The McDowell Mountain Music Festival’s move to Hance Park allows for a more populist event that reaches out to all residents of the valley to have equal access and travel time. In the meantime, it becomes an opportunity for Phoenix to shine as it hosts music lovers from around the country to enjoy the burgeoning downtown area.

The line up for the festival is outstanding and is far less esoteric then MMMF’s past festivals. It includes The Shins, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Les Claypool, Dr. Dog and the headliner of headliners will be The Roots that will be the top of the line on Saturday night. This event will be a locus of Phoenix pride that will allow local artists, musicians, deejays, and businesses to be able to step up their game and strut their stuff. It will be in the best interest of every town in the valley from Buckeye to Queen Creek to show off an Arizona music festival that will kick off next season’s music festival, even before Coachella starts. It will be going down at a time when Phoenix will have beautiful weather and at a time of renewed interest in downtown Phoenix life.

Another highlight of the event is Margaret Hance Park itself, which has been the subject of oft suggest improvements. However, there is nothing wrong with the park itself, it only needs events like the MMMF to give people an opportunity to appreciate it. In fact, the park has a very scenic atmosphere that has a beautifully lit underbridge that the lightrail passes over. The Burton Barr Library sits on the Northeast corner of the park and is in comfortable walking distance from the Evans-Churchill neighborhood where FilmBar, the Fair Trade Cafe, Portlands, Jobot, the Angel Trumpet Ale House, and a host of other cafes, shops, and restaurants that are opening on a regular basis. Plus, the park is only a short lightrail trip from cafes, pubs, and restaurants from Camelback all the way down to Jefferson Street.

The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is in its 10th anniversary in 2013. It is the brain child of John Largay who is the owner of Wespac Construction. It is a non-profit event that emphasizes “Charity, Culture, and Community“. McDowell Mountain Music Festival was rooted in the very underrated venue called Compound Grill that was located in the northeast of Phoenix, inside the corner of the 101 and Scottsdale Road. Unfortunately, the Compound Grill closed this year. However, the announcement of Hance Park as the location of the festival breathes new life into the MMMF.

With the relocation of the festival in central downtown and an outstanding line up, McDowell Mountain is posed to be one of the premiere musical festivals that will kickoff the music scene in 2013. The Crescent Ballroom will be supporting the event with afterhours featuring Orgone and Deertick to cap Friday and Saturday nights of the festival. John Largay and the MMMF deserve a salute for bringing the festival to the downtown where hopefully it will remain. (Now, if we can only convince the Phoenix Film Society to bring the Phoenix Festival downtown, the downtown may be even closer to making Phoenix a cornucopia of cultural celebration.)

Tickets will be going on sale on January 1st, 2013. A three-day pass is $120 and is more than worth it for the total experience of music and people, but daily tickets will range from $40-55 apiece.

“You collect Vinyl, you trade compact discs, and you delete MP3s.”

It is a fact: Vinyl records are superior to any recorded medium out there. As, TJ Jordan, the owner of Revolver Records, said in his interview, “It is over a 100 years old and no other medium has stood that test of time.” Sales of vinyl have reflected this reality. According to the Nielsen Company that measures audiences and sales of media, vinyl sales have been going up since 2006. More vinyl has been sold than any other year since before 1993. There are many reason for that, but the primary rationale is that Vinyl is a superior product. In the interview with Dan Mazza who owns Arizona Hi-Fi, “There is no question that records sound better than CD because vinyl records sound waves that go beyond our hearing up to 40,000 Hz, whereas CDs cut off at 20,000.” Although, our ears may not be capable of hearing that high, our bodies still experience it. Mazza further emphasized that MP3s are even worse.

“If you look at a digital file, its pattern is jagged, whereas a record moves in smooth curve, which is where the warmth comes from,” said T.J. Jordan, “A CD is a compressed version of a record and an MP3 is a compressed version of a CD.” Imagine all of the sounds of a forest with the layers of wind rustling through the pine trees, the scurrying of animals, and the whistling of birds…THIS is the vinyl experience. It’s as close to the original recording of the reel to reel recording that you will experience. The distances between the sounds and the layers that provides a more three-dimensional auditory experience of standing in a forest is squashed into a plastic bubble with digital downloads. Compact Discs remove the rustling of the wind and MP3s remove the needles and the pine cones, while leaving only the trunk and a branch with two birds whistling.

It raises the question as a listener of music: Why do we listen to music? Do we listen to it as background noise, as stimulation when we go for a walk, or are we trying to experience the music exactly as the artist intended for it to be experienced. All of the mixing and engineering that went into Dark Side of the Moon is lost on an MP3. It’s like looking at desaturated version of the Sistine Chapel that’s been pixellated to boot. Furthermore a sense of community is lost with MP3s and I-Pods. Dan Mazza notes that, “When I was in high school and college, we would pull out ten albums and listen to them all night with a group of people, while you’re drinking beer.” What is wonderful about the album is that it can be a collective experience, unfortunately it’s beauty and depth has been traded for portability and simplicity that extends to more than just music. In the interview with Dario Miranda who manages Stinkweeds, he put it succinctly, “The things you love should not be convenient.” It is a frustrating reality to those of us who threw out our albums or gave our parent’s collections away. Then, we went out and spent untold dollars to replace them with inferior products. How can anyone be shocked by anyone downloading music illegally, when downloads have absolutely no residual value? On the other hand, you can sell a record. Fortunately, as Tim Stamper of Tracks in Wax said, “It’s been indy bands that have been pushing fresh presses of new albums. Records are now coming with CDs and downloads.” This has allowed music lovers to have the best of all worlds. They can listen to their music on a run. Listen to their CDs in their car. Then, pull out their vinyl at home and listen to it with friends.

Stay tuned for Vinyl that will be published soon here on Phoenix Underground. In the meantime, be sure to visit Revolver, Stinkweeds, Tracks in Wax, and Arizona Hi-Fi. Arizona Hi-Fi will disabuse you of everything you believed about sound. Go into Arizona Hi-FI and ask Dan to sit you on the couch and you will get some audio psycho-therapy. Check out Djentrification who performs regularly at Film Bar and The Crescent Ballroom.

Harkins Theatres has been a strong supporter of Phoenix Film Festival for nine years. Harkins deserves to be lauded for its support and hospitality of the event. Harkins Theatres got started by Red Harkins when he was 18 years old in 1931 in Tempe which still stands as The Valley Art. When asked if there are any intentions to possibly move the event downtown, Carney said, “We are very happy with Harkins as our theatre partner and they don’t currently have a theatre downtown. A move downtown would make it difficult to continue that partnership. We have been happily working with them and the Scottsdale 101 shopping center for nine years and they’ve both been helpful in fostering the growth of the event.” This makes total sense for the Phoenix Film Festival to conduct the event at Scottsdale 101. It is the interest of the festival and its participants to have a venue that works for everyone. However, one of the problems with the location is that it’s tucked away in the far corner of Phoenix like a grandmother trying to hide a family heirloom from her grandchildren, so it does not get broken. Another problem with the Scottsdale 101 shopping center is that although it is still located in Phoenix proper, it promotes the perception the film festival is a Scottsdale event, not a Phoenix event. Even Harkins Camelview 5 theatre one of the few if only theatre to feature independent and foreigns film is located at Fashion Square Mall which is travel-prohibitive for many residents in the valley. The Phoenix Film Festival should be a community pride event that is thankfully hosted by an Arizona owned theatre chain. But, it should be accessible by the entire Valley. Scottsdale’s shadows looms over the event, and for or better or worse, Scottsdale has an aura of indifference perceived by other towns in the valley.

The only major theatre in the downtown area is AMC Theatres, which is based out of Kansas City, Missouri, located on 3rd Street at the Arizona Center. It is not an Arizona company and their theatres are not locally owned franchises. It makes more financial sense for Phoenix Film Festival to continue partnering with Harkins because it is an Arizona company. As interest in the event grows, there are many venues in a more central area in the downtown area that can host screenings for the Phoenix Film Festival. As attendance surpasses 22,000, it is going to be essential to find additional facilities to screen films. The Phoenix Art Museum has a theatre that can support screenings, Film Bar has a unique venue, which is a ”brew and view” that can support the festival. The Orpheum would be another wonderful venue to facilitate an amazing experience for film screenings. Even Monorchid on Roosevelt Row and the Civic Space Park by ASU’s downtown campus has a proven ability to screen films in areas that are pedestrian friendly with accessible public transportation. No Festival Required has screened films successfully at both of these facilities. The proper technical elements could be installed to provide for the best visual and audio experience for festival attendees. In addition to this, there are local restaurants, bars, and cafes that festival goers can go to along the light rail. If Phoenix is going to showcase the restaurants in the city, it should be Pizzeria Bianco at Heritage Square, not Buffalo Wild Wings at Scottsdale 101.

It’s wonderful that we have an Arizona company like Harkins supporting the festival, but it would behoove Phoenix Film Festival organizers to bring screenings to the Downtown. This does not necessarily mean stop using Scottsdale 101 as a host for the event. If only a smattering of films from the festival were scheduled downtown at reasonable times during the event, it would allow for more visitors downtown. Scottsdale 101 is not a pedestrian friendly area that appeals to the average festival goer. The only exception would be The Compound Grill, which is a rare establishment in that shopping center. Otherwise, festival fans can pass the time browsing at the Sports Authority and maybe look at the blackened windows of the empty Borders Bookstore. At the same time, the City of Phoenix needs to take the initiative to support Phoenix Film Festivals presence in the downtown area, especially in light of the Super Bowl coming in 2015. Phoenix Film Festival will provide good test runs for the city to host such a large event. The model organization for organizing the film festival in the downtown area would be The Salt Lake Film Society. They are in the state that hosts Sundance Film Festival that allows for screenings outside of Park City, Utah where the festival takes place. At the same time, The Salt Lake Film Society does a great job balancing films between theatres in Salt Lake. It would be well in the interest of The Phoenix Film Society to look to their model to organize more films between theatres and alternative venues. Overall, it’s about making sure that filmmakers’ work is seen by many people as possible, while filling seats in theatres and getting more people to the Phoenix Film Festival.

Fortunately, if you are trying to get to the event, there are transportation options other than a car. Valley Metro does have several options to get to Scottsdale 101. If you are coming from Tempe, the best route is the 72 Line that will take you straight north from Tempe on Scottsdale Road. If you are coming from Downtown Phoenix or the West Valley, the best option is to take the light rail to the Tempe Transit Center and catch the 72 Line. There are other busing options from the West Valley like the 685 Line from the West Valley that will take you to the Desert Sky Transit Center, where you can catch the 41 Line that will take you to Scottsdale to catch the 72 Line. But, these options from the West Valley will take up to two to three hours to reach Scottsdale 101.

Then we have a variety of music festivals that are conducted from Flagstaff to Tuscon, which often feature many folk bands. Then, there are the music festivals of lore that are now defunct like the Tempe Music Festival that took place at Tempe Town Lake that had some interesting line-ups in the past. Also, the Sedona Jazz on the Rocks event that canceled the event in 2009 and is in limbo at this point. Some might argue that it was the Sound Strike that hurt these festivals, encouraging artists to boycott Arizona due to SB 1070, but there is no real evidence that the boycott has had any real impact on performers coming to Arizona. Venues are still booking premiere artists throughout the state and they are selling out. The primary problem is that towns like Sedona and even Tempe do not have the locales to facilitate an event on par with Coachella or Bonaroo. The only saving grace and the highlight fest in Arizona is the The McDowell Mountain Music Festival, which is organized by John Largay who is the owner of The Compound Grill. And, there is even a very popular country music festival that takes place in Florence, Arizona that has a great draw and is very popular called Country Thunder USA, but it is event that operates in tandem with an event of the same name in Wisconsin. So, it is not a musical event that is unique to Arizona.

The problem with most music festivals are the lack of amenities. In order to create an event that has “Road Trip Appeal” to bring people from out of state is hotels, restaurants, parking areas, camp grounds, etc to be able to host festival goers from around the country. Phoenix is replete with all of the resources and hospitality that any city around the country, particularly in the Sunbelt can offer. Phoenix also has a unique window during the year to be able to host a comfortable experience, unlike other states with inclement weather.  The winter time in Phoenix provides an opportunity to launch the music festival season before manys start in March, April, and throughout the summer. It can produce an economic impact that many other Arizona and Phoenix touchstones will be able to benefit and cross promote with. When it comes to Superbowl that will be coming to Phoenix in 2015, the economic impact comes every 7 or eight years. But a music festival has an annual economic impact that has a very real and measurable interest for tourism and businesses in the area. The economic impact from the Superbowl in 2008 was about $500 million dollars for one day. There are not many studies on economic impacts of festivals, except one  study conducted by Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund in April, 2003. The expenditures ranged from $75,000 to $300,000 depending on the scale of the events in Ontario. However, the total GDP impact of a total of 97 festivals was $78 million dollars and brought in $31 million dollars in tax revenues in that city. Needless to say that the larger the event was, then the larger the economic impact.

Unfortunately, the City of Phoenix tends to be uncomfortable with cooperating with these events due to public safety or the potential property damage it causes. But, these fears can be allayed with the right education and public service outreach. Phoenix is ripe for a phenomenal music festival with strong supporters like Stateside Presents. It would be able to conduct a respectable event with a strong lineup that can take place in any number of locations in the Phoenix area, whether it is Steele Indian Park, Margaret Hance Park, or Piestewa Peak Park to set up stages and booths to facilitate a phenomenal musical experience.

Now that we are in the throes of “The Great Reset” and decreased lifestyles, consumers are searching for more efficient and cost-effective lifestyles that gives them a fresh sense of identity at the same time. Transportation is a major element of that choice. People are looking back on Hummer’s and SUV’s with a sense of shame and disappointment now that we are looking at increased gas costs and decreased supplies. The conversation is now turning to Walking Indexes, Bicycle Paths, and expanded public transportation. There is clearly an increase in the usage of scooters in Phoenix, because unlike Portland or Chicago, our climate is ideal for a scooter lifestyle. You can keep it parked outside without worrying as much about weather. But, it’s not unique to Phoenix either, nationwide there has been a dramatic increase in the sales of scooters over the last year. Among two-wheelers, scooters had a 50% increase in sales last year that was more than any other motorcycle according the Motorcyle Industry Council.  Even Petersen Automotive Museum has an exhibition on the scooter in Los Angeles. It fits perfectly within any urban setting with reasonable usage. They are ideal for students and urbanites who have a small distance between their work, school, grocery store, and home. But, the ulimate reason to use a scooter is about saving money. There simply is no comparison between the scooter and an automobile. Depending on the product that you buy, uou can get between 75 to a 100 miles per gallon on a Honda scooter. There is even a growing supply of hybrid or pure electric scooters like the Bravo Evt that requires no gasoline, you plug it into an AC/DC outlet to charge it overnight and it’s ready to go. What is also nice about this EVT is that their motor runs below 50 cubic centimeters, so you don’t require a motorcyle license. However, any scooter that runs over that you will need a motorcycle license to operate it.

Beside a Harley Davidson culture, it may seem like a scooter is not the most macho vehicle to be saddling. We are not talking about going on some Easy Rider trek from Tuscon to Flagstaff. You wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, use a scooter to travel beyond a ten to fifteen mile radius as you could with a motorcycle. At the same time, a motorcycle is not ideal for an urban, or suburban, environment in that regard. A scooter not a “crotch rocket” that you use to burn sound waves down a thoroughfare on Central Ave. The scooter is not trying to be macho, it’s about being smart. It’s a cost-effective vehicle to be able to conduct day to day routines within a reasonable schedule. In short, you use your Honda, Vespa or EVT to save money, but have the mobility beyond what a bicycle or public transportation can get you. Plus, you do not have the downtown parking issues of an automobile. But, there are some caviats that the interested must be aware of with any machine. You have to be conscious of your environment when riding it and operate it with a clear head. Furthermore, this is not to say that commuters should stop driving cars, the scooter is additional option that can go along with the automobile, the bicycle, and public transportation when those options are not practical or affordable.

If you are an aspiring filmmaker, whether you live in Phoenix, Oklahoma City, or Louisville, filmmaking, as with other forms of media, lends itself to Neo-Localism. All artists draw from their own hometown experience, so a Local Arts movement simply makes sense. Because, our comedy and our tragedy emerges from where we were raised and lived. There are a plethora of stories that can be told about every city, town, and hamlet throughout the United States. However, Phillip Bradstock of the City of Phoenix Film Office said, “It’s very difficult to maintain financing for film projects in Phoenix. Most of the work that comes here is often Reality Television and often bring their own crews. You may get an occasional production assistant hired who knows the area.” The total economic impact of the film industry last year was $13,130,233. “Our biggest goal is to see growth in production with companies that hire local professionals.” Most of the work that is being done in the local area are photo shoots, corporate and industrial training, and commercial work. Bradstock said that the biggest production time is between October and April where companies get their summer commercial stock ready. Many production companies in Phoenix are temporary and fold once the production is complete.

Film Festivals, like music festivals, are growing as a new local outlet for distribution to shop independent films as an alternative to the standard industry distributors. There are a variety of film festivals that take place in Arizona, which is the same case with cities in other states that support local filmmaking. There is the Almost Famous Film Festival, The Arizona Student Film Festival, there is also the No Festival Required that facilitates lesser known films from local, national, and international filmmakers. And, of course, there is The Phoenix Film Festival that may take place at the Scottsdale 101, but is still located in Phoenix proper. Outside of Phoenix, you also have The Tuscon Film and Music Festival, The Sedona International Film Festival, which starts this month, and The Flagstaff Film Festival. There is surprisingly no shortage of film festivals and if you have a strong work of cinema, the festival circuit is the first step to marketing independent films. Plus, there is The Phoenix Film Society that facilitates the Phoenix Film Festival and provides ample opportunities to see new and offbeat films.

Unfortunately, there is such an association with filmmaking with Hollywood or New York. What a young filmmaker needs to understand is that when John Cassavetes made Shadows, it was a film that he made with an Arriflex 16S with local actors about the city that he lived in. This local notion is the same inspiration that drove Scorsese to make Mean Streets and the same type of stories can be made in any town. Now, it’s easier than ever as long as you have a good story  to tell. In Arizona, in particular, between Tuscon and Flagstaff, there are untold numbers of film and video professionals that populate the state of Arizona.  There is no shortage of professionals that range from photographers, editors, actors, costume makers, graphic designers, etc who also have their own tools and materials to bring. The problem? The problem is that there is no center of locus that is able to bring these artists, craftspersons, and technicians into a single organization. Phoenix already has a collection of successful production companies that are in The Valley that Include Image Ave. Studios, Great Scott Productions Inc., True Story Films, Quantum Leap Productions, and many more that are located in the valley. The Valley would be the ideal place for many established production companies to farm out pre-production and post-production responsibilities that can be prepared and shipped off to locations that do not have to be located in Arizona.

But in all reality, it is tough to get productions together and draw financing. In 2006, there was the The Motion Picture Tax Incentive Program, which drew productions to Arizona for reduced costs. However, that program expired in December 31st, 2010. However, over the last few weeks, Senate Bill 1170 “The Multimedia Incentives Bill” has been proposed in the senate to foster more film and media production in the state of Arizona. It passed on February 2nd and is now going to the Arizona House for consideration. Bradstock said, “It passed the senate, but whether the Speaker allows it to go forward in the house is his decision. Over the last two years, it either was not introduced by the speaker or did not get out of committee.” There are film offices and commissions throughout the state to support and advocate for film productions in Arizona that would benefit a great deal from such legislation. The very same elements that drew filmmakers to California in the early 1900′s is in Arizona with environments that vary from desert to temperate climates. In addition to this, there are spaces throughout Phoenix, particularly in the Warehouse District. However, Bradstock says, ” Most of those spaces are not ideal for sound stages without refurbishment, because you need ceiling spaces at least 30 feet high. In addition to that, because Phoenix is in a flight path and along the train, it makes those spaces problematic.” The ideal place to build a sound stage would be either in North Phoenix where you have the space. Currently there are two sound stages being built, one that is in Avondale and the other is being built in Mesa, which is well on its way. But, there are a great many professionals out there who need to make a living and so much pro bono work going on as it is. But, there are many tools in for an ambitious filmmakers who have a good story to make films that’s are cinematically unique to Phoenix and Arizona at large.

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.

The first electrically powered garage door was introduced in the twenties, but never became a feature of design for homes. You would still have to get out of the car to turn the switch for the garage door to open it. The majority of homes didn’t have garages, much less electric garage door motors. The majority of homes had a car port, which was a simple construction where the car was parked beneath an overhead. Prior to the introduction of the remote garage door opener, garages were luxuries. The first major household wireless device that was introduced was the wireless, remote garage door opener in the early 1930s that was described in the February, 1931 issue of Popular Mechanics. Once the electric garage door remote was introduced, it led to lighter materials to build them. Often garage doors were made from wood and were unwieldy to open and close. It was during this period when two different models of wireless garage door openers were invented. A radio signaled garage door opener was invented by two inventors who lived in Spokane, Washington. There was also an Illinois firm that invented a garage door opener that used a mechanical pulley to open the garage door. The remote legitimized the garage as an enclosed space. It was much easier then to get out of your car and go to your front door. The remote allowed the driver to avoid getting out, pull the garage door open, and pull the car in, then close and lock the garage door. Arguably, remote garage door openers were still a luxury even up to the 1980s, whereas now it is an expectation that a garage door come with a remote garage door opener on it when you do a final walk thru to buy a home. The garage door remote has become just as important as the passing of the house keys, if not more imporant, in the turn over of a house . The garage door remote fits in a unique place in the glove box of American culture because it had a permanent impact on social behavior. It also institutionalized the garage as a major design element of the home.

It often surprises many home buyers, but the garage is the most worthless space on a house in terms of square footage. It is not even measured as part of the square footage of a home, because it is not livable space. However, the garage is a prominent feature of contemporary tract homes and has become a fulcrum of the economy of that home. Many try to air condition their garages to expand the emphasis on the size of a home to make it more marketable. (But, this is not a concept that can be taken seriously in a time of expensive energy with a wall sized door on it.) However, the garage has expanded over the last few decades from a side space or a car port to stow our mobile exoskeletons to become a jaw that juts out of modern-day home design. The garage and the garage door has become such a prominent face of the home that it has decreased the front porch to secondary role if not sidelined entirely as a prominent entrance. The garage door opens each day like a toothless mouth that allows homeowners to not even exit their car and be forced to speak to their neighbors. Very often, there are many who enter their garage and close it before they even get out of the car. As a result, it legitimized the car culture during the 1950s. The garage became a sacred temple that was built to pay tribute to the automobile that became the foremost space of most homes. Gerry Thompson, who is a contractor and skilled carpenter in the Phoenix area, bemoans the changes in the design of homes over the past four decades. “If you go back to the older neighborhoods in Phoenix, the lots are bigger and the front and back yards are larger.” But, as time went by and home construction moved out from the city, tract homes were fit into smaller spaces often spaced less than eight feet from each other. Now the front door has moved to the side in importance and has become, as Thompson phrases it, “a small facade” on a home that is rarely used to enter a home. Now, since the garage has become so easily accessable, it has allowed neighbors to avoid each other entirely without shaking hands. At most, many acknowledge each other from the safe confines of their automobile with a passive wave of the hand, if that occurs at all. However, it has been the passive wave of the hand that has allowed for the sentient existence that allowed for the individual to be a passenger in life from home, to work, back to home. The Remote Garage Door Opener ushered in a wireless culture that allowed for Americans to be able to sit down and stay indoors longer than ever before. After the introduction of the remote, it was a natural progression for the growth of the television into households and the T.V. remote. The impact that “Remote Culture” has had on everything from exercise to the break down of community has allowed for the national conversation to become less local and as a result more abstract. The irony is that as remote technology culture of the household has expanded, rendering movement needless, the size of homes have expanded even though movement through that space has become unnecessary. This has allowed us be able to live in a recliner culture without having to be mobile. No one is talking about what is going on outside the front door, where the average individual has more control and power than what is going on in another place.

Remote and wireless technology has now become a cultural and social mainstay of our daily lives now from locking our car doors to turning up the volume. But, the wireless devices were now more marketable to average consumers at large through the usage of ultra sound technology developed during World War II. The wireless television remote was introduced by Zenith in 1956. Later, it was infrared technology that would be introduced into the 1970s that became the dominant technology for wireless remotes. Then in 1973, there is the first cellular phone call made by Motorola that lead to the expansion of satellite technologies. In 2012, we sit with wireless laptops and mobile phones in coffee houses with wi-fi services without having to talk to the person sitting across the tables. It has allowed us to consolidate all of our desires into a single device. Now, humanity is more connected than ever before and can interact with one another more easily, but we are more distant from one another than ever before. We can now control and present our work and play within an identity that is now devoid of sensuality and nuance. We can maintain a digital smoke screen between the perceptions of others and the possibility of awkwardness. Now when we are foolish, we can choose to broadcast our it and control who the audiences are behind the barrier of our aluminum garage doors. It still can be opened with a device that has not changed in the last seventy years, but it has changed “US” to “ME”.