FEATURES

For more features visit glendalestar.com

GlendaleStar.com /GlendaleStar

Priscilla Rose Band brings rock to Westgate

BY JORDAN HOUSTON Glendale Star Staff Writer

From a young age, Priscilla Pinches knew she was enamored by rock ’n’ roll. Now, she’s living her dream as an industry vocalist performing across the West Valley.

An East Coast native and Glendale resident, Pinches is a singer and keyboardist for the Priscilla Rose Band. The group, combining a unique blend of classic rock and pop, is largely comprised of Pinches and her Sun City counterpart Rich La Rose, a vocalist and lead guitarist, and at least two other alternating members.

“Priscilla and I are the main parts of the band and have been together since the beginning,” La Rose explained. “We have a regular bass player and drummer — sometimes we have to replace them — but we are the mainstays of the band.”

The band will perform from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, July 16, at the Fountain Park stage in the Westgate Entertainment District, located at 6770 N. Sunrise Boulevard.

With free admission, Pinches encourages audience members to bring their own seating if they prefer. The venue is also packed with plenty of dining and shopping options, she added.

“I would describe us as your favorite dance band,” Pinches said. “That’s what our aim is, to get people dancing and to lighten their hearts and bring them joy.”

La Rose echoes Pinches sentiments, saying the Priscilla Rose Band covers bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

“I like to call it family-friendly rock ’n’ roll,” La Rose added.

Pinches and La Rose will be joined at the Westgate Entertainment District by Surprise resident Charles “Spanky” Lake on the drums and vocals and Rich Alfano on the bass.

Pinches, a self-described “Army brat,” grew up with a colonel father in the military and spent most of her childhood in North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania, she said.

Joining her church choir at 6, and then picking up the piano at age 9, she recalls developing a passion for rock ’n’ roll early on.

“The beat and the variety of melodies that are available, it’s not all the same. It uses many notes to make common couples, and they don’t seem to repeat,” she said, adding, “They tell a story and they are complex.”

Pinches continued to sing for her church choir and play the piano throughout high school, she said.

It wasn’t until her senior year in 1968 that she realized she wanted to pursue rock ’n’ roll professionally.

Pinches skipped her school’s prom to attend a Rolling Stones concert in North Carolina, she explained.

“I saw Billy Joel’s fi rst gig ever at Appalachian State University in North Carolina,” she said. “I knew when I was in high school and the choir started singing contemporary songs that I wanted to play music for people to sing and dance to.”

The aspiring vocalist started teaching vocal and piano lessons before moving to Arizona with her husband, where she continued to teach.

In October 2015, she ran into La Rose at a local “jam session” in Surprise for other aspiring musicians.

“I fi nally met Rich at this jam session and I knew I wanted to play in a rock ’n’ roll band — it was my life’s dream,” she said. “I started pretty late, but I had all of this experience behind me.”

La Rose, who hails from Upstate New York, was also bitten by the musical bug during his youth.

The self-taught guitarist fi rst picked up his brother’s guitar in junior high school after his sibling lost interest, he said.

“In the ’70s my brother had a guitar and he lost interest, so I picked it up,” he said. “The fi rst song I learned to play

From left to right are Charles “Spanky” Lake, drummer and vocalist; Rich La Rose, guitarist and vocalist; Priscilla Pinches, keyboardist and vocalist; and Ray Carter, bassist and vocalist. (Photo courtesy of Priscilla Pinches)

SEE BAND PAGE 13

Fry’s to host 3D mammogram screenings

BY GLENDALE STAR STAFF

Mobile On-Site Mammography by SimonMed is offering 3D mammogram screenings to encourage early detection in the fi ght against breast cancer.

On July 17, the company will host the screenings at the Fry’s grocery store located at 5771 W. Thunderbird Road from 1 to 4 p.m. MOM said most insurances will be accepted, including Medicare and Medicaid.

The screenings will also be offered for a cash fee of $217.

MOM offers the newest 3D mammography technology, accompanied by a professional staff that focuses on patient comfort, care and privacy. Each exam takes only 15 minutes. Screening results are sent to the patients’ health care provider, and they receive notifi cation of the results at their home.

Mobile On-Site Mammography has been dedicated to the early detection of breast cancer by providing mobile mammography screening serves to women where they work and live, at both the work site and community events, in all 15 counties in Arizona.

To schedule an appointment, call 480-967-3767 or 1-800-285-00272. Physician referrals are not required for a screening mammogram.

Home and landscape show blooming with ideas

BY TYLER WEGLEITNER Glendale Star Staff Writer

The Maricopa County Home and Landscape Show is coming to State Farm Stadium in Glendale July 16 to July 18.

The Home and Landscape Show provides a place for people to come shop local businesses and attend seminars and workshops.

Katie Jones, show director for Maricopa County Home Shows, said the home shows provide “an opportunity for consumers to come to one central location and shop a bunch of exhibitor booths.”

Jones said the show boasts a variety of vendors and companies for visitors to peruse.

“There’s everything from home decor, home goods, home design, there’s remodeling companies, there’s landscapers, seminars, gardening,” she said. “It’s so much revolving exclusively and specifically around home improvement and home and garden.”

The upcoming show at State Farm Stadium will host several special events, including demonstrations, shows and seminars. Among these are a beginner-level glass etching class, beeswax candle-making and dog training demonstrations. Jones said there will be two stages at the show.

One will be dedicated to remodeling and home improvement. Guests can meet with experts there and learn more about home improvement projects. The other stage hosts gardening and landscaping and will be taught by the UA’s Master Gardener’s Program.

Successful features will return this year.

“We also have our Handmade Headquarters back by popular demand, and that is our crafting workshop station where you can come in … build your own craft and leave with that craft,” she said.

These crafts range from painted signs to garden terrariums.

Jones said the Home and Landscape Show will have free wine tastings and “a free walk-up landscaping consultation” valued at $350. Anyone interested in the landscaping consultation should bring photos and measurements of their yard.

Jones said out of approximately 800 booth spaces at the show, around 700 feature local contractors and companies that will discuss projects and services in a “very safe and controlled, screened environment.”

“They get to talk with reputable, licensed, screened contractors,” Jones said. “We ensure that they’re licensed properly through the Arizona Registrar of Contractors. That way when you come to the show, you can shop with confidence.”

Local artisans will sell their crafts and wares as well. Many of them rely on the show for business.

“They rely on the leads that are generated from the home shows to keep their employees on payroll,” she said. “Then the companies are able to grow and retain those employees.”

By hosting five home shows throughout the year at locations in Phoenix, Glendale and Scottsdale, it also provides these companies with new opportunities. “It gives the companies opportunities to exhibit and meet people from areas of the Valley that don’t necessarily travel over to them, which expands their growth as well,” Jones said.

She said because companies from all over the Valley travel to these shows, they also give the public an easier way of finding companies to do business with.

“Now they’re being exposed to these companies across the Valley who are not readily available, or you don’t have to pull them up online and do research on your own,” Jones said. “You can come and spend an hour or two at the home show and you get it all done in such a short amount of time.”

The Home and Landscape Show has local vendors, educational seminars and workshops about home improvement and gardening. (Submitted photos)

Maricopa County Home and Landscape Show

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 16, to Sunday, July 18 WHERE: State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Drive, Glendale COST: Tickets start at $8 for adults INFO: mchomeshows.com

BAND FROM PAGE 12 was ‘House of The Rising Sun.’”

La Rose formed his own rock ’n’ roll band, called Infinity, in high school. The band, comprised of La Rose and several of his friends, landed its first paid gig in 1977 — marking the beginning of his professional career.

La Rose attributes Kiss as his inspiration.

“I used to watch the midnight special every Saturday, and I remember seeing Kiss and I was mesmerized,” he said. “It looked like they had so much fun on stage, and in that moment, I said I want to do that.”

La Rose continued to play throughout high school and into his college years, in which he studied music at SUNY Oswego.

The musician moved to Arizona with his family, where he continued to play locally on the side while taking care of his mother in Sun City.

La Rose formed the Jan Petrie Band before meeting Pinches at the Surprise jam session — and then the rest was history.

With Pinches and a few other performers, La Rose created Mixed Company in October 2015. Around two years later, the group evolved into the Priscilla Rose Band.

“I already knew the other band members, so four of us teamed up, and we had the keyboard now and I got to play — and it just took off,” Pinches recalled of Mixed Company. “We started doing more complex songs, and we do some of the standards.”

Now, the Priscilla Rose Band performs at least biweekly on the weekends across the West Valley.

With COVID-19 on the decline, La Rose said the opportunities to perform are “picking up” and that the band couldn’t be more grateful.

“Watching the reactions of the audience and to see the joy in their faces,” La Rose said.

“That is the most satisfying element to me.”

Pinches agreed with her partner’s sentiments, expressing that performing for crowds is “thrilling” to her.

“I feel same way about the joy of the crowd. When you have a crowd up there dancing, it’s just the most thrilling thing,” Pinches said.

The group even plays original music, the duo shared.

The inspiration for their songs, in which they hope to eventually copyright, comes from their everyday lives and conversations, La Rose said.

“One song is called ‘He Said, She Said,’” he explained. “It goes back and forth about how men and women view each other and put that together into an original rock ’n’ roll tune.”

The Priscilla Rose Band also performs for private events such as weddings and other gatherings.

To book a performance, or to learn more about the group, head over to its Facebook page @PriscillaRoseBand.