Introducing a documentary about the reemergence of vinyl through the eyes of local Phoenix. According to Nielsen company, the sale of vinyl has been rising over the past five years. There has been a decidedly real and measurable interest in Vinyl for many reasons. The documentary features T.J. Jordan, owner of Revolver Records, Tim Stamper of Tracks in Wax, Dario Miranda, the manager of Stinkweeds, Dan Mazza, owner of Arizona Hi-Fi, and Alex Vonotovich, known to his fans as Djentrification. VINYL examines the reasons behind the explosive sales of Vinyl over the last five years. It also looks at the story of the technology and how music companies have foisted an inferior product upon the music consumer. It celebrates local heroes like Don and Dennis Chiesa who were the owners of Tracks in Wax. While CD and MP3 was luring the consumer, Don and Dennis were continuing to push the quality of vinyl, even though vinyl stores were closing down. As T.J. Jordan said, “If it wasn’t for records stores like Tracks in Wax or Eastside Records [which is now Ghost of Eastside after the original went out of business.], I probably wouldn’t have a record store now.”
“You collect Vinyl, you trade compact discs, and you delete MP3s.”
A wonderful plaza is located on the Northwest corner of Central and Camelback that includes shops like Arizona Hi-Fi, Cowtown, Frances, Stinkweeds, and Smeeks. It is a candy shop that opened two and a half years ago and represents everything positive about local businesses. You may not have heard of Smeeks, but you will be surprised how often you have driven by it. The owner is Georgeanne Bryant and is Managed by Brendan McCaskey. He took some time with Phoenix Underground to talk about its history and CARAMELPALOOZA that it conducts with Chow Bella featuring caramel from local chefs. Caramelpalooza is this Friday, which happens to fall on first Friday of March, and starts at 7PM. It is located on the lightrail, so if you are coming from out east it will drop you off across from Smeeks at Central and Camelback. Stinkweeks, another local business that sells music, will have live music at the event. The food truck Short Leash Hot Dogs will be there to serve food as well. It will provide up to twenty chefs providing different varieties of Caramel. Come to the event on your way down to First Friday or after. It is a unique event that stands with many of the other great events like the Zombie Walk, Strong Beer Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, and McDowell Mountain Music Festival. So be sure you come by and experience the caramel. This is a wonderful experience for all ages and interests. When you are there you will have a chance to visit many of the other great shops alongside Smeeks that makes Phoenix a wonderful experience when we discover them for the first time.
Zola Jesus , a Wisconsin band, lead by Nika Roza Danilova kicked off the first show of their tour last night at The Crescent Ballroom. The show was opened by local Phoenix indie-pop artist Youceff and the Brooklyn duo Talk Normal. Many are disappointed that they may not have gotten tickets to see Flo and the Machine at Comerica in April. If that is the case, then the question is why didn’t you go see Zola Jesus? She fits within the gallery of female voices that are able to maneuver though many vocal ranges like Florence Welch or the vocal airiness of Casey Dienel of White Hinterland. In addition, Miss Danilova has a pixie-styled presence as she engages the stage on the wings of her voice. She kept a very enthusiastic rapport with the audience as she walked through the audience at one point where she performed Sea Talk. The atmosphere of the performance drew upon winter motifs that Miss Danilova was very much a character within a blue-frosted fairy tale set. Percussionist Alex DeGroot who has been with the band for two years said that, “She represents what may not be most apparent in most pop music, because she is very different.” He also noted that although Zola Jesus is a band, “It’s very similar situation as Nine Inch Nails, where Trent Reznor was the creative force of the band.” The same is true for Zola Jesus that is the alter-ego for Danilova. The band is touring east to Austin, New Orleans, and beyond to continue performing songs from their new album Conatus. (The Setlist: Avalanche, Hikikomori, Stridulum, Collapse, Sea Talk, In Your nature, Shivers, Seekir, Lick the Palm, Night, Ixode, Vessel, and they did an encore with Run Me Out and Poor Animal.)
Traveling with the band was a overwhelming surprise of Talk Normal lead by Sarah Register and Andrya Ambro who are from Brooklyn. When you go see a headliner, you know what the general mood and tone of the music is going to be. However, the surprises are usually the opener. In the case of Talk Normal, Zola Jesus chose an amazing opening duo. They are Patti Smith on steroids. Sarah plays on guitar and Anrya Ambro plays on drums with an onstage experimentation that has echos of Velvet Underground. Both musicians would weave their voices together with a driving “Tribal Pop” of Ambro’s primal drumming. They used feedback as a painter would use dripping spirals of paint that would encircle Ambro’s driving vocals that would carry yearning pitched notes that expressed an apocalyptic edge. Once Talk Normal finished their set, the audience wanted the band to continue performing. They are a magnificent addition to Zola Jesus’s tour. Ambro said, “That she wanted Talk Normal to continue to always be a surprise,” when audiences see them. They performed songs off of their albums Sugarland and Secret Cog. (Their set list: Sunshine, Baby Your Heart’s Too Big, XO, Lover, Lone General, Shot This Time, Bad Date.)
A show at the Crescent would not be the same without a local musician exhibiting what Phoenix can do. Youceff was first at the Crescent when Reptar was not able to open for Phantogram. . He stepped up to the plate and entertained the audience with a wonderful brand of indie-pop with a one man show. This was his second performance at The Crescent and he is peformed before Talk Normal Youceff describes his muic as, “A mix of bass lines and beats, coming together setting a landscape that expresses his voice and hopes it leads to a catharsis for the audience.” Youceff is going to Phoenix College and performs with the choir there. He is originally from Brussells, Belgium and came to Phoenix when he was fourteen years old. “The reason my mother chose Phoenix was because it was the cheapest ticket.” However, he found that when he and brother left Belgium, that Phoenix was surprisingly welcome and hospitable. Youceff does an amazing job channeling ambience in his music and churning it with the softness of his voice that is hypnotic to his audiences. You can find his album and download it at his website on Bandcamp for free.
The entire evening was a contrasting experience between the raging reds of Talk Normal to the misty blues of Zola Jesus. If you missed tickets to Flo and the Machine, do not despair, because you can have the same musical experience with Zola Jesus.
Morning Teleportation, a Bowling Green, Kentucky band, performed at The Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix with music from their new album Expanding Anyway. Morning Teleportation is a neo-psychedelic band with elements of prog rock that draw from Yes, The Ramones, Flaming Lips, and early Pink Floyd with Syd Barret.
One of the sparkling surprises at the Iron and Wine concert at the The Crescent Ballroom last evening was the percussionist for the opening performer, Marketa Irglova. Here is a performance by Aida Shahghasemi who performed on a Kurdish drum called the Daf, which is shaped like a tambourine with a two and a half-foot diameter with a ring of tambourines that look like aluminum can tabs woven together. The instrument had a hypnotic effect upon this audience that was not expecting an experience that was truly mind opening. There was nothing but a pal of silence that blanketed the audience as the swirls of smoke soaked with blues and reds of The Crescent light. Miss Shahghasemi enraptured the observers as she took the audience through a journey in time by exhibiting ancient rhythms that was one of the rare collectively spiritual moments at a “rock concert”. I have seen Ravi Shankar live twice and Miss Shahghasemi performance broached the same type of virtuosity that drew on the thin balance between music and spirit.
In 1899, Thorstein Veblen wrote a book titled The Theory of the Leisure Class which coined the clause–”Conspicuous Consumption” that described the consumer behaviors of the nouveau riche in the wake of the second industrial revolution. Although, he was describing a behavior that was unique to a particular and small group of people, “conspicuous consumption” became a norm for a rising middle class during the 20th century. This particularly contributed to a “pride of possession” rather than a “pride of ownership” that was clearly exemplified by the housing bubble of the last ten years. Easily accessible credit was acquired through the artificially inflated equity due to the demand for homes and the new building and unsustainable sprawl that it produced. Now, the notion of “conspicuous consumption” and the status that is now falsely correlated with it has now been put in particular doubt. Especially at a perilously unpredictable time as the engine of second decade of the century gets off to a rattling, cacaphonous start belching black soot from its smokestacks. It challenges every presumption that transcends our economic choices, but permeates our cultural choices and our social identities.
Culture is the modicum of a society’s behavior that is reflected by how that society interacts with itself and expresses itself by what it invests in. Nothing is more reflective of this then the type of dwellings that we choose to live in. Quite possibly due to the lack of access to credit and the decline in the average of net worth of the majority of Americans, new choices are going to have to be made about how we live. Every assumption that Americans had about size and space now has to be reevaluated and will no longer be realistic for many for a long time. However, if anything was discovered by the overbuilding of the last ten years, it’s that “Good design is not about square footage.”
An architect and her companion who is an artist and a builder, live in a nondescript part of the Garfield District near 12th and Van Buren have challenged two notions: “NEW” and “BIG” are what pose a dignified living space. Lila Cohen, architect, and Teina Manu, artist and builder, took a 425 square foot bungalow and redesigned it for the age of post-conspicuous consumer. Teina Manu’s mother was a quilter and what he discovered from observing the art of quilting is that it thrives on scraps of random pieces of fabric. Teina drew upon this template and applied it to home design. However, rather than fabric, Lila and Teina took construction scraps that included taking a salad bowl cutting a hole in the center and using it as a bathroom sink. Herein, Teina and Lila were able to create an experience of “Frugal Largesse” as Teina expresses it, where design can still be experimental and indeed artistic, but is done with a limited budget. They were able to refurbish this home with recycled materials at $5.00 per square foot. They were able to go into the space and “unhinge” the area, by replacing swinging doors with sliding doors to create a fluid and transformable living experience for both residents and guests. Lila and Teina stripped the dry wall from the ceiling and expand the space by exposing the rafters in the overhead space that creates a notion of scale in a small area. Although, the scale may be small, the ideas are large and occurs in the Z axis of the entrants perspective. The home they created is interesting with a porch and outside area that extends the living space inside the structure. It adds to what Teina also coins “Thrifty Flamboyance” that is going to be critical in an age where size is no longer status and community will be preferential to isolation. Rather than create rooms that are not used and added to the space, it encourages a philosophy of going outside and communing in the outdoors among a community. There are many similar homes not just in the Garfield district, but across many neighborhoods throughout downtown Phoenix that goes beyond redefining lifestyle, but recasting our notions of living a good and happy life. If a young person was able to escape the dangers of the last ten years and entering a new stage of home ownership, Lila’s and Teina’s proposals would be ideal for living in the downtown area.
Phoenix may not seem to have a great deal of structure, but it does have communities that are rooted within Phoenix history and have a self-sustenance that allows neighobrhood residents to avoid long commutes. A plan that was introduced in Portland, Oregon, which could be a model for Phoenix, is the 20-minute neighborhood. This concept poses the thesis that a resident of any given neighborhood can reach a destination be it grocery, church, bar/restaraunt, schools, or parks within twenty minutes. This was put to the test in Coronado Historic district which is located between Thomas, 16th Street, 7th Street, and McDowell. Starting in Coronado Park, Phoenix Underground indeed was able to round Coronado and was able to reach given destinations well within twenty minutes. Coronado Historic District is also within block of the Central line of the lightrail. Furthermore, a Coronado resident could walk or bike from 7th Street on Palm Lane and visit the Phoenix Art Museum or Margaret T. Hance Park. As Phoenix goes forward with considering development for the downtown, it should consider the established neighborhoods that have established communities. Furthermore, when it comes to locating retailers or grocers, it would also behoove Phoenix to try to locate such establishments on corners where neighborhoods meet at four corners. In order for Phoenix to continue bringing jobs to the city, it needs to demonstrate quality of life for potential residents. However, the city also needs to continue pushing job locations in the inner city as well. Because it may be convenient to have a local pub to visit every Friday, however any environmental progress is dashed once a person had to drive by themselves to a suburb to get to work. Througout the following video, several destinations are highlighted, but by no means limited to these: Coronado Park, Mac Alpines, Perc Up, Humble Pie, The Main Ingredient, New Indian Bazaar, North High School, a plethora of Mexican restaurants including La Condesa, Bee’s Knees Art Boutique, Whittier Elementary, and many more throughout the following video feature.
Gnosis Ltd sponsored its Architects’ Own Homes Tourfor the third year in a row this past weekend. It consisted of homes that were located from Tempe, to Scottsdale, to Downtown Phoenix. The following is a montage of the shelters from the Taliesin West Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Architects are challenging notions of what should be valued in the design of a home and they do challenge the general home-consumers’ sense of what to look for in a home. Storage and square footage is not a major prerequisite for good design. In fact, it may be an impediment particularly for learning to find architecure that reflects a dignified dwelling. At Taliesin, the shelters in the following montage serve as both dorm rooms and projects for the students at the school. Living and designing these shelters are an exercise in reflection on “dwelling”, “space”, “material”, “light”, and “environment” and how these elements mirror humanity. They prove that good design is not necessarily square footage that too often is the focus when we think of a “living space”. If you did not have a chance to experience this event, be sure to keep in touch with Gnosis and the good work that is done there for good design and support of architectural education.
The housing crisis is really not a crisis anymore. It’s a disaster of satirical proportions. There are untold numbers of homes in foreclosure, not to mention the “shadow market” of homes that banks have not released into the housing supply. The endless amount of homes that look like Taco Bells stand empty. Or, they are rife for outside investors to purchase at deflated prices and are rented out to impermanent residents in neighborhoods that never really became “neighborhoods”. The fast food appeal of getting a home now and for cheap was apropo considering the “Taco Bell” architectural design of many of the tract homes that were built over the last ten years. In October, foreclosures jumped up 18% in Phoenix according to Realty Trac. One in every 219 homes are in foreclosure in Maricopa County according to them. The worst hit areas were edges of the Valley like Buckeye and Queen Creek that are the products of The Sprawl. This raises the question whether developers should be building at all with such an exorbitant supply of homes that stretch from Buckeye to Queen Creek? What is the solution to such extreme construction that took place and the damage it has imposed economically and environmentally on The Valley? One would hope that “The Valley Sprawl” is over and that rather than building out, developers would start building towards the center or focusing on infrastructure. A multitude of track homes with poor structural integrity and design were built that are not financially feasible or environmentally sustainable. With the amount of foreclosures, are these homes even worth keeping up when they depreciate the value of homes in the larger market?
Michael Johnson
Micheal Johnson who is an architect and owner of Michael P. Johnson Designs was asked whether this would be the end of the sprawl in The Valley. Mr. Johnson was skeptical. He said, “It’s not entirely the developers’ or the architects’ fault. The developers are merely the ‘dope dealers’ who provide the drug. The problem is the uninformed consumer of ‘mud hut’ designs who is not educated about the ‘cultural validity’ of home design. Not enough thought is put into ‘the dignity of living in a building and what a human dwelling is supposed to mean.” According to Johnson, developers are providing what the customers want and most home buyers choose bad design. When asked about a solution to the oversupply of homes, Johnson replied, “Do you know what a D10 is? It’s a bulldozer!” Is this the end of the sprawl? Johnson did not believe so, home buying is down except for investors who can get the financing. But, Johnson said, “There has been about three years of depreciation and it will take another eight years before it comes back. But it won’t be the end of the sprawl because there is going to be a demand for cheaply made homes in the exurbs.” So, this is a time for reflection by politicians who are developing economic policy for the valley and in particular for the city of Phoenix to start educating Phoenicians about informed and sustainable lifestyles in the Phoenix area in regard to energy, water, and sprawl. Many neighborhoods that have been built during the last ten years might be better off being scraped with the foundations left behind. Instead, replace those homes with solar panels and plug them into the grid. That would be a much better investment and take pressure off the Phoenix housing market by artificially reducing supply, considering supply was artificially increased by questionable financing. When asked if there is growing shift to the downtown, Johnson said, “There might be a small group that returns to the downtown, but it will be 5% or less that will be mostly educated and conscious of informed living. But, the majority will stay put and continue to push the edges of the valley.” But, Johnson believed that downtown areas can be improved, “Cities like San Francisco and Manhattan were able to go to downtown areas and take older dwellings and renovate them and preserve them.” However, in order for that to occur, as Johnson stated, there needs to be “Cultural Validity” that only a few will buy into, unless the population is re-educated and often those pushing revitalization movements are the few. But, that in itself is enough to bring income and consumers to a downtown area who not only want to live in Phoenix, but come to visit the downtown from around the valley.
ntroducing a documentary about the reemergence of vinyl through the eyes of local Phoenix. According to Nielsen company, the sale of vinyl has been rising over the past five years. There has been a decidedly real and measurable interest in Vinyl for many reasons. The documentary features T.J. Jordan, owner of Revolver Records, Tim Stamper of Tracks in Wax, Dario Miranda, the manager of Stinkweeds, Dan Mazza, owner of Arizona Hi-Fi, and Alex Vonotovich, known to his fans as Djentrification. VINYL examines the reasons behind the explosive sales of Vinyl over the last five years. It also looks at the story of the technology and how music companies have foisted an inferior product upon the music consumer. It celebrates local heroes like Don and Dennis Chiesa who were the owners of Tracks in Wax. While CD and MP3 was luring the consumer, Don and Dennis were continuing to push the quality of vinyl, even though vinyl stores were closing down. As T.J. Jordan said, “If it wasn’t for records stores like Tracks in Wax or Eastside Records [which is now Ghost of Eastside after the original went out of business.], I probably wouldn’t have a record store now.”
