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INFLUENCE AND INSPIRATION Writer Shannon Severson Photographs Courtesy of Western Spirit: Scottsale’s Museum of the West
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COMMUNITY EVENTS Writer Amanda Christmann
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SCENES FROM THE MOTHER ROAD Writer Amanda Christmann Photography by Terrence Moore
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TIMELESS TONTO 25 YEARS
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Writer Amanda Christmann Photography by Bryan Black
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INTO THE QUIET Writer Amanda Christmann Photography by Bryan Black
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PALEO CHILI Writer and Photographer Kyndra Kelly
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PUBLISHER Shelly Spence
MANAGING EDITOR Amanda Christmann
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Meaghan Mitchell
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joseph Airdo Amanda Christmann Sue Kern-Fleischer Kyndra Kelly Shoshana Leon Shannon Severson Fadi Sitto
PHOTOGRAPHERS Scott Baxter Bryan Black Kyndra Kelly Loralei Lazurek
ADVERTISING SALES Tatum Williams 480-280-9490 tatum@imagesaz.com
Images Arizona P.O. Box 1416 Carefree, AZ. 85377 623-341-8221 imagesarizona.com Submission of news for community section should be in to shelly@imagesaz.com by the 5th of the month prior to publication. Images Arizona is published by ImagesAZ Inc. Copyright © 2019 by ImagesAZ, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or part, without permission is prohibited. The publisher is not responsible for the return of unsolicited material.
Local First A R I Z O NA
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This year marks my 20th year of publishing Images Arizona magazine. I say that with wide eyes a sense of incredulity. As 18th century poet Alexander Pope said, “swift fly the years …”—and how right he was! At times, the days have been long and hard, but the weeks and the years have passed in a beautiful blur. Looking back, I am nothing short of amazed all that our Images Arizona family has been able to accomplish. In 1999, I purchased an eight-page newsletter with a circulation of 3,000 households in Anthem with the idea of creating the kind of images and content that I wanted to read. I wanted to lift up the community and share stories that unite us. Through the years, thanks to our wonderful and talented team of writers, photographers and graphic designers, we’ve managed to do just that. In our communities, we are so fortunate to have so many people who are making positive impacts on the lives of others. Whether they are championing causes, creating incredible art, sharing their musical gifts, or using their talents to help or bring joy to others. Every month, I find myself giddy with anticipation, knowing these stories are on their way to the mailboxes of 67,000 homes. As we begin this milestone year, I have nothing short of deep pride. I’m proud of my family for riding along with me on this sometimes difficult but rewarding journey. I’m proud of the writers, photographers, designers and other behind-the-scenes people who have made it all happen. And I’m proud of the growing community that has embraced my dream by welcoming Images Arizona into their hearts and homes year after year. Cheers to all of us! Shelly Spence Publisher, Images Arizona magazine shelly@imagesaz.com 623-341-8221
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G R A C E
R E N E E
G A L L E R Y ’ S
F E B R U A R Y
E V E N T
FEATURING
MICHAEL SWEARNGIN CONTEMPORARY COWBOY ARTIST
Meet Michael at the gallery’s February event. Fall in love with this nationally acclaimed artist’s contemporary take on classic Western subjects. Grace Renee Gallery Historic Spanish Village | 7212 E. Ho Hum Rd. # 7 | Carefree, AZ 85377 480.575.8080 10
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CONTEMPORARY
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February 7 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Appetizers and refreshments served.
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“As the Crow Flies I” 30” by 30”
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Charles M. Russell, Lady Buckeroo, c. 1920–1925 watercolor, pen and ink on paper; Montana Historical Society, Mackay Collection, Helena, Montana.
Writer Shannon Severson Photographs Courtesy of Western Spirit: Scottsale’s Museum of the West
K
Known as the “Father of Western Art,” Charles Marion Russell is primarily known for his powerfully detailed depictions of men in the West. Cowboys atop furiously bucking broncos, wranglers driving cattle over the rugged mountain terrain of Montana, strong Native American chiefs leading their men into battle, tribes skillfully tracking and hunting bison and the many adventures of Lewis and Clark all found their way into a visual narrative that largely shaped the ideas that we as Americans, and those in other countries, still hold today about the nature and character of the Old West.
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But peek through the haze of dust and gunfire and you’ll find that Russell also depicted the powerful role that women played, not only in the landscape and culture of the West, but also in his own life and career.
RESTAURANT
WEDDINGS
CATERING
“Charles M. Russell: The Women in His Life and Art” at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (SMoW) through April 14, 2019 is a collection of 60 works in oil, watercolor, pen and ink, and bronze, along with a number of physical artifacts that span Russell’s career from 1890-1926. The works predominantly feature female figures and allow the audience an opportunity to view his celebrated artwork, life and career through a new, contemporary lens. A series of educational and entertaining programming is tied to the exhibition, including scholarly lectures, a film series and even a performance by historical enactor, educator and storyteller, Mary Jane Bradbury. This exhibit goes beyond “cowboys and Indians” and gives us a peek into how Russell saw and appreciated the women around him. “The different perspectives of women and their roles in the West haven’t been very prominent,” says SMoW Assistant Museum Director of Collections, Exhibitions and Research, Dr. Tricia Loscher. “Russell’s work is seen as very masculinized with stories about the male and the American West. With this show, we see his sensitivities and all of his portrayals of women—not only how he portrayed them, but how they inspired him and really promoted his career.” Even audiences who are new to Russell’s work will find much that is familiar. Hollywood borrowed heavily from his depictions. Everything from set design to story narratives were clearly lifted from the mind of this artist who was the consummate Westerner, cowboy, writer, conservationist, philosopher, historian, advocate of the Northern Plains Indians and the list goes on. He left behind both a visual and written account of his remarkable life and times. As a young boy in St. Louis, Missouri, Russell’s cowboy dreams were kindled at the knee of his grandmother, Lucy Bent Russell, who regaled him with stories of the
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Charles M. Russell, Keeoma, 1898, oil on canvas; Montana Historical Society, Mackay Collection, Helena, Montana.
West and the adventures of her famous fur trader brothers who opened the Santa Fe Trail. His artistic mother, Mary Elizabeth Mead Russell, encouraged young Charlie to read adventure novels of westward expansion and to sketch and sculpt. By the age of 16, Russell set out to live the cowboy life in Montana and never looked back. His sketches and watercolors of life on the range, both as a cowboy and during the time he spent living with the Blood Indians, a branch of the Blackfeet Nation, received little recognition early on. All that changed when, at age 32, Russell married 18-year-old Nancy Cooper. He quickly went from being a working cowboy to a working artist at the urging, and under the business-savvy management of his young wife. He lived to be just 62 years old, but he produced over 4,000 works in his short lifetime. He sold his paintings for $25 to $35; in 2005, his painting, “Piegans,” fetched $5.6 million at auction. In fact, it is the work of a woman that inspired this exhibition. The late Ginger K. Renner, a Paradise Valley resident, published “Charlie Russell and the Ladies in His Life” in 1984. “Ginger was a big influence in this museum and was a big inspiration for others to have this museum built,
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although she passed away before we opened in 2015,” says Loscher. “The curators, Joan Carpenter Troccoli and Emily Crawford Wilson, did a spin on her title for the show.” Renner’s husband, Fred, grew up in Great Falls, Montana and sometimes visited Russell’s log cabin studio there to watch the artist at work. Both were premier Russell scholars and collectors of Russell’s life history and art. They were heavily involved in creating definitive catalogs of his work and in helping to establish SMoW and the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls. “The Renners did a lot to forward not only Russell but Western art,” says Loscher. “In the whole scheme, they were huge promoters and philanthropists of Western art. Ginger sat on the boards of a lot of museums and was involved in various award programs promoting the West.” Notable in the collection is the portrayal of Native American women performing the duties and responsibilities of their everyday lives, from moving camp to caring for children and mourning the dead. “Keeoma” is one of a well-known series of paintings that depict a lounging Native American woman in the exotic tradition of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when it was common to paint women who existed outside of restricted Victorianera norms. She rests against a teepee backrest. “It’s a Native woman inside a teepee, but he’s drawing on the larger European sensibilities of exoticizing indigenous women,” says Loscher. “He’s playing up the exoticism of a time when it was often Middle
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Charles M. Russell, The Capture of Laura Edgar, 1894, oil on canvas; Petrie Collection, Denver, Colorado.
Nancy Russell at Bull Head Lodge, c. 1910, black and white photograph; C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana, gift of Richard Flood II.
Charles M. Russell, Wood Nymph, c. 1898, watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper; C. M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana, purchased with funds from Friends of the Exalted Ruler and the Louise Smith Memorial Fund.
Charlie and Josephine Wright, c. 1900, black and white photograph; C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana, gift of Richard Flood II.
EXPERIENCE Western Spirit: Scottsale’s Museum of the West Charles M. Russell: The Women in His Life and Art January 6 through April 14 | Tues.–Sat. 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. | Sun 11 a.m.–5 p.m. | Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West m a Marshall g e s a r i z o n aWay, . c o mScottsdale january| $8–15; 2 019 Thursdays free for Scottsdale residents | 480-686-9539 | scottsdalemuseumwest.org 163830 iN.
Charles M. Russell, Life Saver, 1910, watercolor on paper; C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana, gift of R.F. Jennings and M.A. Dutton.
Eastern women who were depicted, but he does it with an indigenous woman in Montana.” The woman is surrounded by objects that give us a glimpse into her everyday life: a parfleche, which was a case made of rawhide, trade blankets, her beaded buckskin dress and the backrest she’s leaning against. Nearby, a real teepee backrest is displayed, as are saddles and clothing of the time. “Lady Buckeroo” is a rare depiction in watercolor, pen and ink of a woman skillfully riding a wild bronc, neck kerchief flying and hat held aloft. Strength and determination shows through in her expression. Russell loathed the industrializing forces of westward expansion, and juxtaposed contemporary white women with impoverished Native Americans who were being displaced by development and urbanization in “The Last of His Race” and “Mothers Under the Skin.” They are painful, raw and real. “Russell humanizes what different cultures were doing at the time,” says Loscher. “He really gives you a feeling of what it was like to be there, a sense of place, because he lived it. That’s why everything about his paintings—the objects, the animals, the people— are so vivid. It’s something to keep in mind that not only are the stories in all these works masterfully told, but they’re so beautifully rendered. He was able to capture everything so realistically.” Also in the collection are examples of his collaboration with family friend and librarian, Josephine Trigg. The pair wrote hundreds of letters, which Russell would adorn with incredibly detailed, and often humorously themed, watercolors depicting life in the West during those days. Trigg composed poems in beautiful calligraphy that he would then illustrate. What resulted was a beautifully rendered and very personal historical narrative. “Along with the theme of women,” says Loscher, "the groundbreaking aspect of this show is how it’s contextualizing his work in terms of the broader history of what is happening across the world at that time.”
Charles M. Russell, The Waterhole, 1906, oil on panel; Petrie Collection, Denver, Colorado.
scottsdalemuseumwest.org
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COMMUNITY
2019 JANUARY
Writers Amanda Christmann
Jan. 25–27
ARIZONA BALLOON CLASSIC The sky will be filled with colorful hot-air balloons participating in the thrilling “Hare & Hound” race Saturday and Sunday morning. Friday and Saturday evenings, a field full of illuminated, tethered hot-air balloons glow in time to music. AZ StreetFoodFest, family fun zone and more. $15; active military and children under 12 free. Parking $5. Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way, Goodyear. Fri. 4–8 p.m.; Sat. 7 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.–10 a.m. abcfest.com
Jan. 8, 9
JOI PRATER INTERIORS OPEN HOUSE
evening of moderated, free-flowing,
Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale. 10 a.m.–6
no-agenda, off-the-top-of-your-head
p.m. arizonafineartexpo.com
discussion guided by three presenters who cover most aspects of this field. Bring tweens and teens. Free.
Come see the latest in outdoor fabrics
Anthem Community Center, 3701 W.
from Italy and learn the newest trends
Anthem Way, Anthem. 7–8:30 p.m.
in fabric and tile. Bring your kitchen
bigideasforum.info
and bath remodeling questions. Light bites and sparkling beverages. Free. Joi Prater Interiors, 748 Easy St., Ste. 9, Carefree. 2–6 p.m. 602-930-8679; joipraterinteriors.com
Jan. 10
BIG IDEAS FORUM: PRIVACY
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BARRETT-JACKSON COLLECTOR CAR AUCTION If the rev of a muscle car engine or the
Jan. 11–March 24 ARIZONA FINE ART EXPO
sheen of a newly polished ’55 Ford excites you, Westworld of Scottsdale is the place to be. This annual car show and auction has something for
Enjoy a mix of contemporary and
everyone and is sure to please. See
Western artists from as far away as
website for schedule and pricing.
Israel and Zimbabwe. Glass blowing
16601 N. Pima Rd., Scottsdale. 480-
classes and demonstrations in the
421-6694; barrett-jackson.com
sculpture garden. Season passes $10;
Learn about cyber space threats
seniors and military $8; children
and what to do about them in an
under 12 free. Free parking. 26540 N.
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Jan. 12–20
Jan. 13
COLDWELL BANKER GLOBAL LUXURY CONCERT SERIES Enjoy the sounds of Beth Lederman on keyboards, Felix Sainz on bass and vocals, and Emerson Laffey on drums as they share the stage with noted saxophonist Joseph Wytko. $35. Tohono Ballroom at El Pedregal Boulders Resort, 34505 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale. 4 p.m. 480-204-7292; coldwellbankerconcerts.eventbrite.com
Jan. 16–19
RUSSO AND STEELE CAR AUCTION
One of the largest auto auctions in the nation, the muchanticipated Russo and Steel Car Auction comes to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Resort. See website for admission. 7555 N. Pima Rd., Scottsdale. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. 602-252-2697; russoandsteele.com
Jan. 18–20
CAREFREE FINE ART & WINE FESTIVAL Thunderbird Artists’ Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival features more than 155 juried fine artisans from throughout the United States and abroad and a selection of local and imported wine for tasting. $10 for souvenir engraved glass with six tastings; admission $3. 101 Easy St., Carefree. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 480-837-5637; thunderbirdartists.com
Jan. 19
7TH ANNUAL SHRED-A-THON Kick off tax filing season by shredding sensitive documents and helping Youth for Troops. Bring up to four banker-sized boxes of paper products to Freeman Income Tax Service. No cardboard or plastic bags will be accepted. Free; donations accepted. 41111 N. Daisy Mountain Dr., Anthem. 10 a.m.–1 p.m. 623-518-2157
Jan. 23
BAD MEN, BAD TIMES & BEAUTIFUL DOLLS Writing under the nom de plume Nicolas D. Charles, Dr. Gary Lindner presents the pulp fiction era, 1900-1950s. His insights into the differences between the pulps and the slicks, the authors, and the prevalent writing styles of that
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Jan. 28–Feb. 3
WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN This year’s Greatest Show on Grass lineup includes Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland, Charley Hoffman and Cameron Champ. See website for ticket prices and schedule. TPC Scottsdale, 17020 N. Hayden Rd., Scottsdale. wmphoenixopen.com
era are sure to please old and young
actually essential for good mental
alike. Free. Sedona Public Library,
and physical functioning. This Big
3250 White Bear Rd., Sedona. 6:30
Ideas Forum presentation will give
p.m. nickverriet.com
you a new understanding of just what "germs" really are and why you need
Jan. 23
TOMMY CASTRO AND THE PAINKILLERS Musical Instrument Museum presents
Center, 3701 W. Anthem Way, Anthem. 7–8:30 p.m. bigideasforum.info
Jan. 30
ProMusica Arizona Chorale and Orchestra has received a grant for $1,000 from the Scottsdale League for the Arts. This grant will help support PMAZ’s objective to expose young people to live music performances by
4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. 7 p.m.
SOCK MONKEYS: AMERICA’S LOVE STORY
480-478-6000; mim.org
Artist, award-winning photographer
years old 15 minutes prior to concerts
and “Sock Monkey Lady” Dee
based on seating availability. pmaz.org
blazing soul-blues rocker Tommy Castro and his band. $33.50–$43.50.
Jan. 24
HEALTHY GERMS, HEALTHY YOU
Lindner invites you to join in the fun of America’s red-heel sock monkey tradition. Bring your own to show off! Free. Sedona Public Library, 3250
The human microbiome consists of
White Bear Rd., Sedona. 6:30 p.m.
trillions of microbes that live on and
sockmonkeylady.com
in your body. Surprisingly, they are
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them. Free. Anthem Community
PROMUSICA RECEIVES SCOTTSDALE LEAGUE FOR THE ARTS GRANT
i m a g e s a r i z o n a . c o m january 2 019
providing free tickets for those 15 and under accompanied by an adult, and free rush tickets for students 16-22
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Writer Fadi Sitto Photography Courtesy of Barry Gossage / Phoenix Suns
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“I get to perform for thousands of people every season and bring smiles to people’s faces. I love the fact that I create long-lasting memories of joy and excitement with the fans. I wouldn’t trade what I do for the anything in world,” says Go, the Phoenix Suns Gorilla. Go is one of the most iconic mascots in all of sports, and though he gets hot in the summer from all his hair, he’s still happy to call Arizona home. Go the Gorilla has been a fan favorite for almost 40 years. This beloved five-foot-tall Valley icon is as recognized and sometimes even more famous than Suns players or anyone else who’s part of the Suns organization. The Gorilla has a huge impact in the local Valley community, partnering with charities, schools, hospitals and local businesses. In addition to attending Phoenix Suns home games, he does about 400 appearances per year. Any time people—especially kids—see Go, two things inevitably come to mind: the Phoenix Suns and fun! The Gorilla first appeared in 1980 at the Mad House on McDowell in downtown Phoenix, also known as Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The origin story of the NBA’s most significant mascot is simply a happy hairy accident. Henry Rojas was a somewhat shy 23-year-old messenger from Eastern Onion Telegram Service. He was sent to the coliseum in early 1980 to deliver a singing telegram to a fan during half time of a Phoenix Suns basketball game.
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His job that day was to show up and deliver that singing telegram dressed as a gorilla, and that’s what he memorably did. As Henry was leaving the arena, security stopped him and suggested that he stay for a while to entertain the boisterous Suns fans during time-outs. He did a few dances underneath the basket and joked with fans during timeouts, and the fans instantly loved it. Loyal Suns fans began calling and asking for this gorilla the very next day, and it wasn’t long after that Henry Rojas and his gorilla attire became the norm at Phoenix Suns home games. Henry just kept coming to games until he was officially invited to be the Suns' mascot for good. He was given a Suns warm-up jacket, and the rest is history. Henry Rojas was the original Suns Gorilla, and would be until 1988. Mascot history and in-game entertainment changed forever, as this occurrence led to the creation of one of the most recognized mascots in sports. The iconic Gorilla started to become the talk of the town—and the talk of the NBA, thanks to his epic pranks, high-flying acrobatic dunks and shenanigans. It was as if there was a Go Show and it just so happened that a professional basketball game broke out.
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The Gorilla’s comedic routines during time-outs have become legendary. At a New York Knicks home game, for example, he came out to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" wearing Sinatra’s signature hat and a garbage stuck to his body. Halfway through the song, a group of "muggers" attacked him, and he staggered off the court. After Henry Rojas, the second Suns Gorilla was Bob Woolf. He introduced some of the most notable moves Go performs even today. Bob entertained audiences from the 1988-89 NBA season until the 2005-06 season.
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The next Suns Gorilla was Devin Nelson, who performed from the 2006-07 season until the end of the 2011-12 season. He was also revolutionary with his skillful stunts and acrobatics.
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The current person behind the costume and antics is a closely guarded secret. The Phoenix Suns organization will only reveal the name when he or she passes the torch to someone new. The daily routine of our mischievous friend is pretty straightforward. “I wake up, I eat a banana, go out and wreak some havoc and prepare for the game,” Go the Gorilla says. Go is a primate with a passport. He has entertained Suns fans in Phoenix for almost four decades, but is also a world traveler, bringing universal joy to many people overseas. Go has wowed crowds and made appearances in over 20 countries, including China, Argentina, Spain and Australia, just to name a few. In 2005, he was selected and inducted to be one of three inaugural members of the Mascot Hall of Fame. The Gorilla will forever be remembered among the greats, alongside Phillie Phanatic, the famous San Diego Chicken and Aubie the Tiger. Even though Go the Gorilla is a Hall of Famer, an elite megastar and highly professional, there are those rare times that embarrassing moments simply can’t be avoided. “I’ll never live it down, no matter how hard I try,” Go says.
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EXPERTS IN HIGH The infamous “drumstick on the court” incident occurred during a Suns home game against the Washington Wizards on a Tuesday night in March 2017. The Gorilla dove head first onto the basketball court to remove what the NBA says was a rogue drumstick during the game, during the course of play! It was definitely not a ploy to get attention. Go was trying to encourage the home crowd with cheer and hype using a chicken drumstick that abruptly slipped from his ape fingers. The Gorilla had no choice but to quickly grab the drumstick and shuffle off the floor, as it could have caused a professional basketball player harm or injury. How does one get to be the Suns Gorilla anyway? Eventually, no one knows when, the current gorilla is going to want to hang up those hairy high tops and sip banana margaritas next to a pool. Among the many requirements for being a future Suns Gorilla is a college degree—best if attained at Fur-man University.
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A minimum two years’ mascot experience on a collegiate or professional level is necessary, and applicants must be skilled in gymnastics and dance, something that takes an extreme level of athletic fitness. They must also have the availability and willingness to work extended hours, including nights and weekends. Then there are requirements like needing to be able to withstand and perform within extreme heat conditions, restrictive outfits and occasional impaired vision. Oh, and they need to be proficient in Microsoft Office, Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and other related computer skills too. No matter who the Gorilla is, the message from our loveable furred ambassador remains the same: happiness, fun and Arizona pride. One more thing, says Go the Gorilla. “I hate banana jokes. No one should ever joke about a banana.” sunsgorilla.com
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2262 W. MUIRFIELD DR., ANTHEM | Offered at $389,900
RE/MAX Pro fe s s i o n al s | L i n da Re h w a l t | 6 0 2 -4 0 2 -1 1 3 6 | l in d a r e h w a l t @ a z r e a l t y. c o m
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A Place to Call Home “Home” is more than four walls and a ceiling; it’s a feeling you get when you walk inside the door. It’s the place we connect with—the place where we can enjoy the lives we’re creating. This 3-bedroom, 3-bath listing on the Ironwood Golf Course in beautiful, gated Anthem Country Club is just that: a place to call home. Step inside and feel the comfort of gorgeous hardwood floors and an easy-flowing floor plan. Whether you choose to relax by the great room’s cozy gas fireplace or whip up a feast in the bright, cheery kitchen, you’ll enjoy every minute. From chiseled-edge granite counters to a rich hardwood built-in entertainment center, this home offers plenty of extras. A spacious split master and second bedroom are nicely separated from the main living space by a rambling hallway, and a guest casita complete with a third bathroom allows you the freedom to entertain, or provides space to leave work closed away at the end of the day. Outside living has never looked better! With both golf and mountain views and a pebble tec pool with a stunning waterfall, luxury is just outside the door. An inviting outdoor barbecue is perfect for spending warm, lazy days creating memories. With all of the amenities of Anthem Country Club, including a top-notch golf course, tennis courts, a heated community pool and spa, biking and walking paths and a gym, there will always be opportunities to spend time with new neighbors and friends. At $389,900, this home is priced to sell! Ready to make this home yours? Call Linda today!
Please call Linda for your private showing. Linda Rehwalt RE/MAX Professionals 602-402-1136 lindarehwalt@azrealty.com
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Writer Amanda Christmann Photography by Terrence Moore
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If ever there were symbols of the American spirit, it would be the diners, service stations and stops along Historic Route 66. Now long past its heyday, the Mother Road’s place in history, and shadows and memories of the midcentury American soul remain. The first road signs for the 2,448-mile route, which ran from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri along the way, were erected in the dirt in 1927.
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It was a year of innovation: Lindbergh piloted the Spirit of St. Louis through the first trans-Atlantic flight that same year, and “The Jazz Singer” opened in theaters, marking the end of silent film. The Holland Tunnel opened beneath the Hudson River, and the first trans-Atlantic telephone call was placed between New York and London. With so much growth going on, the creation of the U.S. Highway System in 1926 seemed only logical. After all, soldiers had returned from World War I and the economy
Williams, Arizona
Williams, Arizona
was booming. The nation was in the peaceful 18-year interwar period, and there seemed no better time to create the grid work for a nation. Here in Arizona, Route 66 traversed 401 miles, putting towns like Holbrook, Winslow, Two Guns, Williams, Seligman, Peach Springs and Oatman on the map. Flagstaff was the largest town on the route, and it, too, benefited from the increase in traffic. By the 1950s, baby boomer parents found a different kind of dream in Route 66: vacations. Since the road connected
The most surprising thing to me that happened while compiling 'Rte. 66: The Mother Road' was that so many of my old friends got behind the project and truly made it happen. After trying to piece a book together for some 40 years, I had reached a point that I never expected it to happen. It has been a wonderful experience, and I must thank every single person who has helped make this project a reality. Terrence Moore, Photographer j anuary 2019
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Parks, Arizona | 1999
a large swath of the Midwest to the allure of Los Angeles, it soon became well-traveled by Ford Fairlanes, Chevy Thunderbirds, and a host of other powder blue and cherry red cars of the era. The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater became major tourist attractions, and themed motels, ice cream shops, “Indian” outposts and roadside animal attractions sprang up along the way. Arizona’s cowboys, Native Americans, saguaros and lore of the West became bawdy icons.
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Today, though the Mother Road has been replaced in large part by interstate highways, many of the neon signs, mom
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and pop motels, including the “sleep in a tee pee” Wigwam Village in Holbrook, and eclectic diners remain. Noted photographer Terrence Moore has spent much of his life documenting the Southwest. His photographs of sights along America’s most well-known road form the imagery for his and author Michael Wallis’s “Rte. 66: The Mother Road.” We are excited to share a few of these photographs in Images Arizona magazine. How many of these Arizona symbols of bygone days can you identify?
ROUTE 66 FACTS: DID YOU KNOW … U.S. Route 66 became the first completely paved highway in 1938. The steep, hairpin turns near Oatman made up the most imposing section of the route. Travelers often hired locals, who were eager to earn a buck, to help them navigate the road through the Black Mountains. John Steinbeck is credited for creating the moniker “The Mother Road,” a term he used in his novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” in 1939. The name has endured for decades. During the 1960s, throngs of disenchanted young people, lured by hippie counterculture of the West, packed into microbuses or hitched rides along Route 66. They, too, influenced the people and towns along the way, many of which became havens for artists and dreamers. Construction I-40 spelled the end of an era for Route 66, and for Arizona. When the final stretch of highway near Williams was decommissioned in 1984, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials decertified it—effectively making it cease to exist in all but remnants and history books. In 1999, former President Bill Clinton signed the National Route 66 Preservation Bill, providing $10 million in grants to restore and maintain the historic features along Route 66.
Ashfork, Arizona | 1976
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Jackrabitt, Arizona | 1978
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Flagstaff, Arizona | 2012
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER Terrence Moore is originally from northern Minnesota. As a child, he moved with his family to northern California where he fell in love with the desert. Years later, he made his way to Arizona—a place he has called home for much of the past 45 years. Having grown up along Route 66, there is something about the Mother Road that has always resonated with Moore. “I went to high school on it and lived on it or right off it many times,” he says. “It just is a part of who I am. If a road can feel like home, Highway 66 represents that for me.” “Rte. 66: The Mother Road” is one of several books Moore has illustrated with his photography. He has an eye for the large and small details that bring history to life. From neon signs to kitschy dinosaurs, he has captured a disappearing era worthy of preservation.
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“I’m happy to have my new book to share some of my experiences and places that grabbed my eye over the past 50 years,” he says. “It is a National Historic Highway and will soon become a National Historic Trail. It has charisma and will undoubtedly live on and on.” schaffnerpress.com
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THE MAKING OF THE MOTHER ROAD
Winslow, Arizona | 1976
Route 66 was billed as part of a growing system of highways carrying people and cargo westward, connecting a growing network of towns to goods and services, but the route became something more before much of it was paved.
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When the Great Depression struck in 1929, waves of weary families from the Dust Bowl states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas made their way along the route as they headed for new lives in California. Ironically, their hard luck created opportunity for businesses along the route. Route 66 was responsible for a healthy share for the boon in mom and pop businesses. Family-owned restaurants, filling stations and motor courts popped up along the road. Because of the highway’s relatively flat topography, it also became a popular truck route. Though times were difficult everywhere, Route 66 ushered business to and from small towns across the West, keeping food on the table for more than a few.
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As a steady stream of people comes through the rustic wooden door at Tonto Bar & Grill, John Malcolm weaves his way through the bar. He stops at several tables, greeting regulars and out-of-town visitors—some with handshakes and hugs—and asks with genuine interest how their drinks, food and family are. Quick with a warm smile, Malcolm rarely comes to a full stop, appearing where he is needed and disappearing just as quickly so that guests never sense disruption to their relaxing dining experience. It’s a skill Malcolm has honed in a lifetime of restaurant work, and one that, after a quarter of a century in Cave Creek, most business owners would be happy to retire. For Malcolm, coming to work each day is about gratitude—a gift from a community that has more than welcomed him and his dream. “We’re starting our 25th year,” said Malcolm. “To me, it’s just about thanking the community for their loyalty. They’re the ones who have curated the longevity we’ve had.” In an era in which restaurants come and go faster than the flash of an Arizona monsoon, Tonto Bar & Grill has earned its status as a mainstay in the North Valley. With its fantastic food, beautiful views of Rancho Mañana and the rugged mountains beyond, and nod to Arizona’s Native American origins, it’s a destination. None of it is by accident—except for maybe the very beginning. About 35 years ago, Malcolm and Eric Flatt were working together at Pebble Beach Monterey, Flatt as a sous chef and Malcolm as a food and beverage manager. The two became best friends and, before wives and children came into the picture, roommates. The two came to Cave Creek for a golf outing at Rancho Mañana with Flatt’s dad, Dave, and his friend, Ron Allred, who had just purchased the resort. During the game, Ron looked at Eric and said, “You know, we’re looking for a guy to take over the restaurant.”
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Residential and Commercial Electrical Services Available! Flatt and Malcolm, who had worked at restaurants on some of California’s most exclusive real estate, must have looked at the restaurant and shaken their heads. It was rough. The kitchen was tiny and the rest of the building was little more than a snack shack for golfers.
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There are moments in each of our lives that define the rest of what will come next. Had the two returned to California and left the desert behind, things may very well have been different, not only for them, but for hundreds of people. As it happened, though, the two returned a week later and decided to dive in, hoping that the community would receive them and their modern twist to ranch house cuisine—and they did. In many ways, Tonto Bar & Grill has become just as much part of the community as the community has become part of it. Staff members, many of whom have been at Tonto since the early years, would certainly have led different lives. Through the years, too, countless proposals, weddings, holidays and other special occasions have been celebrated in the dining rooms and on the beautiful patios.
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A UNIQUE HISTORY More than a little part of Tonto Bar & Grill’s appeal is that its history began long before there was a restaurant, and long before the beautifully manicured golf course at Rancho Mañana existed. The ground that Tonto Bar & Grill sits on was once home to Native Americans, who hunted and gathered near a natural spring that flowed on the property. As ranchers and miners began to arrive in the area, skirmishes with Tonto Apaches in the area became more common. The U.S. Cavalry saw the need to increase their presence in central Arizona, and they soon made the natural spring, which would become Howard Ranch, a regular stop as they traveled en route from Camp McDowell in Phoenix to Fort Whipple in Prescott.
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After a series of bloody clashes between Apaches and the Cavalry, led by General George Crook, the Cavalry declared victory, paving the way for growth in Cave Creek and many other Arizona outposts. Forward to the 1940s. After World War II, Americans developed a taste for the romanticized notion of “cowboys and Indians.” Dude ranches sprang up throughout the West, and as quickly as roadways could be paved, tourists flooded to the desert for a “real” cowboy experience. Chicagoans China and Ted Loring and their partner Romaine “Romy” Lowdermilk, who was a cowboy musician and author, took over Howard Ranch in the mid-1940s. They renamed it the Rancho Mañana Dude Ranch, and soon it became the largest and most notable dude ranch in the state. The Lorings lived and worked at the ranch, raising their children while hosting stars and other who’s who of the area. Though kitchens and dining spaces have been added on, what was once their home is now the foundation for Tonto Bar & Grill. The charm of the Lorings' era remains, kept alive in part through photographs in the Grill Room, which was the original lounge area. Loring family members are captured in black and white riding horseback near what is now The Boulders Resort, as well as men in cowboy hats enjoying a campfire. The swimming pool that was built around the historic natural spring is also memorialized in a frame. Malcolm and Flatt seamlessly recreated the roughhewn wooden ceiling beams and saltillo tiles of the original restaurant. It’s easy to imagine ranch guests clustered around the fireplace as they listened to Lowdermilk strum his guitar and sing stories of lore. The ranch changed hands a few times before becoming a golf resort. Allred, who has also invested in the historic Hermosa Inn and Tubac Golf Resort, purchased it in 1994, not long before proposing the idea of expanding the restaurant to Flatt and Malcolm.
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MAINTAINING TRADITION When Malcolm and Flatt set out to create a restaurant in Cave Creek, they wanted to do things a little differently. Flatt, who is a big fan of history, wanted to honor indigenous traditions by incorporating Native American methods of harvesting the bounty of the desert into its food. Several times a year, date palms, prickly pear, jojoba seeds, local pinion nuts, mesquite beans and creosote are harvested from the desert and used in many of the delicious, seasonal menu items. The chefs butcher their own high-quality meats, and every sauce, dessert and side dish is made from scratch with delicious layers of flavors that can’t be found elsewhere. Everything possible comes from local farmers, who also benefit from the restaurant’s success. “We found that, with mindfulness and care for the fragile ecology, the desert has a tremendous amount to give,” said Malcolm. “Like the Native Americans who occupied these lands long before we were here, preserving the land and the history here became central to our purpose.” Cocktails at Tonto are unique as well. The Tontorita is the bar’s best seller, so much so that Tonto Bar & Grill has become the biggest buyer of Sauza Hornitos in Arizona. Tonto doesn’t always stick to the expected in a Southwestinspired menu. Chef Kurtis Purdy puts a delicious twist on regional favorites like sand dabs, onion-crusted walleye, barbecue salmon, and German pork schnitzel—some of the restaurant’s most in-demand options. “We constantly listen to our guests,” said Malcolm. “I think that, where other restaurants fail is that they go in with concepts or ideas that don’t necessarily keep the guest’s preferences in mind. “We’ve tried to evolve into what the community is asking for. To me, that four- to five-month spring peak period is great, but it’s the other eight months of the year of taking care of the local community that makes our business whole.”
A LASTING LEGACY
EXPERIENCE
On any given day, hundreds of customers, many of whom have come to Tonto Bar & Grill regularly for decades, sit down in a dining room that feels much like it would have a century ago and order a meal that they know will be outstanding.
Tonto Bar & Grill
5736 E. Rancho Mañana Blvd., Cave Creek | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. daily | Happy Hour 3–6 p.m. | Sunday Brunch 10 a.m.–2 p.m. i m a g e s a r i z|otontobarandgrill.com n a . c o m january 2 019 42480-488-0698
Now on their twenty-fifth year, things have only gotten better for Malcolm and Flatt. Flatt now lives with his wife and son in Bend, Oregon. To this day, he and his best friend Malcolm have yet to have an argument—an accomplishment that makes both men proud. The concept, quality and community remain. Tonto continues to contribute to the community, as it always has, through local charities and events, but it’s what the community contributes to the restaurant that means the most to Malcolm.
For him, it’s what makes every day worthwhile. “When Eric and I brought our families to the tiny town of Cave Creek in 1994,” he said, “we couldn’t have known how much a part of the community we would become—and we didn’t know how much the community would become a part of us.”
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S
Stepping into the Musical Instrument Museum’s new electric guitar exhibit is like traveling through a time machine—not standing on the other side of it, but rather actually traveling through it, seeing the swirl of different eras surrounding and engulfing you. It is almost necessary to take a 360-degree spin immediately upon entering the doors to fully appreciate the dynamic history and cultural significance of the many stringed wonders on display before finally focusing in on one and making your way through the breathtaking exhibit.
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Writer Joseph J. Airdo Photography Courtesy of Musical Instrument Museum
The Electric Guitar: Inventing an American Icon, available through Sept. 15, showcases more than 80 of the rarest electric stringed instruments and amplifiers in the world. The exhibit reaches as far back as the 1930s and features the personal instruments of groundbreaking artists such as Ron Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The museum has a permanent display on its second floor called “Amplified Guitars.” Dr. Richard D. Walter, Ph.D., MIM’s curator for United States/Canada and Europe, explained that this special exhibition expands upon that, concentrating on the origins of the electric guitar while also taking a look at their j anuary 2019
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Audiovox Model 336 Duo Double-Neck
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technology and the most innovative, pioneering figures in their history.
the art of organization
Many—but not all—of the items on display in the exhibit belong to guitar historian Lynn Wheelwright. MIM staff looked for highlights in Wheelwright’s private collection that allowed them to find a cohesive and coherent narrative that would be both educational and interesting for visitors. From there, three themes were selected: the technology behind amplification, the designers and manufacturers responsible for the electric guitar’s success and the influence the instruments had on music. “The electric guitar is certainly the standard focus of the exhibition but even during the earliest moments of amplification people were applying it to anything with strings,” Dr. Walter said. “Manufacturers were building an incredible array of different instruments and offering them to the public—although some were more successful than others.” MIM’s gallery also includes electric Hawaiian guitars, electric lap steel style guitars, electric violins, electric banjos and electric mandolins. All of these instruments influenced genres that defined American music— including Hawaiian music, dance orchestras, Western swing, jazz and especially rock and roll. “When amplification was emerging as a new solution to these things and people realized they could amplify a stringed instrument, a lot of the earliest efforts had to do with anything that would have been in vogue at the time. People were making music and needing to play to a dance audience, social club or community event,” Dr. Walter explained. “It was
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MIM showcases more than 80 of the rarest electric stringed instruments and amplifiers in the world.
Bo Diddley's The Bad Dude
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an advantage for anyone to be able to play more loudly, so they were applying this technology right off the bat to virtually anything with strings.” The highlight of the exhibition is, without a doubt, the electric guitars themselves. Dr. Walter’s personal favorite piece in the gallery is Alvino Rey’s Electro A-25, an instrument that was likely the first electric guitar ever played on a national radio broadcast. “Alvino Rey had his hands directly in the true first developments and steps into making the electric guitar successful,” Dr. Walter said. “We've got six of his personal instruments on display in the gallery. It lets us say with a straight face that we are reaching back and displaying the real beginnings of this electric guitar story.” Other notable inclusions in the collection are Charlie Christian’s Gibson ES-250, Paul Bigsby’s “Standard” guitar, Pete Townshend’s Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and Bo Diddly’s “The Bad Dude.” The gallery even features the Wrecking Crew’s session guitarist Tommy Tedesco’s main guitar. “That guitar really might be one of the most recorded musical instruments on the planet,” Dr. Walter said. “He was such a busy studio musician and played for TV shows, film scores and all kinds of hit records with artists ranging from the Beach Boys to Frank Sinatra to Simon and Garfunkle. That's an instance of one of these instruments that virtually every person who walks into that gallery has heard thousands of times.”
INJURY SCREENING
To help illustrate the story, The Electric Guitar: Inventing an American Icon
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Alvino Rey's Electro A-25
Pete Townshend's Gibson Les Paul Deluxe
Charlie Christian's Gibson ES-250
EXPERIENCE The Electric Guitar: Inventing an American Icon Through Sept. 15 | 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Musical Instrument Museum | 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix | $7 | 480-478-6000 | mim.org
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features an original video production that appears on displays within the exhibit. Interviewees include Wheelwright, Grammy Awardwinning jazz guitarist George Benson, and Sandra Boggs, daughter of late country steel guitarist Noel Boggs and goddaughter of Leo Fender—founder of one of the most successful electric guitar manufacturers in the world. “You're not just seeing static instruments, but you're actually getting to see how they're held, hear how they sound and see what the people look like who played them,” said Dr. Walter, noting that Tommy Tedesco’s guitar is accompanied by a monitor that plays samples from the “Bonanza” and “Twilight Zone” themes to drive home the instrument’s significance and recognizability.
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Dr. Walter added that working on the exhibition and seeing all of the earliest efforts has taught him that, for as relevant and contemporary as the electric guitar still is, the people who first attempted to amplify the stringed instruments got it right and were sophisticated in their thinking. “There haven't been any especially significant improvements or changes to the electric guitar since the 1930s,” Dr. Walter explained. “It has been fun to realize just how exciting and sophisticated the music was as well. It didn't take years to turn into rock and roll. People were playing radical, exciting music as soon as they had their hands on these amplified guitars. “These are 80- to 90-year-old designs but they look modern if not futuristic still today. It’s really fun to see the original versions of those instruments and realize that people were way ahead of their time—both in the concept of amplification and in the design.”
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Writer Shoshana Leon Photography Courtesy of Omni Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Montelucia
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Omni Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Montelucia is known for its spectacular views of Camelback Mountain and its Spanish inspiration. From restaurants to private dining and special events, the Montelucia’s Desert to Dish program highlights Arizona’s local ingredients and farmfresh offerings prepared with international flair. The Montelucia, which recently celebrated its 10year anniversary, features nearly 300 guest rooms, the Moroccan-themed Joya Spa and Salon, three pools, over 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and a variety of dining options. The Montelucia’s food and beverage program is driven by Executive Chef Marcos Seville, an Arizona native. Prior to joining the Montelucia in 2013 as executive sous chef, he worked in kitchens at the Peabody in Orlando, Renaissance Glendale Hotel and Spa and Arizona Biltmore. “We believe our guests enjoy the combination of our unique flavors paired with the picturesque landscape,” said Chef Seville. “From the Spanish architecture to sweeping views of Camelback Mountain, Omni provides a true escape for our guests, and our culinary offerings really push the envelope in terms of experience.”
PRADO The Montelucia offers several dining options. The resort’s Prado restaurant offers Spanish cuisine featuring local ingredients in a communal atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating, two private dining rooms and a display kitchen. Prado serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offers special menus for holiday dining throughout the year. In 2018, Chef Belal Rajab was named Chef de Cuisine at Prado. Originally from Iraq, his passion for cooking comes from his mother. His culinary career began in Tucson as a butcher before he joined the Omni Tucson in 2008. He came to the Omni Montelucia five years ago to serve as sous banquet chef and sous chef at Prado. Prado offers Spanish favorites including a few varieties of paella, as well as salads, steaks, seafood and pasta. Prado’s tapas menu includes albondigas (meatballs),
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ceviche and grilled octopus. Guests also have the option to build a charcuterie board featuring Spanish meats and cheeses. On Saturdays from 5 to 10 p.m., Prado’s guests can enjoy a tapas tour and get a taste of every tapas item on the menu. Every Sunday evening from 5:30 to 10 p.m., groups can enjoy a four-course, family-style tapas meal. Prado’s Mbar offers happy hour specials Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. On Wednesdays, select bottles of wine are half price with the purchase of two or more tapas. There is live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as Sunday mornings. Mbar’s signature cocktails include the Montelucia Caipirinha inspired by Brazil’s national cocktail; the Omni Negroni with gin, vermouth and Campari; and the Camelback Cooler featuring jalapeno-infused tequila and cilantro.
CENTRO TAQUERIA The Montelucia’s Centro Taqueria restaurant highlights authentic Mexican cuisine with ingredients supplied by farms across Arizona. Chef de Cuisine Laura Gonzalez began her career at the Montelucia in 2014 as a cook at Prado. The menu at Taqueria Centro is inspired by her upbringing in San Luis, Mexico, a small town on the border of Arizona and Mexico. A graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, she previously worked at the Herb Box. In 2018 she won Food Network’s popular “Chopped” cooking competition show. Mexican favorites on the menu include street corn, chicken mole and a variety of tacos, from fish and carne asada to squash blossom and chicken tinga. The beverage menu includes sangria, craft beer, wine, margaritas and cocktails. Centro Taqueria hosts Taco Tuesday and Thirsty Margarita Thursday during which guests can get a complimentary salsa trio with the purchase of two margaritas. On Sundays, guests can customize their own bloody Mary and enjoy selections from Centro Taqueria’s game day menu featuring Maker’s Mark barbecue pork ribs, Maker’s Mark barbecue chicken
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flatbread and Buffalo Effen Vodka cauliflower fritters.
CHEF’S KITCHEN In addition to its restaurants, the Montelucia has an indoor/outdoor chef’s kitchen featuring high-end appliances and a 2,500-square-foot herb garden. The Montelucia hosts private events and monthly theme dinners in this unique space. The monthly theme dinners give guests the opportunity to see chefs working in the kitchen and enjoy a multi-course meal highlighting local ingredients paired with wine or spirits. 2019’s monthly chef’s kitchen dinner series starts January 22 with courses paired with luxury champagnes. The February 21 dinner will feature wines from Frog’s Leap Vineyards, and the March 20 dinner will celebrate the flavors of spring.
ADDITIONAL DINING OPTIONS The Montelucia’s other dining options include the casual Crave Café market and the Joya Terrace featuring healthy options for guests at the resort’s award-winning spa. The resort also offers several indoor and outdoor spaces and culinary experiences for private dining and special events. “2019 is gearing up to be an exciting year for the Omni culinary team,” said Chef Seville. “We’re bringing several new enhancements to the Prado menu with refreshed flavors and bold dishes. Our chef’s kitchen dinners continue to grow, and 2019 will be sure to inspire diners with more influence from local farms along with bringing in internationally recognized spirit and wine vendors. “We’re excited to bring our guests energized dishes that will elicit exciting conversations and bring each and every guest back wanting to experience more of the local flavor.” omnihotels.com
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Enveloped by deep sofa cushions in his Scottsdale home, Max Hammond shifts nervously in his seat as he searches for words. I’ve asked him, in not so many words, to explain his art, and he’s struggling as he tries to articulate matters of the heart. His chocolate lab, Luke, is excited to have a visitor, but from the moment I stepped into his comfortable, rambling ranch, it’s clear that, courteous though he is, this is Hammond’s personal sanctuary—a place where an easy silence settles into the corners, and where solitude is a comfortable friend. The interior of the living space, once the home of notable Valley designer Lawrence Lake, is structured around a colonnade—a perfect gallery for Hammond’s work. Its studies in color and texture are a beautiful contrast to clean lines and turquoise pool standing in placid stillness just outside a large wall of glass. On the coffee table is a photographic homage to mid-century abstract expressionist Franz Kline. Perhaps a little flustered, Hammond uses this tangent as a starting point. He lifts the book and flips through the pages to show some of Kline’s stark creations. Like Kline, Hammond began as a figurative painter, focusing on figures and landscapes. Kline began his career in the 1940s by painting the colors and shapes of his coal mining childhood home; decades later, Hammond was influenced by the Great Salt Lake marshes near his rural Utah home. There was something about the abstract that called to each of them. In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Kline abandoned the form and structure of his paintings that he’d spent years perfecting, in large part because he’d become friends with other abstract pioneers, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston. Together, the four would wax eloquently about art, existence and the relationship between the two at New York’s Cedar Bar. They discarded traditional ideas about both, each instead embracing his own progressively avant-garde style of abstract expressionism. For Kline’s part, he experimented with scale and eschewed color. Instead of fine art brushes, he began using house-painting brushes to make broad black and white strokes resembling calligraphy on massive canvases. He developed an oeuvre that bore little resemblance to the physical world, but that broke through artistic barriers in bold, new ways.
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I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it—drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes, it again becomes an emotion or idea. Willem de Kooning
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As much as Hammond admired Kline, and despite their similar artistic beginnings, his work took on a very different personality. While Kline’s stark black and white brush strokes reflect and elicit the angst and anger that underlied—and perhaps even undermined his life, Hammond’s work is far more complex. In fact, it could be argued that Hammond’s thick layers of color, thoughtful transitions and unexpected details, some even whimsical, are more emotionally evolved than Kline’s work. “They seem to end up rather quiet,” Hammond says of his art, glancing toward the floor through black browlinerimmed glasses. “I don’t know that I’ve ever set out to make them that way, but they seem to end up that way.” Sharing time with Hammond in his home, the difference appears obvious; it’s not so much a difference in technique or perception of art so much as it’s a reflection of the very soul of each artist.
Wearing a blue camp shirt and practical jeans, he measures his words before he speaks. His voice is gentle and his thoughts are deep. It is nearly impossible to imagine him in the throes of the boozing and brawling that Kline became known for. That simply would not be Hammond, or his work. Following his early Utah childhood, Hammond attended University of Utah to learn classical figure drawing. After earning his bachelor’s of fine arts, his eyes were opened widely during a trip to Mexico. He was struck by the vivid colors there—primary hues that seemed to form the very foundation of Mexican culture. When Hammond entered Arizona State University to study for his master’s degree, one of his professors noticed disconnect between his student and the art he was creating. “He said, ‘You like the color, line, texture and pattern of paint, but try dropping the figure,’” Hammond says. “So I dropped the figure.” He’d also held on to the memory of a photograph he’d seen years before of one of Kline’s pieces—a rare one that featured a splash of color—in a Time magazine he’d found in the library. “I was a young teen at the time, and it got me fired up for some reason,” Hammond says. “It made me feel something. I don’t really know how to describe it.” Those two impressionable moments became a fortuitous combination. They launched Hammond’s foray into abstract expressionism—one that would lead him to become a widely collected artist with work in the permanent collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Finova Corp., the City of Scottsdale, and the City of Mesa, among others.
EXPERIENCE Max Hammond: An Homage to Franz Kline January 18–February 11 | Bonner David Galleries | 7040 E. Main St., Scottsdale | Free | 480-941-8500 | bonnerdavid.com
Max Hammond Artist Receptio j anuary 2019 imagesar iz ona .c om January 18 | 6–8 p.m. | Bonner David Galleries | 7040 E. Main St., Scottsdale | Free | 480-941-8500 | bonnerdavid.com
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Today, married to wife Michele, a city planner, and a father of three, Hammond leads a much more balanced life than Kline, and the “quiet” of his work reflects that. In fact, he often equates his process to the hikes he loves to take near his Scottsdale home and in southern Utah, where he owns 11 isolated acres of land. “Hiking is a great metaphor for painting,” he explains. By now, he is visibly more relaxed. “You wander around on a trail, and maybe you end up somewhere and maybe you don’t. “With painting, I get a little lost in my head, mixing colors and trying to make it feel right. The composition gets worked out along the way. One area might begin dark, but it becomes light … I scratch it off and put it back on. I just keep going until it feels right.” Based on his reception for the last three decades, he’s accomplishing that goal and developed a following doing so. He has dozens of solo shows, public art projects and exhibitions under his proverbial belt. For the last 16 years, in addition to galleries around the country, Hammond’s work has been featured at Scottsdale’s Bonner David Galleries. This month, he will hold a special show: an homage to Franz Kline. Kline is quoted as saying, “I paint not the things I see, but the feelings they arouse in me.” In this way, Kline’s and Hammond’s thoughts and purpose are parallel. “I want an emotional reaction instead of a thinking reaction,” Hammond explains with his dog now fast asleep on the cushion beside him. “I just want to make a little spot of quiet in people’s lives.” bonnerdavid.com
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Paleo Chili My grandfather has been making this chili every winter for as long as I can remember. It’s a staple in my household now, as it’s the perfect hearty chili for meat lovers! It keeps very well in the refrigerator and tastes better a day or two after it is made.
Ingredients: 2 pounds stew meat 1/2 pound ground beef 1/2 pound pork chorizo 1 cup coarsely chopped onion 3 tablespoons chili powder (or to-taste) 3 crushed garlic cloves 2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano 1 32-ounce container beef bone broth 1 26-28-ounce carton or can diced tomatoes 1 cup cilantro, finely chopped 4 cinnamon sticks 3 bay leaves 2 green jalapenos, slit lengthwise 3 times each, but left whole Salt Pepper 1 heaping tablespoon yellow cornmeal, optional
Directions: Drizzle olive or avocado oil in large pot over medium heat. Brown meat in very small batches so it browns nicely rather than boiling. Make sure the ground beef and chorizo are evenly broken up. This step is very important. Store each batch on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Sauté onions in the accumulated oil until they begin to soften (2-3 min). Add garlic. Sprinkle chili powder and add the rest of the ingredients except the cornmeal. Stir well and add the meat back to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for least 2 hours, and preferably for 4 hours. Stir occasionally, skimming off surface fat, if desired. With one hour left of cooking time, add the cornmeal if extra thickening is desired. Writer and Photographer Kyndra Kelly
kyndraclaire.com
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Before serving, discard the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and jalapenos. Garnish with sour cream, cheese, cilantro or green onions if desired.
m a r k e t p la ce
Happy Holidays from our family to yours! Nanette McClelland-Miller, Agent 39504 N Daisy Mtn Dr Ste 114 Anthem, AZ 85086
623-742-6866 nanettemiller.com
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Winter Harvest Salad A really tasty salad using all the best winter veggies! Both the salad and orange shallot vinaigrette can be made in advance and stored covered in the refrigerator until needed.
Ingredients: Baby butter lettuce Arugula Radicchio, shredded 1 orange, peeled and sliced Shredded beets (can be found in most produce sections) Butternut squash Pomegranate seeds Candied nuts
Orange Shallot Vinaigrette Ingredients: 6 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon orange juice (if you slice the orange over a bowl, you will have this much) 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon honey Salt Pepper
Directions: Arrange lettuces, beets, squash and radicchio in salad bowl. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and arrange orange slices on top. Mix dressing ingredients in screw top jar. Shake well and drizzle over salad. Top with nuts and enjoy! Writer and Photographer Kyndra Kelly
kyndraclaire.com
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South of the Outlets next to Swanky’s Fashion Boutique
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