The Comet - February 2020 by The Comet

JAIMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TATTOO GARDEN PAGE 16

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

everything will be fine

february 2020

THIS issue editor: Ron Evans publishing assistant: Sarah Sims contributors: Cory Calhoun,Lonnie Broadvalley, Dustin Hays Allegra Hart, Dan McConnell. WEB: thecometmagazine.com facebook.com/thecometmagazine instagram: @thecometmagazine twitter: @cometmagazine info@thecometmagazine.com

artbeats...............................PAGE 4 crossword..........................PAGE 7 events..................................PAGE 8 news rack time machine...PAGE 12 small bookstores.............PAGE 16 tiny.......................................PAGE 20 b-sides.................................PAGE 22 how bizarre.........................PAGE 26 doc is in................................PAGE 28

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COMET HEADQUARTERS february 2020

RUN FREE MY ROBOT PET!

Greetings Cometeers.

about.

Welcome back to another packed issue of filth and propaganda, brewed right her in the good ol’ Apple Capital (yeah, I know. But we can still claim it if we want) and making its way into more cities all the time. We now have a much bigger distribution in Ellensburg and Moses Lake along with most other fine towns in the Central Washington area. Ask your favorite coffee shop, cafe, bar or bookstore if they carry The Comet. And send them our way if they don’t, we can fix that!

As for the fall of Radar, there will be things popping up soon to maybe ease some of that soreness. Literally. I have a few pop-up art shows planned around the valley at various venues and even a couple things planned for for secret house events. So many good musicians and artists continue to reach out to me about booking here and even though I lost my venue I can still facilitate booking and hosting these great shows here.

I’m also working with a few local (and non-local artists) on some kooky Speaking of bookstores, this issue was a fun one to work on. The feature shit that I can’t announce just yet but the title of one project is Sex & Pizza. story is A Love Letter To Small Bookstores. If you aren’t running to your I’ve said too much! local book shop after reading it then I guess we will just have to be enemies. It’s kind of fun having enemies anyway. Thanks for continuing to read this mag and if you dig it tell a friend. Or even an enemy. That’s sounds like the high road thing to do. And if it goes You will likely notice with glee (the kids still say glee?) that our beloved nowhere you can always roll it up and hit them with it. B-Sides is back and Dustin Hays has brought us a double page doozy on the return of local favorites Ghost Power!!! We have dearly missed Dustin’s Happy trails, always fabulous and educational column and couldn’t be happier to have it back. Ron Evans Editor, The Comet Magazine Post-RadarStation life has been a mixture of “what do I do now?” and “pajamas are everyday attire” and busting out lots of art. As mentioned in the Ron Evans is the owner of RadarStation Art & Entertainment, host of the last issue, This Magazine will not only continue but the plan is to put more How Bizarre podcast, author of “Edgar Rue,” and creator of many other time and resources into it. It’s time to grow the bloody thing and a big part things, many of which have robots in them. He is editor of The Comet and of that is in coverage and distribution. Both of which will be nearly dou- lead designer. bling post-haste, so if you dig this little rag - that’s something to be happy

february 2020

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ARTBEATS: art is us

BY Lonnie Broadvalley

THE CONNOISSEUR BY NORMAN ROCKWELL

You know those big, sweeping questions a teacher might ask like, ‘What makes us human?’ or ‘What is art for?’. Most likely it was at the start of a humanities class (art, history, cultural studies, philosophy, etc.). You kiddos might recognize these essential fields of study today as “electives” or “nap time.” Questions like these are designed to: (a) generate ANY response (b) demonstrate that there are MANY right answers, and (c) serve a heaping slice of humble pie to the honor students in the front row. By the time I had been in the art department for a few years, I looked forward to these questions. The most eloquent response to ‘What is art for?’ that I can remember is that art ‘… creates empathy.’ Nice one.

This phrase stuck with me because it fits from any angle. When experiencing a song/play/poem/painting, we try to understand more about the artist, and from the artist’s perspective, the response can reveal a lot about their audience. When Life magazine did a big feature on Jackson Pollock in 1948, anointing him “The greatest living painter in the U.S.,” its citizens got their panties in such a twist, I don’t think art has been viewed in the same way since. Not only did you hear a lot of indignant responses like the popular,’ My kid could do that,’ but I think it actually pushed his art further from the culture that produced it. Sadly, this is the old story about rejection of the unfamiliar and it repeats again and again in art history. Fortunately, many people recognized the reaction for what it was and de-

cided to view this new style with an open mind, considering the social and cultural clusterf*#k from whence it came. A popular example of this sort of exchange is Norman Rockwell’s 1961 painting titled, The Connoisseur, depicting a man with his back to us wearing a business suit and standing in front of a huge, abstract painting meant to look like a Jackson Pollock - all energy, drips, and splatters. I do wonder what the man thinks of the work but I really appreciate that Rockwell didn’t show this guy’s expression. When this was painted, a man in a suit like this represented a pretty conservative, white, middle class American male. To make this in 1961 is the artist’s way of saying, ‘See? We want to understand each other!’. I’m assuming a lot

here but I believe that’s the gist of it. My point is that it doesn’t matter whether or not the guy in the painting likes the art, what matters is that he’s giving it some thought. Scott Bailey, head of the Art Department at Wenatchee Valley College asks his students to spend an entire class period in front of one piece in the MAC gallery. He explains that this is an incredible gift to an artist to spend time considering their work, giving it a chance to affect you beyond first impressions. When we think about our response to something/someone, hopefully some truth about ourselves is revealed. C

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february 2020

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february 2020

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TBD, ????????? ??, 20???

CORY CALHOUN'S PUZZLE CORNER Crosswords & more made exclusively for The Comet

THE 3rd META CROSSWORD PRIZE CONTEST!

Enter for a chance to win a cool mystery prize by solving meta crossword #7! HOW TO ENTER: 1. Solve the crossword below. 2. Solve its meta puzzle (instructions Feb. 19, 19, 2019. 2020 at tinyurl.com/corymetas). 3. Email just the meta puzzle answer based on the hint (don't send the solved grid!) to cscxwords@gmail.com by 12am PT, Jan. (One submission per entrant, please.) We'll randomly pick a winner from the correct submissions, and announce the winner and puzzle answers in the next issue. Good luck!

"ON 2ND THOUGHT" HINT: Find a 9-letter noun.

21 25

22 27

36 42

51 56

45 49

50 53

59 62

61 66

52. Type of truck 54. "Able was I ___ I saw Elba" 55. Fix, in carpentry 58. Saw logs 59. Channel where 20Q and Press Your Luck have aired: Abbr. 60. Door-to-door saleswoman icon 62. Zora ___ Hurston, author of the '39 novel "Moses, Man of the Mountain" 64. Understands 65. ___ one's own horn 67. Resembling 70. Therefore 71. Energy bursts, briefly 72. Paul Bettany's Avengers android 73. Singer Celine 74. Piece of talk show furniture 75. Passes, as a law

ACROSS 1. Cuddly Gremlins creature 7. Basic Latin verb 11. Pre-___ (H.S. math class) 15. Singer Caruso or physicist Fermi 16. Ex-NBAer O'Neal who was #33 in Cleveland 17. Suffix with buck or stink 18. Despise 19. Vegan protein option 20. Nixon didn't complete his second one after reelection in '72 21. It may be stuffed 23. Use glue to attach again 25. Red Sox, on scoreboards 27. Scrub 29. Vocations 30. Knee injury initials 31. Sticks in your TV? 32. Continent whose western half benefited from the Marshall Plan, first announced in '47: Abbr. 33. "Say again?" 35. Yankee's foe 36. Email list or software package 40. Hermit 42. Literally this calendar year 45. Pass away from 46. More melancholy 48. Smith/Jones sci-fi film, briefly 50. Wood strip 51. John or Jane

DOWN 1. ___ B., aka Scary Spice 2. Musician Yoko 3. Pasture 4. Accompanying 5. More sore 6. Computer drive glitch 7. Superlative suffix 8. Coasts 9. Protective mode that, say, a 64-bit operating system may need to be started in 10. Regarded as comparable

SOLUTION TO LAST EDITION'S CROSSWORD

ANACROSTIC CHALLENGE >>> Instructions @ tinyurl.com/coryanacrostics <<<

CLUES:

ANSWERS:

Type of sentence 21

"C'mon, hurry up already!" 46

Cannabis shop 52

Baby ___ (nickname for an adorable character on Disney+'s The Mandalorian ) Classic Sesame Street game show host 40

Playwright Chekhov, or actor Yelchin who played 2009 Star Trek 's Chekhov Jay Inslee, for one Couple's milestone QUOTE: 1

11. Emotional release 12. Thin as ___ 13. Casablanca actor Peter 14. Arrives 22. Second shot, on a movie set 24. Ancient Celtic priest 25. Cries a river 26. Former top LPGA golfer Lorena 28. Like "10 below," temperature-wise 34. He plays Michael on The Good Place 37. Loved by the camera 38. Guffaws 39. "Come here ___?" 41. Lubricate once more 43. Like some bobsleds 44. Take dead aim at 47. Like siblings 49. Take a loved one from via death 52. Mind-manipulating military missions 53. Enter via cracks like air or water 55. Hit the roof 56. "The First Time ___ Saw Your Face" (Roberta Flack song) 57. "Please Do ___" (Violent Femmes song) 61. Capitol building feature 63. Simpsons character with a 4-letter first name 66. "For shame!" 68. One who's 42 months (and not years) old, perhaps 69. Light-switch settings

T I N A S

A N O T E

X E R O X

R A N A T

A R O S E

M E R G E

O B A F R E F A R

I P S O

S T E L M I L O W A O Y O U M A L A R D N S C M A C E V E S I D

O B E L I S K O H A R E

T R A N Q U I L I Z E R S

S T O R E D E V O T E E

H O U T E R P O A D C A L J E L G I V E O M E G D I N G S L O O R Y N E A J O K E V I C E R T R A

E D P S S T L I A M S

O N S E T

P E T T Y

P R E S S

SOLUTION TO LAST EDITION'S DOUBLE ANAGRAM CHALLENGE

Theme of new words: Types of beans. EMAIL - E = LIMA; STINGER - E = STRING; OPTING - G = PINTO; NERD - N = RED; ROSY - S = SOY. Leftover letters E, E, G, N & R anagram into GREEN.

I CRAVE FEEDBACK! Thoughts? Suggestions? Lemme have it. CSCXWORDS@GMAIL.COM

february 2020

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GTFO: EVENTS WORTH LEAVING YOUR HOUSE FOR

Evan Egerer

Killdeer String Band

Ridge. Whether you ski under the lights or come up just Jan 4: Art of Beer Flight Night for a rockin’ show, Mission Ridge is the place to be. All Ye Olde Bookshoppe • Wenatchee • 6:00pm • Free Wenatchee Valley Brewing Company • 108 Islandview St. the excitement goes down inside the Hampton Lodge A new year; a new night! Bring your words, your song, We are currently brewing a lot of fun new beers, and and can be enjoyed from either the Chair 5 Pub or the your voice, your ears, your heart and soul. Join our this event includes four of our experimental batches $75 perCafé. couple + $30 material fee Ridge is bringing the mountain to you… literKaWham Badger Brewing: weekly open mic,Mountain a casual and fun way to express yourserved on a flight. The experimental flights will be at a Join a romantic date night making pot- ally. Come watch some of the best skiers and Jan 5us for Dynamite Supreme self and Wenatchee meet some like-minded folk :) special price: Normally $8 --> $5 for regular customers tery on the wheel while the movie, snowboarders in the state throwdown in this for our Mug Club Members. Jan 12 Massy Ferguson GHOST, plays in the background. ski --> and $4 snowboard rail jam contest. Open Mic Night Experimental flights come with a tasting worksheet, Jan 19 Cosmic Serenity JANuaryThursdays Thursdays: RADARSTATION Open Mic Includes pizza and wine. at 5:30pm - 9pm and at least one of our Brewers will be there to explain RadarStation 7:30pm • Free Mountain Music Series Jan 26 TBD Every• Wenatchee Thursday• evening, join Badger Mounthe brews and how they- 6:30pm were produced. Develop Your Painting Skills Feb 8 - Massy Ferguson - 8:30pm Music, Comedy, and Poetry. Hosted LAPH Productain & host Josh Field for by Open Mic Night! 5:00-8:00pm Saturday, February 15, 1-4pm Feb 15 DJ Mabee 6:30pm - 8:30pm tions every Thursday on the world famous RayGun Sign up at 5:30pm Thursdays and show off January Music at Icicle Brewing $37.50 + material list will be provided Feb 22 - Dynamite Supreme - 6:30pm - 8:30pm stage. Sign up talent! at 7:00,Singing, with performances around 7:30. your music, comedy, magic - Icicle Brewing Company • Leavenworth Using provided reference images, create a FebJAN 295:- Aaron Take It To Space - 5pm - 8pm Crawford everyone is welcome to join us! Jan 4 master Evan Egerer, 6:00pm tonal copy in charcoal and oil paint. The Vogue: A Liquid Lounge • Chelan JANuary Thursdays: Trivia + Humane Society Night Jan 5 Sarah O’dea, 6:00pm Moses and Art Center: LiveLake musicMuseum with country artist Aaron Crawford. One of Tap and First Putt • Quarter WenatcheeTrivia • 7:00pm Jan 9•16•23•30 Sergio &Chickens Co, 7:00pm Sculpting Animals: Moses Lake Every Wednesday, until Mar 25 at 7pm 9pm the best shows we’ve had. Don’t MISS! Trivia Nights At Tap and Putt. $3 to enter and a chance February 22, 1-4pm Jan 11 Justin Froese, 6:00pm Come joinWe usalso & donate Jess every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm • All ages to win the $$$ pot. $1 of every draft for $37.50 + $10 material Film Screening: Mercury 13 some of the best trivia in the Valley! Jan 12 Christina May,fee 6:00pm purchase to the Humane Society to show the animals Learn basic clay techniques by sculpting from Wednesday, February 5 at 3:00pm Jan 17•31 Bluegrass Night, 7:00pm some love and help us help them! Jan 10: Wayne’s World Auditorium, 401 S. a live model! Practice pinching, coiling and Location: Civic Center Collapse Contemporary Art Gallery: Numerica Performing Center • Wenatchee Jan 18 Cascade Cascade, 6:00pm slip/scoring to build a solid foundation. Balsam St. Moses Lake,Arts Cost: FREE! Wenatchee Monthly Movies on the Big Screen Jan 19 Killdeer String Band, 6:00pm January Fridays: Bingo Night Rated TV-PG, 1hr 19 min run time. for only $3. Part of the 2019 Cold Winter Nights Comedy Series. Tap and An PuttEvening • Wenatchee • 7:00pm Ellensburg Leap Day! Jan 26 GlassStrum-Along, Heart String Choir with Clayton Chaney The Ellensburg Strum-Along is a free, casual Rated PG-13 | Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes Every Friday at 7pm. Get a free board with each draft Numerica Performing Arts Center: Sunday at 7:30pm - 9:30pm music-making series for guitar/ukulele playpurchaseClayton and chances to win Wild Tickets, Gift Cards, 6:30pm • www.numericapac.org/event/waynes-world/ Wenatchee is a singer/songwriter from Los Ange- January Music at McGlinn’s ers (+ singers & etc. other instruments) of all Swag, Growlers les, CA and withmore! a brand new EP. You may remem- McGlinn’s Public House • Wenatchee • 7:00pm

JANuary Mondays: Ye Olde BookShoppe Open Mic

ber him as the former frontman of The Show Clayton will be Series joined by fiddle and JANuaryPonies. Saturdays: Mountain Music Phil Glenn, former Mission keyboard Ridge Ski & extraordinaire, Board Resort • 6:30pm Thelive Show Ponies. Saturdayfiddle nightsplayer are allfor about music up at Mission Doors open at 7:30pm. Music starts at 8pm. Tickets $10.

Gallery One: Ellensburg

Fused Glass: Pendants Sunday, February 9, 6-7pm $12.50 + $30 material fee Make 5 unique pendants for yourself or gifting to your valentine. Ghost Date Night Friday, February 14, 6-9pm

ages.

Casablanca - Monthly movie JAN 10: Brian Regan Thursday, February at 6:30pm - 8:30pm Town Toyota Center13, • Wenatchee Rated | Running Time: 1 hour 42of minutes JoinPG us for what is sure to be a night laughter and Tickets: $3, numericapac.showare.com fun as comedian Brian Regan stops by the Town Toyota

Feb 7 & 8 - The Feral Folk - 7pm Feb 12 - End of the Line - 7pm Feb 14 & 15 - Kristen Marlo - 7pm Feb 21 & 22 - Kimo Muraki - 7pm Feb 26 - Seth Garrido - 7pm Feb 28 & 29 - Allison Preisinger - 7pm

Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort:

Cold Winter Nights: Amy Miller Saturday, February 15, 2020 at 7:30pm - 9pm February’s stand-up show features Amy Miller, breakout star and Season 9 favorite of Last Comic Standing. Intended for a mature audience. Seating is limited! Tickets at: http://www.numericapac.org/ event/cold-winter-nights-comedy-series

Numerica Rails & Ales 2020 Friday, February 7 at 5pm - 9pm We’re closing down Orondo Ave and Mission

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Friday, February 21, 2020 at 7:30pm - 9pm We’ve got Broadway tunes, an African freedom song, a hymn setting and more. We will

Jan 4•5 Champagne Sunday Jan 12 Martina McGlinn’s PublicCeleste House: Jan 18•19 Eddie Manzanares Wenatchee Jan 26 Nic Allen

Wenatchee

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february 2020

Sway wild Center as part of his 2019 tour. Don’t miss out! 7:30pm-10:30pm • Tickets are on sale NOW at www.towntoyotacenter.com

social justice. 7:30pm • Tickets $17-$21 • www.numericapac.org/event/ villalobos-brothers/

be joined by the Eastmont High School Cham-

Feb 22 - Kevin Jones Band - 7pm

ture audience. Seating is limited! 7pm • Tickets: $22 • VIP Tables: $140 • Series Pass: $60 • www.numericapac.org/event/cwn-andrew-sleighter

to “light-up” your valentines using LEDs, cop-

JAN 11: Matthew Perryman Jones w/ Molly Parden who willJAN Feb 18-19:27Compedy at Campbell’s with Gabriel Rutledge perANtape, 19-20:and Bavarian 2019 ber Choir, Jazz Choir, and Choraliers, - Kristen Marlo - 7pm basic Icefest circuitry. Brewminatti • Prosser on Lake Chelan present their own selections, and also singCampbell’s Feb 28Resort - River Dog Shakedown - 7pm Originallytwo from Pennsylvania, Matthew grew up in “Gabriel Rutledge a quick thinking, talking, hard combined numbers with the Chorale. Feb 29 - NateisWeakley Project -fast 7pm Georgia and cut his artistic teeth in the Atlanta music working bad ass.” - Louisville Weekly scene before heading to Nashville. Songs from A past Beatles vs north Stones Tiny:winner of both the Seattle International Comedy across hisSaturday, catalog have been of -film and The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival, Februaryfeatured 22, 2020inatdozens 7:30pm 9:30pmCompetition Wenatchee and TV placements, and tours have taken him across The British Invasion brought us the two mostGabriel has made numerous television appearances. He the U.S. and abroadrock to share stages legends likeBeatlesis also author of the book “Happiness Isn’t Funny.” popular groups ofwith all time, the Tiny Grand Opening! Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin. and the Rolling Stones, as well as the liveli-Get Friday, tickets at https://rottenapplepresents.com/events/comFebruary 7 at 4pm - 9pm 7:00pm • est Tickets at brewminatti.com/upcoming-events/ debate in rock history – which band is theedy-at-campbells-gabriel-rutledge/ A new shop is opening in Downtown

greatest? Tickets: $29-$33 (prices increase Wenatchee. In celebration of February the showday), Opening is Love. Jan 12: Michael Carloswww.numericapac.org/event/beat• Cowboy dan JAN Grand 18-27: Lake Chelantheme Winterfest 2019Love the items les-vs-stones/ buy, Ave Love the people you buy for, and Love Wally’s House of Booze • Wenatchee Eastyou Woodin • Chelan the way you Tiny is opening to open thefed The annual Michael Carlos Birthday Show!!! Also feaNestled among thebuy. snow-capped hilltops and glacier idea of the way we shop. Only featuring qualOld Skool’s: turing Cowboy Dan and spoken word artists. Come out waters of Lake Chelan, Winterfest is the perfect escape ity, well made, handmade items it is a mission and partyEllensburg with us! to a Washington winter wonderland. Join us for wine to share a passion of eco friendly, sustainable, Show at 9:30 • $5 cover • 21+ and ale tastings, horse-drawn carriages, intricate ice shopping. Feb. 7 - The 667s, Erik Anarchy, and more sculptures, live music, activities for kids of all ages, a 7pm-10pm - All Ages

JAN 12-13: Bavarian Bruisefest 2019

massive beach bonfire, spectacular fireworks show and Wally’s much more! Tavern: Wenatchee Specific event and ticket details: siteline.vendini.com/site/ Snatchee Records Presents: 21+ lakechelanwinterfest.com

Leavenworth Festhalle Stein: The 5th Annual Bavarian Bruisefest is here! This Leavenworth 10-team tournament hosted in beautiful downtown Leavenworth hasMic become a massive for teams Open Night hostedattraction by BOTAK Feb 12 - The Toasters, Wayward Youth, all over the PNW. JAN 19: Cosmic Serenity Every Sunday at 6:30pm - 8:30pm Rylei Franks - 8:30pm - $15 Pre Sale, of Booze Wenatchee First game starts at 9am; lastof game around 7:30pmwillWally’s House All Ages! Bandits the ends Animal Kingdom $20 day of• show on Saturday. On Sunday, 9am first game; last game Snatchee Records Presents!! A Overkill, night withThe Cosmic Serenbe hosting and providing the sound system. Feb 22 - DAR, Death By ends around 6:30pm. Games the hour day long. from Hilo, HI. Come down for aonbeer andall some tunes, ority, Alterna/Psych Nightmares - 9:30pm - $5 cover Championship will take placeofonchoice Sundayand afterjoinMusic bringceremony your creative outlet at 29 9:30 • $5 cover • 21+ Himiko Cloud, Feb - Ghost Power!!!, the last game. the show! Wet Temple - 9:30pm - $5 cover 9:00am-6:30pm leavenworth.org/event/bavariianJJan 19: Stand-up Comedy with andrew sleighter Music at Stein bruisefest-2019/ Wenatchee Valley Numerica Performing ArtsMuseum Center • and Wenatchee

Feb 7 - The Fun Police - 7pm Cultural Center: Cold Winter Nights brings three months of comedy at Feb 8 - Bandits Jan 17: Villalobos Brothersof The Animal Kingdom - 7pmthe Wenatchee Numerica PAC to kick-off the New Year – including 13 - Mama Mags & Uncle Papa - 7pm NumericaFeb Performing Arts Center • Wenatchee a three-part stand-up comedy series featuring some of Feb 14 - Straw Hat Revival - 7pm Card Workshops the Valentine’s best comics inLED the industry. The Villalobos Brothers (Ernesto, Alberto, and Luis) Feb 15 - The Feral Folk - 7pm Daily, stand-up Feb 10 - Feb 13features at 3pmAndrew - 5pm Sleighter, use their violins and voices to redefine contemporary January’s show Feb 20 - Jeremy Abbott - 7pm Children ages 5 and up are encouraged to atMexican music. Their original compositions masterfully seen on Last Comic Standing, Nuvo TV’s Stand Up & Feb 21 - Devil’s Gulch & The tend and withConan. their guardians to create six light-up blend elements of jazz, rock, classical, and Mexican folk Deliver, He has also written and performed Missionaries - 7pm Valentine’s cards. Together you will learn how to deliver a powerful message of love, brotherhood, and sketch comedy for Comedy Central. Intended for a ma-

Leavenworth Leavenworth winter, and each year on MLK Jr. Matters of theloves Heart weekendFebruary we celebrate winter’s bounty with IceFest! The Saturday, 15, 2020 at 10am - 11am is still in over half a million twinkling A village team of localdressed medical professionals works lights and this weekend is a flurry of frosty frivolity. with students (9 years old and up) to conduct celebrate anCome exploration ofwinter heartswith in a us! dissection lab setGames and events both days • Fireworks Sunday at ting. 6:00pm • leavenworth.org/event/bavariian-icefest-2019/

Ye Old Bookshoppe:

Wenatchee Jan 25-26: Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival 2019

Downtown Leavenworth and Leavenworth Festhalle

Open Mic annual - New Timbrrr! Night Winter Music Festival offers The sixth Tuesdays at 6pm - 7:30pm - Free wintertime fun. a weekend of music and northwest Bring your words, your song, voice, your at a During the day, attendees can your take in live music ears, your heart and soul. Join our weekly open handful of venues throughout downtown Leavenworth. mic, a casual and fun way to express yourself At night, 21+ guests will rock out to the festival’s headand meet some like-minded folk :) lining acts and enjoy local beer from Icicle Brewing Co. and Timbrrr’s celebrated Hot Toddy Garden. Palm & Tarot Readings Lineup and ticket details: winter.timbermusicfest.com

Fridays 5:00pm Every Friday Night from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 25:have SwayaWild (ft. in Mandy Fer & offering Dave McGraw) weJAN will reader the shop Palm • Prosser & Brewminatti Tarot Readings.

We first met them at Brewminatti Block Party 2018 and

LOVED Moon them. Excited have them back. Darkest TrunktoShow Friday, February 14, 2020 at 5pm - 8pm “...roots trailblazers Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer The Darkest Moon, inspired by darkcontinue their upward stride towards the artistic nirvana.... er scintillating...” beauties of the world. Devon brings their –PopMatters light “...refreshing...stunning...some to the surface with every creation. Using of the best I have mixed medias such as bones, feathers, wood heard.” –No Depression and recycled metals, she tells a story of magic. “...had me at ‘hello’...” –Seattle Post Intelligencer

7:00pm • Tickets at brewminatti.com/upcoming-events/ Book signing with Alainna MacPherson Friday, February 21, 2020 at 5pm - 8pm Alainna author, will be here FriJAN 26: MacPherson, Brett Benton Duo day Night, 21st from 5 to 8 p.m. Club CrowFebruary • Cashmere Books hasreturns out now are:Crow! The Come Hunt,getThe Brett she Benton to Club down with Chase, Descending into Darkness, this dirty delta and heavy hill country and blues Asduo like cending into Light. y’all always do! Always a party! 9:00pm

february 2020

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Wenatchee first Friday Kasey Koski with Wenatchee First Fridays helped put together this list of shows, along with their First Friday hours. Remember, while most places have special events, artists receptions and free admission during First Friday, the art itself is on exhibit all month long in most locations.

Designer Floors

MAC Gallery

Terry Valdez features portrait paintings in a show titled Coyote Emerging & The Millennial Series. His portrait subjects are of past students from years as an Art Educator in the Eastmont School District. Each individual Robert Graves Gallery by their own unique existence has inspired Terry to Wenatchee Valley College attempt to peel back and connect to the complicated Sexton Hall, 9th Avenue entrance layers of this emerging generation.

WVC Art Department faculty members show that they Vonda Drees presents her daily journaling practice are professional practitioners of their disciplines with of connection, intuition and spirit. Other members of a group exhibition of their creative work in a variety of Grunewald Guild to bring a variety of work and promedia. exhibition includes Ruth Allan, gramming information. 5DSRThe camera to shoot and pieces createby a picture us- Pans Grotto Scott DeRooy,software Natalie Dotzauer, Elena ingBailey, digitalVicki darkroom that helps her 3 N Wenatchee Ave, Suite 2, Payne, Yev Rybakov, Majka Sadel. develop creative and expressions of her photo-

19 N. Wenatchee Ave • open First Friday 9am-8pm

Monday-Thursday, 9 am-1 pm. February 3rd – February 23rd, 2020

Opening Reception: February 7th, 5 – 7 p.m. Drawings and prints from the Dr. Donald S. Smith Permanent Collection. This exquisite collection of mid-century art is by well-respected California artists.

MAC Gallery

WVC Music and Art Center 1300 Fifth Street, Mon-Fri 9-5 January 6—February 7, 2020 February First Friday Closing Reception with the Artist: February 7, 5:00—7:00 Artist’s Talk: February 7, 12:00

1300 Fifth Street • First Friday (Closing) Reception 5pm-7pm

graphs. Her presentations are unique in color and clarity. She loves to experiment with artistic software that uses layers, textures, filters, or composite images, and digitally “paint” with her Wacom tablet.

Hilton Garden Inn

25 N. Worthen Street, Wenatchee First Friday Hours: 5 – 8 pm Happy Hour appetizer and drink specials available 5 – 7 pm

Join us at the Hilton Garden Inn Wenatchee, where we will be featuring the artisans of Anderson Family Farm from 5 – 8 pm. Rick and Kimberlee Anderson, owners of Anderson Family Farm, create goat milk body care products – Farm to Face & Body – on their beautiful farm in Central Washington.

San Francisco Bay Area artist Adele Crawford deconstructs found books and then transforms them into beautiful sculptural and wall-based Lemoloobjects. Cafe &Her DeliRevised Editions installation in- Mela Contemporary Art Gallery cludesAveover and other pieces, all 17 Collapse 114 N Wenatchee • Open1000 First flowers Friday 1am-6pm N. Wenatchee Ave • Opening Reception 5pm-8pm made from four reference books: two dictio- 115 S. Wenatchee Ave. Sketching On the Fly:100 Travel Journal Adventures 2: karen dawn dean Fri:from 4-7, Plants Sat: 12-5 naries over years old, and two world atlas- Color The exhibition runsstuck Febto7th29th My travel to be completed undertaken time apart Natural dyes have been my Feb bucket list for es.sketches Each oftend these books has been Opening reception 4pm-9pm pressure.and Maybe the sketch was done while waiting 50 years. I finallyFriday, steppedFeb out 7th of my normal reconsidered as an offering of sorts—to almost music by Dustin Hays. in line orthe forbook, a meal. the sketches tend to of in- artLive making practice, dug into the alchemy and herto As thesuch, discarded, to the wealth Wesley James, aka Wooden Cyclops, It’s creates be vibrant and fresh. The quickly drawn inaccurate metic practice of botanical color extraction. been a formation contained within. visual depictions another realm relines dart and bounce around the page portraying a year’s-long journey of from discovery; coaxing andthat persuadhistoown withcolors. depression, psysmall moment in time. For me, the traveler, the drawingflect plants giveexperience up their unique I will share Two Rivers Gallery chedelics, & growing uplearned in Alaska. ing marks I still can recall the moment some of the techniques I’ve aboutWesley indigo has resist 102myNmemory... Columbia, 2riversgallery.com also been heavily involved in music—singing caught...Wed-Sat: the sun, sky, and the people I was with. printing and the eco-dyeing process at 6:30 pm. Two 11-place 4, Sun:1-4 for Dr. mid-month. Helicopter & playing keyboards for workshops First Friday Reception 5-8 Portugal. The Man. His illustrations contain Featuring artist photographer Jean O’Keefe. Music by guitarist Lance Tigner, Compli- everything from creatures great and small to mentary refreshments. Jean uses a Canon detail-rich inner landscapes of the mind.

Mission St. Commons

218 S. Mission Street • Open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm

Don@pansgrotto.com

Be Mine: A valentine’s day extravaganza. From sweet to corny or satirical and dark we’re looking at all sides of valentine’s day this February.

Tumbleweed Shop & Studio

1 North Wenatchee Ave. Mon-Fri 10-6 , Sat 10-5 First Friday 5-8

Brenda and Dewey McGowan are a husband and wife team creating a line of handcrafted, gemstone and mixed metal jewelry. Brenda loves to combine unique and quality gemstones with intricate wire wrapping and metal stamping. Each piece of jewelry is created with care and attention to detail at their studio in beautiful Cashmere, WA.

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center 127 South Mission Street wenatcheevalleymuseum.org The Nature Conservancy T-Sat: 10-4, Street First •Friday (FREE): 115 Orondo First Friday 5pm-7pm 10-8

The Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Perspectives on the Value of Shrub Steppe Center is happy to host the Hartsfield Family The Nature Conservancy will through be hostingseveral a showing of Quilt Collection. Passed down Marc Dilley’s photography andSeattle, Jan Cook generations to Jim Tharpe of theMack’s col- pleinair work from the Moses Coulee in Eastern Washington. lection represents one family’s craft practice This showcase honors the rich history of our arid lands from the time of slavery through the mid-20th and the unique landscape that the precious century. See and appreciate thisisunique collec-home to speciesfrom of plants and wildlife. Educational tionmany of history the hands of talented and Panel Conversation 6pm-6:45pm. resourceful matriarchs.

Mela

17 N. Wenatchee Ave Hours: m-sat, 6-6 Sun, 8-4 Opening reception: First Friday 5-8pm

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Pan’s Grotto

Tumbleweed Shop & Studio

From Orion to the Zodiac is it written in the stars? Humanity has looked up at the sky in awe since the beginning of time and we are still watching the stars in contemplation. Come check out our local artists spin on different constellations the entire month of January.

Tumbleweed Bead Co. launched in 2002 when owner and creator Jessica Russell began creating delicate, sophisticated, eco-friendly jewelry at her in-home studio. Tumbleweed believes in keeping life and accessories simple, fun and beautifully designed.

3 N Wenatchee Ave, Suite 2 • Open 10am-8pm

105 Palouse • First Friday Reception 5pm-8pm

“Tea Bowls, Mugs and Felted Forms,” new work by karen dawn dean. In this month’s Mela exhibit, the artist begins exploring childhood influences from The Big Book of Fairies and Elves. In celebration of those memories, there is a month-long beanie interactive, ‘Aria’s Choice’ for younger children (or those with small heads). Little people can choose to wear fantasy concoctions while dining in the coffee house. Sometimes art is for touching.

Pickle Papers

Ye Olde Bookshoppe

Mission St. Commons

21 S Wenatchee Ave Mon-Sat 10-6, First Friday 10-8

February First Friday at the pickle. Mr. John Lane, Sales Manager, Fine Writing Division of Pilot Pen Co. USA, will be sharing his amazing collection of fountain pens from the Pilot Co. Also Marnye Nichols Woodrum will be sending her latest textile collection of Valentines. February 7th - 5 to 8 pm. with cookies for all!

february 2020

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center

127 South Mission Street • First Friday (FREE) 10am-8pm In conjunction with the Beyond the Frame: Inland Bounty exhibit, the Museum presents Gifts of the Earth. It is a look at some of the resources of Indigenous people of the Wenatchee Valley. Learn about native plants, their uses, and the cycle of seasons and harvest.

Tiny

106 N Columbia St. Wednesday-Monday 11-6 11am-9pm on First Friday

Wenatchee First Friday’s welcomes artist Micah Alyn and her shop Tiny to Downtown Wenatchee. Dreams have guided. A door opened. Love found within.

Link Transit Art Tour Friday, Feb. 7

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve! 3-5 p.m. Cashmere Public Library Craft a colorful collage of beautiful fabMission St Commons is thrilled to welcome ric finds from local thrift stores into a heart Kyle Rush for his introduction to First Friday shape that can be worn as a pin or a patch! Yeti Chocolates & Crystal Chameleon. Wil- and first photographic exhibition. Kyle has a Link Transit guest artist Lisa Robinson leads a low Merrit, is a newly established small batch love of capturing Nature and long exposure free workshop in applique and collage to help RadarStation Rivers Gallery Ye Olde Bookshoppe artisan chocolate company in the WenatcheeTwo participants create a wearable piece of art for photography. 115 S. Wenatchee Ave • First Friday FREE Reception 5pm-9pm 102 N Columbia • First Friday Reception 5pm-8pm Valley that makes chocolate truffles and other 11 Palouse StFirst • FirstFriday Friday Reception: 5pm-8pm February’s ArtsWalk. A bus ride RAD: An Installation confectionsMural that tantalize the palate and enticeFeaturing the oilValley paintings of Western artist Dean and an based informational tour ofNorthwind featured artwork NCW crafter Amanda has been makWenatchee Chamber of Commerce theI senses. Ty Stevens, is a local Rad Volume by Ron Evans is a celebration of rock the hound-Rainey. The gallery will haveAvenue a whole new show of over follows. ing hand hammered jewelry for her shop, Mystic North, 137 North Wenatchee er who specializes in70’s wire-wrapping stones he50 local glorious music players from the and 80’s. Painted regional artists. Music by pianist Jeannie for 5 years. When’s she not dreaming up new ideas, you Firstand Friday Reception 5-8 pm. finds travels, and turns acrylics on largethroughout canvases in ahis style that’s more graph-themMcPherson. offers free First Friday service Localatwines. Complimentary First Friday the Chamber Tastingrefreshments. Room will Link can Transit find her out in the mountains. into bits of portable magic. The current ic design than traditional composition. feature the phenomenal photography of RM- after 4 pm on Routes 1, 5, 7, 8E, 8W, 11 & 12. project is over twenty feet long. Sarah Sims will have Photoz and the stellar wines of Rocky Pond Along with this free service, Link is hosting a LemoloEarth-friendly Cafe & Deli jewelry and more fun more handmade Winery! 5-8 pm. $10 tasting fee waived with series of upcycling clothing workshops along 114 Nwill Wenatchee Ave. mini-paintings be added to the Dish of Fate. with guided tours of selected First Friday venbottle purchase! Cheers to First Fridays! Sun & Mon 11-4, Tue-Sat 11-6 ues. The clothing workshops are led by Link Open First Friday until 6 Transit guest artist Lisa Robinson. Workshops Wells House Lemolo is happy to host the work of Martha 1300 5th St. WVC Campus take place at Columbia Station or the CashFlores and Rod Dault. Partners for 30 years, (509) 888-6240 - First Friday 5-7pm mere Public Library and feature a brief inforFree Arttheir Tour with Terry Valdez creative impulses are drastically differ- Love is in the air at Wells House. Come view mational about how to use Link Transit’s Firsttalk Friday Free Transit! Professional artist Terry Valdezpaintings leads the first in aher series guided tours on Friday, January ent. Martha’s colorful evoke na-of free Registration required. Please pictures ofart weddings that have taken4,place in service. Monthly art toursiscoincide with Link email Transit tive Guatemala a re- theofhouse 5:30pm-7:10pm. His talkand willRod’s brieflyportraiture highlight hisis“Confluence Communities” series atenjoy Columbia or call 509-664-7624 through funnel the years and the dis- sdanko@linktransit.com offering free First Friday service after 4:00pm flection around thetour globe. Station. Guests on willpeacemakers then board Current B to the Robertplay Graves Gallery Members Show. your spot. of decorations for our special Valentine’s to reserve on Routes 1, 5, 7, 8E, 8W, 11 & 12. Tours begin and end at Columbia Station. Sign up by phone:Day 509-664-7624 email: sdanko@linktransit.com. dinner in or February.

11 Palouse St. Store Hours: Mon. 11-7; Tue.-Thur., 10-7; Fri.-Sat. 10-8. Art Walk Hours: 5-8 pm

218 S. Mission St, Open: M-F 8-6 www.missionstcommons.com

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Playboy Bunny ad ‘68 Comic Book Olympic Prizes Ad - ‘84 Back pages ads ‘59 - Adam Magazine

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new & used: a love letter to small bookstores

BY RON EVANS If I asked you if small independent bookstores were on the decline or experiencing great growth, which would you guess? In the age of chain stores, Amazon (good lord, Amazon) and more and more people reading on Kindles, iPads and phones - it would be almost silly to assume anything other than a massive decline. And yet…according to a recent (2018) count, American indie bookstores are actually on the rise. Of course, you have to take into account that many have gone belly up, never to return. It’s a lot like the so called “vinyl revival.” Record sales are way up from where they were twenty years ago, but nowhere near the heyday of the mid to late 1980s. But...it is going up. And that’s pretty magical. The question is “why?” We all know records are finicky, somewhat fragile (avoid placing in direct sunlight for the love of all things), not always terribly accurate and they take up a lot of space. Why would we ever reach for a 12x12” envelope, pull out a giant disc, set the tonearm, fire up the amp and carefully drop the needle onto that dusty surface when we could simply hear In-a-gadda-da-vida on Spotify in seconds? On that note, why would we still bother with paper books when almost every publication on the planet can be downloaded and read on your iPhone? And don’t get me wrong...that’s a miracle that is not lost on me. I utilize digital everything. Most of us do, but there’s just something about the tangible real world satisfaction of

holding something we know is authentic, singular and precious. And while nostalgia may be able to explain why you pull out Journey’s 1981 LP “Frontiers” three times a year, or why you have held on to your entire collection of Berenstain (SHUDDER- it was STEIN, right??) Bears books from your youth, that only goes so far as to why we still love the actual items over their virtual cousins. People are looking into it though. CBS News recently interviewed Dr. Matthew H. Schneps, director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning, a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts, Boston and MIT on this very topic. Schneps took a more academic stance (der) and claimed that sensory stimulation mustn’t be overlooked here. After all, you aren’t merely holding the book. You are feeling it. Smelling it. Even hearing it as you turn the pages or grip the book tighter during tense or horrific moments. Schneps also pointed out that one can easily gift a book to someone else - an act that both recommends a work and shows a certain level of intimacy and thoughtfulness. You wouldn’t likely give your “Little House on The Prairie” loving aunt a copy of Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory, for example. Library & Information Science Research published a 2014 study showing that the majority of high school age readers preferred e-reading over paper books. The reason most students gave was that it was

simply more familiar to hold a glowing device in front of their faces than a book. A book which may or may not fit in the palm of one hand. Bonus points for devices being self-lit, great for those late night study sessions and other...things. But, is this the best way for these students to actually learn? In 2015, Norway’s Stavanger University held an experiment on the differences between e-reading and book-reading. They gave students a 28-page story to read. Half read it on a Kindle, the other half read the actual books and they were all tested immediately afterward. Overwhelmingly the book-readers scored higher than the e-readers. As to the whys... there are more studies ongoing but, researcher Anne Mangen theorizes that the haptics and sensations one gets with a paper book are lost in the one-note coldness of an e-reader. She claims that even something as simple as feeling the pages stack up on the left while they thin out on the right is a significant signaller to the brain concerning tension, time and reward which put the reader in a more focused and interested state. I suppose it’s suffice to just say that real books feel better, and maybe picking them up demands a bit more attention and effort than your iPhone does. Much like pulling out that dusty record and putting it on the turntable does. And after side one is over, you have to manually flip the bloody thing like some stone age

peasant. So what is all this about really? One theory: Ritual. Have you ever seen a Japanese tea ceremony? Drinking the tea is like...step 9. Some of us regularly pass out with Cheetos dust on our t-shirts in front of The Office on Netflix - and some of us have entire bedtime routines that are instantly thrown out of gear when the floss reaches the end of its spool. Some folks appreciate a little ritual and some don’t. For many people, books just don’t make sense. And then there are people like Wenatchee writer and Comet cofounder Holly Thorpe (let’s be honest, there’s no one like Holly) who actually wrote a love poem about reading. Fiction In My Bones By Holly Thorpe I’ve lived in stories my whole life, avoiding harsh fluorescent reality, preferring instead the soft incandescence of fiction. Bundled against my waking life like it’s the cold outside my window in January – grey and too blinding. I wrap myself in dreams like I wrap myself in oversized sweaters and candlelit rooms during a storm. I try and forget that outside there are so many millions of realities to face,

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BOORADLEY’S, SPOKANE YEOLDBOOKSHOPPE, WENATCHEE

and if only for a time I can. I look up from weathered pages – torn from a self-induced daze by noise or cold or time – and it’s like coming back to life. It’s like waking up and realizing I have a world to face today but this time I’m sure I can’t. Every time I finish a story and place it on my bedside table I wonder if I’ll ever be able to slip back beneath that sea of words again. If this time, as I’d always feared, I’m alone and trapped in the dangerous world outside these prologues and epilogues. In the low light, with rain on the roof, tea steaming next to me, cat purring in my lap, I prepare, like a scuba diver, to submerge myself in some unreality. I look over this moment – independent of place and time – and wonder if I could capture it somehow in amber and hold it in my hands. I remind myself that although I must go back – I must always go back – to the world I am trying to forget, these golden twilight moments, between the dusk of fiction and the harsh dawn of reality are always there to return to. That’s some cozy shit. If you don’t want to cuddle up and read a good book after that then you probably didn’t make it this far in the article anyway.

Aside from the topic of paper versus ebook, there’s the important discussion about where and how you obtain your books. The business world is a funny beast. Cruel and cyclical yet ever-moving and highly unpredictable. The mom and pop boutiques were threatened if not obliterated when big box chain stores started popping up in every town big and small. Then along came the internet and the seemingly unstoppable behemoth that is Amazon.com. Suddenly, even the big box chains were struggling to get people through the door. I mean, why shovel the snow off the VW Bus and drive all the way down to Barnes and Noble for Twilight: Eclipse when you can order it in your PJ’s and have it on your porch in the morning? Locals likely thought Hastings would be around forever. I know I did. But it was one of the earliest chains to start closing its doors amidst the onset of Retail Apocalypse - which most people seem to equate to Amazon vs. Everything else. Not entirely fair or accurate...but not terribly far off either. A funny thing has happened though. As these big box stores started drying up, the moms and pops started creeping back into the neighborhoods. And they had stuff. Stuff you could see. Smell. Try on. Flip through. And read. Times had changed of course, but with realistic expectations and maybe a more focused business plan, small retailers were finding that people wanted to shop at their stores. They wanted to talk about the products. They were curious about the buildings the store owners leased. They looked for assistance and recommendations. They wanted to hold things in their damn hands as if that alone were a kind of odyssey.

I reached out to Anamaree Ordway, owner of Ye Old Bookshoppe at 11 Palouse Street in Wenatchee about her experiences in running her own bookstore. “I’ve spent most of my life here in the valley. In the past, I have worked in retail, advertising, and design. I took a break from stressful jobs for a couple of years and worked part-time janitorial while raising a young child. One night I came home from work and saw a used bookshop for sale, it was a Friday night. I told my husband and he said he thought it sounded like a great idea. We looked at it Saturday, bought it on Sunday and I quit my job on Monday. That was five years ago. The shop is mostly used books (approx. 100,000) and we have all the genres. I have a small new age and crystal section that I order new books for as well as tarot cards, candles, CBD teas, sage, stones, etc. The shop also features many local artisans with a large variety of items including hand-made cards, bookmarks, journals, jewelry, chocolates, spa items, medicine bags, stickers, origami, wall art, prints, and so much more. Sales have increased for me since owning the store, over-all digital book sales have dropped and physical book sales have risen. I have customers of all ages. Kids and teens do read real books!” How is it selling paper products in the age of digital everything, including books? My average customer prefers to come in to see and feel the books and craft items, some will go online to order if it cannot be found here, others will have me special order for them to keep a part of the transaction local.

I think people are more likely to shop in person for something that is important to them or a special gift and maybe go online for items that cannot be found locally or for convenience. Many small businesses do both. I sell some of my rare books and handcrafted items online, however 99% of my sales are done in person and I do prefer it that way. What is/was your favorite bookstore of all time? My shop is my favorite bookstore of all time! However, I would love to travel Route 66 someday with my husband. He loves to drive, and I love used bookstores. 66 bookstores on Route 66 is our goal when I can afford to take time off! One of the many advantages of walking into a bookstore is the discovery of something sitting on the shelf you had never heard of or having discussions with store employees/owners. Tell us a little about that dynamic - and how regular customers play a part in the overall vibe to a bookstore. Every day is different. I thought I had read a lot of books until I owned a bookstore. People are always surprising me with new authors. I have regulars that come in anywhere from yearly to weekly, buying new books and getting store credit for their old ones. Then there are people who donate books before they move and we never see them again. We also have the travelers that come in and grab something to read on the airplane or beach, others like to find something from a local author that they can add to their collection at home. I always learn something from every single person that walks

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in the shop. We have customers that like to come in quietly, get their books and leave, others that love to chat and let us know what’s going on since we last saw them. A few send us Christmas cards, and a handful have taken the time to send my kid postcards, photos, and foreign currency when they travel. We don’t have a computer inventory so that leads people to come in the door and interact with us, many customers are like a part of our family. Are there any events or appearances you are doing on a regular basis? How have those impacted sales and crowds? We have participated in the First Friday Art Walks since we bought the store. The art walks have really picked up in the last year or two and we see new faces all the time. We do a casual open mic every week, we also have a palm and tarot reader on Friday nights. People who find us because of these events often become customers, the first trip in the shop for many is just to look around and take in everything we have. The outside gives the impression of a tiny little one-room shop, once they enter they are often surprised and even a little overwhelmed by how much we do have. Is there a genre of books you see going out the door more than any others? Mystery and Thrillers are probably the fastest moving, with books coming in and out daily. Sci-fi, young adult and classics are probably right behind. For nonfiction, I would say history; local history, civil war, and WW2 being the heavy hitters. Top 3 desert island books? Tough one, I would take books I had not read yet, I seldom read a book more than once. I have a huge “waiting to read” list, here are the top three (currently anyways, this list can change on a whim). - “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult - “Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer” by Lisa McCubbin and Susan Ford Bales - “Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson One of my favorite semi-local bookstores (and much more) is Spokane’s insanely eclectic shop Boo Radley’s. Bob Ross socks, bigfoot air fresheners, old timey candy and toys may make up the bulk of

the space in the small fantasy land that is Boo Radley’s, but it’s the books area that I always anticipate meandering my way to when I visit. A decidedly pared down selection indeed, but you shan’t find any filler here. Like panning for gold, the curators at Boo have sifted out all the crumbs and left only the sparkly nuggets of gold behind. I chatted with co-owner Kris Dinnison about this favorite shop amongst locals and out-of-towners alike. “My husband, Andy and I opened Boo Radley’s in 1993 in downtown Spokane. I was a former bookseller and beginning teacher and he’d been managing the local indie bookstore for a few years. He was ready to try something of his own, so we gave it a go. I taught full time most of the first seventeen years we were open. When we opened our second store, Atticus, in 2009, I left teaching and started helping out with the stores full time. Both stores carry books, mostly new. The used books we have now are actually brought in by Nate Houston at Giant Nerd Books, a top-notch used bookstore in Spokane with an amazing stock. The stuff he brings to Boo Radley’s is mostly pulp fiction, mass market paperbacks with great covers.” I worked at Children’s Corner Bookshop and Andy was the manager at Auntie’s Bookstore. When I went back for my Masters in Teaching and got a teaching job, we had some stable income and Andy felt like he’d done all he wanted to at Auntie’s. He got inspired by some other shops we’d visited around the region: Octopus Garden in Richland and Ruby Montana’s Pinto Pony in Seattle, and he thought he’d like to do something like that. Basically he wanted a place where he could sell all the cool stuff he liked, including books. The idea was always to have books that might get lost in a general bookstore, to bring forward titles that are a little weird or cool or offbeat and feature them. We don’t have the bestselling fiction or self-help books. We have weird and funny and cool and bizarre. Concerning the age of Amazon… Spokane has been great to us all along the way. People really responded to the experience of coming into the shop and being surprised or entertained. People come, they look around, they laugh. They have to show their friends what they found. You don’t get that experience when you shop online. Sending a link about something funny or weird just isn’t the same as showing it to your friend in real time. That said, we do get people who ask us about price matching and tell us they can get it cheaper on Amazon. We try and educate people that money spent locally

stays local. We also like to point out that if they want to be able to come to stores like ours they have to choose to buy at least some of the things we sell, even if they could get them online cheaper or faster. Have you had troubles selling real items in the digital age?

Top 3 desert island books? Oh, man. I hate this question because my answer could be totally different tomorrow. - “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke - “A Room With a View” by E.M Forster

We haven’t really seen this as a problem. People still want to buy birthday cards, they still buy paper calendars, and journals, and they still buy books. The digital revolution has made it easier for us to find the good stuff and bring it into the store, but we haven’t really seen it replacing the paper goods we sell. People still want the experience of the object in their hands. Since our store has lots of different merchandise, the books play as a compliment to some of the other things in the store. We also have a lot of books that we just think are cool but that might get missed in a general or larger store. So if someone says they like the Twin Peaks Funko figures we have, we’ll take them over to see the books we have about the show, about David Lynch, and books on creativity Lynch has written. A lot of our customers are real nerds about certain things, which is a complement, by the way. I just define a nerd as someone with unapologetic enthusiasm for something. Books are a way to widen and deepen their nerd-power. And our employees are the biggest nerds we know. They have huge enthusiasm for the book section and are a great resource for customers. What is/was your favorite bookstore of all time? I’m a sucker for a tiny, well-curated indie where the stock might be small but I want to buy everything I pick up. There’s one in Corvallis, Oregon I love called Grass Roots Books. There’s another little one in Tofino, BC, Mermaid Tales. It’s the only bookstore in town. You have to buy something there if you want it to stay open. I always make a point of buying a book, even though I can order books at cost since I have a bookstore myself. You have to support these little stores. Is there a genre of books you see going out the door more than any others? We have a lot of weird kids’ books, so those sell a lot. We also sell the Ladybird Books, which are hilarious and strange parodies. We sell quite a bit of pop culture stuff, too: Cooking with Nick Cave, those Shakespearean Star Wars books, the Die Hard Coloring Book, stuff like that.

- “The Signature of All Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert No idea what I would say tomorrow, but this seemed good today. Visit Boo on your next trip to or through Spokane and you will leave with a bag full of unforgettable books, wacky cards or games and maybe some Fart Candy (not always in stock). Ye Old Bookshop in Wenatchee is essentially a Tardis. It looks tiny from the street but walking inside reveals more books than you could likely read in ten lifetimes. Folks in Ellensburg can hit up the cozy Pearl Street Books, visitors to Leavenworth can kill hours perusing A Book For All Seasons. We are all spoiled with a treasure of the written word. But these precious houses of love, lust, murder, fantasy, dashed and realized dreams, comedy and history can’t survive on nostalgia alone. They need your money. You are spending it anyway. Spend it there. Chat up the owner or employees. Ask about their favorite authors. Ask what just came into the shop this morning. Flip through a book. Breathe it in. Walk among the billions of words written by peers, adversaries and ghosts. H.G. Wells warned us about forgetting the importance of books. To be fair, he also warned us of apemen living underground that will eat us in the future. Maybe he was wrong. But we will have to keep reading to find out. FOLLOW: Facebook.com/yeoldbooks IG: @yeoldbooks Twitter: @yeoldbooks Facebook.com/BooRads/ IG:@boo_radleys_spokane C

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tiny: big plans for a small space

BY RON EVANS from people in the area for me to consign but I also love to go out and find it. A magician never reveals their secrets so I can’t say where I find the stuff, but that’s the fun of it, I find it and others get to enjoy what I find.

Tell us about Tiny and how this endeavor came to be?

in my neighborhood and the lady that ran it inspired me. Ever since meeting her I knew I wanted to run a small used store and share my passion with others. Recently a friend encouraged me to start selling the amazing clothes I found online, so I started doing that on the side and the online store started going really well. I was driving down Wenatchee Ave and saw a sign in a window so I called and asked about the space. It was way too big and way too expensive, but the landlord told me he had another space opening up on Columbia and I went to see it and immediately knew it was the perfect spot. I wasn’t intending on opening a storefront anytime soon but the opportunity came and I knew I had to take it. My Mom always told me when you love what you do it’s not work, and that’s how I feel about starting this business.

I’ve wanted to open my own shop since I was 19. A small thrift shop opened up

I find my inventory in many mysterious ways. I hope that inventory will come

With the current environmental issues I believe it is our obligation to do what

Tiny, a new vintage-centric boutique opens this month in downtown Wenatchee. Owner Micah Baker has been hunting down quality used clothing and unique ‘can’t live without’ items for some time and she’s excited to share these gems in her new shop. “I’ve been buying used stuff ever since I could remember. It was a staple of life growing up in Indiana to go to yard sales every weekend, and something about finding a treasure was thrilling to me and I’ve been hooked my whole life. I moved out to Washington 5 years ago and hopped from Seattle, Leavenworth, then finally Wenatchee and I fell in love. Wenatchee makes me feel at home and I’m so excited to start growing roots here.”

The idea behind Tiny is quality over quantity. Buy one nice flannel that will last you your whole life instead of buying a bunch that will wear out after a few washes. Have a few staple pieces that are extremely well made that can be your signature style. The brands I really love are Pendleton, Filson, Patagonia, Woolrich, Levis, Wrangler, and Eddie Bauer. I love items made in the USA. There will be body care products made locally that I personally use and stand behind. I’m into all kinds of art, so I hope to have something for everyone.

we can to help the planet, and one way of doing that is buying used. I always joke with people that the only thing I don’t buy used is toilet paper. Seriously though, why buy new? It’s more expensive, wasteful, and boring to have the same stuff as someone else. I hope that the community can see that they can still have amazing clothing, jewelry, and art, and not have to pay full price. It’s important to me to give back to the community and I want that to be part of my business. In the future I would like for what I start here to become a lifestyle change for people that come through the door. For example, I will not be providing bags to put stuff in that you buy because it’s a waste of money and resources and it teaches people to bring a bag when they go shopping. One of the best pieces of advice I was told to help save the planet is bringing your own bags, and jars, and containers to hold the stuff

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you buy. Sounds like you have plans to be involved with the First Friday Art Walk? Yes, I am always looking for artists to show their work. My space will be slightly different in that I won’t keep art on the wall if it sells. If someone comes and buys something they will take it with them, why waste wall space if it’s already sold? Make room for more art! On Micah’s own interest in art… I was at a concert at The Gorge a few years ago and was tripping on psychedelic mushrooms. As I was watching the show from the lawn I had an “aha” moment. It wasn’t only the musician that was making this show happen, it was the lights, the people behind the scenes, and the crowd, and in that moment I realized everyone and everything is art. I

believe that art is how you live your life, it’s cooking, it’s writing in your journal, it’s the photos you take, it’s the way you walk, it’s the way you talk. When someone asks me if I am an artist I say, “Yes, everyone is an artist.” Some people paint, do watercolor, or woodworking, or whatever medium, and even if you don’t do that you are still an artist. The art world is funny because I think there is some pretentiousness involved and I’d like to break down that barrier so that everyone can realize they are artists. Personally I like drawing, dancing, and making videos. FOLLOW: Facebook - comeontiny Instagram - @comeontiny Email - comeontiny@gmail.com

february 2020

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february 2020

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b-sides: the mighty return of ghost power!!!

PHOTOBY DUSTINHAYS Back in 2005 the Wenatchee music scene was filled with a mix of singer/ songwriters, a handful of rock n’ roll bands, and everyone from your kid brother to your DUSTIN HAYS alcoholic uncle Musician/Music Historian trying to ‘make it big’ in a heavy metal band. It was then, 15 years ago, that Ghost Power!!! began playing their first shows. As a student at Wenatchee High School in 2002, Andrew Houck sang and played guitar in his first band The Carrots. As most bands do, they broke up after a few years. For a short time Houck played guitar with Kings of Friday before forming Ghost Power!!! in 2005 with bassist Jasper St. Germain and St. Germain’s brother Drew on drums. The band quickly stood out with singer and guitarist Andrew Houck’s simple, hook driven song writing style. The group’s first recordings were released

After the holt of live shows at the Beacon Hill Grange, Ghost Power!!! had continued to find gigs at the several short-lived venues across town, whether it be at the Flash Disco, The BPOE Ballroom, or the In 2008 the St. Germain brothers (both beloved Methow Street house venue, the underage at the time) exited the group Basement. with Houck recruiting Brock Johnson on drums (formerly of the Seattle duo It wasn’t until 2010, around the same time The Shots). After jamming with Johnson, that Snatchee Records became active, Houck morphed Ghost Power!!! into a that the group won a Battle of the Bands 2-piece, with Andrew splitting his guitar contest during the 2010 Taste of Harvest channel to run through both a bass and Festival, winning funds for new gear and recording time. They released their debut guitar amplifier. full-length CD The Basement that same HOUCK: “We couldn’t really play shows year. because they were too young. They couldn’t go into bars or anything. So I got Ghost Power!!! remained heavily active really frustrated trying to book shows. during the next three years, recording two Playing the Beacon Hill for awhile is when more albums with Snatchee Records (HuI saw the Shots and met Brock. I had never man Decay 2011, Heavy Hands 2012), and seen a two-piece - that, you know, had 2 - along with other early Snatchee bands like the Wreks, Mothra, Not All There, amps, and had a really rounded sound.” Warpony & the 13 Cent Killers - filled loLater that same year Johnson moved back cal bills during the first few years of local to Seattle and was replaced by Cashmere Snatchee Records shows. drummer Mitch Wixom. Wixom had most recently been playing Anoneim, a band In 2013 Houck moved to Seattle, and the that had morphed from the well loved band soon fell by the wayside as the distance became too much to keep up with Wenatchee band Waiting For Darryl. in 2006 on a CD compilation for Nevermore Records, a recording studio/label run by local musician and Chinook Music employee Justin Lawless.

practices. HOUCK: “We had a couple shows while I was living there, but we couldn’t really rehearse where I was living. I didn’t have a practice space. I started developing the Crimson Field project, so I wanted to develop that, but that all just kinda fell apart.” A small number of CD copies of Houck’s doom metal Crimson Field project were sold at Ghost Power!!!’s shows in 2018, featuring “Wolves of God” a song that has now been adapted into Ghost Power!!!’s set. The group’s sound has always fallen under the umbrella of rock n’ roll, with Wixom’s technical drumming, Houck’s simplified riff structure along with his gravel-y yet melodic yell, the band have long operated with their own mystic mutation of hard rock jamming. But since reforming, the duo have intentionally tried to morph their sound to incorporate more doom into the mix. The stretch of time Houck spent in Seattle is probably the strongest influence.

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february 2020

GHOSTPOWER!!! LIVEATWALLY’S 2018 - PHOTOBY DUSTINHAYS HOUCK: “I feel like that whole Seattle experience was really awful in retrospect, ‘cause there was a long period where I didn’t play music, I was just trying to survive. But I did get to go to shows and see a lot of rad local stuff.” WIXOM: “He was around a lot of different stuff in Seattle. There’s a lot of heavier dark stuff over there. At first I was really apprehensive. I didn’t want to go slow and heavy, but I eventually came around, because the one thing I stressed was ‘we can do it, but it still has to sound like us.’ We still have some uptempo parts in a couple of the songs - we don’t have to lose that completely. I think we’re maintaining a good balance with changing our sound, ‘cause it’s not the same at all to what we were doing before, and you can still tell it’s us. But really there’s no rules when it comes to what you create, what you put out & what you do. There’s really no rules.” During the group’s hiatus, Wixom was living in Leavenworth still playing drums in groups around the area, playing a stint with Jipsea Party, and then in Panic Bomb, a Ska trio with Drew Bradford and Tiffa-

ny Schafer. In 2016 he was a member of Heavy Petting, a revamped incarnation of Warpony, and performed with the Leavenworth combo Riverdog Shakedown throughout the latter half of 2018. Ghost Power!!! had played a few one-off shows in 2015 and ‘16, but the band wasn’t officially back on until Houck moved back from Seattle in 2018. Around that time, the south Wenatchee Warehouse 3 Design Center had begun renting rooms to local bands Himiko Cloud, Human Element & the Nightmares, and Ghost Power!!! jumped onto the opportunity to have a proper rehearsal space. WIXOM: “He moved back to town, contacted me, and I was like, ‘Alright!’ Warehouse 3 had been going, but it was only word of mouth. I was like fuck, we gotta get into this place. We got in June of 2018.” Ghost Power!!! returned from their long hibernation in August of 2018 at Hinklefest in Cashmere. As their first set in 2 years began, Houck fittingly shouted over the mic to the crowd of smokers in the parking lot, “where the hell is everyone, we’re fucking Ghost Power!” The crowd

filtered in, a mosh pit ensued, and within music, his influences and his ever evolva half an hour police showed up and shut ing styles. These new songs they’re working on are really a new chapter, Mitch’s down the party for noise complaints. drum work is so great and the songs are WIXOM: “We realized unless we rock just cool. I’m stoked for them and really with each other it’s almost futile to rock excited about the new tunes.” with other people. I mean, we’re able to do it, but when it came back around to it, In the time since reforming, the group has performed a slew of shows in both we just need to rock with each other.” Washington and Idaho and were part of Last year the pair returned to local engi- Seattle’s 2019 Downstream Music Fest. neer Chad Yenney to record their fourth They have more festival appearances, and album Pray For The Amplifiers. Yenney a couple more upcoming recording projplayed locally in groups during the ‘90s ects on their to-do list for 2020. and has been recording bands in his Earth to Emma recording studio just as long. Pray For The Amplifiers is set to be reAlong with Ghost Power!!!’s albums The leased at their February 29th performance Basement and Heavy Hands, Yenney’s re- at Wally’s House of Booze with Himiko cording resume includes local groups Hi- Cloud and Wet Temple (from Seattle). miko Cloud, The Felts, Static Altars, Bratt The album will be available for purchase Force, Save The Hero, The Nightmares, on cassette tape (with download cards inand Seattle bands The Ruby Doe, Taran- cluded). tulada, Stuperhero and Will Rainier & the You can follow the band’s activity on facePines. book at fb.com/ghostpowermusic or hear YENNEY: “I first recorded Andrew their music at Houck back when he played in the Car- ghostpower.bandcamp.com. C rots, later Broken Branches, Kings of Friday and different iterations of Ghost Power. I personally really like Andrew’s

february 2020

THE COMET

comet tales: reader submitted writings featuring lorna rose

Arizona When my boyfriend Andy mentioned going hiking, I thought it sounded hard. Climbing over rocks, walking uphill, getting out of breath. I wasn’t sure it was for me. “C’mon,” Andy said, “It’ll be a new experience for you.” I shrugged. I was willing to try it, since I lived in Arizona now. Andy and I had dated in college, and he moved to Phoenix for work as a stockbroker. I graduated a semester later and followed, my mind filled with thoughts of pending engagement. I was 22. I had reasoned that a husband would provide me stability in a sexy sort of way, that the road to forever was filled with romance and sex. It was boring when friends and others got engaged, but my being engaged - it’s when my life could really begin. Andy had given me a key to his apartment. “Don’t abuse it,” he had said, and laughed. To prepare for my first hike, I drove to a sporting goods store. Inside a salesman approached me. “What’s your hiking boot size?” “I don’t know. This will be my first pair of boots.” “What’s your shoe size?” “Seven and a half.” He led me to where the hiking boots were, against a carpeted wall at the back of the store. “So you’d probably wear….” His voice trailed off as another customer approached him. He held up his index finger at me. “I’ll be right back to help you.” I waited and stared at the hiking boots for a few moments. He never came back. No one else came to help me either. I found boots I liked in my shoe size. I paid for them and left, thinking about my hike up Camelback Mountain in a few days. ### The sun punched down on my back, and I could feel my unprotected skin start to sizzle and shrivel. I was wearing a workout tank top and workout shorts and a perfunctory layer of sunscreen, my hair ponytailed. I didn’t think it’d be this hot in March. I didn’t think the sun would be this pushy and unrelenting. When the breeze blew it felt like a hairdryer in my face. I sweat-slogged up Camelback Mountain, taking big strides as I walked uphill, panting, mouth dry, stones crunching beneath my feet. My hiking boots were really more like shoes, thin and rising just below the ankle. I looked at the short shrubs and flat cactus plants beside the trail. Prickly pear they are called, Andy had said. I looked ahead several yards at Andy’s beat up army backpack on his tan, tank topped shoulders. If I

The Disorder of Things Birthdays, holidays, Mother’s Days hang heavy. They feel cold and damp. Reminders of days past. Conversations with your oldest are hard. “Mom, am I still a big brother?” It’s ok to explain. Baby showers are bittersweet. You’re happy, and yet - that used to be you, celebrating a budding belly. It’s ok to grieve.

listened closely enough, I could hear our water bottles sloshing around in his pack. I dreamed of water. My heart jumped and jerked in my chest, and sucking in the warm, dry air did little to slow it. Before long I could feel my upper back grow raw and red, like a stovetop accidently left on, where it cooks nothing but itself. My feet felt squeezed inside my hiking shoes, and my toes hurt. I tried to keep up with Andy but found myself farther and farther behind. I panted on. Finally he stopped at a rare flat spot and stopped to rest just off the trail in a clearing. I caught up to him. I summoned enough saliva to form words. “Hey, can I have some water?” “Sure. How ya doin’?” I caught my breath. “I’m ok.” We drank. After a couple minutes he put the water bottles back in his pack, swung it on his shoulders, and hiked on, me scrambling to keep up with him. Within a few minutes I was sucked dry again. I called to him. “Andy?!” A few yards ahead of me, he stopped and turned. “What’s up?” I caught up to him. “I think I’m done.” “But we’re not even halfway to the top.” “I know, but it’s so hot.” I could see he was sweating too, his face pink and his blond hair wet. “But you live in Arizona now. This is what it’s like.” “Can we just go back?” “C’mon, just stick it out.” “My feet hurt.” Andy rolled his eyes and sighed. We hiked down in silence. Was Andy mad? Was he disappointed in me? He didn’t offer any water on the way down. Three days later the blisters on my feet popped, my back stopped glowing red, and the skin began to peel and itch, and I had promised myself that once I found work I would buy bigger hiking boots to allow for expanding feet during a hike. I also began to think I should carry my own water.

You love others entirely in honor of the absent. It’s ok to heal. Know that you will see him again someday, hold his little hand. You will be together, and natural order will return and forever remain It’s ok to believe.

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february 2020

Open-air Market The market in Otavalo is one to see— woven baskets and handmade colors against hazy green mountains, the loud Spanish hum of bargaining, the citric smell of ceviche, a man bustling by, wrestling a live chicken in his sack. My husband and I are on honeymoon. I feel brighter than ever. He’s healed the scars words in childhood left. I see the necklace I want, orange glass pendant on a pink rope. I talk to the merchant. I used to struggle to speak, so nervous of messing up. Never have I been so confident in my Spanish voice.

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Aw, February, the month of love. Unfortunately Mercury doesn’t give a shit about your love life as it goes retrograde this month.

cious head of hair, but you need to get out of your own way and try to focus on someone outside of yourself this month.

Aquarius Jan 20-Feb 18 Challenges are hard for you Aquarians, do better and stop your bitching.

Virgo Aug 23-Sep 22 Being judgemental doesn’t serve you.....but it really is all you’re good at. Keep it up I guess?

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Pisces Feb 19-Mar 20 Nothing but heartache for you this month. Sorry. Aries Mar 21-Apr 19 Say what you mean already! Gawd.

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Libra Sep 23-Oct 22 Healthy boundaries are for suckers who take responsibility for their actions, not you Libra.

Taurus Apr 20-May 20 Prepare for disappointment. And lots of comfort eating.

Scorpio Oct 23-Nov 21 Hell hath no fury like a Scorpio scorned. People will piss you off this month. Just sting ‘em.

Gemini May 21-June 21 I don’t want to worry you but ALL your shit’s retrograde this month. Good luck.

Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21 Fear and anxiety consumes you and forces you to make horrible decisions this month. Better luck next month.

Cancer June 22-July 22 Self-Sabotage is your specialty. There will be plenty of that for you this month.

Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19 Do what you’re best at - ignore everyone else’s suggestions and do whatever you want, how you want to, when you want to. I’m sure love will find a way - if it’s your decision and idea.

Leo July 23-Aug 22 Sure you’re attractive with your lus-

february 2020

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HOW BIZARRE: x-ray records of the USSr

“Every artist, everyone who considers himself an artist, has the right to create freely according to his ideal, independently of everything. However, we are Communists and we must not stand with folded hands and let chaos develop as it pleases. We must systemically guide this process and form its result.” - Vladimir Lenin In the most recent episode of How Bizarre podcast, Lyle shared a story I couldn’t believe I’d never heard before. The Bone records of the Soviet Union. As soon as we finished the show I dug into all the documentaries and essays on this cultural and political phenomenon I could find and the story just gets better. I’ll simply sum up best I can here but I highly recommend the mini-doc X-Ray Audio if the subject interests you - it’s available on YouTube. Among many things the State needed to keep a tight lid on at the height of the Soviet Union’s power was pop-culture. After all, they couldn’t have young (or old) minds being corrupted by American or British influence. One might get the idea that the souls in the lands beyond the Iron Curtain may be having a little more

fun with a lot more freedom. Bad for biz. Although even a lot of Russian music was banned if it didn’t serve the State. And most didn’t. But the kids were getting wind of this new fangled music making its way across the globe called Rock n’ Roll. And while literature was also banned/ controlled it was a doable enough task to make copies of the written word even if it meant by hand. But how do you make and distribute illicit audio recordings? Bear in mind, this was long before cassette tapes or even reel to reels were household devices. And if you did manage to get access to someone with a secret stack of banned records you could likely only hear a few hushed plays before being shooed off into the sunset. You certainly wouldn’t wanna be caught with a Beatles record under your arm. So, what to do?

nyl needed to cut the records. Some enterprising deviant found himself with a pile of old x-rays that a nearby hospital had thrown out and he wondered if the film would be “grooveable” on one of these lathes. With a giant box full of xrays he set out to find an accessible lathe but nobody dared collaborate on such a scheme. So a few folks started tinkering their own crude record lathes together. They are rather simple in construction and enough literature still existed to explain how the process of making records actually worked. To their delight and maybe a bit of shock...the idea worked. They rounded up as many outlaw records as they could and began cutting their own crude records into the images of broken ribs and cracked femurs. Some recordings were taken right off the shortwave radio with static, drift and interferThe desire for art will always find a solu- ence all preserved. The records became tion. Of course, record lathing machines known as Ribs or Bones, for reasons I existed in these bleak times and many hope I shan’t have to explain, and quickly German engineered machines were they spread like wildfire. Folks were able brought back to the USSR, but these were to hear Hound Dog, LaBamba, Chantilly for official use only. So it wasn’t like you Lace and later on the Beatles and the could just access one all willy-nilly, and Stones. But also, songs from the days of even if you could, the State controlled old. Imagine not being able to hear any all ends of manufacturing which meant of your favorite music for years and sudfat chance in scoring the shellac or vi- denly you have your favorite song right

in your hands. It’s hard to picture living life that way but the simplest of pleasures were denied to the people of the USSR for so long that even risking the gulags was a risk worth taking just to savor a little soul-healing music. Suddenly hospitals were being overrun with folks looking to relieve them of their old x-ray films. Many hospitals even started charging for them. They didn’t have a clue why so many people wanted them but demand is demand and they were smart to cash in on it. Music stores started carrying small boxes of the Bone records well out of sight but if you knew the right code words, you could leave with a copy of Great Balls of Fire slid inside the sleeve of your 78 of Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony. X-ray slides were not only cheap and plentiful but they were incredibly easy to hide. Of course no one was going to mistake these recordings for something from the Vocalion library. They were scratchy, inaccurate and at times damn near unlistenable but most people had no issues with these drawbacks. They were hearing music. Their music. Think about that the next time you’re unsatisfied with the

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way your earbuds fit or you’re sad your car stereo isn’t quite up to audiophile standards.

Remember those floppy records that used to come stapled inside music magazines? Or stuffed into specially marked packages of Boo Berry? Many folks beThese things really look like works of art. lieve these were inspired by these Bone X-rays are such elegant things and the records that had eventually become so handmade aspect to the Bone records prevalent that the State started crackreally gives each one character. These ing down harder on music stores, coffee weren’t copies mind you. Each one was shops and anywhere else these hooligans an original cut - not pressed from a mold, were cutting Bones. Many people went to making them even more special. jail. But for every destroyed homemade

lathe there were three more created in someone’s basement. For a while anyway. In the late ‘60s, tape technology was becoming easier to obtain especially in port cities like St. Petersburg and the Bone records started to fade in production. It was only recently that these records have started finding their ways to collectors and filmmakers and authors. The story is finally being told and it’s a magical one.

february 2020

Growing up, I know we liked to think we were so punk rock over here with our safety pins, hair dye, anarchy signs and anti-authoritarian antics. But I can’t think of anything more punk than cutting illegal rock records into the x-rays of injured or diseased persons in Cold War era Russia when the penalty of being caught could very well be the gulag. That’s fucking punk, son.

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february 2020

THE DOC IS IN: the importance of self care

Q: How can I focus on selfcare when I feel guilty when I focus time on myself ? Dr. Allegra says... We often don’t give ourselves ALLEGRA HART the care we need Naturopathic Physician to get by on a day to day basis, let alone thrive. Many women are caregivers who think we must give and give, but only to others. I used to be one of them, and often neglected myself. This is not only sad, it leaves us empty, and our health often deteriorates as a result. This approach to life is very concerning to me. The act of giving until we have nothing left for ourselves is utterly unsustainable. Even the airlines know, if the plane is having issues and the oxygen mask drops, you must PUT YOUR MASK ON FIRST. Why? Because if you are passed out on the floor, you can’t take care of others. By taking care of yourself first, you are empowered to care for others.

What do you have to offer to anyone if you grace and joy? From you. If you don’t, they make the choice to run yourself into the may follow someone else’s far less nurturground? Not much. ing, far more destructive path. When that happens, it can become a tragedy. I see the idea of being a martyr as a temporary solution. I am into long term solu- If you need to learn how to begin handling tions. How about you? life more gracefully, now is absolutely the best time to start. The people you love Giving yourself the right fuel is essential, will watch you, and they will learn how to just like you can’t mow your lawn once pick themselves up when life has been unand have it be nice and trimmed forever, kind, they will learn what to do to become you can’t just eat well one day and expect resilient, and do the right thing, even if the rest of your life to be properly fueled. it has been difficult to do so up until this You have to keep feeding yourself the point. right way, consistently and consciously to build health for the long term. Action always wins in the world of teaching. Many people talk a good talk but Even more so if you are a mother or a then fail to act. This incongruence erodes role model of any kind- YOU are liter- trust- trust with yourself and with others. ally teaching other people how to live, by So really the question is what kind of life how you live. You are showing them how do you want? What kind of legacy do you to prioritize their lives. They will likely wish to leave? What lasting impression do mimic you even when it’s unintentional. you want to linger when you are gone? It So teach them how to love themselves by is time to adjust your actions to make that showing them it is possible. Show them fabulous legacy a reality, starting here and by showing yourself the love of self-care. now. Teach them how to apply self-love EVEN when life gets chaotic. Especially when Feeling overwhelmed by the idea of maklife throws flaming curve balls one after ing changes? Keep in mind at this moment the other. Because really, where else are all you need to focus on is the choice that they going to learn how to handle life with is in front of you.

Remember one bite, one breath, one step at a time, is all you need to begin completely changing your life for the better. If you need help to start this journey and take that first step forward, reach out and ask, I am here to help you thrive. ABOUT DR. ALLEGRA HART Dr. Allegra Hart is a licensed naturopathic physician, speaker, author of Nourishing Space Within: Essentials of Self-Care, founder of Naturae Naturopathic Clinic and Dr. Allegra’s Apothecary, and works with patients worldwide. Dr. Allegra specializes in helping women rebuild their health from the inside out by cultivating natural self-care. If we as individuals create healing foundations on our own- the ripple effect will inevitably inspire others to do the same, and together we can be the change we wish to see in the world. If you have a question for Dr. Allegra, email us at info@naturaeclinic.com with the subject “The Doctor Is In Question”.

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february 2020

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by ron evans

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february 2020

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE COMET