from me. It went completely black. I was lost in the music.

“When I came out of it, I said, ‘What is this music?’ I had never heard opera before. I asked to borrow the CD, and it’s still in my possession to this day.”

In high school and college, Farwell drove around with the CD in his vehicle singing along with the tracks—he knew them as “tracks,” not “arias.”

“I didn’t know what they were called,” he says. “I didn’t know the stories. I couldn’t understand the words. I just loved the sound of it.

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THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

“I just mimicked what Pavarotti was doing—or tried to at least. Years later, when I worked with my first professional coach, he said I was probably lucky I did it that way, because there can be a lot of poor teachers out there.”

In Tempe, he started living at the dorms and then moved into a house with fellow quarterback Jake Plummer and linebacker Chris Finn.

“There were two seniors and a sophomore. I was the sophomore,” he says with a laugh. “That was a fun house. That whole year was fun. We had an incredible season in ’96. We went undefeated and went to the Rose Bowl but came up shy of a national championship. It was an incredible group to be a part of.

“Pat Tillman was a good friend of mine. I’d love to go back and visit. I haven’t been back since we moved to

Europe. Come hell or high water, I’m getting back this fall.”

Since ASU, Farwell has performed at Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix and venues in Los Angeles to much acclaim.

“Tom Hanks came up to me in the middle of the encore,” he says about Fight Night. “He grabbed the flowers from the centerpiece of his table and threw tulips one by one.

“I’ve had Placido Domingo come to my concert in LA a few years ago. He said I belonged in the opera house. It’s been this long, interesting road for sure, with some incredible highs and real lows.”

Farwell and his family moved to Barcelona in October 2016 because he was fed up with the music business and he wanted to study at the Conservatori Superior de Musica del Liceu, which is part of the Liceu Opera House. The city

has meaning to the Farwells. Eighteen years ago, he met England-born Claire at a Barcelona nightclub. She encouraged him to sing.

“She said this isn’t a party trick or gimmick,” he recalls. “The reality is, I’ve been promised (success) quite a few times by some very influential people, but unfortunately things just haven’t panned out for whatever reason.”

He calls his age a problem.

“I’m old for someone who’s supposed to be starting out in this career,” Farwell says. “Most of those starting out are in their late 20s, early 30s. I’m 43.

“A lot of things I would normally do or apply to do are unavailable to me.

I’m beyond the age limit. I find myself in this strange spot of looking for opportunities for ‘young singers.’ I’m not ‘young.’ I’m new, but I’m not young. It’s

The Insider’s Guide to Arizona Entertainment

a strange place to be.”

He found an all-ages Italian competition, but it turned out to be a money-making sham. So, he stopped singing. The pandemic encouraged him to try again.

“You couldn’t write a better story,” Farwell says. “It’s such a case of the truth is so much stranger than fiction.

You wouldn’t believe it if somebody wrote it. There’s an amazing sense of community that exists here. It really feels like a community, which can be rare in a city. We’re all in this together—not just Barcelona, but Europe and the rest of the world. America heard this, and we’re realizing what it means to be a global community.”

Gus Farwell On Twitter: @GusFarwell

PHX METRO » JANUARY 2020

PHX METRO

» AUGUST

2019 PHX METRO

PHX METRO

» MAY

2019

» FEBRUA

RY 2020

PHX METRO

Harlem rs Globetrotte e bounc into town

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Summer

nce Let's Da . Ç gh goes Derek Hou tour solo on new

MERRILL KELLY

SPOOKY’S SWIRLS

Handcrafted e for meats mak treats delectable

BIG DREAMS

‘Americano!’ is the show of the year

» MARC

H 2020

A Inside

Supermod Erin Naas el can't live without her Arabians

D-BACKS FAN FEST

slides into Chase Field

Dave Kindig is selling his ‘bitchin’ rides’ at Barrett-Jackson JULIANA HATFIELD

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Jammin’ Lee runs for Perreira charity SPRING TRAIN NOTHING ING BUT SCHEDULES GOOD NEW S The Black Moods crack the chart s

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VITA The Italia n comes to Festival Phoenix

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

A NEW CHAPTER

20

UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Phoenix Art Museum names Timothy Rodgers director and CEO Laura Latzko >> The Entertainer!

T

imothy R. Rodgers finds himself frequently returning to the Phoenix Art Museum.

A native Midwesterner, Rodgers moved to Arizona at 19 years old to attend ASU. While in college, Rodgers visited and attended events at the museum.

On July 1, after spending the last five years as the director of The WolfsonianFlorida International University in Miami, he’ll head to Phoenix to lead the Phoenix Art Museum as its Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “I’ve always come back to the Phoenix Art Museum because my family lives there, and I’ve enjoyed many exhibitions there and have seen so much of the good work they have done. I’ve been a fan from afar and even close up, and now it’s a privilege to become the director,” Rodgers says.

Armed with a background in speech, debate and theater, Rodgers is an ideal candidate.

“The artwork is silent, but it needs a good spokesperson. I’ve often been that spokesperson,” Rodgers says.

INSPIRED As an ASU student, Rodgers visited and attended events at the Phoenix Art Museum. Especially inspiring was a lifesized portrait of a woman by William Merritt Chase.

“It was just so evocative to me,” says Rodgers, who earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from ASU and master’s and doctoral degrees from Brown University.

“She seemed incredibly sad and isolated. This rose that she carries is drooping from her hand. Everything about her seemed to be melancholy, despite the fact that she was very beautiful and in this beautiful white dress. The juxtaposition of how beautifully presented she was but at the same time how sad she seemed was interesting to me.”

In high school, Rodgers planned to study political science and law. He was a competitive debater in high school and college, but he also had an interest in art.

In high school, he started to paint more seriously and attended summer camps for art.

“I always had an interest in art. It just never seemed to me a career path, and then I found art history. It seemed to be a combination of my interests and my skills,” Rodgers says.

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

Rodgers has more than 20 years of experience in museum leadership positions. Besides The WolfsonianFlorida International University, he has worked for Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art from 2009 to 2015, vice president of the Scottsdale Cultural Council, an associate professor of art history at Lawrence University, chief curator for the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and co-owner of Saints and Martyrs gallery in Albuquerque.

He says these different roles have taught him the importance of interacting with the public in different ways, on their levels, to make art more significant to them.

“You really have to be available to them to answer those questions as best as you can and to really encourage them to think about more and different questions,” Rodgers says.

One of Rodgers’ recent accomplishments has been overseeing the implementation of The Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab, a new M.A. and Ph.D. program and a research hub that is geared toward teaching humanities students different skill sets.

While in Scottsdale, Rodgers was part of the implementation of the SMoCA Lounge, an experimental space inside the museum designed for music and performance arts.

“I thought that it gave more meaning and depth to the contemporary art that we showed but also extended our reach to a variety of different communities in Phoenix,” Rodgers says.

NEW ROLE A committee of past and current board of trustees and community leaders chose Rodgers. He says he’s honored to be chosen for the position, even though it comes at the difficult time when the museum is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s such an odd moment to be thinking about a move and a new job,” Rodgers says. “I’m, on the one hand, very excited about coming back to Phoenix and seeing all of my friends, colleagues and family,” Rodgers says.

“On the other hand, we’re really unable to move. We live in a condo on Miami Beach. They wouldn’t allow movers in even if we wanted to move. Of course, it’s not a wise thing to do. So, it’s an odd tension to be experiencing joy on the one hand and a lot of fear, concern and trepidation on the other hand.”

While his new position has some similarities to other roles he has had,

Rodgers expects running the Phoenix Art Museum to be a very different experience.

“The Phoenix Art Museum is a very large institution, in terms of the size of the building complex but also in terms of staff size and budget,” Rodgers says.

“It has a very robust and large volunteer community as well as a very large and robust board. It will be much bigger in that sense, and there will be even more for me to do with the team.

The other way it will be different is the way that the art museum is positioned in the community.

“This is the large major art institution in Phoenix. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art was much more focused and specialized in contemporary art. The Phoenix Art Museum has a much broader mission.”

Directing the Phoenix Art Museum involves overseeing the staff, creation of exhibitions, educational activities, community outreach efforts, membership, facility care and maintenance, and volunteers, as well as working closely with the board on financial matters.

Rodgers has unofficially started his work at the museum by conducting oneon-one video chats with managers at the institution.

Rodgers will enter his new position at a time when nonprofits such as

the Phoenix Art Museum are facing challenges not only financially but with engaging with and bringing in the public.

“This is a very difficult moment for all nonprofits. They are suffering, like everyone else is, to chart a course for their future. Everything is new, and everything is unknown. The more I can be helpful, the more I want to be there,” Rodgers says.

The museum has been renovated a number of different times since its inception. Rodgers says it will be important for him, the board, curators and educators to look at where the collections are located in the museum and how the different spaces can be used to display the artwork.

“Where the art is located has a big impact on how you experience that art in the museum,” Rodgers adds.

“Not having our doors open might just give us this moment to really think more clearly about how is it we want the museum to look in the future when we do reopen.”

Virtual experiences are at the center of his ideas for change and growth.

“All institutions are thinking about how much we want and need to invest in digital efforts so that our community is defined much more broadly and we have more reach than simply our city or our state,” Rodgers says.

They Need to Dance THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

21

Scorpius theater keeps engaging fans through video

Laura Latzko >> The Entertainer!

T

he COVID-19 Pandemic has a major impact on dance companies around the Valley, including Scorpius Dance Theatre.

Despite the challenges it is facing, the company is bringing dance to the community—but in a different way.

Since March, it has been releasing videos showing the dancers in motion in their homes. For the first video, they did 1-minute recordings of themselves dancing on and over a chair.

For another video, called “We Need to Dance...,” members of Scorpius performed contemporary dance routines while sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and cleaning windows or counters.

Many of the dancers have been performing by themselves, although one of the dancers included her children in one of the videos.

Angel Castro, one of Scorpius’ dancers, recorded himself while on a mountain for the first video. He has also been assisting with video editing.

Scorpius artistic director Lisa Starry has encouraged dancers to take part in the videos so they can still keep doing what they love.

“Our thoughts were, ‘Let’s just try to keep making art,’” Starry says. “It is seeing how they can get creative with these different assignments and seeing how they can connect.”

Her company is a close-knit family. She says members of the company have missed dancing and spending time with each other.

“That’s the hardest thing, is we’re not in the studio together working.

There are also so many parts besides just rehearsing. We are all friends. We support each other. We talk. We got out

to eat after rehearsals,” Starry says.

Starry hopes the videos will bring some positivity during a difficult time.

“I felt like right away in the beginning, there was very negative and scared energy going around. I just wanted to try to bring people’s spirits up,” Starry says.

She says audiences have responded favorably to the videos and Starry’s content on her Vimeo channel.

“I was able to share some videos that we did that people haven’t seen in a while,” Starry says.

Scorpius’ season ended abruptly when major gatherings, including dance concerts, were canceled due to the coronavirus. That includes its 20th anniversary showcase set for April.

If the stay-at-home order is lifted, Scorpius dancers will begin rehearsals for “A Vampire Tale,” the troupe’s annual Halloween show, in July. During its downtime, Scorpius has been fundraising through its Facebook page and website, collecting more than $3,000.

Starry says that community support has been important because of the uncertainty the dancers and the studio are facing.

“I think the part that is the most stressful for me is a lot of my dancers are young artists and they work in the dance studio or at a coffee shop,” Starry says.

“None of them have jobs now. They are stressing out and we don’t know if we will have a season next year, because everything is on hold right now. My studio had to close. We don’t have the income for that.

We are doing a fundraiser to just pay the bills for the next couple of months and help the dancers out, too.”

Scorpius Dance Theatre scorpiusdance.com, facebook.com/scorpiusdance

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

22

DINING

EAT » EXPERIENCE » INDULGE » SAVOR » DEVOUR » NOSH

DINING

BITES Annika Tomlin >> The Entertainer!

ordering and curbside pick-up.

Queen Creek Olive Mill launches online grocery ordering

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Arizona, the demand for essential groceries has also been on a steady increase. With shelter-in-place, grocery shopping has become a challenge. Most stores have long lines and empty shelves—but not at Queen Creek Olive Mill. Here, the team is making it easy to skip the hassle with online ordering, local delivery and curbside pick-up to preserve time and protect everyone’s well-being.

“Grocery shopping has changed,” says Perry Rea, owner of the Queen Creek Olive Mill. “But through our smaller business model and local suppliers, our shelves are full and restocked daily. Online ordering will make it even easier.”

Both locations of Queen Creek Olive Mill—Queen Creek and Kierland—have stepped up safety measures in accordance with CDC, state and local guidelines to ensure the safety of staff and customers. The Queen Creek location is now taking online orders with local delivery and curbside pick-up for their restaurant, bakery and grocery items. The Kierland location is taking call-ahead orders instead of online ordering, but also provides curbside pick-up.

“We have all the essentials that are hard to find in regular big-box stores. From fresh cage-free eggs to milk and flour, most of our inventory is local, produced in house at The Mill or locally sourced from Arizona.

When you shop here, you can feel confident that you are shopping and supporting local,” Rea adds.

For more information about online ordering and local delivery at the Queen Creek location, head to queencreekolivemill.com/pages/ local-delivery-curbside-pick-up.

For the Kierland location, call 480-361-9860 for call ahead

Einstein Bros. Bagels offer new family meals

Einstein Bros. Bagels is working to reduce at-home stress and encouraging families to make their time together count through the launch of family meals.

Family meals are available through takeout, order ahead on the Einstein Bros. Bagels mobile app or calling ahead to a local store.

• Hot & Ready Brunch Box: Feeds six to eight people, $29.99 A made-to-order box for families looking for a treat after a hard week of working from home and/or home schooling, this box includes six fresh-baked bagels, one tub of shmear, three egg sandwiches cut in half (one farmhouse, two bacon and cheddar), four blueberry muffins and four twice-baked hash browns.

• Nova Lox Add-On Kit: Feeds four people, $19.99 This add-on kit includes cold-smoked Nova Lox salmon, freshly sliced red onion, tomato and lemon and savory capers.

• Take & Make Pizza Bagel Kit: Feeds six people, $9.99 With this easy-to-make pizza kit, parents no longer need to dream of the day kids make dinner. The kit includes all of the ingredients needed to make six cheese pizza bagel slices and six pepperoni pizza bagel slices, giving kids a fun activity and their parents a break.

• Take & Make Bagel Deli Kit: Feeds six people, $29.99 Guests can set up a sandwich shop in their kitchen and have the family build their own freshbaked bagel sandwiches for less than $5 per person. This kit

includes six fresh-baked bagels, plenty of turkey and ham, cheddar cheese, fresh-cut tomato, onion and lettuce, and comes with mayonnaise and mustard packets.

“As more consumers continue to work from home and schools remain temporarily closed, we know that families are spending a lot of time together, and we want to make sure they make the most of it,” said Chad Thompson, vice president of culinary innovation, Einstein Bros.

Bagels. “Our three family meals provide a good reason for everyone to gather around the kitchen table and enjoy a great meal together.”

Einstein Bros. Bagels is urging guests to order ahead through the company’s app, available on Google Play or the App Store, where guests can submit and pick up their order quickly in-store.

Info: einsteinbros.com

Cox Media helping local restaurants with free advertising

As part of its ongoing coronavirus relief efforts, the Arizona Cox Media team, the advertising division of Cox Communications, is offering local restaurants free television advertising to assure patrons that they are open for takeout and delivery services and share their new hours of operation.

More than 150 local Arizona restaurants are already taking advantage of this offer. Restaurant groups, such as the Arizona Restaurant Association, are also using this opportunity to launch and promote creative takeout campaigns that benefit the broader food community.

“At this difficult time for our restaurant and so many friends, we know keeping our business top of mind will help us get through this challenging time,” says Brad Danler, general manager, The Henry. “Thanks to our Cox media partners support, we have been able to do what we do best, feed people, through a new to-go program for our neighbors.”

To take advantage of the Cox Media offer, restaurant owners should email marketinginsights@ coxmedia.com and include the name and location of their establishment.

Cox is also joining with other Internet & Television Association members to provide $100 million

in public service advertising through June to help educate consumers on the pandemic and prevent the spread of the virus.

Info: cox.com

Copper Mule Kitchen & Bar opens for pickup and curbside meals

Copper Mule Kitchen & Bar is offering pick-up and curbside meal and beverage service along with specials, from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Specials include half-off appetizers and wings; 30% off bottles of wine with food purchase; $2 bottled beers with food purchase; buy one, get one half prize sandwich or burger combination; 20% off all entrees.

The restaurant is located at 23335 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite D105, Scottsdale.

Info: 480.305.0907, coppermuleaz.com

Vegan restaurant serving family meals

To make vegan dining more convenient and accessible during the mandated restaurant closures, 24 Carrots is offering family meals Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Each freshly made meal serves four to six people.

Menus will be posted under events on the 24 Carrots Facebook page; preorder and purchase can be made via the new online store.

Limited items specials and creative menu additions will also be posted on social media, which guests can order by texting 480.753.4411. A member of 24 Carrots will then confirm order and get it ready to go. Guests can request curbside service when ordering to make pick-up quick, easy and safe.

Delivery options include Postmates, Grubhub and DoorDash.

Meanwhile 24 Carrots is working on its own delivery service with one-day advance preorders within a regional delivery window, with future expansion of range as well as delivery hours in the works.

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

24 Carrots is located at 1701 E. Guadalupe Road, Tempe.

Info: 24carrotscafe.com

Pita Jungle transforms two locations into mini markets

Pita Jungle Arcadia and Scottsdale have been transformed into mini markets selling meats, pastas, oils, toilet paper, gloves and more so guests can shop while they wait for their takeout. They are also selling bags of vegetables depending on the restaurant’s supply.

Follow Pita Jungle Arcadia on social media to see what creative daily specials to take advantage of.

Arcadia is also serving happy hour tapas to go on a huge platter during happy hour (3 to 6 p.m.). Guests can enjoy their mezze and tapas assortment with two margaritas or bottle of wine for only $29.

Pita Jungle Arcadia is located at 4340 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, while Pita Jungle Scottsdale sits at 7318 E. Shea Boulevard, Suite 106, Scottsdale, Info: 602.955.7482 (Arcadia), 480.922.7482 (Scottsdale), pitajungle.com

Brat Haus’ Feed the Heroes initiative

Brat Haus has reopened for limited hours to help relieve stress for essential employees by launching its Feed the Heroes program.

Guests can order from a smaller menu that includes signature brats, burgers and pretzels from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Additionally, the restaurant has started a “Drain the Taps” program that offers 32-ounce growler fills for $5 and 64-ounce fills for $10.

All of the proceeds from food and beer sales goes directly to the Feed the Heroes initiative. Customers are encouraged to write a note for the heroes who will receive free meals when they order food at the street access curbside pickup.

“These incredible people are

risking their lives daily in order to help others,” says Dave Andrea, Brat House owner. “It’s been really gratifying to make even the smallest difference for them. Now is the time to make sure that they are being taken care of, too.”

Brat Haus is located at 3622 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale Info: brathausaz.com

23

order for curbside pickup during regular store hours.

Info: chompies.com

Chompie’s launches spring family meal packages

Urban Margarita serves up family meals

Urban Margarita is offering new family meals including rice and beans designed to feed a family of four for $49 available for pick up and delivery via UberEats.

• Hatch green enchiladas and six tacos: choice of steak, chicken or carnitas tacos • Build your own tacos: 2 pounds of grilled steak, carnitas or chicken with corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, salsa and pico • Grilled fajitas for four: choice of grilled steak or chicken with tortillas, guacamole, salsa, pico, sour cream and cheese • Braised chicken stuffed poblanos and six tacos: four grilled poblanos filled with chicken, topped with house made queso and pico with choice of chicken, grilled steak or carnitas tacos • Hatch green chile tamales and six tacos: four hatch green chile pork tamales smothered with cheese and green chile and choice of grilled steak, chicken or carnitas tacos To wash down these delicious deals, Urban Margarita is also offering cocktails to go.

• 16-ounce house, skinny, prickly pear or blood orange margarita $6 • Urban Margarita with Hornitos and Grand Marnier $14 •Pitchers of house margaritas $20 • Red or peach sangria $5 Customers can call 623.561.6674 for takeout orders during the temporary hours of 4 to 8 p.m.

Tuesday to Saturday. Deliveries can be made through UberEats.

Urban Margarita is located at 6685 W. Beardsley Road, Glendale Info: urbanmargarita.com

Chompie’s is feeding families Valleywide with new spring meal packages that include a feat for any time of day.

• Spring Brunch: Feeds four people for $59.99 includes scrambled eggs, bacon slices, ham steak slices, homefries, bagels, cream cheese, fruit salad and muffin loaf.

• Spring Feast: Feeds eight people for $109.99 includes scrambled eggs, bacon slices, ham steak slices, homefries, bagels, cream cheese, fruit salad and muffin loaf.

• Brisket Meal Box: Feeds four people for $69.99 includes brisket (sliced), homemade brown gravy, homestyle green beans, white cheddar macaroni, fresh fruit salad, cocktail rolls and deluxe cookie box or mini pastry pack.

• The Nosh Box: Feeds eight people for $69.99 includes tuna salad, egg salad, fresh fruit salad, bagels, cocktail challah rolls, plain cream cheese and assorted rugulach.

• Turkey Meal Box: Feeds four people for $69.99 includes oven roasted turkey breast (sliced), homemade turkey gravy, stuffing, homestyle green beans, white cheddar macaroni, fresh fruit salad, cocktail rolls and deluxe cookie box or mini pastry pack.

• The NY Deli Feast: Feeds four to six people for $79.99 includes hot corned beef, hot pastrami, potato pancakes, coleslaw, cocktail challah rolls, rye bread slices, pickle spears and deluxe cookie box or mini pastry pack.

• A la carte items include smoked salmon package (half pound) with tomato and red onion for $24.99, quart of chicken soup for $9.99 and juice & champagne package with choice of orange, cranberry, apple or pineapple juice and one bottle of champagne for $29.99.

Diners may call ahead to

Phoenix City Grille dishes out family meals

Phoenix City Grille is offering a full selection of family meals designed to feed a family of four and served ready to eat.

• Macaroni and cheese with crumb topping, $22.

• PCG pasta: sautéed all-natural chicken, penne pasta, Mount Hope sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli tossed in a roasted garlic and chardonnay cream sauce garnished with Romano cheese, $40.

• Chipotle barbecue chicken breast: gluten free grilled chicken, Yukon gold mashed potatoes and a sweet corn sauté, $40.

• Madison stir fry: gluten-free chicken and seasonal vegetables tossed in a citrus-sriracha glaze with a coconut rice, quinoa pilaf and toasted sesame seeds, $40.

• Rose lane chicken: glutenfree pan roasted all-natural chicken breast with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, grilled organic broccolini and tarragon jus, $45.

• 16th Street beef short rib: PCG’s signature gluten-free braised beef, grilled local organic broccolini, Yukon gold mashed potatoes and red wine reduction, $50.

Soup and salad options that serve a family of four are offered for $12 each. A la carte items including roasted Brussel sprouts, coconut rice and coleslaw plus more feed four for $12 each. Desserts for two include brioche bread pudding featuring Jack Daniel’s whiskey lime sauce and caramel sauce and Bailey’s irish crème cheesecake are also $12 each.

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

VIRTUAL VITTLES

24

UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Local restaurant and winery inspire families to cook via social media Laura Latzko >>The Entertainer!

D

uring the state’s stayat-home order, many families have been struggling with what to make for dinner. Local business owners have sought to inspire others through virtual cooking lessons via Facebook.

Among those are David Borrego of Glendale’s Urban Margarita and Peggy Fiandaca and Curt Durham of LDV Winery in Scottsdale.

Urban Margarita has had cooking lessons for the public since last fall, but going virtual has been a new experience for Borrego.

“For me, it was a way to give back to all of our regular guests who always attend our classes. While we are having this COVID-19 pandemic, it allows people to see a class and get to know some of our food,” Borrego says.

LDV Winery temporarily closed its tasting room in March due to coronavirus concerns. Doing the cooking sessions allows the owners to continue to interact with its customers.

“We don’t have an opportunity, except for something like this, to connect with our customers and connect with people who have come into our tasting rooms on a regular basis. … We’re all about that connection to our lands, connection to the people who drink our wine,” Fiandaca says.

Borrego’s wife, Kimberly Newhart, says the online cooking lessons can give families fresh ideas for what to cook at home together. The cooking lessons have been going live at 2 p.m. Fridays.

“They can cook as a family and make creative meals with some food that they have in their kitchen,” Newhart says.

Although it has hosted a supper club series, this is the first time LDV Winery has offered step-by-step instructions on how to cook recipes. In March, it hosted a wine release party via Zoom. The winery’s cooking lessons have been going live at 4 p.m. Thursdays.

The two establishments’ cooking classes have attracted out-of-state viewers from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon.

During their cooking lessons, Fiandaca and Durham have discussed which wines pair well with certain foods.

“All of our wines are food-friendly wines. When we are producing wines, we want to make sure that someone can sit down for a multicourse meal and have ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

one of our wines with every course,” Fiandaca says.

Customers can purchase individual wines or packages from the winery to try during the cooking lessons.

Borrego has discussed wine and margarita pairings during his videos.

Both establishments have tried to cater their cooking lessons to different skill levels. Borrego says even amateur cooks can follow the recipes he shares.

“The recipes I am utilizing are pretty simple. I don’t want to make them any harder than they need to be. They have a lot of simple ingredients. That’s the fun of it. People can either follow along or make it fairly easy,” Borrego says.

During the videos, Borrego will suggest different ways that families can change up the recipes with other ingredients or substitutes, especially if they aren’t able to find exact items such as hatch green chile.

“When I do the classes, I let them know that they can make them their own,” Borrego says.

Borrego has prepared dishes that are on Urban Margarita’s menu, like hatch

green chile pork tamales, slow-cooked braised pork carnitas and braised prime short ribs.

Fiandaca and Durham have included some of their favorites, such as spicy shrimp pasta, flatbreads three ways, grilled ribeye steak with roasted potatoes, and pork tenderloin in a roasted pepper sauce with Mexican corn.

Prior to the sessions, the restaurants post ingredient lists online so viewers can ensure they have what they need.

Sometimes, Fiandaca and Durham have had to improvise during their cooking sessions. During one session, Fiandaca shared with viewers what to do if they don’t have enough chicken broth or don’t have chickpeas in their pantries.

Fiandaca has ad-libbed and taught viewers something new to go with a recipe, such as a sauce that complements it.

“The folks that were cooking along with us loved that and said it really added a lot to it,” Fiandaca says.

Through the Facebook cooking lessons, participants can share their end products, engage with each other and

post questions for the chefs. Borrego says thus far, viewers have mainly been asking about timing, temperatures, and techniques such as braising.

The biggest challenge for the two businesses has been with using technology to record the cooking sessions. Borrego says the key is to provide a clear view of each step.

Borrego is used to conversing with customers in his restaurant, but at first, he was nervous to be recorded.

“As you do it a couple of times, you are more relaxed,” Borrego says.

Newhart says the videos offer a glimpse into Borrego’s process in the kitchen.

“It shows his personality and his passion for food,” Newhart says.

Newhart says she and Borrego wanted to bring the homey, welcoming feeling offered in their restaurant.

“We wanted to bring Urban Margarita to you even when you can’t spend that time in our restaurant,” Newhart says.

This has also been the first time that Fiandaca and Durham have hosted live cooking segments. Fiandaca says

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

25

THAT’S A SPICY BURRITO Burritos Locos banks on delivery-only pandemic mandate Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

I

n a time when restaurants want to return to dine-in options, The Madera Group has launched a delivery-only concept.

From the company behind Tocaya Organica and Toca Madera, Burritos Locos will offer its quirky style of Mexican food to patrons in Scottsdale and Phoenix starting on Cinco de Mayo.

“It’s a tough time to open a restaurant, but at the same time, we think there’s a big need for a delivery-only brand,” says Matt Smith, chief marketing officer.

“We think people will take to what we’re doing. We’re a burrito-only concept.”

Postmates has partnered with the restaurant known for dishes like Pablo’s Spicy Beef (spicy beef, fried serrano peppers, arbol salsa, crema, onion and cilantro mix, cheese blend, Mexican rice and black beans); Nashville Hot Chicken (organic diablo chicken, Nashville-style hot sauce, bread and butter pickles, crema, Mexican rice and piano beans), and Beyond Ridiculous (vegan picadillo, sautéed peppers and onions, roasted tomato salsa, vegan mozzarella, cilantro lime rice and black beans).

When guests see the menu, Smith says their looks are priceless.

“Their reaction is pretty great,” he says.

“They’ve really taking a liking to what we’re doing. The goal was to really cast

a wider net on the demographic. This is more about the once- or twice-a-week indulgence.”

Delivery is available from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. seven days a week from the new locations in Scottsdale Fashion Square, Kierland Commons and the

Esplanade. Visit burritoslocosla.com for more information around May 5.

“We have restaurants in Scottsdale and Phoenix and it made sense to introduce this concept there,” Smith says. “Our company—even prior to Tocaya—has

pretty firm roots in Scottsdale. We’re looking at more locations for Tocaya and Burritos Locos outside of those three.”

Burritos Locos burritoslocosla.com

representing the winery on local news programs has helped her to get more comfortable with being in front of the camera.

She has tried to approach it like a casual night of cooking at home.

“You’re cooking, you’re laughing, you’re telling stories and you’re telling jokes. You’re just sharing the hour together and having fun,” Fiandaca says.

Although she does it more at home and for friends and family, cooking is something Fiandaca grew up with and for which she has a deep appreciation.

“Coming from a big Italian family, you learn a lot about cooking growing up like that. That connection with family and friends over the dinner table, I have such fond memories of that,” Fiandaca says.

Fiandaca hopes through the cooking lessons to inspire others to want to experiment in the kitchen.

“I want cooking in the kitchen with your family and friends to be approachable.

Don’t be afraid of it. Try something new,” Fiandaca says.

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

A Light During the Crisis

Brother-sister duo won’t let pandemic stop their restaurant Kacey Wilson >> The Entertainer!

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eliza Miranda and her brother, Jorge Cota, had been planning to open a modern Mexican restaurant in Peoria for quite some time.

They weren’t about to let even a pandemic stop them from launching Mochilero Kitchen.

“We already have our A-team,” Miranda says. “So why not just go ahead and open for takeout and delivery?”

“The grand opening is not exactly how we planned it,” Cota says. “But my family and the team members we’ve hired have worked too hard for us not to give it our all.”

So they launched Mochilero Kitchen April 8 at 6791 W. Happy Valley Road.

For now, customers can call the store at 623.440.5588 or visit mochilerokitchen.com from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday to order.

The Peoria siblings had long dreamed of owning and operating a restaurant together.

Miranda said their dream was of “amazing food and excellent customer service.”

For months, they meticulously planned the location, the equipment, the staff and the decor for Mochilero Kitchen.

With orders from the governor for food to be takeout and delivery only, the Mochilero menu was adapted so that everything travels well, yet, according to Cota, “is delicious and healthy for our community.”

During the grand opening, customers lined up—6 feet apart to maintain social distancing—outside for the first orders of tacos, burritos, bowls, soups and salads,

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and even beers and cocktails, all to go.

The event was also livestreamed on Facebook, where viewers could win meals as well as nominate other families in need to receive free food from the restaurant.

Customers also went to Facebook to write comments on the Mochilero Kitchen page.

“Dinner was outstanding. We are so lucky to have you in the neighborhood!”

Kimberly Sivey says.

“Felicidades...mucho exito!” Jorge Miranda writes.

The grand opening was successful, Cota says. The restaurant made over $500 in the first hour and doubled the anticipated sales by the end of the day.

While the opening went well, the brother and sister say they wait for the day their customers can get the whole experience and the whole menu, which will feature items including short rib chile rib negro bowl and papa brava crujiente taco.

Cota said he is anxious to see customers’ reactions when they first walk in, because he is very proud of the ambience he and his sister have created.

They both say they are eager for the community to see and taste the original menu items they have worked so hard to create—the unmoveable part of their feast.

“Obviously, the presentations are going to look beautiful, but at the end of the day, the techniques are still true to how they do it in Mexico,” Jorge says. “And we are just throwing in our twist.”

Mochilero Kitchen 6791 W. Happy Valley Road, Peoria, 623.440.5588, mochilerokitchen.com

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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Musical Meals VooDoo Daddy’s offers takeout guests can dance to Liz Renninger >> The Entertainer!

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aissez bon ton roulette!

Takeout just got a little livelier at VooDoo Daddy’s Steam Kitchen. The locally owned Cajun and creole restaurant is open and offering pickup and takeout orders in the midst of the pandemic that has swept the world.

Owners of the family-friendly restaurant knew they needed to add creative elements to stay top of mind when guests peruse their dining options.

While the dining room is closed, customers are still encouraged to place to-go orders seven days a week.

Guests will get something a little more special on Fridays and Saturdays.

While grabbing dinner to go, they’ll be entertained by jazz singer Cheryl Thurston of Cheryl’s Mardi Gras Jazz Band from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on the patio.

Customers are asked to remain in their cars if they choose to stay and listen while they eat to respect socialdistancing guidelines. Discounted menu items include $3 kids’ meals, $7 lunch deals and family meals for four starting at $45. The family meals include options like voodoo pasta with salad and garlic toast, red beans and rice with one side and garlic toast, jambalaya with one side and garlic toast, and the chicken strips

platter with two sides.

The restaurant also recently expanded its to-go alcohol program by adding premade cocktails like cosmos and oldfashioned drinks to its already-impressive lineup that includes full bottles of wine for $12 and packaged beer. People can also get a split bottle of wine and the restaurant’s signature hurricane drinks and sangria to go. All alcohol must be consumed at home.

The restaurant will also offer a special beignets and bubbly option on Sunday, May 10, for Mother’s Day. The family meal, which feeds four, includes shrimp and chicken linguine, garlic remoulade toast, a house salad with your choice of dressing, eight beignets and a bottle of Gerard Bertrand Cote Des Rose sparkling rose for just $62.95.

Guests can call in or order the Mother’s Day special online at voodoodaddy.com. It will not be available for third-party delivery.

Delivery orders can be placed through DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub and Postmates for all other dishes, sides and drinks.

VooDoo Daddy’s Steam Kitchen 1325 W. Elliot Road, Suite 106, Tempe, 480.659.6145, voodoodaddy.com

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BEER AND WINE

SIP » BREW » RELAX » EXPERIMENT » REFRESH » TOAST

Margaritas to go are popular offerings during the pandemic Melissa Robbins >> The Entertainer!

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rdering cocktails to go may feel all too familiar to those who have vacationed in cities like New Orleans or Las Vegas, where it’s not only normal, but celebrated.

However, for states like Arizona, togo alcohol services were often limited to drive-thrus at neighborhood liquor marts, making the experience feel a little less glamorous and a little more, well, like a trip to the local liquor mart.

Every day that Arizonans stay isolated pushes the population into unforeseen territory, as many industries scramble to innovate in response to COVID-19 restrictions. The food and alcohol industry, one of the nation’s remaining bastions of normalcy, may be one of the most notable examples of that.

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“It’s been a rough road,” says Adam Rivera, co-owner of Los Sombreros.

“From the first weeks that we closed down … we laid off about 60 employees.

So just letting go of our families, it’s tough.”

Many venues that once didn’t bother delivering even through third-party apps like Uber Eats and Postmates now offer their own takeout, drive-thru and pickup options to combat nationwide stay-at-home orders. While some may relish at the opportunity to order their favorite meal to their door, Valley restaurants and bars are clamoring to finally answer a call they’ve heard for years prior to quarantine: curbside cocktails.

“Guests have been asking for our margaritas to go for years, so we figured it’d be the best thing to do,” says Ashley Negron, director of operations and brand management for Macayo’s Mexican Restaurants.

“Before we were able to sell margaritas to go, our guests actually would buy gallons of our sweet and sour … and then get the tequila from a store somewhere and make our margaritas at home,” she said.

Prior to Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order, Arizona establishments had to apply for a separate license to deliver alcohol locally. Ducey changed that rule, however, as part of the government’s efforts to help keep local businesses afloat while the order is in effect.

Many Arizona bars, like Killer Whale Sex Club in Phoenix, now offer premixed cocktails online in up to six-person servings.

Restaurants, too, like

Hula’s Modern Tiki in Phoenix and Scottsdale, now sell their signature drinks bottled to go. Many Mexican restaurants, like Macayo’s (with locations around the Valley) and Los Sombreros (in Scottsdale and Phoenix), tout bulk house margaritas.

Rivera says prior to the lockdowns, margaritas were always a top seller.

“Even when we were open for full business, that Steve-A-Rita … it’s definitely our No. 1 seller,” he says. “So, it was just very easy for us to come up with, ‘Hey, you know what? We know people love our margarita.’”

That hunch panned out, as the mixes appear to be a smash hit with locals.

Negron said Macayo’s has sold over 5,000 margaritas in the month since it started offering them for delivery.

“We are an industry that has struggled a lot and been hit like many others,” she says. “But the support and encouragement has been really, really helpful.”

While Negron says Macayo’s got lucky finding empty, unlabeled bottles ready for margarita storage, Rivera said Los Sombreros had to take things a little more steadily with packaging its SteveA-Ritas. The work was worth it, though, to bring some stability to those who need it.

“Now that we’re open for online orders and having about 20 employees

with both locations, it just feels good to start bringing some of our people back,” Rivera says.

It’s also been a pleasure, he says, to watch customers realize they even have the option of ordering alcohol at the drive-thru. Along with the SteveA-Ritas, Los Sombreros also offers customers mimosas, bottles of wine, and variety packs of Mexican beer.

Negron and Rivera say the restaurants hope to continue offering delivery and to-go menus after the stay-at-home order is lifted, though the reimplementation of the old liquor license laws may prevent them from doing that.

For Macayo’s, that means going back to selling margaritas at its only location with a license for it, in Mesa.

Rivera said he thinks the coronavirus outbreak has changed the service industry for good.

“We’ve been playing it day by day and week by week, but I think that it’s going to change,” he says. “It’s not going to just reopen how it was before. I think it’s going to take some time.”

In fact, he says, this may be what motivates Los Sombreros to apply for a liquor delivery license once the restaurants are allowed to reopen.

Maybe, by that point, Arizonans will be too acclimated to margaritas on demand to ever go back to sipping them at the bar.

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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Corrido and CRUjiente Tacos make the rounds of Arcadia Annika Tomlin >> The Entertainer!

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hen Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order requiring restaurants to provide takeout and delivery only, Tequila Corrido co-owners Sarah Foote and Holly Simon saw it as an opportunity to push their product.

So, the women teamed up with CRUjiente Tacos to make delivery possible.

“We’ve never been able to deliver alcohol before in any form, and now they’re able to deliver bottles, drinks, shots, you name it,” Simon says. “As long as it’s an enclosed container, it can be delivered.”

They needed to up the ante a bit, so they decided to deliver the two companies’ products in a 1971 VW bus named Selena. Delivery is available from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays and must be called in by 4 p.m. for same-day delivery.

On the menu are chips and salsa for $5; a 2-ounce shot of tequila for $10; a 16-ounce margarita for $30; or a bottle for $50.

“We’ve all seen memes about how it would be great to have the ice cream truck shotgun an adult tequila truck driving through the neighborhood,” Simon says. “We chose CRUjiente because we could do chips and salsa with them and make it fun.”

The partnership comes seven months after Foote returned to Arizona from Napa to acquire Tequila Corrido, which was founded by her uncle in 2008.

“I’ve worked here for many years in restaurants and I know I felt a really strong connection to Arizona,” Foote says. “I’ve actually moved away and moved back three times now. So, third time’s the charm.”

After she acquired that, CRUjiente was the first restaurant to serve the tequila.

The name “Corrido” comes from the ballads that were sung by Mexicans after they returned home after smuggling tequila into the United States.

“If they made it back alive, they would sing these songs often around social injustice or really happy or sad times that invoke really positive warm feelings,” Foote says. “It was my

uncle’s ode to the people before him who were smuggling tequila in illegally, and now he was doing it legally.”

The legend lives with every bottle and shot that is delivered.

Corrido’s tequila starts with its master distiller, Ana María Romero Mena, one of the only female master distillers in Mexico. She’s been in the industry for more than 30 years.

“She helped curate the laws for tequila,” Foote says. “She’s been a huge champion of tequila for a very long time, and super talented.”

Romero Mena is particular about the agaves and strands of yeast used during fermentation. She also hand-picks the barrels—the symphony barrels—from Napa to help age the tequila for its reposado and añejo.

“We roast our piñas a bit longer than normal, so you get some really amazing depth of flavor without adding any additives,” Foote says. “It is legal and widely practiced now to put in 1% outside sugars after the fermentation process. But we don’t do that. It’s a little bit more of a pure expression of tequila, but that also makes it harder.”

Simon’s favorite Corrido tequila is an unreleased, aged tequila that they hope to put out within the next year to year and a half. Foote and Simon love the Blanco tequila with a squeeze of some kind of citrus juice. The Blanco tequila is an unaged tequila that rests for 30 days after fermentation.

“We have so many amazing citrus trees lining the streets right now,” says Foote, whose products are available at Total Wine & More. “I take Blanco and I put

one or two ice cubes in it, and I squeeze whatever citrus juice is available—blood oranges, oranges, limes or lemons.”

The partnership with CRUjiente is just as fruitful.

“We’re local and we’re really focused right now, especially on supporting the

restaurants that have supported us,” Foote says. “We’re a fairly new company, and to be able to have an opportunity like this to present itself and to work with our supportive restaurants has been really nice for us.”

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SPORTS

CHEER » HIT » HIKE » LEAD » ROOT » COMPETE

MAN OF THE YEAR

Hudson Fasching accepts community award for Roadrunners Eric Newman >>The Entertainer!

D

espite the halt of regular season play in the AHL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucson Roadrunners right winger Hudson Fasching still received a bit of good news. Fasching was named the team’s IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year for the 2019-20 season for his efforts off the ice.

Due to the win, Fasching is now one of the finalists for the league’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The winner of the overall IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year will be named at a later date.

Fasching says a media staffer from the team notified him on April 6 of his nomination. He says the recognition “felt good.”

“They know I’m trying to do the best I can. My intentions are always trying to help the community and just trying to help everyone around as best I can.

I give a lot of that credit to Tucson Roadrunners staff for setting me up to be successful and helping the community, too,” Fasching says.

Throughout his season and career with the Roadrunners, Fasching has made several appearances for the team.

His highlight, though, was a visit to Diamond Children’s Medical Center in January.

At the medical center, he visited kids

to joke and talk hockey—anything that could take their mind off of their illness.

He says the experience also motivates him to continue off-the-ice activities to spread positivity and fun even when he cannot play.

“You kind of have a better perspective of what they’re going through, and just kind of understanding how hard it is,” he says.

“You’re just trying to find other things to distract them from the struggles they’re going through at the time, and it’s personal.”

While he is waiting on the league announcement, Fasching is hard at work trying to stay in shape. He is hoping the COVID-19 pandemic will come to enough of a halt to safely allow players

back into the rink for practices and eventually games. At this point, players would normally be preparing to attempt an AHL playoff run.

The Roadrunners have a group text chat going in the meantime, he says, where players periodically give updates on their lives and exercise routines. Ice time is hard to come by, so many are not skating, but Fasching says he is doing what he can to keep up his abilities should a reprieve from the quarantine come.

“Being game ready is hard, but at the same time, you know, I can make some gains right now in terms of strength and speed that under normal circumstances would be much more challenging,” he says.

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

RISING SUN

Mikal Bridges was ready to win big—until the pandemic Christopher Boan >> The Entertainer!

A

draft night trade sent prodigal forward Mikal Bridges to the Valley in 2018, in a move that sent shockwaves across

the league.

Fast-forward two years, and the swap, which sent the Overbrook, Pennsylvania, native and Villanova University star to Phoenix in exchange for Zhaire Smith and a future draft pick, has paid dividends for the local squad.

Bridges, who was selected with the 10th pick of the 2018 draft, has averaged 8.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in his sophomore season.

More importantly, Bridges’ shooting stats had jumped this season, with the 6-foot 6-inch forward shooting 50.3% from inside the arc, as well as 33.1% outside of it, before coronavirus cut the games short.

Bridges discussed his sophomore surge and several other topics, ranging from his favorite Phoenix landmarks to his thoughts on his college coach, Jay Wright.

Bridges had plenty to say about Wright, with whom he won two national championships in three seasons.

He believes Wright, who has led the Wildcats since 2001, shares a lot in common with his current coach, Monty Williams.

“Coach Williams preaches the same things that coach Wright really does,” Bridges says. “It’s all about playing hard and being together—and we’re one team and we’re all together—so they kind of preach the same things.

“Coach Williams reminds me a lot of coach Wright, about how he preaches work ethic and playing together.”

The respect between Bridges and his coach is mutual, with Williams heaping praise on the second-year forward for his growth as a player this season.

“He keeps improving month by month, like our team. He’s been a guy who, from September until now, just looks like, not a totally different player, but an improved player,” Williams says. “His ability to adapt to situations, whether it’s guarding 2s, 3s, 4s, sometimes 5s—we put him on the ball, he guards all 94 feet some nights.

He’s been able to hit shots and slash and he’s just grown as a player. We hope it continues.”

It’s that growth that’s allowed Bridges to thrive in his second season in Phoenix,

gaining greater trust from the coaching staff, by way of minutes on the floor.

The 23-year-old has seen his minutes per game increase with each month of the season, from 18.4 minutes per game in November to 32.0 minutes in March.

Bridges has rewarded Williams’ trust, scoring more than 10 points in five of the Suns’ first nine March contests.

His magnum opus came on January 18, when Bridges scored a career-high 26 points in the Suns’ 123-119 victory over Eastern Conference powerhouse Boston.

Bridges’ humility shines when asked about his recent surge in production, shirking the limelight in favor of propping up those around him.

“Coach (Williams) is staying confident in me and has trust in me, and I’m getting more confident in myself,” Bridges says. “I’ve been putting extra work in on my jump shot and everything, just trying to stay fluid and go out there and play hard.”

DRAFT NIGHT DECISION Bridges doesn’t mince words when asked about his infamous draft night trade, pointing out the realities of being a professional athlete.

The trade was especially tough for Bridges, whose mother, Tyneeha Rivers, is the vice president of human resources for Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, which handles a range of human resources tasks for the 76ers organization.

Bridges isn’t bitter about the move, however, as he understands that nothing lasts forever in the league, with few fairy tale storylines to go around.

“It just shows you what the league is like from the jump,” Bridges says. “But it was a tough mix of emotions that night, because you think you’re about to go home and then you get traded.

“So, it was different. But it kind of helped me just knowing what the league is about.”

LEARNING TO LOVE ARIZONA Bridges has come into his own in the Valley, using the hard-knock playing style that he learned in the Big East Conference in the up-tempo NBA. He’s also learned to love the unique beauty of Arizona, despite never stepping foot in the 48th state before the 2018 NBA Draft.

“I love Phoenix,” Bridges says. “It’s just beautiful through all months. I think the nine months are the best, and then summer gets really hot, but in the season

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it’s just beautiful out.”

As for favorite locales, Bridges says he’s partial to the gateway to the Southwest itself, Scottsdale, given its unique mix of shops and social hotspots.

Before the crisis, the hardcharging forward was doing his best to make a name for himself in a cutthroat sport, taking advantage of the easygoing nature of the region, as compared to the hustle and bustle of the mid-Atlantic region.

“I’m a simple person. I don’t ask for too much and don’t do too much,” Bridges deadpans. “I try to relax and have fun and play basketball and chill.”

PLAYING FOR KOBE Bridges, like many players of his era, grew up watching Kobe Bryant, who played high school basketball at Lower Merion in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

He remembers playing against Bryant’s high school alma mater, which is around 19 miles away from where Bridges went to school.

Bridges remembers playing at Lower Merion during his junior year and said it was humbling to play at the Staples Center in February.

He remembers how he wanted to go out and play hard in honor of Bryant, who passed away in a helicopter crash on January 26.

“It’s just a blessing,” Bridges says of playing on the same NBA court as Bryant. “Everything that he did, growing up in the same area that I grew up and knowing that he’s a legend over there.

“How much he’s done for the game of basketball and for everybody, especially my age and younger, it’s just a big role model for a lot of people and it’s just different without him.”

Bridges—who idolized 76ers guard Allen Iverson growing up—remembers how his family members would point out Bryant’s roots whenever he’d play the hometown team.

He remembers how cool it was to see a local player take the world by storm and says he, like so many others, has been at a loss for words in describing what his premature death means to him.

“I remember how unbelievable he was when he was playing, so you just watch him and look up and try to learn from him,” Bridges says.

LENDING A HAND Bridges has adapted to his new hometown. In early April, Bridges delivered a message to Banner University Medical Center Phoenix workers when Chipotle surprised the staff with lunch.

“I want to thank the front-line workers for your hard work, dedication and sacrifice,” he says. “It definitely didn’t go

unnoticed. I want to give you something I truly love, and I hope this Chipotle lunch delivery will help you get by in these tough times.”

Spearheading the luncheon, Phoenix Suns Charities also gave the hospital $25,000 for its COVID-19 response fund for crisis supplies.

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FAMILY

FROLIC » DISCOVER » IMAGINE » FAMILY » FUN » CONNECT

National Comedy Theatre nctphoenix.com/classes

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

The National Comedy Theatre adapts to the pandemic with online classes Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

T

he National Comedy Theatre, Downtown Mesa’s home for improv and sketch comedy, has fallen on hard times, due to the coronavirus crisis. Unable to host classes or secure a loan, the organization is holding online lessons to keep brand— and its bottom line—alive.

“We are doing our best to move our offering as much as possible online,” says Krissy Lenz, NCT director.

“We’re as new to this as everyone else. We haven’t presented classes for

kids online previously. We have classes for kids and teens through Zoom on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at various times. Each class is about an hour long. We’re teaching the fundamentals of a positive mindset and quick thinking. They’re no-stress, nopressure fun games and activities.”

All of this is meant to teach kids the fundamentals of improv. The classes are $20.

“It’s about being open and trusting,” Lenz says. “They’re learning to listen carefully and thoughtfully to other people’s ideas and agreeing to work together as a team. They’re building new things together, which I think is

important, particularly right now when things are uncertain. It calms us to know that we can deal with the uncertain.”

Lenz fell in love with improv when she was 14 and in a teen class.

“Anything you can imagine is possible,” she says. “You don’t need sets.

You don’t need props. You can create anything from nothing. It’s so wonderful and freeing and fun and imaginative and exciting. I caught the bug and never stepped away.”

A Chaparral High School graduate, Lenz improvised with her friends there.

She says the talent helps her stay calm during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t know what our shows and

classes are going to look like,” she says. “We’re just going forward with our best ideas and growing our ideas and adapting to change in this new environment. Nobody could have been prepared for this.”

National Comedy Theatre has been in the Valley since 2008. Previously, Lenz and her husband, Doran, owned a National Comedy Theatre branch in San Diego.

“We’re from the Valley, but we moved to San Diego and became part of the team there,” she says. “He was the director there for a number of years and then we decided to move home and start our own branch.”

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THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

MUSIC

LISTEN » JAM » INNOVATE » EVOLVE » ROCK » SING

VULNERABLE MOVE

Alt-pop’s Chaz Cardigan is ‘not OK’ during the pandemic Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

C

haz Cardigan is adjusting to this coronavirus-riddled world. Just when he starts getting the hang of it, sadness sets in again.

“This is still weird,” Cardigan says.

“I miss people. I’m tired of seeing my bedroom. There are so many people who have had much worse circumstances. But I’m bored of doing the same thing.”

That same bedroom was a source of inspiration. He locked himself in it to record his latest EP, “Vulnerabilia,” for Capitol Records and Loud Robot, the new label from J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot. The first single was the Beck-ish “Not OK!” “I made most of it in my bedroom,” he says. “I didn’t leave my room for about two weeks. We finished it at a friend’s studio.

It was a relatively easy project. I remember this quote: ‘Great art is never finished. It’s just abandoned.’ I would have done loads more to it. I’m really, really proud of it.”

Cardigan describes his songwriting as a means of “cracking codes to emotion,” an ongoing attempt at untangling life’s most complex feelings. In that process, he draws from a boundless musical palette that includes everything from gigging in punk bands at the age of 11 to joining a hip-hop collective in his adopted hometown of Nashville.

In March, Cardigan released the single “As I’ll Ever Be,” which landed on the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You” soundtrack.

“I had written the song about a year before,” he says. “It didn’t fit (on the EP). It didn’t feel like it was working. When the soundtrack curator was putting together the soundtrack, he happened to hear my A&R listening and he asked her for the demo.

“Originally, the part at the end was

instrumental. They asked if I could go back and write some bits for the movie.

It came so easily. My co-writer and I wrote it in about 10 minutes.”

Cardigan’s love for music began as a child in rural Kentucky. His mother was big into Christian rock and took a young Cardigan to see Third Day and the David Crowder Band for his first concert. However, the musician counts Lady Gaga’s “The Monster Ball” show as his real first gig.

“I just liked to make things,” he says.

“I was very disenfranchised. I lived pretty far out in the country. I didn’t have friends over a lot. I would make things—little inventions with duct tape and shoestrings.

“My earliest memories were I wanted to be a performer. I was just looking for an excuse to create things—and make enough to pay the bills.”

His instrumentation began with piano, following in the footsteps of his boy band-loving sister.

“My mom made her play piano,” he says.

“I loved the sound of it. I learned anything musical I could. I took piano lessons and guitar lessons. As I got into rock music and rap, I started reading these books on rock history and classic records.”

He picked up bass “accidentally” and learned to play steel drum, mandolin and banjo.

At 17, Cardigan, now in his mid-20s, moved to Nashville, where he would commute to for songwriting sessions.

“I’d love to move to LA,” he says.

“I’ve lived here for seven years, and it’s changed super drastically. It went from this little big city to being a city city. Being stuck inside has made me appreciate this city and my friends. I’m making so many more phone calls and catching up.”

Chaz Cardigan chazcardigan.com

The Insider’s Guide to Arizona Entertainment

PHX METRO » JANUARY 2020

PHX METRO

» AUGUST

2019 PHX METRO

PHX METRO

» MAY

2019

» FEBRUA

RY 2020

PHX METRO

Harlem rs Globetrotte e bounc into town

entertainermag.com

Summer

nce Let's Da . Ç gh goes Derek Hou tour solo on new

MERRILL KELLY

SPOOKY’S SWIRLS

Handcrafted e for meats mak treats delectable

BIG DREAMS

‘Americano!’ is the show of the year

» MARC

H 2020

A Inside

Supermod Erin Naas el can't live without her Arabians

D-BACKS FAN FEST

slides into Chase Field

Dave Kindig is selling his ‘bitchin’ rides’ at Barrett-Jackson JULIANA HATFIELD

‘BONAFIDE

Star ’

Jammin’ Lee runs for Perreira charity SPRING TRAIN NOTHING ING BUT SCHEDULES GOOD NEW S The Black Moods crack the chart s

LA DOL CE

VITA The Italia n comes to Festival Phoenix

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

FRUITFUL EXPERIMENTS Emby Alexander releases singles with album plans ‘up in the air’ Connor Dziawura >> The Entertainer!

M

ichael “Emby” Alexander, lead vocalist and songwriter of the Phoenix-based Emby Alexander, feels it’s may not actually be a coincidence that his experimental indie pop band premiered the single “Up in the Air” when it did.

Released in the midst of all that’s going on in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the song is the result of Alexander’s attempt at writing something positive—or, he says, at least more obviously so than songs past, which he feels may have had their messages obscured by a more experimental approach.

“I think that a lot of my songs, I want the end message to be a positive message, but I think that sometimes I missed the point. I was a little bit, maybe, abstract with the point or sometimes intentionally hiding it to make it a little cryptic or something,” Alexander explains of his approach to songwriting, which includes documenting ideas for further explanation if they prove memorable, as well as sampling with a field recorder.

But with “Up in the Air,” he says, “I kind of wanted something more, I felt, at least for me, straight-forward, as far as no doubt that it’s a positive song. And

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I just hadn’t tried that. … Some people maybe experiment with getting further hidden, and for me it was an experiment to try to be kind of naked and out in the open.”

The song is the first in a pair of songs released earlier this spring, also including the more abstract “Morality of Accuracy in Photojournalism.”

Taking a musique concrète approach, the dense second recording is backed by choppy, sputtering drums; looped piano melodies; obscured recordings of people talking; among numerous other layers of pieces assembled as a sort of sound collage. One of those layers even stems from a spur-of-themoment encounter with Animal Collective multi-instrumentalist David Portner, also known by the pseudonym Avey Tare, at a gig. Alexander says he asked Portner to provide sounds to a field recording he was conducting of a passing train in Tucson.

“It’s an experiment in itself to put these people on the spot and see if I could do it,” Alexander says, adding that he considers it a more next-level approach to sampling, in comparison with pulling from other artists’ tracks.

“I thought it was kind of a wacky idea, and that’s usually a good idea,” he adds.

But Portner’s ties to the track actually date back further in its origins. Prior to meeting in person, Alexander says he had reached out to the musician via social media for “technical advice” regarding how Animal Collective’s 2007 song “Cuckoo Cuckoo” was made.

Having contacted him previously with other questions to no response, Alexander can only speculate that it may have been “Morality of Accuracy in Photojournalism’s” inspiration that struck a chord with Portner and finally triggered a response—the untimely passing of singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston.

Alexander says although he usually likes to let ideas come when ready, this time he formally decided to write a song inspired by the late musician. His idea was to craft a Johnston-style tune but with an Avey Tare or Animal Collective twist.

“I feel like his approach to ballads is something that I really resonate with,” Alexander says.

It was purely intentional that the group released both songs when they did, as Alexander says it felt like a good idea to group together one that might be “more accessible and poppy” and another that’s possibly more difficult “to grasp on first listen.”

The two singles may wind up being a teaser of what’s in store for the band.

Having released five full-length studio albums, the soundtrack to the film “Chameleon,” some EPs and singles, all since 2012, Alexander says the prolific group this time considered doing something different and just releasing singles this year—no album. But the band’s other idea, if it comes to fruition, is to instead do an album called “Soars Era.” COVID-19 may have thrown a wrench in those plans, though.

Alexander says it’s “up in the air.”

“I don’t know what ‘Soars Era’ is right now,” he admits, disclosing that songs that could eventually comprise the album are far along and that “the first few test masters sound really, really great.” It just depends on how the band

decides to move forward in the wake of recent tour cancellations.

“If we don’t go on tour, I don’t know if we want to release something while we’re all sitting at home or wait on it and maybe expand upon some of the ideas and make it something longer and release a little later when we’re able to go on the road,” he explains.

“I want the project to be what we want it to be, but the realities of wanting to hit the road while releasing a record is somewhat getting in my head,” he continues. “So, there’s a possibility we release the record and don’t go on the road, and then we’ll do a new record late this year or early next year … so we can go on the road with it.

“It really just leaves us in a weird in-between state,” he adds. “The album is perhaps done right now if we put a period on it.”

As to how the experimental pop outfit’s vocalist sees the group progressing with new tunes, he hopes the music is moving forward and becoming better while maintaining what made previous records special. “Exaggerated” and “manic” are his words of choice.

“I don’t want it to sound like it’s the same as the old records, but I feel like it’s the same spirit as the old records but in this extremely heightened way where the lows are lower and the highs are higher and the places that we explore,” he pauses, succinctly rephrasing, “It goes every direction I just hope a lot more.

“It’s been really fun to make it, and I usually don’t say that,” he adds, admitting, “I usually say I’m pretty stressed out.

“But the experiments are being fruitful right now.”

Emby Alexander embyalexander.com

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

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Making an Emotional Connection Musician Jared Blackstone thrives on smiles or tears Jordan Houston >> The Entertainer!

J

ared Blackstone was 15 years old when he knew he wanted to perform for a living.

Growing up in Maine, the solo acoustic artist spent his childhood days listening to his parents sing and play for their church. At 18, he packed his bags—and a couple of guitars—and moved to the Big Apple to pursue his dreams.

Now, Blackstone has made a name for himself as a musical guru in Arizona, putting his own twist on signature sounds from rock to blues and country.

“When you play a song for people and it brings back memories for them, the most rewarding part is either a smile or a tear,” he tells The Entertainer! Magazine.

“Either emotion is the most rewarding thing I get out of it.”

Whether it’s Johnny Cash, Nirvana, Luke Bryan or Bob Seger, variety is Blackstone’s forte. The full-time singer-songwriter can be heard at some of the Valley’s most notable wine bars, luxurious resorts and renowned country and rock bars, as well as private functions and other parties.

But some of his best performances come out of Scottsdale’s Old Town Tavern.

Before the pandemic, Blackstone, boasting long brown hair and rugged facial hair, played at the outdoor bar every Sunday alongside two other artists—all of whom were connected by one of the bartenders.

“I love playing all gigs, but Sunday is my fun day,” he expresses warmly.

“There’s a certain magic that happens.

“It was just one of those things. We’ve never rehearsed or really played the same sets,” he adds. “We don’t really hang out until Sunday rolls around and we have a lot of fun.”

Although the Phoenix resident didn’t know singer Mark Zubia and guitarist Greg Simmons prior, the three have meshed into arguably one of the tavern’s most popular trios.

But the bluesy, crowd-drawing performers—powered by a blend of acoustic rock, country, honky-tonk and pop—do not consider themselves an official “band,” Blackstone says.

“We don’t really like to call ourselves a band because bands break up,” he discloses. “We’re definitely a band of brothers right now.”

It’s no secret why scores of music fanatics pack into OTT each week to hear the seasoned artists play.

Zubia was inducted into the Arizona

Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame last summer for his role in creating The Pistoleros, a bluesy roots rock five-piece with a previous record label.

“Performing is great,” he says.

“Hopefully you’re bringing some happiness or enjoyment to other people, but it’s also a personal release,” he shares.

“Writing songs is a different type of enjoyment but equally rewarding.”

Zubia continues to write, record and perform solo, with his band Los Guys and various acoustic projects, according to his website.

A music teacher, Simmons is an awardwinning guitarist, known for his “titanic blues runs, subtle country picking and fierce freeform jamming.”

As a “preacher’s kid,” Blackstone grew up playing guitar to gospel and country music. His mother was also a singer, he recalls.

The aspiring musician started experimenting with classic rock and blues in his teen years, and it wasn’t long before he roped together a “kid band” as the opener for some of his friend’s fathers.

Blackstone explored songwriting in high school and quickly became the entertainment for parties and dances.

After graduation, his parents were relocated by the church, but the young adult had other plans in mind.

“I kind of figured out pretty quickly that there was no music business in Maine,” Blackstone says with a chuckle.

“I was looking for a way to get out of the small town anyway.”

Blackstone re-connected with a family friend living in New York City and made the move to pursue his passions professionally.

While adjusting to city life as a smalltown boy, he worked as a barista and sound engineer for an off-Broadway play to support solo gigs at the Baggot Inn in The Village.

“For the first few months I kind of locked myself in an apartment and wrote songs,” Blackstone says. “I was a country boy in a big city, and things like the subway were pretty scary.”

He even played alongside legendary Gerardo Velez, who played with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, at one point.

Blackstone took another step forward when he joined a highly sought-after band as a lead singer, thanks to the advice of Velez.

The band signed with Atlantic Records in 1997, explains Blackstone, but lived a short life due to the creation of Napster, a controversial file-sharing software allowing users to share electronic copies of music.

“Little did I know that right before our record release a thing called Napster would crush the whole record industry and bands like us would be on the chopping block,” he shares.

After the checks subsided, Blackstone penetrated the underground club scene as a guitarist and cultivated his own

band, Blood from Stone.

Blackstone’s unique group dominated venues, including CBGB, The Knitting Factory, Continental and Arlene’s Grocery.

In the summer of 2008, he pursued a change of scenery in Arizona, finetuning his brand through solo acoustic gigs along the way.

The solo artist built a credible reputation for himself across the Valley, through word of mouth, he explains, and now plays consistently at sites like the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge and The Four Seasons Scottsdale on a regular basis.

“It kind of snowballed into that. The more you play live, the more people see you and the more things kind of evolve,” he says. “So, I’m really thankful for that opportunity.”

Due to a lockdown in response to COVID-19, Blackstone is now focusing on finishing his upcoming album, as well as some Facebook Live performances— possibly including Zubia and Simmons.

“I’ve got the utmost respect for those guys,” Blackstone says. “I think when you get to a certain age as a player, you listen a lot more and learn to kind of stay in the pocket a little bit and feed off of each other.”

Jared Blackstone jaredblackstonemusic.com facebook.com/jared.blackstone1 ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Slowly Catching On

Synth-punk hip-hop duo Snailmate engages fans during quarantine Laura Latzko >>The Entertainer!

M

any music groups have been on pause with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the virus and its effects have slowed down Snailmate, the duo has still been putting out and performing music.

Just before the pandemic, the pair— drummer Bentley Monet and vocalist/ synthesizer player Kalen Lander— released the single/video “The Laziest Man in the World,” which was inspired

by Lander’s propensity for being an introvert who stays at home.

“I think that night, Bentley went out with some of our coworkers,” says Lander, of South Phoenix. “They invited me, and I was just feeling very lazy. They were making fun of me for being lazy.

So, I ran with that. … I have a really hard time prioritizing things and getting out of bed. So, I just figured I might as well embrace it. I think people can relate to feeling lazy.”

Since 2015, the synth-punk hip-hop group has released one studio album and a number of EPs and singles. It has also done a Christmas song and a store jingle.

Lander has been working on a new song and video during the quarantine.

It’ll focus on being alone in a house and building personal walls. Lander says it’s

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a strange coincidence that the music fits with these troubled times.

“That’s been a theme of a couple of songs that I’ve written lately that are about being stuck in your own routine and not leaving the house. Now, it’s very relevant, but that’s the theme I’ve been on for the last year or two,” Lander says.

“I figured I’d write about what I know best, which is being at home in my room, stuck in my own head. Now, it’s how everyone is these days.”

Snailmate’s music explores depression and social anxiety, which affect Monet, a North Phoenix resident, and Lander.

Over time, Lander has become more comfortable talking about the subjects.

“It’s not always easy to talk about. It wasn’t always something I addressed, whether it was in my writing or how I was feeling in general. I’ve really tried to be aware of the way that I feel, the shortcomings that I have and the anxieties that I have,” Lander says.

“Once I got comfortable admitting those things, I realized that everyone is experiencing the same things, and it helps other people admit it, too.

Everyone gets sad and everyone gets nervous, and there’s no shame in that.”

Monet hopes that by sharing their experiences they can speak to others like them.

“We just want people to realize it’s OK. There are people to talk to, and you’re definitely not alone,” Monet says.

One of Monet’s favorite recent songs is “3D Glasses,” which is from Snailmate’s EP “Existential Anxiety.”

“It is short and fast, and it switches time signatures. I think it’s a really fun song. It’s over before you know it. It’s a metaphor for life,” Monet says.

Lander found the group’s older songs, such as “The Waiter,” are still relevant.

However, he’s been trying to rework them to fit with the group’s current sound.

Many of Snailmate’s songs incorporate tongue-in-cheek humor.

“I don’t want my music to ever be sad. It can be about sad things, but it is important to me to be able to laugh at things, so I put a lot of humor into my lyrics,” Lander says. “Even though I’m talking about how crappy I feel and how messed up I feel in my head, I try to make light of it because I feel like if you laugh at things that scare you or trouble you, it makes them easier pills to swallow.”

The duo’s sound is distinctive because it incorporates screaming—higherpitched screaming, a growl or a shriek.

The vocal techniques match Lander’s musical sensibilities.

“I listen to a lot of metal music, so I just really enjoy screaming. It’s fun to do.

I like how it sounds,” Lander says.

In the group, Lander is the lyricist, with Monet adding choruses and lines

occasionally. Monet, who has a musical theory background, writes all of the drum parts and helps to construct and add transitions in the music.

During performances, Monet often tries to entertain crowds by getting up from his drum set and performing during breaks in the music.

PANDEMIC UPHEAVAL The global pandemic has impacted the duo in a number of different ways.

Recently, Snailmate had to cut its national tour short and cancel a trip to Brazil in May. A two-month summer tour may also impact Snailmate, which was in Texas when its tour was cut short.

These are lonely times for Lander and Monet. Their employer, The Rhythm Room, is closed. Monet found other work as a food delivery driver to make ends meet.

This is the longest period of time that the two musicians have been home and away from each other. Usually, they practice together every day, even when on the road.

Usually, the two musicians don’t have much down time, as they tour for weeks at a time in places like Japan, Germany, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Montana. It’s been that way since the beginning. Their third show together was part of a tour.

“We are very fortunate and lucky

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE MAY 2020

to have seen as much as we have, and hopefully we can continue to do so. We want to do a new country every year,” Monet says.

They’ve met quite a few friends during their jaunts.

“We love playing with other bands.

We have really good friends in other towns who are in bands, so we always play with them when we come through.

We are not only excited about the show but excited to see our friends,” Monet says.

Being on the road isn’t easy, but it suits Monet and Lander. As a matter of fact, Monet misses it.

“I hate having a normal structure for long periods of time. Being on tour, seeing a new town every day, trying different food, living off of very little money, playing shows, meeting people and talking to different people every night, it’s just a really exciting time,” Monet says.

To save money, Money and Lander stay at hostels or with friends. Some European venues will feed them meals and let them stay in the spaces. In Japan, audience members have brought them gifts, such as engraved chopsticks.

Monet never knows what to expect, especially when playing in new cities, but he has found that audiences all over the country and world are receptive to Snailmate’s music.

“We have had such a great experience on tour, and people have been so kind, giving and friendly,” Monet says.

LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP The two musicians met when Monet was performing with the band called Sister Lip at Tempe’s Long Wong’s, where Lander worked as a bartender.

He says the music helped to liven up Monday nights.

“They really made it into something special. It’s usually a night that doesn’t have a whole lot of potential, or it’s a dead night. We were able to build it into something that people wanted to go to,” Lander says.

Monet already knew of Lander from the band TKLB, which featured Lander and a DJ. “My drum teacher in high school played in a band. He invited me to one of his shows. Kalen’s band just happened to be playing the same bill. I became an instant fan,” Monet says.

For Snailmate, Lander learned to play the synthesizer, which is challenging to rap over—even five years later.

Lander says the chance to do something different musically and to tour the world drew him to Snailmate.

“Not only was it a chance to expand my own abilities with music by playing the synthesizer and taking on a different role, but it was an opportunity

to tour and hit the road without me having to make it happen. The problem with my old band was if we wanted to go and do shows, I had to do it myself,” Lander says.

“It goes back to me being very lazy, so it didn’t happen a lot. With Bentley, he’s a workhorse. It was a ticket to tour, to play new music and to reach audiences that I never would have had the chance to on my own. Plus, I really just enjoy making music with Bentley. It’s a unique experience.”

While Lander is a self-taught musician, Monet has years of musical training. Monet has been playing the drums for the last 10 years, since he was 16. With Snailmate, he experiments with drum pads to produce new sounds.

Over the years, the two have become more in tune with each other, especially musically.

“We definitely play off from each other and know how to read each other,” Monet says.

Lander is 7 years older than Monet, but the age difference doesn’t matter to them.

From the start, they had a natural chemistry onstage. Offstage, they can be like siblings, getting along one minute and fighting the next.

“We bicker and we get into it, but when we are playing music onstage, we gel instantly. We both have a lot of

37

fun doing it, even if we don’t always get along,” Lander says.

The two also have skill sets that complement each other. Monet books the tours and manages the group’s website and social media. Lander works on Snailmate’s music videos and does graphics. They work together on their merchandise. Lander creates the designs, and Monet does the screen printing.

The biggest difference between the two is in their musical tastes.

Although they both enjoy the music they create, Monet likes pop, new-school rap and indie music, while Lander is a fan of heavy metal, underground hiphop and ’90s alternative rock.

“It’s funny because we love the music that we write together and I can relate to everything he writes about, but we can’t agree on music outside of our band,” Monet says.

Lander says even though they are very different, they inspire and learn from each other.

“He teaches me a lot, and I suggest things that he wouldn’t have thought of because they don’t make sense necessarily, but they still work,” Lander says.

Snailmate snailmate.com

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BACK TO THE FRONT LINES UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC

Musician Joshua Strickland treats COVID-19 patients in a hotspot Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

J

oshua Strickland witnessed the horrors of war, as a soldier with the U.S. Army with missions in Kandahar City, Afghanistan.

The Bayou Bandits singer wasn’t ready for what he saw in Bergen County, New Jersey, when he was hired as a travel nurse on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hell yeah I was scared,” says Strickland, a med surg RN in the Valley.

“It’s a different type of fear. A lot of folks are asking me if it was like Afghanistan.

In a way it was; in a way it wasn’t.

“In Afghanistan, I was scared for my life. There were people out there trying to actively kill us. That’s what war is.

I was waiting for an IED (improvised explosive device) to go off. In Afghanistan, you know there are IEDs everywhere. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda put them everywhere.

“In this situation, you’re going into the battlefield, which is the hospital, and you’re dealing with direct patient care— confirmed COVID-positive patients.

Every time you go in that room, you worry. ‘Is my mask on tight enough?’

‘Are my eyes protected enough?’ ‘Is this going to be the moment I catch this virus?’”

Bergen County is just across the Hudson River from the Bronx.

Strickland was there for a short time.

Since he returned to his Phoenix home, he’s been in quarantine, unable to hug

or kiss his family of four children with his wife, Melit, a telemetry nurse. He was going to stay in a hotel or RV, but Melit asked him to stay in an upstairs bedroom.

“With COVID, its incubation period is one to 14 days,” he says. “Symptoms are generally starting to peak by day five in the vast majority of cases. You just never know.”

Strickland was contracted to work for four to six weeks at $10,000 a week. He was cut short when the curve started to flatten on the East Coast.

“As a society, it’s great that the curve is starting to flatten,” Strickland says, “That means there are less admissions to the emergency department. Less people are coming and there’s a lesser onset of new cases.

“As a travel nurse, you’re the first to get canceled. You have to think of it from a business standpoint. They don’t want to pay out $10,000 a week for someone who doesn’t live there, who isn’t in their community, when they can pay a permanent employee their normal wages and reallocate them. In the nursing world, thousands of RNs like myself went to help out and a lot of them flew to New York City, got off the plane and they were immediately canceled. They had put down $2,300 a month for a condo in New York.”

Strickland has the “utmost respect” for the nurses and doctors who are working.

“They’ve been working their butts off,” he says. “In New York and New Jersey, some of them, unfortunately,

have worked 24-hour shifts. There were nurses who wouldn’t come into work because they were scared, or they were protesting the limited number of PPE (personal protective equipment) and things like that.

“I have the utmost respect, because they’ve been dealing with COVID since day one and they’ve been working 16- to 19-hour shifts. In the normal world, that wouldn’t be legal. The rules have changed.”

On Strickland’s floor, there was one N95 mask per shift, per person. He had to use a face shield or goggles. He brought his own PPE gear.

“One N95 is supposed to be only worn in one patient’s room and then thrown away,” he adds. “Some of these places are using them for three to four days. They lose their seal. You have to shave your face to create an air-tight seal. I brought Gorilla tape in my bag in case I ran out of masks. I could tape it on there.”

THE RETURN HOME A Louisiana native, Strickland is happy to be back in the Valley, where the Bayou Bandits’ notoriety is bubbling.

He tested negative for COVID-19, but he’s weary. He says about 70% of COVID testing is accurate and 30% is inconclusive or a false negative. To prepare for his next test, in 14 days, he’s monitoring his symptoms and downing vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc to boost his immune system.

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When asked about the discomfort of the COVID-19 test, which involves swabbing the sinuses, he prefaces it with “most guys are wimps.”

“To me, it was horrible,” he says.

“When we swab patients for the flu, we do a nasal swab. With COVID, it feels like it’s in your brain. It’s way up there, deep in your sinuses. They have to hold it there for 10 seconds. It burns.”

Still, Strickland is nervous about getting COVID. After all, it’s unpredictable.

“You can have a 100-year-old grandma who had stage-four breast cancer, who had a kidney transplant and she can survive it,” Strickland says.

“Then, you have a 24-year-old kid who doesn’t have a preexisting health condition and he dies. The viral progression in the lungs is so rapid. It’s so fast. A patient could be fine now, but in three hours they could be gasping for air. I’m here to tell you in New York and New Jersey, we’re learning things by trial and error. At this point, so many people are dying from it. They’re dying in the waiting room because the whole hospital is COVID. There’s nowhere to put them.

They’re being treated in hallways. It’s an absolute nightmare.”

If there’s one good thing that’s come out of it, it’s new music.

“I have four new songs I’m recording once this quarantine is done,” Strickland says. “We’re anxiously awaiting coming back harder than ever.”

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60*

69995

±

$

62995

±

$

70*

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

$

89995

±

$

80995

±

$

90*

AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR

$

94995

$

84995

$

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

±

$

$

±

229995

$

234995

$

±

±

150*

150* 150* 200* 200*

200* 200*

100*

* Instant Savings valid April 27, 2020 through May 31, 2020. ± All prices are suggested retail price. Actual selling offer is determined by each dealer at the time of sale. All prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Instant Savings Offers do not apply to any used, refurbished or reconditioned products. Quantities are limited to in-stock merchandise only. Images are for illustrative purposes only. Nikon is not responsible for printing or typographical errors. All Nikon products include Nikon Inc. USA limited warranty. ©2020 Nikon Inc.

SOLDIER'S PASS

Sedona's Bes1 Kepi Secre1t

• The ONLY Guided Tour of Sedona's Most Exclusive Trail • 10 Minutes from West Sedona • 3 Tour Pickup Locations Available (Ask your concierge about hotel pickups.)

Ljmj1ed Access, Pro1ec1ed Tran

• Most Serene and Beautiful Tour • Spectacular & Unique Views • Exciting 4x4 Rock Climbing • Historic General Crook Trail - 1871

1.5 Hour Tour: $95 Adult, $75 Child (plus tax) Reservations and info:

928.282.6667

RedRockJeep.com

/

Rainbow Adventures, LLC, includes Red Rock Western Jeep Tours, A Day in the West, Ear th Wisdom Jeep Tours, Sedona Offroad Adventures, Red Rock Magic Trolley, SedonaJeepTours.com, Alcantara Vineyards, Rainbow Adventures VIP Tours, and the Sedona Creative Life Center. All applicable companies are licensed by the .USFS for wilderness trail usage - permitted by, � and conducted in the Coconino National Forest.Copyright© Rainbow Adventures, LLC, Sedona, Arizona, USA.