The Comet - September 2018

THE COMET

everything will be fine

wednesday, september 5, 2018

JAIME’S TATTOO GARDEN PAGE 16

CROSSWORDS & CURSE WORDS AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH

PUZZLE CONSTRUCTOR CORY “DAMN YOU” CALHOUN page 16

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

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wednesday, september 5, 2018

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THIS issue editor: Ron Evans publishing assistant: Cy Peterson contributors: Holly Thorpe,Cory Calhoun, Dustin Hays, Jamie Howell, Allegra Hart, cover illustration by David Knowles WEB: thecometmagazine.com facebook.com/thecometmagazine instagram: @thecometmagazine twitter: @cometmagazine info@thecometmagazine.com

B-SIDES...................................PAGE 4 THE DOCTOR IS IN....................PAGE 6 crossword..........................PAGE 7 events..................................PAGE 8 National spotlight.............PAGE 14 cory calhoun......................PAGE 16 HOWELL AT THE MOVIES.........PAGE 20 comet tales.........................PAGE 22 THE SPACEPOD.......................PAGE 26 EDGAR RUE COMIC..................PAGE 28 heart of art.........................PAGE 30

Photo by Lillian Calhoun, age 6

cory calhoun PAGE 16

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wednesday, september 5, 2018

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COMET HEADQUARTERS september 5, 2018

Ron’s cat Comet helping create The Comet.

Note From The Editor And then there were twelve. It seems like just yesterday I was furiously hunting and pecking away on my $300 laptop trying to get my articles all in order for our inaugural issue. I was likely half drunk, even half-er dressed, highly stressed and silently chuckling at my own stupid jokes as I edited my writings. Some things never change. Hiccup.

Graves. Paul has been a part of the Wenatchee music scene since Cobain was in Junior High. He also happens to be our very own resident Bigfoot researcher. If you have been to RadarStation and admired our collection of Sassy foot track prints, you have seen the work of Paul Graves. Don’t bother getting into a debate as to whether he exists or not. Bigfoot absolutely believes in Paul Graves. And so do we.

Dr. Hart is back again with more sound advice, this time on a well-known yet And yet some things do change. Holly and I started this humble little rag on surprisingly misunderstood ailment. Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is one our own but quickly grabbed Dustin Hays to do a monthly roundup of local of many things that naturopaths have known about for a long time yet mainmusic history and news. Then came Cory “Damn You” Calhoun providing our stream medicine has only recently caught up to. readers with one of the most satisfying (and fist-shaking worthy) crossword puzzles you would ever wanna attempt solving. Dan McConnell’s toons have Cory “Damn You” Calhoun is back at it again. If you think his puzzles are difficult and they make you feel dumb, you may feel a little better after readadded a lovely texture from the get-go as well. ing my interview with him. HINT: He wants you to suffer. Cory will be at Then it was time to introduce some new blood into the mix. This can always RadarStation this First Friday to host a screening of the film Wordplay. This be tricky as Scrappy Do has taught us. But when we added Allegra Hart’s is your chance. I would never promote violence. But I would always promote health column and Jamie Howell’s film write-ups this humble little rag be- verbal revenge. So much more to this issue but because I ran a picture of my came a more well-rounded machine. Holly and I set out to do one thing and cat we are now out of room. that was to provide a voice that was not being represented while covering topics that were not being covered in the way we felt they could be. And we Here’s to another year of art, music, film, fist-shaking and wackiness! are proud that it has grown into that very thing, but it would make no difference if you were not reading it every month. So ultimately, the blame of all of Happy trails, this lies solely upon you. I know. Sounds all heavy and shit. But it’s true. So Ron Evans thanks. We will send you the printing bill.

Editor, The Comet Magazine

It’s also the one year anniversary of the night I discovered a tiny starving kitten in my yard. While it would take a few days to catch her in the world’s stupidest homemade cat trap, I named her Comet before I even got a good look Ron Evans is the owner of RadarStation art gallery at 115 S. Wenatchee Ave., at her little face. I just knew we were gonna be pals. She’s still with me today host of the Tales from the Spacepod podcast, author of “Edgar Rue,” and creator of many other things, many of which have robots in them. He is editor of and trying to ruin this write up as we speak.

The Comet and lead designer.

Dustin is back at it with a little story on a true Wenatchee treasure. Paul

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B-SIDES: PAUL GRAVES RELEASES NEW ALBUM Paul Graves has been an active member of Wenatchee’s music scene since the late ‘70s. For several decades Graves has been playing in hard rock bands like Maria, Moss Dog, Woolybugger, True Giants, and most recently his trio Flatt Nasty.

As True Giants stopped performing in 2015 and DUSTIN HAYS F l a t t Musician/Music Historian N a s t y lost their drummer in late 2017, the majority of Graves’ bookings have been solo acoustic gigs

across Central Washington.

Along with being a well known musician in the valley, Graves has also made a name for himself as a prominent Pacific Northwest Sasquatch researcher. In 2009 Graves released a CD compilation titled Sasquatch Songs, featuring nine songs all written about the famous Northwest cryptid.

Since beginning his research in 1988, Graves has been featured in several books, online publications and even television appearances on Northwest Afternoon, A&E’s Strange Days with Bob Saget and Travel Channel’s American Times. Most recently, Graves was featured in several news publications across the Pacific Northwest on his investigation of a series of Sasquatch

tracks found along a Sunnyslope orchard in February of 2017.

Straying away from the subject matter of Sasquatch Songs, the veteran Wenatchee musician recently released his third solo endeavor, an instrumental album titled Enchantments Of A Mountain.

The ten song album was recorded and mastered in town over the last year at the home studio of ex-Michael Carlos Band bassist Bill Allyn. Graves performed all the songs on his Martin MMV custom dreadnought acoustic guitar, continuing a career-long tradition of playing dreadnought acoustics. The lyricless album is the first full release from Graves of the sort, recording all the songs (excluding track 10) without overdubbing or track

splicing. While the majority of the tracks were written recently, Graves had first written “North Carolina” (track nine) around 15 years ago, but added a section to the song before including it on the collection.

Any narrative lost with the absence of lyrics are filled in with the vast melodic landscapes created by Graves’ fingerstyle guitar playing. Influenced in part by guitarists Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins, Enchantments of A Mountain explores the same sonic world Graves created in his song “Falling Snowflakes” (featured on the 2015 LEAP Sound Album).

The cover art for the album was created by local artist Terry Valdez and Ridgeline Graphic’s Rick Conant. On September 7th

(5:00-8:00pm) Graves with be performing at Mela’s First Friday event featuring Valdez’s artwork.

Copies of Enchantments of a Mountain will be available for purchase that evening, and can also be found at the RadarStation Art Gallery.

Dustin Hays is a Wenatchee musician, local music history aficionado and enthusiastic member of the local music scene. He performs as a solo singer-songwriter around the area and as a member of one of the valley’s newest groups The Nightmares. C

THE COMET

wednesday, september 5, 2018

AUF WIEDERSEHEN, FOR NOW: COMMUNITY CENTER HITS THE ROAD

by ron evans For the bulk of the summer, Community Center has been spreading their tunes all over town with a basecamp gig at der Hinterhof in Leavenworth. Next week they leave our fair valley for a nineteen date tour across the country. I reached out to the band to get the lowdown on what’s next for them.

lucky to do what we love.

You have a good sized tour coming up.

This is something many bands, even seasoned ones, have no idea how to go about making happen. Any advice for them on how to hit the road with a plan?

Save money in advance and only tour with Tell us a little about Community Cen- people you really (REALLY) like. Some ter’s music? What can we expect from shows will be great and some will be tera CC show? rible, but if you like your bandmates even Storytelling songs, 6 vocalists trading the worst nights can be fun. parts, and lots of instruments.

You have a fairly large band, how does How did the summer house band gig the creative dynamic work with that at der Hinterhof come about? many people?

We were their first band and have stayed Everyone contributes and everyone’s friends with the owners, Chris and Erin. opinion matters. It can make the writing It takes us so long to go back and forth process feel a little slow and convoluted, between the east and west coast, they just but it also allows every voice to be repreasked us to stay for the summer and we’re sented and lets everyone know they are glad they did! important.

Talk about that kind of gig vs. touring?

Gigging around Baltimore and New York made us realize we wanted to do this fulltime. Gigging is great because we’d look forward to a Saturday show all week, but with touring we get to play almost every night. We get to travel constantly, meet new people, and do what we love. Touring can definitely be tough, but we feel very

Where can people find your albums? communitycenter.bandcamp.com How can we follow you online?

Facebook.com/CommunityCenterMusic Instagram.com/ CommunityCenterMusicer87LU

TOUR DATES SEP 6 THU Pig Bar Olympia, WA

SEP 16 SUN The Quarry Bisbee, AZ

SEP 7 FRI 42ND BOAT BUILDING FESTIVAL Port Townsend, WA

SEP 18 TUE The 806 Coffee House Amarillo, TX

SEP 8 SAT Trillium Cafe Hood River, OR, United States

SEP 19 WED Red Brick Bar Norman, OK

SEP 9 SUN Hi-Fi Lounge Eugene, OR

SEP 21 FRI TBD Memphis, TN

SEP 13 THU Ferguson’s Downtown Las Vegas, NV, United States

SEP 22 SAT Alley Cat Carrollton, GA

SEP 14 FRI Cresent Lounge Phoenix, AZ

SEP 26 WED Awendaw Green Awendaw, South Carolina,

SEP 15 SAT Palo Verde Lounge Phoenix, AZ

SEP 27 THU The Mill Charleston, SC

SEP 28 FRI Rain Dogs Jacksonville, FL SEP 29 SAT Volstead Jacksonville, FL OCT 2 TUE Town Pump Black Mountain, NC OCT 3 WED The Hideaway Johnson City, TN OCT 5 FRI Motor House Baltimore, MD

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THE COMET

the doctor is in: SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER

Q: I feel fall coming on and I get depressed. Is this normal?

A: Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression related to changes in seasons. SAD typically begins and ends at about the same time every year. This disorder is likely to leave you exhausted and irritable.

You may have SAD and not even know it.

Often symptoms start in the fall and continue thru the winter, and begin to dissipate in the spring.

People might call it “winter blues”, ALLEGRA HART “holiday funk” or Naturopathic Physician just plain “crappy”.

SAD affects about 10 million Americans and is 4x more common in women than in men. Rates of SAD increase with higher latitudes.

Here are some signs to help you assess

whether or not seasonal affective disorder is present in your life. Keep in mind these symptoms tend to come on slowly through the fall and worsen in the depths of winter.

rates of depression and anxiety. Ask your doctor to test your 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OH D) to make sure you have enough.

I recommend my patients maintain vitamin D levels between 60-80 ng/mL. If you need to supplement, make sure to use a clean source of D3. 2000IUs is a good starting dose.

Consider setting up a yoga mat with your full-spectrum light close by! Aim for 3060 minutes of movement every day.

KEEP A ROUTINE Sticking to a regular schedule can help to improve your sleep and reduce stress.

SAD SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE: Set a time to wake up and go to bed that you can maintain. Routine is fuel for your • Loss of interest in previously loved Keep in mind we tend to lose 20 points mind and hormone balance! activities of vitamin D over the winter, so the win• Feelings of sadness Dr. Allegra Hart is a naturopathic physiter can be even more difficult if you are • Fatigue already starting with lower levels of vita- cian, speaker, author of Nourishing Space • Increased appetite Within: Essentials of Self-Care, founder of min D. • Cravings for comfort foods Naturae Naturopathic Clinic and Dr. Al• Difficulty sleeping legra’s Apothecary and works with patients INCREASE LIGHT EXPOSURE • Feeling of hopelessness A special full-spectrum light bulb can help worldwide.

• Irritability to ease seasonal depression. Set up a light • Weight gain If you have a question for Dr. Allegra, in your home so you can spend at least an • Thoughts of self-harm or suicide hour in this illumination. This may mean please send it to info@naturaeclinic.com it is on your desk or in your bathroom with the subject “The Doctor Is In QuesWHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT: tion” From a naturopathic view, there are many while you get ready every morning. natural options to shift away from SAD This column is for informational purposes being a yearly trial.

MOVE YOUR BODY Many people find that they move a lot less only and is not intended as a substitute for in the winter. If this is true for you, find professional health care. C CHECK YOUR VITAMIN D STATUS Low vitamin D is associated with high a way to build movement into your day.

THE COMET

wednesday, september 5, 2018

THE COMET

SHIFTY MOVES

Made exclusively for The Comet by Cory Calhoun

Have ideas for puzzles or feedback?

Email info@thecometmagazine.com

ACROSS 1 Virtually no time at all 6 Apple consumer #2?

10 Floor plan meas.

14 "Not a problem!"

15 Joint action?

16 Mystique 17 Some water ferries 19 Average 20 That, in Tijuana 21 Maxim 22 Geometric figure 23 One at a time 25 Buds 28 Mideast title 29 Take a taxi, casually 30 Utah town on I-15 31 ___ II Men 35 Once-popular movie locale ‌ or, with 37-Across, theme suggested by the circled letters 37 See 35-Across 39 Hand over 40 World Series champs of 1986 42 ER actress Laura 43 RC, e.g.

44 Accompany 45 Hawaiian hotspot 50 World Series champ of 2017 51 Nick on one's screen?

52 That guy 55 Parks of Civil Rights activism 56 20th-century take on 19th-century economic doctrine 32 34 book series, 1978-2017

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Plenty, to texters Blizzard type Company with a mascot once voiced by Gilbert Gottfried Mo. at the top of this page Photoshop files, briefly Architect Wright's middle name

DOWN 1 Pine 2 Blue, noisy ones 3 European leader?

4 Pres. on a 24Down 5 Annotation 6 "San Francisco Treat" suffix 7 "Most definitely!"

8 Ones for the record books 9 Sounders FC org.

10 Fiji neighbor 11 Put down 12 Slight 13 Old RadioShack PC brand 18 Govt. agents 22 Big ___, California 23 "Uncle!"

24 10% of a bone?

25 Current option 26 Stable mom?

27 Abbr. associated with a 5-Down 30 Quick zingers 31 Pull from the lineup 32 "Yes ___?"

33 Belgian river

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Lemony garnish "Don't worry about me!"

Like a gut feeling Made forbidden Labor org.

"I could ___ horse!"

Peddlers peddle them Together Announcer's words the moment after a field goal attempt is kicked Name on a box full of shells?

Some Sesame Street dolls Hawaiian port "My goodness!"

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wednesday, WEDNESDAY,september SEPTEMBER5,5,2018 2018

THE COMET

GTFO: EVENTS WORTH LEAVING YOUR HOUSE FOR

Brett Benton

Sam Densmore

devils gulch & the missionaries

CHAMPAGNE SUNDAY

Friday Night Music at the Market

Pybus Public Market, Wenatchee SEPT 7: Gavin McLaughlin, 7:00 pm SEPT 14: The Roberts, 7:00 pm SEPT 21: Vince Allis and Markus Hoyer, 7:00 pm

Live Music at Icicle Creek Brewing Company

See iciclebrewing.com/#events for more info.

SEPT 5, 12, 19 & 26: Sergio & Co, 7:00 pm SEPT 6 & 20: Bluegrass Night, 7:00 pm SEPT 7: Hans Hessburg Duo, 6:00 pm SEPT 8: Evan Egerer, 6:00 pm SEPT 14: Gina Belliveau, 6:00 pm SEPT 15: David Douglas, 6:00 pm SEPT 21: Analog Jack, 6:00 pm SEPT 22: Christina May, 6:00 pm SEPT 28: Lindee Cuevas, 6:00 pm

SEPT 29: Seth Garrido, 6:00 pm

Live Music at Der Hinterhof

der Hinterhof, Leavenworth, 7:00 pm SEPT 7: Matthew Fowler & The Prado Sisters SEPT 8: Octomalien

SEPT 21: Brett Benton SEPT 22: Sam Densmore

Live Music at Stein

Stein, Leavenworth SEPT 7 & 8: St. John & the Revelations, 8:00 pm SEPT 9 & 23: Nic Allen, 7:00 pm SEPT 13 & 20: Twin Skinny, 7:00 pm SEPT 14 & 28: Riverdog Shakedown, 8:00 pm SEPT 15: Devil’s Gulch & The Missionaries, 8:00 pm SEPT 16 & 30: Paul Sweeney, 7:00 pm SEPT 29: Analog Jack, 8:00 pm

Live Music at McGlinn’s

McGlinn’s Public House, Wenatchee All shows are free and kid friendly. Shows with inclement weather will not be canceled but moved indoors.

SEPT 5: Martina Celest, 7:00 pm SEPT 7: These Guitars Say Sorry, 8:00 pm SEPT 8: David Flett, 8:00 pm SEPT 12: Gina Belliveau, 7:00 pm SEPT 14 & 15: Champagne Sunday, 8:00 pm

SEPT 19: Norman Baker, 7:00 pm SEPT 21: Braden McDannell, 8:00 pm SEPT 26: Eden Moody, 7:00 pm SEPT 28: Allison Shirk, 7:30 pm SEPT 29: Rylei Franks, 8:00 pm

Visit mcglinns.com for complete show listings and links to learn more about the artists.

Live Music at Wally’s House of Booze

Presented by Snatchee Records at Wally’s Tavern, Wenatchee SEPT 4: Warehouse 3 Benefit Show with Himiko Cloud, Human Element, Dustin Hays, and Dylan Morrison SEPT 7: These Guitars Say Sorry, Michael Carlos, Rylei Franks SEPT 8: Mopsey, The Riffbrokers, Fun Ladies SEPT 14: Deschamp, The Drag Spokane, The Nightmares SEPT 15: Ghost Power, Potbelly, Bad Habit ($10) SEPT 21: Truck Bed Boys, Third-Seven, Robbers Roost SEPT 22: Disciples of Dissent, Coven, Nephilim Rising

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Are you putting on a cool event? Is your band playing in town?

To have an event listed in The Comet, email: info@thecometmagazine.com Alex Elkin

SEPT 28: Pagan County Rebels–And Beyond, Guests SEPT 29: Michael Carlos Band, Cloud Person

Music at 9:30 pm, $5 cover (unless noted), 21+. For more info, see facebook.com/pg/SnatcheeRecords509

Open Mic! Hosted by Luke Ziegler Atkinson

RadarStation, Wenatchee Musicians, poets, comedians, and everyone else, let’s meet at the RadarStation and support each other and our local art! Seriously a ton of fun.

Sept 6: Sign up at 7:00 pm, show at 7:30.

Sept 20: Sign up at 7:00 pm, show at 7:30.

September Class with a Glass

10 S. Columbia, classwithaglass.com SEPT 6: Lavender Fields, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 7: 12 Skyline, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 8: Mixed Media, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm SEPT 8: Autumn’s Door, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 13: Summer Finale, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 14: Go Hawks, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 15: Camo Buck - Partner Paint, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 27: Fancy Pour, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 28: Up in the Air, 6:30 - 9:00 pm SEPT 29: Autumn Landscape, 6:30 - 9:00 pm

Wednesday Open Mic at Ye Olde Bookshoppe

Ye Olde Bookeshoppe, Wenatchee Open Mic Nights, every Wednesday. Poetry, spoken word, short stories, music! 6:00 pm. Free.

SEPT 6: SISTERS, Live at Norwood

Norwood Wine Bar, Wenatchee We are super excited for the opportunity to host SISTERS in Wenatchee. This is a show you will not want to miss and the perfect way to spend a Thursday night. Tickets are limited.

8:00 pm. brownpapertickets.com/event/3596161

Joseph Hein

SEPT 6-9: Entertainments at Chelan County Fair Chelan County Fairgrounds, Cashmere

Friday, Sept 7 :

Darnell Bongo Bros, 11:00 am End of Line, 5:00 pm Colin Raye, 7:30 pm Lance Tigner, 8:00 pm The Olson Bros Band, 9:00 pm

Saturday, Sept 8 :

Slim Chance, 12:00 pm Eden Moody, 2:30 pm Red House, 5:00 pm Branch and Dean, 9:30 pm

Multiple performances:

Daybreak Canyon Bluegrass Special Head McMillan Family Trick Riders Buck Trout Professor Bamboozle Shows are free with your admission to the fair. For complete schedules, see chelancountyfair.com

SEPT 7: Comedy Night with Alex Elkin and Patrick Garrity

Club Crow, Cashmere, 8:00 pm Alex Elkin started his comedy career in the clubs of Hollywood California before he was old enough to be allowed in the front door. Most recently Alex has just finished the Careers On Fire Tour across the country, headlining Las Vegas, Dallas, Naples and more.

Patrick Garrity has been touring nonstop around the country since 2010. You may have seen him on the highway in his car that he lets his fans sign after every show. His versatility and unique style make him a favorite for audiences everywhere.

SEPT 8: 25th Annual Northwest Ranchero Show

Pybus Public Market, Wenatchee September 7-9, Ford Ranchero enthusiasts from the

Pacific Northwest and Canada will meet in Wenatchee for the 25th Annual Ranchero Round-Up. On Saturday morning at 10:00 am, the vehicles will be on display for the public at Pybus Public Market.

10:00 am - 2:00 pm. For details, see facebook.com/ RancheroEnthusiastsInternational/

SEPT 8: Railroad History Tour

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center On March 1, 1910, the deadliest avalanche in North American history swept down the snowy Cascades, burying two trains and killing 96 people.

The Wenatchee Valley Museum is offering a guided tour of the Wellington site and will also visit several other sites between Leavenworth and Stevens Pass that played important roles in the history of the Great Northern Railway Company.

9:00am - 5:00pm. See 61981.blackbaudhosting.com for tickets and details.

SEPT 8-9: The Heart of Art Gathering

Hummingbird Produce, Malaga The Heart of Art is a commUNITY gathering of art, music & workshops created with the intention of uniting the hearts of our community and celebrating the talent, creativity & beauty this valley has to offer.

Join us for this two-day FAMILY FRIENDLY event.

(No onsite camping, although we’d be happy to suggest nearby areas to camp.)

Saturday, September 8, 10:00 am - 11:00 pm Sunday, September 9, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Suggested donation of $15 per person each day.

SEPT 9: Joseph Hein Band

The Loft Bar & Grill, Leavenworth, 8:00 pm Joseph Hein hails from the Palouse in eastern Washington State. With lush arrangements and warm distortion, he creates dreamy harmonious sounds with an energetic uptempo rhythm influenced by songs of yesteryear’s AM country and R&B gold.

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GTFO, cont: More EVENTS WORTH LEAVING YOUR HOUSE FOR

Steven Paul Judd

SEPT 11: Classic Fire Engine Show and Creeper Drags

Wenatchee Convention Center The Washington Fire Mechanics are hosting a Classic Fire Engine and Car Show, along with the popular Whatcom Electric & Battery Creeper Drags, at their annual WFM conference.

6:00 - 9:00pm.

SEPT 12: Urban Sketching

Pybus Public Market, Wenatchee Join us for urban sketching at Pybus! We meet, choose spots to sketch and then support one another as we capture the local scenes of our everyday lives.

All ages welcome, all abilities! Bring your own supplies and work in the mediums you prefer.

10:30 am - 1:30 pm.

SEPT 15: Luis Coronel

Lincoln Park, Wenatchee Celebrate Fiestas Mexicanas with Mexican music star Luis Coronel at Lincoln Park.

6:00 pm. Free and all ages.

Steven Paul Judd is a Native American artist from Kiowa and Choctaw ancestry. He’s known nationwide for art that combines iconic Native American images and lore with modern pop art. Check out his t-shirts, stickers, and more at www.stevenpauljuddart.com.

This free event is part of a larger community-wide conversation—Beyond the Frame: To Be Native.

Open House: 3:00 - 6:30 pm. Presentation: 6:30 pm.

SEPT 20: Inspiring Stories with Chrissy Shull

Julie Aynn Photography, Wenatchee Hear from women all over Wenatchee Valley tell their inspiring business and personal stories. This month, listen to the moving story of how Chrissy was led to donate a body part to a complete stranger, moved states, wrote her own 40 page business plan, acquired a small business loan, and opened a business – all in under six-months!

5:30 - 6:30 pm. Tickets: julieaynnphotography.com

SEPT 21-23: Juassic Quest

Wenatchee Public Library, 9:15 am - 11:15 am. Free.

How do your words sound when someone else reads them aloud? Professional actor and Write On The River member Brent Youlden reads your work.

Submit a maximum of 3 pages of your work by Sept. 8 to Susan Blair at sfblair61@gmail.com.

Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee Jurassic Quest brings you a Dinosaur Adventure for the whole family. The main dinosaur exhibit features ultra-realistic, life-size animatronic dinosaurs; over 100 life-size dinosaurs in all. Visitors can interact with these huge creatures, learn about them and even ride a few. Realistic scenes, enormous dinosaurs, cute baby dinosaurs and lots of fun for kids of all ages.

Friday 3:00 - 8:00 pm, Saturday & Sunday 9:00 am 8:00 pm. Tickets: www.maingatetickets.com

SEPT 19: Art and Stories with Steven Paul Judd

SEPT 22: Wenatchee Oktoberfest

SEPT 15: Writers Meeting Writers

Wenatchee Public Library Artist Steven Paul Judd invites community members of all ages and abilities to join him at the Wenatchee Public Library to contribute to a community-wide art piece. He will also speak on his racial identity and childhood quest for role models in pop culture. Don’t miss this heart-warming and funny presentation, and stick around for the Q&A.

Between First and Palouse on N Columbia, Wenatchee Join Wenatchee Brewer’s Row on Saturday, September 22nd! Columbia Valley Brewing, Badger Mountain Brewing, and Wenatchee Valley Brewing have joined forces to bring you Wenatchee’s first Oktoberfest, in celebration of the infamous month-long festival and in efforts to kick off our neighbors to the West’s (Leavenworth’s) own festival!

In addition to beer, we will have food vendors, live music from around North Central Washington, and a variety of fun outdoor games.

4:00 - 10:00 pm. Tickets $35-$40 at eventbrite.com/e/ wenatchee-oktoberfest-tickets-48853182183

SEPT 25: Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center As a naturalist, author, and conservationist, Mardy Murie was an ordinary American who was an exceptional advocate for wilderness and is now known as the mother of the American Conservation movement.

She and her husband, Olaus, were instrumental in the establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Act and the passage of the Wilderness Act. 7:00 pm. Free and family-friendly.

SEPT 26: The Sandlot at NPAC

Numerica Performing Arts Center, Wenatchee Monthly Movies on the Big Screen for only $3. The Sandlot is Rated PG. Running time: 1 hr 41 min.

6:30pm. $3. Tickets at numericapac.showare.com.

SEPT 28: Zeppelin USA at NPAC

Numerica Performing Arts Center, Wenatchee A Zeppelin USA show captures the sound and spirit of the greatest rock band of all time, and promises to introduce or remind fans of just how great the mighty Zep will always be.

7:30 pm. Tickets $27-$31, at numericapac.org/event/ zeppelin-usa/

SEPt 30: Pipe Organ Concert

Wenatchee Valley Museun & Cultural Center Dave and Sandy Gellatly in memory of David N. Gellatly, Jr. invite you to join them for an organ concert featuring organist Dave Wickerham. Wickerham’s career has spanned the country and won him “Organist of the Year” by American Theatre Organ Society.

2:00 pm. $5 donation.

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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.

Two Rivers Gallery

102 N Columbia • 2riversgallery.com • First Friday Reception: 5:00-8:00 pm • Daily: Wed-Sat 11- 4, Sun 1-4 Martha Flores presents a selection of her vibrant expressionistic paintings. Tropical flora in an exciting array of colors and faces blend in an emotional collage in acrylic. Music from Partic Thompson and Glenn Isaacson. Beers from Iron Horse Brewery and complimentary refreshments.

RadarStation

115 S. Wenatchee Ave. • First Friday FREE Reception: 5:00-9:00 pm Wordplay: A Group Art Show of Puns, riddles, poems and painted words. This month at RadarStation we explore the myriad ways words and art can be intertwined. Did we mention puns? Following the reception we will be showing a free screening of the documentary “Wordplay”—hosted by world renowned anagramist (and creator of the Comet Magazine monthly crossword puzzle) Cory Calhoun. There will be a brief Q&A with Cory on his word skills as well as how he constructs his puzzles. This show is 18+only.

Featured piece by Cristina Cabral.

Tumbleweed Shop & Studio

105 Palouse • First Friday: 5-8 • Daily: Tue-Sat 11-6, Sun 11- 4 “Hi! I’m Emily Wilson and I am the hands behind all of the stitching! I moved to Wenatchee from Central Virginia a little over a year ago and haven’t looked back since! Growing up I dabbled in all sorts of crafts, not settling on modern embroidery until two years ago. I have since combined my love for plants with my love for modern embroidery in the pieces you will see displayed. I hope you find something you love and I hope to see you in September!”

Ye Olde Bookshoppe

11 Palouse St. • First Friday: 5:00-8:00 pm • Store Hours: Mon 11-7, Tue-Thur 10-7, Fri-Sat 10-8 Inspired by the depths of darker beauties of the world, The Darkest Moon, Devon Rae brings its light to the ever illuminating surface with every creation.

Her divine ways of mixing elements of earthly material with bones, feathers, wood, as well as recycled metals originates a story full of magick, elegance, and a power of its own.

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center

127 South Mission Street • wenatcheevalleymuseum. org • First Friday (FREE): 10-8 • Daily: Tues-Sat 10-4.

Last chance to see the 2018 Juried Art Show and Sale! It showcases exceptional work by regional artists. The upstairs rotating gallery holds A Brief History of Photography. This exhibit, featuring a wide selection of cameras from the Museum’s historical collection, is a precursor to the coming exhibit Beyond the Frame: Inland Bounty, The work of Edward S. Curtis in the Columbia River Basin. This project is in conjunction with the greater Beyond the Frame effort taking place throughout the Pacific Northwest.

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Lemolo Cafe & Deli

114 N Wenatchee Ave. • First Friday: Open until 6:00pm • Cafe Hours: Sun & Mon 11-4, Tue-Sat 11-6 Claudia’s heart is captured by light and color as she works with oils, acrylics, and mixed media. Claudia’s art is inspired by creation and welcomes all into a world of whimsy and delight.

Class with a Glass

10 S. Columbia • classwithaglass.com • First Friday Reception: 5:00-8:00pm • Daily: Thu-Sat 6:30-9:00pm • Private parties by appointment.

Kmbris Bond shares a lively selection featuring portraiture, still-life forms, and landscapes of local mountains and vineyards. Her work is featured at Class with a Glass, a “sip & paint” studio on the corner of Palouse and Columbia. Class will be in session from 6:30–9:00 pm this first Friday. Join us and create your own masterpiece!

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Julie Aynn Photography

15 Palouse Street #103 • First Friday Art Walk Hours: 5:00-8:00pm • Business Hours: By appointment only Julie Aynn Photography will be hosting: Scotty & Calvin Designs – handmade, reclaimed wood signs, hats, cards, and home décor.

Cakes & Bakes by Stephanie – delicious baked goods including scones, cookies, cupcakes and more.

Mela

17 N. Wenatchee Ave. • melacoffee.com • First Friday Opening Reception: 5:00-8:00pm • Daily: Mon-Fri 6-6, Sat & Sun 8-4 Mela welcomes Terry Valdez: Coyote Emerging & The Millennial Series. “This collection of work features portrait paintings exploring the millennial generation as well as my relationship with the legendary Trickster Coyote. All portrait subjects are past students of mine from my years as an art educator in the Eastmont School District. Each individual by their own unique existence has inspired me to attempt to peel back and connect to the complicated layers of this emerging, brilliant and sometimes confusing generation. Coyote is ever present as my trickster in life.

Be it through dreams, messengers or story telling.”

Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce

137 North Wenatchee Avenue • 509.662.2116 • First Friday Reception: 5:00-8:00pm Fall is in the Air, and First Friday at the Chamber is All About Apples and Pears! Paula Frederick of Country Elegance will be pouring a variety of Hard Cider, as well as displaying her Art Work. There will be Fresh Apple Pie as well as Apple and Pear Tart tasting from Apple of My Pie. And for the kids we’ll have fresh cider. Join us at the Chamber Tasting Room.

Pan’s Grotto

3 N Wenatchee Ave, Suite 2 • don@pansgrotto.com Harvest Festival: Come celebrate the coming of Fall with us. Our theme this month focuses on the change of seasons and reflecting on and being grateful for what we have.

Be sure to come see what Fall means to our local talented artists, showing for all of September.

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NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: the evolution of sarah lalley

by ron evans does that process differ from working on your own ideas? How would someone contact you for commissioned works?

Commissions are accepted. I work with clients closely and allow them into my What is your stance on making prints process, so that we are designing it toor replications of original works? gether. This is another aspect that my tatI utilize the prints of my work to the best too career has really helped my painting I can. Locally, I do a lot of shows and live life. I can be contacted at painting and always try to have some in ​sarahlalleyart@gmail.com hand to introduce my artwork into a new home.

Where can people find your work online?

Do you attend or vend at conventions I am very easy to find on social media, or festivals? If so, what has been your specifically Facebook.com/sarahlalleyart and Instagram @sarahlalleyart and @sarexperience at them?

Regularly. All shows and conventions ahlalleytattoo. have a hit or miss factor, but the opportunity to at least show my work to someone What’s up next for you?

I will continue to work on my skills and new makes the time worth it to me. let my work evolve as it has over the past How does a piece typically start for few years. I’ve really enjoyed my artistic you? Are you sketching and plotting, journey to this point and I can not wait to or starting with a blank canvas and see what’s next. C seeing where it goes?

As my work has evolved, it has come down to complete control from plotting, composition, sketches, to palette.

I have a routine of unstructured spontaneity. I am always working on some form of my work, whether it be mental or physical. I am in the studio everyday, trying to make something.

I first found Sarah Lalley’s eye-popping surrealist work on Instagram in 2014 when I began seeking out quality work for my new little gallery RadarStation.

The pieces I fell in love with were a mixture of dark imagery and richly rendered wierdness. Her new output is decidedly more four color comic inspired, like giant panels of animation cells from a Simpsons episode. I reached out to her to talk about that progression.

switch styles and mediums.

Is it important that you keep consciously mixing it up in terms of style and technique, or do you just let things happen organically?

I work very organically, I constantly

Following your social media pages it seems you are painting almost nonstop. Are you working on art every day? Do you have a routine or is it unDo you offer commissions? If so, how structured and spontaneous?

Who are some of your influences, past and present?

Alfonso Mucha, Van Gogh, Max Ernst.

Artists now have many more options beyond galleries and dealers. Instagram and Facebook are how many people find artists and new works that speak to them. How have you used social media to your benefit?

Your work has been evolving since I I use social media every day, sharing both have been following it, but your lat- my artwork and my tattoo work. Social est output has really taken you into a media allows you to reach people on the different style. What drew you to the other side of the world that your work bold colors and cartoony-comic book can mean so much to - more than you style paintings you are currently pro- originally intended. It’s fascinating! ducing?

I believe that my painting style has Do you put much effort into gallery evolved from my progression as a tattoo representation? artist. I have always enjoyed the graphic I believe it is always a struggle to reach nature of design. There has recently a high end gallery for representation. been a heavy influence on my work from Sometimes though, the work can speak for itself. studying vintage designs and interiors.

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WORDPLAY: CORY CALHOUN ON CRAFTING THE PERFECT PUZZLE

CORY “DAMN YOU” CALHOUN PLOTTING HIS NEXT MOVE. STILL FROM ARS MAGNA

by ron evans One year ago we sat down with East Wenatchee native Cory Calhoun to discuss his uncanny (and famous) anagram work. One thing missing from that issue was the subsequent Comet crossword puzzle, which began in issue two. For the twelfth issue we wanted to have Cory back to chat about the puzzles, what he’s been up to lately and how he feels about tormenting locals with his trick-riddled crosswords.

Be honest, how much glee do you get from frustrating the folks that solve your puzzles?

Ha! In short, a lot. But if I may elaborate on that point a bit…

First, I should make it clear that I am by no means as experienced or published a crossword constructor (or, if ya wanna get fancy, a “cruciverbalist”) as a lot of the big names in the crossword game— outside of my work for The Comet, I’ve had one puzzle previously published on WIRED.com in 2010. I’ve been into crosswords and word puzzles all my life, but I only started creating crossword puzzles in earnest 15 years ago.

And even then, I’d make them sporadically and submit them to the New York Times even less. Basically, it’d go like this: I’d get bitten by the crossword bug, spend a few weeks trying to make a few, lose interest because it was too hard, wait three or four years, and get bitten again. Rinse and repeat. But each time, I’d get a little better and learn a little more. I also discovered a handful of daily crossword blogs that cover puzzles from the New York Times and more, and that really helped me get a feel for what to do and what not to do.

And one thing I’ve learned is, especially when trying your hand at constructing crosswords for the first time: it’s harder to make a puzzle that’s easy, and it’s much easier to make a puzzle that’s hard. By that, I mean that it’s easier to grab an obscure word or phrase (there’s plenty out there!) to make a section of a puzzle grid serve your constructing purposes—like, you just have to have a five-letter word with YR as the first two letters, so you go with the California town of YREKA. It’s best to rip up that

part of the puzzle and start over with more “get-able” (but less plentiful) answers. One of the guidelines of most major publications is to go super-light on obscure phrases and “crosswordese” (i.e., legit words or phrases that almost always only ever appear in puzzles and not everyday speech—ANOA, ERN, EERO, ARAL, etc.) The goal is to make the grid—both the theme answers and the fill around them—as smooth as possible.

For example, my very first puzzle for The Comet is one I wish I could go back and redo. There were more obscure entries in there than I’d like, but it still felt strong enough in my judgment to be released into the wild.

For what it’s worth, I also check to see if the answer a) is in the dictionary, b) has been used in a published crossword elsewhere, or c) is a widely-used phrase even if it doesn’t satisfy a) or b).

I’ll come clean and admit that a few of my first puzzles for The Comet leaned more toward the “too many obscure answers” side of things. This mostly happened in my early themeless puzzles.

Themeless puzzles, which are also a staple of NYT on Fridays and Saturdays, free up the constructor to use more long answers, more open white spaces, and lots of so-called “crunchy” answers.

Examples of crunchy phrases include DJ JAZZY JEFF, XBOX ONE X, VEGGIE KEBAB, and POP QUIZ. (Basically, if the letters were Scrabble tiles, the more high-scoring letters you use, the better.)

Another notable offender is my second themeless puzzle for The Comet. I call it the “Monster Face” puzzle: it had left-right symmetry (not the usual rotational symmetry in most puzzles), and it looked, unintentionally, kind of like an angry cat or space creature. I wanted to see just how many crazy yet totally legit—and unfortunately really hard or obscure—answers I could fit into the grid. So I had normal answers like GLOVE and JERK and PANCAKE MIX … but also packed in less common answers like LIL UZI VERT (the rap artist) and MR. MXYZPTLK (a notable Superman villain) and SECOND RED SCARE (eh…

THE COMET go to Wikipedia for that one). Plus a lot of the shorter fill was hard to get, too (PERIDOT and ROSEHIP, anyone?).

After I got those out of my system, and after gleaning more wisdom from those crossword reviews I’d read, I got stricter and smarter with my construction approach. I do all I can to have as many “smooth” answers as possible—which I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of, to be frank. So the frustration I delight in others having isn’t when they’re trying to parse an obscure answer, but rather in cracking clues for smooth answers that tricky or “punny,” yielding that dopamine hit of an “aha!” moment. (In fact, a lot of the blogs I read are as bummed out by a hard puzzle as an easy one—hitting that difficulty sweet spot in the middle is the most sought-after goal for constructors.)

Why do you think it’s so damn satisfying to complete a difficult puzzle?

I’ve heard other people say that it’s about our human brain’s need to complete an incomplete pattern, and to solve a riddle or a challenge. Crosswords put those two things together so elegantly.

It’s also helps the solver if they have a reasonably broad range of knowledge— though it’s not entirely necessary. If a puzzle is constructed well, a solver doesn’t have to, let’s say, know the names of former pro football players from the 1960s or 17th-century physicists. If the answers that cross them vary enough in the knowledge required to solve them, one should be able to solve around that one answer you can’t quite get otherwise.

I mentioned that I follow a few blogs by puzzle constructors who solve, rate, and write about daily puzzles—everything from puzzles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to lots of really great indie puzzle websites. Those constructors love learning new facts from the puzzles they solve, as well as finding fresh new phrases or themes they haven’t seen before. Crosswords are a format that people keep finding new ways to reinvent, and it’s a joy for both solvers and constructors alike.

For me personally, it’s a bit of all of

the above. The thing is, I don’t really became “the puzzle.” (Incidentally, Will even do crossword puzzles anymore, Shortz, the current NYT crossword which is weird! I think now that I’ve editor, will match her in just two years, if been constructing them for so long, he hangs in there). Margaret established I’m more interested in analyzing and new guidelines that are pretty much the deconstructing the finished grids of standard of all US crossword puzzles published puzzles than taking the time to today: symmetrical grid layout, no words solve them. (Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy shorter than three letters, all squares parsing clever clues, but I’m a busy man!) must appear in one across answer and one I marvel at down answer, some of the and so on. things other She also “Crosswords are a format that constructors i n t r o d u c ed people keep finding new ways to come up the concept reinvent, and it’s a joy for both with—it’s of themed solvers and constructors alike.” both envypuzzles, inducing and which is inspiring at the same time, and pushes par for the course nowadays, and even me to up my game whenever I start built a team of regular crossword constructing a new puzzle. I used to puzzle contributors. That said, for solve crosswords all the time, as a kid decades anyone could, and still can, and then really getting into them again submit a puzzle to NYT—but they during and after college. I’d go each do have their favorite constructors.

Sunday morning to a nearby coffee shop or restaurant, grab a copy of the Seattle After that, Will Weng took over for eight Times Sunday edition, and do both the years, adding more wordplay to the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles that were submitted. Then Eugene puzzle, as well as Merle Reagle’s Sunday Maleska served as editor until 1993. He puzzle (RIP Merle! Miss his puzzles.) So pushed to add more cultural relevance to there’s a ritualistic aspect to it as well. the puzzles and elevate their seriousness.

How and when did the New York Times become known as the crème de la crème of quality crossword puzzles? And is that notion changing?

It is changing, at least in the eyes of a growing contingent of solvers and constructors. But first, a little background…

So the NYT puzzle really established itself in the early 1940s, which is funny because crosswords had been around for quite a while already (the first one ever was published in 1913 in the bygone New York World newspaper). NYT was actually the last major daily newspaper in the US to have a crossword at the time. Back then, publishers and editors ran crosswords to help take American readers’ minds off of WWII, and it worked—while solidifying crosswords as a bona fide puzzle phenomenon, too.

But it wasn’t until Margaret Farrar became NYT’s first crossword puzzle editor in 1942, a position she held for 27 years, that the NYT puzzle really

And then Will Shortz became the editor, and he’s been there ever since. He’s definitely a trailblazer in broadening the appeal of crosswords. During this time, he allowed brand names and nondictionary phrases into the puzzles—his rationale was, if it’s something that may appear in the New York Times itself, it’s fair game to appear in a puzzle.

That really helped me frame how I approach coming up with a puzzle.

First, I try to think of an interesting theme—or, if it’s a themeless, I think of a handful of long, crunchy phrases I’d like to build my puzzle around. Either way, you work to create a set of theme answers that are usually the longest answers the puzzle. Getting theme answers just right, or finding long answers you think will work well as the “seeds” for the puzzle, takes a lot of care.

Once I have those, I create a grid in

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Microsoft Excel. Yes, really! There’s special software available for creating and publishing crosswords—Crossword Compiler is the best—but there’s some flexibility in good ol’ Excel that’s not there in specialized software. (Sidebar: unlike most modern constructors now, I don’t use the auto-filling and word-list features that such specialized crossword software has. That’s right: you can buy or create long lists of possible answers, and use those to auto-fill around all your own made-up theme answers. It’s helpful in speeding up the process, to be sure, but my methods are slightly more old-fashioned.

Well, I do use online crossword-answer databases—but I only can use it to work on one answer at a time, not dozens at once in the blink of an eye. Plus, I use my brain. Most of the time, it’s all I need.)

The construction and word-crossing is only part of the game. The most satisfying (and often most fist-clenchinducing) puzzles have clues which in and of themselves are trickery of words. What is the ratio of time, effort and fun you put into these different elements?

On average, I’d say 10% is spent on coming up with a solid theme, 45% on filling out the grid, and 45% on writing those “fist-clench-inducing” clues. This ratio changes a bit from puzzle to puzzle, of course, especially if you’re deep into filling the grid or writing the clues and you realize you made a big mistake in the early part.

For me, if creating the theme and filling the grid are like training for and running a marathon, writing the clues are like the huge victory dinner and round of beers you treat yourself to after. I’ve been a pun addict all my life—hell, I was paid to basically right puns for six years when I was a copywriter for Tommy Bahama— so that helps. Besides a strong theme, top-notch clue writing is the secret sauce of truly great crossword constructors.

Sure, there’s software that can help you whip up an amazing grid in little time, but it can’t crank out a brain-busting, meticulously crafted clue. (Well, not yet, anyway. Though by the time AI can write great clues, Skynet will be here and

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we’ll have bigger problems to deal with.)

What is the process of submitting your puzzles?

It varies depending on who you submit to. For NYT, you need to format your finished puzzle in a particular way—and printed on paper. NYT is still, as far as I know, the only major publication that only accepts snail-mail submissions. I think it’s a mix of discouraging less committed constructors from firing off dozens of puzzles via email all at once, but I also heard that Will Shortz just likes it that way.

In your submission, you include a printout of the puzzle’s grid blank, another with the grid filled with answers, and then a number list of all your clues, followed again by their corresponding answers. If needed, you include links to references that explain where you got some of your more obscure entries.

You also need to make sure your theme, grid, and clues are all with certain content guidelines laid out by Will.

It takes a minimum of three months to hear back (via email, ironically) from Will or his editing team. (So many entries are submitted that Will has a team of screeners and assistant editors to help him out.) The cool thing is that they’ll give you specific reasons why they did or didn’t choose to accept your puzzle— though, as I’ve learned, they’ll often tell you that your puzzle is perfectly fine but just not what they’re looking for.

The furthest I got was a puzzle that Will expressed interest in, but asked that I rework parts of it and send it in again.

Once I sent in the revision, I had to wait another three months to learn that he and his staff changed their minds.

I recently submitted a puzzle (via email! Amazing!) to the Los Angeles Times, which also has a strong daily puzzle.

Ironically, their content guidelines are even stricter than NYT’s—which is also a fair way to weed out a lot of well-meaning but novice constructors submitting what turn out to be unpublishable puzzles. Here’s hoping my humble offering pans out.

What are some other respected sources of crossword puzzles?

There are more places today that people can submit puzzles to than even 10 years ago, which is great. (Thanks, internet!)

The biggest ones, other than NYT, are the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the long-time favorite GAMES Magazine. People can also submit directly to syndication publisher outlets like Simon & Schuster and Puzzle Junction. If you’re looking for online-only puzzles, great websites include American Values Club Crosswords (formerly part of avclub.com), Chronicle of Higher Education, CRooked Crosswords (with a capital “CR” in “CRooked”), Fireball Crosswords, the Muller Monthly Music Meta, and puzzle constructor Brendan Emmet Quigley’s website—he cranks out at least one per week and has over 1,000 on his site. And that’s really just scratching the surface of what’s out there.

Will Shortz has become something of a chairman in the world of crosswords. This has been polarizing at times. How has Will’s influence affected the puzzler community?

He’s been the most mainstream face of crossword puzzles for the last 25 years, to be sure. But over the last five years or so, several constructors and solvers alike have called him out for, unconsciously or not, perpetuating sexist and racist stereotypes in clues and answers he edits. (The most vocal is a constructor named Michael Sharp, who goes by the pseudonym “Rex Parker” and blogs daily about each new NYT crossword. And though Mr. “Parker” is, for my tastes, kind of like the crossword equivalent of the snooty food critic from Pixar’s Ratatouille, he’s relentless in calling out not only how the overall quality of the NYT’s puzzles has diminished over the last 5-10 years, but that several clues are tone-deaf when it comes to respect for people of color, the LGBTQ community, and so on.)

And here’s the thing: I totally agree with those assessments. I’ve read breakdowns of various clues and answers he’s had a hand in rewriting—I should note that

he personally rewrites about 50% of a given puzzle’s clues as well as many fill answers, which is pretty standard for a crossword editor—and the evidence is pretty overwhelming. Which is ironic, because I feel he played a part in bringing crosswords to a more diverse audience … who is rightfully calling him out for writing clues and answers that, frankly, read as too old and too white. As an almost-middle-aged white guy myself, I subscribe to the radical idea that plenty of older white guys have an, ahem, innate knack for racial and gender insensitivity, unwitting or otherwise. To that point I think, in Mr. Shortz’s case, he’s unwitting. But that doesn’t let him off the hook. People write to him regularly to complain, as well they should. In response to this sort of status quo, the number of alternative puzzle publications out there is growing, and they’re more inclusive—and representative—of the diverse audience of solvers and constructors that exists today. It’s an exciting time for crossword lovers everywhere in that regard.

In an age when we do everything (well, practically) on our phones and computers, many purists still have to sit down with a newspaper or book and pencil - or pen if you’re a cocky bastard - and manually scribble in the solutions. Still, many are discovering new ways of puzzling. How has technology changed the way we do puzzles?

For solvers, in addition to opening up more puzzles to more people, it’s given them more choices for how and when they want to solve a puzzle. I know plenty of people who, like me, prefer taking time to sit down with a writing utensil and a printed copy. But, if you’re on a long bus commute and you didn’t happen to bring a copy of the newspaper or print it out at home, it’s nice having access to it on your phone—though solving a crossword on your phone is, for me, a cramped experience. I like seeing the whole grid all at once without zooming in and out. Digital solving for me is best on a desktop computer, a laptop, or a tablet.

For constructors, it’s definitely sped up the process of constructing a puzzle, and with the advent of crossword databases and auto-fill software, they can create previously unheard-of puzzle constructions (e.g. lots of stacked clues with lengths of 10-15 letters). Plus software like Crossword Compiler lets you publish interactive versions of your puzzles to the web really easily.

Are your crosswords available online?

They are at last! I’ve just created a new website, csccrosswords.wordpress.com (or, if you like less characters to type, tinyurl.com/cscxwords works too). There aren’t many puzzles there right now, but I’m hoping to have 20 or so up on the site by the end of the year, with the goal of adding at least two per month after that.

It currently features a mix of puzzles that have previously appeared in The Comet, plus new ones making their debut. And they’re all available for download as a PDF or in Across Lite format, as well as in easy-to-use interactive online format with no download required.

There’ll be other kinds of puzzles as well, and what I call “Word Nerd Spotlights” on some other fun wordplay stuff I’ve had lying around that I’m ready to foist upon the masses.

What resources would you steer people toward if they would like to try their hand at creating their own puzzle?

One absolutely great resource is cruciverb. com. It’s full of links to tips on puzzle creation, top constructor’s own websites and puzzles, different publications seeking crossword submissions, crossword databases, and more.

I would also recommend crosswordtracker.com, which I use when I create puzzles. It’s as useful for solvers as it is for constructors. You can search by clue or by answer, and it will show you every time it’s appeared in a major published crossword puzzle going back to the 1950s. It’s insane. It’s a good way to avoid repeating some of the most used clues, as well as verifying whether or not the answer you think is too obscure was ever actually in a

THE COMET published puzzle before. That doesn’t always mean you should use it in your puzzle, but it’s helpful nevertheless.

For staying on top of daily puzzle trends from all over, the commentary at crosswordfiend.com is awesome. It features a group of constructors who cover a mix of about 10 or so puzzles— some major, some a bit more obscure— with insightful and funny commentary that’s totally on my wavelength.

Finally, for constructing puzzles, I mentioned that I like using Microsoft Excel, but you can also use Crossword Compiler. Its features have a steep learning curve, but it has a ton of really useful features that can take your online interactive puzzle to the next level. The demo version is free and very limited, but the pro version is just $49 and gives you access to publishing your interactive crosswords free on their site. It’s a great deal and you can download it at crossword-compiler.com.

This Friday at RadarStation we will be screening the documentary “Wordplay” preceded by a Q&A we will have about the film, crosswords, anagrams and all things wordy. Tell us a little about the film and what people can expect from this event.

Well, “Wordplay” focuses primarily on Will Shortz—but despite everything I just said, it’s still a fascinating documentary worth watching! It covers his unlikely path to where he is today, as well as how he not only invented his own crosswordfocused major in college (no, really!) but also founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which is now the largest such tournament in the world. It also spends a fair amount of time with the late Merle Reagle, who was not only an incredibly talented constructor but usually packed his puzzles with lots of wacky humor and amusing rule-bending.

Plus there are a ton of celebrities in it (Jon Stewart! The Indigo Girls!) who talk about their love of crosswords— and actually solve a crossword that Mr. Reagle creates during the documentary.

And that doesn’t even touch what goes down at the puzzle tournament that the documentary covers: if you think watching someone try to solve a pro-level crossword isn’t nail-biting, think again.

As for me, I’ll be happy to chat about my crossword-constructing experiences, tips on creating a crossword, anagrams, and any other word-nerdiness I’ve been involved with.

Many of our readers would not bother with crossword puzzles but may be ravenous Scrabblers—or Words with Friends players, if you are one of those traitors. Can you offer any tips on how players may improve their game?

Know your two-letter words. As many as you can. The official Scrabble list of them seems to grow bigger each year, so keep an eye on that. Also, don’t be afraid to exchange letters early in a game if you get a cruddy rackful. Get rid of Cs and Us early and often, either by swapping letters or playing them in low-scoring “letter dump” words. That said, also try to never lay down a word that’s less than 10 points. And practice anagramming, even if it means having a little pad of paper next to you where you can scribble different combinations of letters. This also includes anagramming with letters on the board you might potentially try to build a word off of, as well as anagramming with a blank tile and thinking through what it could be used for. Easier said than done, but a huge help if you’re even a little bit dedicated to it.

As a devoted fan of wordplay, you must have a unique perspective on writing. You have done copywriting as a career, do you also dabble in creative writing?

I do, and I get the creative writing bug with slightly less frequency then the crossword bug. My only published piece of fiction so far was “John with the 37 Faces,” a piece of flash fiction from what I believe was the first issue of The Comet.

I’ve started a few unfinished epic sci-fi novels, and I’ve hung onto them for when inspiration strikes again. In college, I had a minor concentration in playwriting at Western Washington University. They

had a great playwriting program there, and I was lucky enough to have several one-act plays and a full-length play staged there. One of them was a finalist at the American College Theatre Festival— and it was a twisted sci-fi fable called “Anagrammatica.” Even in my creating writing, I infuse wordplay when I can.

What are some favorite authors or books of yours?

I’m drawn to fiction and authors that offer a twist on sci-fi and fantasy, that upend or do something different by mashing them up with other genres to yield something greater than the sum of their parts. I like a lot of Cory Doctorow’s speculative fiction. Neal Stephenson writes sci-fi with the density of Tolstoy, and while it’s very good, I dig his shorter, more digestible stuff like Snow Crash.

I’ve perversely read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road more times than I can count, which I don’t think I’m even ready to unpack but there you have it. I’m a huge fan of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. It’s about two kids from different dimensions fighting against an alternate version of the Catholic Church alongside armored polar bears, witches, renegade angels, and bizarre elephant/ motorcycle hybrid creatures. It’s grand, subversive, emotional stuff. And though I don’t have a single favorite novel, the one that I can’t stop thinking about is Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World, which is a humanist, hilarious, insanely creative epic mind-blower that reads like Kirk Vonnegut by way of Douglas Adams—and one of the greatest narrative rug-pulls I’ve ever read.

Are you strictly a crossword maker or do you construct other types of brainteasing puzzles?

Indeed, I’m not limited to crosswords— and am hoping to bust some other puzzle types out in future issues of The Comet. (You heard it here first, folks!) I create anacrostics, which are sort of a cross between a crossword puzzle, anagrams, and solving phrases on Wheel of Fortune. I also create various image-based and code-based puzzles. I first got into those when I created several for a scavenger hunt

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for Microsoft Virtual Academy in 2017.

I’m also starting to create meta crosswords, which are a new puzzle type that’s rapidly growing in popularity.

(Constructor Matt Gaffney does a great weekly one for the Wall Street Journal, for example.) Basically, they look and solve like a regular themeless crossword puzzle—except once you’re done filling the puzzle grid, there’s one extra answer to solve that’s hidden somewhere inside it. You’re given a hint of what to look for—it’s usually just a single word or phrase—and using only that hint, the puzzle’s title, the clues and the answers, you have to use escape-room-type lateral thinking to find that hidden answer.

It’s a brilliant way of upping the “aha” factor that crossword solvers crave.

Crosswords are everywhere you look in the publishing world, and that’s been the case for decades. Thousands (more?) of puzzles must be created every year and yet the average Joe and Jill would never know one single puzzle constructor’s name.

Are there household names that beg reverence amongst die-hard puzzlers?

I’ve mentioned Will Shortz, Merle Reagle, Brendan Emmett Quigley, and Matt Gaffney. Other crossword puzzle luminaries (and I’ll leave it to y’all to Google them to discover their puzzles) include Trip Payne, Elizabeth Gorski, Patrick Blindauer, Ben Tausig, and Fred Piscop, to name a few.

Also a special shout-out to Mike Selinker, president of Lone Shark Games. He’s a puzzle and game designer who not only constructed one of my favorite NYT Sunday puzzles of all time, but was also the editor for my first published puzzle on WIRED.com.

Give us your best anagram for “The Comet Magazine.”

“Manic Home Gazette.” You’re welcome.

Cory’s puzzles can be found online here. csccrosswords.wordpress.com (aka tinyurl.com/cscxwords) C

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THE COMET

howell at the movies: My Favorite Filth

I loathe being asked about favorites - favorite colors, favorite songs, favorite movies. These are prying questions, designed to sink a hook into you - either to create a superficial bridge from which to claim that you and the asker have something in common, or a shortcut from which to make assumptions about who you are. Believe me, if you answer BY jamie howell (in order) “Purple”, “Dancing Queen” and “The Crying Game,” assumptions will be made.

Mainly I hate it because I’m fairly certain that a truthful answer about my favorite things will prove me aberrant, unredeemable freak with a goodly number of things wrong in the head.

All of which brings us to my favorite movie …

One doesn’t often associate Dame Helen Mirren, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with nude scenes, much less bathroom blowjobs, but that’s only because you haven’t yet caught, “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.”

It hit the screens back in April of 1990, at a time when I was regularly cutting college classes in favor of getting drunk in the back of Seattle’s arthouses and multiplexes, acquainting myself with the broader possibilities of film. Much of the time, I’d drift off in a bored perplexity, failing to parse all the abstract references

and intellectual acrobatics that the smarty pants were embedding in their movies.

But “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” sat me up straight and slapped the drink right outta my hand. Horrifying and inspirational at once, I’d never encountered such an unwavering weave of brutality and beauty.

How can you possibly open a movie with vicious thugs stripping and torturing a cantina owner by smearing him in dogshit? Or force-feeding a choirboy the buttons off his tunic? Or stuffing Helen Mirren buck naked into a van filled with decomposing meat? How do you do all of that - fill two hours with some of the most disturbing violence and demented disregard for social graces I’ve ever seen - and make it beautiful?

But they did it, and I could not have been more fascinated.

Helen Mirren plays Georgina, the wellbred wife of an ill-bred monster played

by Michael Gambon. Most of the film is set in Le Hollandais, a fine French restaurant somewhere in London that is owned and overrun by Gambon’s character (Albert Spica) and his gang of low-lifes. They barge in every night for dinner, harassing and abusing everyone within reach. When Georgina seeks her escape by means of an affair conducted, with the assistance of the soft-hearted French chef, right under her cruel husband’s nose (literally inside the restaurant with one of the other regular diners), well, trouble ensues.

The entire movie is run through with scatological filth and violence. Gambon’s villain is among the worst I’ve ever seen onscreen - a boor and a bully, misogynistic, racist, the very embodiment of VUL-

GAR. The foulness issues from him in an unceasing stream that forces you to yearn for Georgina’s liberation. So when she’s shtupping her lover amidst a snowfall of recently plucked pheasant feathers in the kitchen larder as her hubby holds court in the dining room, you want it for her.

Yet, running counterpoint to all this vulgarity are beautifully staged scenes, color-coded, in fact. The alley behind Le Hollandais is blue. The kitchen is green.

The dining room is red. The restrooms are stark white. And as the camera dollies from one to the other, the actors’ costumes actually change color to match. Evil Albert’s sashes go from red to green as he trespasses from dining room to kitchen.

Georgina’s corsets shift from blue out back to white in the loo. Even her cigarettes change color to match the palette of each space. And every setting is sumptuous, as decadent in its beauty as the action is in its debauchery.

Until you’ve actually tried to dress a movie set, it can be easy to forget that every candleholder, teacup, dish, goblet, tablecloth, painting, chandelier, dinner jacket, and dress shoe has been hand selected by a set designer or a costumer. Every element in every frame of the movie has been chosen, placed and approved by someone before the cameras roll. Multiply that by choosing an unrelated color palette for every setting in a movie and you’ve got yourself a gigantic and expensive project. These were lavish, multi-story spaces filled with draperies and murals, tables overflowing with wild fowl, cornucopia spilling over everything, and haute couture designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

In other words, it was a massive risk.

It didn’t win much. The Chicago Film Critics Association named it Best Foreign Film in 1991. Beyond that, it was a hit in Catalonia … and with me, both that halfdrunk college student trying to understand the connection between creativity and bravery, and today’s more sober version, still laboring to find courage in the face of life’s unending admonitions that we play it safe.

For me, it boils down to audacity. The best thing about “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” is the feat of bravery required to bring it into being. Writer and director Peter Greenaway must have been told thousands of times what a sickening script he had on his hands, what a terrible idea the whole thing was, what a waste of money it would be. But nothing stopped Greenaway and his cohorts. He held in his mind a surreal and ultimately beautiful aesthetic. He was willing to ask his actors to take outlandish risks, to film excess, gluttony and fetishism in the service of his art, to make a statement the way only he could make it regardless of the likelihood that it would ever be fully understood. In the end, he made it.

The oysters on that dude.

That’s where creativity lives - on the far side of risk. And you don’t get there without the cajones to cross over.

P.S. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to press the not-so-risk-averse Mr. Evans into projecting this one upon his wall at the Radarstation at some point. C

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COMET TALES: rEADER SUBMITTED WRITINGS SUFFERING AND SILENCE

by BRANDON HUGHES

It took three days and nights for the noise to begin to fade. The choir of mountain

standing over her shoulder he made some derogatory comment that she can’t recall.

frogs is all she could hear at the moment. Keeping her awake, actually. It takes some

No more rude than the usual ones he makes, this just happened to be the one that

adjustment for a person to be able relax into a new environment. Still, this sound is

made her snap. No sooner than the punctuation was uttered, her phone rang, and

much preferred to the car horns and door slamming that she had been used to. The

before she could even think about it, her arm grabbed the entire phone and in one

sounds were welcomed at night when any method that would drown out the day

motion she swung it around and bashed him on the bottom of his face.

sounds was sought after. First she’d try to drown them in drink. Later on, food. The

Autumn, too, was abundant. Tubers and nuts everywhere along with late tree

crunchier the better. Masticating worked pretty well because it made sound inside

fruit. She was storing away pounds in a make shift root cellar. Natures noise began

of her head. Then drink a bit more and lay in bed listening to the stray cats yowl in

to mellow as the seasons cycled through. Crickets and the occasional hoot owl made

the alley below.

up the nocturnal orchestra and she was getting used to the silence in between. She

Hard to believe that it had only been seven days since she broke her boss’s jaw.

That almost felt like a different life. Everything was foggy back then. Ten years of the noise, which means a solid nine and a half of drinking like a banshee in an

would listen deeply to the sound of nothing. Black- then one cricket- the vibrations would ripple in from the void. She soaked them up.

She lost her job, of course. Corporate knew she had a sexual harassment case so

attempt to cope with the noise infection. Here she was on the other side of the globe

they offered her a year of severance pay to go away. That is exactly what she did.

working hard to forget that madness. Lucky for her, nature works in logical ways-

Her downstairs neighbor had an uncle in the old country with a cabin she could stay

when you use alcohol to numb trauma for years and years those memories are so

in. It took four days by plane, bus, and donkey for her and two suitcases to arrive.

blurry that they are easier forgotten.

She needed to heal.

It was spring time on Mount Katta Tosh, as the locals called it. All she had in

The first snowfall came in feet. A cold northern storm dropped a thick blanket

mind now was adapting to her new life in the woods. New life for a year anyway, she

on the whole mountain, insulating the forest from all sounds. This silence was

would run out of money in thirteen months. But that seemed like an eternity at this

profound. No more ringing, no more chatter, no more incessant buzzing of

rate. She thought about the incident a few times a day, sometimes feeling remorse,

frequencies from every electrical gadget and wire large or small. After a week

sometimes righteousness. The look of the poor bastard laying there on the cheap

the silence began to hurt. That’s not supposed to happen is it… The next day was

patterned carpet, his face swelling up before her eyes. To be fair she had warned

sunny and the birds came out. Oh, the beautiful song. She was joyful for the break

him.

in silence. It was fleeting though, another storm blew in bringing twice as much

As spring started heating up and drying out so did the mushrooms she had been

snow as the last one. She spent an entire day digging her self out. Then the silence

subsisting on, almost exclusively, for two and a half months. Her hearing was much

returned. Penetrating, even worse now, because she knew that there were three

improved. There was still noise but not an infection like before. Nature sounds

months of winter left. She would chant and sing. This kept her ears satisfied for a

filled her ears all day and she loved every minute of it. Her heart would flush when

few weeks but the silence wore her down. She lost her desire to make any sound.

she hear the sound of the male hummingbird dive or the whoosh of the breeze in the

Maybe she was trying to not resist; to truly embrace it. This, also, was short lived.

trees under the full moon light.

Her ears started to get restless, kind of itchy and ticklish, they craved sound. The

How did she ever spend so many years working at the call center? Stressed out

snow kept falling and with it quiet. She started hearing sound in her head but not

and survival mode, not to mention hungover, no wonder she couldn’t think straight.

like normal, it was coming from between her ears. If she hummed it would go away

The sound of the ringers in the office. She was sure that it was some sick corporate

but when she stopped it was back. “Is this the infection?” she wondered Her days

plan to make the ring so repulsive that you’d pick it up right away. If that was the

were now spent screaming, shaking her head, at times hitting in on whatever is

sound that started the infection, the conversations that followed were what fed the

nearby. This was torture. She still had no desire to make sounds but it was required

sickness. Endless complaints, ninety percent bullshit, for hours a day. “One of these

if she wanted to stop the silent sound. This is when the madness took hold.

days I’m gonna snap.” she had been telling him for the past four years.

There was easy nourishment in the summer as well. Berries for miles around and

The days were getting longer but she didn’t notice. Snow was melting but it was as if her eyes couldn’t see it. She sat in the dark corner of the shack in a semi lucid

she was able to secure a bag of flour from the village at the bottom of the mountain.

trance, the way a tortured prisoner dissociates from his body. Time was not with her

Each day she made, what she called pancakes, although they were more like dry flat

there. Days and nights passed.

bread with berries. She had found a couple different leaves and a flower that made

The mountain began to grow flowers once again. And the creatures returned. Out

nice tea. August, the cicadas were so loud that she could feel the buzz in her collar

from the racket of no sounds she heard a hummingbird dive. His tail feathers splay

bones. It was meditative and she rode the sound to a level of deep clarity.

and cause a quick shrill whistle. He does this to attract the attention of a female. She

That day started off shitty, like many shitty days do, with a shitty night before. Her

woke.

lover had left her for a younger, healthier woman. Told her she was always being negative. “I listen to inconsiderate assholes all day long, I just need to vent a little” she responded to her partner who’s eyes were already distant. Her boss approached,

Are you a writer? Send your short story, poetry, essay or excerpt to comettales@thecometmagazine.com and we may publish it in the next issue.

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wednesday, september 5, 2018

GE NE RATIO N S

Joe Feddersen RYAN! Feddersen Carly Feddersen William Passmore Four artists from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation Joe Feddersen, Drizzle

Located in Historic Downtown Ellensburg, WA www.gallery-one.org Exhibiting artists from around the state for 50 years

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artist q and a: featuring kmbris bond

by holly thorpe First off, please introduce yourself!

Hi! I’m Kmbris and I’m 45 years old. I am living back in my hometown of Wenatchee, well I LIVE in East Wenatchee. I grew up on a ranch out in Malaga and graduated from WHS in 1991. I’ve lived and worked across the country in various industries, including banking, aerospace facilities management; petroleum logistics and trade; medical and life insurance; event planning and fair trade sales and sourcing. Now I teach and paint, it’s awesome!

I’m based out of my house studio with goals of expanding to a larger space.

Tell us about yourself as an artist.

When did you begin painting? And what other mediums do you practice?

In college at the University of Oregon my art history teacher told me I should pursue art, I didn’t listen. I pursued speech communication, which was a good choice and afforded me some great experiences in business across the country. When I returned “home,” I decided to follow my dream of learning to paint in oils. I’ve always enjoyed art and it’s allowed me to do various projects in churches and community groups. I’ve made huge paper mache masks in Seattle for a play, oil on silk banners for worship spaces, a multi-me-

Kmbris teaching a quick lesson on color theory during a plein air session at the private Haehlstorm winery with a summer camp from the museum. dium moose for the Roosevelt Bull Moose Festival, watercolor and acrylic nature journaling to capture world travels and many other things over the years. I grew up in a home where my mother was an outstanding seamstress/creator and I enjoyed watching her dream up puppets and costumes, clothing and even a 40-foot beanstalk used in one of my high school musicals. I enjoyed learning how to sew and create the magic, like she did, so I’m guessing more multi-medium art is in my near future!

I’m curious to hear about your experience as an educator. You teach at at least two different studios in the area.

I’m truly honored to be teaching with several groups/studios in the area. More art, I say! Class With A Glass (CWAG) welcomed me into the “sip and paint” industry, Emily Gotti opened the studio and I appreciated her trust and challenge to create constantly! This last spring, Connie Psomas encouraged me to help her bring the international Paint Nite to Wenatchee which takes the party on the road. The Wenatchee Valley Museum has commissioned classes with some of their valued sponsors and this summer we painted plein air (outside in the air) with

youth in the Moses Coulee and in a local cide to take Jan as your mentor? How has it helped you grow as an artist? vineyard.

My birthday is in January and in 2016 I What moved you to teach? And what gave myself the gift of my first lesson with do you find rewarding and challeng- Jan Cook Mack. My beloved gave me the ing about teaching new artists? gift class at CWAG where we were paintTeaching brings me such great joy! When ing our inspiration of Van Gogh’s Almond you share something you are passionate Blossoms over three sessions. I jumped about, then you inspire others, and that’s into painting and I haven’t looked back. where the magic happens. Adults almost Swirling paint is so much fun, it helps me always come to class and tell me that they cope with the hard stuff of life — you’ve CAN’T PAINT — Can’t Can’t Can’t. It’s gotta find balance. When I moved back, amazing how we are programmed in our I kept seeing Jan’s bright and beautiful society to be perfect, and if you can’t be paintings all over town (the Chamber, the perfect, then don’t try. Art is about letting Apple Blossom festival, Pybus) and I realdown the guard, kicking perfection to the ized that I would benefit from learning recurb, and allowing your soul and heart to alism, so I called her and asked if she took sing. Beginners should just START, start students. Little did I know that not only creating, have a fun and whimsical time… is she an OUTSTANDING teacher who enjoy a practice canvas and do another! walks you through every step, but she The sip and paint classes help me person- is a generous soul who encourages and ally by keeping my paint brush moving. empowers her students. She has guided We are in and out in a few hours and my my success and continues to broaden my speed of painting helps me with my oil scope for painting, teaching, creating my painting at home. Like anything, the more business and growing into the woman I you practice, the better you get, the easier want to be. She is a wise woman and I things become! adore her. Key takeaway: everyone needs a mentor outside their normal circle of Besides teaching, you also take class- influence. es! When did you begin taking formal art classes? And what made you de- What advice would you give to art-

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Kmbris teaching about composition during a plein air painting session. ists? And what advice would you give to new artists?

Artists can get in ruts, it is important to find fellow artists and a community to kick your butt when you need it, or put another way, encourage you and keep you accountable to your dreams. Find a mentor, someone with different skills, experience, approach, then learn, apply and improve! It’s a gift to find comrades who can discuss art, composition, true struggles…. and don’t just tell you something looks great and blow smoke up your ass. New and old artists must start creating and not stop. Just start! In oil painting, you have to wait for your painting to dry between layers, so you start several paintings and keep cycling through them. We have to be okay with the process and enjoy the journey as most of it is looking at a piece of art that’s not done. I have to tell myself often to trust the process, and keep going.

Don’t forget to step back and look from a distance, take a break, come back — fresh eyes help guide the journey. Recently I realized I struggle with my ability to draw and sketch, so I saw some sketched art online that I LOVED, by Steven Reddy in Seattle, and I reached out to him. Since then, I’ve hosted him here in Wenatchee for a speaking engagement and a workshop that he led at RadarStation that was SOLD OUT! He has encouraged me to start the new group Urban Sketchers Wenatchee and we are on our way as empowered sketchers!

Where can people find your work?

My art has been shown at Two Rivers Art Gallery, RadarStation, and the museum.

I am just beginning to sell my work with commissions being arranged via Facebook. It is quite a thrill to package up one of your ‘babies’ that you’ve spent dozens

of hours on and kiss it goodbye, off to its new home across the country.

In September, I will have my first show at CWAG as the featured artist where I plan to show several of my portraits, mini paintings of ‘favorite things’ and my printed greeting cards.

narily gain in art school. I’m poised for the next step.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Honestly, I feel completely blessed to be a commissioned artist in Wenatchee in 2018. I never dreamed that this would be my path, but boy am I thankful for the How have you developed your per- opportunity to do art with so many wonsonal style? And how would you de- derful people in this community and for others to buy my art and appreciate it! By scribe that style?

This is my growing edge, so I’m living the way, if any artists out there have some into this! As I spend more time with other free time and want to help me create aniartists and understand their approach and mal masks for a play to be performed on passion, I start to see where my style is Christmas Eve, please let me know! C blooming. Like a good wine, I’m aging and becoming more complex. This year, I will be traveling to Florence, Italy, and I go with an open mind and soul to explore what my style will become. Realism is a great space to start, I feel undergirded with a foundation that one would ordi-

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the spacepod: THE LEGEND OF CORAL CASTLE

Wainting for Agnes. Ed posing in his homage to love gone south. Many people confused the limestone with coral resulting in the name we now know.

by ron evans Coral Castle. A surprisingly littleknown mystery that fans of mid-century titty flicks will no doubt be familiar with.

More on that later. As a roadside attraction, Coral Castle is impressive enough.

Massive limestones, kooky handmade furniture and a slew of oddities built in and around the structures offer plenty for Floridian vacationers to savor. The fact that the entire thing was built single-handedly by a decrepit old man is where the story (and the mystery) becomes the stuff of legends.

Edward Leedskalnin, born in Latvia in 1887, spent most of his early days a sickly waif of a Joe. Waif of a Joe. You know how some phrases sound oddly food-like?

Anyway, when Ed was in his 20s he met the love of his life. Agnes. Overlooking the fact that Agnes was 16 (um...it was a different time? And place? I dunno. I never got the whole “Imma marry that kid over there.” thing.) - the other details of the relationship were fairly typical.

Ed and Agnes were eventually engaged to be married but Agnes backed out at the last minute. One of those “crying at the altar” situations you hear about. I gotta say though, if I was gonna be stood up before my weddin’ I would prefer it to be at the actual altar. All my pals and family would be there and they would get drunk with me and lie about how she doesn’t deserve me, anyway. It would be a blast. Sad fucking limo ride at the end of the night though. Anyway…

When faced with rejection and heartbreak, some of us turn to a life (if only for a while) of pouty self-abuse. Drinking too much, sleeping around, Corvette-buying etc. And then some of us...we build things.

No, not things. Art. Icons. Marvels. Nothing inspires great achievements like love, lust, loss and longing. The Four L’s we calls ‘em. Henceforth. We want to mourn people out of our system. We want to win them back. We want to show them what they left behind. We want to pay them tribute. Whichever the reason, the outcome can be a suicide bomb in a busy mall, or it can be Beck’s heartbreakingly gorgeous break-up album Sea Change. Seriously girl? You’re gonna cheat on Beck??

What a loser. Oh, go sigh to somebody else!

Eddy boy decided to go with the latter approach. It seems that his intent was, in fact, to re-attract his second-thought-having love, Agnes. He thought if he built her a palace with his own hands she would see that his devotion was infallible and incomparable. Surely she would come back.

I know. It’s moving. So moving you almost forget about the whole -25 year old wanting to hump a 16 year old- bit. Almost.

So Ed sets out to build his tribute. But no sandcastle, painting or mere mallbombing would do. He needed to think big. Or heavy, as it were. Limestone to be exact. As mentioned, Ed was no Mr. Olympus. In a battle with a wet noodle, Ed

would surely win every time. But never by a landslide. And that was what ultimately made his goal all the more lofty. “I’m gonna win her back by making her think I’m a galldurn wizard of masculine power and stuff.” Ed was paraphrased as saying. And so, on a small parcel of land in Florida City, Florida in 1923, construction began.

Now, Ed was not one to truck off to Lowe’s (yeah I know) and grab some two by fours and frame in some square walls and call it a palace. This was a tribute to his Sweet Sixteen after all. No mere cracker house would do. No sir, Ed’s vision of palatial splendor was a mix of Druidian sacrificial spires, the raw and minimal sexiness of Castle Dracula and the fictional version of Mars. Again, more on that later.

As if the overall look and layout of Ed’s plan wasn’t unique enough, his choice in materials surely would make you stop and scratch your head. Limestone. Robust?

Ye betcha. But not exactly wieldy, as the kids say. This is where the tale goes from “creepy love story” to “creepy paranormal legend.” This waif of a Joe somehow managed to cut, transport, lift and position dozens of multi-ton stones into an impressive monument and castle. There are moon-shaped chairs carved from a single stone. Windows that align with vistas and space tomfoolery. Gardens, mazes and little hidden items can be discovered all over the grounds. A massive entry gate weighing nine tons so perfectly balanced that small child can easily swing it open.

In other words it was gosh darn neat.

So how did he do it? There are many theories ranging from real intriguin’ to real dumb. Some say he used the Earth’s own force fields through ley lines (theoretical powerful spots with supernatural properties all over the globe) to float these mammoth stones into position. This is a surprisingly popular theory considering that it neglects the whole “how’d he cut them, haul them and get them there in the first place” thing but whatevs. It’s one theory. Another theory is that Ed was a master of balance and he simply had pullies, tracks and cables. One single stone was over twenty tons. Twenty. Have fun with that there wire doodad, amigo. Cover your eyes when the cable snaps so you don’t have to see yourself going to heaven.

It’s a good time to mention that the stones were not set in mortar or bolted into their footings. They were simply stacked in a perfectly balanced manner.

No hurricane, earthquake or errant tourist tomfoolery has monkeyed with the integrity of the castle in almost one hundred years. It’s true that Ed kept a few fairly visible pullies and lift systems lying around the parameters while he was building the castle, but most engineers agree that these were barely strong enough to hoist an ancient tortoise, let alone a limestone pillar. Many Coral Castle experts believe these were quickly-made decoys to throw people off the hunt.

No reliable witnesses ever saw Ed actu-

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ally building the structure but one curious story certainly feeds the imagination.

A truck driver hired to deliver a ten ton stone to the property during construction shared his experience years later. When he arrived to the property he asked Ed where the tractors were to unload the mammoth. Ed said he didn’t need any because he had his own methods. The truck driver was intrigued but Ed said he had to wait on the other side of the street until the stone was unloaded. After a cigarette break’s worth of time, Ed gave the all clear. To the truck driver’s shock, the stone was not only unloaded but already firmly in place in its new home. Keep in mind this is a cargo so heavy the trucks were equipped with solid rubber tires so they couldn’t pop. Yet one old dude, who at this point had survived tuberculosis, single-handedly popped it straight off and mounted it? Oh, speaking of cheesy sex stuff, one of the most notorious connections to Coral Castle is Doris Wishman’s 1961 skin flick classic “Nude On The Moon”. Ed’s love palace made the perfect setting for a nudist colony in space, and while the film itself is pretty tame by to-

day’s standards it was brow-raising in its time. The more enduring value of it is seeing the castle in its glory days before stones settled, bearings rusted and vandals got all spray-painty.

There’s no room here to even get into the second act of this lovely tale so as per usual, this will have to serve as an appetite whetter. We haven’t even talked about the healing seat. And since I’m a romantic (seriously, enough with the sighing) I will wrap this up with the love end of things.

After some time Ed actually ended up moving the castle to just outside Homestead, Florida for reasons that bore me so I’m moving on. After completion of the bigger and better castle, Ed charged a quarter a piece to wander through the entire estate. Enough visitors came by to keep Ed alive making this his full time gig. In fact it was very popular in the preDisney World world. There was one visitor however, that never showed. I know.

I’m thinking the same thing you are. That snooty little underaged bitch!

Anyway, Ed died of broken...I mean kidney failure at the age of 64. The castle has since exchanged a few hands and is

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now privately owned and operated as a tourist stop for anyone that gets lost looking for Disney World. It’s a humbler, less touristy destination for sure. Although we can’t know that Disney World wasn’t built because Walt lost the love of his life in his early days and was simply proving a myriad of points, both to the girl that

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broke his heart and to himself, by creating an entire empire that would later inspire, delight and allure billions of souls henceforth, can we?

HINT: We can totally know that’s why it was built. C

TIC K only ETS $3

THE SANDLOT September 26 @ 6:30pm Partnership with

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by ron evans

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CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE COMET

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heart of art: new art gathering is coming to malaga

by ron evans

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he Heart of Art is a brand new collaborative art, music, and workshop gathering with an emphasis on upliftment, positivity, and creative representation “For the Unity of Our Community!” to be hosted at Hummingbird Produce Farm @ 2477 West Malaga Rd, Malaga WA 98828.

Entry is sliding scale donation based with a suggested $10 - $15 donation at the gate, the money raised beyond operating costs of the event are to be donated to several local charities / organizations that benefit the people, plants, and animals of our valley. We caught up with organizer Lynn Lyons to learn more about this new event.

Who are the planners of this event?

The Heart of Art gathering is a cooperatively organized and promoted event, we have enjoyed working as a large team of creative individuals dedicated to providing a fun and safe all ages event to the community at large. It is to be hosted at Hummingbird Farm, a local organic farm situated on 7 beautiful acres overlooking the Columbia River. We are grateful to Hummingbird Produce for opening up the area for such a large cooperative venture for the enrichment of the whole valley.

Hopes for future events, or is this a one-time gathering?

There are more events tentatively planned What was the genesis of this event?

The idea to host a big valley art and mu- for the future, including open mic and sic event had been percolating for many community forum sessions over winteryears amongst our group of organizers, we time to be hosted in the large barn onsite. started prepping for the event in spring Depending on turnout and how the event as we thought that the time was ripe for plays out will determine the timeline for representing the creative collaborative another Heart of Art for next year. essence, the end of summer representing the fulfillment of harvest and the sharing Is it still open for vendors? If so what with community of the bounty. would be the deadline?

Although we have a large contingency

of vend o r s already signed up to be at the event, there is still vending space available, anyone interested in hosting a booth at the gathering should email us at theheartofart@protonmail. com or show up onsite Saturday morning at 9 and we can work out placement. Vendors pay no fees or percentages and the space is provided free of charge.

Any other ways people can get involved?

At this point we are close to the day of opening and the best way for people to get involved is to come to the event on Saturday September 8th from 10 am to 10 pm and/or Sunday September 9th from 9 am to 5 pm. People are encouraged to bring happiness and excitement with them! Anyone who does performance art or has art to display are welcome to showcase them onsite during the event.

A n y sponsors or promoters you would like to mention or thank?

A big shout out to Hummingbird Produce for allowing this incredible event to happen on their property, and so much appreciation and gratitude to all of our friends and family who have donated time and energy to promoting the gathering, also big thanks to all the bands artists and teachers who are donating their time and energy to raise money for local charities and to provide an enriching weekend to the people of the greater wenatchee valley and beyond.

Any web links or social media you would like to include.

There is an instagram page @theheartofartgathering and a facebook page called “the heart of art gathering”. The email for the event is theheartofart@protonmail. com and a contact number is 509-2649714. C

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