Joe Rainieri_Terra AMico Charlotte Kruk_artist SJ COnvention Center
Hiver Van Geenhoven Chromatic Coffee
CCONTENT
Issue 5.4 “Form”
Oct/Nov 2013
THE MAKERS:
Cultivator
Daniel Garcia
Marketeer
Sarah Garcia
Managing Editor
Flora Moreno de Thompson
Writers/Editors
Gillian Claus, Lynn Peithman Stock
Publishing Consultant
Alyssa Byrkit
Distribution
Sarah Hall
Writers
Mark Haney, Kat Bell, Kathyrn Hunts, Jennifer Elias, Jonathan Keshishoglou, Susan Chmelir
Designers
Jeff Gardner, Sean Lopez, JP Costanzo, Brian Gomez, Kristine Young
Photographers
Gregory Cortez, Scott MacDonald, Daniel Gaines, Max Thompson, Thomas Webb, Ana Villafane, Kim + Phil
Publishing Team
Lam Nyuyen, Charles Becker, Bree Raia, Victoria Felicity
IN THIS ISSUE
Luis Valdez / Charlotte Kruk / Bob Kieve / Terra Amico / DJ Coco / ComedySportz
The nature versus nurture debate amuses me. People are very complex—what forms us is a dynamic paradox found in a mixture of these two camps. In this issue, FORM, we look at what shapes us and our city. Is it nature or nurture? Here in Silicon Valley, many will proclaim that it is the innovative ethos that shapes our community. And looking at the people we highlight in this issue, it appears to be a valid perspective. From a toymaker to a radio broadcaster, reclaimed wood furniture to the remodeling of our convention center and urban core, each one of these stories exemplify the influences on us as individuals and communities. Whether innate or through personal experience, these influences help us form our own future.
Enjoy.
Daniel Garcia
To participate in Content Magazine: editor@content-magazine.com
Subscription & Advertising Information available by contacting sarahg@content-magazine.com
Art Ecology
Tastemakers, Maxwell Borkenhagen Hiver Van Geenhoven 56 Convention Center
60 San Jose Radio, Bob Kieve
Teatro Campesino, Luis Valdez
Oct/Nov
San Jose, California
Bob Kieve, pg. 60
Eddie Dobson, pg. 28
Eichler Homes, pg. 14
DJ Coco pg. 82
Hop on a plane tomorrow and explore with reckless abandon or plan every last detail—whatever your mood, here’s our take on one of many non-stop destinations served by our very own Mineta San Jose International Airport. Now boarding!
Denver may be known for its majestic mountains and jaw-dropping natural landscape, but many people don’t realize that it is also home to a huge concentration of creative cuisine, artisan breweries, and a uniquely laid-back, welcoming culture different from any other city in the country.
flight time
Over fifty flights depart San Jose International Airport each week for Denver. Flights last approximately two and a half hours.
DENVER
Written by Susan Chmelir
EAT
Denver offers a nearly endless selection of restaurants for every palate, including several participants in the growing trend of farm-to-table, locally sourced dishes.
For your date night out, walk under the twinkling lights on Larimer Square before dining at any of the top-notch restaurants along the street. Osteria Marco specializes in charcuterie and cheese plates, offering the creamiest burrata in town amidst a cozy basement setting. Just next door is Ocean Prime, your best option for fresh seafood 1,000 miles inland. Also on the street is The Market, great for a casual lunch and special desserts. Some even say it offers the most delicious espresso in all of Denver.
For an experience like no other, go to Linger, housed in the former Olinger Mortuary Building. Linger hosts the best rooftop views of the downtown skyline, all amidst the possibility that a ghost may be “lingering” nearby while you enjoy the trendy and delicious menu.
If you’ve never tried rattlesnake, elk, or wild boar, try them in hot dog form at a true Denver original, Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs. Jim ran his hot dog cart on 16th Street for years before building a following so strong he had to open a storefront. Another laid back spot is Steuben’s Food Service, a diner located in an old mechanic garage that serves excellent brunch.
For those with a sweet tooth, there are two excellent creameries worth checking out. Sweet Action Ice Cream is made with natural Colorado dairy and features creative flavors such as whiskey brickle and saffron on its rotating menu. Another sweet staple is Little Man Ice Cream, whose Salted Oreo flavor has been known to change lives.
What Colorado is probably most known for worldwide is its staggering natural beauty and nearly endless options for outdoor activity. From scenic drives to hikes and everything in between, there is no doubt why Colorado’s “purple mountain majesties” inspired the song “America the Beautiful.”
Colorado is home to 53 “fourteeners” or mountains that have an elevation of at least 14,000 feet above sea level. Some of them are located within Rocky Mountain National Park, whose main entrance is located about 70 miles northwest of Denver. The fourteener closest to Denver is Mount Evans, which has a hiking path for the hard core, and a road to drive on for the rest of us. The road is only open in the summer months, but affords an exhilarating day of hairpin turns, grand vistas, and a big payout at the top: that feeling of being on top of the world.
South of Denver near Colorado Springs is the Garden of the Gods State Park, a scenic drive through some of the grandest red rock formations the state has to offer. For more glorious red rocks, drive a half hour and see one of your favorite bands at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, a truly unique Denver experience.
In the wintertime, a trip to a ski/snowboard resort is an absolute must. Colorado has dozens of world-class ski resorts, and the best one close to Denver is Copper Mountain Ski Resort. It has runs for every skill level and is only a 90-minute drive away.
It only makes sense that in tandem with a population of young, outdoorsy, and active people, there would be a bevy of bars, pubs, and microbreweries to offer refreshment after a long day in the mountain air.
Most of the bars in town are located in the Lower Downtown district, known to locals as LoDo. One of the most popular bars is the Denver Beer Co., whose taps are filled with local brews daily. Bring your dog and sit outside in the biergarten, with hops growing overhead.
The 1Up is a great bar with Giant Jenga, arcade games, pinball, and skeeball. Green Russell (a speakeasy “hidden” behind a pie shop), Wynkoop Brewing Company (Denver’s first microbrew and founded by Colorado’s current governor John Hickenlooper) and Great Divide (a bar with, yes, a Yeti theme) are all also worth checking out in LoDo.
And lastly, Denver’s inhabitants are welcoming, proud of their city, and always willing to regale tourists with recommendations and anecdotes. Denver, this oasis of activity in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, is a true gem of a city that can be enjoyed by everyone.
CLOCKTOWER Finishing a Beacon of Time
Written by Mark Haney
by Gregory Cortez
Tucked in the heart of the city is a relic that time forgot, but a renewed interest may just get San Jose’s tower clock ticking again.
The oldest operating piece of high technology in Silicon Valley is a Nels Johnson Century Tower Clock, sitting in the middle of downtown San Jose, within the walls of an unfinished building.
Most people don’t even know about the clock, its significance, or the building it sits in. Yet the tower, which is now incorporated into the San Jose Museum of Art, still stands unfinished a century after the devastating 1906 earthquake. Why? That question may never be answered, but a better question by some citizens like John Mitchell is “When…?” As in, when will it be finished?
The clock tower was first built in 1892 as a Federal Post Office. It stands today as the only remaining Richardsonian Romanesque building on the West Coast. The sandstone it was crafted from comes from a quarry south of
Almaden—the same sandstone quarry that was reopened for Stanford to construct their new stadium.
Originally, the tower had a belfry above the clock where the bells would ring to announce the hour. During the 1906 earthquake, part of the tower fell down. It was during the re-construction that the federal government decided to install a Nels Johnson clock, considered the best tower clock in America.
“Why would little San Jose get a clock like that?” Mitchell wonders. We don’t know, but Johnson’s tower clocks were the best of the time. When Johnson was installing it, he was asked how accurate his clocks were. His reply was, “It’s accurate within four seconds of every month.” When asked if that was good, he answered, “Well if you want anything better, you’ll have to talk to God.”
Photography
“San Jose needs a landmark downtown to get people’s attention, get people interested, and make something that people will come to see.”
The role of a tower clock in the early 1900s was to synchronize the citizens’ days. Mitchell explains that the town clock became “the heartbeat of the city.” When the tower fell, the clock had to be replaced and the tower had to be rebuilt in order for people to get back to their regular lives. The reasons for not finishing the belfry are purely speculative, but following history throughout the 20th century, it is easy to see why it quickly was forgotten.
After the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco received the publicity for the heavy damage it sustained mainly because of fires that broke out. But San Jose had very significant damage as well. Blocks of buildings, schools, even Agnews Hospital sustained heavy damage. Because of the necessity to rebuild other buildings, finding money to finish the belfry on the clock tower became a low priority. As long as the clock was working, the bell that was installed remained silent.
Only a few years after the earthquake came the start of WWI, followed by the Spanish Influenza. The Roaring 20s came, and the project was forgotten about and pushed off. Then came the Great Depression, followed by WWII. After the war, came the GI Bill, the influx of GIs staying in California, and the start of 1950s, which brought the suburbanist and the modernist movements. Through all this, the clock tower became an afterthought, and the need for a town timepiece was lost with newer technology.
In 1972, hope was reborn, as the Secretary of the Interior marked the clock tower in the California Historical Registry, meaning that it could never be taken down, and any work done to it must be approved by the Secretary’s office. This was when redevelopment of downtown began, and whole blocks were taken out for new parking lots. Historical architecture was replaced with modern buildings and more parking lots.
There are similar clocks that function like the Nels Johnson clock, such as the one in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and Big Ben in London. However, those clocks have been modified and are now run by electric motors. The clock in San Jose is one of only a couple original Nels Johnson clocks left in the country that is still a mechanical clock, hand- wound twice a week. “The clock in there is the crown jewel of San Jose, yet it has been ignored for all these years,” says Mitchell.
Mitchell sees finishing the clock tower as not only a new beginning for San Jose, but something to build the city’s identity. “San Jose needs a landmark downtown to get people’s attention, get people interested, and make something that people will come to see. You have got to get something here that catches people’s eye, that makes people say, ‘Look, we have the last Richardsonian Romanesque Federal building on the West Coast, we’ve got a Nils Johnson clock that no one else does.’ San Francisco doesn’t have that and they don’t have a building like this, either. We
need something for people to have some civic pride in.”
Mitchell has been involved in one way or another with the clock tower for over three decades. When he first came to San Jose for school he noticed how the tower seemed to be missing a top.
“I just started looking at it, and I said, ‘Is that how it’s supposed to look? Is that how they intended to build it?’ It’s an odd tower; usually towers go up to a point. So I started asking questions, and then I saw how it used to look.”
Since the tower was rebuilt without the belfry, it now stands about 40 feet shorter than when it was first built. How much money would it take to rebuild it? “The RDA said it would be about $3.8 million,” says Mitchell, “but after talking to prominent developers in the Valley, I heard it could be done for less and finished in about a year.”
Re-building the tower is only part of it. Mitchell’s idea is to make the reconstruction into a learning experience that gets the community more involved in the history of San Jose. The clock would have to be taken out and deconstructed. The local chapter of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors has already volunteered to do the restoration work. Amazingly, it has never been completely taken apart and worked on in over a century.
Mitchell’s proposal is twofold. First, is the creation of an exhibit at the Tech Museum that deals with the math and science around the question of “What is time?” Second is a community engagement effort to have students actively participate in a unique way.
“Every kid that comes to see the exhibit would be charged ten cents—not a dime, but ten cents in copper pennies. The roof of the clock tower is copper, so if every kid brings in ten pennies, they are investing in the project. Ten years from now, that kid is going to say ‘I helped build that!’”
For Mitchell, the clock tower represents the benchmark for restoration and preservation in San Jose and Santa Clara County. If a project like this can be done, it will open doors to other projects of historical significance. It will also finally complete an unfinished chapter in San Jose’s history, one that has lasted over a century.
Mitchell can envision what a completed clock tower could add to San Jose.
“Imagine on New Years Eve, the clock tower complete, outlined in lights, people skating on the ice rink, and everybody’s out there waiting for the clock to strike twelve… That’s something that will draw people to downtown!”
sjclocktower.org
The Eichlers meet
People Who Live in Glass Houses: The Eichler Homes of Willow Glen
“You’ll know us by our roofs,”
Bill Pfahnl told me. He was right. When I asked him for directions to his place, he sent me an address, but suggested I look up an aerial view. After all, I was meeting him to talk about his home, his community, and an important bit of architectural history in the Bay Area. And through that image I saw an incredibly distinct contrast between the 330 homes of the Fairglen tract, built in the early 1960’s by famed California developer Joseph Eichler, and the surrounding miles of South Bay suburbs. The tar and gravel flat roofs of Fairglen stood out starkly amongst the traditional and ubiquitous shingled gables of American single-family homes.
Eichler homes are definitely unique. The post and beam structure, glass walls, and open floor plans offer a distinct experience. “People either love them or they can’t understand them,” Pfahnl explains.
Joseph Eichler was a real-estate developer who brought modernism to the middle class. For the most part, modern architecture had been relegated to the upper and lower classes (think of the posh homes in the Hollywood Hills and of post-war urban housing projects, respectively). Eichler sought to change this. In the end, nine Eichler developments were built: three in Southern California and six in the Bay Area. The Fairglen tract, a development near Meridian and Curtner in Willow Glen, offers a peek into Eichler’s vision.
As a designer, I was interested in how the architecture of these homes impacted the residents’ lifestyles. I sat down with Pfahnl to find out what made these homes so unique, other than the roofs, of course. As we sat in his atrium (a signature element of this Robert Anshen-designed Eichler iteration), a few of his neighbors showed up, one by one, to join in on the conversation and bond over a common love for their homes. We talked about
the early days of the neighborhood, the 35 year run of the Fairglen Art Festival, and its reincarnation as an annual neighborhood block party.
There were a lot of other home developments springing up in this area in the 1960s, and it’s easy in hindsight to look back and identify the historical and architectural significance of Eichler’s developments.
Do you think the Fairglen residents at the time understood living in an Eichler neighborhood to be at all special?
Pfahnl: They knew it was different. I think that if they hadn’t appreciated the uniqueness of the homes, you would have seen a lot more modifications. So I think that people did appreciate it. It was the era of the Case Study Homes, and they could see that modernism was offering something very different. Also, they knew it was a uniquely open and inclusive neighborhood.
Written by nathan jensen
Photography by gregory cortez
Brulé Home
How so?
Pfahnl: There were no restrictions on race, religion, etc. This was one of the hallmarks of Eichler’s vision: if you could afford to buy the house, those things didn’t matter. There was a welcoming sense to the community. It kind of felt Bohemian, and that attracted those people to it.
Steven Thatcher: The neighborhood was inclusive and diverse. In the 1960s, this was the only neighborhood nearby that sold to minorities. So that was a big thing. Right off the bat, Eichler was like, “I’m going to make something for everybody.”
The people moving into this neighborhood were professors, artists, and architects...open-minded, and more progressive people. Fairglen was like “Haight-Ashbury South.” The women had a community garden. It was communal.
It seems like that emphasis on community has maintained itself over the years. What would you attribute that to?
Pfahnl: For people that don’t like the Eichlers, their critique is always, “There are no windows to the street. There’s no way to sit at your kitchen and know what’s going on out front.” But I think that not having a view to the front without opening up the front door actually forces you to go outside. It kind of brings you out to the front, it brings the neighborhood out, and it allows you to have the privacy when the door is closed. For us in the neighborhood, we know that if the front door is open, we’re welcome inside.
It’s not like we are going to hide anything—We live in a glass house! So, I think it goes counter to what you might think because of the style and the social aspect of the homes. They’re
built to have people over. The design brings people together, and you go outside, and you’re watching your kids and interacting with your neighbors rather than just watching them through a window.
Jerry Escobar*: One thing that surprised me about living here was that we could live, in many ways, the way the homes were designed to be lived in. If you think about the 50s and 60s, it seems like everyone was sort of friendly and outgoing. Well, you actually get that here. It’s surprising! The flow here is probably a lot like it was in the early days of Fairglen. It’s very cool and it really surprised me. I knew I was living in some significant architecture, but I never anticipated that the social aspect would be as strong as it is.
*Not pictured
Bill and Kim Pfahnl
It’s easy to be social in a great space like this and with this climate, right?
Thatcher: The unique thing about Eichler homes is that they are like a certain plant that only grows in a certain region. You can’t have them in Santa Cruz—it’s too foggy. You can’t have them in Sacramento—it’s too hot.
The architecture doesn’t lend itself to anywhere but a certain climate like we have here in San Jose.
What do you love about these homes and living in this community?
Pfahnl: I grew up in a Craftsman home in downtown San Jose, and this is about as different an experience as you can get. These homes stand on their own without having to furnish them; you don’t have to decorate them or anything. That’s what I’ve
always appreciated: architecture that could stand on its own. I just love the openness. I love that I can work in my office, look through the atrium and the living room, and see what’s going on in the backyard. It’s all open. I’m still part of what’s going on, even if I may be working in the other end of the house.
Escobar: I feel like we are curators, in many ways, for the vision of Joe Eichler. We are really fortunate to be living here—I mean, who else gets to live in a piece of art? It’s crazy. There aren’t that many of these homes and we are very fortunate to be given the opportunity to come in here and, in many cases, to bring them back to the original architectural vision. Our house was a complete mess when we bought it so restoring it was really quite an honor. And to be able to pass this vision on to your kids, watch
them pick up on the whole architectural design vibe, and to see them get excited about living here...it’s very cool.
How did you end up in Fairglen? My wife was raised in an Eichler in Saratoga and gave me a lot of insight when we were looking to buy. So we toured the home we ended up buying and we love it.
What’s your favorite part about living in an Eichler? All of the perspectives the layout can offer as soon as you enter, which is always a surprise. I think living here is a “way of life” that makes people, families, and guests welcome and they are always commenting on how great the design is
Pierre Brulé, Pamela Anderson-Brulé and daughter Isabelle, homeowners since 1987
How did you end up in Fairglen? We moved from another Eichler in San Mateo to Willow Glen in 1960 to escape the mountain fog. My father loved the houses and the people that come with the neighborhood.
What’s your favorite part about living in an Eichler? The openness, the visual effects from the light, the tall ceilings, cool neighbors, and radiant heat in floors. They are like boats, you have to work on them to keep them afloat.
Steve and Stella Thatcher, original Fairglen residents since 1960
Laura Bennett FROGS and GENETICS
Written by Daniel Garcia
Photography by ana VIllafane
Where did you grow up?
I grew up mostly in Santa Fe in New Mexico, a very artsy place. I think it has an influence on people who grow up there. It’s been funny to see my friends even who weren’t particularly artistic when I knew them as a kid, now one’s a sculptor and two of them are professional photographers and another one works at a gallery.
When you were growing up there, did you attend a lot of different galleries and shows?
Yeah, actually as a teenager just walking up Canyon Road, which is just like a mile of galleries, and going into all of them, which is a weird activity for a kid. I loved to do that. They’ve got the Folk Art Museum and Indian Market, which is all this great buffalo pottery and things.
Did your parents come and take you to that or you just did it on your own?
I just went by myself. My parents definitely appreciate art, but I sought it out as my own thing.
Were you always drawing even as a kid?
Yeah, forever. But, at that point I didn’t know for sure that I was going to end up being an artist, I had this idea to build up a mental catalog of images and looking at little details. I’d think, “I really like this color, I’m going to remember that. I really like this design, I’m going to remember that.” I carried a sketchbook everywhere and drew those little things.
Those experiences must have gotten in there so deep it’s
almost subconscious. Like, I can draw something and only when it’s finished I realize that little element came from something that I saw back then.
You study Art at Stanford but had an interesting minor.
Going to Stanford was like, “Hey, I got accepted to Stanford, I’ll go there.” [laughter]
So have an Art Major with a minor in human biology. I think about biology and genetics and stuff when I’m making my art, and I want to work on making it come through more visually, because I think sometimes it’s not clear that that’s what I’m thinking about, and I’d like to make it more obvious.
When you say that, are you saying that elements of the genetic makeup their way into our frogs? Are they connected as if they’re an ancestor?
Yeah, 100 percent like that! Like the frogs, there’s four of these and they’re all different colors, but it starts with the first one. Then to make the second one, I transfer the image of the first one using this low budget carbon paper technique. Then when I do the painting and the inking, it subtly changes the shape of the frog. Then the third one is derived from the second one, and the next one comes from the third one. So it is kind of like. They are kind of a species, changing gradually over time.
It’s been interesting to see just in these four the amount of change and “genetic drift.” Maybe probably not, I don’t know, to make 100 of these frogs and put them all in a row in a gallery, so you start here and here’s the first one, and you go all the way around, and then you get to the end and these two are totally different, but the whole series is continuous.
I suppose you’re a little bit surprised then, too, right? Even though you’re the artist doing this, because of the transfer and then going over it, it morphs a little bit beyond your control in a way.
Yeah, there’s the plan, and a the process, and sometimes the result is a little bit unexpected.
But, I feel like there’s a really strong connection between visual art and biology. In terms of scientific illustration, like the drawing of two frogs that you were talking about, I was always fascinating by illustrations in biology textbooks or National Geographic
I remember talking to one of my friends. He was like, “Oh, I guess someone had to make those drawings. I never really thought about it.” Whereas for me I was like, “Oh, I’ve got this anatomy textbook,” and I’m like, “I really like the style of...”Because they’ll use multiple illustrators for the textbook and be like, “I like the style of this person, they do really good diagrams, and don’t like this person.” I’m going to look in the back of the book and figure out
what the name of that person who drew that diagram of a spleen or whatever.
Would you ever want to do that? Do actual illustrations for a textbook type thing? Or you can do a mock one, species. You can invent your own creatures.
Yeah, there’s a wonderful book called Little Known and Seldom Seen Birds of North America, which is fictitious birds, incredibly realistic detail styles, and that is just awesome. There’s a book called After Man, which has animals from a million years in the future.
I do like that kind of thing. I’ve learned a little bit about how that actually works as a profession. I used to imagine that those people, they work directly for the textbook company and they sit in a little studio. It’s not really like that. They’re more often freelance, so that seems like more of a tenuous kind of a situation. I am sure if I’d like the uncertainty of employment.
Oh yeah, that’s no fun. [laughs] Yeah, you’re too planned and methodical for that.
Yeah, but if anyone wants to hire me to do a one-off science illustration project...
[laughter]
“WE PACK WOMEN AS ‘CREAMY,’ ‘JUICY,’ AND ALL THESE WORDS THAT ARE ON CANDY AND FOOD PACKAGING.”
WEARABLE SCULPTURE THAT PACKS A PUNCH
Written by Kathryn Hunts
CCharlotte Kruk’s dresses and suits made from candy wrappers and product packaging are bringing attention to the way we talk about women.
harlotte Kruk’s Willow Glen home and studio are a wonderland of sweets and color. The bedrooms showcase Kruk’s range of sculptural art from mannequins wearing intricately structured gowns to a series of massive pots for candles. In the backyard are her two studios, one for the large and messy projects and her “clean” studio adorned with giant candies, affectionately called “Peppermint Place.” An art teacher at Lynbrook High School, Kruk spends countless hours here in the summer, creating elaborate wearable sculptures that have been featured in museums and runways alike.
As a student at San Jose State University, Kruk tried to create a dress using copper, but struggled because it was too heavy. That summer, she took a break to join her family on their annual vacation to Lake Shasta when the solution presented itself.
“I had just eaten this whole thing of Now and Laters, and I had all the wrappers in my hand. I had just failed with my metalsmithing project, and there’s no garbage can anywhere. So I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What am I going to with this trash? Litter? No. Littering’s not my style.’ The longer I looked at them, the more my mind was like, ‘You wanted to make this dress; here’s all this source material. Sew this together and you’ll have that dress.’”
Though she spent her life as a tomboy with an aversion to sewing, she decided to embrace the technique.
“I told my mom I was ready to sew, and she was just overjoyed,” says Kruk. Growing up, her mother and grandmothers sewed and repurposed just about anything. At Christmas, she watched as one grandmother recycled the elaborate wrapping of the other grandmother the following year. The lavish grandmother also fostered Kruk’s love for sweets, buying her a bag of candy upon each weekly visit. The art she creates today is a culmination of her family’s traditions.
Her series of wearable tongue-in-cheek sculptures bring attention to the adjectives used to describe women and the societal importance of packaging and perception. “We pack women as ‘creamy,’ ‘juicy,’ and all these words that are on candy and food packaging… [My work is] made to mock how we peacock ourselves and how society accepts us based on how we present ourselves. It’s toying with all these ideas about how we package, how we purpose, how we’re gluttons, and how we overdo everything. There’s a package on top of a package, and that was shipped in a package.”
It began with a bikini made from Bit o’ Honey wrappers as a play on the song, “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yel
low Polka Dot Bikini.” Then in 1994 came a dress created with Campbell’s Soup labels named “Dating Andy” that she submitted to the company’s Art of Soup competition. According to her website, it came complete with matching “shoes, garter belt, veil and flowers, just in case there was a wedding.”
Photography by MAx THompson
Kruk’s community started chipping in to help amass enough materials to make the larger-than-life dresses. The Marie Antoinette-inspired “Let Them Bake Cake” gown features every ingredient needed to bake a cake. She had a great collection of C&H packaging to create the fabric, but needed help when it came to the other ingredients. “I combed the neighborhood for salt, and baking powder, and vanilla bottles.” Teachers and students got on board, bringing flour bags and butter wrappers. French bakery La Boulange helped by sending her to their main facility and letting her jump in their dumpsters.
Despite the growing acclaim for her art, Mars, Inc. condemned the work featuring M&Ms, Snickers, and Starburst. In 2001, the corporation sent Kruk a cease-and-desist letter demanding that she take down images from her website, inform the company of her plans for the M&M wrappers, and immediately turn over the dresses for destruction. For the next five years, she kept a low profile working on other projects and consulting with lawyers on her rights. By 2006, she had had enough and fought back using M&M wrappers to create a breathtaking, head-totoe matador ensemble.
“In feeling so violated I felt like I needed to draft a response, and that response was to make the most brilliant and most brave suit that’s ever been worn. What’s braver than a matador? Standing in front of a bull like, ‘C’mon, gore me to death!’ C’mon, just do it. That was the statement I was making, like, ‘Okay take me to court with this one. Tell me this isn’t an art piece.’ The other ones...okay, I get it. They’re kinda cute, but this one’s not. This one’s serious. And if you’re gonna tell me this isn’t sculpture and
“In feeling so violated I felt like I needed to really draft a response, and that was to make the most brilliant and most brave suit that’s ever been worn.”
this isn’t magnificent use of your trash, then I’m gonna get a lawyer who’s gonna prove to you that you’re wrong and I’m right.”
One of the most seminal moments in Kruk’s career came when dancer Ellianette Guadarrama performed in the matador’s accompanying “El FlaM&Menco” dress, complete with billowing ruffles and red sequins. The beauty of watching the dress come to life was a transformative experience for Kruk.
“I was wowed with her ability to breathe life into the sculpture; complete body control, exquisite lines and beautifully syncopated to music. For the first time ever, I was in that moment, proud of myself….For me, this pairing of human interaction with the sculpture was monumental. [It was] a kind of hurdle I needed to experience in order to feel the weight that human interaction can play at the essence of my conversation.”
Kruk saw the journey she had taken to get to this point and the people who helped her along the way. She emerged empowered by her past to take on her future.
“What at first was a wound to my creative spirit, became a revolutionary spark to my insight.”
kruktart.com
charlottekruk@gmail.com
TOYMAKER
Preserving the Essence of Childhood
Written by Charles Becker
Photography by scott macdonald
Eddie Dobson builds designer toys from scratch in his garage for a living.
on the scene for a short three years, his monster and robot toys ship to customers all the way from Canada to Brazil. He gets so much buzz in the United Kingdom that nobody realizes he was raised in San Jose.
Made from vinyl, resin, and sometimes wood, designer toys are collectibles due to the limited quantities from dozens to the thousands. Artists make each and every toy unique.
In the past, toy makers would hold the techniques and the means of production hidden away, leading to over commercialization and lack of diversity. Today, the designer toy empire is comprised of independent artists such as Dobson who make mutant, zombie, and robot toys from their wild childhood imaginations.
An unlikely beginning to his toy tinkering career began three years ago when Dobson emailed Lulubell Toys in Arizona. His email was short. “Hey, I want to make a toy.”
“Me being a procrastinator, it took me another eight months to go make something, because I am working fulltime,” Dobson says with a grin.
In his time working with Lulubell Toys, Dobson slowly began perfecting the process of designing his very own toys. It all starts with a concept. This basic idea gets translated onto paper, and he hammers out a sketch of what the finished product should look like. He creates a clay sculpture or mold from silicone rubber that will eventually be filled with a synthetic resin to harden the toy figure. Each side requires a filling and can require up to a week to dry.
During a visit to his workshop, Dobson produces a prototype from his new project that is still sticky with the resin poured several days earlier. The head is the Creature of the Black Lagoon and it is juxtaposed on an astronaut’s body. “This is the only medium in my life that I have full control of. I can do whatever I want. If I want to put a giraffe head on an astronaut I can do that. Nobody can tell me otherwise,” he says as if this is a daily affirmation.
Resin casting is tedious. For toy figures with moveable limbs, a sculpt must be handmade for each arm or leg. “Toys are made for play. You don’t want to keep them in a shelf. You don’t want to keep them in a case,” he says with the conviction of a true aficionado of the art form.
There are two types of designer toys: originals and bootlegs. A bootleg is taking an old obscure toy and bringing it back.
From LuluBell Toys, he jumped into a collaboration formed with his New York-based partner Jenna Antonelli called Galaxy Monkey. His first original toy was the madly successful Monkeynaut.
While they drew out the sketches, Jenna created the detailed sculpture. Joking about monkey astronauts over some drinks to materializing the final product was about a year of back-and-forth for Monkeynaut. Galaxy Monkey did a run of about 20 pieces at Designer Con in October last year. Keeping his momentum, he quickly did a limited run of ten with toy painter Dsky 1, which sold out in one hour.
“As I have gotten older, I’m just still into toys.”
His first painted Monkeynaut toys were featured in San Francisco’s Kid Robot store. “They were the ones who introduced me to vinyl. As a matter of fact, Monkeynaut was on display at Kid Robot in San Francisco. I will forever be thankful to Kid Robot because if it wasn’t for Kid Robot I wouldn’t have gotten into vinyl.”
Frequenters of Kid Robot will tell you there is a special bond between toy collectors and the artist. As a child, Dobson grew up on Japanese television shows such as Robotech, Star Blazer, Shogun Warriors, Godzilla, and Jet Jaguar. “As a kid, I knew they were cheesy. I knew they weren’t real. But they were just so much fun,” he says. “I appreciate that people like my stuff, but at the end of the day I only do what I think is cool,” he says.
Eddie Dobson is an easygoing hip-hop enthusiast and an Oakland Athletics fan, but a few things get under his skin. “I used to be very agro about toy flippers,” he says. “It was to the point that if I saw my toy on eBay, I would bid the highest price so no one would bid on it.” Toy flippers are scalpers in the designer toy community who purchase toys for the sole purpose of turning a profit.
Dobson credits people who collect toys as “preserving the essence of childhood.” He is an instant friend for life if you appreciate his craft. In fact, the last time he was at Designer Con for the release of his soft vinyl Monkeynaut, he caught one customer unprepared by identifying him by name from a previous email order.
“I try to keep the price as reasonable as possible,” he adds. The regular price points can go from $30 to $300. “I try not to get past the price point of $50, because at that point I feel I am robbing some people of my toys. I feel if anyone emailed me and told me they really like my toys but couldn’t afford it, I might just give it to them.”
He has yet to turn a profit, but that does not deter him a bit. He recently took a six-month hiatus to catch up with his day job as a software consultant. His co-workers would tell you that his desk is a toy museum of memorabilia, figurines, toys, and posters. “I have these huge robot toys from the 70s; everyone just comes to my desk and is like, man, this guy is a weirdo.”
But at age 33, he realized that money was never going to fulfill him. Making toys has been a lifetime dream. When his dad would ask him when he would grow up as a kid, Dobson defiantly answered—never!
“As I have gotten older, I’m just still into toys. I started learning sculpting. I learned how to make my own stuff through trial and error. It got the point where I wanted to start manufacturing my own toys,” Dobson says.
His next endeavor is a solo project called Robot Soaps. It has nothing to do with robots; he pulls out a bar of unscented soap in the shape of an alien cranium. Getting started in full gear after his six-month hiatus, he will also be working an exclusive series called H.U.S.T.L.E, which is tribute to the old MUSCLE toys with TruTek toys based in the United Kingdom.
“I think now I am at the beginning of starting to figure what it’s going to look like doing this full-time with RobotSoaps.com. If I can pay for my daughter’s college tuition by making toys, I would be happy.”
“THIS IS THE ONLY MEDIUM IN MY LIFE THAT I HAVE FULL CONTROL OF. I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT. IF I WANT TO PUT A GIRAFFE HEAD ON AN ASTRONAUT I CAN DO THAT. NOBODY CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE.”
man-e-toys.com/tag/eddie-dobson
AT CREATING COMEDYSPORTZ
Written
by Kathryn Hunts | Photography by THomas Webb
Michael Wilcoxin
ChaytonWhisky
Scott Shroeder
“ WE ARE AN ECLECTIC NUTTY GROUP OF PEOPLE OF SO MANY AMAZING, FUN PERSONALITIES. ”
Celebrating 26 years in San Jose, ComedySportz is as fast and fun as ever.
From the moment you enter Camera 3 on Second and San Carlos, you are transported into a world of play. Theater Two’s turf-covered stage is home to ComedySportz San Jose, an improv comedy staple.
Each performance divides the cast into two teams who compete in exciting head-to-head comedy games. The audience, fueled by Psycho Donuts and coffee, decides who wins the match using plastic flyswatters called Whapnerz. The referee can call fouls on both the players and audience members for offenses such as inappropriate language, the “Groaner Foul” for using a bad pun, or the “Too Soon Foul.”
To keep the experience fresh, the team can choose from over 250 games. The games they play just to warm up include titles such as “Zoom-Schwartz-Profigliano,” “Bibbity-Bibbity-Bop,” and “Zip-Zap-Zop.” Some of these come straight from the ComedySportz World Championship, where 22 teams from all over the world convene each year to share ideas they have created and to battle it out for a tiny trophy called the “Meaningless Cup.”
Although teams are competitive, it becomes clear that making everyone laugh, including each other, is the goal. For players like Michael Wilcoxin, ComedySportz San Jose represents more than an improv comedy team.
“ComedySportz is the Island of Misfit Toys. We are an eclectic nutty group of people of so many amazing, fun personalities. A month ago one of our players married one of the house managers, and it was a ComedySportzstyle event. We take care of each other. That’s one of the biggest things—it’s a family. Some of my best friends I met through ComedySportz.”
This enduring connection extends to local high school students in ComedySportz’s workshops. Workshop alum Chayton Whiskey has even gone on to join the main cast. As Wilcoxin explains, “We bring the kids here twice a week, and do workshops here on site. A lot of schools do challenge shows where they’ll play against each other.
They create a ton of relationships and friendships within that community. That is another Island of Misfit Toys. It’s so much fun to see kids that may not have fit in somewhere else. We don’t turn our back on people. No matter where you come from, we have space for you.”
More than just pure fun, these workshops communicate a core value of ComedySportz: showing respect for each other in their performance and everyday life.
“Inappropriate comedy isn’t funny. That’s a really cool maturation for a high school kid to realize, ‘Oh wait, I don’t have to put somebody down or make fun of a group to be funny.’ We elevate their humor to realize, ‘I don’t have to bully, or I don’t have to hurt somebody or make fun of somebody to be funny.’ That’s something Scott [Schroder], the director of our high school league, has always done. We’re more than just a comedy group. We have a social justice message, and we don’t hurt people, and we don’t make fun of people. We never want someone in our audience to feel uncomfortable.”
Silicon Valley companies such as eBay and HP have taken notice of ComedySportz’s positive effect on team building. The troupe comes in with tailored games to bond new employees together and to help dysfunctional teams cooperate. The dichotomy between comedy actor and the tech world is part of what makes the interaction work. “Dropping us into a room full of engineers gives them permission to look at things different ways. You see everybody sitting with their hands crossed in their laps at first, and usually by the end of the workshop everybody’s up and playing and laughing and doing all these silly activities, [such as] trying to build a grand piano just using human bodies.”
Back at Camera 3, the sense of community continues as audience members—once strangers—are now bound by their shared creative experience. At the end of every performance, the players line up to high-five everyone leaving the theater. The chorus of laughter and clapping Whapnerz reverberate across the downtown streets.
comedysportzsanjose.com
Twitter: @CSzSJ
Facebook: ComedySportzSanJose
TERRAAMICO RECLAIMED WOOD
Written by Jonathan Keshishoglou
Joe Rainieri transformed a pile of reclaimed wood into a table, and his woodworking skills into a business.
Custom furniture is tricky. For one thing, quality pieces can be difficult to find. But environmentally-sound custom furniture made from salvaged and repurposed materials is something different altogether. This is where Terra Amico comes into the picture.
Terra Amico was started back in 2009 by Joe and Lisa Rainieri, just after the construction and real estate industries began to crash. As a former LEED AP in the construction industry, Joe found himself out of a job.
Left with time on his hands, Joe found some leftover wood and materials from an old project for the Silver Creek Valley Country Club, took it into his backyard, and decided he would build a table.
“So I did that, designed and built a table in my backyard, and put it on Craigslist,” Joe says. “And the same day I posted it on Craigslist, it sold. So I said, ‘Ok, that’s kinda nice. Maybe I’ll build another table.’”
He continued building and selling out of his own home— until the neighbors began to complain about the noise. For a while, he rented a small space in a lumberyard—just twenty square feet. Finally outgrowing that space as well, the Rainieris set up shop in a 10,000 square foot barn right off of Monterey Highway.
Over the constant whirring of buzz saws, a staff of twenty now populates Terra Amico’s workspace. Many of their projects involve reclaimed redwood and Douglas fir, both
native and plentiful in California. The company frequently obtains well-sourced wood from others who have already cut it down and no longer know what to do with it. Because the wood is rarely stained or heavily altered, it has a rustic and organic look. Some of their tables, shelves, and dressers are made from fence posts and barn wood, creating something that’s locally made and entirely uniquelooking.
Because Rainieri is a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), he is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council and knows how to build his creations in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way.
Terra Amico has built furniture for many new downtown spaces including Café Stritch, Blackbird Tavern, and San Pedro Square Market. While many of their clients come by referral, the furniture is also sold retail.
Joe designs most of the furniture himself, often beginning with whatever specifics he is given and then handling the rest with his own expertise. Clients are always invited to come visit the workshop to discuss what they want, but sometimes all they get are emails with some basic designs and dimensions. Or they get emails with a lot of pictures of what the client envisions, leaving Joe and his staff to do the rest.
And of course, it is almost entirely custom projects, from a table using a slab of wood to a hutch made from fence boards. Some requests are more unusual. Joe and Lisa are
Photography by daniel garcia
“THE SAME DAY I POSTED IT ON CRAIGSLIST, IT SOLD. SO I SAID, ‘OK, THAT’S KINDA NICE. MAYBE I’LL BUILD ANOTHER TABLE.’”
rather fond of a recent project for a San Francisco bar who wanted a “Beer Wheel of Fortune,” consisting of a spinning wheel to select a drink from whatever beer the wheel lands on. While this is an uncommon thing to ask for at Terra Amico, it illustrates just how big their range is with custom pieces.
“The thing that I hear most from people is how happy they are to have an alternative to the mass merchants that build things overseas…They really love the opportunity to shop local. And that’s a big catch phrase right now, but they really mean it,” says Lisa, who manages the communications with clients.
Unusually for the furniture business, Terra Amico doesn’t take deposits. Their philosophy is that they build it and deliver the furniture, and if the customer doesn’t love it, they are under no obligation to pay. Although it is very rare that customers do not love it.
The Rainieris are faring well despite starting from the ground up only a few years ago. Joe often gets requests from other LEED APs, who are working in construction but have no concept of furnishings.
For Joe, the combination of green projects built to fit any uneven space in the Bay Area is something that needs to be available—and there is undeniably a market for it. As he puts it, “They may not always be into sustainable furniture, but they can get a piece that will fit their space.”
terraamico.com terraamico@gmail.com
“WE HAVE THE LAST OF A LOT OF THINGS IN THE AREA THAT WE’RE NOT APPRECIATING.”
Times Signs of the
Written by FLora moreno de Thompson
by KIM + PHIL photo
HEATHER DAVID IS ON A MISSION TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE AND SIGNAGE FROM THE 50S AND 60S IN HOPES OF PRESERVING THEIR HISTORY.
Remember Kiddie World?
The former toy store on the corner of Stevens Creek and San Tomas Expressway was a source of joy for many San Jose residents when it was still around. For Heather David, seeing Kiddie World come down in 2001 was the beginning of her journey as an advocate for the preservation of midcentury architecture in the South Bay.
“That’s what started it for me,” David says with a hint of sadness in her voice as she points to a photo of the now defunct space-age sign. She recalls standing in the middle of Stevens Creek Boulevard to take a picture of it before the store was demolished. She now devotes much of her spare time to writing and educating others about mid-century architecture and raising awareness of the architectural treasures in the area. “My strategy is
all about education,” David says. “You have to get people to stop, look, and give a shit. If you can’t, then it’s a lost cause.”
David began by joining the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, where she used to serve as a board member. “I was the cheerleader for mid-century architecture,” she says. She wrote about the buildings, architects, and designers she felt weren’t getting the recognition they deserved in PACSJ’s newsletters. She is no longer on the board, but continues to write about San Jose for numerous publications. “I’m always writing about how cool San Jose is.”
She decided to go one step further and self-publish a book called MidCentury by the Bay, a project which took David two years to complete.
She researched the book extensively, digging through library records and clippings, cold-calling people she thought might be related to the architects, even buying architectural ads of old buildings on eBay. “Almost everyone I reached out to cooperated, so I knew I was onto something,” she says.
It was through the book that she met Arnold Del Carlo, the commercial photographer for Valley Fair in the 60s. Del Carlo gave David the rights to use his photographs of buildings from the area in her book. She eventually helped get his extensive collection of commercial photography into the Sourisseau Academy. “It was a long process, but probably one of the best experiences of my life.”
For David, the 50s and 60s represented the most prosperous time in
Photography
US history. “It also represents a time of great innovation,” she explains. A lot of popular architects of the era like John Savage Bolles and Paul R. Williams have buildings here that attract architecture wonks from beyond the Bay Area, yet many locals aren’t even aware of it. “I feel like we’re on a mission to demolish this period of history which could be used to differentiate ourselves.”
The former IBM campus on Cottle Road, designed by Bolles in 1956, was once considered such an architectural marvel ahead of its time that Nikita Khrushchev came to San Jose to check it out for himself. Ansel Adams even photographed the campus. Bolles incorporated reflection pools, sculptures, and patios for people to sit and enjoy their workplace—commonly found elements in corporate campuses today, but novel concepts at the time. “You’d think we’d do something to highlight its significance,” David says. Instead, the city is talking with developers to possibly turn the property into a commuter village with high density residences and mixed use buildings.
“We have the last of a lot of things in the area that we’re not appreciating,” David says. Babe’s Muffler Man on the Alameda is the last one in all of the Bay Area. Flames Restaurant across the street from Santana Row is another example of a historic piece of mid-century architecture that is, to the best of David’s knowledge, the last of its kind in northern California. It was originally built as a prototype for Bob’s Big Boy restaurants. “I’m not trying to be an impediment to progress,” David says. “I’m saying this is a really cool building. You can’t build around it?”
Currently, David is working to advocate for the Century Theaters across the street from Santana Row, which is at risk of being demolished. The theaters are some of the remaining Century domes in the country, designed by Bay Area architect Vincent G. Raney (he also designed Capitol Drive-In). “The [Century Theater] chain was founded in San Jose,” David says. “This is something we can say makes us unique and yet, let’s build more urban villages. Is that really what people want?” PACSJ and The Retro Dome have teamed up to circulate a petition to obtain signatures to save
the domes, or at least one of them. “I’m not saying we should save all the theaters,” David says. “At least save the ones with the most significance.”
Aside from architecture, David wants people to pay attention to the neon signage from the era. “We have some of the most concentrated midcentury signage in one area,” she says. “San Jose should have a historic sign district.” The Western Appliance sign is her favorite, and she is grateful for the owners of the building who maintain it (“I wonder what it costs to maintain it,” she asks). Her second favorite sign: Stephen’s Meat Products sign on Montgomery Street. “It’s in such a state of disrepair,” her voice trails off. “It’s such a heartbreak right now.”
“I wonder if the greater cultural movement is to experience your life virtually.” She was recently contacted by a professor who wanted to develop a phone app for a virtual IBM campus tour. “But wouldn’t you rather tour the campus?” she asks. “There’s a disconnect.”
In the few years since David’s book has been published, she has seen many of the buildings she wrote about torn down. But she continues to write and give presentations about 20th century architecture to raise awareness about the architectural history in San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area. She has also organized a San Jose Modern Tour to showcase some of the iconic buildings in town.
It took seeing a sign come down for David to become involved in the preservation of mid-century buildings. She hopes other people will be encouraged to become architectural activists too, so these buildings will not all give way to stuccoed buildings and parking structures. “We have a lot of great architecture here,” David says. “You have to frequent these places. You have to spread the word about it.”H
heather David’s Top Ten Mid-century Buildings
1. IBM Cottle Road Campus (AT RISK due to Urban Village development)
2. Santa Clara Administration Building (AT RISK)
3. San Jose Water Company Building (prior to the removal of the signage and the new landscaping job)
4. San Jose Mercury News Building (AT RISK—land currently for sale)
5. Salinas Valley Savings & Loan (currently a branch of CHASE)
6. Bank of the West on S. 1st (formerly First National Bank note: wonderful tile mosaic on façade by Mary Henry)
7. Century 21 Theater (AT RISK due to Urban Village development)
8. Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant (AT RISK due to Urban Village development)
9. Magic Sands Mobile Home Community Center
10. Community of Christ Church
WALTON ARTGLASS
Windows to the World
Written by Lynn Peithman Stock
Photography by Daniel Gaines
Back in 1970, Mark Walton got a ten minute lesson in cutting glass, and that brief tutorial morphed into a lifelong passion and career: creating elaborate pieces of art in glass and functional, yet beautiful cut and stained glass windows. Over his 40-year career, clients have included Disney parks in Anaheim, Tokyo, and Paris; John Madden and others in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Australia, and southern California.
Walton works on his original glass projects in a studio behind his home, tucked away on a cul-desac in Campbell. Three of his seven children help him; Mike and Jeremy produce the glass projects along with Jason, who works on glass pumpkins the family is also known for. In early October, the Walton clan sells its hand-blown glass pumpkins at the annual Magical Glass Pumpkin Patch in Los Gatos. This year’s event marked the 11th season for fundraiser for Los Gatos High School.
Mark Walton, 62, no longer makes glass pumpkins himself to sell. Instead he concentrates on his beveled glass windows. He also tinkers making glass paperweights, which is a project that still ranks among his favorite. In fact, in 1990, he stumbled upon his glass pumpkin design while working on a paperweight. He accidentally poked a hole in the glass paperweight he was working on, looked at it and said, “Oh, that looks like a pumpkin.”
For years, Walton Art Glass, established in 1972, has worked with Hendrix Allardyce, an interior and exterior design firm based in Beverly Hills. They design homes that are 30,000 square feet and larger and often range from $30 million to $50 million apiece. Walton works
with the company and its clients to design the windows. Walton also installs the windows himself. “It’s fun to go back when the house is done and see it,” he says. “These houses are so amazing, they’ll be around forever. It’s a step up from anything you ever see. It’s a privilege to work with this company.”
While certainly Walton wants to use his own creative juices—“You think, I know what would look perfect here. You want to put in your ideas”—he also knows to take a cue from his client. He first learned the lesson years ago to follow the client’s lead. “We do what they want and try to make it better. It’s a fine balance between what you want to do and what the business owner wants.”
“We do what they want and try to make it better. It’s a fine balance between what you want to do and what the business owner wants.”
Wherever that first seed of an idea starts from, Walton puts pen to paper when he starts to design. He uses roll after roll of giant butcher paper and sketches the designs by hand. No computers are involved—“I’m not smart enough,” he asserts. Walton was an art major in college, concentrating on sculptures, when he happened to visit a glass factory and saw how they made glass. “It just intrigued me,” he says of his first blown glass encounter in 1970. He bought a sheet of glass to
work from and took a quick lesson from Los Gatos glass artist John Hogan. Hogan taught Walton how to cut glass in about ten minutes, “so I taught myself the rest.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing glass. Glass kind of makes the world not so big.”
Walton and his wife Susan have seven children, all grown now. “All of my kids grew up working with glass,” he says. Many of them wanted to go into the business with their dad, but Walton stipulated that they graduate from college first (he quit himself halfway through to follow his glass passion). The Waltons have six sons and one daughter, with 13 grandchildren and three more on the way. The Campbell culde-sac is filled with Walton family, including four of the grandchildren. The Waltons will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in February.
Two of his sons work with Walton Art Glass, others dabble in it come glass pumpkin patch time, while other occupations include a San Jose paramedic and firefighter, a periodontist, and a forensic serologist.
Susan and Mark Walton have published four design books on stained glass, including one that sold 400,000 copies. He also dabbled in publishing for a bit, putting out World Art Glass Quarterly in the late 2000s. While he enjoyed that four-year project, the cost became prohibitive to continue.
His years working for the Walt Disney Co. are among his favorites. He worked for 30 years as a contract designer for Disney. Today, stroll down Main Street in Disneyland and glance up at the art glass windows in the business fronts. He created every one in the 1970s. “That’s my favorite thing that we’ve ever done.”
Working with Disneyland expanded to Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland. The Walton family almost moved to Paris for that threeyear project, but then Disney learned how many children the Waltons had. Disney was prepared to send two children to school in Paris while the family lived overseas, but balked at six (one was a baby at the time). Instead, Walton spent two years designing all of the glass in the park, except for the castle, which amounted to 2,000 windows. The French government stipulated that all of the construction had to be done on site, so Walton made his designs into prototypes then oversaw the actual production, making sure the colors were correct. His art glass designs are even in the trains at Disneyland Paris.
Yet if you truly want a window into Walton’s world, it has nothing to do with cut pieces and hand-cut glass medallions available at Winchester Mystery House. “My favorite thing? My grandchildren. My family is my most important thing to me.”
Through the years, glass and windows have been the family’s backdrop and source of income. “I love doing glass. Every job is different…It’s fun to try and come up with new things. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing glass. Glass kind of makes the world not so big.”
Art Ecology 101: Conversations with Collectors, Curators,
and Artists
Conversation moderated Cathy Kimball
Photography by daniel garcia
Entering an art gallery can be intimidating, even if the gallery-worker warmly looks up from their computer to greet you. It can seem like you are intruding into their office space. Add to the mix our uncertainties of gallery etiquette, merely thinking of purchasing a piece of art seems like a barrier too wide for most of us to cross.
Mike and Yvonne Nevens have crossed to the other side, even if they don’t like to be called “collectors” because it tends to conjure the idea that art collecting is an elitist method of investing. Still, they have entered into the world of acquiring art. Recently, we sat down with Mike and Yvonne, collectors and art supporters, as well as Cathy Kimball, Executive Director of ICA, and artist and gallery owner Ken Matsumoto, to get some insight into this brave world of “collecting.”
BUYING and COLLECTING
Mike: There’s a quote by William Morris. I have it taped to a computer and it says, “Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be good.” To me, that’s what collecting buys. You get that message. That’s not intimidating. Everybody ought to think about their home that way.
Cathy: How did you guys get started and why did you start to collect art?
Yvonne: My first job out of college was an assistant in a gallery. I had been an art history minor. My parents were art lovers and always took us to museums and stuff. It was just logical that I would always be interested in art. Then, all of a sudden, you’re surrounded by art every single day. Then you start thinking, “Hmm. Maybe we could buy some of this art and have some art at home.”
We really didn’t think about buying for a while. The longer I worked there, I saw a wonderful range of work at various prices and of different mediums. There were lots of prints, lots of drawings.
Then, there was one particular etching that I really, really liked. I happened to mention it to Mike, and voila, it was a birthday present! And over time, we just got more and more confident about going out to other galleries and places and other collectors’ homes. We began seeing things and thinking, “Some day ...” We were starting out, but it planted the seed.
Mike: One of the nice things was, with Yvonne working at the gallery, we were in the circle with all the other gallerists in that West LA area. We went to other openings. We met artists. We got to see a lot more art. It was fun too because we got to meet some of the artists. While the gallery primarily dealt in those iconic artists, either through that gallery or others, we met contemporary artists and began to follow them early in their careers or later careers.
Yvonne: Also Marilyn, my boss, was interested in every kind of art. Every now and then, we would take on consignments in contemporary art just because she just felt that the young artist was so promising and she just enjoyed it. We ended up actually buying a couple of monotypes that way from contemporary artists.
Cathy: When you look at art, and you’re thinking about buying it, what’s your first thing? Is it your gut, is it your heart, is it your investments, is it your mind?
Yvonne: No investment. Do not collect for investment.
Mike: No, that’s just...that’s never good.
Yvonne: You have to love it.
Mike: Quite a bit of what we bought, we weren’t thinking of buying anything actually. (Then we) happened upon something, and there’s this little sort of game we play. We’ll happen upon the gallery…“Let’s go in.” We’ll walk around separately, and then after we’ve walked around for a while to see everything, we come back together and say, “So, see anything?”
Yvonne: And often I’ll say, “Yes, there was one piece I really am kind of interested in,” and Mike will say, “Yeah, there was one piece I was interested in. So, OK, you want to show me your piece?” [laughter]
Yvonne: ...and it’s almost always the same piece, so that’s a really good thing. Then we have to think about it a little more, maybe go out to lunch, or whatever, it just depends.
Mike: But for our personal collecting, we never think about anything other than, “Is this a piece that we want to
live with?” Many times, it’s not something that is either consistent with the collecting interests of the museum in particular, or maybe even what would be museum quality, if I can use the term. If we can agree on that, then we’ll buy it.
Yvonne: That is the whole different kind of collecting and purchasing. I just like the thrill of the hunt, and the chase, and just going out, looking, and becoming engaged by something.
Ken: Given the choice, we do prefer to do things that support the local artists’ community because it’s a fragile thing. We know that if you buy a work directly from an artist or through a dealer that treats their artist well, you’re helping with that.
Yvonne: We’re so lucky because in the Bay Area there’s so much talent and there are so many artists that are just fantastic. It’s like everywhere. People don’t really realize what they have in their own backyard.
I think, first of all, a lot people don’t realize that that is within their ability to own an original work of art. I think a lot of people go to museums and galleries and think, “That must be very expensive. I can’t afford something like that.” But especially with multiples, all kinds of prints and things, I don’t think people realize that for under $300 you can buy a whole range of things.
Cathy: How do we get past that? Because that is exactly it. People will go and spend $500, $600, $800 at Pottery Barn because they think, “I have this decorative graphically strong piece that fits the dimensions above my couch,” but they could get something that not five million other people have above their couches for less money. How do we break through that misconception?
Yvonne: I think it’s an education process. You have to get people in the door first. Hopefully, if they are coming in the door, they do understand the distinction between posters and reproductions and original art, but I think they just don’t really understand that it could be within their reach.
I always appreciate it when I go into galleries and I see that there are prices on the wall on the description cards or whatever. I know many of them have the sheets that you can pick up and look at, but if you are intimidated by that kind of a thing, you are never going to do that. If you’re just going around looking, you’re just imagining, “Oh my gosh. That must cost billions of dollars.” I think that’s part of the accessibility. [laughs]
Mike: The other piece is what I said earlier. When you’re buying an original work through a legitimate channel, you’re supporting that environment. That’s really important because, by the way, the way you get good reproductions is you have good originals and the way you get good originals is that ecosystem has to be healthy.
I think it’s important just to have the space that you live in be your space.
Ken: It’s like Pottery Barn has this certain stamp of approval that people will understand. Like if it’s in Pottery Barn, it’s OK. They come into a gallery, they don’t recognize it and they’re afraid of it. “Is this good?”
Yvonne: Because the answer really is, “Don’t worry about if it’s good or not. Does it speak to you? Do you like it? Would you like to wake up and see that every day?”
Mike: We were lucky that you worked in the gallery when we first moved there because we got kind of an inside view of the gallery business which took all that intimidating mystic out of the way. Walking into a gallery and knowing you can see things. You can ask about artists that they’ve represented in the past and they can get works for you. It’s easy. That’s what galleries do. Most people have no idea that that is how the system works.
Cathy: And people collect shoes, collect handbags, collect whatever it might be. That kind of collecting is not elitist, but somehow when you apply that same exact strategy to art, all of a sudden, it’s something completely different, and exclusive and elitist, and non-accepted.
ECOSYSTEM
Mike: San Jose to me, I can’t figure out why given all the wealth in this community that it can’t work. I scratch my head and say, “What’s wrong with this picture?” because there are parts of town that have commercial retail space that is probably priced at levels galleries could make work. I just don’t get it.
Ken: My explanation or my hunch is that San Francisco is just too close. It’s just the gravitational pull of that. Like Sacramento has got a pretty lively art scene. They’ve got a lot of galleries, but they’re on an island. For them, San Francisco is too far. We suffer from that proximity.
Cathy: I do think the folks on the peninsula just turn to the left. They just go north. It’s out of habit. I think that San Jose still suffers. I live in Los Altos and I still have neighbors saying, “You work in San Jose? Is it safe down there?” [laughter]
Mike: There are any number of artists who have studios within a 20-mile radius. Yes, it’s San Francisco. Yes, it’s the negativity of the San Jose image. I know the marketing we’ve done at the San Jose Museum of Art. The San Jose tagline is not helpful. You’re kind of selling against it to get people to come here.
Cathy: Is San Jose a place where an artist could survive?
Mike: Well, you’ve got living proof. [Motioning to Ken; laughs.]
Ken: I bought my house early. [laughs] It’s the galleries where there’s just not a critical mass. I think you need a certain number for others to come in.
Cathy: We have a community. I’m writing reference things. I’m suggesting other places for them to go. We’re critiquing their work. We’re providing an educational opportunity for them. That is rare. There aren’t a lot of places like this here. I just wish there were ten times as many. It wouldn’t be any skin off our nose if there were more.
I have said all along that if the ICA were to go away tomorrow, I think that the constituency that would be most hard hit would be the artists. You guys would be sad, but the artists would be really affected. And not that I can exhibit every artist here, but we do a lot of other things.
Yvonne: If we had a gallery row, all of First Street or something. That would be nice.
Cathy: I have to say in the 13 years I’ve been here, this block in particular has completely transformed. This was a used office furniture building. The quilt museum was army/navy stuff. MACLA has been there for 15 years, but they’re going to totally transform that building. So there is progress, but build it and they will come? Not so much.
This is the thing I’ve been thinking about. Is San Jose then by the nature of our geography, are we just destined to be kind of a farm town? Like the kind of place where people can collaborate, can grow but it won’t be like a major market for artists? Is that OK? I wouldn’t say “destined.” I would say that we’re still young. We’re still really young and we have to keep that in mind. We are just a part of what ultimately will be the future of this town and I don’t know if we’ll ever see it quite frankly.
The good thing about the farm is that it is a place for creation and innovation. The bad thing about it is that then those things go and get bigger someplace else and ultimately they need to get bigger here.
Mike: We talk about this at the museum too because we have a different mission and we don’t touch the same artists at the same state in their careers, but one of the things we want to be able to do is to work with an artist and help them launch on a bigger stage because that’s more consistent with our mission.
There are some cases where we already didn’t do that. We just made a major contribution to doing that. Because the other thing that that brings along
in the same way is the community that supports the museum very much overlaps with the collecting community around ICA, so the educational processes are kind of reinforcing that way. It just takes time.
Ken: For one thing, San Jose State, their art program was the art scene pretty much. There were Farley and Edna Young who had a commercial galleria here and they were selling prints and doing shows and stuff, but...
Yvonne: Works was started and DC Sprong, SPRAT a bit later.
Cathy: That was the 80s.
Yvonne: But the ICA is 33 years old. It really sprung out from San Jose State because originally Works and the ICA were one organization and then there was a faction that wanted to just keep with the co-op kind of member thing and one that wanted a curated space. The ICA then became the curated space.
But the fact that we are both still in existence is a testament to the tenacity of this artistic community.
Ken: It’s incremental and we don’t always see it. There will be somebody that comes into my gallery, buys a piece and this is the start.
Cathy: Why is it important for people to buy an original work of art?
Ken: It’s good for the environment of where we live because—in this case if you buy local—it supports this community.
sjica.org
facebook: sanjoseICA twitter: @sanjoseICA
artobjectgallery.com
592 N. Fifth St. ken@artobjectgallery.com
The Tastemakers of San Jose
Maxwell Borkenhagen
Written by FLora Moreno De THompson
Photography by Daniel Garcia
Maxwell Borkenhagen and Hiver Van Geenhoven have known each other for years. More recently, they’ve become partners with a shared vision of attracting more people to downtown San Jose—SoFA, specifically. Van Geenhoven is the roaster at Chromatic Coffee, which is served at Cafe Stritch. Borkenhagen books the musical acts and art displayed at the restaurant and music venue, owned and operated by the Borkenhagen family. Both Borkenhagen and Van Geenhoven are optimistic about the future of downtown San Jose and want to share their passions with old friends and new customers alike.
Hiver Van Geenhoven
How did you two meet?
MB: We had a lot of mutual acquaintances when I was in high school…
HVG: The way we met was actually over coffee. The guy that taught me how to roast coffee was hanging around with Maxwell. We just got along. Maxwell, your parents owned Eulipia before Cafe Stritch, so you've been a part of the restaurant business for a long time. Did you ever think you'd be here, running part of it?
MB: No. All throughout high school, I was very weary of getting into the family business. Mixing business with family can be good for the business, but not as good for the family. It adds a level of strain. Part of why I moved back to San Jose is because I had started discussing reviving Eulipia, bringing it back to its origins and modeling it after these places I encountered while in Portland.
When I moved back, I saw potential in this place to do more than a restaurant. There was potential for live music. For so long that's what I've wanted to do. Seeing that opportunity with this place gave me a new motivation to work for my family. I've come to embrace San Jose more. I love San Jose. I truly want to commit to building a better community here. When my parents opened this place in 1977, there was nothing here. They were the first young people to open up a cool, hip place down here.
What sets you guys apart from other businesses in downtown San Jose?
HVG: Passion. When it comes to Chromatic, it's a dream that I had. I love what I do and I love working toward it. I love seeing the reaction that people have of "Wow, this coffee is different." That drive of providing an authentic experience…I want you to have something that's unique.
MB: What sets us and a number of others apart is that we have a belief in San Jose that it does not have to be a secondary market. I want San Jose to be respected as a place where quality doesn't have to always be less than San Francisco. Whether it's in music, art, food, beverage, what have you. I don't want to be better than SF, but there's no reason we can't be as good.
Hiver, where did your love of coffee come from?
HVG: I started working at Peet’s Coffee and learning about coffee. It caught my attention and held my attention. Nothing much had ever really held my attention. After a couple of years, Peet’s had moved their roasting facility and they had an open house. I went and saw the machines and thought, “This is what I want to do: I want to roast coffee.”
I’ve thought of coffee as a medium of directing culture. The ideas that can be shared over coffee can be very interesting. I’m mainly interested in bringing coffee to the forefront and sharing the value of what that beverage is.
You're both a part of businesses that are trying to bring people to downtown San Jose and breathe new life into the SoFA district. What else do you want to see happen here?
MB: Low-rent housing downtown. I see this as a huge resource. I would love to get to the point where San Jose State students make this community their home, but SJSU only accounts for a segment of the community that I'm a part of. If we had one high-rise that had rent that your average 20-something could afford, that could bring such a breath of life into this community. We need a bigger group of people concentrated down here.
HVG: We want to show the rest of the Bay Area that we too take things seriously.
You are both raising the bar in your respective fields in San Jose: downtown venues and coffee culture. Can you talk about your influence on your customers?
HVG: I'd like people to enjoy themselves. But if I can spark an interest to where they want to learn more or be exposed to more…For so long, this area has been inundated by mediocrity. Mediocre clubs, restaurants, food, shit on TV. We don't overwhelm; we're approachable.
MB: There's a lack of tastemakers in the South Bay. Inevitably if we're going to build a culture here, it's going to be much more embracing and unpretentious than in other cities.
I attribute the lack of this niche art and music culture that we’re trying to cultivate to a lack of people that have the confidence to take things they perceive to be good and expose those things to as many people as they can. I don’t claim to have better taste than anyone, but I do have the drive to take something I like and have the confidence to put it onstage and create an environment where all these people can be exposed to something. It’s not shoving things down anyone’s throat, but it’s “Hey, look at this, we think this is good.”
What's next for each of you? What can we look forward to?
MB: A big motivating factor that drives me to try and build the art and music community is that I don't want the youth in San Jose to have the same experience that I did. San Jose can be a cool place. You don't have to just love it because it's your hometown. I want to see South First Street be the central point of downtown San Jose.
HVG: We're aware that there were these culminating points in SoFA history but it always fell off. I feel determined that this is the last time that's going to happen. We're bringing authenticity. It’s important to me to create this sense of a little city in San Jose and allow that sense of community to evolve around music and coffee.
cafestritch.com chromaticcoffee.com
Extreme Makeover
Written by jennifer elias
For the average person driving down West San Carlos, the San Jose Civic and the Convention Center have always been forgettable buildings connected by a light rail stop. With the recent transformations at the Civic and the San Jose Convention Center’s $1.5 million expansion, Team San Jose plans to change that.
Capturing the Spirit of San Jose
With 550,000 square feet added, the San Jose Convention Center’s recent facelift now reflects a more modern meeting space for both casual and high-end events. The new grand ballrooms have floor-to-ceiling glass windows, giving a view of the rest of the downtown area. The expansion of the San Jose Convention Center is projected to result in more than 200,000 additional local hotel room bookings and increased spending at downtown businesses. The Convention Center has also added a larger than life public art installation to tie the newly renovated district together.
Standing 40 feet in diameter, the Idea Tree by artist Soo-in Yang stands in the entrance plaza. The structure is a $480,000 interactive project that aims to embody the spirit of Silicon Valley in a physical form.
When visitors speak into an eight foot pod in the tree, the structure will record a message or idea up to twenty seconds long. Based on how long people stay to hear certain messages, the audio recordings will live for years to come. When walking under the fruit section of the tree, people will hear a whisper of mixed messages. Moving away from the spot, the fruit itself vibrates and creates an ambient, low frequency soundscape of messages throughout the plaza.
Yang’s challenge was to capture the spirit of San Jose. He wanted Idea Tree to represent a central meeting place, reflective of the idea and energy that passes through San Jose’s new entertainment district. “I wanted the idea of the medium to be where people share their thoughts because convention centers are where people come to share ideas and get inspired,” Yang explains. “The spirit of Silicon Valley is all about sharing ideas and making ideas better by sharing them.”
Photography by Daniel garcia
“The spirit of Silicon Valley is all about sharing ideas.”
He took inspiration from the convention center’s cyclical operations. “Any events that happen there are booked for multiple years at a time,” Yang says. “At minimum it is booked for ten to 20 years. People who will be coming this year will be coming back for multiple years.”
But how does one actually make visible the spirit of Silicon Valley that’s actually invisible? Yang asked himself. The Seoul native recalls his first time in San Jose to research the location. “I walked around at night and it was weird because it was empty and deserted, but I still felt safe,” he explains. “It felt like Philadelphia, because it was kind of low-density, low-rise urban area. The weather was ideal for this installation and I was actually really impressed and shocked that the public art here is very good.”
The Civic Gets a Makeover
The new San Jose Civic emerged after its three-year makeover in October of 2013. The 15-million dollar project was an attempt to bring it back to its heyday as the hub of concerts and events. The 75-year old, Spanish-style building has been restored to reflect a mid-sized concert hall and meeting space with some unique amenities.
“We really tried to make sure the interior and exterior design were representative of the building itself, because it’s very historic,” says Meghan Horrigan, Director of Communications at Team San Jose. “Lots of great artists have played in that building. So, we were really trying to transform it back into a concert venue.”
The former orange plastic seats in the venue represented more of a baseball stadium than a comfortable viewing experience. Now outfitted with leather seating, it feels luxurious inside. New lighting and sound packages contain tech-enabled features that give artists convenience and a reason to make San Jose a viable tour stop.
One of the biggest obstacles that artists consider before booking shows is the expensive dilemma of lighting—a problem the Civic was set on solving. “Because the lighting is already up on the stage, they don’t have to incur additional cost,” Horrigan says. LED lighting technology illuminates the exterior of the Civic, touting city spirit with themed colors for various occasions. “The exterior lighting is fun, because if the Sharks are in the playoffs, we’re able to change the lighting on the civic to teal, or blue for the Earthquakes, says Horrigan. “It’s a great opportunity for us to celebrate with the community when there’s stuff going on.”
Another change was the ability to accommodate business meetings and conferences. In true Silicon Valley fashion, Blackberry and other tech companies have chosen the Civic as a home for their product announcements since the renovation. “A lot of meeting planners who have hosted events at the convention center have shied away from the civic center because it wasn’t a very high-end event location,” Horrigan says. “It didn’t really represent Silicon Valley very well.”
Partnering with Nederlander Concerts, the Civic has had to jump through extra hoops to explain why San Jose is the spot to play. “It is an educational process so it does take some time. I think the opening in October has really put the Civic back on the map,” Horrigan says.
Musicians and artists agree. Popular concert pianist Yanni has praised the facility, calling it one of the best venues he has performed in. From Fiona Apple to Earth, Wind & Fire to Snow Patrol, the Civic’s calendar of events has brought in sold-out crowds as diverse as its city. “We see that with Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s a fun take of older generations mixing with newer that are all there to listen and be exposed to music,” Horrigan says. “I hope we can continue to book events like that—where you’re drawing in a whole cross section of communities.
“Everyone wants to see San Jose become a music destination and it’s an opportunity that we should continue to promote,” she says. With a growing number of concerts, speaking engagements, and comedy shows, Horrigan hopes to keep San Jose Civic diverse with different acts continually taking stage. “I kind of hope that we don’t pigeonhole the Civic into a genre and keep it as mixed as possible.”
One Last Hurrah
The finalized district marks yet another milestone—the end of the road for San Jose innovator and Team San Jose CEO Bill Sherry. Having played a key role in San Jose Mineta Airport’s modernization—the project that started it all—his retirement from Team San Jose ends with the new Convention Center as his final project.
“It all really started with the airport,” Horrigan says. “Before the modernization, you weren’t left with a good experience. What’s changed is a whole transformation of San Jose and visitor experience in San Jose. You can take a short five-minute cab ride downtown to a newly renovated hotel, meeting or concert hall, because almost all of these are reinvesting in their properties.”
Though the airport is a catalyst for the newly renovated entertainment district, the Convention Center’s upgrade is helping move many more of San Jose’s underrated features into the Silicon Valley’s spotlight. “I think people have perceptions about San Jose—maybe that we’re more expensive or downtown doesn’t have a lot to do,” Horrigan says.
“I think people should take a second look...so many great business and restaurants popping up here and there,” she says. “You walk in, you feel like you’re in the capital of Silicon Valley, finally.”
teamsanjose.com
twitter: @teamsanjose
facebook: teamsanjose
BOB KIEVE
The Voice of San Jose
Written by Lynn Peithman Stock
garcia
For almost three quarters of a century, Bob Kieve has been in a love affair. To this day, even at the age of 91, Kieve nourishes that love as president of Empire Broadcasting, which owns KLIV-AM, a news radio station, and Hot Country 95.3 KRTY in San Jose.
The San Jose segment of this love affair began in 1967 when Kieve bought radio stations with business partner James M. Trayhern Jr. Although programming has transformed through the decades, today KLIV is Silicon Valley’s only all-news radio station.
Back in 1939, when Kieve was a freshman at Harvard University, he started working for the college radio station and quickly fell in love with it. “I thought, ‘Gee, that’s sexy,’ and I went for it.”
After graduating in 1943 with a degree in English literature, he found a way to continue that love affair—he wanted to travel, use his ability to speak German, and work in radio. So he signed up with the US war effort, where he was promptly sent to Spain and worked in the Office of War Information. The fact that he didn’t speak Spanish was irrelevant. “I wanted to get involved with my love, radio,” Kieve says.
He spent three and a half years in Madrid with propaganda programming during the war and later helped start Madrid’s first Top 40 radio station. To this day, Kieve says, “I am known as the father of Top 40 in Madrid.”
A brief detour from radio had him at the front door of history. Thanks to his boss in Madrid, who went on to be chief speechwriter during Dwight Eisenhower’s campaign, Kieve landed in Washington. “I was the guy who had a very important job. I was the guy who drafted letters to people who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries.” Copies of letters that Kieve composed, marked in Eisenhower’s handwriting, adorn Kieve’s office walls. “Eisenhower edited them. He wanted it his way.”
After serving under press secretary James C. Hagerty in the early 1950s, Kieve returned to local radio in New York state, in “Rottenchester,” as he put it. After several years, when that station was sold, he and a couple of coworkers decided to buy their own radio station. “We didn’t know where the hell we were going to get one,” he says. They got word that one was available “somewhere near San Francisco.” That “somewhere” was San Jose, and he has continued in radio ever since.
A now-familiar KLIV voice was on the air back then. “John McLeod was the only person sitting in the studio on July 1, 1967, when I first took the key and opened the radio station,” Kieve says. Today, McLeod reports weekday traffic from 6 to 10 am and 3 to 7 pm. Empire Broadcasting now has 50 full- and part-time employees.
Photography by Daniel
The programming has changed over the years. First, surfer music (think Beach Boys) led the play list, then Top 40 and disco. At one point, “the music of your life” had its turn (that translates into Sinatra and ballads; “That didn’t work,” Kieve recalls), and eventually news radio.
The news radio format has stuck since 1982, concentrating on San Jose news, weather, traffic, and sports. KLIV broadcasts all San Jose Earthquakes games as well as San Jose State University football and basketball. “It’s working, but it’s not a money maker,” Kieve concedes. “KLIV is a station that we like to see break even. We’re trying to establish ourselves as the San Jose station. If we’re going to go all news, we better have a niche.”
Right now, that niche is everything San Jose. Approximately every seven minutes during the day, KLIV broadcasts live local traffic reports. “Look out for a garbage can on the first lane,” one recent report shared.
the mistakes our city and county in general make is that they restrict signage. They’re restricting commerce.”
Today, even after 74 years in the business, Kieve does not have all of the answers and ponders the future of radio. “It’s going to have to morph in some way because of the presence of the Internet,” he says. To that end, Empire Broadcasting has embraced the World Wide Web and has three Internet-only stations: head to everybodysmusic.com and you’ll find Beethoven Only, KRTY Classic (country), and Big Band Central.
“I was looking for something at the time. I realized it was possible to have other radio stations, to take advantage of the Internet. Wouldn’t it be sexy to have all Beethoven?” That station has more listeners tuning in from Europe than it does here in the United States, he says.
“through [radio] you can communicate with a large number of people in a community and hopefully have some impact.”
So why does he love radio? “The fact that through it you can communicate with a large number of people in a community and hopefully have some impact.”
A segment called Economy and Silicon Valley airs weekdays around 55 past the hour, from 5:55 am to 9:55 pm and various times on weekends. Find out about the local pollen count at 7:45 am weekdays, and stock reports that focus on Silicon Valley stocks air weekdays at approximately 25 minutes past the hour from 7:25 am to 6:25 pm. There’s even news about produce about 43 past the hour from 9 am to 6 pm weekdays, when Phil Cosentino from J+P Farms presents tips and information about fruits and vegetables during The Produce Report.
Kieve broadcasts his own particular views in his commentaries, which end with, “This is Robert Kieve, and that’s a personal opinion.” His commentaries air on KLIV, KARA, and KRTY in San Jose, perhaps once a week, sometimes three times a week—really, whenever inspiration strikes. Recent topics have included the gentlemen’s club downtown, Cindy Chavez, pension reform, local airports, and his own pet peeve, signs. “My big issue is signage. One of
Kieve’s own personal impact won’t end anytime soon, despite turning 92 in November. “I really don’t have my eye on retiring. What the hell would I do?” KLIV-AM 1590 AM kliv.com
facebook: 1590kliv twitter: @1590KLIV
KRTY San Jose Hot Country 93.5 FM krty.com
facebook: 953krty twitter: @KRTY
“Cuando el hombre se convierte en campesino comienza la civilización”
“When a man becomes a farmworker, that is where civilization begins”
LUIS VALDEZ
DIRECTOR DEL TEATRO CAMPESINO
Entrevista de/Written by Paco Inclán & Itziar Castelló
English translation by Flora Moreno de thompson
Photography by Daniel Garcia
En 1981 el dramaturgo Luis Valdez fundó el Teatro Campesino en San Juan Bautista, una de las primeras misiones del estado de California, conocida también por servir de localización para algunas escenas de la película Vértigo de Alfred Hitchcock. Sin embargo, como inquietud el teatro campesino había nacido mucho antes, en 1965, cuando Valdez empleó artes escénicas por los ranchos de California para, con un camión como foro, explicar a sus trabajadores, mayoritariamente de origen Latino, cuáles eran sus derechos civiles y laborales, apoyando así el movimiento de justicia social liderado por César Chávez. Valdez expandió la idea de la cultura Chicana como seña de identidad de los autóctonos de origen Mexicano. Medio siglo después, el dramaturgo continua su labor de concienciación y pedagogía colectiva a través del teatro. Hablamos con él días antes de que estrenara su última obra, Valley of the Heart, la historia de amor entre un campesino Mexicano y una campesina Japonesa con el contexto de la segunda Guerra Mundial de fondo.
¿Cuál es el argumento de Valley of the Heart?
La historia abarca la segunda Guerra Mundial, de 1941 a 1945. Habla de dos familias agrícolas, una de JaponesesAmericanos y otra de Mexicanos-Americanos, dos de las minorías étnicas y culturales mayoritarias en California. La familia Japonesa tiene su rancho en el condado de Santa Clara a principios de los cuarenta, una época difícil en Estados Unidos para las personas de origen Japonés, muchos de ellas fueron internadas durante la segunda Guerra Mundial en campos de concentración al oeste del país. La familia Mexicana trabaja en el rancho de la Japonesa. Su hijo mayor se enamora de la hija del ranchero Japonés y tienen un niño. Durante la guerra, el hijo y la madre son deportados a un campo de concentración y el campesino Mexicano se queda en el rancho para conservar la propiedad de la familia de ella. Es una historia de amor que ofrece una visión de la fusión que ha ido conformando los Estados Unidos y en especial California.
¿Cómo ha vivido esta evolución en lo referente a la integración de las minorías? Nací en 1940. En aquella época en California vivían seis millones de personas, de los que apenas 750,000 eran de origen Latino, 120,000 de origen Asiático y algunos menos pertenecían a la comunidad Afro-Americana. Principalmente, California era un estado de blancos, la gente principalmente había llegado en los años treinta procedente del Medio Oeste. Desde entonces ha habido una revo-
In 1981, playwright Luis Valdez formed Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista, the site of one of the first California missions and also the setting for some scenes in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. However, teatro campesino (farmworker theater) had started much earlier, in 1965. Using a flatbed truck as a stage, Valdez put on plays in the fields of California to educate farmworkers—the majority of them Latinos—on their civil and employment rights, supporting the social justice movement led by César Chávez. Valdez expanded on the idea of Chicano culture as a symbol of identity among American born Mexicans. Half a century later, the playwright continues his work on raising awareness and collective pedagogy through theater. We spoke with Valdez days before the premiere of his latest work, Valley of the Heart, a story about love between two farmworkers (one Mexican, one Japanese) set during the second World War.
What is Valley of the Heart about?
The story takes place during the second World War, from 1941 to 1945. It’s about two agricultural families, one is Japanese American and the other Mexican American, two of the ethnic minorities and cultural majority in California. The Japanese family’s ranch is in Santa Clara County in the early 1940s, a difficult era in the United States for people of Japanese origin. Many of them were interned during the second World War in internment camps along the West Coast. The Mexican family works on the Japanese family’s ranch. Their oldest son falls in love with the Japanese rancher’s daughter and they have a baby boy. During the war, the mother and son are sent to a concentration camp and the Mexican farm worker stays on the ranch to take care of the property. It’s a love story that provides a vision of the integration that has been forming in the United States, especially in California.
In terms of the integration of minorities, how have you experienced this evolution?
I was born in 1940. At that time in California there were six million people, of which only 750,000 were of Latino origin, 120,000 of Asian origin, and fewer than that belonged to the African American community. California was mainly a state of white people, many of whom arrived during the 30s from the Midwest. Since then there has been a tremendous revolution. It is estimated that in two decades, California’s population will be mostly of Asian, Hispanic, or Indian descent. The minorities will be the majority. This is dynamic, historic, and shocking in the
lución tremenda. Se calcula que en dos décadas California tendrá mayoría de población de descendencia Asiática, Hispana o Indígena. Las minorías serán mayoritarias. Esto es dinámico, histórico, impactante a corto plazo. Probablemente California sea el estado del país donde más se haya incrementado la diversidad cultural y étnica, excepto quizás de New York y algunas partes de Florida. Por este motivo es necesario un nuevo consenso sobre qué es ser Estadounidense. Los movimientos Chicano, Afro-Americano, Asiático demandan sus derechos civiles sin perder su propia identidad. John Wayne era un ideal en Hollywood, pero no era del todo cierto. Ahora tenemos un presidente negro y la gente que rechaza esto desearía un regreso al pasado, pero esto no es posible, porque nosotros estamos aquí y estamos avanzando. Una de las cosas que ha emergido desde las luchas de las minorías es la idea de que los derechos civiles y constitucionales son para todos, sin importar raza, género o nivel económico.
¿Cómo se involucra en esta lucha por la integración social de las minorías?
Yo empecé el college en 1958 y me uní al Movimiento de Derechos Civiles porque cuando lo conocí supe que era mi movimiento. Desde el Teatro Campesino me impliqué en las reivindicaciones de los Mexicanos-Americanos. Íbamos a los colegios a explicar nuestra idea de justicia social y muchos estudiantes se unieron a la causa. Hay que entender que la gente que cruza la frontera de Estados Unidos está buscando mejorar su futuro económico. La otra cara de la moneda es que América Latina ha sido invadida por valores y compañías Americanas; McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King, todo esto está allí, incluyendo el maíz Americano que fuerza a los campesinos Mexicanos a abandonar sus plantaciones. La globalización provoca estas situaciones. Pero creo que gracias a las nuevas tecnologías y la información en las redes sociales, cada vez más gente, especialmente los jóvenes, está entendiendo que todos estamos en el mismo mundo y que tenemos que encontrar qué es lo que tenemos en común, como son nuestros derechos como seres humanos. Nuestras diferencias culturales son la riqueza que podemos ofrecernos entre nosotros.
Actualmente, ¿considera que se puede hablar de una mejora en la integración de las minorías en Estados Unidos?
Depende del punto de origen desde donde cada uno comience. Hay que tener en cuenta que han habido numerosas olas de migraciones y que hay muchos que son recién llegados. Los Japoneses-Americanos más arraigados tienen nombres específicos para las diferentes generaciones, ya van por la sexta desde principios del siglo XX. Lo mismo pasa con los Mexicanos-Americanos con raíces ancestrales en Estados Unidos. Si comienzas desde 1797, cuando llegan los primeros Mexicanos siendo este territorio todavía Nueva España, hay gente que puede encontrar sus orígenes en aquella época. Los primeros Chicanos llegaron a principios de siglo XX, fue la generación que huía de los conflictos generados en la Revolución Mexicana. Sus hijos ya nacieron aquí y se dedicaron principalmente al campo. Los hijos de estos, mi generación, también fueron Chicanos y ya tuvieron acceso a la educación. Nuestros hijos también son Chicanos.
short run. California is probably the state with the most increase in cultural and ethnic diversity, except maybe New York and parts of Florida. The Chicano, African American, and Asian movements demand their civil rights without losing their identity. John Wayne was a Hollywood ideal, but it was not entirely true. Now we have a black president and the people that reject him desire a return to the past, but this isn’t possible, because we’re here and we’re advancing. One of the things that emerged as a result of minorities’ struggles is the idea that civil and constitutional rights are for everyone, regardless of race, gender, or economic class.
How did you get involved in the struggle for social integration of minorities?
I went to college in 1958 and joined the Civil Rights Movement because when I learned about it, I knew it was my movement. Through Teatro Campesino, I got involved in the demands of the Mexican Americans. We’d go to colleges to explain our idea of social justice and many students joined the cause. You have to understand that the people that cross the United States border are looking to improve their economic future. On the other side of the coin, Latin America has been invaded by American companies and values; McDonald’s, WalMart, Burger King, all that, including the American corn that forces Mexican field workers to abandon their own farms. Globalization causes these situations. But I think that, thanks to new technologies and social networking, more and more people, especially younger folks, are understanding that all of us are in the same world and we need to find what we have in common, as are our rights as human beings. Our cultural differences are the wealth that we can offer each other.
Currently, do you think we can talk about improving the integration of minorities in the United States?
It depends on the point of origin where everyone starts. You have to remember that there have been numerous waves of migration and there are many newcomers. The Japanese Americans that are the most rooted have specific names for the different generations; they’re on their sixth [generation] since the beginning of the 20th century. The same happens with Mexican Americans with ancestral roots in the United States. If you go back to 1797, when this territory was still New Spain and the first Mexicans arrived, there are people who can trace their roots back to that era. The first Chicanos arrived in the early 20th century; they were the generation that fled the conflicts generated from the Mexican Revolution. Their children were born here and they dedicated themselves to the fields. Their children, my generation, were also Chicanos and had access to education. Our children too are Chicanos.
However, the situation is different for the children of those who arrived during the eighties of this past century. They were born here, but they feel isolated or marginalized. I’m sure this exists, I’m not going to deny it, and there is racism, but as a Chicano of the previous century I can say that there has been progress. César Chávez fought for that, he saw the injustices and led the fight for our civil rights, through marches, strikes, or fasts, without
Sin embargo, diferente es la situación de los hijos de los que llegaron a partir de los años ochenta del siglo pasado. Ellos ya nacieron aquí, pero pueden sentirse aislados o marginados, cierto que esto también existe, no voy a negarlo, y sí hay racismo, pero como Chicano del siglo pasado puedo decir que ha habido ciertos progresos. César Chávez peleó para que así fuera, vio las injusticias y encabezó la lucha por nuestros derechos civiles, a través de marchas, huelgas o ayunos, sin recurrir a la violencia. Tuvo éxito, se ganaron los primeros contratos, el sistema trató de acabar con esto, pero a la gente ya se la había prendido la luz. El Teatro Campesino surge en este contexto. Mis padres fueron campesinos, yo también trabajé en el campo de niño, pero tuve acceso a la educación superior y pude graduarme aquí, en San José, y convertirme en dramaturgo. Mi abuelo no se lo hubiera creído. Cuando empezamos con el proyecto del teatro, los campesinos no sabían qué éramos ni a qué nos dedicábamos. Lo único que conocían eran los circos, por lo que nos llamaban gente de circo y todos los actores éramos payasos. Poco a poco, con la participación en nuestras obras, los campesinos pudieron decir “yo soy actor”. De esa experiencia surgieron muchas otras. Hoy en día hay Chicanos y Chicanas que hacen carrera de dramaturgos. Hay cantidad de nuevas obras, directores, actores, artistas, cineastas. Se está dando una mayor participación social y cultural que es parte de la revolución. Ya no hay tanta marginalidad, aunque no digo que estemos en el nirvana, todavía queda mucho por hacer.
¿Qué tipo de estereotipos trata de desmontar con sus obras?
Especialmente el del campesino representado como alguien que no tiene cultura, que es iletrado, que solo sirve como herramienta de trabajo. Al contrario: el campesino
resorting violence. He was successful; they won the first contracts, the system tried to end this but the light had already been turned on. Teatro Campesino emerges from this context. My parents were farmworkers, I also worked in the field as a kid, but I had access to higher education and could graduate here in San Jose, and become a playwright. My grandfather would not have believed it. When we started with the theater project, the farmworkers didn’t know what we were or what we were about. The only thing they were familiar with was the circus, because they called us circus people and all the actors were clowns.
Little by little, with the participation of our plays, the farmworkers were able to say “I’m an actor.” From this experience came many others. Today there are Chicanos and Chicanas who make a living as playwrights. There are plenty of new works, directors, actors, artists, filmmakers. It’s giving a lot of social and cultural participation to the revolution. There isn’t as much marginalization, although I won’t say that we’ve reached nirvana; there’s still a lot of work to do.
What types of stereotypes are you trying to break with your works?
Specifically that of the farmworker, represented as someone without culture, who is illiterate, who only serves as a work tool. On the contrary: the farmworker is a fountain of culture, history, stories, and talent. Teatro Campesino has existed for a half a century as a testimony to the roots of farm work itself in the world. When a man becomes a farmworker, that is where civilization begins. The first villages formed around the first harvests, society as we know it today. It’s the oldest profession, even though it is not considered important, particularly in this country.
es fuente de cultura, de historia, de cuentos, de talento. El Teatro Campesino existe desde hace medio siglo como testimonio de la raíz propia del campesinado en el mundo. Cuando el hombre se convierte en campesino comienza la civilización; alrededor de las primeras cosechas surgen los poblados, la sociedad tal y como hoy la entendemos. Es el oficio más antiguo, aunque no se la dé importancia y menos en este país.
¿Por qué decidió llamar Teatro Campesino a su proyecto vital y profesional?
El nombre existió mucho antes que el proyecto. Decidí que quería hacer teatro con campesinos y pensé en cómo podía hacerlo. Cuando me enteré de la huelga de la uva, le expliqué a César Chávez mi concepto de teatro y en ese contexto de reivindicación de derechos comenzamos a trabajar. En inglés sería farmworker theater pero es más limitado porque solo tiene que ver con un sistema laboral y económico. Farmworker es un empleado mientras que el campesino no solo trabaja en el campo sino que vive en el campo, tiene un trasfondo cultural. Y peasant tiene una carga negativa, es considerado un insulto. Así que campesino es el concepto que mejor se adapta al trabajo que realizamos.
¿Por qué escogió San Juan Bautista como ubicación del Teatro Campesino?
Prefiero estar aquí que en Los Ángeles o Nueva York. Esto es mi centro de operaciones. Aquí hay paz y tranquilidad, lo que necesito para hacer mi trabajo, que obviamente está destinado a presentarse en otros sitios. Como dijo Arquímedes: “Dadme un punto y moveré el mundo”. Esto es lo que representa San Juan Bautista para mí, el fulcro de la palanca donde apoyarme para brincar a otras partes.
Why did you decide to make Teatro Campesino your project, both in life and as a profession?
The name existed much longer than the project. I decided that I wanted to do theater with farmworkers and I thought about how I would do it. When I found out about the grape strike, I explained my concept of theater to César Chávez, and we began to work in the context of demanding rights [for farmworkers]. In English, it’s farmworker theater, but it’s much more limited because it only has to do with one labor and economic system. A farmworker is an employee, while a campesino not only works in the field, but also lives in the field; they have a cultural background. And peasant has a negative connotation; it’s considered an insult. So campesino is the concept that best fits the work we’re doing.
Why did you choose San Juan Bautista as the location for Teatro Campesino?
I prefer being here to Los Angeles or New York. This is my center of operations. There’s peace and tranquility here, what I need to do my work, which is obviously made to be performed at other places. Like Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.” This is what San Juan Bautista represents for me; it is the fulcrum of the level where I stand so that I may jump to other places.
elteatrocampesino.com
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twitter: @teatrocampesino
DANTE ROBLES Gives Inner Tubes a New Life
Written by flora moreno de thompson
Photography by daniel garcia
As an open space planner for Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, it’s Rachel Santos job to care about issues regarding land preservation and use. But her sensitivity towards the environment doesn’t end there.
Santos has combined her knowledge of environmental sustainability with her handiwork skills to create Dante Robles Designs, a company producing upcycled handbags and jewelry made from recycled bicycle inner tubes. Her work has been featured in InStyle Magazine and Santos won Best Green Handbag in the Independent Handbag Designer Awards last June.
The idea to create upcycled bags came as a result of working on an open space project with Specialized Bike Components in Morgan Hill. “I was looking for something to upcycle,” Santos says. “It was a sensibility issue, and I enjoy creating things.”
Santos took some inner tubes home and began tinkering with them. “I started weaving them and wearing the bags out in public and people couldn’t believe what they were,” she says. Santos built the looms she uses to make the bags and taught herself how to weave the designs. “YouTube is great for learning how to weave,” she says. It takes about two hours to make one handbag.
Santos gets used road bike and mountain bike inner tubes from Specialized’s employee recycling program. She then transforms the inner tubes into woven bags and jewelry. Even the hardware used on some of her pieces is upcycled from the inner tubes. “The bicycling community has been very supportive,” she says.
Her work has been a source of inspiration in her designs, too. The idea behind the metal logo on all her designs came from aluminum medallions that hikers use to decorate their walking sticks.
She never planned on selling the bags, but they have become a hit with vegan and environmentally conscious consumers. “Folks can change their thinking in using recycled textiles for a beautiful design,” she says.
As part of winning the award for Best Green Handbag, Santos’ designs will be sold at flagship Timberland stores starting in the spring of 2014. “It is surreal to have leaders of the industry saying this has marketability,” Santos says of her success. “I feel fortunate.”
Austrian felted wool swing coat with oaxacan embroidery.
Origami top
Churridar leggings
Royal blue coral beaded necklace
Turquoise magnesite and crystal
Magnesite boa necklace
Crystal braceletes
look 3:
Faux fur Gavana jacket
Pretty pleat dress
Diamond rose choker
Chain Vest
Diamond wrap bracelets
Leather belt with diamonds
original designs by Lindy Lopez & Erandeny Torres for 7Hands
MAR COS JOHN SON
Written by chad hall
by Daniel Garcia
In his book IV, Chuck Klosterman says, “...what these people are writing is not really criticism. Almost without exception, it’s exclusively consumer advice.” While he’s referring to the state of video game “criticism” in 2006, the sentiment can also be applied to film, music, and book “criticism” today. We have become a society so accustomed to sales and marketing that concepts of art have been replaced by market research and product reports. What were once criticisms regarding significance and cultural relevance are now consumer bullet point reviews masked as opinions. Questions like, “What does this album mean? What is it saying?” are now “Should I buy it? Which songs are good?”
I’m a writer myself, which pretty much makes me an opinionated asshole regarding other people’s work. I could easily tell you all the things that I didn’t like about You Can Never Have Enough…Roses by Marcos Johnson, but that doesn’t really tell you how I feel about it. As readers, we don’t bring blind judgements to works of art in an attempt to decipher the writer’s intent; we bring our own taste, bias, and experience. That’s how art works. Artists act. We react. It’s two parts, not just one.
With that said, I didn’t like everything in this book. The poems which I disliked were the ones that reminded me most of the things within myself that I dislike. Some of the poems felt like the teenage bravado of someone who’s read too much Bukowski and is trying to drape himself in his own filth and regret. Reading those poems pissed me off, because I know that my own writing can be classified the same goddamned way. The raw, sloppiness of these poems could just have easily come out of one of my notebooks.
There are poems here with parts that really kick and spit with life which then fall apart like he was unable to sustain them. The first two stanzas of “Punch Drunk” have a rhythm that buckles your knees onto the barstool but then it stiffs you with the tab. The first half of “How Low, Can A Punk Get?” has a staccato alliteration that’ll shake your bones but then Johnson loses control of the alliteration and it becomes almost sing-song.
Photography
Ultimately, though, Johnson is at his best when he allows a relaxed vulnerability to leak into his pieces. It happens almost every time he writes about his daughter as he does in “46 Days” (which is my favorite piece). “Dirty Brown,” “The Artist’s Way,” “Waking To Sunshine” and “.400 Club” are also among the best.
When I received this book, the first thing I noticed about it was its stark red cover. Go figure. Because of the cover, I almost missed the words on the back which read: Assorted Poems 1994-2013. Those two words and two numbers gave a meaningful context to these poems that I felt like I was missing. Everything that reminded me of skill-less youthful ejaculations were likely just that; they were likely 19-year-old poems. What I’m saying is: these poems are not collected into a book, this is a book written in poems. It has to be seen as a whole, because when the careening poems about smoking crack are allowed to collide with the more mature fragments of reflection and proud moments of being a father, that’s when the chemical reaction occurs. That’s when we really begin to see what is going on here. The most important word in that cryptic title is “Roses,” because Johnson has allowed us to peek not only into his development as a human being but also into his development as a writer. He hasn’t hidden the times when he was a weaker writer nor has hidden the times when he was a weaker person. He’s given us a flower, but he left the leaves and thorns attached.
So you inevitably want to know: “Is it a good book? How many stars?” Well, who gives damn? That’s not what matters. What matters is that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I put it down. I’ve been flipping it over, swinging at it, and stepping on its fingers for five days in my head. If that’s not art, then what the hell is?
BEFORE THE FALL-OUT
We once rode
On wings of nowhere
In a Withoutneighborhood welcome
We were the lucky ones
Who had it all to ourselves
We tore up the streets
And terrorized
The abandoned buildings
The bombed out businesses
The broken down Victorians
The halfway houses
The trolls on Thorazine
The prostitutes
The sex shops on Second
The underground record store
The comix collectors shop
Antunas on Tenth
Best market by it
And of course
Our private playground
The Withpark its creek
And Beneathbridges
Where we’d bong out
No one wanted to live there
And we liked it that way
Now there’s none of it
And a whole new crop of cretins
Of an entirely different variety
Live there and like it better
And the beauty of the blight
Is but a memory
Missed only
By the hellions
Who had it
Riding high
Among the ruins MARCOS 2006
dj coc0: American Dream
“I think that because I was not expressing myself in Japan, when I got to America I kinda exploded.”
Story and Photography by Victoria Felicity
Japanese by origin, but American at heart, DJ Coco’s idea of coming to the US was formed from the cultural images she saw growing up. For her, America is a land filled with cool art, music, culture, and the freedom to truly be oneself. Wanting to be a part of that, DJ Coco (real name: Yumico Vielma) took a leap of faith and came to the US with nothing more than an acceptance letter from SJSU and a dream.
What was your perception of America?
I am originally from Japan and I speak Japanese and English. I wanted to live in America for a long time. I was telling people since I was in elementary school. There was a commencement when I was in 8th grade and we all had to say what we wanted to do when we grew up, and I wanted to live in America.
Japanese people have a great culture, but everything in America was fresh and new. In Japan, there is an expectation that when you want to do something you have to be the best, which is awesome because many people are really good at what they do. But if you want to try things out, you are limited if you are not one of the best.
Besides the cool factor, what brought you here? I came here when I was 18 and went to school at SJSU and I majored in recreation. I was not really big into the academics, but school was one of the things that got me to America.
How did your parents feel when you said you wanted to move to America?
Honestly, they were skeptical. Living in Japan, if you want to go to college, you have to take an exam to get in. Your final year is devoted to studying to take this test and get into college. When I made this statement a little stronger they were encouraging me to study for this test. I was really serious; I started saving money and looking at schools [in the US]. There was an English exam that international students have to take and I passed the English exam, and applied, and got accepted to SJSU.
When I made that happen my mother finally accepted what I wanted to do and gave me her support. My father was also supportive. I came here by myself. My family is all still in Japan. But my parents were a little strict, so coming to America, even though I didn’t speak any English or really know anyone, I was excited to have freedom.
What was it like growing up in Japan?
Well when it comes to anime, it is our version of Saturday morning cartoons. We are all really familiar with these shows because they were always on TV. I grew up watching Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z and like all of my generation, I know the songs and they are familiar from our childhood. They are nostalgic and we get excited when we hear it. So those are the songs that I play a lot.
I was not really creative when I was younger. I loved listening to music and I was discovering myself when I was in Japan, but I was not trying to actively be a part of the art community when I was in Japan. I was always a little weird growing up, but the high school where I went was a little less traditional Japanese...Traditional schools, if you stick out, it’s not good. But at this school they allowed people to be individuals more. I think that because I was not expressing myself in Japan, when I got to America I kinda exploded.
How does the San Jose community help facilitate your creativity?
I have a lot of skater friends and creative friends doing art. When I was first here, I was just wandering around downtown hanging out at art galleries and shows and meeting people randomly. When I was going to SJSU, I connected with Brian Eder and Cherri Lakey [at Anno Domini]. I didn’t know any English and I kept going to shows with collaboration of art and music. I was really interested in that, and they opened the door for me to start doing my own creative thing.
Tell me about how DJ Coco came about?
The Pikachu is a new version of DJ Coco. I met a friend, DJ Alister, at an art show and he started to teach me to do turntables. So then he would invite me to some events that he was DJing at when his friend Jai could not go anymore. After a few years, Eric Fanali started inviting me to DJ at some larger shows. I play a lot of French 60s pop but I also wanted to play a lot of J-Pop songs. The costume came from a friend. I thought to myself, “If I am the one to start dancing and playing anime music, why not?”
Where do you play your music?
I play a lot of game conventions and chip conventions. When I play gigs like that, that gets me really excited. So it’s cool no matter what I play, people get excited because they know what I’m playing. I also play other gigs at art shows and whatnot and I usually play a mix of anime, game songs, girl pop, and French pop. Thanks to the film Moonrise Kingdom, some of the French pop I like and play is more popular. I love catchy, strong girl voices and then mixing in some of my roots with Japanese pop.
mixcloud.com/yeshDJcoco facebook: yeshDJcoco
Hella Jalapeños
Story and Photography by Victoria Felicity
If you are fortunate enough to witness the Hella Jalapeños perform live, expect nothing less than a party. The six piece ensemble includes Rubén Bravo (keys), Jerry Holmes (sax), Monica Smith (lead vocals), Lucas Lundin (bass), Eduardo Salazar (drums), Peter Snarr (guitar), and Jesse Sanchez (trumpet). Piñatas, candy, stellar lyrics, and ska with a hint of punk rock make for a fiesta of a performance for both young and older audiences alike.
How long have you all been a group? Rubén: About three years. We had some other projects before, but we have been playing with each other since high school. Monica: We were done with our other projects and Ruben wanted to start writing music on his own. I remember him starting to write and him telling me about the new project and how the name was “Hella Jalapeños.” I thought he was totally joking and he asked me to come and work with him. I was paranoid for a while and thought it was a joke for like six months, until we started playing actual shows. Rubén: Lucas and I were working together first and I wrote all the music and had to teach Lucas how to play guitar the way I wanted it: ska. It was only the three of us the first year. Then eventually, Eduardo came on as our drummer, Jesse on trumpet, Jerry on sax and Peter on guitar.
What were you thinking when you were putting together the music? Rubén: Well the first album was like “whatever happens, happens.” I knew I wanted it to be ska and I knew what I wanted it to sound like. For the newest album, we wanted to make this one really solid and 60s era. Monica: So, basically he writes a basic sheet for us and then we all input our creative flare. I write the melodies and lyrics on my own. Writing the lyrics on the first album, I was rushing a little because he already had all the music made. I was really just experimenting during the first one and used a lot of poetry, nothing really personal. For the second album I had more time to work on things. I would start writing stuff from feelings, and how I felt at a certain time. Some were about people, but I was trying to make it not obvious about the relationships I was talking about. The songs on the latest album are mostly about relationships with different people.Eduardo: I will normally listen to the horns and then build up the drums from the basic line and see what sounds good.
What are some of your musical influences? Rubén: For the most recent album we listened to a lot of older ska. Phyllis Dillon, Desmond Dekker, The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Penguins, The Beatles, and The Temptations. It’s fun because a lot of older people really enjoy our music. We think it’s because we remind them of the music from when they were younger, but at the same time its ska, which makes us unique. We like being the band that gets people dancing, kids and parents.
What makes you different? Rubén: Well people always remember us from our video because we have a giant piñata head running around. We will bring it to shows and put out a bowl of candy. The video [for “Go Man Go!”], when it first came out, got reblogged a few thousand times. We also try and have our colors always coordinated too with the yellow, blue, and red because we want it to always feel like a big Mexican party.
Where do you see your music going in the future? Rubén: We want to be playing some more live shows. We do a bunch of random stuff, or at least people think it’s random but it totally represents us. We just go up on stage. We know we are different and we enjoy what we are doing. We are having fun, we have some awesome talented musicians, and we just feel like if we are not having fun, then we aren’t doing it right. What would be really great would be to get on Yo Gabba Gabba! Or eventually develop a kids’ show based on the piñata head guy. We see ourselves being really successful with children. They just really like music. We played at the Boys and Girls Club and it was an awesome audience experience. All of our songs are made for young and old to enjoy. You know how they say, ear candy. All these sounds are really poppy and fun. Hella Jalapeños are sweet. We are ‘peños dulces.
I was born in Duncan, Oklahoma and didn’t move to San Jose until 1989. My parents decided to take us out of middle America to create more opportunities for our young Vietnamese family. That was the year of the great earthquake that shook most of Northern California. It was quite the San Jose welcome (culture shock) for us. I love San Jose with all my heart. It is a hotbed for creativity and every few feet I’m bumping into an entrepreneur, independent business owner, freelance artist, or starving musician. It’s very hard not to feel inspired. We are often stigmatized by ill-informed people who only judge our city by the surface. Yet, the real culture is below the surface. It’s both underground and in plain sight. We’re underdogs. Sleeping giants. A city full of champions.
Day Job
One of the problems with my line of work is that I don’t really have only one job. Organizing and managing events for several groups and entities requires me to curate and cater to each of their specific needs and audiences. Whether they need a DJ, a band, graphic designers, poets, or dancers, I have to make sure it all fits within the mood and energy of the atmosphere. My current places of employment are with Treatbot/Moveable Feast, Cukui, and with my own company, PLSTK. And I also help my family out on the weekends at their gas station.
Night Job
When I’m not busy networking and building bridges with different communities, I enjoy investing my time in design work and organizing my own nightlife events with friends and colleagues. I have a side brand called South East Beast that I utilize as a creative outlet for my apparel and projects outside my normal hustle. I collaborate often with Thomas Aguilar of Universal Grammar with concert events and club nights. But I do enjoy doing normal things like running, dancing, laundry, and casual drinking. Whiskey, on the rocks.
street cred
Ever since I was ten years old I have worked for my family at all the different businesses they’ve opened up. From convenience stores to cigarette shops to gas stations, I know the ins and outs of running a small business.
plstk.com
dandiggity.com
Twitter: @DandiggityOne
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Picks by Local Mohammad Gorjestani
Picks by Local Mohammad Gorjestani
Picks by Danny “Dandiggity” Le
With a city as big as San Jose, even the most savvy insiders need a local’s advice every now and then.
With a city as big as San Jose, even the most savvy insiders need a local’s advice every now and then.
Dakao
98 E. San Salvador St. San Jose, CA 95112
408.286.7260
Dakao is always my go to spot when I’m running around downtown and in need of bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwich). They make a large variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes and snacks fresh everyday. From your peppered jerkeys, sweet rice cakes, and assorted baked French pastries, they seem to cover all the bases. As authentic as you can get.
Santo Market
245 E. Taylor St. San Jose, CA 95112
408.295.5406
This family owned and operated market is a beautiful gem in Japantown. It has recently been remodeled but still retains the charm I’ve grown accustomed to. It has a large selection of Asian and Hawaiian goods, sprinkled with American necessities if you need them. Near the back of the store is the deli and they serve up some great sandwiches and plate lunches. They also make some great barbeque on the weekend. Did I mention shaved ice?
1684 S. 7th St. San Jose, CA 95112
408.286.1184
Okay, I’m a little biased here because this used to be my store. I opened it up with my family years ago and worked seven days a week. It’s a little out of the way, but we catered to all the auto body shops, construction businesses, and warehouses along the street. The new owners made some additions to the place, so if you need to cash some checks, grab a six pack or some corn dogs, here’s your place!
Clover Bakery & Cafe
4342 Moorpark Ave. San Jose, CA 95129
This is one of my favorite places to visit when I’m in need of some Japanese baked goods. These aren’t your typical breads. They have bread topped with spaghetti, spicy tuna, and corn. Some are filled with tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet), Japanese curry, and fried croquettes. They have some sweet offerings too.
6 To Late Liquor
2784 Monterey Rd. San Jose, CA 95111
This is your run-of-the-mill liquor store that has everything you need for that last minute party pick up. From snacks to drinks, the owner has a wide variety of goods and oddities you might need. Cards, dice, and lottery for your gambling itch. Embroidered hats, bandanas, and do-rags to keep your head covered. The staff are nice and very helpful. It’s in between two trailer parks so parking can be tough if it’s busy.
Taylor Street Market
360 E. Taylor St. San Jose, CA 95112
408.271.9091
There isn’t much that distinguishes this market from all the other markets near Japantown, expect that they have one of the best craft beer selections for a small store! Our PLSTK office is a few doors down. I often run into the owners of Clout Magazine, Breezy Excursion, Oak Creek Vintage, and Cukui at this shop. Say hi to the clerks. Super nice people.
235 E. Julian St. San Jose, CA 95112
408.292.3177
I don’t think I would go anywhere else to pick up marinated carne asada other than Mi Pueblo. I can find basically any of my Mexican cuisine needs here. And their in-house restaurant is really good. I mean, how much fresher can the food be? It all comes from their market.
87 N. San Pedro St. San Jose, CA 95110
I come here way too much. I visit SPSM at least two to three times a week. I love that every business and restaurant inside the Square is independently owned and operated. Everyone has a different approach to their branding and it really shows in the layout of each place. It is very community-centric and everyone is living out the dream for a sustainable life, doing what they love. I’m all about making new friends here, especially after some food and beers.
444 E. Taylor St. San Jose, CA 95112
This place has some of the best gas prices in town and the candy and snack selection is on point. I only know this because I work here on the weekends for my family. But I’m not saying this to garner more business for the fam. Even if I wasn’t involved, I would still come here to get my basic needs before hitting the bars and clubs. All your essential needs on a night on the town, all curated by my mother.
1710 Tully Rd. San Jose, CA 95122
408.238.4451
Hands down, if you want to find all the Asian products and produce you could ever need, this is the place to go. For my folks who are not accustomed to the smells that might invade their senses, I only ask that you try and appreciate the aromas for a spell. Trust me, it’s not as bad as you think. If the majority here is Asian grandmas, you know it’s legit.
The Corner Stop Shop
Mi Pueblo
San Pedro Square Market
Spartan Gas Station
Lion Supermarket
Contributors
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CHAD HALL
Chad is a San Jose based writer. His first book, Erectile Dysfunction, was released earlier this year by Orchard City Books & Noise. When he’s not adding to his impossibly increasing “To Read” list, he’s working on several film projects and attempting the frightening task of writing a novel. therealchadhall.com
JONATHAN KESHISHOGLOU
Jonathan is a writer and undergraduate student at New York University, although he grew up in the general Campbell/Los Gatos area. Back in New York, he’s on the editorial staff of his school’s student-run newspaper. He is also an avid trumpet player and has taught himself some basic piano.
nyunews.com/author/jonathan-keshishoglou
Jennifer is a freelance journalist who covers arts and innovation in the Silicon Valley. She loves telling the stories of people behind inventions and is constantly curious about how tech intersects with arts, business and health.
jennelias.com @jennelias6
Daniel was born and raised in Richmond, VA. After studying marketing and art at James Madison University, Daniel followed a career in hospitality and property management, until 2009 when he picked up a camera and began shooting. Currently, he resides in San Jose and makes his living as a lifestyle and commercial photographer. danielgainesphotography.com
Born in Argentina, raised in Patagonia and living in California since 2003, Ana has turned an adolescent curiosity with photography into a life-long passion. For her, the goal is to catch the world at its most natural, to see its essence and candid truth. anavillafanephotography.com
KIM + PHIL
Kim and Phil are Bay Area photographers. After a stint in Portland, they have returned to their native California. They love to watch movies with subtitles, play ping pong, and search for vintage Polaroid cameras. They run a blog focused on the people and stories behind food trucks called Behind the Food Carts.
kptwo.com
Charles was raised in San Jose. He finished his undergraduate in History at San Francisco State University, but has been self-taught in everything else he knows. He works as a business coach and sales manager for a technology start-up. In his spare time, he does freelance writing and specializes in editorials and interviews. On his few days off, he’s digging for new French House over some Pho.
Kate is a freelance writer based in the Bay Area. She has a passion for sharing people’s stories and eating pie. When she isn’t writing, she’s yelling at the TV during Giants games, spending time with her beautiful wife, and cuddling with her dog until it’s awkward. @kathrynhunts kathrynhunts.pressfolios.com
