The Entertainer! Magazine - June

PHX METRO » JUNE 2021

FLOATING FUN

Salt River Tubing celebrates resources

HARD WORK

& FAITH

J. Pierce brightens the world with his art

AUTHORITY ZERO

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

‘HARD WORK

CONTENTS

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AND FAITH’

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J. Pierce brightens the world with the stroke of a brush

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FLOATING FUN

Salt River Tubing celebrates the state’s natural resources

ON THE COVER

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ASPIRING TO NEW ‘HEIGHTS’

Emotional, upbeat film recalls old Hollywood

on the cover: J. Pierce photographed in pre-pandemic Wuhan, China Cover photo courtesy J. Pierce

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THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

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

publisher

Steve T. Strickbine

steve@entertainermag.com

Vice President

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Michael Hiatt mhiatt@timespublications.com

ExecutiveEditor

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

christina@timespublications.com

Assistant Editor

NICK AHMED IS ‘ALL IN’

Connor Dziawura

cdziawura@timespublications.com

designer

Shannon Mead

Charity gives D-backs another reason to win

production manager Courtney Oldham

production@timespublications.com

CONTENTS

UPFRONT

circulation director Aaron Kolodny

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aaron@entertainermag.com

contributing writers

J. Pierce • Keeler’s Neighborhood Steakhouse • Salt River Tubing • Authority Zero • Sedona International Film Festival

CITY

Kristine Cannon, Alex Gallagher, Jordan Houston, Madeline Lewis, Coty Miranda Dolores, Bridgette M. Redman, Claire Spinner, Annika Tomlin

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Wok ’N Roll • Queen Creek Olive Mill • Dirty Honey • “In the Heights”

ARTS

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Phoenix Theatre Company • “Curiouser & Curiouser Too” • “The World of Bob Dylan”

DINING

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Beaut Burger • Rockin’ Rollz Lobster & Sushi • Trattoria D’Amico

BEER AND WINE

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Mad Mixologist • Poolside Cocktails

CASINOS

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Mogollon

SPORTS

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Staff Photographer

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Pablo Robles

Contributing Photographers

BOOMING AGAIN

July 4 festivals return with a bang

Pavin Smith • Nick Ahmed • UFC’s Marvin Vettori

FAMILY

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Del Amitri • Chad Wilson Bailey • Vera Revive • Telle Smith • Coloursøund • Archetypes Collide

IN CLOSING Numbers

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Fourth of July celebrations • Medieval Times • Desert Foothills Theater

MUSIC

Arizona Diamondbacks, Maddie Anderson, Josiah Duka, Digger Feeney, Kevin Hurley, Jim Louvau, Rob Madden, Jules Jones Peters, Macall Polay, Daniel Prakopczyk, Carley Rudd Photography, Joanie Simon

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While Supplies Last

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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

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

» MARC

H 2020

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UPFRONT

PHX » CITY » LOCAL » PRIDE » DO » SEE

‘HARD WORK AND FAITH’

J. Pierce brightens the world with the stroke of a brush

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

J

. Pierce sits on the sofa of his Gilbert home donning black pants, a playful Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles T-shirt he designed, and colorful shoes that pop.

The cream-colored walls are bare, which is surprising for the prolific artist who has sold his Keith Haring-like artwork to likes of rapper Rick Ross and Arizona Coyotes President and Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gutierrez.

“Anytime I put up artwork, I always end up selling it,” Pierce says with a shrug. He’s working on T-shirts for Monroe’s Hot Chicken, which is owned

by Lo-Lo’s.

Pierce is one of Arizona’s best-kept secrets. Besides his work for Ross and Gutierrez, Pierce designed T-shirts for Samuel L. Jackson and artwork for former professional baseball player Howie Kendrick, who lives in Phoenix.

Pierce’s work, particularly for Jackson, led to mentions on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“It was cool when Jimmy Kimmel gave me a shoutout,” Pierce says with his trademark wide smile. “He said I was an Arizona artist. There are always California artists, New York or Miami artists, Chicago artists. It’s cool to represent Arizona.

“It’s been awesome, man. I originally started out doing art walks, like the Chandler Art Walk, and selling my paintings for $20 or $40. Now I’m seeing my artwork sell for hundreds and thousands.”

LIVING IN THE ‘HOOD’ As a child, Pierce split his time between California and Chicago after his parents separated. He attended high school and college in San Jose.

In Chicago, he lived in the “hood,” as he calls it, where he learned to hustle and paint T-shirts for gangsters.

“I never messed around in that (gang life), but I was always protected,” he says.

“They liked me because I skateboarded and lived in the hood in Chicago.

“But there would be barbecues every other day with my family. So, I would be in Chicago, going Downtown and being in the city. Then, living in San Jose, it

had the whole Cali vibe.”

He discovered penciling and sketching at age 15, when he was in foster care as his parents were going through “tough times,” he says. They went their own ways, and Pierce spent two years in foster care. He, in turn, basically emancipated soon thereafter.

“In high school, I started painting custom clothing — like painting on shoes, shirts and dress shirts,” Pierce says. “I’d wear it to school, and all my friends asked where I found the stuff. It led to painting on canvases.”

In high school, he was inspired to start his own brand by LRG owner Jonas Bevacqua, who died of natural causes in 2011.

“He was one of the biggest streetwear brands,” he says.

“I’d send him my art and show him.

He emailed me and said to keep up the good work, keep doing my thing.

He sent me free gear. That inspired me through those times in foster care.”

He moved to Anthem at age 18 and worked at Anthem stores like Docker’s, Quicksilver and Columbia Sportswear.

Besides participating in the Chandler Art Walk, he was part of the jury.

“I had a business partner who I was

working with in Anthem,” Pierce says.

“He was a business partner and investor who was going to help me get my brand and my art to the next level. Nothing really panned out, and we parted ways.”

He stayed in the Valley, however. He moved to Gilbert in 2008.

Pierce has collaborated with a slew of local businesses, restaurants and organizations. He encourages his clients to share their art direction, and he takes it from there.

“We created a limited-edition shirt that can be purchased at any of the LoLo’s Chicken & Waffles stores,” he says.

“It’s pretty cool because I’ve never collaborated with a restaurant. And to see the staff walking around with my shirt and my name on it, it was so cool.”

When the Arizona Coyotes hosted Hockey Fights Cancer Night on April 19, he created a special sneaker for several players — Captain Oliver

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

Ekman-Larsson, Jakob Chychrun, Clayton Keller and Jordan Oesterle — to share how cancer touched their lives.

The shoes were auctioned to raise money for the Arizona Coyotes Foundation. The collaboration came about after Gutierrez’s wife contacted Pierce through Instagram.

“She said they were looking for a painting for a wall space,” he says. “They invited me to their house.”

Unfamiliar with Gutierrez, Pierce asked what he did for a living. He told Pierce he was the president and chief executive officer.

“I thought, ‘Oh, dang. That’s awesome,’” he says, laughing. “I said I always wanted to do the Kachina logo in my style of art and collaborate with the Coyotes.

“He said, ‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you.’ He connected me with the foundation.”

Inspired by the late Haring, Dr. Seuss and Picasso, Pierce says Arizona is the

lead character.

“I started doing Arizona landscapes because you see horses in oil paintings and things like that,” he says. “I wanted to create a new, fun look at Southwestern art.

“I’ve done tons of portraits. I do a lot of cartoons based on pop culture and retro cartoons that we grew up watching, like Looney Tunes.

Landscapes and skylines are big, too.

I’m always trying to think of new stuff to paint, rather than just sticking to one.”

Pierce grew up skateboarding and was entrenched in the culture and lifestyle.

He attended skateboarding trade shows and hung out with the skateboarding community.

He’s always tickled when new collectors discover his art.

“There was this one dude who I worked for; he has 80 paintings throughout his house and just found out about my stuff,” he says. “He said,

‘Dude, I want to collect a lot of your stuff.’”

Art is Pierce’s full-time job. If he isn’t painting murals, he’s working on product design logos, custom shoes and “anything art related.”

“Other than that, I’m always busy painting, fulfilling orders and patterns,” he says.

Pierce has plenty to be proud of, between his works for Jackson and Ross, as well as businesses and homes around the Valley. He’s still amazed by the way his art has traveled. He even had a clothing and shoe line in Wuhan, China, four years ago.

“It’s huge,” he says of Ross, who purchased a painting of himself and custom art. “He’s a huge person, and to have my art go into his house and the way he hung it up and everything is so awesome.

“My other huge accomplishment was when Samuel Jackson shouted me out on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ and then

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getting Jimmy Kimmel to follow me on Instagram. Being friends with Samuel Jackson has been a blessing.”

Pierce and Jackson became acquainted two years ago, when he, on a whim, reached out via Instagram to Jackson, who was filming overseas.

“I hit him up late at night because he was in another country,” Pierce says.

“It was morning for him, and he responded. I said, ‘Yo, can I send some of my shirts to you?’ He responded with, ‘You had me at shirts, brother.’

Then he gave me his address and I thought, ‘Wow, this is sick, dude.’ Hard work and faith are the keys to whatever I do in life.”

J. Pierce Instagram — @iamjpierce Website — artbyjpierce.com Online store — https://arena. store/collections/j-pierce ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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‘SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY’ UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

Keeler’s is a comfortable neighborhood steakhouse

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

P

aul Keeler wanted a restaurant that was welcoming, affordable and comfortable for guests.

On New Year’s Eve 2018, he opened Keeler’s Neighborhood Steakhouse in Carefree — and he hasn’t looked back.

“I wanted a neighborhood steakhouse,” Keeler says. “A neighborhood steakhouse, to me, is much more than a special-occasion, steak-on-a-plate concept. There are many of those around the Valley, where you pay top dollar for the prime steak, $12 to $15 for asparagus or baked potato. It’s all a la carte.”

Keeler’s provides the same quality. He serves Certified Angus Beef brand, but each of his steaks and chops come with two sides of Yukon Gold mash, loaded baked potato, scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese, truffle fries, onion rings, risotto, green beans, Brussels sprouts, sauteed mushrooms, creamy corn or grilled asparagus.

“I wanted to provide a better value for the dollar, as far as the entrees were concerned,” Keeler says. “We have great seafood, chicken, pork and lamb items as well. There is a pretty diversified menu, that being said.”

Prime top sirloin baseball cut ($36), New York strip ($49), ribeye ($52), petite filet mignon ($49), filet mignon ($55), double-cut pork chop ($36), rack of lamb ($39), slow-roasted prime rib ($39 and $45), smoked half chicken ($26) and baby back ribs ($20 and $30) are all on

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the menu and “full of flavor,” according to the menu.

“We have several steaks,” Keeler says.

“The New York strip, ribeye and filets are all very popular. We have a baseball cut sirloin, which is the big center cut filet.

That’s a very popular steak.”

Soups and salads ranging from French onion soup ($10) to Keeler’s steak salad ($19) kickstart the meal. For those who want to eat light, there are small plates like lobster mac and cheese ($17), crab cakes ($17) or steak tartare ($15).

Sandwiches, which include burgers, lobster rolls and a prime rib French dip, come with truffle fries, onion rings or a chopped salad ($13 to $18).

Seafood fans will enjoy diver scallops, Atlantic salmon, Baja seabass and shrimp scampi ($29 to $36).

As of May 26, seasonal features are cowboy flat iron steak ($39), marinated pork tenderloin ($34) and braised short ribs ($34).

“We update the menu on a quarterly basis,” Keeler says. “We like to do features on a regular basis as well. We recently promoted a sommelier we had working for us who is developing the wine culture at Keeler’s.”

Diners will soon see an expanded wine

list and help with selecting bottles of wine that complement meals. Recently, Keeler’s rolled out its own Garrison Brothers bourbon, which the staff barrelages itself.

“We make sure we have something for everybody there, without blurring who we are, first and foremost,” Keeler says.

Atmosphere is everything, and Keeler’s has it, he says. The restaurant boasts a centrally located island bar, large adjacent patio, gorgeous courtyard, and rooftop deck designed for stargazing and acoustic performances.

“I wanted more of a neighborhood social restaurant that locals could come to one, two, three, four times a week for different, compelling reasons,” Keeler says.

“The patio that’s adjacent to the restaurant, the courtyard in the middle of the complex, is very desirable. The Starlight Rooftop, where it’s completely covered with a retractable awning, is heated in the winter and misted in the summer, has entertainment once a week.

The happy hour portion of the concept is where we get a lot of repeat clientele.”

The food and beverage industry is all Keeler has known. He started out early, around age 15, and eventually owned his own restaurant in the Boston/Upstate New York area. Keeler was recruited to work in the hotel industry.

Keeler was named corporate director of food and beverage for Beacon Hotels Corp. in July 1984 and was promoted to the position of vice president-food and beverage for the company two years later.

In February 1995, he joined the Doubletree Hotels Corp. as vice president-food and beverage and continued there until its merger with Promus Hotel Corp. in 1999.

That year, he joined Hilton, for which he was responsible for its strategic planning for food and beverage operations at more than 3,000 North American hotels. They were generating over $2.5 billion in annual food and

beverage revenue when he left in February 2007.

“I’m a recovering restaurateur,” he says with a laugh. “We went back into the restaurant business (after Hilton). It’s a family situation. I have two of my sons working with me.

“I’m originally from Northern California, and I spent a third of my life in Northern California, a third on the East Coast and a third in Arizona. It’s a good variety. I’ve enjoyed these destinations. I’m definitely a restaurant guy.”

Keeler Hospitality Group LLC now includes Spencer’s Omaha in Nebraska and three Liberty Station American Tavern and Smokehouse restaurants, two in Scottsdale and one in Madison, Wisconsin. Keeler intends to grow his company by opening a restaurant in either the West Valley and/or Norterra.

“I’m looking to grow primarily in Arizona, in the greater Phoenix area,” he says. “I am very energized by looking for the right location for the right concept.”

As for Keeler’s Neighborhood Steakhouse, Keeler was introduced to the Historic Spanish Village space by the previous landlord. He was immediately impressed and dreamt about what he could create.

“It’s like finding the right home when you’re looking for a house,” Keeler says.

“You immediately know. This one best exemplified a steakhouse. We wanted to be nonintimidating and very inviting so people knew they could come dressed any way — coming straight off the golf course — or they could dress up, depending on the occasion.”

Keeler’s Neighborhood Steakhouse Historic Spanish Village 7212 E. Ho Hum Road, Carefree 602.374.4784 keelerssteakhouse.com keelerhospitalitygroup.com

FLOATING FUN

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

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Salt River Tubing celebrates state’s natural resources

By Claire Spinner

S

alt River Tubing gives tubers the chance to celebrate their inner pirate and sail the “seven seas” without leaving Arizona.

Salt River Pirates, as part of USDA’s National Get Outdoors Day, is set for Saturday, June 12. It's one of many themed events throughout Salt River Tubing’s season.

Dressing up as a pirate is optional, and anyone can journey through the Tonto National Forest.

“We’ll all be dressed up in our best pirate costumes,” says Lynda Breault, Salt River Tubing’s vice president and director of marketing and human resources.

“We’re going to decorate our shuttle buses and really try to provide a carnival atmosphere to promote coming out and enjoying the river in an entirely new way.

And how perfect is it to be able to be a pirate as you float across the river?”

The lower Salt River was charted by Breault’s husband, Henry, 42 years ago.

After noticing that people often came to the river to tube but rarely respected the land, Henry lobbied for a national permit so he could transform it.

“He had parking lots and bathrooms put in and just made it so easy to go tubing without disturbing the environment,” she says.

“We’ve seen a lot of difference in the river just from pushing back parking from the river’s edge and encouraging litter prevention.”

Salt River Tubing has been granted the “Take Pride in America” Award, which encourages caring for public lands, four times since it opened in 1981. Breault says she and her husband are proud for their anti-littering campaigns.

“Our mission statement is to promote the protection and conservation of the

natural resources and environment of the lower Salt River recreation area, as well as encouraging fun,” Breault says.

Salt River Tubing operates on nearly 25 acres of land, and the tubing path stretches over 5 miles, making it a socially distanced option for escaping the heat. With more events happening later in the month and during July — like Superhero Splashdown on June 26 and Spooktacular Halloween on July 17 — there are plenty of opportunities for a tubing experience.

“We love to say that it is Arizona’s floating beach blast. With our events, we want to make sure it feels like there’s a great celebration going on.”

Salt River Tubing operates throughout the summer, and floating along the river has been an Arizonan tradition for nearly 50 years.

“We feel like, when you are floating on the lower Salt River, it’s like floating in the mini Grand Canyon of Tonto National Forest,” Breault says. “It’s just phenomenal. You get to lay back in a

tube and have a leisurely float and enjoy all of the wildlife. It truly is an Arizona tradition.”

While tubers are still required to wear masks during tube rentals and returns, as well as shuttle buses, Breault says she

is hoping to re-evaluate safety protocols before Salt River Pirates.

“We really are hoping that things will be back to normal this summer,” she says. “If we aren’t seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases a few weeks after

Memorial Day, it would be a really great sign for us and potentially a reason to loosen our mask requirements.”

For those who are still weary of being in communal spaces, Salt River Tubing provides open air and acres of space, making it one of the safest options for outdoor activities this summer, Breault says.

She expects people to be eager to get out on the river and hopes to see new faces this summer.

“It’s just a great place to bring your family and friends, especially because it’s naturally socially distanced. And it’s the perfect summer activity, because even when it’s 110 or 120 degrees outside, the water is still cool and refreshing and clean,” Breault says. “It’s tubing time, and I can’t think of a better way to cool off and just float.”

Salt River Tubing 9200 N. Bush Highway, Mesa 480.984.3305 saltrivertubing.com

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

SEEING THE POSITIVES Authority Zero says there’s no need to hide

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

A

uthority Zero has never been called “negative.”

Even during a pandemic, they kept their collective chin up, put their heads down and wrote what could be called their career album.

Set for release in June, Authority Zero’s album “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” takes a line from hide-and-seek to encourage fans to leave the COVID-19 depression behind and celebrate life.

During the pandemic, singer Jason DeVore saw families torn apart by political views and COVID-19. Now that the divide has somewhat subsided, it’s time to come out and be yourself again.

“The phrasing in the title track stems from the idea of ‘come out, come out, wherever you are,’” says DeVore, who co-writes with bassist Michael Spero.

“It encourages a focus on the positive side of 2020, while still maintaining awareness of the hardships and detriment of it all. People have been trapped within themselves, depressed inside of their houses and otherwise.

We’ve been separated both politically ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

and mentally between the left and right, which is very apparent. It’s a focus of come out, feel free and feel a sense of confidence to live with an unheavy heart and mind again.”

Authority Zero will preview those songs at the Marquee Theatre on Friday, June 18.

Fans will hear the title track rattling cages with DeVore’s encouraging lyrics, the frenetic blur of Christopher Dalley’s drumming and Spero’s bass, coupled with muscular guitar licks true to the playing style of new guitarist Eric Walsh.

Authority Zero brought along a few friends for the ride — Iagri Shuhei from Japan’s HEY-SMITH on “Ear to Ear,” while Pennywise’s Jim Lindberg guests on “Don’t Tear Me Down.”

For “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free,” Authority Zero broke from tradition and returned to producer Cameron Webb (Sum 41, Pennywise, A Day to Remember, Motörhead, Megadeth). Webb last worked with Authority Zero on 2013’s “The Tipping Point.”

“Working with a guy like Cameron is great because he’s just as invested in the writing process and the music in general as you are, the artist,” Spero says. “He was writing in there with us.

It felt like having a fifth member for a

little while.”

That “fifth member” enhanced the music and lyrics of Spero and DeVore, who hunkered down for three months during the pandemic’s grip to hash out the songs for “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free.”

The two were committed to the lyrics, melodies and music — until Webb came along. That’s not a bad thing, Spero says.

“We ended up with different lyrical content than we had originally decided,” Spero says. “Jason sends a type of message that he’s always looking at the positive side of things and challenges his listeners to grow in that way. Cameron was able to go in there and push it further.”

Webb brought the best out of Dalley, too, by letting him unleash his inner Keith Moon, who, ironically, is one of his heroes. The song “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” was written around one of Dalley’s drum ideas. Spero was so inspired that he penned the music overnight.

“I had been told by other producers to simply — keep it simple, stupid,” says Dalley, whose son is named after Moon.

“He told me to play the weirdest stuff I could think of. He told me to go off where necessary. That was something I

never experienced as a drummer before.”

Formerly of Pour Habit, Walsh is the latest addition to Authority Zero, having come into the band’s fold in February.

He’s never been far, however. Authority Zero took Walsh’s first band out on its first national tour. At age 18, he hung out in his van while Authority Zero hit the stage inside of legendary venues like Club Rio in Tempe, Arizona.

DeVore, Spero and Dalley knew Walsh was the one — right then and there — during auditions.

With its updated sound, “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” fits in with Authority Zero’s catalog, DeVore says.

“It’s more of the times of 2020,” he says. “We really tried to focus more on the positive side of things that came from the pandemic, rather than the negative that came out of it.

“We inflect lyrics and music in an uplifting manner. We wanted to shine a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Authority Zero w/Madd Dog Tannen and Miles to Nowhere WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 18 WHERE: Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Avenue, Tempe COST: Tickets start at $25; 13 and older INFO: luckymanonline.com

NO MORE ‘LUCKING OUT’ Sedona film festival gets cautious in wake of pandemic THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

By Connor Dziawura

S

edona International Film Festival organizers lucked out with last year’s event.

Set just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic led to mass shutdowns of businesses and cancellations of events, the event continued with little foresight as to what was to come — and came out “unscathed,” Executive Director Pat Schweiss says.

Organizers are hoping that success carries forward when the Sedona festival returns June 12 to June 20 for its 27th year — this time with the necessary safety precautions in place. It will feature nearly 180 films, whittled down from over 1,000 contenders, plus a variety of guests, conversations, workshops and more.

“We knew that we could not luck out again, have the festival in February and have it seem any sort of normal, so we got our sponsors, donors, key stakeholders together and said, ‘What does this look like?’” Schweiss admits.

The result of those discussions is a delayed, hybrid event, with films both new and old presented at venues such as Harkins Theatres Sedona 6, the Sedona Performing Arts Center at Sedona Red Rock High School, the Mary D. Fisher Theatre and the Enchantment Resort — as well as online. Workshops will also be hosted both in person and virtually.

Although the festival curated a selection of films consistent in size with pre-pandemic lineups, Schweiss says it’s a scaled-down affair otherwise, with reduced-capacity theaters, social distancing and eliminated wait lines.

Masks will be required unless seated in the theaters, and health and safety protocols will be followed.

“We didn’t scale it down quality or artistic content-wise, but we are limited to half to two-thirds capacity in the theaters we’re showing,” Schweiss explains.

That content is diverse, with features and shorts ranging from documentaries to narrative stories, whether they’re animated, foreign, a student production or otherwise. Schweiss estimates 80% of the films will be streamable for at-home viewers.

The long lineup of recent films the festival will screen includes “Queen Bees,” a comedy starring Ann-Margret, Ellyn Burstyn, James Caan, Jane Curtin, Christopher Lloyd and Loretta Devine; “One Moment,” actor Danny Aiello’s final film; the documentary “Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd”; “The Cave,” a narrative telling of the

2018 Thailand soccer team rescue that made headlines; and many more.

Among the other highlights of the festival is a screening of François Girard’s Academy Award-winning 1998 drama “The Red Violin,” which Schweiss calls “an extraordinary work of art about this violin that has this history of passing through all of these different owners over the years.”

“We have the woman coming who owns the violin, whose grandfather is the one that bought that violin in the auction that’s featured in the movie — and so we have the actual red violin,” Schweiss says, adding that the Saturday, June 12, screening will be followed that evening by a performance by classical musician Elizabeth Pitcairn on the “one-of-a-kind” 1720 Stradivarius violin, nicknamed the “Red Mendelssohn.”

Both will take place at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.

The next day, Sunday, June 13, the performing arts center will screen the documentary feature “In Memoriam.”

It will be followed by the documentary short “The Children Will Lead the Way,” produced by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. The films’ subject matters deal with mass shootings.

“What he (Yarrow) decided to do is go into the schools where there have been school shootings and work with students and work with the teachers to heal through music; so, you know, write a song, compose a song, record a song — not him but the students, but he’s working with them side by side,” Schweiss says.

The festival will bestow Yarrow with the Humanitarian Award for his track record of activism, and Schweiss says the school shooting survivors who are featured in his short will perform.

“That’s going to be kind of a nice little touching moment, because he wants people to see that there’s hope; that these schools, as tragic as it’s been, they’re doing their best to bounce back; and he could do his part of it, we all can do our part of it by offering some way to give these people hope,” Schweiss says.

Several Lifetime Achievement Awards will also be given out.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the Ritchie Valens biopic “La Bamba” is a Tuesday, June 15, retrospective viewing of the film from the performing arts center. Director Luis Miguel Valdez will receive one such award.

Then, Wednesday, June 16, the performing arts center will screen the 1975 Oscar-nominated musical “Funny Lady,” starring Barbra Streisand and James Caan, as part of a tribute to fashion designer Bob Mackie, whose

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Thou Shalt Not Hate

work will be on display. Mackie will participate in a live conversation on Thursday, June 17, and receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Saturday, June 19, a screening of the new film “East of the Mountains” will be followed with actor Tom Skerritt receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. It co-stars Mira Sorvino and local Sedona actor Jule Johnson.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, June 14, the Sedona International Film Festival will host the blindDANCE Film Festival, which provides film industry opportunities and training to visually impaired people, for a variety of screenings — including the locally shot documentary “See Sedona Blind” — at the performing arts center.

In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the American Foundation for the Blind, the selections will also feature a screening of the Academy Award-winning 1954 documentary “Helen Keller in Her Story” and a display of memorabilia from her museum in Alabama, such as the Oscar.

“There’s a film on this group of Mexican — I think it’s down in Mexico City — students that are all visually impaired, and they filmed their process of doing this big performance, and you would never, ever know these kids are blind,” Schweiss adds of “Color Sonrisa,” the documentary short that will kick off the daylong blindDANCE Film Festival lineup as part of what’s called the Able Artists Gallery.

“It’s just so inspiring and beautiful and wonderful, and they’re working on their visas now to see if the kids can come up and join us for a festival,” Schweiss says.

The Directors’ Choice Awards and

Audience Choice Awards will be presented on the final day, Sunday, June 20. The former is tallied by festival committees, while the latter is determined based on ballots handed out to audience members at screenings.

“Our film screeners are from all walks of life, because that’s what our audience members are,” Schweiss explains. “So, some are in the business; some are not.

Some are retirees; some are working people. Some are housewives; some are lawyers. It’s made up of a vast, broad array of people, because that’s what you experience in the theaters.”

Inevitably, Schweiss says, the committees that are selecting the films and the audiences who are then watching them have similar tastes.

“It’s pretty amazing how we’re pretty close,” Schweiss says. “Our committees are pretty close to how the audience ends up rating them.”

Sedona International Film Festival When: Saturday, June 12, to Sunday, June 20 Where: Harkins Theatres Sedona 6, 2081 W. Highway 89A; Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road; Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3; and the Enchantment Resort, 525 Boynton Canyon Road, plus other locations Cost: Prices vary; individual tickets, $15, go on sale June 7; packages on sale now Info: 928.282.1177, sedonafilmfestival.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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CITY

STYLE » ENVY » PASSION » FASHION » BEAUTY » DESIGN

FUN, FOOD AND COCKTAILS

Wok ’N Roll infuses music into dining

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

W

ith the Hard Rock Café’s closure, Wok ’N Roll is bringing a touch of music and food

to Phoenix.

The colorful Scottsdale Asian eatery opened a second location in Central Phoenix, sharing its creative mix of Chinese, sushi and sports with cocktails, classic rock and flamboyant memorabilia.

“Wok ’N Roll combines two of my passions: great Asian food and classic rock ’n’ roll,” says Scott Stuart, Wok ’N Roll founder and chief executive officer.

“When we decided to open in Scottsdale, the name was a natural. We serve delicious sushi and Chinese favorites and put a smile on our customers’ faces with a bit of edgy irreverence.”

The restaurant is 4,000 square feet, allowing Stuart to host events like a rock ’n’ roll burlesque show — with fire breathers, twirlers off the ceiling, singers, dancers and musicians — on the final Fridays of the month. Drag bingo from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturdays followed by karaoke.

Wok ’N Roll delivers a casual dining experience with build-your-own noodle or rice bowls, traditional Chinese favorites and sushi, along with an eclectic

list of starters, such as pot stickers, Big Eye Tuna Poke, chicken wings or a cucumber salad.

“Everyone loves the orange chicken,” Stuart says. “The other favorites are shrimp dishes, because we have large shrimp.

Another favorite is the honey walnut shrimp. After that, we have sushi, too.

“They come for the food and stay for the fun. That’s the catch phrase we’re going to start using. I love entertaining.

I want people to come and experience something fun. It takes them away from what they’re regularly doing. When we give you the check at the end of the meal, it’s presented on an eight-track tape. It’s fun watching the parents explain to the kids what an eight-track tape is.”

The Phoenix location’s walls are adorned with music memorabilia like a signed Bruce Springsteen guitar from the “Born in the U.S.A.” tour, signed lyrics from Snoop Dogg, an Aerosmith signed album and a Queen signed album.

Music inspired the cocktail menu: 2 Tickets 2 Paradise is Absolut Mandarin, Aperol, and Wok ’N Roll White Ale; Smokin’ in the Boys Room boasts as a rosemary smoke-infused cocktail featuring Japanese Suntory Toki Whisky with Lillet Blanc and Domine De Canton Ginger Liqueur; and a Bohemian Rhapsody begins with ginger vodka, blood orange liqueur, lemon juice, lemongrass syrup and club soda.

An accountant by trade, Stuart, in part, credits his work ethic to his youth

working at McDonald’s and even attending “Hamburger University.”

After college, he landed on Wall Street and then on to national and local radio companies on both coasts and Phoenix.

It was the golden era of radio, rolling out rock hits, and Stuart created countless marketing programs to promote his restaurant advertisers.

He grew to love the restaurant business and eventually combined his love of music and restaurants, opening his first, O’Mally’s Sports, Spirits & Grill in Phoenix.

After finding success, Stuart stepped out of the business to raise his daughter.

Then, in 2018, he returned, buying the former J’s Kaiyo Sushi in Scottsdale, changing the concept and adding the new name Wok ’N Roll. Business went well until the pandemic hit. But his radio promotion experience also kicked in.

“Last year, when we were allowed to offer takeout only, I’d DJ on the patio in Scottsdale,” says Stuart, who’s planning a third restaurant in the Roosevelt District. “People gathered in the parking lot. Then I did pig roasts for fans to recall the scents of our kitchen. More people gathered. As a result, when we were able to increase occupancy, we came out of COVID strong.”

Wok ’N Roll 4412 N. Miller Road, Scottsdale 480.427.2526 2801 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix 602.230.2960 woknrollaz.com Instagram: @woknrollchinesebar Facebook: @woknrollaz

‘BLOSSOM TO BOTTLE’ THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

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Olive mill is a ‘fun little experience’

By Annika Tomlin

P

erry Rea visited his parents in Arizona and fell in love with the slew of olive trees growing near their home.

“We went back to Bloomfield Hills,” Rea says about the Michigan town in which he lived. “We were at an Irish pub and my wife looked at me and said, ‘Hey, why don’t we make extra virgin olive oil in Arizona?’”

That simple question eventually led to the now-successful Queen Creek Olive Mill, which was founded by retired automotive parts Chief Executive Officer Rea and his wife, Brenda, in 2005. They packed up their four kids — and one on the way — 23 years ago.

“Our business model is agrotourism or ‘agrotainment,’” Rea says. “We’re a farm, and our tagline is ‘from blossom to bottle.’”

Rea doesn’t solely categorize his business as a farm or a restaurant.

Rather, he calls it “an experience” that involves people “coming here to learn everything about extra virgin olive oil.

We’re making an overall presentation of what extra virgin olive oil is.”

The Queen Creek location houses the olive mill farm. Staff works there, too, packing products while guests shop in the market. Dining and events are hosted outside.

Tours of the grounds are available.

Rea’s staff show how the company makes its olive oils, balsamic vinegars and other products.

“Everything is from scratch,” Rea says.

“We try to grow as much as we can that we serve to people or that we put in our olive oil and our vinegars.”

Eight years ago, Rea expanded his company by opening a store within the Marketplace at Kierland Commons.

“I would have to say (the Scottsdale location) is an olive oil-vinegar marketplace on steroids because it has everything that we have (in Queen Creek), including all of our local products and a full range of wines,” Rea says. “It’s a fun little experience, too.”

Queen Creek Olive Mill sells an abundance of olive oils, vinegars, stuffed olives, tapenades, sauces and pantry items, as well as bath and body products called Olivespa, created by Brenda.

“It’s a cool product line, too, and it’s one of the fastest-growing segments on our business — it’s bath and body products,” Rea says. “Starting in October, we are going to open our first Olivespa store in the Epicenter at Agritopia in Gilbert.”

Olivespa’s products range from face oils and olive oil soaps to lip and foot balms, as well as dog shampoo.

“Her body oils and her face oils are very popular,” Rea says. “Everything is made with high polyphenol olive oil, so it’s very healthy products.”

The No. 1 seller is the extra virgin olive oil, “followed closely by our balsamic vinegars that we craft here in Arizona,” according to Rea. “Things like our fig balsamics and strawberry balsamics (come second),” Rea says. “The extra virgin olive oils are always No. 1, followed by the Meyer

lemon olive oil and the garlic olive oil — things that are very useful in the kitchen and are easy to use.”

Rea’s personal favorite is the robust olive oil that gives off a “nice peppery, grassy flavor, and it’s made with primarily green olives, so it’s a really nice oil.”

“When it comes to my vinegars, I would have to say my favorite — believe it or not, but — my white balsamic,” Rea says. “I know it doesn’t sound quite that exciting, but it’s a really good complementary product when you are making a salad dressing.

“When it comes to something more fun, I would probably have to say my habanero from Hell Stuffed Olives.”

Since opening in 2005, Rea says one of the toughest parts about being in the agrotourism industry is “listening to your customer and understanding your business.”

“Everything is hard, but you have to understand what you are doing and understand what the end results need to be, and you got to have fun doing it,” Rea says.

“My favorite part about being in this industry is just watching people come here, and they walk up to me and they say, ‘Wow, this is so neat.’ That’s just very fulfilling.”

FROM COVID-19 TO THE FUTURE While several businesses closed arounds the world, Queen Creek Olive Mill stayed open after slightly pivoting in mid-March.

“Because we were categorized as a gourmet grocer, we were allowed to stay open,” Rea says. “We started to bring in

bulk flour, bulk eggs, bulk rice, beans, all kinds of things, and putting them in smaller packages, and we started selling that.

“We morphed into a little bit of a grocery store with everything that people were looking for but couldn’t find.”

Rea considers himself lucky because nearby residents were sticking around, so the business flourished last year. He attributes that, as well, to the increase of rooftops around Queen Creek.

In the next 18 months, Rea hopes to expand the mill to make it “a little more customer friendly.”

“We’ve been very fortunate, and we continue to be very fortunate,” he says.

As mask mandates diminish and COVID-19 cases subside, Rea hopes to bring back popular festivals celebrating the corn season and the garlic week in September around harvesting season.

“I guess the biggest thing is that we are going to get back to where we were before, running smaller festivals so we can have a crowd come in, although we still have a ton of crowds coming in, so I’m not too worried,” Rea says.

Queen Creek Olive Mill 25062 S. Meridian Road, Queen Creek 480.888.9290 queencreekolivemill.com

Scottsdale Marketplace 7122 E. Greenway Parkway, Suite 120, Scottsdale 480.361.9860 queencreekolivemill.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

DUSTING OFF THE COBWEBS Dirty Honey kicking off tour in Tempe

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

D

irty Honey guitarist John Notto was sure the band had a hit on its hands with its self-titled album, which hit streaming services April 23.

Notto, along with bassist Justin Smolian, has stats to back that up.

“Dirty Honey” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts.

“We’re a little upset that we’re not No. 1,” Smolian says in jest.

“We’re proud,” Notto adds. “I think we felt really strongly about it before it

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went out. I’m glad that people agreed.”

The Aerosmith-inspired Dirty Honey is kicking off its tour on Thursday, June 3, at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. The band is looking forward to performing after a pandemic-forced break from touring.

“You can expect a lot of solos,” Smolian says. “It’s the first time playing a show in a year. We’ll dust off the cobwebs. I’m wondering if I still have it.”

“We’re going to squeeze in as much solo time as there is singing,” Notto adds with a laugh. “I don’t know how we’re going to do that yet. We’re just going to try to take the filter off completely and go at it.”

Since “When I’m Gone,” Dirty Honey’s 2019 debut single that became the first song by an unsigned artist to land at No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, the act has injected adrenaline to rock radio.

They’ve opened for The Who, Guns N’ Roses and Slash; sold out their first headline tour; and saw all three of their singles go Top 10 on the rock charts.

Notto says this is the first release he can listen to all the way through. He hopes Dirty Honey fans can do the same.

“I’m going to aim high,” he says. “I hope the album feels like (AC/DC’s) ‘Back in Black.’ That’s the way I feel about that record. I think it’s a perfect record. I think we did it.”

That said, Notto says he neglected “Dirty Honey (EP).”

“I listened to it while we were making it, and I was very proud,” he says. “Once we birthed it and hit the road, I didn’t put it on. Since then, we’ve grown. I think we got closer (on the album) to what we wanted to do.”

One of the best songs on the album is 1960s-inspired “The Morning,” with its

chugging guitars and provocative lyrics.

“That was a song I pushed on everyone for a long time,” Notto says.

Singer Marc LaBelle wasn’t sold, however.

“I think Marc had a really tough time with it for a long time,” Notto says about the lyric-writing process. “That was the last one he finished lyrically. He keeps saying, ‘We’re never playing it live.’”

Smolian adds, “I said, ‘You have one line, I think.’ He was at his wit’s end.”

Notto says fans of “The Morning” are a testament to the strength of the record.

“That song is streaming the least,” he adds. “I think I’ve had every song as someone’s favorite at this point.”

Notto played a Gibson ES 345 on the song, and he has regrets.

“The guitar tone on that solo is so bitching,” he says. “I don’t know why I didn’t use that on any of the other songs.”

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ASPIRING TO NEW ‘HEIGHTS’ THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

Emotional, upbeat film recalls old Hollywood

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

“

In the Heights” stars Olga Merediz and Jimmy Smits say their musical masterpiece is the perfect anecdote to a rough 18 months.

“It’s balanced with emotional and deep moments, but there’s a lot of happiness and joy,” says Merediz, who plays the matriarch Abuela Claudia.

“The musical numbers are just right.

The music cuts right through to you, and Jon Chu has done an amazing, amazing job with his incredible visuals. I think people are really going to resonate with the characters, and I think people are really going to enjoy it.”

With a wide smile, Smits says “ditto,” but he takes it a step further.

“We’ve also had to reckon with a lot of social issues in the past year and a half,” says Smits, who plays Kevin Rosario, a father who butts heads with his ambitious daughter.

“We’re hoping that this film provides joy. Musicals tend to be uplifting and inspirational, but the universal themes resonate very strongly. I think this film is something all audiences will be able to grasp.”

Set to hit screens on Friday, June 11, “In the Heights” fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music and lyrics with director Chu’s lively eye for storytelling. Chu also directed 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians.”

The film takes viewers to the streets of Washington Heights, where the scent of cafecito caliente hangs in the air

outside of the 181st Street subway stop.

Led by bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, “A Star is Born”), the tight-knit, multicultural community shares its dreams and wishes with each other — in the hopes of paving a way out, while maintaining its ties to Washington Heights.

“I hope people recognize themselves and see themselves and feel proud,” Merediz says.

Smits adds that viewers mustn’t live in Washington Heights to feel for the characters.

“I’m sure you had your nanas, your grandmothers and that,” he says. “The city might be different, and the cultural specificity might be a little different, but the feelings of community and family, and how the generation who comes here from another place has expectations for their (children and grandchildren) are all the same.

“Those are universal things.”

Merediz starred as Abuela Claudia on the stage version of “In the Heights.”

She’s excited to spread her character’s

word among the mass of movie lovers.

“I wanted to give Claudia the platform she deserves,” says Merediz, referring to her character’s age. “She’s a character who is overlooked in our society. It’s just such a youth-oriented society. It gives me such pleasure to give her that platform.”

She explains she enjoyed translating the stage version for film, although it was a little challenging.

“The difference is, on stage, you’re delivering to the last row and you’re doing things chronologically. In a film, everything is very internal, and you shoot out of sequence. That is a challenge for an actor to keep your place, to where you are to keep that flow and that intensity of the moment in the song. It was definitely challenging, but I was up for the challenge. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“In the Heights” will be available in cinemas and on HBO Max. Smits and Merediz say that although it’s available to watch at home, “In the Heights” is worthy of a trip to the movie theater.

“The film has to be seen in the cinema,” Merediz says. “These huge numbers are epic, and they need the biggest screen you have. I know in the past year we were in lockdown. We didn’t have a choice.

“I think it’s a good idea to have the option to see it in the movies and also at home if you don’t have the ability to go to the cinema. I hope people see it in the theater.”

The singing and dancing numbers can translate to a cellphone or computer, but Smits agrees — go to the cinema.

“Jon’s chosen to give these visual flourishes to old Hollywood,” he adds.

“It takes your breath away. He really did such a great job. I hope we bring richness, light and happiness to their (cinemagoers’) lives. After the horrible year that we’ve had, people are ready for a film like this.”

“In the Heights” Opens Friday, June 11, in theaters and HBO Max

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ARTS

CULTURE » THEATER » DANCE » GALLERY » DRAMA » VISION

MOVING BEYOND COVID-19

The Phoenix Theatre Company reopens indoors for the summer

By Bridgette M. Redman

A

s the summer heat rolls in, the Phoenix Theatre Company is taking its season indoors and welcoming back its audience with three small-cast shows.

Several things have made this possible, says Michael Barnard, the company’s producing artistic director.

“A good portion of the population in Maricopa County is vaccinated, and the artists are now fully vaccinated as well,” Barnard says.

The Phoenix Theatre Company has also gone above and beyond the call of what the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and the stage union, Actors Equity, are asking for. It replaced air filters, cleaned air ducts and added special filters in the rooms that will house patrons and artists.

The system removes the air from inside, draws in fresh air from outside and circulates it around the room.

The artists have also been kept in their own bubbles as they rehearse the shows that will be brought indoors: • “Becoming Dr. Ruth” runs through June 27.

• “Daddy Long Legs” runs from June 23 to July 18.

• “Pump Boys and Dinettes” runs from July 23 to August 22.

Barnard says the plan was to start small for the first shows indoors, so he went through many one-person and two-person shows that the theater hadn’t done before.

FOCUSING ON POSITIVE, SMALL SHOWS The first show, “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” attracted him because of the talk show host’s fascinating life. When Dr. Ruth Westheimer, born Karola Ruth Siegel, was 9 years old, her mother and her aunt put her on a train in 1939 so she could escape Dusseldorf. She never saw her parents again; both were killed in concentration camps.

“That’s just the beginning of an amazing, colorful story,” Barnard says.

“I was looking for powerful heroines and heroes in our everyday world that had a positive ending, showed strength of character and strength of integrity.

I felt like we could all use a breath of positivity.”

Westheimer is America’s most famous sex therapist. The one-person show tells her journey from her flight from the Nazis in the Kindertransport to her joining Haganah in Jerusalem as a sniper and her arriving in America as a single mother.

“Daddy Long Legs” is a two-person musical about an orphan who is sent to college by a benefactor who chose to remain anonymous.

Directed by Robbie Harper, it follows Jerusha Abbott’s college experience as she learns to be a writer. The benefactor, whom she affectionately calls “Daddy Long Legs,” requires that she write him monthly. The audience watches her become a fiercely independent, intelligent woman. “‘Daddy Long Legs’ has a great message of caring for someone you did not know and the amazing places where love can be found,” Barnard says.

Directed by Barnard, the third show, “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” is a country music fest. L.M. and Jim run a filling station in Grand Ole Opry country.

They are the eponymous Pump Boys.

Across the way is a diner operated by Rhetta and Prudie. Together, they deliver a toe-tapping evening of countrywestern songs on guitar, piano, bass and even a few kitchen utensils. “‘Pump Boys and Dinettes’ is for fun,” Barnard says. “It’s just a joyful ride.

It is great summer fare that is highly entertaining, and you don’t have to think about it.”

Barnard says he put a lot of thought into the shows that might give the audience hope.

RECOVERING FROM THE PANDEMIC Barnard says reopening first outdoors and then in the building has been important to the organization. He says that during the past year they tried to maintain the staff as much as possible and to take care of their employees the best they could.

“Reopening means a great deal to us,” Barnard says. “It allowed us to bring staff back. Even when we had to furlough, we paid for everyone’s health insurance, so no one had to worry about their health

“Becoming Dr. Ruth”

insurance during COVID.” He says new protocols designed to keep everyone safe have been implemented. If actors are two weeks out from their full vaccination, they can rehearse without a mask if the filter system is in the room. The director and stage manager wear masks during rehearsals.

Phoenix Theatre Company will also continue to ask audiences to wear masks and have temperature checks when they arrive. There will be social distancing in public areas, but not in the theater seats.

“We felt like from everything we could read and see, that it is a good time to try to safely go back inside,” Barnard says.

He thinks it may take time for everyone to feel comfortable about returning. However, people will be more apt to wash their hands and wear a mask when they have been ill.

For now, he is happy to invite theater lovers to see shows by the 102-year-old theater company.

“I’m excited about seeing people again,” Barnard says. “I’m excited for the artists. It is part of their DNA to entertain, to communicate, to educate or just to provide an escape. That’s what they do, and it has been very difficult to be able to do that. I think it will be exciting — and maybe a little taste of normalcy — as we ramp up and grow back.”

The Phoenix Theatre Company’s 2021 summer season “Becoming Dr. Ruth” runs through June 27 “Daddy Long Legs” runs from June 23 to July 18 “Pump Boys and Dinettes” runs from July 23 to August 22 WHERE: The Phoenix Theatre, 1825 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix COST: Tickets start at $41 INFO: phoenixtheatre.com

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE Theater Works offers dark, immersive journey into Wonderland THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

By Bridgette M. Redman

F

or some theater companies, the pandemic opened doors to long-considered innovative productions.

For Theater Works, that meant a journey into the wild world of immersive theater that took their artists and audience down a rabbit hole to the world of Wonderland.

The first two trips, “Curiouser & Curiouser” and “A Curiouser Nutcracker,” sold out. Theater Works conducted surveys asking audiences what they wanted next.

The answer?

A darker trip.

“That’s what ‘Curiouser & Curiouser Too’ is,” says Cate Hinkle, Theater Works’ managing director.

“It’s mostly the same concept — you’re in Wonderland and you’re walking through the different realms of Wonderland — but there are changes throughout.”

The show runs through July 25.

Reservations are required through theaterworks.org.

“Curiouser & Curiouser Too” is, she says, a different story than previous efforts. For example, instead of a beach, there is a dungeon. The Red Queen wishes to release the evil Jabberwocky, and it is up to the audience, who play the role of Alice, to stop that.

spaces, offices into dressing rooms, and the rehearsal space became one of the realms.

Thirteen rooms were transformed into places in Wonderland.

Theater Works’ producing artistic director, Chris Hamby, had attended immersive theater in New York, San Francisco and LA. He thought the pandemic would be the perfect time to pivot to immersive theater.

Immersive theater performances are naturally socially distanced — each show has 12 audience members who are in different rooms that were disinfected between each scene.

“It was one of those things that just made sense as a response to COVID,” Hinkle says. “We couldn’t do normal theater, but with this we could control the spaces and the group sizes, and it fit very well within our constraints.”

CREATING SOMETHING DIFFERENT When Theater Works received its first PPP loan in May, it relied on the staff to create an immersive experience. Even those

ticketing side, we just threw out the rule book. We wanted to target a younger demographic, as the experience-driven night out was something the younger demographic was interested in. We targeted our market and rebranded.”

Because “Curiouser & Curiouser” was such a departure, Theater Works created a new brand with its own logo, website and ticketing.

“We did small groups, and there

IMMERSIVE, INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE In immersive theater, the audience moves through the sets, interacts directly with actors, and can sometimes have an effect on the story’s outcome.

It became well-known in the United States when “Sleep No More” opened in New York. That was an interactive version of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” that took place over several floors of a former hotel.

Theater Works repurposed its building for the “Curiouser & Curiouser” experience.

It turned dressing rooms into performance

who hadn’t been involved in production before became part of the team.

First, Hamby selected each room, and the team created a scenario. Then they wrote the script, working alongside designers, actors and technicians.

“It was a lot of trial and error,” Hinkle says. “Then, on the marketing and

were timed entries,” Hinkle says. “That was all new to everyone, and even on the designer side, immersive theater is quite different than typical theater. You are so much more intimate with your environment. We had to think about that intimacy for the individualized audience experience.”

The staff worked on the show for four months. Normally, a show like this would take two years to prepare.

“This was the thing everyone was working on, so we had dedicated time and space, which is not typical,” Hinkle says. “We were all motivated by the creativity and the newness. This was super cool and exciting. We are the first in Arizona to do this type of theater.”

RAMPING UP THE GOTHIC Now in its third iteration, “Curiouser & Curiouser Too” is darker than the first show, which isn’t recommended for kids.

Hinkle says the first show’s light-

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hearted elements have grown gothic and dark. The Queen’s throne room isn’t a fun garden, but more of a vampire lair.

Each room has been overhauled, and there are different choreographies, dance sequences and an all-new look.

“Even if you saw the show before, this will be a totally different experience,” Hinkle says.

There is a guided path, but groups will split and have their own experiences.

When the audience arrives, they are given a card suit that determines their journey, which includes escape rooms where attendees must solve puzzles to get a clue that allows them to leave.

Theater Works is eager to unleash “Curiouser & Curiouser Too” because of the audience’s enthusiastic response to previous offerings. For many people, “Curiouser & Curiouser” was the first time leaving their home since the pandemic started.

“There’s been so much joy that has come out of this production,” Hinkle says. “The ‘I never thought theater could be like this’ reaction has been amazing. People who aren’t theater people realized that theater doesn’t have to be sitting in their seats being a passive observer. They can participate.”

It is that enthusiasm that she hopes will draw new audiences—audiences who can experience something new and different.

“It’s fun, it’s engaging, it is something that will expand your mind and expand your creativity,” Hinkle says. “You will never regret it. It will be the best thing that you have experienced in your life.”

“Curiouser & Curiouser Too” WHEN: Through July 25, with three to nine shows a day Fridays to Sundays WHERE: Peoria Center for the Performing Arts, 10580 N. 83rd Drive, Peoria COST: $46 INFO: theaterworks.org ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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‘THE WORLD OF BOB DYLAN’ UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

Tulsa professor shows the troubadour’s sides in new book

By Alex Gallagher

U

niversity of Tulsa professor Sean Latham joined other music lovers to pen “The World of Bob Dylan,” which was released on Dylan’s 80th birthday.

“The book itself brings together 25 different contributors, each of whom is explaining their version of Bob Dylan,” says Latham, who served as editor.

Latham is the first to admit he’s not the biggest Dylan fan, but he does appreciate the legendary musician and the impact he made on music.

“I was fortunate in the sense that Bob Dylan came to me rather than me going to him,” Latham says.

At the University of Tulsa, Latham is a James Joyce expert who edits James Joyce Quarterly. The executive secretary of the Joyce Foundation, Latham was selected to run the Bob Dylan Institute

by University of Tulsa President Brad Carson because of — as he describes— his ability to focus on one person.

“We knew we wanted the institute to focus on all of the ways Dylan might matter,” Latham says. “This is, in my view, the most important and most influential artistic figure of the latter half of the 20th century.

“This is, in part, because many other artists talk about what Dylan did for them,” Latham says.

Latham admires how Dylan’s songs did not just impact music, but they changed how the public speaks about the medium.

“His music doesn’t just live in the history of pop, it lives in the history of the civil rights movement,” Latham says.

“It lives in conversations about theater, film and performance and ideas relating to justice.”

When it came to creating “The World of Bob Dylan,” Latham knew he could approach it in many ways. However, only one was right.

“We wanted an edited collection like this with a grand title like ‘The World of Bob Dylan’ to say there is no one Bob Dylan to get your mind around,” Latham says. “He changed too much, he made too much music, and his impact is far too broad.”

Latham structured this by delegating chapters to different writers, and some really jumped off the page, he says.

“I conceived each of the chapter titles and then approached people who I thought could write in really interesting, thoughtful and accessible ways about those topics,” Latham says.

Ann Powers, NPR’s music critic, wrote an essay on Dylan’s body and how his ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

body and performance had changed over the course of his career.

“No one has really written their thoughts about the different ways that Dylan has inhabited his body from being that kind of soft, almost puppy dogish folk singer he was at the start of his career through that really angular body that we came to know in the ’60s,” Latham says.

“It’s a really interesting (take) on Dylan’s changing performance of masculinity on stage over the course of his career.”

Latham was also impressed by Devon Powers’ take on Bob Dylan “the brand.”

Powers is formerly of the Village Voice and is a marketing professor at Temple University. He explores how Dylan manipulated his own stardom to produce a branding effect.

“The impetus behind the book was to pull all of these different views and create a fractal view of Dylan,” Latham says.

Latham had a secondary motivation for this book.

“It was essential that this book be conceived, in part, as an introduction to Dylan,” Latham says. “We want this book to be a way for people to sort of say I understand why Bob Dylan matters to the history of rock.”

“The World of Bob Dylan” fills a niche for fans who have been asking for an extensive book like this.

“There’s been a demand for this kind of book,” Latham says. “This book operates as a hinge. This book and others like it are the ones that are going to pivot us from fandom to trying to take full stock of Dylan for the next 80 years.”

Latham hopes readers come away with an appreciation for Dylan the artist.

“When you teach and you look back over an era, you get three or four people who become the representatives of that era, and that’s probably what we’re going to have for pop music from the second half of the 20th century,” Latham says.

“Dylan is going to be that guy. Maybe also Prince and the Beatles. These are going to be the touchstones that we dwell on when we talk about what happened in music and its relationship to literature and culture from 1960 to 2001.”

While Latham hopes the book will make its way onto the shelves of Dylan’s fans, he encourages teachers and professors to use it as an educational tool.

“This book is written to also be used in classrooms as well,” Latham says. “If you’re teaching a literature class, there’s a chapter in here about Dylan and literature that will give you the sense of why you need to know something about Dylan.”

“The World of Bob Dylan” premiered in the United Kingdom first, but Latham ensured the book would be released on an important day.

“We put this out as a kind of birthday present, and it also came out in conjunction with the announcement of the Bob Dylan archive,” Latham says.

“Another thing that makes this book important is that we have access to this material. We’re going to have access to see how the songs got made, who he was exchanging letters with, and we can see and listen to the studio tapes.”

In the meantime, Latham hopes that readers will do much more than just read his book.

“I suppose the one thing that we

would hope is that people would read the book and go back and listen to the music,” Latham says. “Even as you read a book like this and get a sense of all the different entangled ways that we can think of Dylan from a marketing standpoint to the way that he was inf luenced by gospel music and shaped how gospel music could intersect with rock, through it all, you still need to go back and hear the music itself.”

“The World of Bob Dylan” Available in bookstores now. https://dylan.utulsa.edu/theworld-of-bob-dylan-book

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

DINING

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EAT » EXPERIENCE » INDULGE » SAVOR » DEVOUR » NOSH

WHAT A BEAUT!

Vegan burger eatery heads north to Phoenix

By Annika Tomlin

B

efore Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers, Ari Shapiro was inspired to create a vegan burger after hiking with his partner,

Kerry Lane.

He craved a juicy burger and fries, with one stipulation — the patty had to be vegan.

“I’ve been plant based for almost 20 years,” Shapiro says.

“My partner, who is a vegan macrobiotic chef, and I were hiking in Canada, and we were craving In-NOut or Shake Shack. We just started wondering why no one is making kind of a veggie version of Shake Shack — juicy, sloppy fries, Coke and cheap beer. We thought it was a great idea. We believe in it.”

After years of development, Shapiro and Lane opened Beaut Burger in Tucson in 2018. Phoenix’s location followed in March of this year.

“We were thinking Austin (as a second location) because my partner lived there before Tucson,” Shapiro says. “Austin is a very vibrant restaurant scene. Over the years, we started noticing a ton of vegan customers coming from Phoenix — we’re right off the interstate.

“The more Phoenix people we spoke to the more it just seemed like it was a good market up here for us. There were people who already knew about us, and it’s actually a strong plant-based scene up here.”

Shapiro stresses that, unlike other vegan or vegetarian burger options, Beaut doesn’t offer “mock meat” or “textured soy protein.”

“We are not trying to mimic meat.

That was never the intention,” Shapiro says. “The intention was to recreate the hamburger-fry classic experience.

“We put as much thought into the patty, the bun, the fries, the drinks — all of it — because it was a holistic approach. What makes ours unique is that it’s unprocessed. It’s based on the idea of macrobiotics, which is like a balanced blend of whole vegetables, grains, spices, legumes. It’s gluten free.”

The Phoenix location has a sweet spot,

too. It features Bristlecone Soft Serve and Shake. Shapiro says he and Lane thought it would be “cool” for customers to grab a shake or sundae while they were there.

Bristlecone offers a housemade waffle cone and seven shakes and soft serves, including the Grand Royal with vanilla soft serve, banana, peanut butter and nuts, and the High Violet shake, created with vanilla soft serve, white chocolate and lavender. Add rum to make it an adult shake.

Besides Bristlecone, there aren’t too many differences between the Tucson and Phoenix locations, Shapiro explains.

“We were always intrigued about doing a soft serve, shake, nondairy concept in Tucson, but we didn’t have the space for it,” Shapiro says. “We’re in a shipping container down there and our kitchen is like a shoebox, and all of this stuff takes a lot of equipment.

“Coming up here, there was really a nice opportunity to do the Bristlecone program. All of our seating in Tucson is outdoors because we are in the shipping container garden. Here, it is all indoors, except for our small patio. It’s like inverted seating.”

The top-selling items, which Shapiro jokes “keep the lights on,” include fries;

cauli bites; and the B4 Burger made with griddled mushrooms, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and mayo along with a vegan patty and a choice of bun.

“I came into this being a fry obsessive, and I think our fries are phenomenal,” Shapiro says.

He calls it “the perfect fry.” The kitchen uses expeller-pressed sunflower oil on the hand-cut, blanched potatoes.

“I’m a big fan of our fries,” he says.

Shapiro also loves the B5 Burger made with zhoug (jalapeno pesto), ranch, cucumber and lettuce.

“My new favorite is the Fooled Pork, the jackfruit sandwich,” Shaprio says. “I’m blown away at how great that came out.”

FROM BEGINNING TO NOW As a self-proclaimed “word nerd,” Shapiro wanted his newest business to have a unique and creative name to match his other ventures, including Sparkroot, a veggie coffee shop, and Falora, a plantcentric wood-fired pizza joint.

“I’m particularly fond of made-up words, or if I can’t make up a word, my second favorite option is like a defunct word that used to be in linguistic use and has kind of fallen off,” Shapiro says.

“Beaut sort of fell into that category.

It was used a lot in the ’50s and ’60s as

slang. Farmers would say, ‘Look at my new tractor. Ain’t she a beaut?’ It’s used a lot in New Zealand and Australia, same kind of slang.”

As a shortened version of beautiful, Shapiro says he and Lane thought “Beaut Burger just flowed so well.”

“Even though we are a plant-based, fully vegan restaurant, we designed this for vegans, but we really designed this for omnivores,” says Shapiro, who adds it was important to create a buzz about its fries and burgers.

“In Tucson, some of our biggest fans are carnivores, and we are starting to see that a little up here, too,” Shapiro adds.

“It’s always the most pleasing part to me when people who aren’t necessarily vegan love the food here. Really we just want to be considered good food.”

That said, the hardest part about creating Beaut Burger was persuading prospective guests to believe in the concept, according to Shapiro.

“Three years ago, most people didn’t know about Beyond and Impossible.

That is only within the last couple years,” Shapiro says.

“I think the hardest part of year one in Tucson was proving the concept and sticking with it. It was embraced by a large part of the Tucson community, but it also took time to kind of ingratiate ourselves to the city at large.”

Shapiro knows that not everyone will like the fully vegan menu but says “the people who like it love it, but there are some people who think it’s not 100% for them.”

In terms of the Phoenix location, Shapiro says the lease was signed prior to COVID-19. However, after the pandemic hit, he was forced to ask “some existential questions” about if he should move forward in the dwindling restaurant industry.

“It proved to be really difficult around all of the complexities around COVID, but it’s working,” Shapiro says.

Beaut Burger 3301 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix 480.239.6983 beautburger.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

ROLLS AND BOWLS

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

Former Marquee GM pivots to lobster, sushi food truck

By Connor Dziawura

I

t could be said that things have come full circle for former Marquee Theatre general manager Donny Johnson.

Previously a professional bass fisherman and full-time angler, the longtime Mesa resident pivoted to the entertainment industry over the past several decades. He views working at the Electric Ballroom as a sort of entry point, and then in 1995 he launched his own music bar, the Bigfish Pub. After running the joint for about a decade, he took a job at the Marquee Theatre. But last year, the pandemic hit — and he began to rethink things.

Now, he’s back in business for himself, having recently hit the road in his Rockin Rollz Lobster & Sushi mobile culinary venue. The venture incorporates his two backgrounds: In the trailer is a seafood operation with a menu ranging from lobster rolls and tacos to poke bowls and sushi, while the rear is equipped with a stage for performances.

“The whole idea was to do something unique, something that had never been done before, and still — I searched all over the internet — I cannot find any sushi trucks,” Johnson says. “I can’t find any food trucks or food trailers that offer live music anywhere, so it was really my own idea, and it was my concept, and there we are. So far, it’s just been amazing. The response has been unbelievable.”

Relationships are fundamental to Rockin Rollz. Johnson’s girlfriend Katie McAtee is his business partner, and his longtime friend Ricky Gonzales is the sushi chef. Johnson says he has known

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the latter for 25 years, some of that time spent as on-and-off roommates.

“Really talented guy,” Johnson describes Gonzales. “When it comes to sushi, (he is) really smart, knows a lot of stuff about it, and he was the culinary trainer at Kona (Grill). … But he also cooked for the Diamondbacks and he’s cooked for some other places. I met him when he was at Ichiban, which was on University and McClintock. … It’s where everybody went for sushi back then. It was a big party spot.”

The two spoke about opening their own place with live music, Johnson recalls, but life got in the way. Busy with a demanding position at the Marquee — at one point he recalls the venue booking 180 shows a year, not to mention the late nights working and the strain on his dating life — Johnson admits “it never happened.”

But last year, when COVID-19 hit, things changed. Isolating at home with McAtee, sitting out on their patio gazing at the pool over drinks, Johnson says she asked, “Do you really want to do this at 60, or would you rather have a little fun and do something you really want to do for your next five or six years before you decide to retire?”

His response, inspired in part by McAtee’s home state of Maine and her “amazing” recipes, was they should sell lobster rolls and sushi. Add to that a live music stage and he found a way to combine his two interests.

“Thus came Rockin Rollz Lobster & Sushi,” he says.

Rockin Rollz’s menu is split into a handful of categories, loaded with a variety of sushi rolls (classic or new style), the poke bowl, lobster tacos and,

of course, the lobster rolls. Complete an order by adding chips and a drink.

Johnson doesn’t have to think twice about bestsellers so far. The AZ Rockin Roll — lobster, avocado, cucumber and Japanese aioli topped with shrimp, drawn butter, ponzu and sea salt — is “by far” the most popular of the sushi rolls. But lobster rolls are also selling well, he adds; he recommends eating them cold to get a good sense of the taste.

“We keep it simple,” he says. “Either you get a Connecticut style, which is lobster with (warm) clarified butter, or you get a Katie’s Way, which is cold lobster with this sauce that Katie makes which has (scallions), chopped celery, (Japanese) mayo, salt and pepper and lemon juice.”

But it’s the lobster tacos — lobster, cabbage, pico de gallo and spicy Japanese aioli on locally made tortillas — of which Johnson is most proud.

“I think they’re just amazing,” he says, citing a recent event where “every single person” who tried them raved about how unbelievably delicious they were.

“So, I know we’re doing something right,” he says.

Perhaps that “something” is that the seafood is fresh — he says the product is “tasty” and “really, really good” — and the brioche rolls are imported from Paris. Or maybe it’s that Johnson and his team spent time working on the menu, doing trials and inviting friends over to try ideas, to ensure they got the recipes right.

“The whole idea was to put out something that everybody liked,” he says.

Johnson is first to admit the idea of eating sushi from a truck may on its surface seem a little suspect. That’s why he says he wanted Rockin Rollz to be transparent — literally. He says he

doesn’t like being unable to see inside food trucks.

“When I designed the truck, I looked at it like this: Would you go into a Circle K and buy sushi? No. Now, if they had a sushi counter at a Circle K and you watch the guy make your sushi, would you buy it? Maybe. … It’s perception. It doesn’t mean it’s any better or any worse, but the whole thing about watching a guy make your sushi, I think, is ultra important,” he explains.

“So, when I designed this, I put a window right in front of where Rick was going to be, and I wanted people to sit there and watch him make our sushi so he could talk to them. If they had questions, they could ask him and he could answer them. I try to ease people into the fact that you’re getting sushi off a truck — or trailer.”

Johnson says going mobile, as opposed to running a brick-and-mortar restaurant, allows him to take the food and music directly to the customers — and the performers help Rockin Rollz stand out from the crowd.

“I’m not a restaurant person. I’ve never been a restaurant person,” he admits.

“I used to own the Baseline Pub on Baseline and McClintock, and we had a kitchen that my mom ran. I knew nothing about it. I still don’t know anything about the restaurant business, but I do know this: what people like and what they don’t like. I know that that perception is really, really important, especially when it comes to sushi or fresh fish.”

Rockin Rollz Lobster & Sushi 602.313.0800, rockinrollzaz.com Find scheduled locations on Facebook and Instagram @ rockinrollzlobsterandsushi

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

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‘CAN DO’ IS

‘MUST DO’

Trattoria D’Amico continues its legacy

By Coty Dolores Miranda

B

y now, “pandemic pivot” has become a cliché in describing businesses’ efforts to stay afloat during the pandemic and overcome its detrimental impact on their income.

In Ahwatukee, the family owners of Trattoria D’Amico have, by necessity, coined their own unique twist on it: pandemic pizza.

Business was going well for the three D’Amico siblings after they purchased Ahwatukee’s oldest continuously operated restaurant, Ruffino’s Italian Cuisine, adding not only their family name but authentic Italian family recipes as well.

They purchased the then-27-year-old restaurant in January 2016 and proudly placed their name over the door — the same name their mother Vilma had for the restaurant she founded in Rome nearly 50 years ago — and won numerous plaudits for their cuisine.

But then March 2020 brought the first mandatory COVID-19 shutdown, plunging the world, and certainly business owners, into an abyss of fear and uncertainty.

“We weren’t sure the restaurant would open at all,” says Claudia D’Amico, who runs Trattoria D’Amico with her brother Romolo. Their older brother Mossimo returned to Italy to attend to family matters.

When the restaurant finally reopened, Claudia says they were operating at less than 50% capacity.

Prior to the pandemic closure, Trattoria D’Amico, at 4902 E. Warner

Road, had received excellent reviews; Tripadvisor awarded the restaurant four and a half stars for all categories: food, service, value and atmosphere.

The trattoria maintained a loyal clientele that feasted on their family recipes for fresh-made pastas, sauces and breads gleaned from their mother, who had learned them from her mother.

Yet their business never recovered.

“It was a big loss, we were really impacted and not doing well at all,” Claudia says. “The people who used to come — well, they were afraid to go out.

We all were. We tried reopening as an Italian grocery store, but we still didn’t have enough business.”

But, as if Fortuna, the Italian goddess of fortune, was looking out for the family who emigrated from Italy to Ahwatukee in 2015, there was already a plan in motion for a new venture: handmade pizza cooked and served from a pizza oven on wheels.

A mobile pizzeria may be the saving lifeline for not only the family business but their ability to remain in the country.

“We came up with the concept before COVID, and by the time the oven was ready — we had imported it from Italy — it was the end of March 2020,” Claudia explains. “We held off for a little while, as we weren’t sure how to go forward, but then we got the license as a food truck.”

And that food truck, an authentic pizza oven on wheels, has become a popular draw at area farmers markets, business events, and as an extended lunch-time offering at Honeywell’s 3209 E. Airlane facility.

“We are also doing private parties and are already getting asked to be at graduation parties,” says Claudia, who lives with her husband, Aleffio, and their two daughters, ages 7 and 3. “It’s basically like having a piece of Italy parked outside your door.”

The desert’s summer heat is also cause for change, yet another pivot for the D’Amico’s.

“We plan to go to Payson this summer when it gets too hot here,” Claudia says.

“Besides our own, we’re borrowing a friend’s oven so we can do more.”

She is optimistic that when fall arrives in the Valley of the Sun, signature festivals like Ahwatukee’s FOL Kick-Off and Chandler’s Arizona Harvest Fest, both held in November, will see a resurgence as more residents are vaccinated and feel free to gather once again.

By then, the D’Amico’s road will be a different one.

“The restaurant will never reopen. It was already on the plan, (but) we will be at that location for as long as we can,” Claudia says. “The future I see is having a second oven, starting a fleet. Then we can be at several places on the same dates.”

The success of their mobile pizza oven business is crucial to the D’Amico family, who rely on it to maintain their visa — known as a Treaty Investor Visa, or E2. The visa permits foreign investors and their family to live in the country by investing in a commercial enterprise.

One of the advantages of the E2 visa is that it can be extended indefinitely — for as long as the business concerned is viable.

Claudia, her brother Romolo and their

families have acclimated to living here and wish to stay. To ensure that happens requires a focused dedication to their business, Claudia says.

“We have to make it, because as long as the business is going, we can be here.

As long as the business goes well, we can be here,” she says, her dark eyes emphasizing the passion behind her words. “The only chance you have, we have, is to go for it.”

Determination to succeed, despite what life throws at them, is engrained in the D’Amico family. It was proved when they left the comforts of their homes in Italy to immigrate to Arizona, and it bloomed like yeast in dough when the pandemic fallout hit their business.

“It’s an act of courage to leave an old concept and start a new one, but we need to keep moving and improving. I tell people when something bad happens to them, they don’t have to give up. They should do whatever they can to do for that extra push,” she says. “You gotta fly.”

Augmenting the handmade pizzas cooked to order on-site is the selling of grocery items the D’Amico’s import from Italy — extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegar, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, tuna, biscotti and more.

Besides the pizza doughs handmade

by Romolo, Claudia’s fresh-baked Italian pastries are also available at their farmers market stops.

The family continues making it a point to take Mondays and Tuesdays off to focus on family, a practice they began before COVID-19.

Trattoria D’Amico 4902 Warner Road, Phoenix 480.893.8544, trattoriadamico.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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BEER AND WINE

SIP » BREW » RELAX » EXPERIMENT » REFRESH » TOAST

MAD MIXOLOGIST G

By Annika Tomlin

abe Chavez is a classically trained chef, but cocktails are his thing at Nook Kitchen in Arcadia.

“I started as a server,” he says. “When I wanted to get behind the bar, I bar-backed like everyone should.”

We recently had the chance to sit down with Chavez and get his backstory on how his career led him to Nook Kitchen.

He’ll share, too, what makes Nook Kitchen’s cocktail program special.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CAREER AS A BARTENDER. When I started bartending, it was more like beer and wine. Gradually, I moved my way to cocktails and just fell in love with it. I think, because of the culinary aspect and just kind of the flavors and having fun with flavors, that’s what really got me into it. That’s how I made my transition into cocktails, and the rest is history.

WHAT IS ODDEST INGREDIENT YOU’VE EVER USED IN A COCKTAIL? I made a drink with cognac and sweet

potato syrup, allspice, and I made dandelion bitters, and we called it the Yamin.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY WORKING BEHIND THE BAR? I don’t know if I have a favorite memory working behind the bar. I think I just like to take everything as it comes and experience it. Obviously, life is an accumulation of experiences, but I just think I enjoy the interaction with

SAD GIRLS POR VIDA 1 1/2 ounces mezcal naran 3/4 ounces Butter Washed Sotol Coyote 1/4 ounces Bruto Americano 3/4 ounces blood orange oleo 1/4 ounces yuzu puree 1/4 ounces fresh lemon juice A few dashes of chocolate-infused Peychaud’s Bitters.

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Pour into a rock glass with a large cube of ice and garnish with an edible flower.

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people and co-workers and getting into the weeds and working your way out of them.

WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO DRINK WHEN YOU ARE AT A BAR OTHER THAN YOUR OWN? Chartreuse, green chartreuse.

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR SOMEONE LOOKING TO GET INTO THE INDUSTRY? Work your way from the bottom up.

Like I said, I bar-backed. My first job was at Four Peaks, and I was a food runner, and that was very informative.

You have to understand what everyone else goes through before you can get to a point where you are like, “Oh, hey, I’m in charge now.” If you don’t understand what everyone else goes through, then I don’t know if you are going to make it in the right way.

WHAT DOES ORDERING A VODKA TONIC SAY ABOUT A PERSON? That’s what they like to drink. No judgment. No judgment ever.

TELL US ABOUT THE BEVERAGE PROGRAM HERE

AT NOOK KITCHEN. It’s fun. There’s something for everyone. That was the goal when I formulated a menu — there has to be something for everyone. I was a little scared coming to Arcadia from Downtown (Phoenix). I didn’t think the crowd would be as adventurous as they are, but I stand corrected. People in Arcadia love cocktails. People will go through the whole menu when they come. I feel blessed that I can come up with stuff that people really enjoy.

WHAT COCKTAIL WOULD YOU LIKE FOR US TO FEATURE IN THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE? Sad Girls Por Vida ($13)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE DRINK? Beautiful, fun mezcal drink.

Approachable, but still checks all the boxes for mezcal drinkers.

Nook Kitchen 4231 E. Indian School Road 602.296.5655 nookkitchen.com

SIP, SAVOR, SPLASH THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

These drinks will help guests stay cool poolside

By Kristine Cannon

B

ottom’s up!

With pools filling up and cabanas booking up quickly, there’s no better time to make your reservations and plan poolside cocktails ahead of a visit to Scottsdale’s various resorts.

And who better to get drink recommendations from than the resorts themselves?

THE SAGUARO Let’s start in Old Town with The Saguaro Scottsdale, where the Cactus Jack ($13) — a blended cocktail with Milagro Tequila, watermelon agave, lime juice and a Tajin rim — reigns supreme.

“Watermelon and tequila pair so well together,” says David Swank, The Saguaro’s director of food and beverage.

“The flavor profiles balance each other out perfectly. And having this blended, (you) couldn’t ask for a better cocktail at the pool.”

Hungry? Swank recommends pairing this watermelon cocktail with their Baja fish tacos ($16), stuffed with fresh mahimahi, pico de gallo, shredded

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cabbage, and drizzled with a chipotle aioli — all on housemade corn tortillas.

CANOPY OLD TOWN A half-mile west, Canopy by Hilton Scottsdale Old Town’s most popular poolside cocktail also has quite the kick: the Pirate Jenny ($15).

Served at the resort’s rooftop pool and lounge, the Pirate Jenny mixes habaneroinfused tequila with banana liqueur, carrot juice and a dash of lime juice.

“It’s a great mix of healthy notes from the carrot juice and a bit of heat from the habanero-infused tequila,” says Devin Mahoney, general manager and chief enthusiast. “It also has a great orange color that really stands out.”

He recommends pairing this hot cocktail with the queso fundido with honey-balsamic glazed pork belly ($14).

THE SCOTT For a more tropical staycation, head to The Scott Resort & Spa, where guests can indulge in what they describe as “The Scott’s take on the piña colada — without the sugar rush”: the Helen & Maude ($11).

Described by The Scott as its “tropical homage to the classic Cuban mojito,” Helen & Maude mixes Nicaraguan rum with coconut, lime, mint and soda.

“The cocktail is very refreshing in the Arizona sun,” says Candie Watkins, The Scott’s food and beverage manager.

And what pairs better with a coconut and rum drink than a light shrimp ceviche?

“To get the ultimate oasis experience,

The Saguaro’s Cactus Jack

I would recommend pairing the cocktail with our shrimp ceviche ($16) or our quinoa and avocado salad ($13), both light and delicious,” Watkins says. “To be honest, Helen & Maude pairs well with any dish at the pool.”

ANDAZ Over at Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows, however, guests prefer sipping on a refreshing, citrusy cocktail.

The top seller is the Tahitian limeade ($14), which features Tito’s vodka, Coco Lopez, lime and soda.

It’s what Andaz describes as a “skinny piña colada.”

“It’s light and refreshing, and it has a tropical flavor to it — the perfect beverage to cool down on a hot day,” says Andrew Basom, assistant operations manager.

He recommends pairing the fruity cocktail with Andaz’s carne asada fries ($16), loaded with marinated flank steak, queso Oaxaca guacamole, pico de gallo and cilantro crema.

CAMELBACK INN

The Scott’s Helen & Maude

Farther north, at JW Marriott Camelback Inn, guests love not one but three of the resort’s poolside cocktails: the Kokopelli colada ($16), the jalapeño paloma ($14) and the raspberry “pearadise” ($16).

“The Kokopelli colada is a must-try,” says Arthur Pottenger, senior F&B operations manager, who described the cocktail as boasting a honey and coconut rim.

“It’s almost literally the icing on the cake for this drink,” he says. “People always love to eat the rim.”

The jalapeño paloma, on the other hand, features Patron Silver infused with fresh jalapeños.

“You can’t go wrong,” Pottenger says, adding that the raspberry “pear-adise”

“isn’t sweet. It’s just refreshing.”

PHOENICIAN The Phoenician is a little tricky, as the pools are only available to registered resort guests, and they do not offer day passes to the general public.

However, this summer through September 10, a starting rate of $199 per night is being offered, with a nightly $50 resort credit.

That said, the Phoenician’s most popular poolside cocktail is a no-frills, guilt-free cocktail: the skinny margarita ($16).

“Guests like to enjoy a great-tasting cocktail without having to think about calories, especially while spending their days poolside,” says Lisa Mercer, food and beverage director.

And nothing pairs better with a light, refreshing margarita than fish tacos — Phoenician’s Baja fish taco ($16), to be more precise.

“Its cilantro-lime cabbage, pickled onions, avocado, corn chips and jalapeño-schug salsa blend nicely with the margarita’s El Jimador Blanco Tequila, lime juice and agave nectar,” Mercer explains.

ADERO Even farther north, Adero Scottsdale’s pool is the place to be for bourbon-based drinks, particularly the bourbon peach smash ($15).

“The flavor profile is very approachable, being light, flavorful and drinkable in the Arizona sun,” says Billi Levine, food and beverage director.

Come to Adero with an empty stomach, too, because Levine recommends ordering its Sonoran chicken sandwich along with the cocktail.

“The smoked green chile and pepper jack cheese adds a little heat to your palate,” Levine says.

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CASINOS

PLAY » SPIN » LAUGH » GROOVE » UNWIND » WIN

THE ‘UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE’

Mogollon brings rock, old-school country to the stage

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

D

uane Moore feels like he hasn’t worked a day in his life.

Moore loves everything about the music business — and has since he cofounded Mogollon in 1979.

“I love it so much,” Moore says. “I enjoy the people and the music. I love music. I really haven’t done anything else. There’s work involved just like anything else.”

Named after Moore’s residence at the Mogollon Rim, the band is a highenergy four piece that plays rock and, specifically, old country.

“I don’t like the stuff that’s out,” Moore says. “We play from Waylon to Willie to Hank Williams to Johnny Cash to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Pink Floyd.

We play all the good classic rock.

“I play fiddle on stage, too. That works out well for a lot of cool Alabama songs.”

Music is “huge” for Moore, who is joined in the band by guitarist Guy Koplitz of Chandler, bassist/producer

Bryan Kuban of Scottsdale, and drummer Jon Kinsey of Mesa. If Moore feels depressed, the pall lifts when he picks up his guitar, strums a few chords and writes a song.

“It comes full circle,” he says. “It’s the universal language.”

That language is shared at venues like We-Ko-Pa Casino on June 18 and July 16.

“Sharing is an amazing thing,” Moore says. “I don’t use an iPad for the lyrics. If I need to look at the lyrics when I’m on stage, I don’t want to sing it. I don’t believe I’m getting the points across.

“The mechanics should be secondary so I can feel what I’m singing. I think people feel that more than they understand that. We’re in the business of selling emotions. It’s a very emotionally driven industry, and that’s what we do.

It’s cool when people come up and say, ‘I just had the time of my life’ or ‘My wife and I have been married x number of years. We meet at your concert.’”

When the audience is involved, Moore says, it creates an energy, a synergy that’s

“pretty powerful.”

“It’s not performer-audience,” he says.

“The audience is part of us. It’s cool when you reach a pinnacle. It’s just crazy cool getting out into the audience with my fiddle and running around. We just like to have fun with them. They love it.”

Music has helped Moore through tough times. His brother and sister passed away at 31 and 43, respectively, of complications of neurofibromatosis, a rare, inherited disorder that results in benign tumors of the nerves and other parts of the body.

“I hope to retire from music one day and move back to my roots,” he says.

“My best friends — my brother and sister — are interred there.

“They died pretty young, but everybody has a sad story. I’m a mountain boy. I moved down here because it was a good, central location.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has been productive for Moore. He took the time to reinvent himself and retool his approach to the music side of music.

“I’m doing extremely well by myself,” he says. “I’ve never played so many

single gigs. Not everybody was out of work. Our industry was beat up.

Restaurants, musicians and bands were beat up bad.

“Anytime I get on stage, I thank my audience profusely. Over the years, I’ve been playing a lot of great places all over the world. I’ve taken my music to exotic places.

“All those years prior to COVID, I took music for granted. You don’t know what you have until it’s taken away from you. Now I drink every moment like water. I absorb it. I tell the audience that story, and I thank each and every one of them.”

Mogollon WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday, June 18, and Friday, July 16 WHERE: We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort’s WKP Sports and Entertainment, 10438 WeKoPa Way, Fort McDowell COST: Free admission INFO: wekopacasinoresort.com or mogollonband.com

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

SPORTS

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CHEER » HIT » HIKE » LEAD » ROOT » COMPETE

TAKING IT DAY BY DAY Pavin Smith just wants to help the team

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

W

hen Pavin Smith was called up to the big leagues, he, admittedly, couldn’t sleep that

night.

“I had no idea what was going to happen,” Smith says via FaceTime. “I didn’t know how anything was run. I just didn’t want to step on any toes.”

A first baseman and outfielder,

Smith has worked out well for the Diamondbacks. He’s become the D-backs’ unlikely hero. He comes through in a clutch and makes highlightworthy plays.

Ask him about it and he shrugs it off modestly. That’s the way Smith plays. He puts his head down and does his job.

Sports journalists have pegged Smith for a Rookie of the Year candidate.

“Obviously, it feels good to be playing well,” he says with a smile. “That’s the goal — to play as well as you can and try to help the team win. Hopefully, we get a couple more of those wins.”

The recently married Smith prepared for the 2021 season by working out in Tampa with fellow ballplayers who have the same agent. The workouts helped Smith pave the way for success.

However, he’s not one to adhere to goals.

“I’m more of a guy who takes it week by week, day by day,” Smith says. “I hope to get better every day and see where that leads me, instead of setting a certain number I’d like to reach. By the end of the year, I want to look back and feel like I had a certain amount of success.”

A Florida native, Smith is learning his way around the Valley. He enjoys Scottsdale, especially Old Town and Blanco’s Tacos and Tequila. In the offseason, he golfs with friends, goes boating on the ocean in his home state of Florida or plays Call of Duty.

Smith has always been passionate about baseball. He played basketball as well, but baseball was always his “No. 1.”

“By the time I was 8 or 9, I knew I

wanted to be a Major League Baseball player and not have to do anything else,” he says.

First base is his calling, but he also subs in the outfield. In college, he mastered leftfield, but he had not played centerfield until the Nationals series earlier this season.

Aside from baseball, he’s a family man. After he was taken seventh overall out of University of Virginia in the 2017 MLB draft, he paid off his parents’ mortgage. The Diamondbacks’ first-round draft pick can obviously keep a secret.

“I just decided on that for a little Christmas present,” he says. “I knew in September that I was going to do it, and I have to wait three or four months to tell them.”

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

NICK AHMED IS ‘ALL IN’ Charity gives Diamondbacks another reason to win

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

A

rizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed is going “all in” to help raise money for Compassion International, just to see the less fortunate smile.

Ahmed is joining injured pitcher Luke Weaver and reliever Joakim Soria, who have teamed up to pledge a combined $2,050 per win and hope to raise at least $180,000 by the end of the 2021 regular season. Proceeds will be divided among their selected charities.

Weaver’s choice is Consider the Lily, a home for exploited and trafficked girls in Manila. Soria is supporting 1Mission, a community development organization giving impoverished people the chance to earn a house by serving their community with projects in Mexico, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The program is through Big League Impact, founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright.

“The annual #ALLWIN campaign is built around the idea that ‘when we’re all in, we all win,’” says Keith Brooks, ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

executive director of Big League Impact.

“The past year has highlighted so much need in our communities, and we’re excited to see these teams and their fans come together in support of the greater good this season.”

Ahmed adds, “I just think it’s a great opportunity and a great organization to work with. Big League Impact has come up with a really creative idea with a way to raise money for important causes, engage fans to do fun things and experience their favorite plays and teams in a unique way.”

Ahmed says Wainwright founded Big League Impact because he didn’t want to host a standard golf tournament or banquet. The Cardinals player decided to start a fantasy football league with fans as a charity endeavor.

“He hosts a bunch of different activities, and it spread like wildfire,” Ahmed says.

“It was a little difficult with COVID because of protocols and restrictions.

Before that, we were able to have everyone who signed up for fantasy football out to Chase Field for a live draft, play catch and give them a great experience.

“We also engage in some good old-

fashioned trash talking. It was a great way for the fans and players to enjoy each other.”

The Fill the Stadium initiative, which Ahmed has been involved with since early 2020, provides support for nearly 70,000 children in need around the world. For every $500 raised, Compassion International can provide a year’s worth of essential food, nutritional supplements, hygiene essentials and other critical items for children in crisis.

“Especially with the effects of COVID, there’s a huge need for child sponsorships in the hardest-hit countries and the poorest places in the world,” Ahmed says.

“A local church is meeting the basic needs for hygiene and health needs.

They’re always doing things to help the child, and whole family as well. Because of COVID, they haven’t been able to raise awareness and get sponsors for children.”

Fill the Stadium team leaders are Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado, CEO and president of Compassion International, and Steve Stenstrom, president of Pro Athletes Outreach. Forty professional athletes and national leaders are

assisting. So far, the group has “filled” over 22,000 seats — on their way to the goal of helping 70,000 children.

To make a fundraising pledge, visit https://pledgeit.org/allwin-arizona.

Individuals who donate at least $1 per win — a minimum $80 donation — will receive a limited-edition #ALLWIN Arizona T-shirt.

Ahmed and his wife, Amanda, got involved after meeting Ken McKinney, who runs Pro Athlete Partnerships, at an off-season conference. During the event, baseball players and their wives dig into their faith to learn more about God and acquire resources to build that into marriages and finances.

Ahmed says his charitable endeavors have been gratifying.

“It’s been amazing to see the people’s faces and talk with them and see the gratitude they have,” he says. “It gives me more motivation to continue.”

Fill the Stadium/ Big League Impact https://pledgeit.org/ allwin-arizona

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Vettori strives to be his country’s first MMA champ

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

M

arvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori is confident about his sold-out Saturday, June 12, UFC match against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at Gila River Arena.

“I work harder than anybody else,” says Vettori, the No. 3-ranked contender who fights out of Mezzocorona, Italy.

“Whatever obstacle I have in front of me, I crush it. I just work hard and never take a short cut. I keep improving myself. I show up when it’s time to, and that’s it.”

The Vettori/Adesanya fight is the headliner, as the co-main event is flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo against the No. 1 contender Brandon Moreno.

All bouts will be streamed on ESPN+ in English and Spanish. The early prelims begin at 3 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass. The prelims will be distributed on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ beginning at 5 p.m. PT. The UFC 263 main card will stream exclusively on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View starting at 7 p.m. PT. “I’m super excited,” says Vettori, whose record is 17-4-1. “Everything I worked

for is on the line June 12 in Arizona.”

The 27-year-old southpaw has been into martial arts since he was young.

Vettori mostly did it for fun until, one day, at the age of 16, he saw a video of Fedor Emelianenko fighting in Pride.

“Since then, I keep getting more and more obsessed with it,” he says. “This is my occasion, and I make the most out of this dream.”

His titles include the Venator FC welterweight title, and in Brazilian jiujitsu he’s ranked as a brown belt under his coach Filippo Stabile, who awarded that to him after his last fight.

These days, Vettori trains twice a day, six days a week — 10 a.m. to noon and 6 to 8 p.m. with Kings MMA. In between, he eats and rests.

The Huntington Beach, California, resident says it’s meaningful to be fighting in the UFC. “It means everything to me,” says Vettori, who has been a pro since 2012. “My dream has always been to be in the UFC one day, and that is why now that I have reached my first big step, I will do everything that is in my hands to stay here for a very long time.”

When he fights Adesanya, Vettori promises it’s going to be action packed.

“Everything is on the line,” he says.

“You can expect the best version of

myself and, no matter what, I’ll come out with a win.

“He’s no easy opponent. I fought him already one time. This is my moment to make a wrong right and rewrite history and be the first Italian UFC champ.

There’s a lot of animosity before or during for sure.”

UFC 263: Adesanya vs. Vettori 2 WHEN: 3 p.m. Saturday, June 12 WHERE: Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Avenue, Glendale COST: Sold out INFO: gilariverarena.com

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FAMILY

FROLIC » DISCOVER » IMAGINE » FAMILY » FUN » CONNECT

BOOMING AGAIN

July 4 festivals return with a bang

By Madeline Lewis

A

fter a year of canceled and postponed events, here is a chance to fill your calendar for the holiday. Fourth of July events return to the Valley with food, live entertainment, activities and fireworks.

Visit one of these spectacular events and reconnect with the community.

4th of July Celebration at WestWorld 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 4 With the slogan “Be Red, White & Cool,” this celebration inside WestWorld’s North Hall in Scottsdale offers barbecue and music by Brock Pro Patriots and Some Like it Yacht.

Kids will love the giant snow slide, as well as face painters and balloon artists. The fireworks show starts at 8 p.m. Purchase tickets in advance online or at the gate.

WestWorld, 16601 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale, scottsdale4th.com Anthem’s Independence Day Celebration 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 3 Stop by Anthem to celebrate the Fourth of July with plenty of food vendors, a beer garden and water slides. Then, listen to live music before the fireworks finale at 9:30 p.m.

Community Park, 41703 N. Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, onlineatanthem.com/ event

Chandler’s Red, White and Boom!

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, July 4 This drive-in event takes place at sprawling Tumbleweed Park. The parking lot opens at 7:30 but has limited space, so arrive early! Fireworks will fill the night sky starting at 9 p.m.

Parking/admission is $5 per car. Open to Chandler residents only. Residency must be verified at time of purchase on the city’s utility services portal.

Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S. McQueen Road, Chandler, chandleraz.gov Diamondbacks Firework Spectacular After the games, Saturday, July 3, and Sunday, July 4 Feeling all-American? Don’t miss this chance to watch the Diamondbacks play and then see an awesome fireworks display after the 7:10 p.m. July 3 and 6:10 p.m. July 4 games. Also, the first 10,000 fans at each game will receive a clear tote bag. Purchase game tickets online.

Chase Field, 401 E. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, dbacks.com/tickets

Gilbert July 4th Celebration 5:30 to 9:15 p.m. Sunday, July 4 Visit the Great Lawn at Gilbert Regional Park for great food and fun activities. Food trucks will be parked on site, and a DJ and live band will provide the soundtrack. Don’t miss the fireworks at 8:45. Parking is free but limited.

Gilbert Regional Park, 3005 E. Queen Creek Road, gilbertaz.gov/july4th Goodyear’s Star-Spangled Fourth 6 p.m. Sunday, July 4 There are two ways to enjoy this event at the Goodyear Ballpark. Park outside and tailgate or go inside the ballpark for live entertainment and food. The ballpark opens at 6 p.m., and fireworks start at 9 p.m.

Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way, goodyearaz.gov Peoria’s All-American Festival 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 4 Don’t miss the biggest fireworks show in the Valley. It’s free, too. Before the display, enjoy performances from live bands, including Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Food and beer concessions

will be on-site. Make sure to arrive early for the best seats on the lawn.

Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 N. 83rd Avenue, peoriaaz.gov/events Surprise’s 38th annual 4th of July celebration 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday July 4 Attend this event at Mark Coronado Park for a great time and to give back to the community. Enjoy music and food trucks before the fireworks at 8:40. Free parking is available. Event admission is free, but canned food donations will be accepted to benefit Valley View Community Food Bank.

Mark Coronado Park, 15850 N. Bullard Avenue, Surprise, surpriseaz.gov Titan Solar Power Arizona Celebration of Freedom Drive-In Fireworks Show 9 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday July 3 This year’s fireworks display is a drivein event at Fiesta Mall in Mesa. Guests can park their car and tune in to 94.5 KOOL-FM, while watching the show.

Fiesta Mall, 1425 W. Southern Avenue, Mesa, azcelebrationoffreedom.org

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Edward Maciejczyk leads one unbelievable ‘knight’

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

E

dward Maciejczyk walks through Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament’s stables, petting and making conversation with horses with names like Jalapeno, Jaramillo and Donador.

Medieval Times’ head knight treats them like they are his own, kissing up to them and making sure they’re OK. Like the other knights, he’s particularly close to the horses with whom he performs.

“We have a tight bond,” he says.

“When the horses retire, they head to a ranch in Cave Creek. We keep them close so we can visit them. It’s hard to let go.

“It’s almost like, if you can imagine, having a dog and then giving your dog away after 10 years. We like to retire them anywhere around the age of 15 to 20. We want to do what makes them happy.”

Medieval Times in Scottsdale is open at 50% capacity. Each show includes trumpeters who beckon the guests into the Grand Ceremonial Arena, where they are seated in one of six color-coded sections corresponding to the colors of the knights. A four-course meal is served, and, in true Medieval style, silverware is not included.

As the guests eat, the stage is set with medieval pageantry. Then the pace intensifies and trumpeters summon the

knights for the Tournament Royal.

Recently, Maciejczyk described what he and the horses go through to prepare each show.

“We’re really fortunate in that when they designed this castle, they created ‘open stables,’” Maciejczyk says during a backstage tour of the Scottsdale castle.

“They can see each other so that they get familiarized with each other. They can create their bonds and friendships.

“We spend countless hours with the horses and develop a bond with them, too.”

The horses and the knights look to each other for support during the performances, which, since the pandemic, have been decreased. The horses trust the knights when they’re unsure of themselves, which makes the show run smoothly. Even if guests try to spook the horses, they turn to the knights as well.

Medieval Times, Maciejczyk explains, is “theatrical jousting,” which isn’t historically accurate. It still has its drawbacks.

“We do everything, more or less, right,” he says. “That being said, it still can hurt when you’re hitting the lance against the shield. The pressure is there, and the contact is there.”

HORSEPLAY Maciejczyk’s job is multifold. He trains the knights and the horses to perform the stunts safely. Anyone age 18

and older can apply to become one of the queen’s knights.

“Anyone who has an athletic background is perfect,” Maciejczyk says.

“We train entirely within our castle.”

Most folks who apply have “zero experience” with horses or Medieval Times’ style of riding, which is a hybrid of disciplines, he says.

The head knight determines if applicants are a good fit and observes how comfortable they are with horses.

Those who are hired begin as squires.

The training program varies in difficulty.

“Some people struggle with horse riding, others with sword fighting,” he says. “Every individual has their shortcomings and strengths. We help them with whatever they struggle with.

“Basically, we train people who have never touched a horse how to sit on them and, in 10 weeks of training, they learn how to ride a horse and how to do stunts safely. We don’t have an off season, but we do have busy seasons. We need to make sure everyone performs safely so they have a long career with us.”

GUESTS Medieval Times is based upon authentic medieval history and is the true story of a noble family with

documentation dating back to the 11th century, according to Maciejczyk.

Medieval Times began with two dinner/entertainment complexes in Majorca and Benidorm, Spain. The first North American castle in Kissimmee, Florida, opened in December 1983.

Medieval Times’ castles have since entertained more than 60 million guests.

As for Maciejczyk, he grew up in Chicago and Poland, and with his wide smile, he’s a favorite among visitors. He receives a slew of comments from guests about Medieval Times.

“When we get guests from Europe, they’re surprised that we have something like this, because the history of knights and everything is not present in American culture,” he says.

“So, whenever Europeans come in, they’re like, ‘Well, I didn’t even know you guys cared about knights.’”

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament 9051 E. Via de Ventura, Scottsdale General admission is $45.95 for adults; $35.95 for children ages 12 and younger 1.888.935.6878, medievaltimes.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

A ‘LIFE SKILL’ TO LEARN Desert Foothills plans camp to introduce musical theater

By Bridgette M. Redman

S

andi Carll has done summer theater camps before. Now, in a new role as Desert Foothills Theater’s education director, she’s planning to bring the best of what she’s learned for five new camps this summer.

She says many theaters try to jam an entire production in one week, leaving everyone drained and overworked — especially children who are new to the medium.

“I am very focused on taking the best parts of that performing arts experience and crafting a program that is fun and not so much work,” Carll says.

Instead, they will focus on singing, dancing, acting and putting on a smaller performance with selections from each week’s themed show.

Registration is open for the in-person camps that are divided into two groups — one for campers age 5 to 8 and the other for campers age 9 to 14. The camps run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday, and before- and after-care are available for an additional fee. Because of COVID-19 protocols, classes are limited to 20 students.

The camp themes this summer are: • “Aladdin,” June 7 to June 18 (two weeks), $495.

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

• “Shrek,” June 21 to July 2 (two weeks), $495.

• “Tangled,” July 12 to July 6 (one week), $250.

• “Matilda,” July 19 to July 23 (one week), $250.

• “Lights Up,” comedy and acting class, July 26 to 30 (one week), $250.

Camp instructors will have different tasks each day, but kids will still learn the songs and choreography to favorite numbers from each show.

Each show will have special activities.

For example, in “Tangled,” which is a retelling of “Rapunzel,” dance instructors will teach ribbon dancing.

“The camp is designed to be different every day,” Carll says. “We’ll roll in some arts and crafts, roll in some scene work and roll in some behind-the-scenes magic.”

The camps will end with performances, because that’s what’s fun for everyone in the performing arts.

“It’s more of a student showcase,” Carll says. “We’ll have students sing and dance and share what they learned throughout the week and show off a couple of fun acting exercises they’ve done.”

CREATING EXPERIENCES Carll says each class will be joined by a professional music director, acting instructor and dance teacher. They’ll

bring fun activities designed to balance the class between campers, who have no knowledge of music, dancing or acting and those that have a little experience.

Each day, campers will have music, dance and acting classes, during which campers will play games, do arts and crafts related to the show and perform for each other. Depending on the age group, the children will do activities like teach theater vocabulary, etiquette and protocol.

“Everything is built around inspiring self-confidence and inspiring the kids to think creatively,” Carll says. “Lessons are really geared to kids learning to work together and rely on each other. Kids will get positive feedback for being brave, for taking risks — because sometimes it is scary to be out here.”

The camp is designed to be a safe place for kids to try new things.

“I want to not only inspire a love for the performing arts from a young age, but when they go back to school and have to stand up in English class to read a paragraph, I want them to feel comfortable, to make eye contact and stand up and read,” Carll says. “The acting skills go well beyond the stage.

They are life skills, and we want to provide an opportunity to practice those life skills.”

EAGER TO BE BACK After a year of virtual performances and shutdowns, Carll says she is thrilled the building will be filled with performers. They have already made plans for their 2021-22 season, and the camps are paving the way for the theater program’s huge comeback.

“I am most excited about coming back into our building and enjoying the arts, the sounds of singing and the excitement of dancing, and the energy that families and kids have shown to us that they’re ready to do,” Carll says.

“Families are primed for a comeback.

(Kids) are ready to work hard and appreciate the opportunity to be in person, and a lot of that energy is just so positive in every way. That is exciting to me, to get to connect with kids in a way that they’ve been missing for a long time.”

Musical Theater Summer Camps WHEN: One- and two-week sessions from June 7 to July 30 WHERE: Desert Foothills Theater at The Holland Center, 34250 N. 60th Street, Scottsdale COST: $250 and $495 INFO: https://bit.ly/3yi4wzo

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

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LISTEN » JAM » INNOVATE » EVOLVE » ROCK » SING

BACK TO BASICS

Del Amitri sticks with formula on ‘Fatal Mistake’

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

A

bsence makes the heart grow fonder and, no one understands that more than the Scottish pop band Del Amitri.

The “Roll to Me” band went on hiatus in 2002 because the phone stopped ringing, says singer Justin Currie.

“We just went on an extended break, and that led to us doing other things,” says Currie, who pursued a solo career.

Guitarist Iain Harvie produced albums.

But then something magical happened — promoters started “stepping around.”

Del Amitri played a handful of gigs in London, followed by a 2014 tour.

“That was kind of a comeback tour or something, or a reunion tour,” Currie says. “It went really well. We’ve really enjoyed it. We just absolutely loved it.

And we thought, ‘God, we’ve really been missing this.’”

After touring throughout 2018, Currie and Harvie considered their 20 new songs they wrote and decided to put them toward an album, thanks to their friends’ advice.

“I was going for drinks on a Friday night and talking to friends in the pub, and all my mates were saying, ‘You should definitely do that,’” Currie says, referring to recording a new album.

“I was quite surprised by that. There seemed to be quite a lot of enthusiasm for

it among the people. That was probably why we did it more than anything.”

“Fatal Mistakes,” which was released in late May, already spawned the state-ofthe-nation lament “Close Your Eyes and Think of England.” He doesn’t necessarily call it a “political” album, though.

“We’ve always had a few protest-type songs,” he says. “‘Nothing Ever Happens’ was our first big hit in the U.K., which is sort of regarded as a political song.

“We had a lot of songs to choose from for this record, and we didn’t want them all to be love songs. So, in fact, most of them are twisted takes on what a love song should be. We didn’t deliberately put a couple of political songs on there through any conceptual thought. It was just the way the songs came together.”

Currie wrote his songs in a “little house” on the Isle of Lewis, off the northwest coast of Scotland. The rest of it was made over three weeks in a “stately” home in England. The result is the first Del Amitri album in 13 years.

“Recording it was a breeze,” he says.

“But I had been writing songs for me for 13 or 14 years. I didn’t think I’d be able to write songs for Del Amitri. I thought that person was gone. Then there were, maybe, 10 songs that I thought I could take to Del Amitri.”

The next step was to decide which members of Del Amitri would play on

the record.

“There have been quite a lot of members over the years,” he says. “Then recording becomes a lot easier. In your mind’s eye, you can picture who the players are, and you can imagine what they’re going to do with the songs.”

Because Del Amitri’s hiatus was so long, the band didn’t want to stray too far from the sound it created with songs like “Always the Last to Know,” “Be My Downfall,” “Kiss This Thing Goodbye” and “Driving with the Brakes On.” “We went back to basics, with two guitars, bass and drums,” he says.

Recently, Del Amitri released the song “You Can’t Go Back.” Its accompanying video features Currie and Harvie dressed as old men who are being pushed in a wheelchair.

“It was filmed guerrilla style in the streets of Glasgow, and there was just something very amusing about playing obnoxious old men,” he says. “That’s effectively what we are. There wasn’t a lot of acting, and there was much less makeup.”

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VARIETY IS KEY

UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

Chad Wilson Bailey’s music has been a rocky road

By Jordan Houston

C

had Wilson Bailey has tried several times to leave the music industry, but the universe just won’t let him quit.

Sporting shoulder-length silver hair and a suave, vintage-rock aura, the 47-year-old Phoenix resident has built quite the resume as a full-time musician over the years — from performing for a 35,000-person crowd in New Zealand at 21 to signing an Atlantic Records deal and pursuing a brief audio engineering stint.

But his path to success wasn’t an easy one, Bailey says.

Citing the 2000 creation of Napster, a controversial file-sharing software that allowed users to share electronic copies of music, the subsequent downfall of the traditional record label industry and the challenges imposed by self-branding via social media, Bailey says he teetered toward throwing in the towel — or, more accurately, his guitar — at multiple points throughout his career.

“The universe has a way of making things happen for you when you are unable to make the decision yourself sometimes,” Bailey says. “God, or whatever source, will just put you in a certain situation to make things happen.”

With the universe’s backing, Bailey has now taken the Arizona entertainment stage by storm.

Bailey, a California native, jams weekly at some of the state’s most notable venues, luxurious resorts, and renowned country and rock bars, blending elements of classic rock, blues, Motown, jazz, new wave, alternative rock and pop.

Primarily performing statewide, the singer and songwriter is available for solo, duo, trio and full-band performances. He also embarks on occasional international and national appearances as well, according to his website.

“I really love music and the way it connects people together — that’s my favorite thing about being an artist,” the multi-instrumentalist shares. “I’m kind of an old school rock-and-roller at the end of the day.

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“When you’re really able to make the listeners feel something deeply, that’s definitely one of the most rewarding things. Anytime you can get people up and dancing, that always feels great.”

When it comes to performing, variety is Bailey’s forte. Each gig is “highly improvisational” and carefully crafted for the specificities of his audience, his site continues.

Bailey’s ability to cover a horizon of music’s most-celebrated icons, such as Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, creates a personal, immersive, vibrant and encapsulating experience for his listeners.

“The majority of my shows are a request thing,” Bailey states. “I come up with a set list and then it kind of changes into a request hour.

“I do a lot of older stuff. There is a lot of nostalgia at my shows.”

Bailey also incorporates pieces of his own music, he says.

The musician has released over 30 original songs as a solo artist via three albums.

His most recent album, “Origin of Light,” can be streamed on Alexa, Amazon and Spotify.

Another skill that sets Bailey apart from the rest is his use of “live looping” during his shows.

A loop station is a portable device enabling a musician to mimic “band sounds” by quickly recording a section of their set in real time and playing it “back on repeat” or “on loop.”

As a one-man-band, Bailey says the device has been instrumental in his growth.

“It’s all live, so I do it in front of the audience in real time,” he says. “From a technical aspect, that part was really challenging for me, and it still freaks me out every time I do it.”

Born in Orange County, California, and raised in Fairfax, Virginia, Bailey says he was drawn to music at an early age.

“There was always a lot of music in the house,” Bailey recalls. “My dad and mom both listened to a lot of music and always had records playing.”

At 14, the aspiring musician picked up his first guitar. He recounts being heavily inspired by punk rock at the time.

After attending a few guitar lessons,

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

Bailey explains he was mainly selftaught.

“I locked myself in my room and was learning off of a record player,” he says.

“I would put the needle down to listen to the part and try to play it and then pick the needle up again and try to play it again — I eventually got a cassette player.”

Bailey went on to play in a band with his friends at 16, covering songs from the Doors, the Kinks and The Who, he shares.

At 19, Bailey moved to Boulder with his group to pursue music on the road.

About a year later, he traveled overseas to attend university in New Zealand in 1994, Bailey explains.

The young musician balanced studying anthropology, accounting, Pacific culture and religion, while performing in a local band called Nacho Mama, he continues. In 1995, the group was on the set list for the renowned Mountain Rock Festival, Bailey says.

Bailey says he decided to leave school after roughly three years and move back to Colorado after realizing how “important” music was “to me.”

“It always felt like that was what I was supposed to do,” he says. “It just seemed really natural to me to be playing music.”

Bailey formed a trio band with his brother in Boulder, where the three performed at local bars and restaurants for several years.

One day, the California native encountered an “accomplished musician” with a “strong management backing him and money backing him” — changing the trajectory of Bailey’s career.

“It was my first experience meeting a

musician who had a professional group supporting him,” he says. “I had always been doing it on my own.”

Bailey soon formed a band with the fellow artist, and the two men began juggling performances between Colorado and Los Angeles, Bailey says.

Around 2000, the duo landed a contract with Atlantic Records, but the celebration was short-lived, Bailey recalls.

“We recorded the album, but it sort of all fizzled out, which was about in 2000, when Napster was downloading and record labels were closing doors,” Bailey says.

“We got lost in the shuffle and the band broke up.”

Disappointed, Bailey, as well as his brother, turned to audio engineering to stay in the industry, the musician says.

“It was our first experience with the idea that you could actually make money in the music industry without being an artist,” Bailey says.

“We went to audio engineering school so we could remain in music and make a living.”

Nonetheless, Bailey was once again recruited into another production contract to make music, he explains.

While he tentatively agreed, he says the outcome proved to be another blow.

“It’s hard getting your heart drug through the dirt and gutter,” Bailey says.

“And being told over and over again that you’re going to be a star and then nothing happens.

“You get tired, so I was hesitant to do it again. I almost ended up signing a deal with DreamWorks Records, and it ended up falling through at the last minute.”

Bailey says he hit his breaking point

and chose to close that chapter of his life.

He moved to Arizona in 2006 and snagged a well-paying job underwriting mortgages for varying banks. Bailey even became certified in the field, he says.

“Honestly, I was pretty happy doing that overall,” Bailey says. “Because it was a steady income.”

But it wasn’t long before the music bug crept back into his life. Bailey began performing monthly as a solo artist around local Arizona bars.

However, one monthly show soon transpired into four monthly shows, Bailey says, and later evolved into 10.

“It got to the point where I was doing some of these shows where I was bringing my guitar to the office and I’d change into my clothes in the bathroom,” Bailey says.

Five years ago, Bailey took the plunge to quit his office job and recommit to singing and songwriting full time — and he hasn’t looked back.

“It was absolutely terrifying,” Bailey recalls. “I had a mortgage, I had bills, I had a car.

“I remember being really freaked out about it, but I worked really hard at it, and I still work hard at it,” he adds.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit early last year, Bailey says he relied on weekly Facebook Live performances to stay afloat. He also partook in several socially distanced shows, like block parties and patio performances.

“People were beyond generous. I was not even expecting to make what I did make,” Bailey says. “It totally helped us keep our head above water and supplemented my loss of income.”

Bailey says he also utilized the

33

additional down time during quarantine to focus on his upcoming album.

“COVID Martini,” the album’s working title, is a “cross between ’90s rock and kind of jam band,” Bailey says.

“It’s definitely got a much more jammier vibe to it — but each album I do is kind of a little different from the last one.”

Bailey and his wife, Amanda, wrote the album in one week, he continues.

The couple’s writing process inspired the album’s working title, Bailey says.

“We would sit down with a couple of dirty martinis in the studio and work on the songs,” he says. “We bought some new gear, and we were going to work on this new album and new concept, and then my PC broke — and a couple of other items of equipment.”

He adds, “Suddenly, I had no studio, and we were like, ‘We’ll just use the old-fashioned way.’ So, we grabbed some vodka, some ice, some olive juice, a guitar, a notebook, and pen and paper.”

Bailey says he is hoping to release the album by November.

The 47-year-old is also releasing his revised single “Not Long to Go.” The song, from “Origin of Light,” was reworked under the guidance of Otto D’Agnolo, a local producer and host of Amazon Prime’s “The Recording Artist.”

According to the show’s website, the series selects musicians to re-record original pieces from “complete” scratch during live two-hour recording sessions in D’Agnolo’s studio.

Chad Wilson Bailey For a list of shows, see his website chadwilsonbailey.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

34

UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

IT DOES GET BETTER

Vera Revive addresses mental health on new single

By Alex Gallagher

V

era Revive understands suffering from mental health problems. The Scottsdale band’s vocalist John Lockwood and guitarist James Swisher have used their platform to bring awareness to the problem.

Their latest single and video, “Faint,” does just that.

“We formed the band wanting to help the most people that we possibly could while talking about things that people don’t want to talk about,” Lockwood says.

During a meeting with its manager, Bill Darcangelo, Vera Revive decided it wanted to make a statement.

“A lot of people, for mental health awareness, might focus on suicide or depression,” Swisher says. “All those have their place, but we wanted to be a little more specific with body dysmorphia and eating disorders.”

“Faint” discusses body dysmorphia and the struggles that often come with it.

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“We wanted to go all out as much as we could,” Lockwood says. “We discussed doing a music video and having a feature on the song.”

That happened. “Faint” features vocalist Dana Willax of the Northern California band Kingdom of Giants.

“When John and I first sat down, it was always important to the both of us that, no matter what we were singing about or writing about, we stick to honest topics that we relate to and other people relate to,” Swisher says.

While the song firmly conveys the message, Vera Revive plans to create a video that, though somewhat graphic, will encourage those struggling with body dysmorphia to seek help.

“The music video is almost going to be like a short film where it focuses on a young girl dealing with body dysmorphia and eating disorders,” Swisher adds.

An accompanying documentary will explore the effects of body dysmorphia and the making of the video. The video’s actors and Vera Revive members who

have battled body dysmorphia will discuss the illness in the documentary.

“One big thing that we did to break the stigma around body dysmorphia was we focused on the little things in the day-to-day life of people who struggle with these illnesses,” Lockwood says.

“When the video comes out and everyone sees it, it’s going to hit pretty close to home with anyone who’s dealing with these things.”

Mental health can be a touchy subject, but Vera Revive feels conversations about mental health are important. They can potentially save a life.

“I’m glad we’re going even further in and helping as many people as we can, no matter what topic it is,” Lockwood says. “I try to keep a lesson to be learned inside the lyrics.”

Those lyrics are meant to appeal to his audience. However, they draw from his mental health struggles.

“I’ve dealt with a little bit of body dysmorphia myself,” Lockwood says.

“There’s not a moment in a day where I’ll see a reflection and I’ll look at myself hardcore and not like myself.”

For the song “Grief,” Lockwood focused on suicide.

“That song came when I was in a weird spot and almost committed suicide,” he

says. “I wanted to tell this story to show people where I am now for not doing that and how things get better.”

Lockwood also wanted to use his platform to reach out to members of the LGBTQ+ community with the song “In Absence of Color.”

“I have family members who are LGBTQ, and I see on the news how rough they have it trying to be themselves,” Lockwood says.

Swisher adds, “The people who participated in the music video we made for ‘In Absence of Color’ were also LGBTQ. They were a big part of that song and helped make it as spot on as possible.”

Though its music is not always about the happiest of topics, Vera Revive does hope to spread a message to those going through difficult times.

“People don’t like hearing it, especially when they’re dealing with things,” Swisher says. “Things really do get better. It really is the truth. Things get better.”

Resources Suicide hotline number: 1-800-273-8255 Vera Revive: verarevive.com

BUILDING TRUST THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

35

Telle Smith, Kayzo unite for ‘Never Let You Down’

By Alex Gallagher

B

uilding trust during the early days of a relationship can be tough. It’s a phenomenon that Telle Smith of The Word Alive wanted to address in his single “Never Let You Down.”

“If someone has been hurt or let down a lot, it can be hard to trust again,” Smith says.

“But you also have to let go to fully experience the world and things like love and friendship.”

Like his previous efforts, Smith drew from personal experience for the song, which focuses on a former relationship.

“I think it comes off more genuine that way,” Smith says. “There was a time where I was in a relationship and I felt like the other person was sabotaging it because they were expecting something bad to happen.”

The song features EDM artist Kayzo, whom Smith met through mutual friends. After a year of back and forth, “Never Let You Down” was released in March.

“He (Kayzo) originally had a different song in mind, and then at the last possible hour he sent me this track, ‘Never Let You Down’, and thought this song would blend our genres together in

a really cohesive way,” Smith says.

“It was honestly one of the easiest songs that I’ve ever been a part of creating. If you want to turn it up and sing it in your car or if you’re excited for shows to come back and want to get super sweaty and mosh, it has it all.”

Smith spoke highly of Kayzo, who wanted to blend the genres.

“We coexist in that our music is based around the emotion and energy of a song,” Smith says. “I believe what he’s trying to do is really special and will open the doors for other people who love electronic and rock music,” Smith says.

Though “Never Let You Down” took a while to create, the pandemic further delayed its release, as Smith wanted to release the song once the pandemic subsided.

“We thought this had to be a song that came out when people were able to enjoy life again,” Smith says. “We’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for live shows resuming. We decided this was a good time to put this song out.”

Smith says he hopes people will chase their dreams once life returns to “normal.” His mantra is “risk nothing, gain nothing.”

“You have to put yourself out there in the world to have what you want, which has always been the backbone of

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“This last year was really taxing, especially for people in the entertainment world, where our entire identity and livelihood felt like it was stripped away. Now that things are starting to come back, we’re seeing that if you can weather the storm, you get to see the really exciting things.”

During the pandemic, Smith has been writing new music for The Word Alive.

He’s looking forward to seeing fans at shows.

“I’m just excited for shows to come back,” Smith says. “I’m also excited for people to be able to celebrate live music and the music that got them through the whole pandemic.”

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UPFRONT | CITY | ARTS | DINING | BEER AND WINE | CASINOS | SPORTS | FAMILY | MUSIC | IN CLOSING

‘A NEW TWIST ON AN OLD COCKTAIL’ Coloursøund stars two iconic musicians

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

B

illy Duffy of The Cult and Mike Peters of The Alarm are preparing to release their first new album as Coloursøund in 20 years on July 16.

The collection, “Coloursøund II,” takes Duffy’s trademark Gretsch Falcon riffs and Peters’ recognizable vocals.

But, via Zoom, Duffy has a simple description of Coloursøund.

“It’s a new twist on an old cocktail,” Duffy says. “We’re both progressive in our thinking. We don’t want thirdrate versions of (The Cult’s) ‘She Sells Sanctuary.’”

The duo formed Coloursøund in 1997, when neither were aligned to the groups with which they’re synonymous. By the time they wrote and released their first ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

album, “Coloursøund,” in 1999, Duffy and Peters returned to fly their banners with The Cult and The Alarm.

Duffy piqued the interest of Peters once again in 2019 by sending a guitar riff. It immediately triggered a choral response. In January, within weeks, the pair sequestered in a beach cottage in a remote part of the North Wales coastline to write again.

“The first three days were part of a test stage,” he says. “If nothing good had come out of it, we wouldn’t have pursued it, but we felt we’d come up with seven or eight decent ideas.”

The stint brought on good oldfashioned smack talk, too, Duffy says with a laugh.

“We were trying to stay warm and enjoy the countryside, and I watched my soccer team give his soccer team a good thrashing on television,” says Duffy, who’s a Manchester City supporter.

Meanwhile, Peters is a Manchester United fan.

“I do remember that Mike went great lengths to get this game on TV. We have a little local rivalry. It’s just a little banter, but it’s a little bit of fun.”

Aside from the ribbing, Peters and Duffy easily wrote songs. Duffy describes Peters as being “very prolific.”

“It’s great because you get that spontaneity factor, which is different than The Cult. That’s really quite lengthy,” he says.

“In Wales, it was real old school — guitars lying around, mugs of hot tea, fire burning, the waves crushing outside.

It was almost like a cliché. It was some rock cliché. But it was great.”

Duffy returned to California, where he has a home, and Peters expanded on the ideas and worked on his vocals. When the two reunited, they worked on basic chords and his melodies.

“It wasn’t laborious,” he says. “We didn’t have this drawn-out, sending files between here, there and everywhere.

It was a three-stage process, which was great.

“It’s not like we are drinking buddies who are looking for an excuse to get out of the house. We take it seriously in our lighthearted way. It’s a fun thing. It was a fun thing in the ’90s when we did it.

We enjoyed that period and process, and lots of good things came out of it — and

similarly now.”

Duffy is unsure if Coloursøund is going to tour. After all, he says, he has a “little confession.”

“I haven’t actually missed touring as much as I thought I would,” adds Duffy, who’s working on a new The Cult album with singer Ian Astbury.

“Having said that, we’d like to play at some point, if the schedules and circumstances permit. It would be fun to do some shows.

“I say ‘some shows’ because, if I’m going to rehearse and get a thing together to do a gig, why not do a few? It’s the same amount of effort to get yourself prepared. It would be something, but it has to work in harmony with what Mike’s doing with The Alarm and himself, and also what I’m doing with The Cult.

“So far, The Cult has plans to tour and there are dates on the books. As you’ve seen, though, they tend to shift around a lot.”

Coloursøund http://bit.ly/Coloursound_Store

LOCAL METAL RETURNS Archetypes Collide tackles emotions before Rebel Lounge show THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

37

By Alex Gallagher

A

rchetypes Collide singer Kyle Pastor feels a myriad of emotions about hitting the stage for the first time in 18 months.

One of them is awkwardness.

“I feel like it’s going to be a bit awkward because we’re having to navigate what’s comfortable for everyone,” Pastor says. “Obviously, we want to do what’s best for the whole group.”

The Mesa-based metal band will perform at the Rebel Lounge on Friday, June 25, with fellow Phoenicians Hazen, Vera Revive and Echoes.

“We’re just super excited to get back out and see faces again,” says Pastor, who graduated from Mesquite High School.

“We want to rebuild those connections that we haven’t been able to maintain.”

Pastor is aware, however, of the political divide in the United States. But Archetypes Collide’s musicians see both sides.

“I think when it comes to shows, we’re going to have to enter that discomfort,” he says about the divide. “I feel like that’s where the growth happens in figuring out what works for everyone.”

Pastor has been working on the set list and is excited to play “Your Misery,” which was picked up by SiriusXM’s Octane and Spotify’s Rock Hard playlist.

“To think that no one has gotten to experience that song in a live setting is scandalous, to say the least,” Pastor says. “That song is such a fun song. It has awesome guitar riffs and really cool double bass drum patterns. It’s a song I get to rip on vocally. That’s one song the band is really looking forward to playing.”

Also included on the set is “Becoming What I Hate,” which was released in January. Pastor calls it a “singalong song with a cool chorus and a hard-riffing

breakdown.”

“Those are the two that we’ve released since we haven’t been able to play shows,” Pastor says. “We’re going to play them, and we’re going to play them loud.”

Pastor hopes fans will forget about the pandemic for an evening and see the show as a steppingstone toward normalcy.

He’s hoping the show will begin to heal this divide felt throughout the United States.

“Religion, politics and everything else

walks out the door when you walk into the venue,” Pastor says. “I think that’s a really cool thing when we all come together. You can’t replace that.”

Archetypes Collide, Hazen, Vera Revive and Echoes WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, June 25 WHERE: The Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix COST: $13 to $16; all-ages show INFO: therebellounge.com

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

38

IN CLOSING

FUN » FACTS » LEARN » SHARE » PLAY

NUMBERS

By Annika Tomlin

Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to hold U.S. federal office in 1916.

Supermarket apples can be a year old by the time they land on the grocery store shelves.

Five countries do not have airports — Vatican City, San Marino, Monaco, Liechtenstein and Andorra.

New York was first referenced as “The Big Apple” in 1909 by Edward S. Martin’s book “The Wayfarer in New York.”

On July 31, 1999, Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes were carried to the moon by the Lunar Prospector.

A person can be fined up to $2,500 and six months in prison for spitting in Goodyear.

In 1961, Gainesville, Georgia, “the poultry capital of the world,” made it illegal to eat fried chicken with anything other than fingers.

The brain accounts for about 3% of a person’s body weight but uses 30% of the blood the heart pumps.

Only one shell-shaped Shell gas station remains in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

People can see four states from the top of Chicago’s Willis Tower — Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The shortest flight is between islands Westray and Papa Westray. The 1.7 miles is 90 seconds.

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